I am trying to think how I'd do a version of Omega!LWJ AU and the cliched running away pregnant trope, but in CQL canon setting. `

But where/when would it happen? Let's review some options: 1) During the Cloud Recesses study arc. Even then, we have to choose exactly when they hook up. Do they get together or just sleep together?

Obviously, the exact worldbuilding around omegas and expectations placed upon them etc would matter when deciding on how and why the sex happens (beyond their intense attraction to each other!) and how and why LWJ runs.

Perhaps LWJ drunkenly tries to kiss WWX after the cup of wine, and WWX doesn't let it get very far, but the memory of LWJ's lips against his and the pout when he was made to stop just...sticks in the mind. And WWX brings it up during the Cold Pond Cave situation.

Maybe they have cave sex. Maybe they just kiss some more, with both of them heavily into it, but have sex later. WWX could sneak into LWJ's room in the evening, wanting to find out if there can be more kisses or if LWJ now hates him or what, and they fall into bed.

Now, timing is kind of hazy in CQL at times, but I'm pretty sure LWJ leaves on his Yin Iron quest rather soon after Cold Pond Cave, though we could claim there's more of a gap if we want. He could already know he's pregnant, or be starting to suspect, when he leaves.

And he's intending to keep this secret. He may even be struggling with denial as the pregnancy goes from 'suspected' to 'LWJ is not just bearing light', and he could really do with WWX not insisting on tagging along.

Which makes this, to some extent, a reverse of 'Taken For Granted', because here we have only LWJ and WWX aware there's been anything between them and only LWJ aware of this particular consequence.

Of course, this is less 'the cliche where the pregnant person runs away' and more 'the pregnant person tries to run away, for a certain value of running away that includes fulfilling duties and promises, and the unknowing father runs away with him'.

So, option 2) Still during the study arc, but earlier. LWJ and WWX get into it, and by 'it', I mean each other's robes. LWJ realises he's pregnant before any of the Yin Iron stuff happens, panics, and runs.

Now the Lan Sect is panicking because their second master has vanished and they have no idea why. WWX is worrying that LWJ is so upset by what they did together that he's left his sect rather than see WWX again.

This option could mean LWJ being absent for a lot of big plot points, including Sunshot. We could have him being found by WWX once WWX goes on the run with the Wen Remnants. Or by LXC when he runs under orders to save the texts.

Both good options. LWJ would have to somehow not have heard about the burning of Cloud Recesses or the war, or else be prevented from returning to help, I would think. Perhaps he is on his way back, having heard of the growing Wen threat, when he finds LXC on the run.

Depending on timings, again, LWJ may just about still be able to hide his pregnancy at first, if it's the LXC on the run version. When would LXC work it out? Would he insist LWJ stays out of the war entirely?

Another branching-off point for LWJ running during the study arc is for him to run, but be caught by the Wens anyway. This way, he ends up at the indoctrination still, but with the added complication of either hiding his pregnancy or being visibly pregnant.

And I've once again veered away from the 'finding LWJ years later with a kid that looks like WWX' aspect, but there are just so many good possibilities. Okay, let's say it is that LWJ runs from the study arc, stays gone because of reasons, and WWX finds him near Yiling.

Or WWX has to take the Wens someplace else, because someone else chases after WWX and doesn't let him go, and somehow this changes where he can run off to with his new charges. Wherever they end up, that's where LWJ has made the best he can of things.

This destination can also be reached by Option 2) 'LWJ and WWX hook up during the war. LWJ realises he's pregnant, hides it, and vanishes once the war is over'.

Option 3) (I know I have missed out some options, but I am only rambling here) LWJ and WWX has a passionate tryst when LWJ visits Yiling during the Burial Mounds arc. LWJ takes himself off someplace. LXC and LQR search for him, including arriving in Yiling.

Maybe this changes things somehow - WWX joins the search and ends up with Lan support or something.

Option 4) (am I at 4?) Post-canon, meaning Chief Cultivator Lan Wangji high-tailing it out of there with his bun, which would be a whole lot of trouble for many people. Also, would he be looking FOR WWX, to tell him about the kid?

This one would be very tough to write in a way that wasn't crack, for me. Or angst. Like, so much angst. I could definitely make it work with angst.

I am still thinking about this. I'm liking LWJ vanishing in a panic before the Cold Pond Cave can happen, but I don't see him doing this without an extra reason other than panic at an unplanned, teen pregnancy. So there will have to be some angst.

Will it be contrived? Will I kill another Lan Elder? Yes and yes.

Let's say the elder is one who particularly hated Mama Lan and who has always believed her sons are tainted. That second one especially. Yes, he obeys the rules. Yes, he's LQR's best student. But he's as stubborn as his father and far too much like his mother.

(Also, little A-Zhan once bit this guy on the cheek. Really dug those pearly whites into the flesh. Hung on by his teeth as the guy stood up. LQR had to remove A-Zhan. This is one incident in many of A-Zhan not liking this elder. It has never been forgiven.)

As is the case with many people, this elder has persuaded himself that anyone he doesn't like or, even more so, who don't like him must be bad people. Even if that people is a small boy with issues. So this elder is not the person we'd want finding out that LWJ is pregnant.

And this guy has long believed LWJ is spoilt, indulged, coddled, that the boy has been ruined by it and that the proof of this will emerge eventually. Here is his proof! LWJ is a disgrace to their clan and this elder will not allow it to stand unchallenged.

Let's say LWJ has been sent on a nighthunt by LXC. It's far enough away and near enough to a decent sized town that he's dared find a healer. LWJ has suspected what is going on with him and is hoping to be told he is wrong. Sadly, the healer confirms pregnancy.

This elder is in town on some other business. He spots LWJ leaving the healer's, not wearing his Lan ribbon or his usual robes, and knows something is up. So he goes into the healer's and manages to get the information out of this poor civilian somehow.

The elder waits until they are both back in the Cloud Recesses before calling on LWJ in the Jingshi (where he already lives in this AU) and castigating him. LWJ is made to understand this elder will inform LQR, LXC and every other elder.

The elder claims it's a given that LWJ will be put in seclusion, that he'll be punished and monitored and treated from then on as the troublemaking, willful, promiscuous omega he clearly is. As for the child, clearly it was a mistake to let LWJ to see his mother at all.

The only way LWJ will leave seclusion, if the elder has his way, is to be married into another clan. It's been too long since such an alliance was made between the Lan and another of the Great Sects, and there are potential husbands in more than one of them.

However, the elder muses, many of those young alphas are here in the Cloud Recesses now. LWJ must confess which, if any of them, he has allowed to father a child on him. LWJ does no such thing. He won't bring WWX into this. The elder grows angrier.

Of course, he continues, an older husband may be best. An older alpha will know better how to manage LWJ, will be less inclined to indulge him. And if LWJ must be a second spouse, forgoing the rank and privileges he may have been expecting, that is his own fault.

The elder finally leaves. LWJ's mind is near blank with panic and shame and fear and... He would normally confess his errors to LQR and LXC and ask for punishment, but he can't with this. He can't.

This is something so serious. This elder has intimated that, although LWJ is most at fault, the alpha will be punished severely, too. The elder also insisted LWJ would not be permitted to marry this alpha, who must not be strong enough in character to keep LWJ in line.

This elder is an idiot in many ways, but LWJ is not thinking straight. He doesn't go to his brother or to WWX or even to the Lan healers. He packs hurriedly, unsure what he can take or what he'll need for a child, but filled with the urgent need to be gone.

Now, a bit that is so contrived I would not normally allow it: The elder doesn't tell anyone about the pregnancy or about his 'talk' with LWJ, because the elder dies in his sleep that night. He intended to speak with LQR etc in the morning, certain that LWJ would stay put.

Yes, he's assuming LWJ will obey the order to stay in his rooms. Yes, he's doing this having just told LWJ to his face that LWJ lacks morals or obedience. No, logic is not this guy's strongest skill.

In any case, he now can't tell anyone anything. He's a mean spirited, begrudging guy, but he lived according to his own beliefs and so is content enough to move on. Even Inquiry won't spill LWJ's bun beans, now. But LWJ is already gone.

Now, I could go into details of how this changes canon through the next arcs - Yin Iron (because CQL), Burning of Cloud Recesses, Indoctrination, Burning of Lotus Pier, Missing WWX, Sunshot... Instead, let's just handwave that any changes lead to more or less the same outcome.

WWX takes the Wens from the workcamp and runs. He ends up in Yiling, and one day when he's in town with A-Yuan, he turns around from talking to a stallholder and finds A-Yuan has vanished.

When he hears the crying and commotion, he runs in that direction, certain he's going to find A-Yuan terrified or hurt. Instead, he finds A-Yuan in the arms of a beautiful man. A beautiful man who is soothing A-Yuan, even as the people surrounding him call out advice.

A beautiful young man WWX thought he would never see again. 'Lan Zhan,' he murmurs, shocked into stillness. The Lan Sect was forced to declare LWJ missing before the war. It has long been speculated that he was captured and killed by the Wen Sect before war was declared.

There are other rumours, too, but none of them come close to LWJ being in Yiling, dressed simply and looking tired, comforting the little boy WWX is looking for.

WWX moves forward to speak to LWJ, and almost stumbles when he hears one of the uncles in the crowd tut and call out. 'Children act out more when their parents are exhausted,' the man claims. 'I should have words with that alpha of yours. Is he not helping you at all?'

An alpha? LWJ's alpha? The man sounds as though he's talking about a particular person. LWJ must live around here. He must live around here with his husband.

LWJ looks uncomfortable, not meeting anyone's eyes and not responding, and WWX can't take it anymore. He isn't LWJ's alpha, but that is the boy WWX is supposed to be keeping safe and LWJ should not be having to deal with it.

(WWX blocks out any thought of why a man who knows LWJ, even in passing, would assume a boy on LWJ's hip is his son.) 'Lan Zhan!' he calls, waving and seeing the moment LWJ spots him.

LWJ's lips part. His expression is hard to read, but there's something hopeful, something awed, something scared. 'Wei Ying,' he says, once WWX is close enough. The people around them disperse, but a few cast looks at WWX as though letting him know they'll remember his face.

The uncle who made the comment about LWJ's alpha is the last to leave, making a pointed remark about bringing a delivery round to LWJ's home later. So, LWJ does live here. He lives her, and at least one older man feels someone should be keeping an eye out for him.

Once they're left alone in the middle of the street, WWX gestures to A-Yuan. 'You...ah, Lan Zhan, you must be wondering who this little one is. He's mine!'

He's about to make a joke about having birthed A-Yuan from his own body, but the look on LWJ's face stops him. Yet again, he isn't sure what the expression means, having spent only those few months with the boy before he disappeared, but it makes him drop the joke.

He reaches out, lifting A-Yuan from Lan Zhan's arms and balancing the boy on his own hip. Checking that A-Yuan is calmer now he's been found gives WWX a few moments to gather himself, and when he looks back at LWJ he's got a friendly but polite smile ready.

This is the only person he's ever been intimate with, the only omega he's ever wanted that way, for all he's found beauty enough to flirt with in many places. But that doesn't mean he has any right to claim anything from Lan Zhan.

They end up walking together, WWX chatting about nothing in particular and A-Yuan brightening up, until the boy's eyes catch on a stall of toys and he points at them. WWX lets him look. That's all they can afford to do.

The stallholder offers a greeting, and WWX is preparing to let the man know they won't be buying anything today when he realises LWJ is being addressed. 'Ah, I'm glad you came by,' the stallholder says, producing a wrapped package and holding it out to LWJ. 'All ready for you.'

LWJ takes the package, his eyes darting to WWX and away as though he's got something to be ashamed of. 'A toy!' A-Yuan exclaims. WWX thinks the tiny shifts in expression mean LWJ is regretful, as though he has any obligation to buy toys for A-Yuan.

Again, he shuts away the thought that LWJ is buying a toy for someone, and what that implies. He focuses on teasing A-Yuan into giggles, so that the boy won't be sad about the lack of a toy. LWJ steps away from the stall and WWX suggests food.

They don't go to a teahouse. In this version of things, LWJ is reluctant to do so, though he doesn't explain why. Instead, the wander through the streets a little more, WWX buying some of the things he's supposed to be getting and talking about whatever crosses his mind.

Whatever crosses his mind but doesn't seem too personal or too loaded, anyway. LWJ says little, but he doesn't seem to be trying to end their walk. Then, the warning talisman ignites and WWX attempts to dash away.

LWJ asks where he's going. When WWX admits he's heading back to the Burial Mounds, LWJ pales even beyond his usual hue. 'You...' he says, and starts again. 'What happened, Wei Ying?'

WWX snaps out the shortest version he can, nothing much beyond how he's made himself the enemy of the sects by taking innocents away from persecution. 'And now I have to get back,' he insists, already turning away. LWJ grabs his wrist. 'Your sword?' he asks.

'I don't see your sword, either!' WWX counters, and finds himself dragged along behind a swiftly striding LWJ. He tries protesting they're going the wrong way, and briefly thinks of using resentful energy to break free, but LWJ may not know about the demonic cultivation.

WWX would rather not tell him, if he truly is still unaware. But he has to get back to the Wens! He tells LWJ this, and is met with one word. 'Bichen.'

LWJ pulls WWX to a small home down a quiet street. Inside the gate, there's a small courtyard and a neat room to each of the three sides that aren't fence. This isn't a rich person's home, but it's not something the poor could afford, either.

If WWX had ever seen the Jingshi, he'd know this home is smaller, though arranged differently. As it is, he's relieved to see that LWJ has somewhere decent to live. He gets little chance to take in any details, as LWJ lets go of him, disappears inside, and returns with Bichen.

LWJ is still a strong enough cultivator to carry three on his sword, it turns out, and they take off from the courtyard up into the sky. WWX doesn't have a panic attack at being on a sword again, but that's mostly because he's already so intent on getting to the Wens.

The next hour or so pass in a blur of action and reaction, and at the end of it WN is back with them and LWJ is trying to slip away quietly. WWX, grateful beyond words that LWJ is there, that he carried them on his sword, that he even brought his qin, doesn't want him to go.

But LWJ had been glancing at the sky in a way that suggests he's concerned by the time, and WWX supposes his alpha must be expected home. Not wanting to get his friend into an argument with his husband, he walks LWJ down the mountain and returns without him to their feast.

LWJ, meanwhile, makes his way back into Yiling in a daze. He feels half thrown out of reality by WWX's appearance and not at all sure what to make of the fact WWX is now living in the Burial Mounds.

CW: mention of difficult pregnancy and birth. Mention of near death in childbirth. WWX claimed A-Yuan is his own! A-Yuan is larger than LWJ's own child, an omega boy who's entry into the world almost took LWJ out of it.

The pregnancy and birth were difficult, and he found himself forced to remain in a southern town, using up the money he'd taken on a small lodging and a healer. He followed the healer's advice, but A-Hui was born too small and LWJ took a long while to recover.

A-Hui is healthy now, though not as robust as LWJ would like, and has never caught up to others of his age. Perhaps A-Yuan is younger than A-Hui. But if so, he can't be all that much younger.

Is WQ A-Yuan's mother? Was WWX busy falling in love with her whilst he was in LWJ's bed? The thought burns, and he torments himself on the way home with the possibility that WWX was with WQ whenever he was not with LWJ. But then, so what if he was? LWJ left.

All the angsty thoughts he has about WWX and A-Yuan, and WWX and WQ, and WWX and another woman/omega if not WQ, are one type of pain. The worse one is the knowledge WWX is living in the Burial Mounds, that his life has been reduced to hiding from the sects.

What with that, and the few details WWX had let slip about the war and about LXC, LWJ is an emotional wreck by the time he reaches the home of the beta woman who is watching A-Hui. It's enough she raises an eyebrow at him and presses him to take a cup of water before he goes.

'Is he still keeping you up at night?' the woman asks. They have left their children with each other for the past six months, when one of them has needed to be out alone. That's almost as long as LWJ has been in Yiling, once he finally recovered enough to journey back north.

His guilt at not being there for his family and his sect during Sunshot didn't help his recovery, nor did it put money in his purse. By the time he got as far north as Yiling, the war was over and he found he couldn't face anyone from his life before.

This woman knows that LWJ is exhausted from the fact A-Hui can rarely settle to anything, including sleep, combined with the need to bring in enough for rent and food, so it's not a lie when he nods. He makes no mention that he saw A-Hui's alpha parent today.

He continues not to mention it to anyone, including A-Hui, over the next few days. WWX hasn't been back into town, as far as LWJ knows, and he's listened to the gossip in a way he wouldn't normally.

The stories about WWX are confusing. They speak of demonic cultivation (something LWJ tried not to balk at during the situation at the Burial Mounds, something he told himself must have another explanation), of betrayal and arrogance and defiance.

LWJ sets that against what he saw of WWX the other day, the kindness and care for A-Yuan and WN, the way WWX shone so brightly even though his exhaustion sat just under his skin.

He compares it with what he remembers of WWX back at the Cloud Recesses, joking and annoying and infuriating, until he wasn't. Until he was passionate and sweet and intoxicating.

LWJ doesn't know what to think. This LWJ didn't see WWX during Indoctrination, or watch him save people in a cave with a murder turtle. He didn't see him take pain and injury to spare Mianmian, or know what is felt like to have WWX tending to his wounds.

He also didn't see him broken and vengeful and sharp after being missing for months. He didn't see him in battle during a war. But this LWJ still can't believe WWX would be bad. Not the way some of these stories paint him.

LWJ's immediate thoughts upon seeing WWX again included running. Running to get A-Hui and leaving town. Running to pack up his things, picking up A-Hui and leaving town. And there was running to WWX and begging him to forgive LWJ, and would WWX like to see his son?

Several days later, he's without any impulse to run. He seems stuck in place, instead, going about his business of caring for A-Hui, going on small night hunts, and taking work as a scribe where he can. He pretends not to keep staring in the direction of the Burial Mounds.

Another problem is raising its head again: alphas. Without his status as one of the gentry, let alone as the second master of a great sect, LWJ is faced with some failure in keeping alphas away. He still rebuffs many with his manner and aura, but not all.

One wealthy merchant has become an increasing issue. The alpha sees LWJ at one of the businesses in town sometimes, when LWJ is taking or delivering work he does for the owner, and the merchant clearly believes LWJ is also something that can be bought.

This particular day, just over a week since LWJ met WWX again, the merchant accosts LWJ in the street. LWJ can still fight, even though he isn't honed by war in this reality, and he is capable of cutting remarks, cold looks, flat out walking away. But he has A-Hui with him.

This merchant alpha has made comments before how a creature as lovely as LWJ shouldn't have to bear the drudgery of looking after a child. He's made it clear he knows local officials. He's strongly implied he can remove A-Hui from LWJ somehow. He's hinted LWJ should be his.

LWJ is fairly sure he can continue to resist without violence. He doesn't want word of him getting back to the sects, not when he still believes that elder will get him locked away without A-Hui. If he has to, though, he will knock the merchant clear through the nearest wall.

Today, the merchant pushes his luck, pressing in close to LWJ and crowding him back against a building. LWJ keeps A-Hui held safely away from the man and tries to work out whether now is the time he has to lash out. Will it be worth having to leave the home he's found?

Will it be worth leaving the tentative beginnings of a support network, the work he gets - which is enough to rent the house for less than it should be, but his principles about using his beauty don't extend to A-Hui being cold. Will it be worth walking away from WWX again?

Before he has to decide, the merchant yelps and is pulled backwards, a hand clamped firmly around his left wrist. The WWX who stands next to the merchant now is a WWX this LWJ has never seen.

This WWX is cold and hard, a smirk on his lips of the sort that makes you desperate not to know the joke. To LWJ's trained eyes, wisps of resentful energy extend from WWX's hand up around the merchant's arm, and the man looks ill.

'He doesn't like being crowded,' WWX says, with the confidence of someone who knows a person well, and his tone is pleasant. His eyes are not. The merchant whimpers.

It doesn't take much for WWX to drive the merchant away, and LWJ is left standing in the street with WWX. Again. He doesn't know what to say. Again.

He ends up leading WWX back to LWJ's home, largely because LWJ needs to be somewhere he feels safe just now. WWX didn't hurt the man - he doesn't think - but it still could lead to trouble for LWJ and A-Hui. And for WWX.

WWX sits at the table in the living area and looks around, clearly puzzled. 'Where's your alpha?' he asks, at last. 'Shouldn't he be around to keep other alphas from bothering you?' WWX shows no sign he's aware that could be said to include him.

LWJ hasn't spread the rumours that say he has a husband who's away a lot, but he hasn't denied them, either. It's enough to keep some trouble from his door. And it gets him more sympathetic reactions than admitting to having fallen pregnant out of wedlock and run.

But he can't bring himself to lie to WWX, even though his heart is doing all of the cliched things a heart could be expected to do right now. 'There's no alpha,' he tells the pot of tea he's placed on the table.

WWX's eyes widen and snap to A-Hui, who's playing on the floor next to the table with the toy LWJ bought for him last week. It's a carved fish, because A-Hui developed an obsession with fish and frogs and other water-dwelling things about two months ago.

WWX is a genius, LWJ knows. Just from hearing him ramble in the library during his punishments, or from the way he argued with LQR in class, that much would have been obvious. Just now, his thoughts are clicking together almost visibly.

LWJ cuts in just as WWX opens his mouth, saying they can talk more once A-Hui is down for his nap. It's likely A-Hui won't sleep, or that he'll fall into a doze for only a short while, and LWJ almost hopes for it. He doesn't want to have this conversation. He's nervous.

But today, because today is apparently out to get LWJ, A-Hui falls asleep without fuss, the fish clutched in one hand, and LWJ takes a deep breath and goes back to the table. 'I'm sorry,' he begins. 'It was wrong of me to leave without telling you.'

'Lan Zhan,' WWX says in an almost strangled voice, 'he really is mine, isn't he?' LWJ can only lower his head. He'd lower himself into a bow, would apologise properly for denying WWX knowledge of his own son, but WWX takes one of LWJ's hands and clings.

'That's why you left,' WWX says, 'because you were...because I got you with child. Lan Zhan, did you think I wouldn't stand by you?' LWJ meets WWX's eyes to see there are tears in them. He's speechless. He wants to tell WWX he never thought that far, but how to say it?

Isn't it also going to hurt WWX to hear that LWJ hadn't even fully accepted the reality of a child before that elder arrived and filled him with panic? That LWJ hadn't seen telling WWX as possible from that moment? 'An elder found out,' he says in what, for him, is a rush.

WWX's jaw tightens. 'They were going to punish you?' he asks, not sounding as though he expects to need an answer. 'What would they have done to you?' And that sounds like 'Who do I need to hurt?' LWJ just shakes his head minutely.

Then he nods. The elder had said there'd be punishment, and the rules would insist upon it, too. But punishment wasn't why he ran. 'He said they would take my child to be raised by others,' LWJ shares, slowly now, reaching back to a memory that is mostly warped by fear.

'They would marry me off to another sect, to an older alpha.' Since that day, LWJ has tried not to think of who could have been chosen as his husband. If he were to be a second spouse, then JGS would be possible. WWX squeezes his hand.

'I looked for you,' WWX says. 'I was punished for breaking through the wards, and for being gone, but I went looking for you. And your brother... I think he had them go easy on my punishment.' He searches LWJ's face, frowning. 'I don't think your brother knew about A-Hui.'

But LXC was taught from a young age to hide things behind that smile of his. He wouldn't have thought WWX should know about any pregnancy, because LWJ had kept WWX's name out of it, and he wouldn't have let any outsider know of the shame his brother had brought on himself.

'I'm serious, Lan Zhan,' WWX says intently. 'He spoke to me about you sometimes, during the war. Not often, but the kind of conversation where you don't keep secrets.' LWJ feels his own eyes widen. WWX told LXC about their...intimacies? 'Ok, some secrets,' WWX admits.

'I didn't tell him we... But I did tell him I cared about you, too, that he wasn't the only one who missed you.' LWJ closes his eyes. The thought of his brother missing him is something he's been trying to block out. Because of course LXC would miss LWJ. LWJ misses him.

WWX's voice is shaky as he goes on. 'He told me they thought you must be dead. They looked for you everywhere, for months. But then the Wen attacked, and they hadn't found you, and...' 'The war,' LWJ finishes for him. 'Brother thought I'd return to fight in the war.'

He manages to force out enough words to let WWX know he hadn't been in any physical or mental shape to make it back to them all, let alone to be a warrior in Sunshot, but it feels so inadequate. WWX has lost so much, and LWJ walked away through choice.

But the memory of that elder's words makes him shudder. LWJ is still young enough to be married off. JGS is still around, and the best match in terms of which sects have wealth and power. They could still take A-Hui from him. They wouldn't have to wait for him to give birth.

WWX sighs and strokes a finger back and forth across LWJ's wrist. 'I know, I know,' he says. 'I can't go home, either. I guess the two of us are stuck being outcasts. Us and...and our son.'

It hits LWJ low in his gut, hearing those words. He doesn't cry, but he feels closer to it than he has been in a while.

Ok, that's it for tonight. Sleeps sleeps.

WWX doesn't wait until A-Hui wakes up. LWJ seems hesitant to introduce WWX as his alpha parent, and WWX thinks he gets it. The elder that panicked LWJ into running is the one to blame for WWX's lack of place in his son's life, and he hides any hurt at LWJ's wariness.

It's WQ who finds him drinking that night, in a clearing not far from the cave with the sounds of wandering corpses only a few trees away. 'I should extend the wards,' WWX says, when she skips scolding him and sits down at his side. 'That's not why you're drinking,' she says.

He's almost finished the jar by the time he works up to telling her, and she listen quietly until he's done. 'Tell him I can check on his health and that of your son, if he wants,' she says. 'In the meantime, I'll make him a packet of fortifying powder. He can add it to tea.'

She sits with him in silence until he's drunk himself sleepy, and then supports him back to his cave. Over the next couple of days, she lets him pace and rant or sit beside her in silence as he works through some of his thoughts. He's surprised to find he's angry at LWJ.

'That's not fair, right?' he asks her, as he walks from one side of the cave to the other, forgetting what he went for each time. 'Lan Zhan was a kid. He was scared by that elder. And I should have known, anyway. What kind of alpha doesn't know?' WQ hmms.

'But he could have told me!' WWX doesn't quite shout. 'Right? He could have... If he was already sneaking out, he could have come to my room first and told me. I'd have gone with him.' He thinks he would have. He probably would have. Or he could have taken LWJ to Lotus Pier.

And the Lan Sect could have demanded the return of their second son, of their highest ranking omega, who now carried the first of the next generation. Could JFM really have refused? And would WWX really have left behind his brother and sister and obligations? For good?

At that, WQ raises an eyebrow and looks pointedly around the cave. WWX flaps a hand at her and continues pacing.

Next, he falls into despair and guilt. 'Did I take advantage of Lan Zhan?' he asks. 'I thought he wanted... Well. I thought so. But what if I pushed him into it? He wouldn't trust me enough to come to me, then, would he?' WQ doesn't even bother raising an eyebrow at that.

On the third day, he's worked himself back down to his usual self and takes WQ's packet of medicines to LWJ. She's done more than send powder. There are herbs and instructions for teas and for exercises to use during meditation, and a note saying she will visit if permitted.

LWJ is home, working quietly at his desk to one side of the living space, and WWX lets himself admire the man for a moment as LWJ sets his brush aside and looks up. 'I let myself in,' WWX says, needlessly. 'Hope you don't mind, Lan Zhan. Oh, and I brought these from Wen Qing.'

LWJ takes the package and sets it aside, seeming a little subdued. WWX is almost sure he can read LWJ well enough to tell that. 'Is, um, is A-Hui here?' WWX asks, once LWJ has yet again made them tea. And then, in a rush, 'Lan Zhan, is this okay? Is it okay that I visit?'

LWJ blinks at him. 'Of course Wei Ying can visit,' he says. 'Then why don't you seem happy about it?' WWX asks, because apparently he's lost all ability to keep thoughts inside his head today.

It takes them far more than one pot of tea, but they manage to reach some kind of understanding. LWJ had thought WWX may not come back at all, these last few days. He wanted WWX to get to know his son. He didn't want to demand anything of WWX.

WWX, in turns, makes it as clear as he can that he wants to know A-Hui, to get to know LWJ again. He stops short of saying he wants, with a fierceness he does manage to keep hidden, to be A-Hui's alpha father properly, and to be LWJ's husband. LWJ hasn't asked for that.

Over the next week or so, they meet almost every day. LWJ sends his thanks to WQ for the medicines, which makes WWX worry that LWJ is not fully recovered from bearing A-Hui. They walk together about town, play music in LWJ's home, and introduce A-Hui to A-Yuan.

Then comes the day that WWX spots JC, clearly waiting for him. LWJ shakes his head when WWX asks if he'll come with him to see what JC wants, which isn't a surprise, and looks almost beseechingly at WWX. 'I won't tell them about you. Either of you,' WWX promises.

If a tiny part of WWX curls up in disappointment that he won't be able to introduce JC to his son, or even let him know WXX has a son, that's not something he needs to burden LWJ with. He just wanted LWJ to know he wasn't something WWX felt the need to hide from his family.

WWX is delighted to find Shijie waiting for him in the courtyard JC leads him to, and makes a play of being disgusted that she's in wedding robes for JZX. Nobody mentions LWJ, or children (other than to ask for a name from WWX!), or asks who was with WWX in the street.

When he opens the gate to leave, WN is waiting for him, the link forged between them letting WN find where WWX had gone. He doesn't say LWJ sent a talisman asking him to do so, but he doesn't quite meet WWX's eye. They leave with the last bowl of soup in WN's hands.

LWJ is sitting with both A-Hui and A-Yuan when they return to his home, guiding the boys through some very early, very messy calligraphy, and he relaxes his shoulders infinitesimally when WWX confirms JC didn't ask about him. The boys share the soup and love it.

Within a handful of months, A-Yuan and A-Hui are so close they may as well be brothers. LWJ won't allow A-Hui to visit the Burial Mounds, and seems increasingly reluctant to see A-Yuan head back there after each visit, but he never mentions it explicitly.

WWX talks about it with WQ. Well, he does when she finds him working on a new talisman and insists. 'Would Lan Wangji take A-Yuan in, if you asked him to?'

It's not the first time they've discussed - argued about - whether they should work out a way to get A-Yuan free of his family's fate. They both know this attempt at living in exile will only work for so long.

'I already left him with one kid he didn't ask for,' WWX mutters, and WQ must read the way he hunches in on himself, and doesn't say anything more about it. He doesn't tell her it feels like admitting WWX shouldn't be taking care of any children.

Perhaps they would have discussed it again, or WWX would have found a way to bring it up with LWJ, but something else happens first. The wards register someone at the border late one evening, and WWX finds LWJ with a wild look in his eyes and A-Hui cradled in his arms.

WQ banishes both of them from her workspace almost at once, telling WWX he needs to take LWJ somewhere to calm down. WWX shoots her a look. She must know he isn't calm himself, and is trying the trick of giving him someone else to look after. He hates that it works.

It's a fever of a kind the boy has had before, one that LWJ thought A-Hui was done with, and this latest bout has frightened him. Naturally, LWJ would look calm to most people, but over these last months WWX has built on the intensive study of LWJ he undertook in the past.

He sits with LWJ throughout the night, coaxing little snippets about A-Hui's past illnesses from his friend. LWJ and WWX have to at least be friends, now, right? Not long after dawn, WN finds them and says A-Hui is over the worst of it, but WQ would like to keep an eye on him.

LWJ has work arranged in town, work he can't afford to lose, and is talked into leaving A-Hui under WQ and WWX's care. A-Hui is a wonderful child, but he's more stubborn and more prone to acting out than A-Yuan, and he screams and clings when LWJ goes to bid him farewell.

LWJ doesn't seem overly surprised. He explains that A-Hui gets like this sometimes, even when LWJ is only leaving him with someone he knows for a short while and when he's perfectly well. LWJ also apologises in advance for any biting A-Hui may get up to today.

Eventually, with patience that a younger WWX would have been amazed by, LWJ extracts himself and leaves, promising to be back before sundown. And WWX is left with a whole day of caring for his son.

WWX learns a number of things that day. For one thing, he's always thought A-Hui to be a particularly clean child, but it turns out that's just LWJ's presence. Left without his omega parent to clean him up and keep him out of mess, A-Hui is coated in mud within hours.

And he isn't supposed to be out of bed. He's still not well and he keeps nodding off, but in between falling asleep in random places, A-Hui is off in whichever direction is least convenient for WWX.

By the time A-Hui has worn himself out and WWX and WN between them have got him clean and into another set of clothes, it's almost dusk. WWX is relieved, at least, that his son and A-Yuan are both sleeping by the time the sun is down, because his own worry about LWJ is enough.

WQ reminds him that WWX called LWJ his equal. She reminds him that back when LWJ was still the second young master of Gusu Lan, he was accounted one of the best of his generation. 'He has his sword with him,' she goes on. 'If anything came after him he could handle it.'

'Lan Zhan wouldn't break a promise,' WWX insists. 'He promised A-Hui he'd be here by now.' WQ tells WWX she'll stay with the boys, and WWX takes WN with him to look for LWJ. They don't find him.

They search until dawn breaks, and keep searching. At last, halfway to Yiling, in a field some way from the road, they find evidence of a fight. There's blood and scuffed up ground and even a few gouges. LWJ perhaps managed to use his qin.

'This wasn't any creature or ghost,' WWX says, as WN nods in agreement. 'This was people. Cultivators. It must have been, to overpower Lan Zhan. But why?'

The next days are a terrible type of reliving the past. WWX searches for LWJ as best and as far as he can without leaving the Wens and A-Hui unprotected. It isn't far enough. He hears tell of some travelling merchants in the area, but no cultivators.

The people who know LWJ in Yiling are various shades of suspicious about WWX himself. The beta woman who sometimes watches A-Hui is worried, but doesn't know anything useful. The uncle who keeps an eye on LWJ clearly thinks WWX has been attempting to seduce a married omega.

In between searching, WWX tries to comfort A-Hui and A-Yuan, who has bonded firmly enough with LWJ that he's almost as distraught as A-Hui is at his absence. A-Hui also wants to go home, but WWX can't move out of the Burial Mounds.

When they check in LWJ's home, there's enough money stashed away to pay the rent for a while. WWX decides his boys should be out of the resentful energy if they can be. Granny Wen and WQ move into LWJ's home, introducing themselves as his alpha's family. WWX keeps searching.

Meanwhile, JC arrives at Koi Tower to visit JYL and almost at once hears gossip about WWX. A knot of Jin disciples are chattering away with one from another sect, exclaiming over the recent evidence that the YP really does take children.

He grits his teeth and strides past. Further on, he passes another group. This time, it's older cultivators, mostly Jin again, talking about how terrible it is that the YP would addle the mind of a poor omega. JC glares at them and huffs.

By the time he reaches JYL, he's certain there's something behind this increase in rumours. 'Did something happen?' he asks her, once they've exchanged greetings and he's asked after her health. Her pregnancy is going well, he's told, but he still worries.

JYL frowns. 'A-Xuan's tried to find out for me. It seems some Jin cultivators were near Yiling and found an omega in need of help.' JC scowls. 'Near Yiling doesn't have to mean it's to do with Wei Wuxian.'

From what JYL has managed to find out, mostly from JZX but partly from her maids and a little bit from one of the healers, the omega was brought back to Koi Tower but has been shut away in their guest rooms ever since. 'Recovering, Jin Guangyao told A-Xuan,' JYL says.

Recovering from what, exactly, nobody has been able to tell her. Not with any degree of certainty. Not with any degree of reliability, she should say. The Jiang siblings compare the rumours they've heard and there are many.

Time for Tea to trundle to bed.

Koi Tower boasts thousands upon thousands of peonies in its grounds, but it sprouts even more rumours. YP demands babies as payment for performing vile favours. He's offered babies in the hopes he'll spare the rest of a family. The babies are his, sired on bewitched omegas.

These are just some of the ones that include babies. JC is vibrating with disgust long before they've shared them all. 'They really think Wei Wuxian lives off the blood of virgin omegas?' he demands. 'At the same time as saying he beds every omega near him?'

'A-Xuan tells me there's an art to sifting out the details that hold a grain of truth,' JYL says. But she's forced to admit her husband doesn't have much knack for it, not beyond working out which of his parents is in what mood. And JYL herself is still learning.

'There's a quicker way to work out what the hell this is about,' JC insists, and stops on his way to the door when JYL rushes up and grabs his arm. 'A-Cheng, you can't go breaking down the doors to an omega's rooms,' she says, because she knows that glint in her brother's eyes.

They don't have long to argue about it before JZX arrives, looking harried. 'Father's calling a meeting of the sects here in three days,' he tells them, as he crosses to JYL and stands beside her. 'About the omega our people brought back.'

JC and JYL exchange worried looks. If JGS can persuade the other sects that WWX is harming omegas, the Lan and Nie Sects may be shaken from their near neutral stance on the Wens in the Burial Mounds.

Up until now, it's been neutral enough to keep JGS from having support to attack. But it's a widely known and little spoken of fact that LXC is especially protective of young omegas. People murmur that the alpha sees his missing little brother in every one of them.

That gives JC under three days to make it to Yiling and back. 'He wouldn't do these things,' JYL states. JC agrees. WWX would kill. He has done, brutally. WWX would kill without consideration of the impact on the Jiang Sect. But he wouldn't do what these rumours say.

JYL tells JZX that she has to see this omega. She has to find out for herself, before it's shouted about in a crowded hall, what this omega says has happened. JZX is reluctant, mostly because interfering with other people's business in Koi Tower is bad for one's health.

His mother has long cautioned him to stay out of it, to let the little people have their schemes, if they must. But he also isn't sure it can be managed. Not with how much care is being taken to keep this omega safely out of sight.

Still, he agrees to try. With that assurance, and after glowering at JZX enough to be sure the man is reminded what JC will do to him if he allows harm to come to JYL, JC mounts Sandu and heads towards Yiling.

Just a short one tonight. I am a sleepy Tea.

JC lands near the wards at the Burial Mounds and, when WWX doesn't appear, lashes at the barrier with Zidian. It worked the last time. This time, it doesn't. WWX must have strengthened the wards somehow.

In frustration, JC attacks the barrier again and again. He has to warn WWX about these new rumours and find out what the hell is going on, and he has to do it without anyone from another sect realising JC is here. And WWX is just leaving him standing out here!

He's worked himself into a sweat by the time he hears WWX's voice. 'Jiang Cheng? What are you doing here? What's happened? Is it Shijie?' WWX's voice, which is coming from behind JC and not from inside the Burial Mounds.

JC spins around, ready to tear strips of his...off WWX, but the sight he's greeted by stops him cold. WWX looks awful. He's pale and drawn and haggard, looking ready to collapse the moment he's somewhere even slightly safe and with bruise-shadows under his eyes.

'Shijie's fine,' JC gets out. 'Why do you look like that?' WWX pretends at being offended, but when JC snaps at him for maybe the fifth time, he sighs and says they'd best talk inside the wards. The walk up to WWX's cave is tense and silent.

JC doesn't look directly at any of the people they pass once they reach the settlement, if it can be called that. There's no kid clinging to his leg today, but maybe someone has learnt to keep him away from visitors. As soon as they reach the cave, he demands answers.

'If you must know,' WWX says, sounding cold and hard and dismissive in a way JC really hates, 'a friend of mine has gone missing. I've been searching.' Being suspicious and connecting troubling incidents to WWX are familiar to JC. 'This friend,' he asks, 'are they an omega?'

WWX grows colder and angrier as JC tells him what he knows about the omega at Koi Tower. 'There's a meeting been called,' he says. 'I need to know what this omega friend of yours may say.' 'So you can protect me?' WWX asks, his lips twisting.

Anger flares in JC's gut and he's close to shouting. 'I already told you! I can't protect you whilst you protect them.' WWX glares at the hand JC throws out in the direction of the cave entrance, before sneering and turning away. 'Then why do you need to know?'

'I can't protect you,' JC repeats, pressing on before WWX can interrupt, 'but I can try to stop them from attacking you here. If I know what to expect.' 'And you think what?' WWX demands, clearly disgusted. 'That my 'omega friend' will say I bathe in baby's blood?'

That's one rumour that hasn't been spreading, as far as JC knows, but it wouldn't be out of place amongst the ones JYL and he are aware of. Biting back the next acid-tinged words that rush up his throat, he tells WWX about the rumours and about the 'rescued' omega.

When he's done, JC waits. WWX has a distant look in his eyes, staring at one of the cave walls in a way that makes it obvious he's seeing something else. 'The Jins took him,' he says, at last. He says it slowly, dragging each word out like it's a lump of his own flesh.

'They will give him back or I will kill the first Jins I see and have them tear the rest apart,' WWX says, and it's a vow. JC takes the three steps to WWX and grabs him by his shoulders, forcing him to turn until they're facing each other. 'With A-Jie in Koi Tower?'

'Wei Wuxian, listen to yourself! Whoever this omega is-' 'He's mine,' WWX all but growls. His eyes are midway to red.

JC feels his fingers digging into WWX's shoulders, but he can't seem to loosen them. 'What?' he manages.

Meanwhile, JYL is speaking with one of the servants who may have taken food to the omega's room. The servant isn't one JYL knows and she's so far not broached the subject of their mysterious guest, but she thinks she's getting the younger woman to warm to her.

The sound of people approaching makes her look up, and she can't help but feel taken aback as JGY leads LXC towards them. Not that it's unusual for LXC to visit Koi Tower, or to be seen with his sworn younger brother, but they wouldn't normally be in this part of the building.

If JGY is confused to find JYL so close to their omega guest's rooms, he doesn't show it. He stops to greet her, and LXC offers his own greeting, appearing just a little less graceful than usual, a little more tense.

The servant vanishes at a glance from JGY. JYL doesn't sigh, because she's too well practised at hiding her frustrations, but she fears she isn't quite so warm as she'd like to be when greeting LXC. He's amongst the least reactionary of the sect leaders. They may need that.

'Is there something you need?' JGY asks solicitously, as though JYL may be wandering about these hallways in search of a snack or a plump cushion. She decides to be more direct than she'd intended. With LXC already here, she can't waste time. 'I had hoped to visit our guest.'

JGY hesitates, his smile dimming before it regains its strength, and he dips his head in one of those little almost-bows he does when he can't fulfil a request. 'Young Madam Jin is kind, as always,' he says, 'but at the moment our guest needs peace and rest.'

'Forgive me if I overstep,' she says, also smiling, 'but are you not intending to visit yourselves?' LXC is an excellent diplomat, but he's more likely to give something away than JGY, who, from what JYL has seen, lives constantly under threat of censure from JGS and Madam Jin.

LXC expression barely changes, but it's enough to confirm that's where they're going. She continues without waiting for them to attempt a denial or distraction. 'I remember how it feels, to be in a place not your own after...' The slight hitch in her breath is real.

'And,' she pushes on, before either can offer comfort or suggest she should rest, 'I remember that, at times, the presence of another omega was soothing to me.' She stops and glances up at LXC, whose lips are slightly parted and whose eyes reveal sympathy and realisation.

Hastily, JYL assures him that everyone knows he's a gentleman and would never be a threat to an omega, but that she felt uneasy around everyone after the burning of her home, and can only imagine a similar reaction may be the case here. 'I wish only to help a fellow omega.'

She feels a slight twinge of guilt at that, because it's the only lie she's told in this conversation: it isn't the only thing she's aiming to do. Her words have the desired effect, with LXC turning to JGY and saying JYL raises something they should keep in mind.

From the way he phrases it, and the sadness lurking in his voice and eyes, he's thinking of his brother. Perhaps he's wondering if LWJ would still be with him, if the boy had been able to confide in another omega. LWJ was rarely in company from what JYL saw. Apart from WWX.

JGY looks uneasy. 'Er-ge,' he says, 'I don't believe this omega will see you as any sort of threat.' But JYL ends up walking with them to the guest rooms along the hallway, and is standing to the side and slightly behind LXC as the door opens.

A young man sits at a table in the middle of the room, staring into the middle distance. He's beautiful. He wears pale yellow robes. He doesn't twitch a muscle or move his eyes as they enter. JYL's first conscious thought is that he looks wrong without his forehead ribbon.

LXC must recognise his own brother. Nevertheless, he stands still and in silence until JGY urges him forward. 'Second Master Lan,' JGY says, in a coaxing voice of the sort used on small children or the infirm, 'your older brother is here. Don't you want to greet him?'

LWJ's only response is to lower his eyes. LXC exhales as if punched and takes two steps towards the table, one hand lifting and falling again as he stares at his little brother for the first time in years.

'Wangji?' he says, more as a plea than a greeting. Then, almost a whisper, 'A-Zhan?' No reaction. JYL watches as LXC, a hero of the Sunshot Campaign, one of its leaders, and an accomplished sect leader, reaches the table and sinks to his knees, his expression aching. 'Didi?'

Hit by a rush of memory of her first sight of WWX after months of him being missing, JYL presses a hand to her mouth in an effort to stave off tears. WWX had come back changed, had clearly been keeping secrets, but at least he'd responded to her.

She looks at JGY, who can usually be relied upon to ease any social situation as well as he is able, to find him watching the Lan brothers with a complicated expression. It must pain him to see LXC hurting, even though finding LWJ must have remained a wish deep in LXC's heart.

'You were in Yiling?' LXC asks, despite LWJ's continued silence. 'What were you doing there, Didi?' After a long enough pause that it's clear LWJ won't answer, JGY does so for him, shooting an apologetic look at JYL as he does so. 'He was leaving the Burial Mounds, Er-ge.'

LWJ continues to show no reaction as JGY tells LXC, and by extension JYL, that Jin Cultivators were passing near the YP's territory when they found LWJ. He implies that LWJ has not recovered from his ordeal, whatever that ordeal may have been, and suggests more time is needed.

JYL expects to be ushered away, and in many ways she could do with the time to think about what she now knows. LWJ, the omega WWX was captivated by during their days at the Cloud Recesses. LWJ, the boy whose disappearance caused WWX such distress, who WWX searched for.

This isn't any omega. (Tea resists making Marks and Spencer's jokes. Resists and resists and resists...) JYL is both more inclined to believe WWX would have this particular omega with him, and is even more certain he would never cause this young man any harm.

But given the way people have taken to warping everything about WWX, she won't be surprised if his fascination with LWJ is made into a dangerous obsession. Too many of their generation saw how WWX chased after LWJ, and it was known WWX was punished for running off to search.

So she's thinking what she'll say to JZX, and to JC when he returns. She's thinking of the ways the past connection between WWX and LWJ will be twisted, and how she may be able to counter it. She's thinking of how to convince LXC that her brother will not have harmed his.

It takes her aback when LXC turns enough to look at her and asks that she stay. 'You said yourself that Wangji may be more at ease with another omega present,' LXC says. 'If Young Madam Jin can spare the time, the Lan Sect would be grateful.'

JGY attempts to extract her from the request, but JYL assures him it's only what she came for. 'I promise I'll rest properly once I return to my rooms,' she tells him, pleased she'll be able to tell JZX his brother is so attentive to her.

LXC leaves the table long enough to speak quietly to JGY just outside the doors, his eyes straying back to his brother every few seconds, and JGY finally shuts the doors and departs. LXC returns to the table and invites JYL to sit across from him, placing on LWJ's left side.

It's odd, having LXC prepare and pour the tea for her, here in a room in her marital home. In Koi Tower, it's more usual for servants to undertake this task, but none of those have been allowed to remain with them.

LXC keeps glancing at his brother, more hesitant than JYL has ever seen him, and finally he sighs and speaks. 'Will you not drink your tea?' he asks LWJ. 'It's one of your favourites.' It feels momentous when LWJ blinks, and looks at the cup, and slowly reaches to pick it up.

Her impression of this young man was of dignity and grace, but the way he moves now is perhaps better characterised as sluggish. JYL sees LXC frown slightly. 'Didi, are you feeling ill?' he asks. 'Were you hurt?'

LWJ is still looking down into his cup, and now he slides his eyes sideways, away from LXC. There's something about his mouth that suggests a pout. JYL is struck by the feeling that this young man isn't traumatised: he's sulking.

LXC's expression gains an extra element of confusion. 'Wangji?' he asks. There's an air about him of someone who doesn't know what emotion he should be having or what he should be doing about it, and JYL decides she ought to make use of her older sister skills.

First, she comments on how pleasant the tea is and how it seems to have sparked her appetite. Light chatter about which snacks she likes best, which JC favours, and which do they prefer seems to befuddle both Lans, though perhaps LWJ isn't really listening to her.

LXC replies for both of them, hesitating a little as he lists some of LWJ's favourites. Perhaps he's wondering if his brother still likes them. JYL reminds herself she's married to a sect heir and sister to a sect leader, and sends LXC to fetch snacks.

It can't possibly be something that happens to him often, but very little about this situation can happen to him often. Most of the boys in JYL's life find reassurance in being set a simple task at times. For all his grace and composure, LXC must be somewhat like them.

It may well be that he suspects she wants to give LWJ a chance to speak to another omega without an alpha present, even, or especially, when that alpha is his older brother. In any case, JYL and LWJ are soon alone.

'Second Master Lan,' she begins, 'we didn't get to know each other when we were younger, but A-Xian spoke of you a great deal.' It's risky, to mention WWX. If, somehow, she's very wrong about him, and he did cause harm to LWJ, this could distress the young man.

Instead of becoming upset, LWJ looks up at her, his lips slightly parted. She stops and waits to see if he will speak. 'Wei Ying spoke of me?' he asks. His voice is deeper than JYL remembered, and she can't say she ever saw him look so...beseeching?

She tells him how WWX spoke of LWJ more than he spoke of anyone, and how much he missed LWJ when the omega vanished. 'I missed Wei Ying,' LWJ admits. His eyes, JYL thinks now that she can look at them properly, appear hazy, as though he's had a couple of jars of wine.

She's about to ask whether LWJ stopped having to miss WWX, hoping she can find out whether the two were in each other's company in Yiling, and from there gain details on what exactly LWJ was doing near the Burial Mounds, when he speaks again.

His speaks as though he's been at the wine, his words laid down with a weight and intensity that comes with an altered state of mind, and his stares directly at her in a way that borders on uncomfortable. 'Wei Ying misses his shijie,' he says.

This time, JYL doesn't manage to stop the tears. She doesn't think to try. She feels the moisture pool and escape down her cheeks, and she wishes she could have gone with JC to the Burial Mounds. She wishes she could pull WWX into her arms right now.

'His shijie misses him,' she says. LWJ nods, a slow and elegant dip of his head. 'I miss Wei Ying,' he says, as though they're playing some game where they must keep exchanging the names of who they miss.

Before she can decide how to coax more out of him about WWX, LWJ sighs. It's a tiny, heavyhearted exhalation, and he finally drops his gaze again. 'I miss A-Hui,' he confesses quietly.

JYL is struck by the sheer weight of sadness in him. Whoever this A-Hui is, they're important to LWJ. Being apart from them is hurting him. Without thinking, she reaches out and places her palm on his cheek.

LWJ startles, but before she can apologise and withdraw her hand, he sways towards her, and speaks in a hushed, urgent tone, all the stranger for how little expression he wears. 'They lie,' he informs her gravely. 'Who does?' she asks, because that could mean so many people.

LWJ tilts his head, pressing into her palm. He mustn't realise he's doing that. 'Wei Ying is not bad,' he says. 'Wei Ying is good.' 'He is,' JYL agrees, relief making more tears slip free. 'A-Xian is good.' Whatever has happened to LWJ, WWX is as guilt-free as she thought.

'Were you with A-Xian?' JYL asks, when she's got herself under control. LWJ stills to the point he may as well be a statue, before drawing back. JYL is left with her hand hovering in the air. No matter what she tries, she can't get LWJ to speak again.

LXC returns carrying a tray of snacks not long after. 'I brought some of the red bean buns you like,' he tells LWJ, setting one in the bowl he's already placed before the younger man. 'You should eat, Wangji. You look thin.' LWJ relents and eats, but he remains silent.

There are still snacks left by the time JGY reappears, asking if things are well. He's joined by a Jin healer, who says he needs to check on LWJ and make sure the medicine they gave him is working. JYL mentions she worked with the healers during Sunshot, and pours more tea.

It strikes her as highly unlikely LWJ has been drinking. Quite aside from the Lan rules, no healer worth anything would confuse wine with medicine, though she is aware of certain ailments where the Jiang Sect treats wine as a cure. She needs to see what they've given the boy.

The healer is one she finds decent enough, but a little prone to treating women and omegas as though they aren't quite the ones who best know their own minds and bodies. It doesn't seem to be meant nastily. He just...takes it as read that they get confused, bless them.

JYL has always felt this beta man genuinely wants to help his patients, but she still prefers to see two of the other healers over him. There are others she refuses to see at all: she's never heard any murmurs that this healer treats women or omegas the way JGS does.

All this is to say, the healer makes an indulgent comment about an omega wanting to have his friend with him, as though saying LWJ wants a toy to cling to for comfort, and otherwise doesn't pay JYL any attention. He does insist LXC and JGY leave the room.

LWJ doesn't make it easy for him. He ignores the healer's instructions and pulls his hand away when the man tries to take his pulse. He won't say whether he's in pain still or say whether the medicine helped. Throughout, LWJ doesn't look at the man. The healer sighs.

'Second Master Lan,' he says, 'this is for your own good. We don't want to worry your brother, now, do we?' LWJ twitches a little, just a couple of fingers on one hand shifting and his mouth pursing slightly. 'Your family will want you back healthy,' he healer goes on.

But no matter what he says, LWJ won't cooperate with the examination. He doesn't cause a fuss, as such, but he acts as though nobody else is around him and eventually the healer gives up. He calls LXC and JGY back in and shakes his head.

'What is the medicine for?' LXC asks. The healer explains it's partly a sedative, to help LWJ cope with what he's been through, and partly to help stabilize elements of his qi. 'It's usually seen after pregnancy,' he adds, 'but this condition can be brought on by trauma.'

'Pregnancy?' LXC asks, sounding startled. He looks past the healer, right at LWJ, who has gone very still again. 'Second Master Lan is not with child,' the healer says, as though that's obvious and all pregnant people can be identified on sight as soon as conception occurs.

For some reason, this condition is found in both those who have been through difficult pregnancies and those who have suffered trauma, the healer explains dismissively. Whatever has happened to LWJ in the years he's been missing, it must have caused this illness.

JYL has become a target for horror stories since announcing her pregnancy. Some spell seems to have been cast upon anyone who ever carried and birthed a child, and it compels them to tell her every terrible detail of their experiences. So she doubts there are two causes.

Just because pregnancy can be traumatic doesn't mean that's the trauma LWJ suffered. His condition could have been triggered by something else. But JYL compares the way he said he misses A-Hui to the way so many parents have spoken of missing children since Sunshot.

JYL places a hand over her own belly and sees LWJ notice. As LXC stares at the healer, looking increasingly shocked as the man says this condition, untreated, can lead to ongoing issues including infertility, LWJ raises his eyes to meet JYL's.

He looks scared. JYL hasn't been older sister to two of the most dramatic young men in their world without learning a thing or two. With a gasp, she pushes herself to her feet and lets the tears from earlier have their way. 'Must you talk of that?' she cries.

She isn't sure exactly what the healer was saying at the moment she called out, but people who talk about the difficulties of producing humans like to get their money's worth. There are a few old grannies around Koi Tower who only look happy when recounting such things.

He must have been saying something about pregnancy, still, because LXC and JGY become solicitous at once. The healer gives an apology that suggests she's only confirming his views, but stops verbally linking LWJ with bearing children.

Unfortunately, her tactic gets her ushered away to her own rooms soon after, and she leaves feeling conflicted. LXC must be told that LWJ hasn't been harmed by WWX in any way. If this A-Hui is LWJ's child, then said child can't be very old, and shouldn't be left alone.

But LWJ seemed sad to be separated, not worried about A-Hui's wellbeing. He did seem worried at any chance people would realise he'd been with child. Assuming JYL has drawn the correct conclusions, of course. She isn't A-Xian, able to make such connections with ease.

And wouldn't LWJ and his child be better off together? Which they can be, if JYL tells someone about there being a child (probably), so people can go and look. Plus, that will explain LWJ's condition, so LXC isn't thinking someone abused or hurt LWJ.

She's in her rooms and is resting when she has a troubling thought. The rumours say the omega, who she now knows to be LWJ, took a child into the Burial Mounds. If that is based on the truth, then perhaps LWJ took his own child there, meaning a Lan child is amongst WWX's Wens.

It would be a very small step from that to the Lan Sect besieging WWX and demanding their child back. That could be what worries LWJ.

She really needs JC to come back and tell her what WWX has said, so they can put their heads together and work out what to do.

WWX waits until JC is out of sight on Sandu before he calls WN. WN remained out of sight whilst JC and WWX...talked, but his hearing is good and it's obvious within moments he heard what was said.

'How are we going to get Second Master Lan back?' WN asks. 'I promised Jiang Cheng I wouldn't put Shijie or her baby at risk.' 'Baby?' WN asks. Despite himself, WWX feels a flicker of warmth. 'Yeah. Shijie's having a baby. So we have to be smart.'

They go to WQ. Clustered around LWJ's table, WQ, WN and WWX debate what can be done. The boys are playing in the courtyard with Granny Wen and an uncle, their laughter high and happy, and it's better not to worry them, they all agree.

Laughter have become rare. A-Hui is more often fretful and bad-tempered, prone to arguing or refusing no matter what he's asked to do, and running off to hide in corners. A-Yuan is sad, too, for all he's too used to losing people, and keeps asking when LWJ will be back.

'You can't risk making A-Hui lose both of his parents,' WQ insists. WWX grimaces. 'It's not as though he knows what I am to him,' he points out, because LWJ has never brought it up and WWX isn't going to push. 'He does need Lan Zhan.'

On some level, they must all have known from the start that WWX would go to Koi Tower. WN and WQ will remain in Yiling, keeping the boys and the rest of their clan as safe as they can do, making use of the new connections LWJ has unintentionally given them.

'There's a house to rent in the next street,' WQ tells them. 'Larger than this one, though more run down, and a few jobs I've heard about that would mean enough to pay for it.' LWJ's extended family has been taken under more than one wing, it seems.

WQ has secured papers for about a quarter of the Wens, using a contact at one of LWJ's scribing jobs. 'I've been doing some of his work,' she admits, meaning LWJ. 'Don't they recognise you?' WWX wants to know, thinking of when she ran the Yiling Supervisory Office.

Most of the ones who saw her face back then are dead, WQ tells him. As for the man who's got her the papers, he knows who she is, but WQ saved his mother's life when their own healer couldn't, and he has a wife who is now suffering an illness he's begged WQ to help with.

She intended to discuss this with WWX soon anyway, she says, but with him needing to leave the area for at least a few days, and with the sects being gathered by the Jin Sect, she wants to put the plan into action right away. 'I can't get everyone out, yet,' she says, 'but...'

WN will remain in the Burial Mounds with those who can't leave them yet, and WQ will actively work towards hiding the last of the Wens as members of LWJ's extended family. WWX feels anxious, but knowing the sects may want to invade in light of the recent rumours, he agrees.

WWX hugs both boys, tells them to be good and that he'll be back with LWJ soon, and heads off to Koi Tower alone.

JC arrived back at Koi Tower just long enough ago that he's now heard about JYL's weird tea party with the Twin Jades. 'And you think he's got a kid?' he asks. 'Yes, A-Cheng. I think it's likely.' JYL is too kind to point out how many times she's already said this.

'I didn't see any kid in the Burial Mounds,' JC says, also not for the first time. It is the first time he adds, 'Not this time.' Which leads to him having to explain to JYL and to JZX, who for some reason is also present, about the Wen boy WWX had with him before.

JYL looks distressed. 'A-Cheng, you don't think the boy you saw could be A-Hui, do you?' JC is thrown by that. The mere idea that LWJ's kid could have been hugging anyone's leg... Granted, he barely knew the man and even that was years back, but that just sounds wrong.

Besides, he's sure WWX called the boy by name at some point. 'No, that was another kid,' JC says. Which raises the question of how many children are in that resentment-stewed place.

'A-Xian didn't mention any other children?' JYL asks, and sighs when JC confirms he did not. 'What did he tell you? Did he mention Second Master Lan?' JC scowls. This whole thing was bad enough before he knew the omega's identity. 'He never mentioned him by name,' he says.

He's reluctant to share the next part, because JYL is bound to feel hurt that WWX didn't tell them earlier, but this is about stopping the situation from turning to disaster. He has to tell her. 'We Wuxian didn't say his name, but he was already upset his omega was missing.'

JZX speaks for the first time since he greeted JC. 'You're saying Lan Wangji is Wei Wuxian's omega? Do you have any idea what that claim would cause?' Is he saying that? JC shares a look with his sister.

WWX was adamant the omega is question was missing against their will, that they wouldn't have left of their own accord. He insisted every rumour JC threw at him was nonsense. He definitely didn't name LWJ and didn't say anything about LWJ having a kid.

'They'll say Wei Wuxian was keeping Lan Wangji against his will,' JC says. 'If he comes to take Lan Wangji back, they'll have all the reason they need to fight him.' 'If A-Li is right,' JZX says, 'and they find out about a child, who do you think they'll say fathered it?'

JZX takes his wife's hand. 'They may well say Wei Wuxian abducted Lan Wangji in the first place, that he...that he forced himself on Lan Wangji and kept him from returning home.' As both Jiangs open their mouths to protest, JZX rushes on.

'Think of everything they're saying already,' he says. 'From what I've been able to find out, our people found Lan Wangji on the road between the Burial Mounds and Yiling. They haven't got proof he was in the Burial Mounds, and they're already linking this to Wei Wuxian.'

'I thought someone saw him going into the Burial Mounds,' JC says. 'With a child,' JYL adds. 'And leaving alone.' JZX shakes his head. 'Whilst you've been talking to Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, I've been tracking down the people who brought Lan Wangji here.'

He tells them he spoke with most of the men who were sent to Yiling - and he's sure now they were sent to Yiling, not that they were on their way back from a night hunt and simply passed close by. 'Your father's been spying on him,' JC says, his jaw tight. JZX nods.

Some of the men truly believe they rescued a poor omega from the Yiling Patriarch, and that LWJ's fierce resistance was due to said YP befuddling his poor omega brain. 'Fierce resistance?' JC asks. LWJ fought them. It took a long time and LWJ being outnumbered to subdue him.

'How many of your people were there?' JC wants to know. A high enough number to show LWJ is still a skilled fighter, though he at first tried not to fight them and then fought only to escape. He wasn't fighting to kill. 'Perhaps he didn't want to make things worse,' JYL says.

'Or he never had to learn how to take a human life,' JC counters, wondering for a moment what it would be like to be of his generation but to have missed Sunshot. Despite fighting LWJ along the road and off across the fields, the overall story is still he was rescued.

'Some believe that,' JZX reiterates. 'Others want to. That's probably easier than accepting they abducted him themselves. Most of the rest will claim to believe anything if there's enough gold in it for them.' This all seems highly perceptive for JZX, but JC doesn't say it.

Maybe his sister's intelligence is rubbing off on the guy. 'Most of them?' JYL asks. One youth, who used to stammer and blush around JZX rather a lot and who is still easily swayed by a smile from him, admitted that they only heard an omega walked along the road with a child.

'From a farmer they failed to get a name from,' JZX says. So they have no eye-witness that LWJ was that omega or that any omega with a child went into the Burial Mounds. 'But Wei Wuxian believes the omega in Koi Tower is the one he's searching for,' JC says.

'And if he bursts in shouting about it, demanding Lan Wangji is given back to him, what will that look like?' JZX asks. JC imagines it will look a lot like the banquet at which WWX demanded to know the location of WN, only he can't see the sects letting WWX walk out this time.

JYL reminds them that LWJ refused to speak to his own brother, and asks if WWX knows why. 'I didn't ask him what his missing omega has against Zewu-Jun, no,' JC says, for once coming close to being irritable at his sister.

JYL gives him a look that says there's no need to be sarcastic. In the end, they decide JZX will find the youth who admitted they didn't have a witness, and will bring him to JYL and JC. JYL will see if she can visit with LWJ again. JC will keep as calm as he can.

Unfortunately, none of these things work out.

As JYL, JC and JZX are trying to stop the situation from worsening, and WWX is partway to Koi Tower with the Stygian Tiger Seal ready for use, LXC is talking with LQR, who has just reached Koi Tower himself.

They stand in a room adjacent to the one where LWJ still sits, the doors open so they can see him. Watching LQR set eyes on LWJ for the first time in years was an ordeal in and of itself. Such disbelief, hope and pain should never be stark on his uncle's face.

LWJ refused to acknowledge his uncle any more than he acknowledged his brother, and LXC is relieved he managed to warn LQR this would likely be the case. It clearly still cut LQR.

Now, they discuss the situation in voices not quite as hushed as they should be. 'Wangji spoke with Young Madam Jin?' LQR muses. 'What did he say to her?' LXC doesn't shrug, because he's a well-trained gentleman of the Lan Sect, but he gives the impression of shrugging.

'I haven't yet spoken with her, Uncle. Her husband sent word she needs to rest and is not to be disturbed, and I understand her brother arrived not long ago to see her.' LQR exhales through his nose. 'Not good enough, Xichen. She's the only one to whom Wangji has responded.'

LXC would sound steady to anyone other than his uncle as he replies. 'If Wangji shared something with her as a fellow omega, something she doesn't believe she can share with me, I'm not sure I should press her.'

All manner of awful possibilities are spinning through LXC's head, and he has no idea whether he's being melodramatic to think some of them could be true or naïve to doubt they are. 'If Wangji trusts her, we should respect that trust.'

'We are his family,' LQR counters. 'How can we help him if we don't know what help he needs?' LXC agrees, but the fact his little brother won't even look at him has thrown him. LXC was always the one LWJ would turn to, when he would turn to anyone.

'The healer has given him medicine,' LXC says, partly to show they are helping LWJ, and goes on to relate everything the healer said. He hopes some of his fears will be allayed by LQR's reaction. If LQR ignores some implications, then LXC must be wrong to dwell on them.

But LQR looks sharply across at LWJ. 'Pregnancy or trauma?' he asks. 'Xichen, we at least need some idea of what happened to your brother.' And naturally LQR is thinking there may be a child. His experience has primed him to expect doomed love and estranged children.

'He won't speak,' LXC reminds LQR, 'and we don't know whether he told Young Madam Jin anything.' But his uncle's reaction confirms his own instinct to find out what LWJ said to JYL if he can, so he sends a servant to request they meet.

LWJ feels strange. His head swims and the world around him is both muffled and too bright, so he clings to the thought he had as soon as he realised where he was being taken. He will not say anything they can use against WWX. He will not say anything that could harm A-Hui.

The easiest way to keep that promise to himself is to not speak at all. He slipped when alone with JYL, lulled by the fog in his head and by his memories of the warmth on WWX's face when he spoke of her, but he caught himself and won't make the same mistake again.

But it hurts, to treat LXC in such a way. He's fighting a creeping sense of wrongness about that and about ignoring LQR. He's missed them.

And he's confused. They don't seem to know he was pregnant when he ran from home. Even now, when LQR clearly suspects the cause of his ongoing condition, he's treating it as a possibility, not a certainty. Did the elder not tell them, after all?

It would be easier if he could just think, but whatever they've given him is strong. It distances him from the world enough that he keeps finding he's acting as though all of this is just a minor annoyance, and then he's hit by a sudden, sharp jolt of how serious it is.

He hates it. He hates that he can't trust what he's feeling or thinking. He hates not being able to sit with his brother and know he's understood. And now he's trying to work out whether he risks A-Hui more by admitting he exists or WWX by leaving 'trauma' as a possibility.

Hearing LXC say he'll go and talk to JYL sends one of those jolts of panic through LWJ. She knows A-Hui's name, and the way she looked at him, distracted the healer for him, must mean she strongly suspects who A-Hui is to LWJ. He can't trust she won't share her suspicions.

If he'd a clear mind, LWJ would be considering that LXC and LQR aren't acting the way the elder thought they would. He'd be thinking what it could mean, that the elder either didn't tell them or they didn't believe him. He be wondering whether his teenage panic was unfounded.

Instead, the panic that he'll be shut away, married off and kept from A-Hui is all wedged tightly into his body, alongside his fears for WWX and his desire to be away from Koi Tower.

It's been a few hours since his last dose of medicine, and a lot of the comforting softness has worn off. He still can't process thoughts properly, but now he knows he can't and he's bothered by it. Now, he's aware that this is a serious situation.

And he knows how to deal with a serious situation. He needs to get away.

JYL welcomes LXC into her rooms and invites him to sit. JC and JZX have gone to find the youth who spoke to JZX before, after JYL assured them she is perfectly fine with LXC. 'How is your brother?' she asks, as she pours the tea.

There follows a polite and gentle conversation in which not an inch is given. JYL wants to find out if LXC knows his brother is acting drunk and if he condones whatever's caused it. She wants to work out whether LXC will be a danger to WWX if he knows about a child.

She also aims to figure out some sense of why LWJ is refusing to speak to his brother, with whom, by all accounts, he used to be close. Is LWJ afraid of LXC for some reason? Is there a Lan rule that means he has reason to be wary? There are too many unknowns.

For his part, LXC is convinced something passed between JYL and LWJ whilst he was away getting snacks. He went along with it in the moment because he hoped JYL would get through to LWJ, but that was on the basis she would tell him about it. Surely she understood that?

Unfortunately for JYL, she grew up at Lotus Pier and subtlety at Lotus Pier may as well be shouting in the Cloud Recesses. She's had plenty of practice at preventing arguments from blowing up further, and her time at Koi Tower is showing how useful her calm outer appearance is.

But the Lan Sect as a whole and its main family in particular are fluent in impassivity in a way she will never be, and LXC is actively keeping an eye out for hints.

After drinking his second cup of tea, LXC places the teacup down soundlessly and smiles at JYL. It's a smile LWJ could have warned her about. 'What did my brother tell you of his child?' he asks.

He isn't sure. Not completely. But the way JYL's hand has drifted to her own swelling belly, the times she's glanced away or blinked, the exact way she's phrased certain things, make him sure enough to ask the question. Her eyes widen and he knows he's right.

He could continue to imply he knows more than he does, or even imply the threat of reprisal should the Jin or Jiang Sect (which would affect her more?) withhold information on this from the Lan Sect. But not only does he hate those tactics, he also feels they won't work.

He already had a fair idea a child was possible. Further details would be more of a guess. And JYL survived the destruction of her entire sect. Quite aside from any political ramifications should her brother or husband hear of it, LXC doesn't see her bending to vague threats.

'All these years,' he begins, 'I've hoped for some sign that my brother still lived. Long past the time my sect officially gave up searching, I followed any lead, questioned any source, and found nothing.' JYL looks at him with sympathy, but doesn't speak.

'I've imagined his return so many times,' LXC continues, finding it harder than usual to keep his voice level, 'have wished for it, and all I want now is to make sure Wangji is safe and well. Can you understand, Young Madam Jin, why I need to know what happened to him?'

'Can you understand, Zewu-Jun,' JYL asks in turn, 'why I need to know what will happen to A-Xian? The rumours around your brother's return already say so many awful things, and I don't believe any of them are true.'

Does she want LXC to promise WWX will have his backing in return for telling him what LWJ said? LXC can't promise that, not when he doesn't know what WWX has been doing. It could still involve LWJ. He does assure her he won't be part of a mob. It isn't enough to sway her.

LXC has only just left when JZX stalks in with a perturbed expression on his face. He must notice that JYL is less than happy, because said expression shifts to concern. 'A-Li? Did something happen?' JYL takes his hands and takes comfort in his presence.

Now he's over the abrasive anxiety around her, JZX has become one of the most soothing alpha's JYL has ever been around. 'Zewu-Jun confirmed there's a child, but nothing else. I couldn't tell what he's thinking about A-Xian. I think I displeased him by telling him nothing.'

JZX sighs. 'You can't tell him Lan Wangji confirmed he's been with Wei Wuxian if you don't know he'll react without bias,' he says. 'There are more than enough people willing to poison Zewu-Jun's mind against your brother.'

Sadly, there will be no antidote to such poison from the youth JZX and JC went to find. 'We looked everywhere,' he tells JYL. 'There's no sign of him.'

JC is as frustrated as everyone else right now, but unlike everyone else we care about he's got the freedom and the temperament to take it out on someone. At the moment, that someone is one of his own disciples, who got into a fight with three Jin disciples over WWX.

Running across this situation is why he's not returned to JYL along with JZX, who handled his side of things by sending the Jin disciples to their teacher. But JC is too low on people to have brought a senior with him he can spare for this, so he's berating the culprit himself.

And that's why he's perfectly placed to spot two figures come tumbling out of an upper floor window and land, heavily, on the ground below.

He sends the disciple running to fetch healers and races to the two himself, noting with relief they're already stirring. Jin Zixun clambers to his feet already spitting insults to the second figure, who turns out to be a dazed looking LWJ.

JZXun accuses LWJ of attacking him, but when the healer arrives, shortly followed by LXC, LQR and others, LWJ is the one with a bruise forming around his wrist.

The bruise will be gone very soon, JC is sure: it's already bloomed to a point a non-cultivator wouldn't reach until the next day. But it's still a visible mark of violence on LXC's little brother. JC has never seen rage sit so openly on the Lan alpha's face.

JYL and JZX appear beside JC as he wonders if this is the time they'll finally see JZXun knocked to the ground. He looks away long enough to pass on to JYL and JZX what's happening, and when he looks back, JGY has inserted himself into the situation.

Uncharacteristically, LXC is seemingly ignoring JGY, who doesn't have his hands on LXC's chest or shoulders to hold him back, but looks like he's considering it. LXC glares at JZXun over JGY's head as the shorter man murmurs something soothing to him.

Whatever it is, it doesn't work. LXC takes one measured step towards JZXun, forcing JGY to step back, and places himself partially in front of LWJ. LQR isn't even trying to stop this.

JZXun doesn't help himself. Jutting his chin out, he continues to insist he's the injured party. 'Is this the way the Lan Sect teaches its omegas to behave?' he asks, his manner suggesting he's playing to his audience.

'Cousin, please,' JGY calls over his own shoulder, as he stares beseechingly at LXC. 'You're making this worse.' JZXun snorts. 'Worse? This brat of an omega just threw me out of a window. How could it be worse?'

'You will apologise to my brother,' LXC says, low and threatening in a way JC hasn't heard him before. It's a tone that lays down a promise of retribution if the demands isn't met. 'The Lan Sect should aplogise to me,' JZXun announces.

JC sees JYL put a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and worried, and he's already calculating how he'll protect her if this breaks into fighting. He's witnessed what LXC can do in battle. He doesn't want to JYL stuck in a relatively enclosed space as LXC fights her new sect.

JC knows his brother-in-law a little better these days, and knows that JZX finds it difficult to speak in front of a crowd, but the man must also see JYL's distress. JZX steps forward, leaving JYL beside JC, and addresses the tableaux before him.

'Our Jin and Lan Sects are close allies,' he states, sounding less awkward than he usually does. Then again, he managed to speak to his troops just fine during the war, and this situation is closer to that than it is to wooing the woman he loves. 'We should not fight.'

'Is it not the Lan who insult our alliance?' JZXun calls back. 'Our Jin Sect rescued their missing omega and have kept him safe here for them to collect, and this is the thanks we get?'

'You did not rescue my brother,' LXC says, still in that tone JC would like not to hear anymore. 'Others brought him back to me. I do not ask the Jin Sect to apologise. The Jin Sect did not put a bruise on his skin. You did, Jin Zixuan. I demand an apology from you.'

JZXun apparently has a death wish, and JC would be fine to see him get his wish, if only it wouldn't start another intersect conflict. Even now, he scoffs and refuses. 'If you want to teach manners to anyone, teach them to your brother. Unless you need me to do it for you?'

'Zixun!' JZX snaps. Another sound rings loudly in the space, drawing every eye and rendering JZX's reprimand unimportant. LXC bares several inches of his blade.

'Xichen!' LQR who snaps this time, though JC notes he doesn't actually go so far as to step up beside LXC and take hold of his sword arm. LQR is standing close to LWJ, projecting the impression that he's got his arm wrapped around his younger nephew despite it not being so.

'You would start a war?' JZXun asks, shameless enough to sound indignant. But the mere mention of war from a member of the main Jin bloodline does move this altercation into even more dangerous territory. 'A-Jie,' JC says urgently, turning to JYL.

He means it as a plea for her to leave the area, for her to return to her rooms and her maids and her guards, where she will be safe. JYL nods sharply, but she moves in the wrong direction - towards the conflict.

The last time JYL faced off against JZXun, JC was too late to witness it. He hears about it, though. Perhaps it looked something like this, with JYL's back straight and her chin up, her eyes blazing and her mouth in a tight line. Perhaps she got in between JZXun and WWX.

She certainly puts herself between the Lan and JZXun, now, with JGY at her back. It makes it look as though JGY and JYL are prepared to fight that way, back to back against the rest of the gathered crowd.

JC is about to stride forward to stand next to JYL, his fear for his sister over-riding his wariness of bringing political disfavour down on Yunmeng Jiang, and he sees JZX heading towards her to do the same. But the voice of JGS echoes through the area before he can move.

'What's the meaning of this?' JGS asks, far too indulgently, as though he's found a few kids scrapping in the dirt over a toy. 'We're all friends here. No need to disturb the peace of my home.' JC watches the man stop far enough from the group that he's out of range of LXC.

He must know already, at least the general situation. He isn't the sort of sect leader who wanders around being part of his sect's life. Pretending not to know gives a chance for people to step back from this, JC supposes. Not that expects JZXun to do so.

That LXC doesn't take the chance, either, is a surprise. Even with how far the man has already gone with this, JC is used to him being a peacemaker, a mediator. 'Your nephew laid hands upon my brother,' LXC informs JGS. 'He has offered insult and has refused to apologise.'

Amongst the various voices speaking up to share what they say happened, LWJ continues to remain silent, standing slightly behind his brother and next to his uncle with his gaze downcast, as though none of this has anything to do with him.

The immediate situation is resolved by JGS saying they will discuss this as part of other matters relating to LWJ, in the discussion conference that will start tomorrow. At that, LWJ does look up, his eyes landing on JGS with an intensity at odds with his apathetic posture.

The memory of that intensity lingers in JC's mind even after everyone has dispersed, JZXun remarkably free of wounds, and JC, JZX and JYL are back in the couple's rooms.

He wonders how much of LWJ's impassivity is feigned and how much is a choice. He wonders what LWJ was doing out of the rooms assigned to him here at Koi Tower. He isn't the only one wondering.

LXC is still trembling with fury by the time they get LWJ back to the rooms. It's a rage he hasn't felt in a long time, and the closest he's come to attacking a person since the war.

He knows all the years of missing LWJ, of worrying about him, of not even being sure whether he could grieve him, are a part of this. Frustration is in there, too. 'Why did you leave these rooms?' he asks LWJ, more sharply than he's yet spoken to him since seeing him again.

Of course, this is LXC, so 'sharply' is still a lot more measured and calm than it is for most people, but even after years of absence, LWJ still flinches.

LXC is abruptly weary. Exhausted. He could sink into bed and sleep until this entire mess is sorted out. But he can't allow himself that.

In an attempt to quell the morass of emotions, LXC announces he is going to meditate. He can see no positive outcome from speaking with LWJ more whilst feeling this way. But he makes it clear they WILL be talking and he will need a response.

At the very least, he will need to know what happened between LWJ and JZXun. He doesn't tell LWJ that, now some of the protective rage is settling, LXC is very aware that he's handed the Jin Sect something to hold over him. Drawing his sword, even as much as he did...

He wisely also doesn't inform LWJ that, as far as LXC is concerned, JYL has confirmed the existence of LWJ's child.

Left alone with LQR for now, LWJ expects a lecture. He knows the high standards by which his uncle hold LXC and LWJ, and he's a little surprised his uncle hasn't already set him punishment. But LQR says nothing. He simply settles himself on the other side of the table to read.

What LWJ doesn't know is that LQR is employing a tactic he used on LWJ's own father. There were times when the man wouldn't speak, sometimes for periods stretching on for months, and LQR still needed to have his official approval for a number of sect matters.

LQR also wanted more discussion about his nephews, but even when his brother was at his most open and talkative, he often wouldn't speak about his boys. During these silent times, LQR would sit and read across from his brother, refusing to give up and leave his brother alone.

His brother learnt that, if he wanted his solitude, he had to speak to LQR about the most urgent matter, at least. Other times, LQR thinks the quiet presence of another just helped his brother to come back to himself a little. Either way, LWJ needs managing with care.

Losing his younger nephew for so many years may have adjusted some of LQR's thoughts on how to deal with LWJ, but he also knows punishment will be counter-productive whilst LWJ is this shut down.

There will no doubt be discussions about what punishment or sanctions should be applied once LWJ is safely home, but that must wait. Besides, LQR is a little worried that his own strictness is partly why LWJ ran away.

About a month before LWJ vanished, LQR caught him watching WWX train, and the look in LWJ's eyes was too familiar. In his determination to prevent LWJ from becoming lost in an unwise romance, he brought up the boy's mother. He has regretted that.

LWJ is unnerved by LQR's lack of, well, anything. His choice to stay silent is to protect his son and the alpha he has loved for years, not because he's lost his love for his brother or his uncle.

By this point, nobody has remembered to make LWJ drink his next dose of medicine, and his head is almost clear. Perhaps he doesn't need to be entirely silent, he thinks. He does need to work out what he can and cannot say, but his silence doesn't appear to be helping.

He won't speak yet. The thinking time is necessary. So he does what feels natural when faced with his uncle and the memories that brings up. He rises and fetches paper and ink, and he begins to write out the Gusu Lan rules.

By the time LXC rejoins them, LWJ has filled several sheets with neatly written Gusu Lan rules. LXC remembers his brother well enough to realise that LWJ is pensive, now, rather than completely closed off.

LXC wonders if LQR has set this copying (albeit from memory) as a punishment, but when he looks at his uncle, LQR shakes his head without looking up from his reading. Not wanting to disturb whatever is happening, LXC sits and prepares tea.

He's pleased to see LWJ set aside the brush and tidy away his writing in time for the tea being ready, and even more pleased when LWJ drinks the tea without being prompted. This is familiar, sitting with his brother and his uncle and taking tea quietly.

Less familiar, though not unknown, is the sense of something building. LWJ is working his way up to something, LXC can tell. He hopes that something involves finally speaking to LXC, but he cautions himself to accept whatever it is.

After meditating, he's calmed down and is ashamed of his behaviour before. He isn't ashamed of defending LWJ, but he knows he went about it in an unwise manner, and that he was harsh with LWJ. So he will try, instead, to behave as he did with LWJ before his brother vanished.

He's rewarded when LWJ shifts, just slightly, just enough to turn a fraction towards LXC, and greets him the way he used to. 'Xiongzhang,' LWJ says, and pauses, looking uncertain. LXC draws on his learnt stoicism to prevent himself from throwing his arms around LWJ.

Instead, he inclines his head and lets his lips tip up at the edges just a bit. Act normally, he reminds himself. Act the way you would normally have done in the past, before LWJ went missing, when you saw him all the time and the sound of his voice didn't make you tear up.

He's not sure what to make of it when LWJ goes on, only to ask after the health of an elder LXC doesn't remember him spending much time around. 'I'm afraid he died, Wangji,' he says. 'His heart failed him, according to the healers. It was...' A thought strikes him.

Even for someone with LXC's sharpness of mind, details grow fuzzy, they slip in time. In his memory, LWJ disappearing is disconnected from the death of the elder, but now that he makes himself think about it, they happened at about the same time. No. The same night.

LXC doesn't for a moment think his brother killed the elder. Quite aside from the death being of natural causes, and LWJ not having been trained in the sort of medicine that means learning how to also stop a heart, he just isn't the sort to kill someone in secret.

'It was quite some time ago,' he continues, pretending he didn't pause mid-sentence. 'I'm sorry, Wangji. I didn't realise the two of you were close.' LWJ blinks at him. He looks confused. Startled. 'When exactly did he die?' LWJ asks, at last.

CW: character mistakenly suspects past non-con. LXC is beginning to worry that he missed something vital back then, that this elder did...something to his brother. There's a child, he thinks, somewhat despairingly.

'Around the time you left us,' LXC says slowly. LWJ nods as though adding that fact to his calculations, his eyes distant again, though not in the way they were when LXC first arrived in this room. He looks so very young.

LXC shares a worried look with LQR, who so far seems to have decided LXC should handle this. But LQR is right there at the table with them. It helps. 'Wangji,' LXC makes himself ask, trying not to sound too strangled, 'is he the reason you left? Did he...did he do something?'

LWJ looks down and away, but this is different from the stubborn, mulish refusal to look at LXC from a few hours ago. This is the way LWJ always looked away when LXC had voiced a truth he didn't want to acknowledge. 'You didn't come to me,' LXC says.

He regrets the words at once. It's not as though LXC has had training in how to speak with someone in such a situation, but he knows that victims of attacks from ghosts, say, are never comforted by recriminations. It must be even more so for something like this.

'Wei Wuxian,' LQR says suddenly, in the tone that means he's reached a conclusion. 'Did he know?' LXC shoots his uncle a look. What is his uncle getting at? LQR huffs. 'That boy has strange methods of ensuring people die,' he says.

LWJ is starting to look panicked, in that contained way of his. 'Wei Ying didn't know anything about it,' he insists. 'I didn't tell him.' LXC is...relieved, he thinks. In part, it's because he doesn't want to believe that WWX began revenge killings even before LP burned.

'Did you tell anyone?' LXC asks, partly so they don't dwell on WWX's ways of killing, but mostly in the hopes it will panic LWJ less if they move on from WWX. LWJ shakes his head, looking ashamed. LXC closes his eyes for a moment to gather himself.

'Did you have a boy or a girl?' he asks, almost a murmur, without really meaning to. 'A boy,' LWJ says.

The table and everything on it rattle as LWJ surges to his feet, openly panicked enough now that a non-Lan could tell. Clearly, he no more meant to admit to that than LXC did to ask it. Less so, given the way he's tried not to speak to them at all before this conversation.

LXC moves to rise, too, but his uncle holds out a hand, keeping him where he is. 'Wangji,' LQR says, calmly and slowly enough it's obvious he's concerned what LWJ may do in this state, 'we would never hurt your son. I swear to you, the Lan Sect will only ever protect him.'

That doesn't noticeably calm LWJ down. His breaths are short and rapid and he darts a glance at the window nearest to him, as though one dive from a height wasn't enough for today. Is it that he's thinking the Lan Sect didn't manage to protect him?

Or is it something else? 'Didi,' LXC tries, 'whatever you're afraid of, please know I would destroy it rather than see you hurt.' Years of searching for his little brother has taught LXC that: nothing matters more than LWJ being safe. Not even their rules.

And on that note, it is time for Tea to go to bed. Next time, LWJ's POV on this.

LWJ tries to get his breathing under control. Nothing will be improved by panic. He needs to be calm. But he just told LXC and LQR about A-Hui. After resolving not to mention his son, he just admitted having a boy.

Just as LXC has spent years growing around the loss of his brother, LWJ has spent that time being shaped by fear of what will happen if his family find him and A-Hui.

He feels wrong-footed on more than one level. The elder died. Neither LXC nor LQR have shown any sign they were treated to the man's diatribe on what punishments LWJ should face. But LXC has gone from mention of that elder, via LQR's mention of WWX, to asking about A-Hui.

It's safe to say he's been having a weird few days. Ever since he was surrounded by strange men on the road back to Yiling and ordered to tell them what connection he has to the YP, LWJ has been operating under high levels of stress.

The medicine definitely didn't help, for all it made him feel less aware of his stress - and just about anything else but his stubborn need to not mention WWX or A-Hui. His attempt to leave earlier today has left him shaken.

He chose a time when his brother and uncle were both busy, but he only made it a few hallways away before running into JZXun. The man became puffed up and enraged when LWJ wouldn't answer his questions. LWJ reacted violently when he was grabbed. Not his finest hour.

The fury in LXC as he kept JZXun from getting near LWJ again was a surprise. That, combined with this current patience and attempt at understanding from both LQR and LXC is destabilizing what he thought he knew.

And now his brother has just said... Maybe LWJ can risk telling them more. Maybe.

He can't be certain they've worked out the truth, so he can't be certain they'll remain patient and understanding if he reveals the truth to them. And they may well patiently and with understanding send him into seclusion.

But LXC doesn't lie. At least, he didn't, and LWJ doubts that's changed. The diplomatic training taught LXC how to dance around stating truths in a way LWJ never managed, but to lie outright isn't in his brother's nature or in his upbringing. And LXC has said LWJ needn't fear.

Slowly, with intention, LWJ steps back from the table and folds himself to his knees, hands cupped in front of him and head bowed. He swallows. If he's making a mistake, he'll have to find a way to escape, even if it means fighting. He can't be separated from A-Hui for ever.

With the rules of his sect brought freshly to the surface of his mind, LWJ admits his wrongdoings to his sect leader and to his teacher, as he should have done years ago.

LXC listens in silence as his little brother admits to giving into lust, to hiding his actions, to stealing from his sect. He wasn't there when his sect needed him in the conflict against the Wens and for that, more than anything, he clearly feel regret.

He also confesses to believing ill of others, though he's noticeably more reluctant to express his meaning, there. With some coaxing, LXC gets him to explain that the elder had found out about the pregnancy and that LWJ had fled. 'I believed you would shut me away,' he says.

For all his words say he now knows that belief was wrong, LXC sees how his little brother's arms tremble, just slightly. He hears the tightness in LWJ's voice. LWJ is worried he didn't think ill of them, at all, LXC realises, dismayed.

LXC does feel a thread of relief, however. LWJ hasn't made it sound as though he was forced or coerced, and LXC doesn't think it's just that LWJ has convinced himself it was his fault. 'Who is the alpha parent?' LXC asks, though he thinks he can guess.

If he's right, it will be a political nightmare. He'd still rather that a thousand times than for his earlier fears to be true, but for the leader of the Lan Sect to have a nephew sired by the YP... And LWJ isn't answering the question. He lowers his head, but stays silent.

Taking care to move smoothly and slowly enough LWJ will notice, LXC rises and rounds the table to pull his brother up from his bow. He sits beside LWJ and brushes some of LWJ's hair back from his face, where wisps have escaped to fall against his cheeks.

'Does he know?' LXC asks, when LWJ finally meets his eyes. If he's relaxed too soon, and the elder was responsible, LWJ will reveal that in his reaction. He already said the elder knew, after all. But when LWJ presses his lips together and looks pleadingly at LXC, he's sure.

'You were only ever interested in Wei Wuxian,' he tells his brother, as though LWJ wouldn't know that himself. That gets him a slight jolt of reaction from LWJ. LWJ blinks and looks away. Confirmation.

LQR sighs, but doesn't say any of the things he likely wants to say about LWJ's choice of lover. When both of his nephews look at him, he isn't quite looking back. LXC recognises this: his uncle is unsure of how to proceed and is unhappy that it involves emotions.

LQR opens his mouth, and LXC hopes fervently that whatever his uncle is about to say, it won't spook LWJ. 'Wangji,' LQR says, sounding gruff, 'I would very much like to meet my grandnephew.'

LWJ sags. As always with him, it's subtle, but LXC can tell he's relieved to the point all the tension will catch up with him soon, leaving him exhausted. But a new horrible thought has occurred to LXC. 'Wangji,' he asks, 'is your son in the Burial Mounds?'

We'll leave LXC wondering, because I should try sleep before 6am tonight.

Again, LWJ doesn't give LXC a verbal answer, but at least he nods rather than trying to not respond at all. For a moment, LXC struggled to fit these latest revelations into what he already knew. LWJ and his son can't have been in the Burial Mounds all this time. WWX wasn't.

Even if he believed every rumour about WWX, it still wouldn't make sense to think WWX stole LWJ from the Cloud Recesses and hid him away in the Burial Mounds back then. Much though he wants to set out and fetch his nephew from that cursed land right now, LXC needs to know more.

Over the rest of the evening, LXC and, eventually, LQR coax more information out of LWJ. It's slow going, but at least LWJ is less tense and more willing to speak with them as the conversation unfurls.

LXC learns that his brother went south, that he was forced to stop and complete his pregnancy in a particular town, how he was so ill he ended up staying there for a good while. LXC learns that LWJ only heard of the burning of their home when the war was already underway.

LQR interjects at one point to comment that a new-born child was best kept far away from such conflict, anyway, and LWJ looks at their uncle with startled hope. Next, LXC learns that LWJ travelled back north when he could, that he met WWX by chance in Yiling.

'You said you didn't tell him about the child,' LXC says, seeking to sort the pieces of information he's gathered today into a reasonable picture. LWJ says he told WWX only after meeting him again, that the boy still doesn't know WWX is his alpha parent.

It becomes apparent that neither the boy, whose name LWJ finally shares, and LWJ himself live elsewhere, and not with WWX and the Wens. LWJ is still cagey about where, exactly, that home is, but LXC doesn't push that point.

He's started mentally rearranging things back at the Cloud Recesses, sorting through what needs doing to prepare the Jingshi for both LWJ and A-Hui, how best to settle them in. If LWJ has any belongings he wishes to have brought from Yiling, he can give LXC the address then.

LXC is so relieved LWJ has finally spoken to them, and so taken with the thought of having his didi and his nephew back home with him, that he goes to bed in good spirits. He's quite forgotten the Jin Sect may yet insist on an apology for LXC nearly drawing his sword on JZXun.

The next day brings the meeting to discuss the situation, with hundreds of cultivators arriving over the course of the morning and filling Koi Tower with noise. LWJ will have to be at the meeting, LXC explains gently. They will need his testimony.

LWJ finds himself presented with white robes for the first time since he ran. They arrived from Gusu that morning, carried by a disciple who's been summoned by Jin butterfly message. They're his.

LXC must see him falter, because he offers a reassuring smile and sets the robes down, telling LWJ he doesn't need to rush. But LWJ feels the pressure anyway, because the meeting will begin shortly after noon, and that seems far too close when his head is full of clamouring.

The robes are richly made, a fine silk with expert embroidery scrolling clouds along the labels, the hems, down the waterfall sleeves. This is a set LXC had commissioned for him a month or so before LWJ found out he was with child, and he never wore them.

He wonders if they'll fit. LWJ's body isn't the same as it was before A-Hui. It would have changed somewhat as he aged into his majority, in any case. He's taller than he was, with longer limbs. He's thinner, less muscular. His hips are slightly broader, as are his shoulders.

With hands that tremble, LWJ changes into the robes. The material is a balm against his skin and he feels a spark of delight at the way the sleeves drape, but it does feel a little like playing dress-up, after all this time. Still, they fit well enough.

He hasn't yet summoned the wherewithal to look at himself in the polished bronze surface of the mirror by the time the door opens and LXC steps back into the room. LXC pauses and smiles. 'It's good to see you in your own robes, Wangji.'

LXC already explained why he wants LWJ to wear Gusu Lan robes today. 'It sends a message,' he told LWJ, once breakfast was done and LQR had left to get a word with some of his peers from other sects. 'I want them to see you're Lan, that you're one of my people.'

'I won't force you to return to the Cloud Recesses with me,' he went on, though LWJ is still dubious about that - about whether LXC will be the only one making that decision - 'but let the other sects see you as fully under my protection. Please, Wangji. Let me protect you.'

The idea that another sect could doubt LXC's claim to his own younger brother shakes LWJ. It isn't a case of doubting the connection, after all; it must be something to do with the balance of power between the sects. The Lan Sect has lost some standing since LWJ left.

Or other sects have gained enough standing to be able to undermine LXC's right to decide what happens with his own kin, or because of them. It's worrying in a way he's not had to consider whilst trying to keep A-Hui and himself fed and clothes and under a roof.

Now, LXC extends his right hand. He holds a forehead ribbon, curled up in his palm. LWJ stares at it. Finally, he swallows and reaches for it, but stops with his fingertips not quite touching and looks up at his brother. 'Xiongzhang, would you?'

LXC beams, and moves swiftly to secure the ribbon in place, lifting and rearranging LWJ's hair around it with a care that makes LWJ feel unbearably precious. 'There,' LXC says, stepping away and urging LWJ to the mirror. 'You look like yourself again.'

LWJ still isn't sure how he feels about that comment by the time he's sitting behind LXC in the grand hall, waiting for JGS to begin the conference. He does know he hates the way people are staring at him, murmuring to the people near them as they do so.

It's JGY who calls attention to the front of the room and begins proceedings, his father sitting behind a table of wine and snacks above and behind the man. JGY's introduction to the discussion makes it sound as though LWJ were snatched from the jaws of degradation and death.

LXC rises next and formally offers thanks for the safe return of his brother. However, LXC points out, and much as he understands how it could happen, it transpires that fears have been much exaggerated, and LWJ was not in danger in Yiling.

This, too, they discussed earlier. Before breakfast, with LQR still present, in the case of this aspect of things. Now that LWJ has spoken with them, has apologised for his rule breaking and told them about A-Hui, it's harder to keep his distance from LQR and LXC at all.

That ingrained response, to listen to their instructions and to follow their orders, has been making itself known. His trust in them has resurfaced. And he will find it much easier to return to A-Hui with their blessing than without. So he's agreed to do what LXC says.

And LXC has said they'll minimise the severity of this entire situation. As far as they are able to, that is.

LXC's calming words now appear to perplex a number of people. They enrage others. At least, the man who calls out that LXC can't be serious, that a young omega could only be under threat near the YP, sounds outraged. LWJ notes the man also sounds weirdly eager.

Other voices join in, some of the comments verging into uncomfortable territory about LWJ's beauty and how tempting he must be to an alpha without morals. Those, LWJ cannot help but seek out with his eyes, if only so he knows to avoid them in the future.

As he looks, he notes JYL sitting with her jaw tight and fury in her eyes, her husband looking discomforted beside her. He also sees JC glaring at each person who calls out against WWX. But none of these people speak in WWX's defence.

LWJ isn't speaking, either; LXC has promised to insist that WWX caused LWJ no harm. Though LQR looked doubtful, both of LWJ's relatives accept he was telling the truth about that. LXC does restates this now, assuring everyone LWJ was not harmed and no harm was threatened.

The noise settles as LXC speaks, for the most part, but there mutterings once he's done. Then JGS speaks.

JGS's manner and tone suggest both LWJ and LXC are barely in their teens, unable to see the world clearly or to make sensible judgments of their own. This is especially confusing, as he goes on to imply LWJ has been canny enough to lie to LXC's face.

Not that JGS can find fault with LXC! No, it's understandable that a beloved younger member of the family, seemingly returned from the dead, will receive nothing but comfort and trust from an alpha as young as LXC.

But JGS is older and (he implies) wiser. He knows how women and omegas can be. (LWJ wonder whether, in JGS's head, a woman who is also an omega is doubly bad, and glances at JYL. She looks ready to cry with frustration.)

At this point, LXC manages to interrupt without seeming to, requesting that JGS please explain what he means, because LXC does believe his beloved and honourable younger brother has told him the truth, yes. LWJ feels a pang of sharper worry when JGS smiles.

Ah, yes, JHS muses. The Gusu Lan do place a great deal of weight on honour and rules, do they not? JGS can understand why LWJ wouldn't want to tell his older brother how he's failed to uphold those.

LXC must sense the wavering of the metaphorical ground he stands on, from the way his shoulders tense. LQR, too, shifts. As for LWJ, his mouth has gone dry and he feels sick. What does JGS know? What does he suspect?

JGY has disappeared without LWJ seeing, and now he steps back into view, escorting a man in expensive civilian robes to stand before JGS' dais. LWJ can't help the sharp intake of breath that has his brother and uncle looking round at him. It's the merchant from Yiling.

It's the very man who crowded LWJ back that day, the day WWX arrived and drove the man away. The day LWJ finally told WWX about his son.

'Wangji?' LXC asks quietly. LWJ has no idea what he's giving away in his expression or posture, but it's obviously enough to worry LXC.

LWJ is stuck, immobile and unable to speak, by the horror of the next minutes. JGY shoots an apologetic look at LXC, but he outlines the claims this man has brought to the Jin Sect. (LWJ wonders how hard JGS had people search for someone who could make such claims.)

The claims include the following: - LWJ has broken several of his sect's teachings - LWJ has tempted more than one alpha, using his beauty to gain favours - LWJ has been seen with the YP - LWJ has at least one child

People call out for the merchant to speak. Are these claims true? The merchant juts his chin out and declares they are. 'He let me believe he was open to being courted,' the merchant announces, 'until the Yiling Patriarch became a better prospect.'

'Untrue,' LWJ states, his voice returning to him in a rush of anger. But the merchant scoffs and lists other alphas who have given LWJ money and gifts. LWJ counters that each one either gave him nothing or paid him for honest work as a scribe.

By now, LWJ has taken the steps to put him between his brother and his uncle, quite without realising he's moved. LQR and LXC stand with their shoulders almost brushing LWJ's, showing through this unity that they believe LWJ should be permitted to speak in his own defence.

Behaving as though his claims haven't been disputed in any reasonable way, the merchant moves on to demand what excuse LWJ gives for playing games with decent alpha men? The way the merchant tells it, LWJ was using a multitude of tricks, such as coy glances and how he dressed.

This time, when LWJ calls the words untrue, JGS and a few other men make disparaging comments, clearly believing to deny such things is only expected. 'If you had no intention of drawing me in,' the merchant demands, 'then why not tell me outright to leave you alone?'

With this whole thing having fallen into stereotypical victim-blaming sexism, we can no doubt fill in the sorts of comments and arguments for ourselves. Suffice it to say, enough people are looking at LWJ with narrowed eyes by now that he feels the absence of his sword keenly.

When someone from a minor sect implies too clearly that LWJ is lying to save his reputation, LXC cuts in. 'I have never known my brother to lie,' he states. To anyone who really knows LXC, it's clear he's angry.

JGY moves the discussion on, offering placating words in LXC's direction. He does nothing to insist on any proof of claims LWJ took money and gifts for his looks or for implied favours rather than for honest work.

'And your connection to the Yiling Patriarch?' JGY asks, almost kindly. 'Do you have a denial for that, too?' LWJ does not.

'That must be where he was going yesterday,' JZXun proclaims. 'Back to the Yiling Patriarch. No wonder he attacked me when I asked where he was going!' 'My brother sought to get free of you when you took hold of his wrist hard enough to bruise,' LXC says.

'A good thing I did,' JZXun claims. 'If not, he'd be back with Wei Wuxian by now, no doubt working on producing more spawn we'll have to deal with.' LQR, having reached his limit, demands an apology for that comment, but someone else asks why should JZXun apologise?

Everyone knows WWX's been corrupted by his wicked methods, and LWJ hasn't denied contact with WWX or having children. For all the decent cultivators in the hall know, the children are WWX's. In fact, who's to say there aren't other omegas at the Burial Mounds? Other offspring?

Perhaps they should be on the look out for WWX coming to steal their omegas and daughters, because a man as far from morality and orthodoxy as WWX must surely be prepared to drag unwilling partners back to his mountain. How many has WWX abducted already?

LWJ is disgusted by how idiotic these comments are. There is no solid logic to the chains of conclusion they make. But mostly, he's panicked and angry. 'Wei Ying would not,' he insists.

But as the discussion winds on, it becomes clear many people think there are two options. Either LWJ has been a victim of WWX, or he is WWX's accomplice.

This is sort of the top of the threadfic: https://x.com/humanformdragon/status/1407400412550995968… Before this, I am mostly musing about options.

Into this already heated discussion, JZXun feels the need to throw his two penn'orth worth. Seeing the tide is - at least in several parts of the hall - turning against the Lan Sect's Second Master, he chooses now to bring up the matter of LXC having drawn his sword on JZXun.

Amazingly, this does nothing to calm things down.

JZX has been watching and listening from his place beside JYL, and he's had his wife's hand in his for most of it. She's trembling.

He knows her better than he did back when she cried over the soup, or when she faced down JZXun at the crowd hunt. He knows, now, that the trembling is likely to be frustration and protective rage.

He knows how distressing she finds it to be ignored or unable to help. He knows she's so aware of how her actions and words may impact those she cares about that her first instinct is to stay quiet or to placate.

And yet, she stood between WWX and JZXun that day, and was on her way to face him down again over LWJ and LXC the day before. How steadfastly she can defend those who need it is one of many things he admires about her.

With the crowd focused on how one omega may be lying, JZX doesn't see that JYL will be accorded the respect she deserves, should she be pushed to speak up. And he has resolved to be worthy of her. He draws many eyes when he stands up and declares his cousin is wrong.

'Zixuan,' JGS orders, 'do not get involved.' JZX turns and offers a bow to his father, hating how he's being looked at by so many. Already, he feels sweat breaking out all over his body. 'Father,' he says, 'as your heir, it would be remiss of me not to be involved.'

JGS opens his mouth, but JZX rushes on before he can speak. His father won't want to indignity of having his son talk over him. 'I was there yesterday, as were many others. Zewu-Jun did not draw his sword.'

He stresses that LXC was only being protective over his little brother, an omega of his immediate family who he perceived as being threatened by an alpha of JZX's immediate family.

He expresses the hope that LWJ's wrist has healed from the bruising he saw, bruising obviously caused by JZXun. From the gasps and talk around the hall (including from some people he's sure were at the incident yesterday), the idea of LWJ as an injured omega sways some people.

JZXun fires back, reminding the hall that LWJ was hardly defenceless. In fact, LWJ is the one who threw JZXun out of the window. If anything, he claims, he should be able to claim recompense from both LXC and LWJ.

JZX is very aware of his father's glare, but he gathers himself to keep arguing anyway. JC gets there first, joining the people gathered in the middle of the hall and asking, in a scathing tone, why an omega would feel the need to throw themselves from a window in Koi Tower.

'I saw the bruising on Second Master Lan's wrist,' JC says, apparently wanting to emphasise the fact LWJ has a whole sect behind him. 'I saw them both fall from that window and hit the ground.'

JZXun attempts to use the fact he fell, too, but JC shouts him down, asking how can he know that JZXun won't do that to another omega? 'Perhaps A-Jie would be safer at Lotus Pier,' he sneers.

How protective JC is of his sister is well known, so nobody doubts he'd at least try to do that if he really thought her at risk. JGS tells him JYL is perfectly safe where she is and more or less tells JC to calm down as he's getting himself worked up over nothing.

The merchant from Yiling is not happy to be surrounded by shouting cultivators who seem not to be paying him any attention. It was empowering, to have them all listen to his words earlier as he shared his frustrations at the omega who was ungrateful for his advances.

But now he's looking for a way through the crowd to the exit, which is why he's the one to point and shout out. He didn't recognise the man that day on the street, not at first, but he's learned since who threatened him. 'The Yiling Patriarch! The Yiling Patriarch is here!'

Link back to where this one really started: https://x.com/humanformdragon/status/1407400412550995968…

Silence doesn't so much fall as find itself left behind when all the sound is snuffed out by shock. WWX stands framed against the sky outside, somehow seeming to tower enough to blot out the light. Or maybe he's letting his demonic energy darken the space around him.

He lifts his head, his eyes tinted red and his lips quirked in a way that says nobody should ask what's amusing, and rakes his gaze over those assembled. 'Where is Lan Zhan?' he asks.

As others draw back or grip their swords or pull those they're moved to defend behind them, LWJ moves toward WWX. Or he tries to.

He barely manages one step before he's brought to a halt, LXC's hand wrapped tightly around his wrist. When LWJ turns to look at his brother, LXC is staring fixedly at WWX, his expression tense. 'Xiongzhang,' LWJ doesn't quite hiss.

It seems to jolt LXC into speech, but not to LWJ. 'For what reason does the Yiling Patriarch seek my younger brother?' LXC asks, his voice ringing clear through the hall. 'He's come to claim his omega!' someone calls out, though they're hidden in the thick of the crowd.

'It's proof the Lan omega is with Wei Wuxian,' another voice asserts. LXC tugs LWJ slightly closer to his side, but otherwise shows no sign he's heard the accusations. 'I must ask you to respond,' he says, still watching WWX intently.

Those who have dared to call out lose that dubious courage as WWX stalks into the hall, heading directly for LXC and LWJ. WWX does not respond to LXC's question.

He stops a few paces from the Lans, apparently ignoring the mass of cultivators around him, and meets LWJ's eyes. 'Lan Zhan, do you want to be here?'

LWJ doesn't want to be there. At least, he doesn't want to be in Koi Tower and he doesn't want to at the middle of so much attention, of so much judgement. But standing beside his brother again? Beside his uncle? That is something else entirely.

And it's a long time since LWJ truly thought of himself as the second master of the Lan Sect. He's out of practice. Despite himself, he glances at LXC.

Outwardly, LWJ looks very similar to the image those in the hall keep in their minds from before the war. Seeing him standing beside LXC, dressed in Lan robes and with a Lan ribbon about his head, almost makes those who saw him the day before forget any changes they noticed.

Even LXC and LQR feel LWJ is closer to the young man they lost when he's dressed like this. It just makes the fact he isn't as stoic more obvious. LWJ glancing at LXC seems to be a cry for help, something jarring and unmissable.

'How dare you force your way in here and demand Zewu-Jun's omega brother!' JZXun does a good job of sounding outraged, as though he wasn't trying to threaten both Lan brothers a very short while before.

The red in WWX's eyes flares deeper. His jaw clenches. 'Lan Zhan?' he asks, and the bite may be because of JZXun, but to many close enough to hear his words, it sounds as though WWX is angered by LWJ's failure to go to him.

As for LXC, he's warring with himself. He knows it would be a very bad idea to keep LWJ there if LWJ wants to go with WWX. The child is in the BM, he believes, and is WWX's, as well. And LWJ has made it painfully clear he ran from home because he feared being locked away.

But he wants to pull LWJ even closer, until he's tucked up right against LXC, until LXC can put his arm around LWJ. That isn't even something LWJ allowed for many years before he vanished, not even in private, but the thought of watching his little brother walk away...

'Are you keeping him here, Zewu-Jun?' WWX asks, noting the way LXC has LWJ held close. WWX is all too aware that LWJ fled Gusu out of fear he'd be confined. WWX meant what he said about LXC, how he gave no sign he knew of a pregnancy or intended to shut LWJ away.

But WWX didn't used to think the Jin Sect, pompous and vain as they were, would stoop so low as to keep innocent people in labour camps. He didn't used to think he'd feel forced to turn his back on LP and what remained of his family. He could have been wrong about LXC, too.

'If he'd kept a firmer hold of him years ago, you'd never have been able to corrupt him,' a voice sneers. Yes, it's JZXun, who never misses a chance to prove himself an irritation.

WWX whirls around, putting LWJ at his back as he glares at the irksome Jin. 'And who are you to involve yourself in this?' WWX asks, his voice still hard and dangerous, but with an edge of exasperation for those clear-headed enough to listen.

JZXun puffs up, his face flushing with indignation, and takes a step towards WWX. It's clearly meant to be intimidating, but WWX isn't in the mood to be intimidated. Pulling Chenqing from his belt, he points it at JZXun and snaps at him to keep away from LWJ.

'And if I don't?' JZXun asks, in a clear bid for the coveted 'most likely to die right here on this spot' award.

Side note: Any tonal shifts in this segment are due to the fact I have been sitting here drinking wine whilst my husband and dogs are all out camping. I'd apologise, but the wine is why the words. On behalf of the wine:

Whilst I've been singing songs from Moana, WWX has taken a step towards JZXun. He's tilted his head, the corners of his mouth lifting, his eyes narrowing. He's taken another step. Black smoke has grown thicker around him. We re-join them now as JGS shoots a glare at JGY.

JGY, in turn, looks fleetingly at LXC, his eyes full of earnest emotions, before crossing to stand almost near WWX. He's the very picture of someone who doesn't want to offend, but who must be brave in the face of an unreasonable and aggressive person.

'Surely there is no need for threats,' he says, his tone the perfect blend of plea and censure, coated in utter sincerity. 'Patriarch, please calm yourself. You will only upset Second Master Lan, and his health is already-' JGY cuts himself off, his glance at LXC apologetic.

Strangely enough, this does not calm WWX down.

It does pull his attention from JZXun, who at his uncle's look glowers but keeps silent. WWX whirls to frown at JGY, then onward to meet LWJ's eyes. 'Lan Zhan?'

'I'm well,' LWJ says. He slides his gaze towards LXC, who closes his eyes and sighs, but nods. 'I'll go with you,' LWJ adds, as LXC lets go of his wrist.

'You do not have to go with him,' JGY says, holding out a hand as though he wants to reach for LWJ but doesn't dare further angering the wild alpha in their midst. 'He's made his choice,' WWX counters, and he does reach out and take hold of LWJ.

'If he is making the choice to be the Yiling Patriarch's omega,' JGS announces, sounding very much as though he's pronouncing a judgement, 'then he is making the choice to go against the sects. As Chief Cultivator, I cannot allow such a dissident to go free.'

Turns out, he is making a judgement.

WWX, who has turned to leave, looks back over his shoulder. His eyes glint red. 'Do you want me to show you how little say you have in that?' he asks, almost mildly.

At the same time, LXC draws himself up to his full height and turns to offer a shallow bow to JGS. 'Wangji is no dissident,' he says.

'You have already shown you are willing to offend your allies, Lan Xichen,' JGS says, bringing one hand down on the table before him. 'I was willing to forgive your actions in drawing a sword on my nephew, but this cannot be ignored. Will you set your Lan Sect against us all?'

'Er-ge,' JGY says, and this time it's at least 83% plea. LXC has a smile on his face that sparks caution in those who spent time near him in the war. Neither JGS nor JGY count amongst that number.

And here's the thing: LXC seeks to avoid conflict, yes. He prefers to diffuse tension, to form connections, to circumvent and to be subtle. That doesn't mean he's weak. In battle, he is deadly. He just needs to be persuaded he's in a battle.

With several accusations already thronging the hall, and with JGS more or less saying he will hold LWJ against his will - despite whatever the Lan Sect says - LXC is very close to not believing this can be talked out peacefully.

'You shouldn't worry about the Lan Sect,' WWX says, turning back to face JGS fully. As he turns, he lets go of LWJ and brings his dizi to his lips. His eyes are more than hinting at red, now. 'Try anything with Lan Zhan, and I will be the enemy you want me to be.'

Now, please take a moment to recall that this LWJ has never seen WWX go full demonic cultivator. He's seen wisps of it, but never WWX facing a mass of people and looking ready to make their own skeletons kill them.

He's also freshly reconnected with his family and is feeling guilt he left them without him during a war. Right now, he's struck by gut-level fear that this is the start of another conflict, and this one will be over him.

'Wei Ying,' he says urgently. But he doesn't know what else to say. Let them take LWJ into Jin custody? Make it so he never sees his son again, because A-Hui can never be permitted near JGS? Let his brother face JGS without support? Run?

He ran before, and spent years thinking he'd had to. He's still trying to make sense of his brother's reassurances about A-Hui, about not shutting LWJ away or marrying him off, but he doesn't want to run again. And he can't let them make him stay.

The sound of many swords being drawn does nothing to ease LWJ's fears. Suddenly, they are surrounded by blades pointed in their direction, though at present nobody has moved to encircle them.

WWX smirks. And begins to play.

LWJ finds himself in a small space of quiet at WWX's back. LXC moves to set himself on LWJ's other side, so the pair of them shield him almost completely. Everyone else seems to be shouting.

'Xichen!' LQR calls out. 'Shufu,' LXC responds. He still hasn't drawn his sword, but his hand hovers close to the hilt.

WWX's music winds slow and haunting around the hall, wrapping about limbs and weapons but not - yet - seeming to do anything else.

'Wei Wuxian!' JC shouts. 'A-Jie is here!' Yet LWJ, looking carefully at exactly how and who those tendrils wrap around, notes neither JYL nor JC are being touched. Neither is he, or LXC. Other than that, everyone is snagged at least once.