thesecondjade | [OOM] Obvious To Anyone But Him

Once they had finally put in at a small town and arranged a stay in a barn of all places, the noble Hanguang-jun made sure the terrible Yiling Patriarch was bedded down and not getting up anytime soon.

Once he was certain Wei Ying slept, Lan Zhan went out to get some air, staying near by. There was a creek nearby, and the sound of water over stone was soothing. Everything at Lotus Pier had tested him -- both of them -- and with the knowledge of what had been done... What he had never been told... He needed to be soothed, that was certain.

Guilt was not a feeling he was accustomed to. Lan Zhan lived by the Lan motto of 'Be Righteous,' and that rarely meant there was anything to be guilty about. But now? Now he felt guilty for so many reasons, and this just compounded on the largest one of all.

If he loved Wei Ying so much, how could he have not seen? Not hear him and understand? Lan Zhan had no answers for that, and as his mind circled around another fateful night, and the words that were spoken there, and found his answer to his blindness. He could not see, because he would not see; he had failed the Lan motto completely.

The whip might have flayed the sin with his skin, but he still felt the scars of both move when he hid his face from the full moon in his hands, breathing deeply as he wrangled his emotions. A moment later he stood at attention, trying to focus on standing watch than the tumult ratting his heart around his ribs.

He should have known. Wei Ying all but told him. He should have known.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thesecondjade

"What you did was correct. Jiang Wanyin ever only thought of himself and his position," Lan Zhan reassures the dead man. "Wei Ying suffered for it, made doubly worse for his sacrifice in his brother's name."

Jiang Wanyin had much to answer for. Perhaps some day, Lan Zhan might make him pay that debt back. Somehow.

From:

undead_radish_seller

"It was Wei-gongzi's choice to make that sacrifice, so you can't blame Jiang Cheng for it," Wen Ning says sensibly. "But you can totally blame him for kicking him out of the ancestral hall, and being rude to you. Wei-gonngzi fainted from it! So yes, Jiang Cheng got what he deserved."

From:

thesecondjade

It was his choice, yes. It doesn't mean that Jiang Wanyin can't bear some blame, some how. Lan Zhan fervently wishes to put something on the Jiang Sect Leader, but... what? He did not know. It was secret. He was lied to, and in desperate hope, swallowed every bit of it. Who wouldn't, in Jiang Wanyin's place? A man who entwined with his hopes of Sect leadership, desire to be a good and strong cultivator one of the Twin Heroes, to rival the Twin Jades of Lan.

Guilt settles again in his stomach. There's his own sin: pride. So much pride, that he did not learn to bend until it was far too late.

"You are correct," he says, and leaves it at that for the moment.

From:

undead_radish_seller

"You don't have to tell him right away," Wen Ning says, returning to the beginning of the conversation. "Just before you next happe on Jiang Cheng."

From:

thesecondjade

"Mn," Lan Zhan gives his affirmative hum, this time. "I doubt we will see Jiang Wanyin in the near future."

Somewhere, Fate laughs.

From:

undead_radish_seller

"I hope we do," Wen Ning says softly. "They are brothers, after all. I hope Wei-gongzi can get his little brother back, despite all the thinking Jiang Cheng will have to do beforehand. It would be sad otherwise."

The gentlest zombie doesn't have much lasting rancour. Going off on the rude Sect Leader Jiang once was quite enough.

Edited Date: 2021-08-24 09:25 pm (UTC)

From:

thesecondjade

It is already sad, Lan Zhan wants to counter, that Jiang Cheng did not drop to his knees to kowtow in gratitude for Wei Ying's sacrifice. But then -- could Lan Zhan have done it, years ago? Before he learned the hard truths about what mattered - flexibility or rigidity?

"It--" he starts, revisits those thoughts one more time, and then begins again. "It will be a long road, if Jiang Wanyin is capable of walking it. One does not learn to bend so easily."

From:

undead_radish_seller

"Oh, but they're ultimately brothers, so it's worth it," Wen Ning declares. "Even if Jiang Cheng pretends that's not the case. He will come around."

From:

thesecondjade

Thinking to his own fraught relationship with his brother, Lan Zhan acknowledges a few things, first among them is: Yes, this is a tragedy. The fraying of the bond between himself and Lan Xichen has been a point of guilt and pain, planting seeds of resentment he has worked to suppress. Though he still places his son's well being before anything else, he knows full well that Lan Xichen has done his best to help him how he can, bound as he is by the chains of leadership that was thrust on him too young. Lan Zhan has had the indulgence of being younger, not so burdened with expectation.

Even with his deep and abiding loathing of Jiang Cheng still seething under the surface, he can says, "You are right." It costs him some pride to say it, but he pays it easier than he would have in the past.

From:

undead_radish_seller

Wen Ning had been silent for a bit; now he nods and says, "I hope it. In the end, it would make Wei-gongzi's new life so much better, to have his brother back. It would be good to see him happy, when all this mess is cleared up, instead of bits of the past chafing at him wherever he turns."

From:

thesecondjade

"If the curse is resolved, the world is open to him," Lan Zhan says, acknowledging his own fears where Wei Ying's fate is concerned. "He will be afforded a new chance to do as he wished: travel far and wide, and bring justice to the weak and downtrodden. If there is no place for him at Lotus Pier, he will know there is safe haven at Cloud Recesses."

It's something, at least, being a harbor for the boat you wish would stay in waters closer to home. His fingers remember the tune to Joy, but it has been years since he played the piece born of river shanty and inn hearth songs. The memory is tied intimately to what he has always desired for Wei Ying: For his chance to be happy and grant his wish, honor his promise of righteous action.

"He will have a second chance, if it is his will to take it," Lan Zhan says, a fraction more softly. "In time, Jiang Wanyin might see the sense of accepting this, too."

From:

undead_radish_seller

"He deserves the second chance strictly for Wei-gongzi's sake," Wen Ning says. "Otherwise..."

He shakes his head.

"So," he then says. "A-Yuan. I can't begin to express how grateful I am to you for saving him."

From:

thesecondjade

To his credit, Lan Zhan does not choke or stiffen or seem surprised. He knows two things:

Zenigata-keibu wears his heart on his sleeve where his love is concerned, and he loved Wei Ying and A-Yuan in equal measure. Expecting the loud, Jiang-hearted man to stay quiet was an exercise in futility.

Neither is Wen Ning stupid. The man was not the strongest cultivator, but he watches, observes, draws his own remarkably astute conclusions. It could be equally likely that he simply figured it out.

"It was--" Lan Zhan begins, mouth turning dry despite the moist air beside the riverbank. "The crimes against the Wen were many. I could not allow one more to occur unopposed. So now he lives among the Lan. He... suspects the truth, but has not asked for it."

From:

undead_radish_seller

"I think he knows now," Wen Ning says, softly. "We have been talking while waiting outside Lotus Pier. He remembers bits. He remembered Wei-gongzi's terribly spicy cooking when he made the congee in Yi City, and then, more and more things resurfaced and fell into place."

Pause. Then, very quietly. "He still has the grass butterfly. And I had the other one."

From:

thesecondjade

The smile that springs up to Lan Zhan's lips is both bittersweet and without reserve. Rarely does plain emotion cross his face so easily these days, away from his emotionally fraught youth. But it is there; of course, there was a bridge built between one Wen to another.

"I will speak to him. When there is-- more time," he said, glancing back to the dark barn where their well loved Wei Ying rests. "I want them to know each other, properly. But Wei Ying... needs no more distractions. When the curse is broken, he can be told."

From:

undead_radish_seller

"Yes," Wen Ning says, nodding. "Resolve the current issue first before opening up new ones."

Pause.

"Should we go back now, in case he wakes up?"

From:

thesecondjade

Lan Zhan weighs his guilt and his weariness and the gnawing thoughts of other things that should be said, spoken aloud. But he returns his gaze to the water.

"I will remain out here a while longer," he says, easing back into his cool, matter of factness. It was safer there than feeling vulnerable with his heart all bunched up in his throat. "Place wards. Then I will return."

From:

undead_radish_seller

"I have some talismans left," Wen Ning says, "so yes, I can ward the place well enough. In fact..."

He pulls out a yellow pre-written talisman.

"Sign here, and it will let you through when I put it on the door. And this one" -- he whips out a different one -- "you carry on your person. It's something I learned about in that strange inn. They call it -- two factor authentification?"

Because he is serious about Wei-gongzi's safety.

From:

thesecondjade

"Strange inn?" he asks, wondering if he means Milliways. Still the concept is-- intriguing, to say the least. "I see."

Putting down his name on one and accepting the other, Lan Zhan examines the new wards curiously.

From:

undead_radish_seller

He means Milliways -- a place that feels oddly unreal to Wen Ning, once they are back in their own world.

"It has to be two things out of something you are, something you have and something you know," he explains. "That ward recognises who you are, and another ward recognises the talisman you have."

From:

thesecondjade

The talismans both taken and given, Lan Zhan hums softly in something like approval. "Have you shown this to Wei Ying?"

Of course he would, right? He would share such an interesting concept with his master.

From:

undead_radish_seller

"Oh, it's not important enough for that," Wen Ning says. "And it didn't come up yet. I shouldn't distract him with an instance of 'look what I found'."

Pause.

"Unless you think it's iffy and he should look it over and approve before I can use it?"

From:

thesecondjade

Oh, this has taken a wrong turn somewhere. Lan Zhan shakes his head, before he says, "It is a clever system, taken from a strange place. He would be excited to learn of it, but you do not need his approval for it. You are still a Cultivator."

Just... a very dead one. Who's still up and walking around.