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Wei Wuxian hadn’t been back to Lotus Pier since…well since a lot of things…
Even though there was this tentative peace between himself and Jiang Cheng neither one of them was good at reaching out to try to fix things so both sides had somehow managed to avoid anything other than the most business-like of meetings if they happened to cross paths.
That might be why on the way to Lotus Pier for a meeting and he saw the tiny, overgrown path full of brambles and the merest hint of a worn path in the grass heading into the vegetation, Wei Wuxian paused and looked at it thoughtfully.
Lan Zhan stopped walking and looked back at him when he noticed that Wei Wuxian was no longer following him. “Wei Ying?”
“Look at this Lan Zhan.” He pushed one of the overgrown branches back and pointed to the bare dirt. “Hoofprints. As if they had just passed but no horse could fit through here. Apple couldn’t even make it without breaking the branches and leaving hair all over the twigs but these are fresh.”
Wei Wuxian scooted a little to the side so Lan Zhan could crouch down and examine the hoofprints. It was a few minutes before Lan Zhan stood back up and looked back to him but by the time he did Wei Wuxian was smiling.
“He will be irritated if you are late.” There was only one he or him in Lan Zhan’s vocabulary and Wei Wuxian smiled wider.
“If I showed up on time he wouldn’t have anything to complain about. Jiang Cheng always needs something to complain about.” He started to carefully move the branches so they could follow the path and made sure to hold them out of the way so they wouldn’t catch Lan Zhan’s headpiece or hair as he ducked under.
It wasn’t easy going at first but a few lengths in suddenly the overgrown forest receded so they were able to walk the path with open space on each side. It was quiet in the trees but there were cicadas buzzing and birds called to each other in the distance so it wasn’t an unnatural silence exactly but it made Wei Wuxian on edge for how quickly any noise they made was swallowed up.
The ruts of the old path had obviously known wagons at one point but were almost completely obscured by grass now. They were so busy paying attention to where the track meandered they were taken by surprise when the forest opened up in front of them revealing a large abandoned building with the remains of a stone paved courtyard in front of it.
“It is an Inn.” Lan Zhan walked forward and put his hand lightly on one of the beams that held up the sloped roof of the two story building.
Welcome stranger, all are welcome here so long as they keep the Inn’s peace.
The voice sounded as if the speaker was standing right beside them but even before he and Lan Zhan turned to look around them they knew they weren’t going to see anything. “Well at least we know you’re right about it being an inn.” Wei Wuxian laughed lightly but he kept Chenqing ready in his hands. “I’ve never heard of an Inn around here, have you Lan Zhan?”
“No.” Lan Zhan’s turn had put their backs together so if anything came at them they’d be prepared but Bichen was still sheathed. “It is old.”
“Old and didn’t want to be seen I don’t think.” Nothing had happened after the voice so Wei Wuxian put his arms out with hands clasped around Chenqing and bowed. “We pledge to keep the peace, to not attack first and only raise arms in defense.”
It felt as if the atmosphere cleared a little after that and with a grating sound of wood sliding over many seasons of dirt the doors to the inn slid open. “Well that looks like an invitation. Come on Lan Zhan.” He managed to bump his shoulder against Lan Zhan’s with a fond smile as he turned to head into the abandoned inn. This might have started off as an excuse to delay reaching Lotus Pier and dealing with Jiang Cheng but it had turned into something new and intriguing.
The building itself seemed to still be in good shape, although it was definitely run down and on the filthy side after years of wind had blown dirt and leaves through every gap in the walls and the few windows that were open. It didn’t look like they had to worry about falling through the floor at least. There wasn’t much of note on the ground floor aside from a variety of broken pottery and one pile of leaves in a corner that had turned out to have a family of squirrels nesting in it so they moved on to the upper floor.
There was a room at the end that opened onto a walkway that looked out over the stone courtyard and sprawled across the walkway was a very old corpse. The tattered remains of the clothing were too dirty and weather stained to know what color they had started as but they were still obviously feminine. The blade still gripped in one skeletal hand along with the rusty brown stain that covered much of her clothing and the floor underneath her made it clear she hadn’t had a peaceful death.
It had been near dusk when they arrived at the inn and now as they watched from the walkway the full moon started to crest the trees in the forest. It turned the path they’d followed into what looked like a ribbon looped through the trees and as soon as the moonlight hit the courtyard the sound of hooves clattering across the stones and skidding to a stop as if an invisible horse had slid to a stop right below them.
Wei Wuxian had crouched down next to the body to see more and spotted a glint of metal under the remains of clothes and loose hair. He blew lightly to move the hair and saw it was a medallion that was attached to a long silk cord around her neck.
The sound of the horse’s hooves moved back and forth across the stone below in a restless pattern and just on the other side of hearing something whistled a sweet tune. There was a sense of waiting for an answer that stretched and warped as it waited until in that same heard/unheard space the ghostly rider let out a scream of pure frustration and rage.
“Lan Zhan, inquiry?” There was something out of place. Wei Wuxian could feel that there was another spirit here and the voice that had welcomed them to the inn had been female where the one on horseback was very much male and he seemed to be looking for someone. Wasn’t it the other spirit they’d heard before?
Lan Zhan had nodded his agreement and pulled out his guqin to play the notes. He played his part then waited as the hesitant notes came back in answer, frowned slightly and played another question. This time the answer was less hesitant. “She was the daughter of the innkeeper. She died to warn her intended he was riding into a trap.”
“So that is her intended?” Wei Wuxian indicated the area where the ghostly hoofbeats still sounded and Lan Zhan nodded. “They are both here, why can’t they find each other?” He let out a sigh and his attention was caught again by the medallion. It was still shiny metal without a sign of tarnish. That was unusual enough he held his hand over the small shape and did his best to feel the flow of energy around it. That really didn’t tell him what he needed to know so he put his hands together and bowed to the corpse. “Forgive me but I think I know what we need to do.”
Ignoring the small sound of possible protest from Lan Zhan he carefully untied the silk cord and untangled the medallion from the hair and bones of the corpse until he was able to lift it free. Once he held it in his hand he could feel a small buzz of resentment but also hope. Wei Wuxian stood up and took two steps toward Lan Zhan, and the edge of the walkway, only to feel a sharper flare of energy against his palm and caused a spell carved into the pillar holding the edge of the roof up to flare with smoky red energy.
“Ahhh, so that’s the problem.” He didn’t want to get any closer to the spells so he didn’t harm the spirit inside the medallion.
Lan Zhan looked from the activated spell to the small amulet in Wei Wuxian’s hand and then moved closer to the spell to examine it. “There is blood mixed into it.”
“Poor thing, she can’t get out and he can’t get in.” Wei Wuxian wished he knew why exactly someone had made sure to separate the two after death. Most likely it had to do with whatever hatred they had for the man that they’d used his betrothed to trap him. Obviously, there had been love at least on her part since she’d been willing to spend her life to warn him. “I think they’ve waited long enough.”
He held out a hand to Lan Zhan to catch his wrist and bring him closer. His husband had waited too long for Wei Wuxian and being reminded of that had made him want to have him close so he could remind himself that he was there and Lan Zhan…neither of them were alone. The smile that was there just for him as Lan Zhan let Wei Wuxian pull him into a loose embrace warmed him as it always did.
The blood in the spell and the spell being carved instead of drawn on paper made it very difficult to alter the spell to change the parameters the way Wei Wuxian would normally. That meant they’d have to do something outside of normal and Wei Wuxian was good at that.
Without pulling out the embrace, Wei Wuxian held the hand with the medallion out and Lan Zhan covered the medallion with his own hand and laced his fingers into Wei Wuxian’s. Both hands together, Wei Wuxian used his ability to control spirits to wrap the one inside the amulet with the energy he gathered from around them. Once he was done Lan Zhan surrounded the both of them with a shield from his golden core so the spirit was bolstered, hidden and shielded all at the same time and the sullen red glow from the spell sputtered and went out, no longer able to sense the spirit.
Hands together and matching their steps together they walked to the edge of the walkway. At the end Lan Zhan wrapped his arm around Wei Wuxian without disturbing the linked hands and jumped them both down to the courtyard. The phantom hoofbeats circled them like a rider on a prancing horse and there was a fleeting impression of poppy red robes and the whisk of a horse’s tail through the air. Before the sweetly whistled tune came again.
Outside of the barriers of the spell the medallion gave a sharp pulse in response to the whistle and Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian unraveled their power and opened their fingers. The medallion flashed once before the metal quickly tarnished and rusted, no longer kept unnaturally perfect with the spirit no longer in it.
She was wearing a long loose robe with her long hair plaited with a dark red ribbon laced through it and reaching out her hands entreatingly to someone that only she saw fully. The hoofbeats suddenly stilled and then they could see the rider of the horse leaning down to catch her by the elbow and lift her to the horse crossways in front of him. They were both laughing and she lifted her arms to twine them around his neck and pressed their foreheads together as they lost color and faded away from sight.
Wei Wuxian leaned against his husband feeling happy for the spirits but also oddly melancholy. They were no longer separated but they’d been kept apart from each other for so long! How did you make up for the time lost?
His sigh hadn’t been missed by Lan Zhan. “Once they are together again that is all that matters.” He put his arm around Wei Wuxian’s shoulders. “Having your heart back makes the separation forgivable.”
Wei Wuxian let his head rest on Lan Zhan’s shoulder and smiled. “I don’t believe you. But I’ll let you get away with it for now.” He didn’t want to let the moment go but there was someone else he’d spent long enough away from for now. He owed it to Jiang Cheng to be better and make the effort to better bridge the distance between them.
“Come on, I’ve probably given Jiang Cheng enough to complain about. We’d better get back on the road.”
Lan Zhan leaned forward to kiss his forehead before he nodded. “Yes, it is time.” And hand in hand he let Wei Wuxian lead him back to the forest path so they could continue on their way to Lotus Pier.