Chapter Text
The merciless winter winds blew across the frozen shores of the West Lake, blowing loose snow across the banks. The winter was crueler than usual, as snow and ice buried the warm waters. The people living by the shores, who were used to the temperate weather, were holed inside of their homes, near the hearth and warmth.
Not a footstep disturbed the vast expanse of pure white that stretched along the entire length of the lake. The waves of the lakes did not crash onto the shoreline, a thick layer of ice halting their advance. The world was all quiet, silent in the embrace of winter, except for the howling of the wind.
It was there, in this cruel, cold season, that a crane was laying near the shores among the broken reeds, waiting to die.
Lan Wangji was careless, too careless, and now, he could do nothing as he lay dying. There would be no help for him, not at this time. He could only lay down and watch his life’s blood flow out into the snow from the gash in his side, staining the ground as red as the feathers on the top of his head.
He was foolish to venture close to the human’s village today. His brother had warned him, that the humans would not hesitate to hunt for any food, even if it was a crane, but he still went. Worse of all, he had not told his brother, and no one would be able to find him now. Not even the hunter who shot him down, since he had flown a distance before succumbing to his wounds.
There was nothing Lan Wangji could do. At his cultivation, he had only extended his lifespan, but had not been able to even achieve human form as of yet. He still had not taken human shape, but his cultivation was getting so high...yet there was nothing he would be able to do now.
Shot down by the accursed humans that he was trying to imitate. He could almost curse the irony.
Letting out one last mournful cry, Lan Wangji could do nothing more but lay down. His head felt light, and his vision had turned blurry. This was going to be the end of him soon.
The howling winds were the only sound he heard, but soon enough, a louder sound interrupted the silence. Crunching snow, which could only be of footsteps, approached him. Lan Wangji, with the last of his strength, lifted his head, to see a man standing in front of him, eyes wide with shock.
The man’s features were all covered by the scarf he had wrapped around his face to combat the biting cold. The only feature Lan Wangji could see were his eyes, startlingly dark, and stretched wise in surprise. Bright, full of youth, and of life .
Lan Wangji felt something spark inside of him despite his situation.
“I thought I heard something.” The young man said. “Who’d be stupid enough to shoot down a crane…? We’re not that short on food.”
The young man approached, gloved hands outstretched to Lan Wangji, who honked, but did nothing else.
“I’m only going to help you.” The young man stopped in his approach, and Lan Wangji leaned his head back down. With a grunt of effort, the young man lifted Lan Wangji into his arms, and wrapped scraps of cloth across his wound. Lan Wangji leaned closer to the warmth.
He was incredibly lucky. Although he had lost blood, someone had found him. There was still hope for him.
The young man brought Lan Wangji to the small house he had lived. He was clearly a fisherman, as the house leaned against the banks of the lake, and a small boat was peeking out from under the snow. Lan Wangji peered inside as the young man opened the door. It was a very modest home, of only one room in the entrance, and a smaller room sectioned off by curtains that would be the young man’s bedroom.
With more gentleness than Lan Wangji had ever been treated with, the young man laid him down amongst pelts, near a coal fire that kept the entire house warm. Lan Wangji felt himself grow warmer, and a little more aware. The young man then took off the thick layers, and the scarf obscuring his face.
The young man’s cheeks were dusted with pink from the cold, long black hair twisted back into a sensible bun. It let Lan Wangji see the planes of his face, and sharp jawline, contrasted with the roundness of cheeks, suggesting of a youthfulness. He was handsome, undoubtedly so, but Lan Wangji kept looking at his dark eyes, which at the moment were focused on him.
“I’m so glad the arrow isn’t in you.” The young man said. “That would have been harder. That’s a nasty wound still, but the bleeding’s stopped, for now. I’ll get some fresh bandages for you, but stay here, okay?”
Lan Wangji wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, so he let out a faint honk in agreeance.
“Ha! Look at me, talking to you as if you understood.” The young man laughed. “I’ll be back soon.”
Lan Wangji glared with annoyance as the young man exited from the house. He, in fact, could understand the human language. But then again, humans would not know of that, and should not know.
True to his word, the young man returned quickly, with a basket on his back, bandages and a pot of medicine in each hand.
“I brought medicine.” The young man announced. “And clean bandages. Let me get those off of you.”
The young man leaned down, and peeled back the scraps of cloth that was holding Lan Wangji’s wounds together. He made a noise of concern. “Wow, that’s not good.”
I know . Lan Wangji wanted to say, but he let out another quiet honk in agreeance.
“You agree?” The young man chuckled. “I’m gonna apply some medicine right now, it might not feel so good.”
Lan Wangji braced for the medicine. A strong-smelling poultice of some kind, it did sting as it entered the wound, but it did not hurt as much as the wound did.
“You’re so docile...have you been around humans before?” The young man muttered to himself.
You are the first . Lan Wangji wanted to say, but only lay still as the young man finished applying the poultice, and wrapped the wounds in the fresh bandages.
“There!” The young man grinned as he finished wrapping the bandages. “I also brought some food for you! Fish...rice...some sort of water grass? What do you even eat?”
I eat all of them . Lan Wangji gazed in approval as the young man kicked open the basket and Lan Wangji picked through the food.
The young man hesitantly placed a hand on Lan Wangji’s back as he ate, and started stroking. His hand was warm, warmer even then the coals that were giving out heat. “Eat well, get better soon.”
Lan Wangji turned to the young man. Thank you . He wanted to say.
The young man smiled, and Lan Wangji longed to have a human form of his own to smile back.
He owed him his life.
The teeth of winter had let go of the banks of West Lake, receding to the gentle spring breeze. Spring came gently, at first with the melting of the ice, then when the sun broke out of the clouds, the snow gave its way to birth of fresh grasses. The warm weather awakened something in the people of the village as well, as children strayed from their houses, and the young man that saved Lan Wangji’s life ventured out to the lake more and more.
It was embarrassing. Lan Wangji had been living with the young man all winter, but still did not know his name. The man who saved him, who brought him fish each day, and who he braved the winter with.
Lan Wangji should have left the young man weeks ago, but he couldn’t bear to. The wound had long since healed, and new feather had replaced the broken ones that the arrow has slice through. He should have gone to tell his brother he was alright, but he spotted him at the distance one day when he and the young man were on his boat, fishing.
His brother did not approach, as there were many humans about, but Lan Wangji could sense him watching. Seeing that Lan Wangji was safe and sound, he flew off again.
The West Lake in spring was a sight. Willows draped their long branches like a maiden’s hair to the surface of the lake, and lotus pads sprouted from the muddy banks. Greenery dotted along the shores, and wildflowers bloomed all over the hills. The lake itself was full of life. Carp jumped to the surface, dragonflies buzzed at the reeds, and the clear waters were full of fish.
It was one of these days that the young man took to the waters again, and Lan Wangji followed. Lan Wangji, seeing the young man struggle with fishing that day, lunged into the water, and gripped a fish with his beak, and dropped it in the boat.
“Whoa, you’re helping me?” The young man grinned. “You can have that for yourself.”
“No fair, Wei Ying!” A similarly young man shouted from another boat, all grins as well. “You have a helper! Where’d you even find the crane?”
“I found him injured during the winter, and nursed him back to health!” The young man, his saviour, Wei Ying said. “And now he’s following me around!”
“That poor thing.” The other fisherman shook his head in mock sympathy. “Having only you as a company all winter.”
“Hey! I’m good company!” Wei Ying retorted.
You are . Lan Wangji wanted to say, as he honked in joy.
“See? He agrees!” Wei Ying said.
“He’s probably lonely.” The other fisherman said. “With only you there? It wants another of its kind. It’s spring, they should be mating.”
Lan Wangji glared at the other fisherman, not that the human would know. But Lan Wangji would not leave Wei Ying.
“Or maybe I’m his girlfriend.” Wei Ying joked as he flipped his hair.
“Oh shut up!” The fisherman laughed. “Go find that crane a pair!”
Wei Ying ... don’t make me leave.
“He’s right, you know.” Wei Ying said. “Your wounds have long healed. You’ve flown too. Shouldn’t you go?”
No! Lan Wangji wanted to protest, but couldn’t communicate, so he nipped at Wei Ying.
“Hey! What’s up with you?” Wei Ying yelped as a particularly nasty nip hurt. “I don’t know if you can understand what I’m saying, but you can’t always stay here. Don’t you have somewhere you need to go? A family?”
At that, Lan Wangji looked guiltily at the forest where his brother had disappeared off to. Indeed, he had someone to go back to. Among the humans, he had been slacking on his cultivation practices. Besides, it was not like Wei Ying could understand him, or his growing feelings. One day, he would stand before Wei Ying with his human form, but he couldn’t do that here.
As beautiful as the shores of the West Lake were, as lovely as Wei Ying’s home was, he still had not achieved human form yet.
“You want to go, right?” Wei Ying grinned. “I’ll miss you. But you can go. I’ll be right here, and I’ll wait for you to come back.”
Lan Wangji, unsure of what to do, only coming closer and nuzzling next to Wei Ying.
“I’ll miss you too. But I know you want to go.”
Lan Wangji looked back to the shore, sensing his brother’s presence was still somewhere near.
He then looked back to Wei Ying’s smiling face.
“I’ll be waiting right here if you ever want to come back.”
Lan Wangji gave one more noise of protest, but gazed at the shore. With one last gaze back at Wei Ying, he took to wing, the wind under his wings rippling the surface of the water as he passed by.
He would come back to Wei Ying, and he would pay back the life-debt.
Each spring, Lan Wangji rode the warm east wind under his wing, and flew towards the small village by the shores of the West Lake. Each year, Wei Ying would greet him happily as he landed. Wei Ying would laugh, as he dug out the fish he had caught that day, and gave the biggest one to Lan Wangji. Wei Ying would welcome him into his home, despite some strange looks from the neighbours.
They would spend two weeks of the year together, no more. Lan Wangji was determined one day to stand before Wei Ying in human form...and show him his gratitude at saving his life. He was making progress, but it would still be years. In the meantime, he would help Wei Ying catch fish to sell on the markets.
This continued for a few years. However, during the fifth year, when Lan Wangji excitedly flew towards Wei Ying’s home, everything went wrong.
To his horror, the small village, not beautiful but homely, was burned to the ground. Wei Ying’s home was burnt to the ground, and nothing remained. Lan Wangji, in a panic, tried to find something, anything that was left. The small fishing boat was no longer there either. But there were no bodies, no bones, even as Lan Wangji dug at the dirt with his beak. There was simply nothing.
Lan Xichen, hearing his distress flew to him. “Wangji?”
“He’s not here. Nothing is here.” Lan Wangji looked in horror. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Lan Xichen said. “We don’t come into contact with the human world often, and none of us know anything.”
“Where could he be?” Lan Wangji said. “What if he’s…”
“Wangji, don’t jump to conclusions.” Lan Xichen said. “We can look around.”
“You’re...you’re right. Maybe he’s in another village nearby.”
Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji together searched he surrounding villages for days. They didn’t dare approach humans, but Lan Wangji did not see a bright eyed young man with an infectious grin. He did not hear echoes of his laugh. All he saw were armed men on horses, weapons on their backs, as they razed village after village, leaving nothing in his wake.
“Brother, what if he’s…” Lan Wangji sighed, after another day of searching.
“Wangji… we can’t linger any longer.” Lan Xichen said. “As much as we are both indebted to him, we cannot risk ourselves either.”
“You’re right...maybe later.” Lan Wangji looked with regret back at the village. “I swear, I will find him again.”
The years passed. Five years turned into decades. Decades turned into a century. Lan Wangji returned to the shores of the West Lake each year with his brother, despite the small fishing village no longer standing. The fishing village was replaced by a garden, grandiose and built with stone and graceful flowers, but Lan Wangji could only mourn the village that once stood.
He never saw the young man on the shores of the West Lake for that time, and when the years turned to a century, Lan Wangji had been forced to accept that Wei Ying was gone. Even if Wei Ying was an old man, Lan Wangji would have recognized him by his eyes alone, but too much time had passed. Humans did not live that long, and Lan Wangji paused in his search.
But he only paused, because Wei Ying would return again. Maybe not the shores of the West Lake, but somewhere in this world, Wei Ying would be reborn. Lan Wangji was sure, someone as kind and pure as he, would reincarnate swiftly, he only had to look.
During the years he was missing, Lan Wangji had finally achieved human form along with his brother. A step towards their goal of immortality. Lan Wangji knew his form was pleasing to the eye: flawless skin as if he’d been carved from white jade, silken strands of black hair. A broad jaw, a straight nose, graceful brows, and golden eyes. He knew people turned their heads as he and his brother walked together, in white robes, accompanied only with their sword and instruments.
But no matter how much the humans stared, he did not look back at them. He was a crane spirit, a yao* , and humans would be scared had they known his true form.
He was uninterested in all of them. Except one.
He had waited for him for centuries, and unwilling to pause in his steps to find him. As soon as he had achieved human form, he wandered from crowd to crowd, hoping to catch his gaze. Those night-like eyes that held the entire sky, the lively smile, the kind heart.
“Brother, how would you even recognize him?” Lan Xichen had asked.
“I know I can.” Lan Wangji said. “No matter where he was, I would know him by his soul.”
Lan Xichen had gave him a look of doubt. “Brother...it has been five hundred years. You still have not found him. Are you sure you know who he would be? You only spent months with him.”
“I would know.” Lan Wangji insisted. “I would know him.”
“Wangji, I have to warn you. We’re in a dangerous spot right now.” Lan Xichen said.
“Here, Lotus Pier?” Lan Wangji said. “This place has the Yunmeng Jiang clan of cultivators, does it not?”
“It does indeed.” Lan Xichen said. “You know how human cultivators are. They rid the world of evil or dangerous creatures like us. We are crane spirits. We are yao . They hunt our kind.”
“Brother, we have never hurt humans.” Lan Wangji frowned. “Surely, they won’t hunt us. We only cultivate by ourselves, never have we stolen the spiritual energy of humans in an effort to further our own cultivation.”
“But they don’t know that.” Lan Xichen warned. “Wangji, I know you have an attachment to humans because of your Wei Ying, but cultivators pose great danger to us. Which is why we must be careful.”
“Mm. I understand, brother.” Lan Wangji nodded. “I will be careful.”
“Please, Wangji. I don’t want to have a scare like when you were shot down by the hunter. I’ll leave you to wander Lotus Pier on your own, meet me back at the docks by sundown.”
“Understood.”
Lotus Pier was well named. The waterway of the piers were full of lotus blossoms in the high of their bloom, nodding their heads in the wind. The water was not clear, but full of greenery. Lan Wangji knew fish swam between the lotus stalks, straight as a gentleman’s back, but they could not be seen by the eye. The town was full of life, as boats crossed the waterways, merchants selling their wares shouting the deals of the day. Lan Wangji spotted more than one figure running across the town in purple, and sensed the spiritual energy from them. They had to be the Jiang Clan cultivators that Lan Xichen spoke of.
It was not like the West Lake, where the beauty was more of peace and serenity. Lotus Pier was lively, and even the waters were rarely still. Children swam amongst the flowers, as they plucked the seeds from the pods, and ate them in the water. Even though Lan Wangji was new to the town, most of the folks still greeted him along the way, as he nodded back.
It was lively, everyone was friendly. It reminded him of the small fishing village by the West Lake again, in a way that no other place he had been to in the last five hundred years. He could see Wei Ying in a place like this, them wandering the stalls.
He had finally achieved human form. He would stand before Wei Ying again. He would pay back his life debt.
His brother told him he was still very childish in his beliefs. The last five hundred years he had been mostly in seclusion, cultivating the form he held. He wanted to do it for himself, and for brother, but a part of it was for the young man he held in his heart this entire time.
He was a crane spirit, he was not a human. His appearance nor his heart would change with the passing of time. He would not let go of the person in his heart. He only wandered the human world for that person alone.
The scent of sweet cakes made him give pause, and as he walked closer to the stall, a purple blur went past him, laughing.
That laugh. It was familiar.
Lan Wangji rapidly turned around, to catch sight of the eyes he had been looking for this entire time, narrowed in mirth, as he was holding lotus seed pods.
Wei Ying!
A cultivator. He was a cultivator .
“Jiang Cheng! You’re so slow! I won the race again!” Wei Ying shouted, eyes still crinkled in laughter. The same eyes as before.
Oh, he didn’t look the same. Still handsome, but more sharp in feature, the jaw broader. He was also taller, Lan Wangji noted with delight.
“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng—Lan Wangji presumed—shouted as he huffed. “Not fair!”
“Come on, we have to go back home, before Madam Yu tears me apart.” Wei Ying—Wuxian—sobered up.
Jiang Cheng grunted in agreeance as he followed Wei Ying’s footsteps. Lan Wangji could do little else except watch their backs receding in the distance. If he approached Wei Wuxian now, he would be suspicious as to why he knew. But at last, after five hundred years, he was in front of Lan Wangji’s eyes.
Wei Wuxian was a cultivator. Lan Wangji was supposed to avoid him. They would be opposed to each other, it was against all the rules he was taught.
But he didn’t care. He could finally stand before Wei Ying in human form. He could finally repay his debt to him.
He finally had found his Wei Ying.