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In the Company of Strangers
Sep. 17th, 2020 11:07 amSince the rebuilding of Cloud Recesses, Lan Zhan has felt like the world was just one step from normal. It was not simply because things had changed. While it was still Cloud Recesses, parts of it was stranger to him now. While the Jingshi has been spared destruction, when he saw freshly planted trees instead of the mature pines that had been there on his way to the main compound, he knew things were not as they had been. When he counted the fish in the pond and found they were three short than before, it was all wrong.
The library was the worst. Having spent long hours here from the time he could read to the man he was becoming now, it's change were the most obvious. The sanctum he sheltered in had been grossly violated. Filthy Wen hands had ripped and destroyed, put less important texts to the torch. The smell of ash still permeated the place, smoke clinging to every surface.
Lan Zhan hated it. He could not deny that it drove him harder, though -- the ever present reminder that of the transience of all things was a sliver in his heart next to the one named for Wei Wuxian.
Unwilling to pick apart the whys and wherefores of the feeling, Lan Zhan feared that Wei Wuxian would become like the library. Resentful energy charred the flesh and seared the soul, causing weakness of body and spirit. He did not want to see Wei Wuxian become a stranger, hollowed out and left bereft of comfort he was to Lan Zhan.
Lan did not linger on why Wei Wuxian was a comfort; one should think that Wei Wuxian was a storm that tosses boats on the cove of Lotus Pier hither and thither, but no. No, he was a river, yes, but one that spurred Lan Zhan on a course. He made Lan Zhan... better.
"Are you so deep in your research that you have not heard me, Wangji?"
Lan Zhan looked up so quickly he cricked his neck, but the pain never reached his thick face. "My apologies, Lan-xiongzhang."
His elder brother inclined his head a little, before he stepped inside, sliding the door to the library closed behind him. "I've received a request for aid, Wangji. I should like you to tend to it."
Lan Zhan knew brotherly interference when he heard it. All the same, he set his quill aside and listened. "What aid is needed?"
"A jiufeng has visited a village between Gusu and Yunmeng. As Yunmeng is rebuilding, they have reached out to us for assistance in dispatching the beast," Lan Xichen said.
"I'll do it," Lan Wangji. Anything to strip Jiang Wanyin of a single potential moment of glory.
His brother let a fleeting smirk touch his lips before it faded. He'd seen the pettiness. Banked on it, perhaps.
"It will be good of you to get out of the library," he said, glancing around as if he did not already know why Lan Zhan was studying here, day in and day out. "Some skills can only be honed with use."
"You are correct." Lan Zhan set his studies aside and swiftly tidied his desk. He would return -- a jiufeng was not a difficult creature to contain, if you had the ability to catch it. If left to run rampant, it would eat children, rending them apart with nine terrible beaks digging into soft, innocent flesh. "I will prepare at once."
"Thank you, Wangji," Lan Xichen said. "Come to me when you're ready."
The library was the worst. Having spent long hours here from the time he could read to the man he was becoming now, it's change were the most obvious. The sanctum he sheltered in had been grossly violated. Filthy Wen hands had ripped and destroyed, put less important texts to the torch. The smell of ash still permeated the place, smoke clinging to every surface.
Lan Zhan hated it. He could not deny that it drove him harder, though -- the ever present reminder that of the transience of all things was a sliver in his heart next to the one named for Wei Wuxian.
Unwilling to pick apart the whys and wherefores of the feeling, Lan Zhan feared that Wei Wuxian would become like the library. Resentful energy charred the flesh and seared the soul, causing weakness of body and spirit. He did not want to see Wei Wuxian become a stranger, hollowed out and left bereft of comfort he was to Lan Zhan.
Lan did not linger on why Wei Wuxian was a comfort; one should think that Wei Wuxian was a storm that tosses boats on the cove of Lotus Pier hither and thither, but no. No, he was a river, yes, but one that spurred Lan Zhan on a course. He made Lan Zhan... better.
"Are you so deep in your research that you have not heard me, Wangji?"
Lan Zhan looked up so quickly he cricked his neck, but the pain never reached his thick face. "My apologies, Lan-xiongzhang."
His elder brother inclined his head a little, before he stepped inside, sliding the door to the library closed behind him. "I've received a request for aid, Wangji. I should like you to tend to it."
Lan Zhan knew brotherly interference when he heard it. All the same, he set his quill aside and listened. "What aid is needed?"
"A jiufeng has visited a village between Gusu and Yunmeng. As Yunmeng is rebuilding, they have reached out to us for assistance in dispatching the beast," Lan Xichen said.
"I'll do it," Lan Wangji. Anything to strip Jiang Wanyin of a single potential moment of glory.
His brother let a fleeting smirk touch his lips before it faded. He'd seen the pettiness. Banked on it, perhaps.
"It will be good of you to get out of the library," he said, glancing around as if he did not already know why Lan Zhan was studying here, day in and day out. "Some skills can only be honed with use."
"You are correct." Lan Zhan set his studies aside and swiftly tidied his desk. He would return -- a jiufeng was not a difficult creature to contain, if you had the ability to catch it. If left to run rampant, it would eat children, rending them apart with nine terrible beaks digging into soft, innocent flesh. "I will prepare at once."
"Thank you, Wangji," Lan Xichen said. "Come to me when you're ready."
