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“Someone should be here soon. We were supposed to meet up with them half a day ago.” Lan Sizhui was keeping an eye on the talismans they’d used to seal the entrance of the cave they’d taken refuge in to make sure they didn’t start failing. The little cave they had barricaded themselves into could barely even be called a cave. It was mostly just a slight dip in the rockface of the hill they had been investigating that happened to be surrounded by the gnarled roots of a half fallen tree.
The roots made a good set of walls so far, which was good since there were at least a dozen hungry ghosts trying to claw their way in from outside. It still felt less than secure since the cold wind was blowing through the gaps and occasionally a moan from the outside sounded like it was right beside them. The last time that had happened Jin Ling had crawled over Sizhui’s legs to the other side which meant he’d pushed Ouyang Zizhen into Lan Jingyi causing both of them to complain.
“I wish they’d stop following us all the time.” Jin Ling was perilously close to sulking but since that was actually pretty normal for him Sizhui was ignoring him to keep him from getting on a rant. Jingyi, unfortunately, wasn’t very good at ignoring Jin Ling.
“Well since this is the third time this month alone we’ve been trapped in a cave by what we’re hunting, can you blame them for being ready to ride to the rescue?” Jingyi rolled his eyes at Jin Ling and poked Zizhen in the ribs with his elbow as if he was asking ‘can you believe this guy?’.
“It was only twice…the other time we were stuck in a tree…” Jin Ling had started out hotly but ended up trailing off when he realized that his argument wasn’t really helping their reputation. “Fine. Maybe we needed help a couple of times but I still say we can get out of this without help.”
Of course as soon as he said that there were a series of sharp cracks as the hungry ghosts started to break their way through the roots.
~~~
“They were supposed to be here by now.” It wasn’t like Sizhui and the others were all that late. They were supposed to meet up at midday and by the shadows on the ground it was barely past that but it was already the third time he’d said they were late.
“Mn.”
“Lan Zhan is that all you have to say?” Wei Wuxian was ready to get up and start pacing so he at least was doing something while they were waiting but he knew if he did Lan Zhan would give him that look. The look that said he was far too old to behave like a child.
Fat lot Lan Zhan knew. Wei Wuxian wasn’t too old to act like a child. His age just meant he’d had more practice at it and he could annoy people faster than the wind when he put his mind to it.
“They are overdue.” Lan Zhan obviously read his intention to get up and move because he reached out to slide his fingers into Wei Wuxian’s with a light squeeze. “There are many reasons they could be overdue.”
It was a nice way of saying there was no need to panic yet.
“I know.” The fingers kept Wei Wuxian sitting where he was and he lifted Lan Zhan’s fingers to kiss the tips of them lightly. “But Sizhui isn’t usually late even if he has to herd the others so I’m just wondering what’s keeping them. Maybe Jin Ling offended another set of cultivators again.” Jin Ling just couldn’t keep his mouth shut and he wasn’t the only one with a bad temper out there.
He’d just started to relax again when Lan Zhan stood up and used their clasped hands to pull Wei Wuxian to his feet. “Lan Zhan?”
Lan Zhan let go of his hand but only so he could put his hands on the sides of Wei Wuxian’s face. He kissed him on the forehead and smiled. “You want to go look for them. We will go.”
It was ridiculous. Lan Zhan was right there were a million reasons they might be overdue…and they weren’t that overdue…so there really wasn’t a reason to go out looking for them yet. But he wanted to go. And because he wanted to go, Lan Zhan was going to indulge him. Wei Wuxian wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. “This is why I love you, Lan Zhan. Let’s go find those kids.”
~~~
They had a basic idea of where Sizhui and the others had gone once they had gone up the mountain from the village so Wei Wuxian led Lan Zhan in that direction. Once they had been traveling for over an hour without any sight of them Wei Wuxian was starting to get legitimately worried. If they hadn’t passed them by now it meant they wouldn’t have returned to the village before nightfall and that would have been seriously overdue.
“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian stopped at a nexus of paths and turned slowly to survey all of their options. Which way would the little pack of trouble makers have gone?
“I know.” Lan Zhan’s face was as coolly impassive as ever but Wei Wuxian could read the worry others would have missed. How could he have ever thought that Lan Zhan was as unreadable as a jade statue? Once you knew him like Wei Wuxian did, his face practically screamed out his emotions. “Which way?”
Wei Wuxian stopped his slow turn and opened up his senses. They weren’t the same as when he had his golden core, when everything was easier, but they were sometimes better. He’d always called it instinct but it had something to do with being so attuned to spirits and the flows of resentful energy all around him. Each of the paths looked very similar so he closed his eyes and turned again before lifting his hand to point.
“There. And if I’m wrong and something happens I expect you to beat me senseless for thinking I knew what I was doing.” Wei Wuxian didn’t wait for an answer; he just dove into the overgrown undergrowth to follow the path up the mountain with Lan Zhan right behind him.
The path was rugged and twisted through the brush like someone had drawn it while riding drunk on the back of Apple the donkey and all the underbrush made it feel like they had walked right into twilight. The feel of it made Wei Wuxian’s hair try to stand up on the back of his neck. He had a feeling whatever Sizhui and the others had hunted up here was still here.
“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan stopped him with a touch on his shoulder and pointed to a thread caught on a twist of twigs. They were on the correct path.
Wei Wuxian pulled the thread loose to look at it and snorted softly when he caught the glimmer of gold. “Jin Ling. Thank the gods the brat doesn’t care if his clothes get messed up.” Only Jin Ling would get snared and tear his clothes because he knew he could just get new ones as soon as he returned home. “Is it just me or is it getting dark faster than it should?”
Lan Zhan looked around then gave a small shake of his head. “It is not just you.”
“Damn. Come on Lan Zhan.” Knowing they were on the right path put a fire in him to get to the end of it. He grabbed Lan Zhan by the wrist and pulled him into the rapidly darkening path hoping they weren’t going to be too late.
There was a point where the darkness gathered even more suddenly and it was like they took a step across a doorway into night itself. Wei Wuxian looked up and couldn’t see the stars or the moon that should be out if it was nighttime. As he was looking up a wail of absolute pain rose up from what sounded like a dozen throats and he could see the darkness overhead clench and twist with colors that made his insides lurch as it seemed like the dark was suddenly full of the sounds of dogs.
He couldn’t help it. Wei Wuxian stopped, clamped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut trying to block out the sounds. “Lan Zhan!”
Suddenly he was surrounded by a cool glow of light that he could see even through his closed eyes and the sounds disappeared. When Wei Wuxian hesitantly opened his eyes and lowered his hands Lan Zhan was standing in front of him with Bichen drawn. He didn’t miss the way Lan Zhan’s own hand was shaking, making Bichen’s cool glow jitter and dance against the darkness and wondered what he’d heard in the howls.
“I…I think we’re on the right track.” Wei Wuxian took a deep breath trying to center himself before he pulled Chenqing out of his belt. The feel of the flute's energy thrumming against his fingers helped him clear his head further. Instinctively he lifted Chenqing to his lips and a soft trill of sound filled the air. It wasn’t disciplined like when Lan Zhan played Inquiry but it had the feel of a question.
The darkness seemed to hold its breath.
~~~
“It isn’t going to hold.” Jin Ling was watching the strands of the shimmering golden net that Sizhui and Jingyi had managed to erect to help hold the crumbling walls of their shelter back. The Golden Silk Barrier would only last as long as they had spiritual energy to channel into it and all four of them were reaching the end of their reserves.
Zizhen actually reached out and smacked Jin Ling on the shoulder for saying it out loud. No one wanted to hear what they already knew. “Then stop wasting energy talking and keep helping!”
“Who’s wasting energy? I have ten times as much energy as you do!” Jin Ling’s voice was pretty close to shouting so he didn’t hear Jingyi groaning “Here we go again.” before he kicked Jin Ling in the ankle. “Shut up!”
“Don’t tell me to…hey!” This time Jin Ling was surprised by Sizhui pushing him with his toes.
Sizhui waved them all to be quiet and put his ear as close to one of the gaps in the roots as he could get it, listening with his entire being and hoping he hadn’t imagined it. Just when he thought he’d been wrong he heard it again. There was the dim sound of a lonely flute drifting on the wind.
“Hanguang Jun!”
~~~~
It was dim and distant and if Lan Zhan hadn’t turned his head at the same time to look at where the call had come from Wei Wuxian would have thought that he’d imagined it. He let more notes flow from the flute and was rewarded with the call coming louder this time as more voices joined in.
“Ungrateful brats, do you hear them calling for you Lan Zhan? Aren’t I here to rescue them as well?” He let out an exaggerated sigh and gestured for Lan Zhan to lead the way with Bichen. Despite his joking manner he wasn’t willing to chance the return of whatever was in the darkness.
Lan Zhan stepped carefully over the branches and debris littering the ground with Bichen still held high to light their way. “Wei Ying.” He’d looked over his shoulder at Wei Wuxian before lowering the sword to light the area to one side of their path. “Bones.”
Wei Wuxian nodded. The bones were depressingly small but definitely belonged to people and not animals. They weren’t very scattered like they would have been if there had been an attack. Instead they were huddled in a small depression beside a rock. “I see.”
Wei Wuxian had seen this sort of scene dozens of times before. Not all the bodies in the Burial Mounds had died of violence. Back then it hadn’t affected him very much, it was a little hard to be full of empathy when you were trying to keep all the ghosts full of resentful energy from tearing you to shreds, but now he felt a sharp wave of sorrow for these little bones and the lives that had once been part of them.
“Go get the kids Lan Zhan. I need Sizhui.” He lifted Chenqing to his lips and managed a smile when Lan Zhan hesitated. “I’ll be alright. I know what to do Lan Zhan.”
Lan Zhan nodded and turned to go after the juniors. Wei Wuxian let the dark surround him again. The resentment was heavy in the air and he tasted it in the back of his throat and felt it cold on his skin. “It’s been long enough. You need to let go.” He felt the air go tight with anger. How were they supposed to let go? They were robbed, cheated of their lives, left in the dark and the cold and no one cared!
There were times when Wei Wuxian tried to follow the rules when it came to music. He did his best to follow the forms and styles but when he did even if he was note perfect the music was all wrong. He’d learned harmonizing with Lan Zhan that his strength was in improvising to someone else’s discipline.
Today he didn’t even try to do anything technically correct. Today he put his emotions in the music and let his fingers and the notes do what they wanted. He knew what the spirits were feeling and he told them so through his music. He played his grief, the feel of the ever present hunger that had followed him everywhere, the terror of the dogs that had knocked him down and stolen what food he’d managed to find. If Jiang Fengmian hadn’t found him he might have become a spirit full of resentment like the ones on this mountain.
And it worked. Wei Wuxian felt the spirits crowding close to hear and feel more. He started walking backward, drawing the spirits with him, to meet up with Lan Zhan and the others.
“Wei qianbei!” He hadn’t realized how long he’d been playing until he heard Sizhui, Jingyi and Zizhen call out. Of course Jin Ling didn’t join in but when he opened his eyes he saw him standing between Zizhen and Sizhui with the same frown on his face that Jiang Cheng used to get when he was worried about Wei Wuxian. He’d be disappointed if that wasn’t how Jin Ling reacted to his presence.
“Sizhui, just in time.” Wei Wuxian lowered Chenqing long enough to wave the others over. He was surrounded by the hungry ghosts of children, he didn’t make the mistake of thinking they’d stay captivated if he let them get bored.
Lan Zhan led the others over and after a frantic wave and hiss from Wei Wuxian he sheathed Bichen.
“Wei qianbei, what do I do?” Sizhui couldn’t believe that Wei Wuxian wanted him to help. He had Hanguang jun there and he was asking for Sizhui? He looked to Hanguang jun who was watching Wei Wuxian with the slightest crease of worry between his brows.
Wei Wuxian had his eyes closed and the music he was playing…Sizhui ended up closing his eyes and listening to it. There was something about the music that drew at him, made him think of a tiny patch of lotus blossoms and a faint memory of being all alone and crying.
Without opening his eyes Sizhui sat on the ground and pulled out his guqin to start playing along with the flute.
When he heard the guqin begin to play along with him Wei Wuxian smiled. Lan Zhan was more proficient with his music but Sizhui knew what it was like to be a lost child. There had been many days in the Burial Mounds that he and the others had gone hungry. They’d sheltered him as much as they could but nothing had ever been easy back then.
Their music twined together to speak to the ghosts of the children and slowly started wearing away the anger and resentment with the emotions behind each note. As he started to tire, Wei Wuxian felt Lan Zhan’s fingers on his arm lending him support and spiritual energy to continue. The song changed to show how even the lost ones could find a home and that was when the resentment from the ghosts turned entirely to longing.
Yes, a home, we want a home!
Before Sizhui could start to falter in his playing Jingyi and Zizhen put their hands on his shoulders to give him their own spiritual energy. Jin Ling knelt behind him and put his fingers on the small of his back to share as well. The three way infusion made Sizhui’s head swim a little. His music talked of friends and how they supported each other, how his family was all found and not blood. They could give them that.
Yes, we want that. How? How do we find a family?
“We can be their family!” Zizhen was the first to blurt it out but Jingyi was right behind him. “We can bury their bones and give them rites.”
“And we can build a cenotaph to show everyone their family reveres them and bring offerings.” Jin Ling was even getting into it now and Sizhui couldn’t help laughing in delight that they could help bring peace this way.
YES!
The spirits were so enthusiastic about the idea their reaction blew through the unnatural darkness and dissipated it. Wei Wuxian lowered Chenqing and coughed, tasting the metallic taste of blood in the back of his mouth. He was getting better at channeling the energies without damaging himself but no matter how careful he was it always took a toll. “Better get on it. Lan Zhan and I will collect the bones, you dig the graves.”
He led Lan Zhan off but they had only gone a few steps before he felt Lan Zhan’s arm slide around his waist to support him. He should be offended that Lan Zhan thought he was that fragile but instead he leaned into the supporting body and put his arm around him in return. Opening himself emotionally like that had exhausted him and made him feel hollowed out and Lan Zhan’s warm body next to his made it better.
“Wei Ying, did you mean it?” Lan Zhan’s voice was quiet and right next to his ear in a way that made him shiver slightly. But he wasn’t sure exactly what was being asked.
“That we would get the bones? Yes?”
“Not that.” Lan Zhan stopped them walking so he could look straight into Wei Wuxian’s eyes. “Your music. Did you mean it?”
Oh that. Wei Wuxian raised a hand to Lan Zhan’s cheek. “Of course. You are my home. I thought you knew tha-AT!” His voice had turned into a squeak when Lan Zhan hugged him hard enough to squeeze half the air out of him and he ended up laughing and coughing after the undignified noise escaped him.
“Come on Lan Zhan, let’s bury these bones then later I’ll let you show me all the affection you want back at the inn.”