Rosa: A Wangxian Reincarnation Story

Stripping Souls Bare

"Don't be startled. Your brother gave me your key." I feel a pair of strong hands on my shoulders. Alain's accent is deeper, concern thick in his throat. I try to stop my weeping as he kneels next to me. His attention is on my face and I begin pleading with him to leave. I try to rise, to drag him out but he anchors me there, soothing me and trying to hush me. I am adamant.

"No, you must leave."

"I will not leave you. Not like this. What can I do?"

I am desperate to get him out so I gasp, "Water. Kitchen fridge." 

He nods quickly. I am counting on this. Just get him out and follow closely. Lock it immediately before...before...

Too late. He glances at the first wall as he strides out for the water and is suddenly still. I see him take a step toward the first silk painting. Riveted, but not understanding. I moan deep in my chest. The worst is having it happen right before my eyes. I hang my head, despair is too trivial a word for what I feel. He moves to the next, then the next. He loses color on his face after the fourth. His shaking finger touches the little men in the corner. Then he moves swiftly back to the first painting and lightly touches them there as well. He slowly turns his fearful, confused eyes to glance at the blue and white robes on the table and the red and black that clads my body. He is in a daze by this time. Moving in a dreamlike state, from painting to painting. Studying each one. He does this and time has no meaning. All I can do is watch helplessly. This compelling journey down a cloudy path is his alone right now. Then suddenly he is on the last panel and moving to the final painting. I hear a painful groan and I know where he has arrived, He stands before the only painting he ever created, and I am filled with dread and self-hate as he collapses, fingers splayed across the surface.

For the first time, he speaks. It is not Alain in French. Nor Hans in German.

The lilt of ancient Chinese fills the room.

"I remember this. The day I painted it. I needed to leave you a message for later. One you might recognize and take heart from if you lived through it all. I already decided not to return for a while. I have never been so tired, felt so powerless. This time, the enemy was too immense. Too terrible. Too implacable. and I knew we would most probably die. I had no reserves left for either of us."

He was weeping quietly.

"They offered me the forgetfulness soup and I took it. For two lifetimes. I thought I cannot give Wei Ying false hope again. He might stand a better chance free of me. I am useless like this. So, I gave up on us twice."

I can't bear hearing him cry. I have never been able to stand that sound. I crawl to his side and hold him tightly in my arms.

"You needed the rest, my love. You needed it desperately. And I had hoped that you would continue to heal, to rest until you were ready to return all the way to me. As usual,  you charged in to rescue me once more.

I have kept the home fires burning for you. You followed them and found your way back."

He sobs enough for two lifetimes, until he sleeps in my arms and I reach over and pull the crane tapestry over our bodies. I curl closely, keeping him warm until dawn, and damned if he doesn't wake up exactly at five. The golden eyes look straight at me, glowing from Alain's smiling face.

"Wei Ying." He says softly.

"Lan Zhan." I reply.

We hear a voice at the doorway and Lan XiChen stands there.

"It's about damned time!"

"Brother!" We both shout at the same time, me in my Southern drawl and he in the smooth as mousse French accent.

"How long have you been here?"

"All night, I was right behind Alain after he took my key and he ran from the restaurant. He never even noticed, He rushed in here so fast he failed to latch it again. I got to the door you have hidden so long (We will discuss your lack of trust later, Wei Ying!) and when I saw the walls I backed away. Whatever would happen, would happen. So I settled a Quiet Spell on the room and made a bed on the couch. I saw nothing and heard nothing. Anything prior, I will treat as a Confessor."

I leave these two precious men behind me and return the favor of a Quiet Spell for them. There is a lot they need to catch up with. I start some tea and whip up some biscuits and a frothy concoction of heated molasses to top them off. They will be hungry soon. We talk for hours, we three from Cloud Recesses. We make a date for dinner at Xavier's place, (so much more to talk about) and he leaves us with hugs all around.

We find ourselves alone. This time, I want my husband in bed with me. He comes forward, with no hesitation. He holds me in his strong arms and bends down and possesses me like the first time we ever kissed. Scarcely breathing, hot tongues lashing inside mouths. He finishes with a bite on my bottom lip and I bite right back. Our loving is hard and voracious, like men who have been starved beyond reason. When we come to our senses, we begin again, slower, sweeter, more adoringly. Trying to catch his breath before the third round, I hear a faint, "Mn."

"What, my Lan Zhan?"

"Your Scott is so beautiful this time. Like a Roman cameo. The curls, the freckles."

"I do clean up rather well, don't I?"

"I cannot help wondering, about Alain and me..?

"

"What?"

"Who is better?"

I sit up swiftly, smiling at him. "Are you kidding me? Do you want me to choose between you now and the one I met on the rooftops in Cloud Recesses? Are you mad?"

He looks a little sheepish.

"It is a magnificent body. He is extraordinarily handsome. It is a natural question."

"And one answer you will never weedle  out of me!"

He looks at me dangerously and I begin to feel shivers of delight.

"Go right ahead, big man. Make me!"

And. Oh. My! He certainly did try his hardest.

A/N... I have lots of current chapters  to follow for Rosa: Part Two!!!  Should be posted within the next few days