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Wei Wuxian has just placed the washcloth to the side when Lan Wangji throws a leg over his upper thighs. He shuffles further until his nose is pressed into Wei Wuxian's collarbone and Wei Wuxian's hand has found its way into Lan Wangji's hair. It is warm and slightly damp close to the scalp. These soft, listless moments in the aftermath of intimacy are some of the most peaceful Wei Wuxian has found since coming to reside in the Burial Mounds.
"I should go with you," Lan Wangji begins.
"No, no," Wei Wuxian says. "I can go to Lanling just fine. I have a gift prepared and everything. Plus, I'll have Wen Ning with me."
"That's not the point." Lan Wangji lifts his face from Wei Wuxian's chest. After a long moment of stubborn eye contact, Lan Wangji shifts until he is straddling Wei Wuxian's hips. His elbows are bent. His face remains close. Their chests press together.
"Yes, I know," Wei Wuxian says. He then runs his hands from Lan Wangji's flanks down to his knees. "But I'd rather not see you punished due to your association with me. Please," Wei Wuxian says and lifts his face to meet Lan Wangji's in a brief kiss. "I'd not see you hurt or worse, isolated from your clan."
Lan Wangji stares a moment longer before closing his eyes and pushing forward for a deeper kiss.
-----
Wei Wuxian's eyes pop open. He is in the Quiet Room. The cloth above the bed is both familiar and unfamiliar. He supposes much could have changed in thirteen years.
Turning to take in the rest of the room, Wei Wuxian comes face to face with Lan Wangji, already awake and watching. Wei Wuxian stares back, breath catching in his throat.
"Wei Ying?" Lan Wangji's voice is quiet.
"Lan Zhan, how? How did you know it was me?" Wei Wuxian says, matching Lan Wangji's reverent whisper. It is tinged with wonder and nerves. "So quickly? So completely?"
Lan Wangji is silent for a contemplative moment before continuing, "Prove it to me."
Wei Wuxian's mind whirls. He opens his mouth to say something clever and distancing, when instead a song comes out. His tone wavers but the melody is unmistakable.
"Also, you have a birth mark on your left inner thigh," Wei Wuxian says and Lan Wangji barks out a laugh.
Lan Wangji grabs Wei Wuxian's face and pulls him into a kiss. It is deeply familiar and comforting. They slot together seamlessly as though time and literal bodily change is no barrier.
Lan Wangji pulls away. "I have so much to tell you, Wei Ying." But Wei Wuxian pulls him into another kiss before he can say more.
Their exchanges are becoming heated when a sudden knock at the door startles them apart. A woman's voice rings out, "Father! Father, is it true?"
Wei Wuxian's ears ring. Father?
Lan Wangji sits up and takes in Wei Wuxian's poleaxed expression. "It will make sense in a moment. I promise." He stands after pressing a quick final kiss to Wei Wuxian's stunned lips. To the door he says, "I'm coming."
No sooner are the doors open when a teenage girl in Lan disciple whites pushes herself into Lan Wangji's space. She grasps his forearms tightly. "Is he here? I want to meet him!" She looks over to Wei Wuxian, disheveled on the bed. "He's young. How is he so young? That makes no sense!"
"It is not his original body, a-Jing." Lan Wangji says.
The girl's attention snaps back to Lan Wangji. "What?"
"I have not spoken to him yet." They share a long moment of silent communication before Lan Wangji speaks again. "Would you bring us breakfast? In an hour or so? Bring Sizhui."
"But Father," the girl, a-Jing, presses.
"I know you are curious." Lan Wangji raises a hand to the crown of her head. "Please, go. Then you can return and we can eat."
After another moment of telepathy, the girl retreats.
At the sound of the doors sliding closed, Lan Wangji turns to Wei Wuxian, still sitting in bed. An expression of alarm decorates his face.
"You have a daughter?" Wei Wuxian asks.
"I do," Lan Wangji agrees.
Wei Wuxian frantically takes in the room anew. He looks for signs of a wife. Instead he sees the tell-tale symptoms of a child's childhood: beloved misshapen gifts and poorly done calligraphy displayed openly and with pride. How had he missed this? Then, suddenly Lan Wangji is before him.
"If I am interfering -" Wei Wuxian starts before Lan Wangji covers his mouth with a hand.
"There is no other." Lan Wangji intones. He settles next to Wei Wuxian on the bed.
"But how?" Wei Wuxian asks once Lan Wangji has lifted his hand.
After a second of thought, Lan Wangji moves towards the living space. "Perhaps a text would be a good starting point."
"Reading?" Wei Wuxian squawks. There is an edge of hysteria in his voice. "What good will reading do?"
"Come. Sit." Lan Wangji instructs, pulling out a scroll from a bookcase along the wall and placing it at the low table.
-----
Lan Wangji is submitting to an unwanted medical exam, when Lan Ping makes a tsking sound.
"You are not healing as you should." Lan Ping comes around to face Lan Wangji. "The marks should be in a later stage, closer to sealed. I would like to examine you more closely, if you'll allow."
Lan Wangji's mind is thick and dull. He barely nods.
He barely cares.
Lan Ping's fingers light with a diagnostic shine. He begins the scan at Lan Wangji's forehead and slowly moves downward. At Lan Wangji's midsection, he pauses.
"Your spirit energy is being rerouted. Would you recline?" Lan Ping asks.
Lan Wangji lays back, not bothering to straighten his robes. His back stings as the lashings pull, but he does not shift to gain relief. Lan Wangji stares at the ceiling. Long minutes pass. Lan Ping must come to a conclusion because he withdraws from Lan Wangji's side and comes to stand by his head.
Lan Ping's expression is serious. He licks his lips before speaking. A nervous tick. "I must ask you some intimate questions. I vow that nothing you say will leave this room, but I must know more in order to treat you properly."
Lan Wangji nods his consent.
Lan Ping begins. "Are you sexually active?"
Lan Wangji's eyes widen.
"I won't judge you. As I've said, nothing you say will be repeated without your permission." Lan Ping rushes to reassure.
"Yes," Lan Wangji breathes.
"Is your partner dead?"
"Yes," Lan Wangji says, pained. The ambient light stings. He closes his eyes.
"Did you have intercourse within a week of his or her death?"
Lan Wangji can only nod.
"Did," Lan Ping pauses and then tries again. "Were you the receiving partner?"
"Yes," Lan Wangji says. He reopens his eyes. Lan Ping appears uncomfortable. A long moment passes between them. Lan Wangji's mind suddenly clears. An idea appears. "You think it is a Mourning Blessing."
Lan Ping nods.
"It can't be. I - it - I." Lan Wangji cannot finish his thought.
"And yet," Lan Ping says. The statement lingers for a moment. "I am not certain. I will need to review the records and historical physicians' notes, but..." The sentence trails off.
Lan Wangji sits up, suddenly energized. "If I may review them too," Lan Wangji asks. "I'd know more if it is possible."
Lan Ping nods again.
-----
Wei Wuxian reads. And rereads. And rereads.
The words make no sense.
Mourning Blessing: a powerful miracle. Conception of the spirit within a mutually loving relationship. Occurs after the death of a profoundly devoted partner and lover.
"But," Wei Wuxian stutters out. "But...you...you're male."
Lan Wangji nods,"Every clan has their secrets." The corner of his mouth ticks up. "Though, this is a particularly rare occurrence."
Wei Wuxian can only stare.
-----
Lan Ping checks Lan Wangji, hands hovering over his stomach. The diagnostic light fades and Lan Wanji takes it as his cue to sit up.
"As I have promised, I have spoken to no one of your condition, but, if it's not too much of an impropriety, I would like to make a suggestion." Lan Ping says.
Lan Wangji nods for the medic to continue.
"Tell your brother. Tell him before you have no choice but to tell him."
"Thank you for your sage advice." Lan Wangji continues to straighten his robes. They fall differently than he is accustomed to. "And, as always, for your exceptional care."
Later, Lan Xichen visits him in the Quiet Room. They take a simple meal, during which Lan Xichen tells him stories of a-Yuan's progress from shaken to curious child. Once finished, they withdraw to the Quiet Room's porch. They share a rare moment of informality, sitting at the edge, legs dangling, a pot of tea between them.
"I was happy to receive your invitation today," Lan Xichen says, breaking the peaceful quiet.
Lan Wangji looks out over the scenic landscape. The serene waters reflect the moon's light and the bamboo rustles in an unseen wind. "I have news," Lan Wangji says.
Lan Xichen watches Wangji and waits. He has long experience with Lan Wangji's pauses.
"It is uncomfortable," Lan Wangji starts. He looks to his hands in his lap. "But, it is more and more true every day."
Lan Wangji looks up at his brother, locking eyes. "I am blessed." He cannot bring himself to say more.
Lan Xichen's face is a mask of patience when suddenly he raises his eyebrows. Thank goodness the Lan Sect is led by someone smart. "A Mourning Blessing?" Lan Xichen asks.
Lan Wangji nods.
Lan Xichen is pensive. "This would make it the fourth." He then laughs. "Which of course it is. It must be Wei Wuxian's."
Lan Wangji's ears turn red and his cheeks burn, but does not deny his brother's statement.
-----
Wei Wuxian continues to read. "Is - I - This is - Lan Zhan -" Wei Wuxian cannot complete a sentence.
Lan Wangji takes pity on him. "I know," he acknowledges.
Wei Wuxian begins to cry and Lan Wangji pulls him into his arms. His smaller body snug against Lan Wangji's chest.
When Lan Wangji speaks again, his voice rumbles in Wei Wuxian's ears. "I mourned you. But I also lived with the evidence of your love everyday." Wei Wuxian feels a kiss pressed into his hair. "I am glad you are here."
Wei Wuxian has calmed to the occasional sniffle when there is another knock. Lan Wangji wipes at Wei Wuxian's tears with his thumbs before rising. He slides the door open to reveal the girl from before and the more familiar face of Lan Sizhui. Both are laden with trays of food.
Wei Wuxian stumbles to his feet as the two Lan disciples unload their trays onto the table. Lan Wangji returns to his side. He gestures, "You will recall Lan Sizhui from our night hunt, but you may remember him better as Wen Yuan."
Wei Wuxian gasps, but Lan Wangji does not pause in his introductions.
"And this is Lan Jing, our daughter," Lan Wangji says, as though the statement is not completely devastating, and motions to the girl.
Wei Wuxian feels new tears swell and then fall. "I am just so overwhelmed," he cries. "I don't know where to start!"
He rushes to Lan Sizhui and pulls him into a messy hug. "A-Yuan!" He pulls back and holds the youth at arm's length. He recognizes the same nose and brows from the child he once knew. "You've grown up so well! How? Lan Zhan of course, but-"
He then whirls to a-Jing, but stops short. He can only stare. Her hair is Lan regulation style, only a cowlick at the front mars its perfection. Her cheekbones, the curve of her mouth, the set of her eyes, the details all confound Wei Wuxian. Her eyes, however, have a golden gleam.
"You," he begins and lifts a hand, only to stop before making contact with a-Jing's cheek. "You look like me." He swallows, mouth suddenly dry. "Um, like I did before. May I touch you?" He asks, but his hands are already moving. They cup her face and push her hair behind her ears.
Wei Wuxian looks beyond her to Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian's mouth works, but no words emerge.
A-Jing rolls her eyes, huffs, and pushes herself into Wei Wuxian's arms.
Wei Wuxian arms come up around her back. He slowly bows his head over hers and cries into her hair.
When Wei Wuxian has calmed to sniffles once more, they all sit to breakfast. Wei Wuxian lifts his bowl but does not eat. The sight of his family before him is too stunning.
"You know, I remember you a little," a-Yuan says, beginning conversation. "Father always made it clear you were our other father. He had many stories, but they seem too ridiculous to be true." He pauses to eat some congee. "And yet, I know Father would never exaggerate."
"Why would you want to hear more stories about me?" Wei Wuxian says loudly. "It's me who needs stories about you!"
He slams his bowl down. "Tell me everything!" Wei Wuxian demands.
A-Yuan grins, eyes crinkling. "I see a-Jing comes by her spirit honestly!"
The Quiet Room's laughter can be heard all the way to the main complex. And best of all, Wei Wuxian sees the full beauty of Lan Wangji's smile.