Ch-22-What punishment? (First Edit)

(Vale POV)

After the strange interaction with the woman touching my head like I was a child for some reason, I started to get a weird feeling about the way she was looking at me. Then the incident with the boy and his brother happened, throwing that thought out of my mind.

Examining the sick brother was not that difficult with the evidence I had before me, but the odd thing was how fast it had set in, according to the family. While rapid-onset diseases were a thing, they were not that common for lung infections like bronchitis, which the brother was dealing with.

This left me feeling like something fishy was going on that I did not know about. Nevertheless, I still diagnosed the patient and gave him some antibiotics and a prescription to help with his body for a short period of time.

With that finished, I was about to talk to the family a bit more about what caused this before I was grabbed by Raina and dragged away.

Soon, we reached her house, and I was dragged even further into the second courtyard at the back of the house.

Once there, she had me sit down on a bench next to a flower bed and then walked off to call someone. Looking around this courtyard, I found myself surrounded by a beautiful garden. The walls were lined with vibrant climbing flowers, and in front of them, there was a bed of neatly arranged flowers, creating a perimeter around the courtyard.

Inside that perimeter was a small gravel path going through a patch of clovers that acted as a lawn. In the middle of the lawn was a spring trickling down a set of rocks arranged to make a fake waterfall. At the base of the waterfall was a pond with a small duck sitting on the surface of the water.

As I was observing the courtyard, Raina came back and sat on the bench next to me. She started to ask some questions about what happened to me, so I answered them, seeing no reason to hide anything from her. When she changed her questioning to what I knew about Kitsune's I had gotten confused.

That was until I was told about imprinting and what she did. Even if it was unintentional I was still upset that it happened. I was also starting to wonder how much I was not told about my race from the system, as this was the second time something unexpected happened relating to my race.

After that, she said that she would make up for what she had done and then use some sort of technique or spell to spin me around. Immediately, she grabbed my tail and laid it on her lap, startling me.

Just when I was about to shout at her, she started to brush my tail, causing a purr to unconsciously escape my throat.

I was about to protest again when a sharp pain shot up from my tail, causing me to yelp. The same thing would happen every time I tried to protest again. She said something about taking care of my hair and fur as if she were my mother, but I honestly could not tell at this point.

This led to my current situation, where I was sprawled out on the bench, nearly falling off with a loud purr rumbling from my chest.

My tail was still trapped by Raina for all I knew. Soon, a gust of wind enveloped me, and then my head was placed on something soft, and something started running through my hair and the fur on my ears. I felt very nice, and I started to purr even louder.

Mother's brushing of my fur and hair felt so nice and relaxing that I was almost falling asleep with my tail wagging around in the air behind me. Not long after, I closed my eyes, and the world was enveloped in a dark, warm haze.

(Lou Xia POV)

The Elder had taken out a communication crystal and started talking into it before turning around to look at us. Then his face lost all color, and it now looked as if he was on death's door. The most shocking thing then occurred as the Elder cursed out loud.

Soon, the wind strider turned hard, and we ended up going back the way we came. Looking behind me, I saw that Vale had disappeared, and I concluded that, somehow, she was the reason for the Elder's condition.

It was not long after that the wind strider slowed down enough for Jiahao, and I managed to stand up.

Looking around, I saw that we were back near a village that we had passed over. Taking a peek over the side of the eagle, I could see down into the village itself. There was not much of note until I looked at the village elder's house.

There, in the second courtyard, I saw Vale lying on a bench with a woman brushing her hair. Vale's tail was waving side to side behind her while the woman seemed to be content with the situation she found herself in.

This did not last long, however, as the woman looked up and locked eyes with me. After that, a scowl replaced the smile on her face, and the world went white.

When my vision returned, the world was still the same, but I heard a voice behind me say, "So you've finally shown up."

Turning around, I see the same woman that was still brushing Vale's hair below now standing on the back of the wind strider. She did not sound very happy either.

The pressure she exuded was so great that I felt as if my body would be crushed, or at least we would fall out of the sky if she did not want us to stay there.

I was just grateful that she was not looking at me. The Elder, on the other hand, was not as lucky. He looked as if he was seeing his own death in human form.

Soon, he bowed low and said, "I am sorry for the inconvenience and disturbing you, Ancestor."

He sounded as if he would die for saying the wrong thing. The woman, however was still clearly angered by what he said as she responded, "Ancestor is only for the disciples here. For you, that is Sect Founder."

I did not even know that the Elder could get even more pale but I was now proved wrong by the woman I now knew as the founder of our sect. She was known for her kindness to her allies but even more so for not having a single enemy.

Most people have even started to call her a weak-willed woman who sleeps around. However I am now seeing with my own eyes how wrong that statement is. From the state of the Elder, I can guess that she is someone who does not have an enemy because they are no longer around to tell of it. Though she seems to be at least kind to Jiahao and me by comparison.

"How can I help the Sect Founder? If it is to get you anything to help recover the energy you have spent, I have plenty of materials on me." The Elder said hurriedly as if trying to gain her favor and prevent what would happen.

"The reason I don't feel as powerful right now is because I don't want to disturb my dear little Valeria right now, so I am using a clone." Her tone was both sweet and icy in a way that reminded me of my mother finding out that I had destroyed Grandpa's model project and even cursed his name behind his back. I also now understood what was about to happen in greater detail.

"Though since this small incident allowed me to meet my new daughter, so I guess that I will be a little nicer with your punishment." What she said this time at least explained what I saw down below us. It was also now that Jiahao said probably the stupidest thing I have heard him say.

"Does that mean the Ancestor won't kill Elder Xei?" He said this with such hope in his voice that I would not surprised if the Ancestor decided to make him join in on whatever punishment the elder would be undergoing.

"No, I won't be killing him. I would never weaken my sect like that, and there are far worse punishments than death." She said with such a gleam in her eyes that it honestly frightened me a little. However, the idiot I call a fellow disciple decided not to keep his mouth shut. Seriously! How come today was the day the always silent boy learned how to speak!

"Then what will happen to him?" This time, there was some fear in his voice as he seemed to finally realize that he should not have spoken. But it was too late.