Chapter Text
They’re celebrating a successful battle in the pavilion when a rift opens up in the air and drops a man directly on the roof. He makes a pained grunt, then yelps as gravity pulls him down into the bushes below.
They watch as the man clumsily staggers to his feet. “Oh,” he says. “You’re the High Cloud Quintet.” And then he passes out.
Dan Feng flies to his side. Yingxing marvels, “Can he count?” There are only four people here.
Dan Feng has only just begun to assess the man for injuries when he snaps awake again, clocking Dan Feng in the chin with his forehead.
Dan Feng fails to dodge, despite his superior Vidyadhara High Elder reaction time. (Jingliu is never letting him live this down.) He quickly heals himself, then grabs the man’s face (the man hisses at him) to heal him.
The moment Dan Feng releases his Cloudhymm, he feels a familiar, intense power surge to counter it.
Dan Feng rears back in surprise. “You’re a vidyadhara.” A powerful one, at that. Dan Feng quickly thinks of all Vidyadhara on the Luofu, and comes up short on any candidates that fit this stranger’s appearance and energy signature. He gives Jingliu a quick signal - her attention turns from amused to sharp.
The man is glaring at him. “Let go of me.” He spits the next word. “Dan Feng.”
So, he recognizes Dan Feng. That’s useless information - everyone does. Dan Feng does not let go. “Who are you.”
The man stays silent.
“Call me crazy,” Yingxing says, “He kind of looks like you. Do you have any siblings?”
Don’t be silly, Dan Feng almost says - Vidyadhara don’t have siblings. But the man suddenly looks alarmed and tightens his grip on Dan Feng’s arm.
A valiant effort, Dan Feng thinks, but no one breaks free of Imbibitor Lunae’s claws.
And then the man flips him over on the head.
“Pfft - alright, that was really funny, but we can’t let you go,” Baiheng’s voice carries over to Dan Feng as he rights himself, pride not bruised at all, Yingxing, stop laughing!
The man is slowly backing away from Jingliu. “I’m not a criminal.”
“Dude,” says Yingxing, “That’s totally what a criminal would say.”
The man gapes dramatically at Yingxing. “You…” He shakes his head. “I apologize for …crashing in, but I have no argument with the High Cloud Quintet.”
Yingxing, ever fixated on petty details, rolls his eyes. “Hey man, does this look like a quintet to you? And what the hell is, high cloud? Sounds like a cool band name, though.”
The man blinks owlishly at them. “...Jing Yuan?”
“Who?”
“Shit,” the man mutters to himself, in a low enough voice that Dan Feng is sure only himself and Baiheng pick up. “Did the curio transport me into an alternate universe?”
Dan Feng says, “Curio?” The same time Baiheng says, “Alternate universe?”
The man takes one look at them, and then runs.
Jingliu, before she goes after the trespasser in their delightful evening rendezvous, says, “What did that man say about Jing Yuan?”
“Just his name,” Baiheng says.
“He seems to be under the impression that we are part of a group called the High Cloud Quintet,” Dan Feng hypothesizes, “The four of us along with the one called Jing Yuan. His grip on reality seems to be centered on this one Jing Yuan character, and started questioning the fabric of the universe when informed otherwise.”
“Oh,” Jingliu says. “I know Jing Yuan. He’s one of mine.”
“Really?” Yingxing says. “Seems that this prophetic stranger divined that we’re fated to meet!” He waggles his brows. “Why don’t you introduce us?”
Jingliu stares at him. “He’s nine.”
Yingxing wordlessly reaches over the table and snags a still-standing cup of wine.
Jingliu scoffs at him, and then, in her version of a light jog, takes off after the man.
“So where did you end up finding the guy?” Baiheng asks, when Jingliu returns a few hours later, a small white-haired kid in tow.
Jingliu doesn’t look pleased. “He tried to kidnap my disciple.”
“I did not do that!” The stranger yells, dragged along by handcuffs. “I just wanted to see if he existed! How was I supposed to know that he’s…” He struggles for a descriptor. “Small?”
Dan Feng eyeballs Jingliu’s tiny disciple. He’s smaller than her usual pick. “Do you require healing, Jing Yuan?”
“Nnnnno Thhhank Yyyyou Mr Imbibibibibitor Lllllluuunae!”
The stranger gapes at the kid. “You don’t have to be so polite to him.”
“Excuse you,” Dan Feng says.
The stranger says, “You’re excused.”
Dan Feng reconsiders his code of ethics as a healer. “Jingliu, did you get to interrogate him, yet?”
“No,” Jingliu says. “Yingxing, watch Jing Yuan. Dan Feng, Baiheng, with me.”
“What? What am I supposed to do with a kid-”
They leave Yingxing behind to entertain the kid haplessly by the pavilion, and head to a clearing in the trees, so Dan Feng can let his power loose.
Dan Feng sends out a tendril of Cloudhymm to test the waters, and the stranger’s own snaps back at him. It’s perplexing - his own clansmen should not be able to oppose his authority like this. “Are you a Vidyadhara from another ship?”
“Not a Vidyadhara,” Baiheng says, gesturing to the stranger’s ears.
“I know what I’m sensing.”
The stranger growls, “Stop it!”
“You have a large well of power, but a lower level of mastery over it than I expected,” Dan Feng observes. “As your High Elder, I command you to dispel your illusion before I do it for you.”
“You’re not my anything!” The stranger bites back with vitriol.
(In the background, Dan Feng hears Baiheng whisper to Jingliu, “Theory, exes with Dan Feng’s past incarnation, fifty thousand credits.”
“Bet.”) The man whips around at them in betrayal.
Dan Feng ignores them. “It’s your choice. Either you do it, or I will.”
The stranger turns his gaze back to him for several long moments, considering, before he finally seems to accept the situation.
Dan Feng feels the stranger’s Cloudhymn magic surging for a moment as his ears sharpen into points, as his hair lengthens, as he grows… horns. And a translucent, flowing tail.
Dan Feng’s eyes widen as he tries to tamp down his horror. “You’re… another High Elder.” The handcuffs clink onto the ground, having fallen off during the transformation, serving to emphasize the way they’d just treated a foreign High Elder like a criminal . How does one go about apologizing for such a grave offense?
“Bet,” The stranger says sarcastically, and wrenches his arm away from Dan Feng’s grip.
Dan Feng rapidly thinks of the scions on the other ships. Have any of them reincarnated recently with a new appearance? That would explain the large well of power, and the unrefined control, but have any of them voiced their intention to stop by the Luofu?
Jingliu and Baiheng don’t stop the man as he ’hmphs’ and stalks past them, turns the corner, and runs smack into Yingxing.
“Woah! What’s with the new look, love the - wait, you’re not-”
“Yingxing,” Dan Feng adominishes, and slaps a hand over his friend’s mouth before he comments on another High Elder (?) inappropriately.
Yingxing bats his hand away and breathes, “What in Lan’s name…”
“Seems that he’s a fellow High Elder Vidyadhara,” Dan Feng grits his teeth.
Yingxing says nonsensically, “Why don’t you have a boob window?”
“I’m not a High Elder,” the stranger denies vehemently, arms crossed over his boob window. Then he snatches Jing Yuan into his arms, examining him closely. “And did you give Jing Yuan alcohol?!”
“Just a little!” Yingxing says. “It’s not like I have a crossword. Or a picture book.”
Dan Feng clocks Yingxing on the back of the head. He should know better. “Apologize.”
“Jing Yuan plays starchess.” The stranger says icily. “You don’t know him at all.”
“Literally my first time meeting him,” Yingxing mutters, and Dan Feng cuffs him again, before stepping forward with an olive branch.
“I’ll heal him of his intoxication.” Truthfully, the yawning kid in the stranger’s arms barely looks tipsy. It’s nonetheless a good opportunity for Dan Feng to approach and observe the stranger up close.
His eyes are sharp, lined with a striking red. His features mirror Dan Feng’s own, but that in itself is not surprising - most of Long’s scions bear resemblance to one another, due to their connection with THEM.
Dan Feng finishes his check-up on the kid and steps back politely. He coughs. “How may I address you?”
The stranger searches his face, deciding on an alias. “...Heng.”
Dan Feng lays a hand on his chest. “I am Dan Feng, the current incarnation of the Imbibitor Lunae.”
“...I know,” says Heng, and offers nothing about himself. A test?
“Allow me to apologize for the intrusion,” Dan Feng says. “I will offer you my hospitality in the Vidyadhara delve for as long as you desire. Please, follow me.”
“No need,” Heng says, shaking his head. “I’ll… find a hotel.”
“Nonsense,” Dan Feng says. “I can hardly request for you to debase yourself in such a manner when the Vidyadhara Estate is perfectly capable of catering to your needs.”
“I’ve slept in worse,” Heng dismisses, and makes to leave.
Dan Feng mourns the relationship between the Luofu and (Ship Unidentified) Vidyadhara clans, when Jingliu comes to his rescue. “Wait.”
Heng scowls, and stops for her. Who knew Jingliu had this much sway in foreign High Elders? Perhaps they, too, have heard of her reputation as Sword Champion. Dan Feng owes her a huge debt should she help smoothen relations. “What?”
“You can’t take Jing Yuan with you.”
“Oh. Right,” Heng says awkwardly, and sets him down. Dan Feng continues looking expectantly at Jingliu, waiting for her to re-appeal to Heng’s accommodation sensibilities. Jingliu offers nothing. Dan Feng is not going to heal her the next time she gets a scrape.
This foreign High Elder’s fixation on one of Jingliu’s disciples is fascinating. Perhaps he likes children? Does Dan Feng need to procure him a child?
Heng makes to leave again.
“Wait!” Dan Feng’s outburst catches him off-guard, and he turns back around. Dan Feng swallows. “You… seem to have an aversion to being associated with me. Surely you must be aware that, with your current appearance, many will mistake you for me?”
Heng scowls at him, and in a blink, his Cloudhymm illusion settles over him again and restores his former appearance, vanishing the sharp tips of his ears, and the horns and tail. Dan Feng bites down on a remark. For a High Elder to debase themselves and mingle with commoners… “If,” Dan Feng grits his teeth, “That is your choice.”
Heng nods at him. “I’ll find you tomorrow.”
Dan Feng perks up. “I’ll have my staff prepare for your arrival.”
“Er,” Heng coughs. “I’d appreciate if the matter was more… discreet.”