I grew bigger with every day as weeks turned into months, and months turned into a year. My diet had changed into water, soup and some bread somewhere along the line, making eating a lot less awkward for me. By now I was capable of understanding just about everything my mother talked about, though I still had problems some speaking myself.

I learned much over the those months, for example the energy was called qi, and the act of gathering it cultivation. I thought nothing about that word right up until I learnt one could use the same word for growing crops. Strange.

Well, it didn't really matter to me, as nothing changed knowing both of those words. Nothing but what I called them at least.

By now the concentration of qi in my bones had nearly reached the level of ambient qi I could feel pressing on my skin at all times. I didn't even have to concentrate to feel qi anymore, it morphed into just another sense to me, so I could also ignore it when necessary. Still, my qi sense meant I always knew the position of all parts of my body simply due to the nature of my cultivation. I was still unable to sense qi outside of my body, yet, at least as long as it wasn't in direct contact to my body.

Furthermore I felt thoroughly sick of crawling, and thus decided it was time to relearn walking.

How hard could it be?

I crawled over to my mother's chair, and grabbed its legs. I worked myself up, soon standing for the first time in my life. Right up until I fell down just a moment later, losing my balance after letting go of the chair to take a step.

Not one to be discouraged by such a small setback I repeated my action, making sure to hold on this time.

"Mama." I beamed, looking upwards. My mother looked down, just in time to see me falling on my butt again as I forgot to keep holding onto the chair’s leg again.

She beamed back, and set her stuff down and picked me up.

"You want to learn how to walk? Let me help you my baby." She cooed, moving the both of us into our living room with me clutched to her chest, and setting me down near the wall before walking a to the other side of the room.

I pouted, there was no way I'd manage to go that far!

"Mama not fair." I complained. I got up regardless, and followed the wall towards my mother as best as I could.

For a step at least, until I fell again. Mom came back to help me, stabilising me a little as I made my first few steps. I laughed happily, finally walking again, even if assisted by someone else, felt great.

I took only one month and many, many falls to fully relearn walking and start trying to run around. I felt my abnormal cultivation, or at least I assumed it to be abnormal, was partly responsible for that.

And I finally saw some of mom's customers while playing in her workroom.

Most would buy her pre prepared clothes with only minor adjustments, but some of the nicer looking folks wanted custom orders. They did not look actually rich, just like they really wanted to be. In reality I thought they were just a little more successful than her usual customers, and wanted to flaunt that fact to their peers at any opportunity.

Kinda stupid if one asked me, especially as they came to the same seamstress the people they looked down on did, defeating the purpose of these clothes.

Currently mom was out of the house, probably to buy some more food for the both of us. She left me in my crib, where I was sleeping when she left. But I slept a lot less then I did a few months ago, and sadly for her I was bored. I would have very much wanted to accompany her, and see something of wherever we lived. Did we live in a town? A city? A village? Something smaller?

I would have to teach her leaving me cooped up while she was out wouldn't work, she had to take me with her. I already did my daily cultivation, practically brimming with energy and more than ready for some serious exercise.

Luckily my crib really wasn't meant to contain someone my age and mom hadn't gotten around, or didn't know she had to buy a new one yet.

When standing up I could comfortably look over the edge, and infants were really fucking agile. Far more so than almost any adults could hope to match.

Some preparations were in order though. First I picked my pillow up and hoisted over my head, throwing it on the ground to arrest a potential fall. My blanket soon joined the pillow, and I felt as ready as I was going to get.

First I used my arms to pull myself up as much as I could, which wasn't far, before raising my left leg up, and over the crib's ledge. I braced my second foot against the wooden bars, and slowly worked myself up, using all the strength my small body could muster.

I didn't take long to arrive at the top, and decided a small rest on the ledge I had just climbed was in order. My eyes locked on the floor, and I had to admit I was a little scared. My pillow and blanket looked to be a looong way off.

I wouldn't stop now though, not when I was as far as now, so my second leg went out of the crib before I could hesitate. My legs failed to find any purchase the moment I moved, leaving me plummeting towards the ground an instant later. My hands barely had the strength to arrest my fall for a moment, and I fell all the way down onto my pillow and blanket.

Ouch.

Still, my plan mostly worked, I was on the floor. And unhurt. Yay me. I'd count it as a win anyways.

What to do now? How much of a shock did I want to give mom? What possibilities did I have?

I looked around the room, seeing all those delicious possibilities. I could play close to the fire, climb on her bed, wait, I should do that this night, infants liked sleeping with their parents didn't they? A thought for later.

Now where was I? Ah yes, go and build a nest in one of the lower drawers. Or perhaps climb on the table?

I liked that last one, climbing sounded really good right now, after my earlier success. I padded over to the table, and looked up. It looked mightily tall from here, not something I'd want to fall down from. I went back towards my stuff, dragging blanket and pillow to the chair I planned to use to conquer the tall table.

My mother's chairs looked both solid and heavy, like medieval furniture usually did, so I didn't think they'd tip over if little old me were to climb them. Taking precautions never hurt anyone though, so I'd start under the table, eliminating the risk of the chair tipping over in the first part of my climb.

My plan would be doomed without the stretcher between the chair's legs, as I was simply too small to reach the seat without it using it as a substitute ladder. Well my arms were just long enough to reach to top of the seat, but not strong enough to pull me up. Still, with the strecher the chair was nearly perfect for a little climbing. I put both feet on the stretcher, one after the other, and pushed myself up.

Once standing I did some gymnastics I'd never be able to repeat in a few years, and put one of my feet on the chair's seat, right next to my two hands. Once I managed that it was nearly trifling to climb up on the seat proper.

After a short rest to plan my next move I set out to climb atop of the table. This would be a little harder, as I had to squeeze myself between table and the chair's back, bracing my feet to the back and holding on for dear life to the front.

I stood up, my head already in the crack between table and chair, and gripped the table's edge with my hands. I stepped on the lower rail with both feet, and pushed up. Next I searched for the mid rail with my left leg, and after finding it, worked myself up again.

Lastly I moved one of my legs up on the table, pushed off with my other foot, and heaved myself up in a feat of herculean strength.

Surveying the room from my perch I felt both satisfied and accomplished, far more than I thought I'd be considering where I was.

What now? I could climb down again, but didn't think I'd manage to get back up here in time to shock mom. I'd just have to wait then. And maaaybe play with that mug. Possibly. Yeah, no need to lie to myself, I'd definitely play with that mug.

I peered inside the cup, and saw there was some liquid left in there. I picked it up, and brought it to my mouth, taking a careful sip. It tasted just like the water I drank over the last months. So I took several deep gulps, draining the mug of its content. Now I just had to wait until I heard mom coming back.

I didn't have to wait for long, hearing the door open only minutes after I was ready, the mug already tipped over long before that. It was embarrassingly fun to just roll it from one side to the other, watching its momentum get stopped by the handle every single time.

The door to the living room opened, and mom came in with a basket full of food, with a prime sight of me, proudly perched upon the table as I was.

"Mama.” I cried, ignoring the boring mug and beaming up at her.

I could literally see mom's face registering my presence, harmlessly sitting on top of the table. Somewhere she definitely did not leave me, and right next to the currently open window.

Damn. I lost a great opportunity there, the shock would've been so much greater if I sat on the windowsill.

Well, there would surely be a next time. Mom quickly set the basket down, nearly dropping it, before lunging towards me. She practically heaved me up, forcefully pressing me to her chest.

After a few minutes she let go of me, setting me back down on the table and checking me for injuries. She didn't find anything, unsurprisingly, and picked me up again, gently this time. She walked over to her bed and sat down, me still secured in her arms. Mom looked down on me, and I knew what would come now. The lecture.

"Why did you do that?" She asked, sternly.

"Mommy leave me. I follow." I answered.

Her face melted into a smile, looking both relieved and sad, looking into the distance. Still, she forced the stern look back on her eyes, her eyes refocusing on me.

"Promise you won't do that anymore." She said.

Looking into her eyes I could see it was important for her. Far more so than I imagined it would be.

"If mommy doesn't leave me again." I answered with a pout. Concessions needed to be made after all.

"Don't worry, I will never leave you. I promise." She said, tears threatening to burst out of her eyes again.

Those wounds looked deep, and I couldn't do much to help for now. Still, I could do something, even now, so I did.

"Don't be sad mommy. I will stay with you forever." I said reassuringly, giving her as big a hug as my arms could manage.

Mom smiled at me, a sad look still on her face, but the tears had receded a little.

"I didn't think you would." She answered. "Now how about showing me how you got up there? Because I really didn't think you could do that."

I nodded with a smile, and struggled out of her arms. I crawled towards the bed's edge, and dropped down before mom had a chance to react. I expertly arrested my fall by landing on my feet, and collapsing backwards on my butt, making sure my head didn't hit the ground in the process.

The crib's upper edge was far taller than mom's bed, so I immediately got up, without making a fuss, not even feeling any pain this time. Afterwards I moved to repeat my earlier acrobatics.

Now that I already had some practice it was far easier, and I only needed two thirds of the time.

I turned back to my mother with a big smile, only to see she was hovering just behind me, ready to catch me should I fall. I grinned right at her, getting a conflicted smile in return. Mom took another few moments to compose herself, before returning to her usual disposition.

"Let's get you something to eat for you first. We'll visit a carpenter after, you need a new bed." She said, turning around to pick up the freshly bought food.

I smiled to myself, life was good.