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The injured man lives through the night, still feverish and recovering but most likely no longer in mortal danger. He's still not well enough to talk, or at least to say anything sensible during the brief times he's awake, or so the healer tells Shen Wei. Shen Wei doesn't let himself even see the man. He doesn't quite dare. He might still be tempted to do something inadvisable.
Shen Wei tries to put it out of his mind as much as he can, to concentrate on other things. There are always other things to concentrate on.
So when Shen Wei returns to camp and the healer he'd spoken to about the man comes to find him, it takes him quite by surprise. For one, people don't tend to approach him unless they need to.
"Heipaoshi," the healer says with a brisk nod. Shen Wei only has the time to answer with a small nod of his own before the healer continues, clearly no fan of wasting time. "You can talk to him now if you still want to."
Shen Wei has just returned, he should make sure his men are settled, and then he should report in with Fu You and Ma Gui, but as soon as he hears those words Shen Wei knows he can't wait for a single moment longer.
"Thank you for letting me know. I'll come right away," he tells the healer. He looks briefly surprised at that and then just nods and turns to walk away.
Shen Wei casts one glance at his men and thinks about saying something, but they're in camp, they know well enough what to do. Without saying anything at all, Shen Wei turns around and hurries after the healer.
His conversation with the man turns out very brief. He gets as far as confirming that he really did see a dragon, even if no one believes him. It was small and shining white and that's when Shen Wei just hastily thanks him and nearly runs away.
He needs to know more, but the Black Cloaked Envoy can't burst into tears in front of everyone. No one stops him. Of course, they don't, even if they might have business with Shen Wei they're not going to get in his way when he's clearly in a hurry somewhere.
Shen Wei just needs to get away from all of them. Somewhere where no one will find him.
He doesn't know how much time has passed when Kunlun finds him. Shen Wei looks up at him with blurry eyes, entirely unable to stop the tears. At least it's Kunlun who found him, Shen Wei thinks. Somehow Kunlun always seems to find him.
Kunlun sits down next to Shen Wei without saying anything and wraps his arms around him. A sob wrenches out of Shen Wei's chest and he buries his face in Kunlun's shoulder, fresh tears falling from his eyes.
And then, in small, broken words, Shen Wei tells him about the small white dragon.
Kunlun mumbles small soothing noises against Shen Wei's hair, stroking his back. When Shen Wei finally manages to lift his head, to look at Kunlun, he reaches out and wipes away Shen Wei's tears and then he leans forward and presses a gentle kiss against Shen Wei's forehead.
There are far too many jumbled emotions inside Shen Wei at the moment and he's not quite thinking. Because Kunlun is there, and holding him and Kunlun is the only one who will listen to him and believe him and Shen Wei is feeling too much and somehow he grabs hold of Kunlun and kisses him. The feeling of Kunlun's slightly dry lips against his own jolts Shen Wei back into reality. He pulls back quickly, stumbling over his apology.
"You can kiss me whenever you want, Xiao Wei," Kunlun says, stroking his cheek gently. And then, as Shen Wei stares at him, in stunned silence he brushes a small kiss against Shen Wei's cheek. "But maybe now isn't the right time."
Shen Wei nods quietly, he's not sure he could say anything if he tried. But yes, Kunlun is right, Shen Wei isn't… he needs to… Kunlun deserves better than an upset and crying Shen Wei who didn't even realise what he was doing.
Kunlun strokes his cheek again and says, "Wait here, alright? I'll be right back."
Shen Wei grabs his arm before he can leave. Kunlun turns to look at him, with a raised brow. "But… You want me to…" Shen Wei stumbles over the words. Surely, Kunlun didn't actually mean he might want Shen Wei to kiss him.
Kunlun huffs quietly and then leans in to press a brief but firm kiss against Shen Wei's lips. As he pulls back, Shen Wei can't help but touch his own lips. He thinks he can still feel Kunlun's lips against them. "I want to. Very much, Xiao Wei."
Kunlun stands up and this time Shen Wei doesn't try to stop him. "I'll only be a moment," Kunlun tells him.
It really isn't very long before Kunlun returns, a small black kitten in his arms. Shen Wei hasn't seen Da Qing in this form more than briefly, but he's easy to recognise anyway. Shen Wei is so surprised when Kunlun walks up to him and then firmly deposits the kitten in his lap that it doesn't even occur to him to try to protest.
"There," Kunlun says decisively. "Now, just wait here and I'll take care of things," he promises before leaving Shen Wei alone with the black kitten. Shen Wei isn't quite sure what exactly Kunlun is going to do, and about what. But Shen Wei isn't sure he's still quite ready to face other people, even his mask isn't going to hide all of what Shen Wei is feeling at the moment.
Da Qing bumps his head against Shen Wei's fingers. Shen Wei wonders if cats will like being scratched behind the ears, the same way Shen Wei likes it when Kunlun scratches behind his horns. He hesitates for a moment and Da Qing bumps his head against his fingers again, a bit more insistently this time. Tentatively, Shen Wei tries scratching him.
It turns out cats do like it quite a lot.
It's only later that Shen Wei finds out that Kunlun had first gone to interrogate that no-longer feverish man, finding out everything he could. And then he'd marched straight to see Fu You and Ma Gui.
No one knows what they talked about.
All Shen Wei knows is that when Kunlun returns to him hours later, he sits down next to Shen Wei and pats the sleeping kitten in his lap and tells him they're going to go find his didi.
Helplessly, tears start falling from Shen Wei's eyes again.
Kunlun lifts Shen Wei up, his hands careful and familiar. He lifts him high enough to press a small kiss against Shen Wei's muzzle. Shen Wei makes a small squeak, and if he could blush he would. For a brief moment, he wants to shift into a human so he can kiss Kunlun back.
He's allowed to touch Kunlun, to kiss Kunlun. Something inside Shen Wei thrums with mine, mine, mine.
Kunlun moves him closer to his shoulders and Shen Wei wraps himself possessively around Kunlun's neck, before wriggling himself under Kunlun's furs to hide himself. The Black Cloaked Envoy is far too recognisable, in any form.
Shen Wei still isn't entirely sure how Kunlun had convinced Fu You and Ma Gui to let Shen Wei leave on this… reconnaissance mission. To let both of them leave, without any backup. It's quite far from the way they've previously dismissed Shen Wei's desires to verify certain rumours.
If something goes wrong, the Alliance will be down two rather important members. Shen Wei doesn't think he's indispensable, but he's aware of his own worth to the Alliance. If nothing else, he's an important symbol for a lot of people. And this is a precarious time for the Alliance; the Hallows are still lost to them. They can ill afford to lose anything else.
Shen Wei shakes himself out of his thoughts, he should be concentrating on the present. He pokes his head out from Kunlun's furs and asks, "Will you manage to talk to the villagers on your own?" He knows about the trouble Kunlun sometimes has with some local dialects.
Kunlun sighs slightly and pats Shen Wei through the furs. "Yeah, I hope so. You'll just have to tell me later if I miss something."
It takes time to trace didi down. With every day that passes the guilt inside Shen Wei grows just a bit stronger. He should be with the Alliance, he should be helping with finding the Hallows, or helping to make sure they don't lose ground to the Rebels. But Shen Wei keeps on ignoring the guilt, no matter how strong it gets, because didi is far more important. Shen Wei will bear any amount of guilt; he'll carry the responsibility of all the men lost in his absence for even the chance of finding didi.
When they actually find him, Shen Wei almost can't believe it's true. He's been hoping for so long and now that the moment is here, it doesn't quite feel real.
There's a small group of Rebels with didi. Of course, all the rumours kept saying that there was a dragon with the Rebels. Shen Wei had still, somehow, been hoping that that part was untrue.
"Are you sure it's your didi?" Kunlun asks quietly, as they watch the group from a small ridge, far enough away not to be spotted. It's too far for Kunlun to see properly, but Shen Wei's eyesight is far better than his. And he can see the white-clad figure in their midst. He can't tell if didi is there by free will or not, and Shen Wei isn't sure anymore which he's hoping for.
He twitches slightly like he might try to fly over there right this moment. He's so close. He swallows and Kunlun reaches up to settle a hand against him. It helps calm him down a bit, Kunlun's touch as reassuring as ever.
"I can't be entirely sure until I see him," Shen Wei admits, but in his heart, there's no doubt anymore.
Kunlun hums a quiet agreement and slowly starts backing away.
"What do you want to do?" Kunlun asks once they're safe from any stray eyes. He sounds like he's entirely fine with leaving the decision to Shen Wei.
Shen Wei isn't sure he'd trust himself with being sensible right now. But he takes a firm grip on his emotions and tries to think about things logically. He can't put Kunlun in any more danger, simply because he's feeling impatient.
"I need to see him," Shen Wei says, his voice wavers slightly. He swallows and firms himself, resolve settling over him. "I can get to him like this, without anyone seeing."
It takes time for Kunlun to answer, and Shen Wei isn't sure what he expects. "Alright," Kunlun says, not sounding happy. "We'll wait for the dark, even Dixingren find you hard to spot in the dark."
Shen Wei presses his head into the crook of Kunlun's neck, a wordless noise of gratitude coming out of him. He doesn't have the words to tell Kunlun how grateful he is for everything.