Solstice Souls

A Promise to Protect

Wei Changze sighed. "Then it's decided. You will accompany the Lan's to Cloud Recesses on the second morning."

"The second morning?" Lan Xichen answered. His disagreement did not go unnoticed.

"Yes. The second morning." Wei Changze replied. "My son needs time with his mother. And we need time to......say goodbye."

"Agreed." Lan Zhan said quickly. He looked at Wei Ying who gave him a tight smile and head nod.

Wei Changze bowed to the Second Jade and pulled Wei Ying out of the room. Wei Ying thought his heart would claw its way out of his chest trying to get back to Lan Zhan. He understood why he had to leave, it just hurt so much.

"We'll get you all packed and ready to go first. That way, you can spend the rest of your time with your mother. If she was awake, she'd have handled that better. Maybe even talked them out of taking you. I'm sorry. I'm just not...."

Wei Ying stopped in his tracks. "Baba!"

Wei Changze froze. He looked at his son with eyes filled with tears.

"Mama would not have done a better job. You were wonderful." Wei Ying praised his slightly distressed father. "You're doing the right thing, you'll see."

Wei Changze hugged his son and patted him on the back.

"Mama probably would have pushed me out the door and told me to have fun."

Wei Changze sniffled a giggle. Wei Ying smiled and hugged his father closely.

"I promise I'll come back. I'll be okay. Lan Zhan and I are...."

Wei Changze pulled back when Wei Ying failed to finish his thought. He placed his hand on his son's cheek and gave him the most loving smile.

"You love him. Don't you?"

Wei Ying could only nod. A single tear fell from his twinkling silver eyes which his father wiped away with his broad thumb.

"Does he love you?"

It was a fair question but one Wei Ying did not know the answer to. He hoped that Lan Zhan loved him. Yet there were many different kinds of love, weren't there? Was their love the same? Or did it have a different meaning for the youngest jade?

"I-I don't know. I think so."

Wei Changze saw the unrest on his son's face and regretted asking the question. He pulled his son in for another long hug and whispered, "I saw the way he looked at you. His heart belongs to you. And yours belongs to him. And that, my son, is love."

Wei Ying hiccupped a bubbly giggle.

"Damnit! Why does your mother always have to be right?" Wei Changze cursed as he released Wei Ying and started marching towards the medical room.

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Wei Ying sat next to his mother, her body so still that he had to watch the rise and fall of her chest to reassure himself she was still alive. He held her soft hand in his. His thumb rubbed over her pale skin.

When did his hand get to be so much larger than hers? Wasn't it just yesterday when his tiny little fingers barely wrapped around her feminine hand? Wasn't it his last birthday when she picked him up and spun him around, unleashing wild giggles from his stomach, until they both fell down in the grass?

When had he grown up?

"Mama." Wei Ying spoke in a quiet voice. He wanted to pretend she was just sleeping. Of course it was a selfish thing to do, a childish thing to wish for, but he couldn't help it.