Twice a week after her induction, Elua traveled to the Youth Guild to 'learn'.
A member of The Ironclad Order, the regional ruling Guild - and sometimes some members from more minor associate Guilds - would hold an almost random lecture for an hour and a half. The topic could sometimes be details and tactics against a particular variety of divergent wildlife and other times something like tales of specific experiences that they thought the young members could learn from, including some veterans of the last Voidling Descent.
All of the 'instructors' were fairly well spoken, which implied (correctly) that it was primarily a volunteer position. There was a small level of compensation involved, but nothing worth shirking other work… other than for those who honestly wanted the younger generation to flourish.
She could also audit the open sparring sessions after these lessons, which was her real goal! Coming to some kind of understanding of the average level of combat skill would be important to not 'surpass' any expectations at any point.
The only downside was that, to stay true to the outer personality Elua developed, she had to fake being uncomfortable with the people out in the field getting hit and hurt for far too long. The first week she 'overdid' it, causing her mother who was attending alongside her to place a palm to cover her eyes as she 'trembled'.
They then left the stands while she was hugged to Yatrel er Goltbred's chest in full sight of so many people… and she had to carefully convince both parents that 'fighting' was something she had to get used to at least *seeing* - which wasted nearly another month!
'Though I suppose I don't mind the rumor about my 'nature' that spread…'
The guise of a 'frail' girl terrified of combat was immensely *valuable*! She also began a combined effort of furthering her 'kindness' while attracting potential 'trouble'. She had her own boredom to cure and a heroic fiance that needed opportunities to 'protect' her.
Any time a young cultivator was injured in her presence, she would send them a small personalized gift. They ranged from ointments or braces tailored to caring for what had occurred to sometimes only simple letters of encouragement if it was nothing that severe. As a matter of course, every time this happened she sent nearly the same exact thing to Qat.
Each ointment was bought twice and sent along with a small letter explaining what she witnessed that day - and expressing her worry that her betrothed might experience anything similar during her own private training spars. She made sure to write - more than once, though not each and every time - that she would appreciate being able to see 'his' practice. Elua still really wanted to watch those!
She was already almost eight which made the Yecine child roughly eleven. The very few (barely two digit) visits they'd had since their first meeting hardly allowed her to sink enough fangs and claws into the *heart* of the 'fortress' for her liking.
'My gem still needs to be polished well… but it seems like I'm being kept from doing so!'
Her visitation to the Youth Guild was on a set schedule because of the responsibilities of her parents. They each had a differing 'free' day in the week to attend the classes with her. Therefore, it could be determined that the 'masterminds' of the deception wanted to limit or control the number of interactions the future couple had.
She hadn't *once* encountered her fiance in this location! Whether this was to avoid some sort of suspicion about Qat's 'truth' as a female cross-dressing as a male, or for some other reason - the mint eyed girl simply couldn't judge with the information she had.
Elua did know that most of the time the entire Yecine family trained in seclusion. In fact she had learned a lot of little gossip worthy details about that family from a somewhat unexpected source. Her very own mother.
While she at first wanted to playfully *needle* her by bringing up Qatrand er Yecine every chance she could, like she tortured her father with… the essence cultivation First Echelon Primalist was 'no fun'. Even without the brunette bringing the person up, Yatrel would often engage with her daughter about trivial facts surrounding 'that boy'. She even offered reminder quizzes about things related to the future new half of a family to pass the carriage ride time.
The woman's mint eyes especially sparkled, and her spirit obviously *palpitated* when Elua needed to 'blushingly' speak any sweet, romance-adjacent phrases about her fiance in front of the parents. The young girl determined flawlessly that this was the very person to trust the most to be on her side… if (and more likely *when*) the Yecine family's 'strange' deception went sideways.
'Honestly she'd probably even help me kidnap her right now! Ever since my essence Enchanter as 'first Aspect' revelation she has been more and more open with me. Maybe she feels like I'm taking after her and her specialty? She even told me some… *stories*. This mother is a little warped~'
Unabashed stalking of the girl's father when they were younger. Confronting exceptionally 'lustful' women and demanding serious duels. Using those opportunities to batter - and in some cases kill - to make the point that Ondua was absolutely off limits.
The fact that Yatrel was such a potentially drastic personality did… nearly nothing to the mental state of the reincarnator. After so many previous life millennia, what kind of person hadn't she encountered? People too good for their own good and so evil that they sounded like the rumors about them were the stuff of cheap fiction… were actually rarer extremes.
Personalities with more *liquid* lines of conduct and 'appropriateness' beyond a few key *sticking points* (that were often objectively strange if you weren't that very person) was the 'gray' reality throughout the cosmos as she had experienced it. The mother of hers was no saint, but neither was the daughter.
'I *could* go without being told it's okay to kill a love rival when I really feel it is required. It's getting kind of hard to quickly pretend to be so 'uncomfortable' and 'shocked' by the suggestion each time. I'm not sure if it's her attempt at some mild and gradual hypnosis wearing me down.'
…
'Probably… not.'
The 'concern' had needed to be carefully judged and evaluated!
'While I don't know her Astralism I doubt it surpasses my Illusion's mastery of mind manipulation when powered by my higher cultivation. It's probably just that I *genuinely* agree enough with the premise and am finding it harder and harder to hide that 'shared mentality' from the mother that I'm coming to trust.'
While it was a common story among those who attained the heights of Demi-god, in her past life she did not exactly have 'close' and 'available' parents like this. It wasn't just that they were poor and mortals as a difference. The father back then, and a few years later the mother, had been claimed 'early' by the vicissitudes of mortal life…
It was nothing unique by itself, much like her failure to ascend to a Divinity. It was only one thread that the web of her life was woven from. She did wonder whether the new parents that were cultivators would live for far longer or succumb to time, enemies, or something else.
It was as she somewhat meditatively weighed the mere last few months, with the last eight years, and again the entirety of her previous life that something *interesting* finally happened.
Normally the mother and daughter would have already started leaving for the day, but Elua had for once stubbornly requested they stay. A familiar buzzing caused her eyes to track a figure lining up at the training arena. The youth was tall, quiet, and walked with the bearing of a swordsman… and of course wore one on their hip.
Altogether the 'silhouette' screamed at her that it was her Qat. However, the head of hair on their head was unequivocally *blonde*… but that detail gave the brunette pause only long enough to overpower the spiritual tool on the person and scour her sense over the result.
'IT IS~'
If it wasn't for a quick preemptive barrier application over her palms while she was focusing on the individual, many youths and attending guardians would have witnessed 'fragile' Elua er Goltbred pulverizing a stone banister in the viewing stands.
Instead, some of the curious admirers saw the girl start bouncing on her heels and shaking her clenched fists up and down in rather adorable and obvious excitement! Half or so started gazing out to the people on the field to ponder which of them had caused the reaction that none had ever seen.
"What are you so worked up about, dear?"
Her daughter didn't spare even a glance at her question, which was a *little* unusual… but only a little. The essence Primalist thought calmly for a moment or two.
'There was certainly one precedent for that kind of attitude, but-'
She shook her head thinking it was probably rude to think the 'only' thing in life that might excite and interest her daughter was 'that boy'. Yatrel could tell after all this time of gauging her reaction to *certain ideas* that the sweet girl wasn't anything as… 'particular' as her mother. She was both disappointed and relieved.
"Oh, ah, uh. A promise kept?"
The mint eyed youth eventually responded as if being snapped out of a sudden daydream. But she still didn't turn to pay Yatrel any obvious attention - which only solidified the woman's waved away guess. Her eyes scanned the direction that the little girl was focused on and found the closest thing to what she expected, except the one glaring detail.
'Did Anper actually approve of his son dying their infamous Yecine raven-black hair a different color? It even looks the same as his late wife. Maybe that man has changed…'
The spars starting and settling ahead of Qat taking the field served as a form of 'torture' to Elua. She didn't even keep track, at all, regarding what happened in any of the matches - which later caused a few boys and girls a little heartache over being ignored by their training field's 'medical fairy'.
As well as a little anger when others in their cohort accused them of getting hurt on purpose… as it had somehow ended up common knowledge over time that the 'combat averse' Goltbred heiress had some kind of sixth sense for identifying those who lost intentionally.
Really - it was just paying clear attention and her breadth of life experience rather than any mystical ability. While she aimed to spread renown, she wasn't going to abide by those seeking to take advantage of her 'kindness'. When it came to taking advantage-
'Is it terrible that more than perform well, I kind of want her to get a little, just a *little* hurt so that I can jump onto the field and 'overreact'? Making an even bigger scene in front of everyone is so *tempting*. I haven't given her a hug in so many months! I mean, it's absolutely better than what I know I'll do if she gets seriously hurt.'
The girl suddenly held her temples, experiencing a slight backlash of a headache by suppressing emotions that would have broadcast her intent.
'Ugh, I'll have to be careful. I have a feeling that mother is going to be extremely sensitive to bloodlust. I mean, now that she's been so candid about her nature she probably won't mind if she feels me releasing it? But it will complicate things… and if she looks into what happens to my Qat's *bastard* of a sparring opponent in that injury scenario - after I've 'handled' the situation secretly - then I'd be the number one most suspicious person and-'
The excitement from before turned into clear nervous *fidgeting* as she rambled through possessive worries in her mind; until a calming hand was placed on top of her head.
"Everything will be alright, darling. According to your father, that boy is one of the strongest youths in his cohort. He will win."
That kind of praise might mean next to nothing somewhere other than the Youth Guild training arena, but because it was only here… the sentences did make Elua breathe out and close her eyes before she whispered a 'thank you'.
She was quite grateful to the woman. If she hadn't acted, then the brunette might not have been able to watch the spar so 'objectively'. Without such a state she might not have noticed something important.
'She's… she's so… bad? No, that's not quite it. She is trouncing the other person… but it's with a more badly refined set of movements that telegraph themselves than I'd expect from a family that focus on the weapon. Her responses seem overly consistent towards 'relying' on a higher direct physicality.'
The pair of mint eyes watching everything dulled a little. After all, how many heart-pounding and high-level sword fights had she seen in her life!? She wasn't disappointed in her fiance - but she was 'disillusioned', in a manner of speaking. She stopped making herself 'pretend' to be who she usually did, even though she was in public.
'Could it be that… my husband-wife is actually all hard work and no technical talent? That the Yecine blade wielding fame is propped up only by a handful of past 'geniuses' that didn't actually leave adequate teachings? Or is it some other sort of family or faction politics. Ugh. Hmm… am I actually going to be complacent with how things are… or…'
Elua er Goltbred, the renowned fairy of her cohort - and 'fragile little darling' of the Youth Guild began biting her thumb with lifeless eyes as she *seriously* contemplated all the steps to kidnap, hide away, and subject her unpolished gem to *competent* training!
It is always good to have many plans considered and in place, after all.