It was a bit embarrassing to admit how much time they dedicated to thinking of names for their current status. Not that they had much to do as they had to wait for Xochipilli to recover his vitality. Aloe wanted to offer him some vitality pills, or rather her vitality pills as now such things did exist, but the ones that she had stored in her Slowtide were at the very minimum a few decades old.

  She feared that if she fed them to the child, he would just straight up die.

  Xochipilli had no problems chewing the Cure Grass, which Aloe found a bit repulsive – ironic considering her body's constitution – but she let him do it. He was chewing the bdes, not eating them. Not that eating them was bad, in any case, it was optimal as that way he could take more vitality out of them, but the whole 'eating grass' thing always gave her the heebie-jeebies.

  Not that efficiency was a problem as she could produce tons of Cure Grass before she started hitting any logistical issues with her body.

  For now, they focused on the Nurture part of the vital arts. Not only could this one be practiced with depleted vitality reserves, but also would boost Xochipilli's survival capabilities in any environment by many degrees.

  "Have you visualized your inner flow of vitality?" Aloe questioned her disciple. It felt weird calling Xochipilli that, but by all accounts, that was his official position.

  "I think so…" He swayed his head from side to side with his eyes shut close. "But I'm not seeing a river like you said."

  "I… this is my first time teaching someone about the vital arts and sharing information on the matter, so I wasn't aware that the imagery of vitality was subjective," she expined with a sorry tone. "What are you seeing then?"

  "Veins, no, blood vessels." He corrected. "I see the blood flowing through my body, though it emits a crimson shimmer from time to time."

  I shouldn't be surprised, she sighed inwardly. He has already expressed before that he feels vitality as something warm when it feels refreshing to me. I guess it makes sense my chilly vitality is represented like the water of a river whilst his warm vitality is seen as the blood in the body.

  "If you have a solid imagery, that's more than enough," Aloe comforted him. "Now we are going to try switching stances. As you may have heard from my conversation with the pill maker, there are nine, but we will only worry about eight of them for the time being. As your imagery is that of blood pumping through your blood vessels, let's try with the strength stance, or as I call it, the potency internal infusion. For this one, you will need to imagine your blood pumping with might, or even better, your heart pushing blood forcefully."

  It took a bit of practice, several attempts, and some finesse, but Xochipilli accomplished his goal. Aloe didn't even need to test the boy's strength or use the veritas, she could simply read his flow of vitality and detect the forceful push of the strength stance. Now that she was more acquainted with it, she could also see the longevous perennity external infusion, though it was very hidden. Considering her vitality sense was most likely unmatched and she had difficulties finding the external infusion, she doubted anyone else in all of Khaffat could.

  "Well done!" She cpped and Xochipilli opened his eyes. "You can call yourself a cultivator now!"

  The boy calmly nodded, which disappointed Aloe a bit as she had expected more fanfare from his part after achieving his first internal infusion. Instead, he spoke.

  "So I've been thinking about what we could call ourselves…" Now, Aloe wasn't a person led by prejudice, but when someone started a sentence with 'so I've been thinking' you could expect the worst to come out of their mouths.

  "Yes?" Nonetheless, she didn't shoot down the child. Rather, she greeted him with open arms.

  "There's a term for my people back in Tecota that refers to herbalists that commune with nature. It called to me because I thought of how the terms 'assassin' and 'cultivator' exist in Ydazi beyond the connotations of the vital arts. Assassin is a murderer, and cultivator is one who works the earth so…"

  "You think our term should have existing connotations," Aloe finished the sentence and the boy nodded.

  The logic was solid, but she was more astonished by his usage of words. Many of them she wouldn't have expected from a child. The missionary who had been working in Xochipilli's vilge had certainly done a good job teaching the boy before his demise.

  "So, what's this term you are talking about?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

  "Druid," he taciturnly responded as his red eyes met her emerald eyes.

  "Druid, huh?" Aloe hummed, the charm stance she was forced to wield to keep the dress in pce made it sound like a symphony.

  "D-do you not like it?" As Xochipilli shyly toyed with his fingertips, Aloe was very tempted to tease the boy – he looked so vulnerable – but decided to keep those games to herself. It was becoming harder each time, though.

  "Like it?" She chuckled. "I love it!"

  The vegetable woman grabbed the human child by the armpits and lifted him in the air.

  "It's a lovely term," Aloe groaned in acceptance. "From now on, we will be druids!"

  "Druids!" Xochipilli shouted back, his voice slightly bolstered by his fickle potency internal infusion. "Druids! Druids!" He chanted, heaving his arms up and down.

  She pced him on the ground. "Don't get carried away too much," he booped him on the nose, which made him blush. "Ah, you are so cute! Your reactions make me want to eat you!"

  Xochipilli blushed even harder, his cheeks matching the red of his eyes.

  Aloe's arms spasmed, almost unable to control herself. She wasn't lying when she was saying she wanted to eat the boy. He looked so delectable.

  GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF. She reprimanded herself, not spping her just if not to scare the child. What monstrosities are you even thinking of? She felt ashamed of herself. So ashamed that she wanted to puke even if her stomach had long digested the pastries they had eaten. Why… why am I like this? Aloe looked at her fleshy hands, not composed of actual flesh but the membranes of succulents. Utter disgust filled her body.

  Of this, Xochipilli saw nothing. Gmour kept her expressions and gestures hidden making it impossible for the child to interpret them, and for once, she was grateful for the deplorable charm stance. A magic almost as deplorable as herself.

  "So," the boy's voice took her out of her trail of thought. "Now that we are cultivators and druids, when are we going to be assassins?"

  "I hope you are talking about the magical kind and not the murderer one," she said with a smile and Xochipilli blushed again.

  Aloe reacted calmly on the outside, but inside… she wasn't doing as well. Not just because of her previous thoughts, but the ones Xochipilli now arose. For the tter… I already am. Many times over. Even with time, even with her heart closed, lives taken by her hand weren't something she took lightly. She was even regretting the death of that sver now, even if the man had been the worst type of scum imaginable. She wasn't that type of woman; she didn't kill without talking first. She was a diplomat; she had been trained to be one and had worked as one. Even more importantly, she enjoyed and loved that stance.

  Murdering people without giving it a second thought… that was not her.

  But she couldn't fall into depression. Or worse, insanity. Not again. Not when she had to take care of a child.

  "I guess we could try finding one and convince them to teach us their ways," Aloe continued her previous statement with a giggle. "Though their arts, from what I know, require hard drugs to be performed, and I'd rather if you didn't consume those substances."

  That saddened the boy, but he gave an understanding nod.

  "But why depend on the knowledge of assassins and cultivators when you have the greatest druid of Khaffat before you!" Aloe announced explosively with her hands extended.

  "Aren't you the only one?" Xochipilli pointed out her false authority falcy.

  Ah, it has been a while since I've been able to identify someone's falcies. It was a small game that she kept to herself, but she thoroughly enjoyed it, nonetheless. Her happiness didn't stop her from punishing Xochipilli though.

  "Com'ere, you've gained yourself a session of harsh hair ruffling!" She made snatching gestures with her hands.

  "Nooo!" The boy pyfully wailed and started running away from her.

  Of course, no matter how hard the youngling druid ran, the master druid caught him without even trying. Still, they both enjoyed the persecution and ughed at it. Ah, she panted from joy, since when was the st time I enjoyed life this much? I wish these times would st forever.

  Epsilon_Twilight