Chapter Text
The air was crisp and cool, the beginning of autumn only just beginning to set in. Wen Ning drew the bowstring back and aligned it with his cheek. He aimed. He released, watching with satisfaction as the arrow thudded into the center of the target. He might not be Wen Ruohan's actual son, but he was certainly the sect leader's best archer. Ever since the tournament where Wei Wuxian had called him out as the best archer in the Wen clan, Wen Ning had held more than a tiny bit of pride at his own skill. It served to fuel him to find moments like these when he could practice himself. It was, in a way, meditative. He picked up another arrow, aimed, released.
Less than an hour later, he entered his room, stowing his unstrung bow and his arrows away. If he had times everything perfectly well, then he would be able to waltz into the throne room just after Wen Chao, thus not giving his greatest rival the chance to torment him as they waited to be called forth by Wen Ruohan. Though it was obvious to Wen Ning and everyone else that Wen Ruohan cared little for Wen Ning as anything other than a political pawn, Wen Chao was about as clever as a rock. He had, for some reason or another, pegged Wen Ning as his largest rival for his father's affection and respect, based purely off of his mere presence by Wen Ruohan's side. It was confusing and annoying.
Thankfully, he happened to be completely on time that day, arriving at the throne room entrance just as Wen Chao was entering. Meng Yao stood at the door and ushered Wen Ning in, as well. Thus he was able to stand beside Wen Chao as they bowed to Wen Ruohan without getting bullied in the slightest. It was a good day.
"There they are!" Jin Guangshan roared form the side. Wen Ning couldn't help but flit his eyes over to the LanlingJin sect leader on his right. A small tendril of discomfort wormed through him. No one had told him that Jin Guangshan would be here! He wasn't dressed to impress as he would normally be if he were to be in another sect leader's company. He was only wearing the Wen sect uniform, his hair held up with his typical guan. Beside him, Wen Chao decided to look unbothered by the unexpected company. He wore the same satisfied smirk he always seemed to have on his face.
Wen Ning bowed again, to Jin Guangshan, which naturally wiped the smirk off of Wen Chao's face as he quickly followed suit. Wen Ning was not accomplished at politics, but he knew how to be polite. This simple fact got him through many situations where it failed others.
"Yes," Wen Ruohan agreed, waving at Wen Ning and Wen Chao dismissively. Wen Ning took a seat next to his sister. Tension radiated off of her as she looked over at him, trying to smile and yet failing to. She was often by Wen Ruohan's side, more from practicality than any true political power. Their leader was ill. It was unclear who outside of their clan, or even outside of their small circle, was aware of this fact. Wen Ning, of course, knew because Wen Qing had told him.
"As I was saying," Jin Guangshan replied, motioning towards Wen Chao. "I understand your concern. You're so wise to suggest making a public statement of our alliance to the other sects."
"I know I am," Wen Ruohan replied cooly. "A trade would be best, I think. I'll adopt a son of yours, and you can have one of mine."
"Ah," Jin Guangshan laughed quietly. "I'm afraid that Jin Zixuan is already arranged to be married with the Jiang clan. It would be inconvenient, then, for him to come here."
"Of course it wouldn't!" Wen Ruohan replied. "Send him here, and he can go ahead and marry that Jiang girl. Then the Wen clan and the Jin clan will bed allies, and the Wen clan and the Jiang clan will be allies."
"You're so wise, Sect leader Wen," Jin Guangshan replied. "But really, it would just be too much for Madame Jin if I gave away my only son with her. And besides, there's no reason to get our actual children involved, is there? Why not take my nephew Jin Zixun instead? He's important enough within our clan that you won't lose face over accepting him in. He'll be a better son to you than my Zixuan would be, I promise."
Wen Ning poured himself tea and drank it back as he listened to the two clan leaders argue. In the end, he was certain that Wen Ruohan would prevail because he always seemed to. Wen Chao leaned forward in anticipation, waiting for his father to strike out at Jin Guangshan. Instead, Wen Ruohan took a step back.
"You make a good point," Wen Ruohan said. "But surely you can't expect me to trade one of my sons if you can't part with one of your many children yourself." The bite in his words was all too clear.
"Why not just make it a marriage instead of adoption?" Jin Guangshan offered. "Have Wen Qing marry Jin Zixun. You'll have a public spy in my house, instead of covert ones. I'll have a lovely lady to look at. Wouldn't that satisfy both of us?"
"Certainly not!" Wen Ruohan scoffed. His face twisted in anger, and Wen Ning lowered his eyes, not daring to look over at his sister. She was truly gifted, and he was sure that although he hadn't seen this proposal coming, she certainly had. He had never given much thought as to her marriage, though he was sure that it was on Wen Qing’s mind. It was an inevitable thing, her marriage. It was equally inevitable that Wen Ruohan would be the one to give the final say on her marriage. Though they were not directly related to Wen Ruohan in the way his sons were, it was no secret that she was a favorite of his. Wen Ning had always assumed that he would give her a good match, someone she really liked.
"She's not your heir," Jin Guangshan pressed. "And I'm offering up my nephew. You know she'll have a good life at Koi Tower."
"That's not the point," Wen Ruohan scoffed. "Wen Qing is too important. Take Wen Ning or Wen Chao, if you insist on such a thing."
"You want your own son to publicly proclaim himself a cut-sleeve and marry my nephew?" Jin Guangshan protested. "You have a lot of face, Sect Leader Wen!"
"You have a lot of face to suggest marrying off Wen Qing!" Wen Ruohan shot back. "And with your wandering ways, can you really say anything of face at all? Two! You have gotten two of my inner clan members with child! I should make you marry them to keep my own decency!"
"Pah!" Jin Guangshan waved his hand. "There's no proof they're even mine." Wen Ruohan's face was starting to turn purple with rage. "But you have a point, you have a point. Let's make an arrangement between Jin Zixun and Wen Ning. I'll send my nephew to live here, and you can send Wen Ning to live in Koi Tower. I'll even spare you your son. I've heard rumors, you know, and I don't need the competition with one so young!"
Beside him, Wen Chao preened. Wen Ning struggled to keep up with the conversation, finally peeking up to see Wen Qing's stormy face. She didn't say anything, so he took his cue from her and went back to sipping tea. It wouldn't be so bad in Koi Tower, he thought. He would have more freedom to go to Lotus Pier and see Wei Wuxian. He could become a swaggering young lord like Wen Chao, maybe. And with an alliance to the Wen sect, Wen Qing could surely come visit him, too. It wouldn't be so bad, being adopted by the Jin clan.
Wen Chao, however, cast hateful eyes at Wen Ning. He struggled to understand why. Wen Ruohan was sending him far away, and Jin Zixun was coming here to stay with the Wens. How could Wen Chao be upset about Wen Ning leaving? All he ever did was bully Wen Ning!
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It wouldn't be so bad in Koi Tower, he had tried to assure his sister once they were back in their quarters. Wen Qing had a different opinion. Wen Ning watched as she paced back and forth, angry at the decision. Once she had a chance to talk to Wen Ruohan alone, Wen Ning knew that she was sure to spoil the plan.
"It won't be so bad," he mumbled again. "Wen Chao won't be there, and Jin Zixuan is much nicer."
Not to mention that he might be able to sneak away to Yunmeng from time to time and see Wei Wuxian! He loved his sister dearly, but sometimes she was just a little bit overprotective when it came to Wen Ning. He could probably even invite Wei Wuxian to Koi Tower to practice archery with him! New place, new people, new potential friends. Wen Ning chose to look on the bright side of things.
"Jin Zixuan is much nicer!" Wen Qing echoed, whirling around to face him. She looked less angry now, and more distressed. She sighed and stopped pacing, walking over to take Wen Ning's hands into her own.
"A-Ning," she said. "This is just to separate us. Don't you understand? Sect Leader Jin is just trying to take you hostage."
Wen Ning honestly hadn't considered such a thing. Being a hostage would not work very well, since his plan was to sneak away to Yunmeng for a visit for time to time to visit his friend. Would he be tossed into the dungeon or given a golden room for a cage?
"Sister," Wen Ning mumbled. "Will you be okay here by yourself?"
In theory, of course Wen Qing would be fine. Wen Ruohan needed her, and she was a member of the Wen clan. She was always trying to protect Wen Ning anyway, and knew how to keep her head down when she needed. But not being able to be here when she needed him, in those rare instances when she did, in fact, need him, put Wen Ning ill at ease.
"Of course," Wen Qing replied in a brusque voice. "It's you I worry about, A-Ning."
"Please don't worry, sister," Wen Ning answered. "I'll be fine in Koi Tower."
"I'll fix this, A-Ning," Wen Qing said. "I promise."
And then she was gone and Wen Ning was alone again. He sighed, grabbed his bow, and headed back out to his secret training ground. He was unsure if his sister would be successful in getting him away from Koi Tower, and he was unsure whether he wanted her to succeed. Getting away from Wen Chao and the politics of the Wen sect would be nice. As long as he could practice archery, he didn't mind being a hostage in Koi Tower. They would surely treat him well, wouldn't they? Or would he really be trapped in a dungeon the entire time?
The lands that the Wen clan controlled were large. The Nightless City was large, but the fields beyond it extended into a forest that butted up against the mountain. It was in this forest that Wen Ning had found a dilapidated shrine and a small clearing. The house had just enough roof left to protect Wen Ning from the elements if a storm suddenly came upon him, but it certainly wasn't livable. Wen Ning didn't even want to store his bow and arrows there, afraid that enough of the elements would get in and damage them.
It did make for a decent place to store straw targets, however, each 'borrowed' from the practice field in the dead of night, leaving his elders bewildered and Wen Ning with a slight smile for at least the first half of the day. He didn't need them too often, of course, and he always returned the ones he was finished with. At that point, they were barely more than a loose haft of straw bound together with cord, the paint on the target too smeared and damaged to be much use. No one had caught him doing such a thing yet.
That day, Wen Ning thought long and hard about what it would be like in Koi Tower. He would have to say goodbye to this small shrine, and hope that the next person that found it treated it as well as he had. Maybe the next person would have enough skill to repair the roof better then Wen Ning had. No matter how good of a job he thought he had done, the roof always seemed to leak.
Would he be able to find a place like the shrine in Koi Tower? It wasn't like he could ask someone--places like this were discovered by chance, and though Koi Tower was bound to have a few, Wen Ning could only hope that he had the freedom of movement to explore.
The ground under his feet was soggy with evidence of a recent rain, and the sky growled angrily overhead. There were better days to practice archery, but if he only practiced on the sunny ones, then how could he hit things if it rained? A chill wind blew past him, bringing with it the stench of something burning and decay. Wen Ning wrinkled his nose and carried on. The smell only got stronger as he left the fields behind, and at the edge of the forest, he found the source.
Wen Ning stopped walking, staring in surprise at the scene before him. Tucked just into the treeline lay the body of a huge monster, its body blackened and smoking. Wen Ning could not tell what it had once been before it had clearly done something wrong on its cultivation path. There was a wrongness that emanated from the beast as it laid motionless on the forest floor. And just in front of the monster, the still body of a man.
There was a strangeness to the man, as well, Wen Ning thought, even as the sight of the too-still body propelled him forward. Wen Ning knelt next to the person as he took in the long, golden hair decorated with braids. A sword laid some distance away, and from the other man's armor, Wen Ning could tell that he must be a warrior. A warrior with fair hair that had slain such a large beast on his own.
Wen Ning pushed the errant thoughts from his head. What did it matter who this man was? He was injured and the beast was slain. There was no more to it than that. He set his quiver and bow down on the ground and began to check the man's injuries. They were numerous, to say the least. Broken bones, bruised ribs, cuts and scrapes...it must have been a battle epic enough to generate tales for ages. Wen Ning had been on his fair share of night hunts by now, and had attended his sister when needed for long enough to know what to do. He gathered the man into his arms, pressing a hand where the man's core should be and beginning to slowly circulate his qi.
There were no birds chattering like there should be, Wen Ning slowly realized. The only sounds were the far-off movements of the Nightless City and the rustling of the leaves in the wind. The entire area bore the stank of burnt flesh and decay. It was coming from the monster behind him. Wen Ning frowned and refocused on the man in front of him, pressing his qi into the man solidly, just as he had done so before under his sister's tutelage.
Sweat trickled down his back in exertion. He did not have the strongest of cores, and even this little bit was exhausting. The man's breathing, once ragged, began to even out into a healing sleep. Wen Ning lowered him back to the ground, already taking stock of the other injuries. A long gash in his armor looked as though the metal had melted with the man still inside of it. Wen Ning wet his lips as he wondered whether he should bring Wen Qing out here to help the man. If he did, his shrine wouldn't be secret anymore, and Wen Qing would surely scold him for sneaking so far away from the Nightless City. On the other hand, it was too far to drag the man back to her.
A gruff snort sounded behind him, and Wen Ning's eyes widened in panic. The creature wasn't dead! Wen Ning grabbed his bow and in a single motion, turned and fired an arrow at the large creature behind him.
Its eyes were made of fire and molten metal, striking terror into Wen Ning with a single glance. Wen Ning picked up another arrow and fired at the beast. Beside him, the creature's arm that had been reaching for him crashed into the earth as the eyes closed again. There was a low howl as the thing fluttered its wings, and then it was still. Wen Ning fired two more arrows into its head, just to be sure, before picking up the man's fallen sword and sticking it through the beast's neck. Only then did he turn and look back at the man.
A fair haired warrior that had taken down a beast of this size...the list of people this man could possibly be was slim. In all likelihood, this was an immortal, fallen from the skies in his fight with the demonic beast. He was injured, and yet still alive after having fought such a beast. At the very least, he was the greatest cultivator Wen Ning had ever met, one that surpassed even all of the sect leaders alive. He had to be an immortal, or very close to one.
Wen Ning took another look at the beast, watching as its body began to smoke. Small flames raced over its body, causing Wen Ning to grab another arrow from his quiver and notch it. But the beast did not move again. Its body was burning, the small flames turning into larger ones before Wen Ning's eyes. After a moment, Wen Ning returned the arrow to his quiver and tossed the bow over his arm. If it got big enough, people would come to put out the fire. He had every intention of being gone by then, avoiding the rash of questions that would no doubt be headed towards him.
Wen Ning knelt to gather up the body of the fallen man and picked him up, stumbling slightly in surprise at how light he was. Leaving the smoldering and smoking body of the beast behind, Wen Ning made his way to the shrine, thankfully only a few minutes walk from the site of the battle. Though the shrine did not have a bed, the straw targets were flat enough to hold the body of the man. Wen Ning set him down, shoving his quiver under the man's head for a pillow.
The man groaned lowly, shifting away from Wen Ning in pain. Groggy eyes opened, revealing gray eyes that took Wen Ning's breath away. A second later, they closed again.
"W-warrior, y-you're very...very injured," Wen Ning stammered, mentally cursing himself. He couldn't even get a full phrase out without stuttering! "I...I have to remove your armor. T-to treat you."
There was a small movement that Wen Ning took as a nod, and then the man was still once more. Wen Ning took it as consent.
With nimble fingers used to plucking arrows from a quiver, Wen Ning felt around the man's armor. It took him a few minutes to find the nearly invisible catch that kept the armor closed, and another moment to figure out how to open the armor. He did so carefully, trying not to look at the mess that was the man's side. Bits of burnt flesh remained with the chest plate as he moved it aside and began working on the rest of the suit of armor the man was wearing. In the end, the man lay in his underclothes on the bed.
Wen Ning paused to go out to the well and pump water into a bucket. He built up a small fire in the courtyard and heated the water before bringing it back in the tend the man. He trailed the cloth up the man's body, blotting up the blood at first, and then wiping it gently. The water turned a bright red, and soon his hands were just as coated in the bloody water. He changed out the water twice as he made his way up the man's body.
As he wiped the blood from the man's neck--he had a head wound that was steadily bleeding, staining the golden hair--Wen Ning brushed the hair away to reveal a pointed ear. Wen Ning's hand stilled, the possibilities and excuses running through his mind. Was the man beneath him a demon of some sort? Was he a beast spirit that had cultivated long and hard enough to attain human form? Or were his ear simply deformed from something in his past? Wen Ning frowned and went back to tending his patient. The injuries weren't as bad as he had thought. He just needed to get some medicine from his sister's stores, and then he could treat this man himself, without the need for his sister to ever know about the shrine and his secret archery range.
By the time Wen Ning was finished washing the wounds, the man beneath him had begun to stir again, shifting away from Wen Ning's gentle touch. Wen Ning picked up the bucket and took it away, washing his hands well before returning to the man's side. He wanted to give the man a few minutes to fully awaken and become aware. When he returned, however, the man had merely fallen asleep again. Wen Ning checked his pulse, but there was little else to be done without the medicine his sister had. If Wen Ning left before he could warn the stranger to stay at the shrine, however, he feared that he would return to an empty bed and possibly a manhunt for the intruder to the Qishan Wen clan.
Minutes stretched on, however, and the man did not awaken. Wen Ning checked over his wounds again. Most of them were superficial, and even the deep ones had scabbed over. The burns were...well, they were burns. All Wen Ning could do was clean them and once he was able, apply medicine to treat them. Seeing as how there was nothing more that could be done for the stranger, Wen Ning washed his hands once more and grabbed his bow.
He walked out to the small archery field that was still set up from the day before and began to practice his archery. His skills were good, but today he was distracted by the stranger and could not find solace in the act of shooting as he typically did. Wen Ning would shoot two rounds and then after gathering his arrows a second time, he would go and check on the sleeping stranger.
When Wen Ning arrived to check on the stranger a third time, the man was turned onto his side and trying to sit up. Wen Ning put his bow down and hurried to push him back down.
"W-warrior, you're injured," Wen Ning said. "You...you shouldn't be getting up. Just rest here, where it's safe."
"Where is here?" the man groaned in response. His eyes were the gray of the dense morning fog of Wen Ning's hometown.
Wen Ning quickly bowed, bending his head low. Anyone who had defeated a beast such as the one Wen Ning had found deserved such respect.
"I'm Wen Ning, of the Qishan Wen clan," he reported. "I found you in the forest and brought you here, since it was close."
"Qishan...Wen...clan," the man echoed, turning his gaze to Wen Ning. "What about the balrog? Or the Gondolindrim? Did they make it to safety?"
His voice had a lilted cadence to it that didn't match anyone Wen Ning had ever met, but he understood him well enough. Wen Ning remained bowed.
"Fierce warrior," he started. A sudden image of the grotesque beast he had encountered flooded his mind. He hadn't had time to think then before shooting plenty of arrows at the beast, but in hindsight, it had been a terrifying experience. "It...the beast is dead. It burned."
He couldn't bring himself to tell the stranger that it was he that had killed the beast. The balrog? Is that what the other man had been referring to?
"Good," the warrior replied, with a small nod. Wen Ning straightened slightly, though his posture remained slightly hunched in timidity.
"Brave warrior," Wen Ning added. "You fought that beast by yourself. Are you...are you an immortal? I've seen unnatural beasts before, but none so...so fierce as this one."
"You wouldn't have," the other warrior replied. He shifted, grimacing in pain as he did so. Then apparently ignoring the pain, he pushed himself to a sitting position. Wen Ning worried whether the warrior might be reopening his wounds by moving around so much. "But...yes. I've been remiss. I'm Glorfindel, Lord of the House of the Golden Flower in the city of Gondolin...or at least I was."
A shadow passed over the man's face. Wen Ning had seen the shadows of bad memories before, from the survivors that came back from night hunts, and from those treated by his sister. He could almost hear her voice now, warning him not to press for answers. Something traumatic had happened to the warrior, and either he would recover, or he wouldn't.
"That must be very far away," Wen Ning replied instead, neutrally. "Please stay here and rest from your long journey then, Immortal. I'll get some medicine for you."
Wen Ning left his bow and quiver at the shrine and walked quickly back to the Nightless City. He peeked into the house they shared, but Wen Qing had not yet returned from attending Wen Ruohan. He was in luck, then. He grabbed a few tinctures and salves and put them into a bag. Then he stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a few steamed buns, which also went into the bag. At last, he stopped by the laundry and requested some extra blankets. It was nearly summer, but it still got a bit cold at night, after all.
The fact that Wen Ning could gather so many supplies in such a short time and with such ease spoke more to his luck than to actual skill. The Qishan Wen Sect was a beehive of activity, with people always coming and going. Few took notice of Wen Ning unless, like Wen Chao, they had a specific interest in him or thought he needed to be taken down a few pegs. He often flitted from place to place for no apparent reason, after all. Just in case, Wen Ning let no less than three people know that it would doubtlessly get cold that night. No one would question the blankets, then.
When he arrived back at the shrine, Glorfindel was sitting up. His eyes were pinched shut in either concentration or pain. Likely both, Wen Ning thought as he lowered the bag to the floor. The other man's eyes snapped open at the small sound.
"You're back," Glorfindel replied with far too much cheer in his voice. "I didn't expect you to be back so soon."
"I-I brought blankets and food," Wen Ning reported. "A-and medicine."
Glorfindel shifted to look at him with dazzling gray eyes. They were bright, but they looked old, as though Glorfindel had seen much. Wen Ning found himself looking down at the sheer intensity of them.
"Are you a healer?" Glorfindel asked kindly. Wen Ning shook his head and quickly went to sort out the medicine.
"My sister is," he said. "She's a very good doctor. The best! She made these medicines herself."
"Ah," Glorfindel replied in that strange, lilting voice of his. "Then I'm sure they'll help. You're...a human, aren't you?"
"Of course," Wen Ning replied quickly. If he were like Wei Wuxian, perhaps he would make a joke about how he was a fox spirit and not a human. The words didn't quite line up in his mouth correctly though, and by the time he had assembled them, the pause had stretched on to long. It would be awkward if he tried to make the joke now.
"You must be from the Heavenly Realm, then," Wen Ning offered. It was a question. He held out a small bottle to Glorfindel, suddenly not daring to touch him. His sister probably would have pushed Glorfindel down and bodily put on the salves, if she had to. "For the burns."
"Is that what you call it?" Glorfindel asked. He shook his head and took the bottle, smelling it before beginning to carefully apply it to his wounds. "We call it the Undying Lands, Valinor. I haven't been there for a long time. My people left, and I went with them."
Wen Ning could see the clenched jaw as Glorfindel answered. He couldn't imagine what sort of people would just decide to leave the heavenly realm. Where else would they go but to earth? Or were there perhaps other realms aside from earth, like he had read about in some texts?
"Oh," Wen Ning said, retrieving a second bottle and holding it out. "For the cuts and scrapes."
"Thank you," Glorfindel murmured, setting the first bottle aside to take the second. A few long moments passed before Glorfindel finished applying the medicine. "You said your name was Wen Ning?"
Wen Ning nodded quickly in response. He wanted to ask about the ears--who had pointed ears, anyway?--but he didn't dare. Whoever Glorfindel was, wherever he was from, he certainly seemed otherworldly.
"That...monster..." Wen Ning started, timidly.
"Balrog," Glorfindel corrected. There was an air of defeat in his voice. Wen Ning nodded.
"Balrog," he repeated, though the name was alien on his lips. "Was it a beast that deviated from its path of cultivation? Or did it become a monster from some inanimate object? What are its origins?"
It was important to know where a thing originated from, Wen Ning had always learned, for learning motivations was a path to defeating such creatures. Glorfindel shook his head, looking confused.
"I don't know what you mean by cultivation," Glorfindel admitted. "But balrogs are the hellspawn of Morgoth, and often act as his generals. Amongst other creatures of dark origins."
Wen Ning's eyes went wide at the admission. Had could Glorfindel, an immortal, know nothing of cultivation? It was only too clear that he was from a different realm. Was it possible that perhaps Glorfindel was so old and had been an immortal for so long that he had completely forgotten that he had cultivated to immortality?
"Oh," Wen Ning found himself saying instead. "I'm very glad that you managed to defeat the...balrog, then. It seemed like a mighty beast."
Glorfindel nodded, his lips fading into a frown. Wen Ning swallowed, feeling slightly awkward. Should he leave the warrior alone to mope? It was clear that Glorfindel had something heavy weighing on his mind, and now that his wounds were tended, it only made sense that Glorfindel's mind was turning inwards.
His sister had taught him that healing often began in the mind. Wen Ning remembered the horror he had felt just looking at the balrog, and Glorfindel had actually fought it much more than Wen Ning. His body was probably flooded with negative qi, Wen Ning suddenly realized. Glorfindel probably needed to focus on purging the bad qi...but what if he couldn't? What if he needed help?
"I should get back," Wen Ning said, though he was loathe to leave Glorfindel behind. "But I'll bring some food in the morning. There's steamed buns if you get hungry in the meantime."
"Thank you," Glorfindel murmured. Wen Ning bowed, and walked slowly back to his quarters.