Reunited

t h r e e

Xiaoying could hear Wen Qing talking to Wen Chao, but she paid them no mind as she dug through her bag and she pulled out a jar of the salve. "May I?" She offered the jar to the two of them, and the one who was less wounded with burns took the jar with quivering hands. "It's a medicine that aids in both relieving pain and healing. Please put this on your wounds before bed and try to cover it with a cloth. By the morning you should feel much better." She told them, offering a sad smile before bowing to them in apology. "I truly apologize for my Young Lord's actions."

Whipping back around to Wen Chao, ready to give him a piece of her mind, he was pointing his finger to Wen Qing before shaking his head and walking towards the entrance. "Wen Qing, Wen Xiaoying," he said, disappointment in his voice and Xiaoying glared at the back of his head, hoping it would catch flame one day due to his own karma, gripping to Wen Qing's arm to pull her behind her as she stood in front of her protectively.

"You are all so fearful and over-cautious." He slandered, "let me tell you. For Qishan Wen Sect, this is not even considered making a scene!" He continued on inside, and Wen Qing, Wen Ning and Xiaoying had no choice but to continue in to The Cloud Recesses with the remaining junior disciples in tow.

The Cloud Recesses truly was a beautiful place. It reminded Xiaoying so much of the Celestial Mountain with how the ranges seemed to just sing in perfect peace. However, something about being there seemed odd, like there was a familiar presence that just appeared to be prodding at her. Nothing could be done about it in that moment though, as the group began to close in on the entrance to the Orchid Room, a classroom where many disciples could be seen inside.

"Under my father's orders-" A booming, bold voice spoke within the Orchid Room, one that was unfortunately cut off by Wen Chao. "All my life, only today did I learn just how easy it is to get inside the gates of Gusu's Lan Clan." Wen Chao bragged, waltzing arrogantly into the Orchid Room as if it was a classroom in the Heavenly Nightless City. Xiaoying's grip on her sword tightened, and a small nudge from Wen Qing as they came to a stop behind Wen Chao was one that helped her to relax only a bit.

Xiaoying took a moment to look around the room, many different junior disciples from clans across the lands. All wearing ornaments from their own sects on top of their white uniforms. It was something that amazed Xiaoying, only til her attention was stolen by someone at the head of the room speaking. A cultivator with a white headband, the same as those guarding the gates, the same as a few other disciples in the room, with blue robes.

"I wasn't aware that Young Lord Wen was coming here from afar; my clan failed to welcome your arrival." The cultivator said, his voice smooth despite the tense air in the room. "In the last hundred years, the Wen Clan has never participated in our lectures. What news from the Chief Cultivator did Young Lord Wen bring for us on this visit?"

How much Xiaoying wanted it to just be news. She could tell how much the cultivator also wanted it to be just news. "Clan Leader Lan, you're wrong. I'm not here to study. I'm just here to deliver someone." His gaze drifted back to Xiaoying, who met his equally hard stare. She would not, she refused, to put her head down to a man like him. Not in a room full of cultivators where she had no title, and had to prove herself without it.

"Moreover," Xiaoying had to rein in the roll of her eyes because of course there was more Wen Chao had to say, "the Wen Clan of Qishan has always been educating all living beings in this world. Naturally, we don't need to come here and listen to some lectures." Movement to Xiaoying's left caught her attention, a cultivator dressed entirely in white with a matching headband making the smallest step forward, her eyes drifting down to the ever tightening grip on his sword. When they met with his again, the cultivator's eyes zeroed in on her and it took a lot not to shrink back under his gaze.

"In that case, why did you deliberately come here, then?" The sudden voice of another cultivator directly to Xiaoying's right caused her to jump in surprise, her head turning to view it's owner. A young man, maybe a few years or so older than her, with a white robe that had blue lotus symbols on his sleeves. Wen Chao chuckled, though Xiaoying, Wen Ning, and Wen Qing knew it wasn't because he found it funny. "Where did this scoundrel come from?"

"Scoundrel? That's too big a title for me." There was that nagging familiarity in the back of Xiaoying's brain again, and a gasp was just barely audibly heard from Xiaoying when his name was said. "I'm Wei Wuxian, from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan."

Those eight words nearly broke the young girl, and she forgot how to breathe for a moment. His surname was Wei? The same as her father's. He was from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan, just as her father had been? And her mother momentarily before they eloped? Xiaoying's head was reeling, she was dizzy and short of breath as she tried to connect the dots. Wen Qing noticed, her hand coming to rest on Xiaoying's forearm and she was brought back to earth just as things began getting heated.

"Yunmeng Jiang Sect does not know proper etiquette. If I don't teach you a lesson, other's will say that my generation is unruly!" Within seconds, swords were drawn on either side. Those of the Jiang Sect pointed in return at those from the Wen Sect, the sharp tips leaving but a hairs breadth away from each other. Xiaoying was completely appalled from the sudden attack on those without a clear order from her, and with a bright flash of energy all of her disciples swords shot up in the air, tips pointed and stuck in the ceiling.

The cultivator who started the trouble, Wei Wuxian, had a shocked look on his face as Xiaoying stood clearly in front of his blade. A woman so boldly presenting herself to something so dangerous without defense was something he had never seen before. The tip of the sword was gently pressed to her throat, and it was enough of a surprise to make him bring his sword back a bit away from her; the direction shifting from her to Wen Chao. Xiaoying's eyes bore into his, wanting, wishing, willing for answers to come for questions she had not yet asked.

A calming tune of a flute was sounding throughout the entire room, the remainder of the swords in the junior disciples hands shot up to meet with those of the Wen Sect's. And then they all came crashing down. Nearly taking out the toes of cultivators on either side. Wei Wuxian's eyes drifted down to Xiaoying's blade, still sheathed at her side, clenched in a white knuckled grip.

Xiaoying listened to the Clan Leader Lan Xichen, she introduced herself with Wen Qing and Wen Ning, she aided in presenting their gift, and she delicately pushed Wen Chao aside to speak for the Clan on a more diplomatic matter -- rather than something so rash and harsh like the things that came out of his mouth like breathing. All those things aside, there was something Wei Wuxian noticed, and had caught his attention for the remainder of the class.

There at Xiaoying's side, among the only white sword in all of the Wen Sect, was a hand carved lotus charm that could only be found in one place: Yunmeng Jiang Sect.