[pfsb] making plans

[lightamidchaos]

[Previously: A brotherly chat.]

Today, when Lan Wangji arrives, he glances around the common room as usual -- and then, on not seeing any immediate sign of Wei Ying, he goes immediately to speak with Bar-gūniang.

After offering a proper bow, he takes a seat on a barstool and begins a quiet conversation. At one point, he pulls out his qiankun bag and removes several pieces of silver ore, small and large, and gives them all over to her without hesitation.

"I will bring more," he promises. "To cover anything he needs, as well as my own expenses."

The next thing he does is take out a piece of bright red ribbon and touch it to the bartop -- without letting go. After a moment, he pulls it back and puts it safely away again.

"That is the color," he explains. "Silver, for the charm. Can you show me examples?"

Small silver charms begin to appear on the bartop, and he begins to sort through them.

Comments

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow approaches the Bar, carrying a stack of books; including her journal, but also several others she managed to pry away from the Librarian, once she endured a long, ookful reprimand about loud music and louder fights with her cavalier in the library.

She looks, in a word, happy. So much of understanding Harrow's mood is subtle inference and details, but you would have to be fairly inobservant to miss the satisfaction and comfort radiating from her. She holds herself differently, some of the perpetual crouch of tension unwound.

"Good morning, Lan Wangji."

The Bar conjures breakfast for her, and she regards it judiciously.

[lightamidchaos]

"Good morning, Harrow."

As someone whose own shifts in mood and manner are largely conveyed by microexpressions and minuscule changes in posture and position, he cannot fail to notice her demeanor.

"Things go well?"

[we_bring_hell]

"Remarkably well. Gideon and I are synchronized, the truth is known and we are..."

"We are sworn," she says. "One flesh, one end." Her color rises with her recitation of the vow.

[lightamidchaos]

He cannot fail to notice that blush, either.

"I am glad," Lan Wangji says, and it is a gentler, more understanding tone than many in his own world might think him capable of.

"Harrow. I am so very glad for you."

[we_bring_hell]

"She forgives me," she says, more blatantly. "It is a treasure beyond price."

"We have agreed to remain here for some time, to have more time to deal with our affairs and take advantage of the opportunities. And to be of use to our friends, as the need arises."

She touches the books she has stacked on the Bar.

[lightamidchaos]

"You know that I understand." Very quietly. "I am glad you have found the same fortune that I have, in that. I wish you both joy."

He glances at the books with curiosity apparent.

"Need?"

[we_bring_hell]

She inclines her head.

"I have offered to help Moiraine Sedai in developing certain wards she has need of. But we need not discuss it if the subject is uncomfortable."

[lightamidchaos]

"Ah."

Frost rimes his tone, much, much more than it had the last time Harrow had mentioned Moiraine to him.

"I am aware. Of the issue."

And disapproves, greatly.

"They appear incompetent in such matters, in her world."

[we_bring_hell]

"Yes," she says simply. "They have no magic to speak of, I understand, except in the hands of hostile creatures."

It's an experience the Empire is quite familiar with, from the other side.

"Have you discussed it with her, then?"

[lightamidchaos]

"Briefly."

He eyes Harrow.

"Do you trust her?"

[we_bring_hell]

"I do," she says, just as simply. "As I trust you."

"I could marshal my arguments, but it is not my place to force a detente. Yet it saddens me."

[lightamidchaos]

"I would hear why," he says. "If you would say."

A beat of silence.

"She says she sees a mark of evil on Wei Ying. A shadow. She explained it, at length."

Absolute ice is in his voice, now.

"Wei Ying is not evil."

[we_bring_hell]

"I agree that he is not," she says gently. "Do you know what radiation is, Lan Wangji?"

She's not sure about their scientific accomplishment.

[lightamidchaos]

He leaves his and Wei Ying's shared room quietly, staring at the floor as he moves, still stunned by everything that has just happened.

Lan Wangji draws a deep breath as the door closes behind him and finally looks up as he takes the first step in search of Harrow.

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow did not return to her room; she is sitting on the top step of the stairs up this level, a wisp of black smoke at the end of the hallway.

[lightamidchaos]

He sees her as he starts toward the stairs, thinking to check the common room before approaching Room 99, as he has no idea how to explain any of this to Gideon Nav.

"Harrow."

[we_bring_hell]

"Lan Wangji," she says, twisting to look over her shoulder. "Is all well?"

[lightamidchaos]

"I think so. He needs time."

He stops just before reaching her, and brings his arms up in front of him in a circle as he gives her a full, formal bow of the deepest, deepest respect.

"Harrow. I am sorry. And thank you."

[we_bring_hell]

"Lan Wangji--" She pushes herself to her feet and returns his bow in the manner to which she is accustomed. "Neither is necessary."

"I am pleased we stumbled across her, though it was through no action I took consciously. Do you believe her spirit has lingered here since the first ritual?"

[lightamidchaos]

"Both are necessary," he counters.

"I should have thought that another spirit could be close enough, aware enough, willing enough to answer the invitation. I would have expected it in a haunted place, or one more -- open, than this."

Given the level of suppression in the inn, he had not truly considered it, and he should have.

"I do not know. It is possible. She also did not know how she came here."

[we_bring_hell]

She nods. "Whatever the mechanism, I hope it was a blessing for them both."

"Wei Wuxian has spoken of her to me before."

[lightamidchaos]

"That is why I must thank you," he agrees.

"The ritual. With the incense. It gave her greater strength than I have seen in a spirit before."

He draws a slow, careful breath at the memory of Wei Ying sobbing, wreathed in smoke, which is difficult for Lan Wangji for several reasons.

"They were very close, and loved each other deeply."

[we_bring_hell]

"It was not my intention," she says. "But I am pleased nonetheless."

"It is another consecration ritual; a simpler one, to create a sanctified space for prayer. What they share in common is the Ennumeration of each House. Her manifestation seems bound to the Seventh House."

[lightamidchaos]

"Why that House?"

He thinks back to the verse Wei Ying had recited that night, trying to recall the details of it.

"There must be a reason."

[we_bring_hell]

"'Seven is for beauty, which blossoms and dies,'" she quotes. "They are concerned with the preservation of life just short of death; living things and fertility; beauty and craftsmanship. Our best physicians come from their number, and our artisans."

"Green is their color. The Joy of the Emperor; the Rose Unblown."