The bright red ribbon bowed into Wei Ying's hair sways in the wind, as he ventures out of sight. When his tortured scream splits out of nowhere, Wangji can do nothing but shout his name. The name. That's all he can do.
He can do nothing.
On top of bearing a tornado of torn emotions about Wei Ying, now Wangji has one more thing to add to his mountain of burdens: the runaways. Ah Yuan and Jingyi.
Terrific.
•••
It is heavy night when the three juniors decide to strike with their plan. They had lingered in Jin Ling's bedchamber in Lotus Pier for nearly five hours, Jingyi napping while Ah Yuan observed the setting of Brother Wei's childhood.
Now—Jin Ling slips all three of them into Clan Leader Jiang Cheng's bedchamber, through a rooftop window.
They organise themselves for the follow-through of their foolproof plan. But Clan Leader Jiang Cheng's snoring is so loud in the back of Ah Yuan's mind, like a rumbling storm. Like a war born.
Blinking hard and forcing away cold shivers, Ah Yuan has to steel himself...
1. Jingyi pins a freeze talisman onto the clan leader's snoring body.
2. Jin Ling tosses Ah Yuan the secret chamber keys from the back of the room door.
3. Ah Yuan enters the secret chamber. One minute later, he re-emerges with the famous sword Suibian in hand. It gleams like diamonds in the night.
Placing the handle of the sword against the hem of his human tracking device, Ah Yuan shuffles as quietly as possible back over to his friends. They wait a long moment. It is really an impossibly, agonisingly long moment. Behind them, the Clan Leader's snores seem to get louder and louder.
"For Heaven's sakes, hurry that up!" Jingyi hisses.
"You're not very patient right now," Ah Yuan bites back.
The three of them huddle around the compass and watch the magic work... the compass hands pricking to life at the sudden spiritual movement. They spin around and around until finally snapping in one single direction—
Brother Wei.
Ah Yuan yanks the sword away from the tracking device and snaps the device shut. He whispers, "Let's go."
Jingyi nods. He summons back the freeze talisman, only for a large meaty hand to clamp intensely on his arm.
Ah Yuan's breath catches in his throat. He freezes.
It's Clan Leader Jiang Cheng.
"Stop right there," the clan leader bellows.
The hairs on the back of Ah Yuan's neck prick with fear. In front of him, Jin Ling whirls around to face his uncle, looking flustered.
"U-Uncle!" He sputters. "We were, uhh... we were just..."
"Fool," Jingyi utters through the side of his mouth, eyes wide. "You told us he was sleeping!"
"He was sleeping!" Jin Ling shoots back angrily.
Clan Leader Jiang Cheng releases Jingyi and Jingyi immediately backs into the center is the room, next to Ah Yuan. All three of them have fallen dead silent. They glance back and forth between each other, restless, their minds whirring with thought, scrambling for what to do next.
"Clan Leader Jiang Cheng," Ah Yuan greets, fighting to compose himself. He bows. Jingyi is quick to follow. "It's an honour to meet you... h-here."
Clan Leader Jiang Cheng rises suddenly, powerfully, from his bed. He turns and channels an insulted glower at Ah Yuan. His brows are furrowed skeptically, "It's an honour?" He repeats slowly. "To meet me in the black of night, in my own bedchamber?" Furious, curious thought whirs before his eyes. He hisses slowly, "Uninvited?"
Ah Yuan had never realised the Jiang Clan Leader was so scary.
"Uncle, I, um... I-I can explain this—"
"Y-Yes..." Ah Yuan answers. "Clan Leader Jiang Cheng... forgive us for the intrusion. We mean you no disrespect."
Jiang Cheng stares at Ah Yuan. He narrows his eyes suddenly, bewildered. "Wait. I know you.... you. Lan Sizhui? Lan Sizhui, junior cultivator of the Lan Clan?"
Ah Yuan drops into a bow, "Yes. Sir, that's me."
"Lan Sizhui, I heard you went missing," Clan Leader Jiang Cheng scoffs, amused and bitter. "Well, it seems you've been found. Then you must be Lan Jingyi. Who went missing with him."
"Uncle!" Jin Ling starts, looking scattered. "Here's what's happening! I—um—these are my friends. I-I was giving them a tour of Lotus Pier, that's why I brought them up here—"
"YOU!" Jiang Cheng's eyes sharpen furiously as he turns to Jin Ling. He shouts. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? Giving them a tour of my bedchamber? What kind of inappropriate, immature nonsense is this!"
And then his gaze falls to Wei Wuxian's sword in Ah Yuan's hand. Jiang Cheng frowns. His eyes widen with alarm.
"What are you doing with that sword?" He demands. "Give that here."
Ah Yuan bows and steps forward, "Sir! Clan leader! Forgive us. You may have it. We just wanted to see—"
"You just wanted to see it?" Jiang Cheng repeats. He snatches Suibian back, gripping it protectively. He laughs exasperatedly, his sharp gaze darting back and forth between the three of them, "You wanted to see my sword, so you broke into my chamber in the middle of the night."
"Sir, forgive us for the intrusion!" Jingyi bows. "We will leave now." He turns and starts to usher Ah Yuan and Jin Ling out of the room, to which they both fly to obey—but Jiang Cheng stops them.
"AND JUST WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?" Jiang Cheng booms. His eyes strain with rage. "Two indecent Lan Clan juniors and my own nephew? You Lan Clan nitwits, do you have any idea what you're doing by going missing like this? Lan Wangji has enough stress on his shoulders as it is with that awful sickness—"
Something tightens in Ah Yuan's stomach when he hears this.
"—you should all go home," Jiang Cheng grabs for his Zidian and Ah Yuan and Jin Ling's breath catches in their throat, their eyes wide. "I'm summoning Hanguang Jun to take you two home. Forgive me, for holding you here—but you reckless youngsters won't know any better if you're not forced against your own will. Rebelling like this isn't good for you!"
"Clan Leader Jiang Cheng, please!" Ah Yuan begs, his pulse quickening. He stammers. "Y-You don't understand—you can't keep us here! You can't! We have something really important to take care of—"
"Uncle, it's true!" Jin Ling exclaims.
"I don't care what you say," Jiang Cheng moves to his bedchamber door, readying his Zidian without looking back once at the pleading juniors. "I can't care—you think life is a joke, don't you?"
He grabs the door handle of his room and pulls his Zidian arm back to slap the exit into a sealed lock.
Ah Yuan staggers forward, "Clan Leader Jiang Cheng—it's for Brother Wei! Wei Wuxian!" He yells. "We're going to find him!"
That's what stops him.
Jiang Cheng whirls to face the juniors, his brows furrowed, "What?" Not two seconds after he speaks, a powerful swooosh hits the clan leader square in the chest, stunning him. He stumbles backwards and collides with the chamber door, eyes wide—and then he is frozen to the old wood, every one of his muscles stiff to the inch. Utterly silent. A freeze talisman lies pinned against his chest.
Ah Yuan blinks, shocked.
He whirls around to see where the talisman had come from, and it's Jingyi. Jingyi glances between Ah Yuan and Jin Ling, his eyebrows pointedly shot up.
"Well?" Jingyi snaps. "Come on!"
He grabs Ah Yuan's arm and the back of Jin Ling's robes, and rushes them to the window whence they came. They fly out of the chamber, their hearts racing, their minds scattered, sweat sliding from their temples. Jin Ling can't get over his shock, and none of them stop flying until they've rode their swords at least three miles away from Lotus Pier. The wind blows back their hair and cools their skin. The white moon stares at them, oddly impressed.
•••
It seems like it's been hours before they finally settle on the side of a mountain, under a few trees.
Jin Ling is shaking badly and completely out of breath.
"What the..." he mumbles. "What the f—"
"You're welcome," Jingyi says. "I know. We made it out alive, good." He is tempted to brag, but at the same time he's just getting ahold of his thoughts himself.
"That was unexpected," Sizhui tells him, but he doesn't look disapproving. "You could have mentioned beforehand that the freeze talisman would be our backup."
"Well, it's not like we planned to get caught."
"H-Hey, you..." Jin Ling staggers up to Jingyi, his breathing uneven. He shoves Jingyi drunkenly in the chest. "You froze my uncle! You-you left him there! And where the hell did you drag us to, huh?"
"To safety," Jingyi replies annoyedly. "And you're welcome, I said. No need to be so thankful, I know."
Jin Ling stumbles back and collapses into a sitting position on the dirt-path ground. He stares at the ground before him, eyes scattered and dazed.
"I can't believe that happened," he says.
"Me too," Sizhui comments.
Jingyi sighs and ruffles his own tangled hair. He grabs for the water pouch at his waistband and takes a swig, before tossing it to Jin Ling, who almost doesn't catch it. Jingyi wipes his mouth, "So where are we headed?"
Sizhui opens the human tracking device in his hand and stares at it. It takes a long moment for the magic of the device to wire and work. Finally, a clear route clicks into place. Sizhui looks up, "South."