[pfsb] ritual aftermath

[lightamidchaos]

He takes Wei Ying from the ritual and back to the room upstairs as quickly as he can, half-wild with worry that he tries to hide.

The other man is unsteady on his feet, dizzy from the vast amounts of resentful energy that had crashed down on them all by the lake. Add to that Harrow's own power, the shock of seeing Jiang Yanli's ghost inhabiting one of the skeletons Harrow had animated, and--

He could curse himself for a fool, and will, later. Right now, there are more important matters.

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[lightamidchaos]

Well then. It seems that he will not be rising as usual, not today.

Lan Wangji forces himself to relax and makes himself focus his gaze on the ceiling above them, rather than on Wei Ying's face, the fall of his hair, or the gentle rhythm of his breathing.

In the silence of his mind, he begins to recite the 3,000 rules of Gusu Lan. It is not a usual meditation, but it will serve.

[acrookedpath]

Somewhere around rule seven hundred and fifty, Wei Wuxian finally stirs again.

The bed's... warmer, for some reason? Strange. The pillow feels different as well. Is it moving? Why...?

Groggily, he opens his eyes. Blinks.

"Lan Zhan!" he yelps as he bolts upright, so quickly that a shock of pain goes through his head. He hisses a breath and cradles his forehead before he can muster enough self-awareness to keep up the I'm fine pretense. "Ow. I'm sorry, when did -- ?"

Hang on. Why is the bed suddenly big enough for both of them? Where did Lan Zhan's bed go?

[lightamidchaos]

"Do not apologize."

He pushes himself to a sitting position and leans back against the headboard, giving Wei Ying space.

"You needed rest."

He can feel his ears flush, and steadily ignores them.

[acrookedpath]

He kneads his temples, still fixing Lan Zhan with a bewildered look.

"Where did your bed go? Is everything all right?"

[lightamidchaos]

"I moved it beside yours."

The explanation sounds stiff and awkward to his own ears, but he manages not to wince.

"I thought you might dream, so--"

"--everything is fine."

He shifts position, preparing to get up.

[acrookedpath]

"Oh." Blankly. With care, he runs a hand over the surface of the bed, and... yes, there it is, a seam where two beds have been pushed so close together they may as well be one. "Yes. Right. I see."

The stab of pain when he moved fades to a soft hum of an ache. Much easier to ignore. Trying to will himself to greater alertness, he rubs his eyes and blinks again as Lan Zhan gets up.

"I did dream," he says, a little smaller. "But it was not awful. Thank you, Lan Zhan."

[lightamidchaos]

"No need."

Quieter, this time, and less awkward.

He crosses the room to retrieve the tea tray he had brought up last night, and carries it back to the bed.

[acrookedpath]

He leans against the headboard, tipping his head back with a tired sigh. Why is his head throbbing like this? Surely it can't still be due to the resentful energy. He didn't even call it to himself; it was only the ambient pressure, and the choking dizziness it induced as he drowned in the sheer amount crashing over them.

(He thinks of falling from Wen Chao's sword, hungry ghosts rising to catch him, and shivers.)

Tea ought to help the headache. Conveniently, Lan Zhan returns with a tray, the teapot already warmed and ready. He mumbles a thank-you and starts to reach for the tray so he can serve them both properly.

[lightamidchaos]

"I have it."

He sets the tray down between them where Wei Ying can reach anyway, in case he insists.

"Let me."

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian pulls a face, grumpy enough to object (if only in quiet grumbles), but too off-kilter to actually do anything about it. He lets his eyes close as Lan Zhan busies himself with the tea, and accepts the cup he offers with no further complaint.

It's good, strong tea that tastes of home, and for a terrifying moment he worries his thoughts may unbalance altogether. He breathes in the steam to steady himself, and continues to drink in silence.

[lightamidchaos]

He stays quiet at first, sipping his own tea, trying to tell how Wei Ying is doing from how he is holding himself.

"Do you feel better?"

[acrookedpath]

"Yes." A crooked smile. "Though I suppose anything above nearly fainting on the lake shore would be an improvement, wouldn't it?"

He swallows down more tea.

"A headache. And I am still tired, a little. No worse than that."

[lightamidchaos]

"Mn."

He will be just as glad if he never sees Wei Ying collapse like that again.

"I can ask Bar-guniang for medicine."

[acrookedpath]

He shakes his head, ignoring how the pain flares a little brighter with the movement. "I'm fine, Lan Zhan," he says. "I only need to rest a little longer. And enjoy my tea."

He lifts the cup in a small toast, with an equally small smile.

"And you? Are you well, after...?"

[lightamidchaos]

"I am not ill."

Lying is forbidden. He is not sure he could convince himself it would not be a lie, if he said he was fine.

"Harrow is all right, also."

[acrookedpath]

"She is?" He sags, visibly, with relief. "Good. Good. Then we are all well."

For given values thereof.

"Was she able to finish the ceremony, even though I couldn't...?"

Even though I failed, he wants to say, but cannot move the words further up his throat.

[lightamidchaos]

"She did."

He studies the other man's expression as Wei Ying's words trail into nothingness, and is deeply certain that he recognizes what he sees there.

"Wei Ying. Do not."

[acrookedpath]

"She needed help, Lan Zhan, and I could not." Frustration bleeds into his voice. "And I do not know why. Yes, she is powerful, and her necromancy is different, but I should not have been so undone by it. Is it because I am dead? Is it because I cannot use the energy of the body like her? I am helpless, and -- "

He cuts himself off there.

[lightamidchaos]

"You are not helpless."

Everything else can wait. He goes to the heart of what he has just heard, unhesitating.

"You did not even try to use the resentful energy there. I would have known. As much of it as there was --"

"-- you are not helpless, Wei Ying."

[acrookedpath]

He watches his tea the entire time Lan Zhan speaks, unable to meet his eye, as if this were a reprimand and not a fierce encouragement.

"I was too overwhelmed by it," he says, softly. "And I did not know if it would disrupt the ceremony, if I did." He exhales another small, humorless laugh. "Another thing I should have throught to ask the Ninth before we began."

He drinks.

[lightamidchaos]

He shakes his head.

"She said she had never seen it so strange."

Which is just as well, he thinks, because if she had known and had not warned them--

"That she did not know what it did."

[acrookedpath]

A few more piece of what Lan Zhan is saying click together, and Wei Wuxian lowers his cup.

"You have spoken to her already?"

He'd assumed, when Lan Zhan said the Ninth was fine, that he had seen something Wei Wuxian missed in his half-conscious state.

[lightamidchaos]

"I went to find her."

"Once you were safe. Asleep," he corrects himself, quickly.

"You were worried about her."

[acrookedpath]

"Yes." He exhales. "Thank you, then, for checking on her, Lan Zhan. When she said she did not know what it did... what was different, from when she had performed it before?"

[lightamidchaos]

He shakes his head at the thanks. It is true, that Wei Ying had been worried and in part, so had he - but it is also true that he went seeking answers, to discover if Harrow had known what would happen.

At the question, however, his gaze slips down and off to the side. He cannot meet Wei Ying's glance.

"The enumeration. Usually it would not have ... such power."

Usually it would not have Wei Ying invoking it - but more, he thinks, usually it would not have the Second Jade of Lan summoning spirits through Inquiry.