Chapter Text
Once upon a time, many, many years ago, there was a manor hidden away deep within an ancient forest. Even the few that were brave enough to travel through the dark, tangled forest would never be able to find the manor, because it was surrounded by a magic wall that concealed it from outsiders. And what justified such secrecy? Perhaps the manor held a closely kept secret, a secret which some devoted souls had been desperately trying to uncover for years...
The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the old wooden floor, and they bent and warped as they followed the floor's chips and cracks. Xie Lian took a break from scrubbing the floor to tuck his hair out of his eyes, then resumed his methodical work. He’d hoped to be done before nightfall, but… oh well. At this point, it wasn’t very likely that he would finish before He came back. Xie Lian knew how much He cared about the manor being spick and span, but no matter how hard Xie Lian tried, he was fighting a losing battle. Every time he managed to successfully complete a repair or finish cleaning an area, a new problem arose.
Xie Lian worked up until the last possible moment, when the sun was almost sinking into the treeline, and he knew that if he didn’t stop he wouldn’t have the time to get ready before His arrival. He dropped his scrubbing cloth into the bucket of water, then used the banister to struggle to his feet and grabbed his cane. With a sigh, Xie Lian looked at the dusty floor yet to be cleaned. There was a clear difference between where he had washed it and where he hadn’t.
“Ruoye!” he called to the little white ferret that was curled up asleep in the corner, and he perked up his ears and bounded after Xie Lian, almost slipping on the wet floor. Using his cane for balance, Xie Lian bent down to pick up the bucket and allow Ruoye to scramble up on his arm to sit on his shoulder. He hobbled over to a window and dumped out the dirty water from the bucket, then went down the hall to a nearby closet so that he could stash his supplies there.
Xie Lian began his slow journey up the staircase, every step still a little difficult despite how many years he had been climbing up and down them with his injured leg. While it didn’t hurt him anymore, it certainly didn’t make his life any easier. His leg had been like this for as long as he could remember; when he tried to think about before his life in the manor, everything was completely blank.
When he reached the top of the stairs, Xie Lian slid open the door to his room. The room was sparsely furnished, with a few odd objects occupying little niches around the space. An old cracked vase that he had found in a storage room, an oxidized copper incense burner that he’d dug up in the garden… Next to his bed was a trunk full of beautiful clothing, fine silks and brocades in a variety of rich colors. Despite their age, the garments were in excellent condition- Xie Lian only ever wore them when He visited, afterall. If he looked his best for Him, then maybe he could avoid some of his wrath.
With careful hands, Xie Lian took neatly-folded robes out of the trunk and set them on his bed, and Ruoye jumped off of his shoulder to stretch out on the blankets. The light coming in from his window was dimming, and so he lit some candles. To ease the pressure off his leg, Xie Lian sat on a stool to change. Awkward as that made changing some of the robes, it was still easier than forcing his leg to support him for so long. The innermost layer of the robes he had chosen was white, and the middle layer was azure. As Xie Lian was pulling on his guazy white outer robes, he heard a knock at the door.
Xie Lian’s heart jolted in fear, thumping wildly. Was it Him already? “Yes?” he called, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
“It’s Shi Qingxuan! I finished making dinner, so I thought that I could help you get ready?” a youthful voice said, slightly muffled.
Relief washed over Xie Lian, although it didn’t banish his fear completely. He hid his trembling hands in his sleeves and exhaled an even breath.
“Come in.”
The door slid open, and in came a beautiful person with a soft face and flowing, elegant robes. He bowed his head in greeting, and Xie Lian gave him a smile and a nod in return. Shi Qingxuan’s eyes lit up when he saw what Xie Lian was wearing.
“Those robes are great together, the colors are like the sky!”
Xie Lian held out an arm and studied the fabric. “Are they?”
Shi Qingxuan stepped over, his feet light. Jutting up from his wavy hair were two glistening alabaster horns, freshly polished and matching the tiny white shoes on his feet. “You still need work,” he said matter-of-factly. He hummed to himself as he rifled through the jewelry box on the vanity, his reptilian eyes flicking back and forth as he searched for the perfect accessories. “You have such nice pieces, but you never wear them,” he said, half to himself.
“Ah, well, it’s not very practical,” Xie Lian replied sheepishly.
Shi Qingxuan held up earrings to Xie Lian’s ears one at a time to compare. “Well, you must have worn heavy jewelry frequently at some point in the past, because your earlobes are stretched.” They’d spoken about this several times before, but it was always just light conversation. Shi Qingxuan knew just as much as Xie Lian did about his life before the manor: nothing. They could speculate all they wanted, but never actually settle on a definitive answer.
“These ones!” Shi Qingxuan exclaimed, and clasped a pair of lapis lazuli earrings onto Xie Lian’s ears.
Shi Qingxuan gently started taking down Xie Lian’s hair, which was wrapped in a large bun with the remaining length hanging down his back. Shi Qingxuan took out the haphazardly-placed hairpins that Xie Lian had put in that morning. When Xie Lian's long braid thumped against the floor, his head jerked backwards a little at the weight of it tumbling down. Shi Qingxuan lifted up his braid and untied the faded white ribbon at the end of it, setting the ribbon on the table and picking up a comb. He separated the braid’s three sections and then started combing through, grabbing handfuls of hair when he detangled knots so that it wouldn’t pull on Xie Lian’s scalp.
Eventually Shi Qingxuan got all of the tangles out and could comb Xie Lian’s soft hair from the roots to the tips, kneeling to do the ends. When he was finished, Xie Lian was surrounded by rippling waves of shiny chestnut hair, framing his face and spilling down onto the floor. Because his hair was twice his body length at this point, Xie Lian usually kept it up and out of the way. His hair had been long as long as he could remember, and it got longer and longer as the years passed by. While his hair grew, his body hadn’t aged a day in all the years that he’d been at the manor, like he was frozen in time. He felt like his hair was important to him somehow, although he couldn’t quite recall why, so he just allowed it to grow.
Shi Qingxuan adored Xie Lian’s hair, and was always begging to try new styles on it. Xie Lian indulged him once in a while; it didn’t hurt, afterall. On this night, however… The master of the house also had an affinity for Xie Lian’s hair, and so Shi Qingxuan unspokenly started doing a simple style that showcased the hair’s natural beauty. He pulled the top part into a bun and slipped a golden guan onto it, leaving the rest of the hair loose. It felt heavy on Xie Lian’s head because he wasn’t used to its weight, but whenever he wore a hair crown he felt something familiar stir up inside of him.
When Shi Qingxuan reached for the rouge jar, Xie Lian sighed but allowed him to dab some color onto his cheeks and lips. There was also a jar of white powder on the vanity, but there wasn’t really a point in using it. It would look strange for his hands and neck to be dark and his face light.
Shi Qingxuan pushed Xie Lian’s stool forward to present his reflection to him.
“Ah…” Xie Lian didn’t know what to say. Shi Qingxuan had done a good job, considering what he had to work with, but he still felt like an imposter in all of this finery. He searched that worn face that he barely recognized in the mirror, golden in the dim candlelight. No matter how you looked at it, he was still just a servant in some silks.
“You look very nice,” Shi Qingxuan said. Xie Lian almost laughed. Wasn’t that just complimenting his own handiwork? Shi Qingxuan helped Xie Lian put on his socks and a pair of blue shoes that curled up at the tips.
And then, there was only one thing left to do.
Xie Lian reached up to the bandage wound around his neck and slowly unwrapped it, revealing a collar tattooed around his neck in angry black ink. Xie Lian could not remember how he’d gotten it, but he knew that He didn’t like it when he covered it up while He was around. Xie Lian could feel a dark aura emanating from it, and so he kept the bandage wrapped tightly around his neck to stifle its power.
Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, his mind filled with nightmares of screams and twisted faces with mouths gaping open, the feeling of darkness so strong that it was overwhelming him, strangling him. Upon gathering his thoughts, he’d check his neck to find that his bandage had slipped in his sleep, exposing the thickly inked lines encircling his neck. He would wrap up his neck again, but would not be able to sleep for the rest of the night.
Just as Shi Qingxuan helped Xie Lian up to his feet and handed him his cane, a clanging bell rang throughout the manor. He turned to Xie Lian, face pale.
“Hurry, He’s almost here!”
Xie Lian mentally prepared himself and straightened his back before leaving his room and starting down the stairs, Shi Qingxuan behind him. He left Ruoye in the room sleeping on the bed- he didn’t want him to be in danger. His hair dragged behind him, resting upon his long robes as he picked his way down the steps. Suddenly, Xie Lian tripped on a nail jutting out of the floorboards. He panicked as he fell forwards, but Shi Qingxuan caught him and helped him steady himself.
“Really!” Shi Qingxuan huffed when he saw what Xie Lian had stumbled on. He tried in vain to stamp the nail down with his foot. “Master needs to hire someone to fix this place up!”
Xie Lian smiled ruefully, thinking to himself: ‘He already has someone to fix up the manor. It’s supposed to be me.’ He didn’t say anything out loud, and Shi Qingxuan linked arms with him. Xie Lian listened to him ramble on about what he would say to Him if given the chance, until they got to the main hall and he wisely stopped speaking. He let go of Xie Lian to walk at a respectful distance behind him.
Whenever Xie Lian had to clean the hall, he wondered what it would have looked like back when it was new, with its high ceiling and exquisitely carved pillars. What feasts had been hosted here? How many rich dignitaries had walked across these floors, once upon a time? It was hard to imagine the ghostly, empty room with banners hanging from the rafters and long tables of food set out.
The huge double doors at the end of the hall creaked, and fear gripped Xie Lian. His hands were shaking again, but he casually flicked his sleeves so that they were covering them and walked forwards with as much poise as he could muster. The doors opened. Moonlight streamed into the room, backlighting the dark figure standing there. Bai Wuxiang.
The man swept across the room, white robes billowing around him, and Xie Lian bowed to him.
“Welcome back, my lord,” he said evenly.
“Xian Le,” the man replied, and suddenly Xie Lian’s legs felt weak. His voice was gentle, but Xie Lian knew better. “Did you miss me?”
Xie Lian froze, trying to come up with something to say. “Of course,” he finally said, unconvincingly.
Bai Wuxiang laughed. “Oh, Xian Le.” He tilted his head, and his half-crying, half-laughing mask almost looked like it was mocking Xie Lian. “You think I can’t see right through you?”
Xie Lian fell to his knees and bowed his head. “This lowly one apologizes.”
“Get up.” Bai Wuxiang’s voice now carried an edge like a knife. Shaking, Xie Lian tried to stand but kept collapsing because of his crippled leg. When he’d fallen to his knees, he’d dropped his cane and didn’t know where it had gone. Suddenly, he felt his neck jerk as Bai Wuxiang yanked him up by his hair. Xie Lian grimaced, but didn’t make a sound. Bai Wuxiang’s gloved hand was twisted into Xie Lian’s hair, forcing him to stay standing.
Behind him, Xie Lian heard a gasp from Shi Qingxuan. “Master!” he cried out. ‘No, stay quiet! Don’t divert his attention to you!’ Xie Lian screamed at him in his head. He didn’t want Shi Qingxuan to be in danger because of him. Bai Wuxiang traced his fingers down Xie Lian’s cheek, then down to his collar. Xie Lian, who could barely register pain anymore, felt white-hot agony when Bai Wuxiang touched the collar around his neck. He could hear voices screaming inside his head, and his vision went dark. It felt like Bai Wuxiang was digging his fingers into a fresh wound.
Bai Wuxiang removed his fingers, and the throbbing pain ebbed away. Xie Lian shuddered and blinked away the tears that had automatically formed in his eyes. Through hazy vision, Xie Lian could see Bai Wuxiang inspecting his fingers, now tinged in red rogue. “You tried to look pretty for me, didn’t you?” his voice had softened a little, but carried a drop of scorn.
Xie Lian swallowed.
Bai Wuxiang released Xie Lian’s hair and went to pick up his cane. He handed it to him and gently patted the back of his hand. As he walked away, he stroked his hand down Xie Lian’s hair. Xie Lian tried his best to steady his breathing and then turned around. Shi Qingxuan was bowing to Bai Wuxiang.
“Master, dinner is ready. You should dine before it gets cold.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Shi Qingxuan bowed again, and as he walked to resume his proper position behind Xie Lian, Bai Wuxiang suddenly called out to him.
“Qingxuan.”
Shi Qingxuan stopped in his tracks, back turned to Bai Wuxiang, and Xie Lian could see his frightened face.
“It would be best if you did not have a little outburst like that again. You wouldn’t want me to have to speak with your brother, would you?”
Shi Qingxuan’s face turned red. “No, master. It won’t happen again.”
“Good.”
Silently, Shi Qingxuan slipped behind Xie Lian again.