[ closed post: hold fast to the center ]

[lightbearinglord]

With Dark behind them, most of Lan Wangji's routine has managed to reassert itself. He awakens at mao hour and disentangles himself from his clinging cultivation partner, who tends to sprout several additional limbs in the night. He dresses and slips away for his morning meditation. He takes Bichen to the air, circles the grounds of the mansion and checks the woods for any changes beyond the known quantities of Ragnelle's nest and Magnus' camp, and runs through his sword forms. He stops in the kitchen and makes breakfast for his husband. By that point, his day can branch in several ways: he can, upon bringing the breakfast to Wei Ying, also opt to return to his bed, a perpetually tempting option. He can find Magnus and indulge in listening to him talking about whatever strikes his fancy. He can practice his qin, work on his calligraphy, retreat to the library for the endless project of educating himself, or embark on some more ambitious culinary endeavor.

Recently, however, Lan Wangji was reminded of a promise he made to someone important. Where possible, he prefers to keep his promises. So this morning, after he has sufficiently fed Wei Ying, made his apologies in the form of several lingering love-bites along his neck and shoulders, and changed his boots for house slippers, he approaches Claudius and Galahad's room. This route is one of the few persistently familiar paths that seem to exist in the ever-changing mansion.

It is early, but not so early. And Claudius did ask him for this, not once but twice. He lifts a hand and knocks crisply at the door.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

"Only that it would be a fiercer corpse than any we had seen." Excepting, perhaps, Wen Qionglin, but the Ghost General was docile enough by then, and very forgiving of Lan Wangji's tendency to drunkenly shove him aside in pursuit of time with Wei Ying. "Before we could locate the head, it reassembled itself. Wei Ying led it away from the juniors. Xiongzhang had joined us. He subdued it with me, and realized that he recognized it." Here, Lan Wangji obligingly pauses so that Claudius may try his hand at guessing the corpse's identity.

[wickedwit]

Claudius considers the cast of characters. Naturally, it would have to be someone already dead before this particular leg¹ of the story began. There was a veritable cascade of deaths and inheritances, between Qinghe Nie and Lanling Jin. But the most important clue is someone Lan Xichen would recognize. Perhaps someone he was close to, all those years ago, when Lan Wangji failed to befriend Nie Huaisang.

"No," Claudius says with shock. "Not Nie Mingjue?"

¹ Heh.

[lightbearinglord]

"Nie Mingjue," Lan Wangji repeats, with another small nod of confirmation. He is surprised to find himself with just enough distance from this story to feel a little satisfaction at Claudius' apparent shock. "It was known that he had died of a qi deviation, but his corpse was powerfully resentful. Its ferocity could be explained only by a murder."

[wickedwit]

Claudius audibly gasps. Yes, he knew this was a revenge story from the beginning, but all the pieces start to come together like -- well -- like the reassembled corpse of a close friend with an unmistakable torso who died from a qi deviation. "Nie Huaisang," he says. "Nie Huaisang knew it was a murder, didn't he?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Nie Huaisang knew," Lan Wangji confirms again. "But we did not realize that until later, after Nie Mingjue's murderer had been discredited, disgraced, and then killed, too. Nie Huaisang's reputation cloaked him well."

[wickedwit]

“Who was it? Thou hast me on the edge of my seat,” Claudius says, as though he wouldn’t be inching towards it regardless. He’s given up that straight posture to lean eagerly forward.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji can hardly restrain himself from a fleeting look of affection at Claudius' eagerness. He is, of course, still sitting as straight as a brush, and he does return to some more overt somberness as he answers. "Wei Ying knew it. Xiongzhang was reluctant to believe. He and Jin Guangyao had been intimate friends since the Sunshot Campaign."

[wickedwit]

Claudius nearly gasps again. “Nie Huaisang’s own counsellor?” And another close friend of Lan Xichen’s — Claudius begins to understand why a charming, trusting man like that would end up in seclusion, with a pang of sympathy.

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." Nie Huaisang's counsellor, and the former right-hand man to Nie Mingjue. "Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue had met on the battlefield at Hejian. Nie Mingjue defended Meng Yao against his detractors and took him in as advisor to the Nie clan. Xiongzhang visited Hejian and they became close as well. Later, at Langya, Nie Mingjue witnessed Meng Yao killing a Lanling Jin commander using Qishan Wen techniques. After his dismissal by Nie Mingjue, Meng Yao became a spy. He infiltrated Nightless City, the seat of the Wen clan, and passed intelligence to my brother, who passed it to Nie Mingjue."

[wickedwit]

"A rather complicated relationship," Claudius surmises. Claudius rarely spoke to anyone from his service in Normandy, but he knows what bonds form on the battlefield. And for one man to defend the other from all detractors, until there's one step taken too far ... He thinks back to what he recalls of Qishan Wen and the Sunshot Campaign, their brutal methods, their shows of force. All the same, Claudius's instinct is to wonder what the Lanling Jin commander did, particularly to a bastard son of the Jin family. Unwanted sons aren't treated kindly. "Thy brother is a sympathetic man, to still trust in Meng Yao. Was his intelligence reliable?" There's a complicated feeling there -- it would be very easy for this man to take advantage of Lan Xichen's trust, and pass on faulty information to hurt Nie Mingjue. It's the sort of thing Claudius used to do, which he only occasionally feels a pang of guilt for.

[lightbearinglord]

"It was reliable, and Nie Mingjue won several victories," Lan Wangji says, "until an attempted ambush on Yangquan. Qishan Wen took Nie Mingjue captive and brought him before Wen Ruohan, the sect leader. He met Meng Yao again there, and learned that he was the spy in Nightless City. Meng Yao killed many of Nie Mingjue's subordinates and offered him to Wen Ruohan for death by torture. At the last minute, Meng Yao killed Wen Ruohan instead. That is how he earned acceptance by his father, who granted him the name of Jin Guangyao."

[wickedwit]

Ah, of course. Claudius could almost roll his eyes, if it weren't for the tragedy of it. He's met bastard sons of nobility who would do anything for their fathers' approval, to have some proof their birth and life were worth something, despite their illegitimacy¹. "I see. Despite Meng Yao's last minute reversal and acceptance as a Jin, I take it Nie Mingjue wouldn't forgive the slaughter of his subordinates that easily."

¹ Edmund. He's thinking about Edmund FromKingLear.

[lightbearinglord]

"No. Nie Mingjue was a morally rigid man." Famously so, and he was one of the first to condemn Wei Ying and advocate for his exile from the cultivation world. Lan Wangji is glad for the small, peaceful world of this room, the lingering and familiar sandalwood scent, and Claudius' company. It makes it easier not to dwell. He is not telling that story today.

"After the war, my brother, Nie Mingjue, and Jin Guangyao entered a sworn brotherhood, the Venerated Triad. Nie Mingjue was reluctant, but agreed. Xiongzhang knew he wanted to monitor Jin Guangyao."

[wickedwit]

"Thy brother was popular, to have two sworn brothers. No wonder he was counted among the cultivation world's eligible bachelors." A tease, but a softly-made one. From the way Lan Wangji has described him, Claudius imagines Lan Xichen as a kind, attentive man who cares as deeply as Lan Wangji himself does, and who would've taken his oaths of brotherhood seriously. A loyal man, whose heart would be divided between two of his sworn brothers' enmity for each other -- and Lan Xichen lost them both. It's sincere, when Claudius says, "It's a shame his heart was not treated more kindly."

[lightbearinglord]

The cultivation world's most eligible bachelor, Lan Wangji could correct him -- but he knows Claudius must remember that. Lan Xichen has always wanted to please and see the best in everyone. One brother, killed by the other. Lan Wangji thinks it will be some time yet before Lan Xichen emerges from seclusion and resumes his duties.

"Yes," he says, simple enough and equally sincere. There is a story to resume. "Xiongzhang, Wei Ying, and I determined that we would investigate further at a Lanling Jin discussion conference the following month. Jin Guangyao had been the sect leader for years by then, following Jin Guangshan's death."

[wickedwit]

An investigation at a discussion conference. Claudius's interest is certainly piqued. "A fine opportunity, with so many gathered. How didst thou proceed?" he asks.

[lightbearinglord]

"Wei Ying used the Paper Metamorphosis technique the evening of the pre-conference banquet." A little abruptly, Lan Wangji's face softens with fondness. "It is dangerous, but it affixed his soul to a small piece of paper in the shape of a man. He slipped into Jin Guangyao's quarters to spy on him, and discovered his hidden treasure room in the process."

[wickedwit]

A hidden room! And a little paper man with Wei Wuxian's soul -- Claudius's eyes catch on that moment of softening fondness, as they always do on his friend's face. "Dangerous, and fiendishly clever. Wei Wuxian seems to like plans that are both."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji gives himself that moment to recall Wei Ying's paperman, the absurd fragility of it in his hands with Wei Ying's unconscious form beside him. Wei Ying's soul, which had already spent thirteen years in fitful, half-aware discontentment, in the flimsiest possible vessel. They needed those answers, but his breath had not quite filled his lungs properly until Wei Ying returned to his new body. "He barely escaped. I called him back just in time. Before Jin Guangyao discovered him, however, he found a land deed for Yunping, and the final piece of Nie Mingjue's body."

[wickedwit]

“The head,” Claudius says, not because it needs to be said, but because it feels like a call-and-response. The last piece of a puzzle, locking into place. “He’d kept it?”

[lightbearinglord]

"The head. He had kept it, heavily suppressed." With that, Lan Wangji turns grimmer again. "Its resentful energy was so strong that it pulled Wei Ying into the Empathy technique without his permission. He saw Nie Mingjue's memories and much of his history with Jin Guangyao."

[wickedwit]

"Extraordinary. Did he tell thee what he saw?" It's almost impossible to imagine he didn't. The more Claudius hears stories from Lan Wangji's past, the more he understands Wei Wuxian's courtship was a faltering, awkward thing -- all the more reason for Lan Wangji to advise Crowley against secrets and subtlety¹. But they trust each other so completely now, and these journeys must have gone a long way to building up that trust.

¹ Claudius. Claudius. Who told Crowley to be subtle? I'm your typist, and I won't let you get away with that.

[lightbearinglord]

"Yes, later." Lan Wangji takes another short pause. He has always known this story would continue to intersect unavoidably with some painful memories. He would not have volunteered to tell it if he did not already trust Claudius with these things. "In the escape from Carp Tower, Wei Ying's identity was revealed and he was injured. We took him back to the Cloud Recesses so that he could recover. Our next move was uncertain, because I trusted Wei Ying, and my brother trusted Jin Guangyao."

[wickedwit]

Claudius knows how Lan Wangji loves, how fiercely and how endlessly -- I have never known how to feel anything by halves, he'd said, or how to love with any reservation. Lan Wangji was once a young man who touched no one, and now whenever he returns a touch, he grasps back with both hands. I have also never known how to take back my love once it is given away. He said that, too. It struck Claudius to his soul, the realization that after countless cycles of fairweather friends and temporary allies, he found a friend whose love would never leave him.

Lan Wangji loved Wei Wuxian, and trusted him. He loved and trusted his brother, but his brother was wrong. Loving both, he had to act, and the next move was uncertain. That uncertainty must have been agony.

"Ah," he says, and lets it say all of that. He touches Lan Wangji's hand.

[lightbearinglord]

The touch surprises him, a pleasant and welcome surprise like the first warm breeze of an oncoming summer. In this room, Claudius dressed in the style of his world and reaching kindly for him, he feels the reassuring weight of their agreed-upon brotherhood more than ever. Now that he is no longer a young man who touches no one but a grown man who touches the people he loves with gratitude for it, he turns over both of his hands, palms up, and offers them to Claudius.

"Wei Ying awoke four days later," he continues, and his voice remains calm. "He understood why my brother could not trust the Yiling Patriarch. He had seen Nie Mingjue's memories, and knew that during the years leading up to his death, he had been struggling more and more to soothe his qi as a result of his saber cultivation. Jin Guangyao would play the qin for him. Xiongzhang had taught him a musical cultivation technique, Cleansing. This technique calms the mind and spirit. On his bamboo flute, Wei Ying played the melody he had heard within Empathy. It was not Cleansing."