I only stayed long enough to install a Council to run the territory. The Fief would be without a Baron until I developed a program to promote and ennoble people. The group I selected was barebones and temporary. I would have to keep an eye on the situation to see if there were any problems that needed to be dealt with.

The former Baron’s backing may become an issue, but I doubted it. Onkei was simply too isolated for a House and Clan, no matter how powerful they were, to field an army. And while Cultivators could become powerful enough to act as an army by themselves, powerful enough to destroy the island, that chance of that happening was even more remote than an army invading.

Those old monsters rarely interfered with the world, they had retreated for the most part, and it was almost impossible to gain their attention. They wouldn’t risk their own safety, not when they were so focused and close to ascending.

I only stayed long enough to ensure there was someone in charge, someone who would make a Cultivator’s Oath to remain loyal and not work against the Kingdom’s interest before I flung myself into the sky, sending a mental entreaty to Storm.

Mother had tried to reach me, my com on constant vibrate as she explained to me frantically that both Geon and Syha were ill. An illness on its own wasn’t any cause for concern. Not with the potions mother could create or the healing services of House Cultivators.

But this illness had stymied a potion master, alchemist, healer, and cultivator. The children were burning through Qi, a prodigious amount of Qi that neither should be able to gather or process. Na, our House healer, had sent for an awakening device. One that shouldn’t be needed by either child until their eighteenth birthday because the symptoms they were experiencing resembled awakening shock.

I rode Storm back to Xiwang, combining my powers and control over wind with hers to increase our rate of travel to outpace our previously fastest speeds. Still, it took most of the day to return to Xiwang. It was a matter of luck, or unlucky in this case, that I had to deal with Baron Isaa just as my brother and sister fell ill. His Barony had been located at the furthest location on the island, relative to Xiwang, and there was nothing I could do to speed my return.

“Na?” I said, entering the hospital room my brother and sister had been moved to. “What have you found?”

“As I mentioned the last time we spoke, the Qi energy being burned is the same type and amount of energy that is released when a person awakens. We will use an awakening stone to see if we can either halt the progress or push it into the final stage.”

“Why would they be awakening now?” I demanded. “Do you have any clue what triggered this?”

“We aren’t sure why it is happening, even if we are confident the symptoms fit an early awakening. We monitored them as they channeled Qi and have been able to map the beginnings of a cultivation technique.”

“Mom? Dad? When did you notice something was going on?”

“The morning after, you joined us for dinner and explained the Gestalt and what it meant for our family,” Mother replied immediately. “They were fine went they went to bed the night before, or at least I thought they were. They seemed tired and listless, but I just attributed that to playing with Storm.

“It wasn’t until I could wake them that they might not have been worn out from playing with Storm. That something else was going on.”

“I think I might know why,” I replied thoughtfully, considering the timing and any issues that my connection to the Gestalt as Voice might have had were overlooked because of the tribulation.

“Why?” My mother demanded as she moved to grab my arm frantically.

Mother was strong, strong enough that her grip would probably have hurt a non-cultivator. And that strength had only increased recently ever since she had begun eating the Lodoicea-laced awakening food.

“I think it is the same reason anyone that eats the spirit food Lin Li offers has reached the Body Refinement Realm.”

“But none of the other children are reacting like this,” Na pointed out.

“That may be because the other children hadn’t been offered the same opportunities as Geon and Syha,” I reminded her.

“Both have been allowed to participate in the spirit-claiming ritual. Both have been added to the mind gestalt I have managed to generate. A gestalt that includes all of House Myche’s Cultivators. And both have been eating the awakening meals long enough for changes to the body and Qi matrix to take place.

“I can’t be certain, but I believe that is a confluence of events that have precipitated an early awakening.”

“Their bodies are strong enough because of the food, their souls are strong enough because of the spirit ritual, and their minds have been enhanced because of the gestalt,” Na summarized thoughtfully. “I think I have to agree.”

“We need to do further testing, of course, but if the children survive this with their Cultivation active and accessible, it might be something we aggressively pursue,” I added. “Onkei would be stronger if we could increase the ranks of our Cultivators by triggering an awakening.

“And if this method proves more successful, if more people are able to form spirit roots, then our Kingdom garner support and immigrants from the powerful and poor alike.”

“What do you mean if the children survive?” My mother demanded, her face losing all color as the impact of my words seemed to cause her to stagger.

“Mother,” I said, moving to hug and soothe her, “I don’t think Geon or Syha will die; that was just a slip of the tongue.”

“Geon and Syha are strong,” Father agreed, “they will survive this, and our biggest challenge will be how to train children to cultivate without them transforming into monsters and bullies.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Mother relented, clinging desperately to his words, “Geon and Syha are good children. Strong and obedient. They will get past this, and we will make sure to include a moral compass in any training they undergo. They will learn what strength comes at a cost, and we need to be vigilant that they don’t pay a cost so horrific that we no longer recognize who or what they are.”

“Toi,” I called, summoning my spirit companion, “could you speak with Geon and Syha’s companions to see if they can offer any advice or assurances about their condition?”

“Why didn’t we already do that?” Mother asked.

“Because I haven’t been interested in participating in the ritual to gain a companion,” Na replied regretfully. “I thought, from a practical point of view, that a Healer should be free of any adverse effects that might arise from forming that kind of connection. At least one healer should monitor how other people changed or reacted to the changes over time after a contract with a spirit was initiated.

“We know so little about this newly discovered cultivation practice. I thought caution was advised.”

“You may be right, Na. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious, not as long as you are methodical and certain about the need for caution and how that caution might affect your role as a healer,” I said.

“Toi? Anything?”

“Whatever is happening is affecting the Spirits as well,” Toi replied, her gaze unfocused as she studied what only she could perceive within the spirit world.

“Both Spirits are encased in a cocoon of energy. A Qi construct that has been suffused with enough Spirit Energy to trigger an evolution process. Both Spirits are evolving.

“The children are experiencing an awakening, that much is clear, and that awakening is affecting body, mind, and spirit. Those changes have forced an evolution on the Spirits they have contracted.”

“What does that mean?” Mother asked.

“It means that their Spirit Companions will adapt, change, and grow as the children grow. They will emerge from the cocoons, having transitioned into a new partner. One best suited to help the children grow and embrace the forming Spirit roots.

“I can watch as their Spirit roots grow, as they form from the essence of the Spirit world and anchor within the physical world, is breathtaking. The transition between the spirit and life is a process that is usually only seen when new life is conceived.

“What I am seeing is the alignment of [Dao] and the [Heavens]. The bridge between the real and the esoteric has been breached, and the children have this brief moment in time to embrace the changes that the [Dao] offers,” Toi explained.

“The process is almost complete,” Toi promised. “They will survive and be stronger for having synergized body, mind, and spirit.”