Lan Wangji

It is good to be out in the world and traveling again. It had taken him longer than he had originally thought to arrange matters so that he could.

He has spent the last several weeks since his seclusion ended and since he originally discussed his intentions with Xichen reviewing petitions and pleas for help from various villages in Gusu, claiming a number for his attention which would bring him closer and closer to Yunmeng on a longer trip. He had also taken care to choose those which could be handled on a sojourn of a day, two at most, in order to get A-Yuan accustomed to the idea that he would leave... and that he would also come back.

(It has been more of an adjustment than he had anticipated for both of them, once his seclusion had ended. On the advice of little A-Yi's mother, he had secured a bed for A-Yuan in the Jingshi, but has not yet pressed the child to stay with him full time. It is just as well, he thinks; A-Yuan is excited about living with the other littlest ones still, and Lan Wangji has not needed to spend nights apart from Wei Ying.)

Now, he is several nights' travel away from Cloud Recesses. He had dealt with an angry ghost which had poisoned a village well earlier in the afternoon, and with the grateful villagers in the evening before retreating to his room upstairs at the local inn. Tomorrow will see him to the Yunmeng border, but tonight will see him at another inn entirely.

Lan Wangji opens the door - using the scrap of Wei Ying's ribbon as a focus, as always - and crosses the common room to request tea from Bar-guniang. He is surprised to be presented with not only the tea but also a plate of fruit-and-custard tarts, another of osmanthus cakes, and a single chocolate cupcake with a blue candle burning bright, along with a note that reads Happy birthday, Lan Wangji!

He bows deeply to Bar-guniang, thanking her for her thoughtfulness, and watches the candle burn for a little while before he blows it out.

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.