Lan Wangji

[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.

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.

He returns to Cold Pond Cave in silence, still attempting to absorb everything that has just happened. He tries to meditate, but doing so is far less helpful than usual, his mind whirling with everything that has just happened.

When he does finally sleep, Lan Wangji dreams of the clifftop.

He wakes early, in the pre-dawn darkness, and fumbles for his qiankun bag with a trembling hand, unable to draw an easy breath until he feels the texture of the bright red ribbon against his fingertips.

* * * * * * * *

He endures the full day in the cave as usual, forcing himself to wait until xū hour before he attempts to return. Holding Wei Ying's ribbon in his fingers, Lan Wangji walks into the hidden passage out of Cold Pond Cave, trying to focus all his will on opening a door into a crowded room in an impossible place.

The inn is very, very crowded when he steps inside. Carefully, he stows the ribbon once more, then looks around the room.

Eventually, he takes a seat at the least-occupied, quietest end of the magical bar.