Master of Dark, Master of Light

33

The Jiang Heir felt dread flood him at the Nie Heir's words. The first or second Jade's betrothed? He thought to himself, trying to appear indifferent, but it was rather hard when he had been shoved a realization like this, unable to really do much other than stare ahead of him as he lost himself to his thoughts and memories of the few times he had met the other. That means I have potentially angered the spouse of either the First or Second Jade. If he had spoken to them about what I had done back at the inn...Jiang Cheng felt a shudder roll down his spine at the thought.

He could not help but be nervous at the realization. The spouse of either first or second jade definitely would have a lot of influence among the choices made. Jiang Cheng had already basically made enemies with the man when he had slapped him back at the inn. He wanted to curse his stupidity. It was not like the Lan to go wandering around Inns, and he should have thrown the pieces together far sooner. Of course, the Innkeeper must have gotten someone to try and intervene, or...or even worse. The person had noticed something was amiss.

Jiang Cheng really wanted to curl up into a ball and be tossed into the darkest parts of the world. His mother would be so agitated when she found out that she had potentially ruined their relations with the Lan sect over some petty agitations on his part. Perhaps he could get the Jin to take a majority of the fault, not as though that would do much for him, but it would give him a little leeway after all. He sighed, what was he kidding, it did not matter, barring that, he was going to have to make nice with the brat. Or at least, try to. That was assuming what the Nie boy said was right, there was still the chance that he was wrong.

"Great," He muttered under his breath, dropping into his bed, glaring up at the ceiling. They still had sword practice later, but that was in about two hours, and he would allow himself some time to dwell on what he was supposed to do now that he had gotten some rather important information. What he was going to do to try and figure out whether the Nie boy was right. If Huaisang was correct, Jiang Cheng would have to do some damage control, and sooner rather that later. He could not have his sect relations with the Lan go down the drain just because he had failed to act well to one of the Jade's precious spouse.

Then again...Jiang Cheng was given some cause to worry. The dark look that Lan Wangji had given him earlier, and the cold way in which that other boy had addressed him. It was not lost on him that they had known what went down on that inn. It definitely set him at a disadvantage. He could not bully that friend of Lan Wangji's then, into staying silent. He would have to actually apologize, more than not.

He had not thought that slapping some random nobody that he had seen in some inn in CaiYi would lead to this, but he had to remember to be more careful. He was to be a Sect Leader soon, these rushed descisions may be questioned until such a time. He sighed, he wished that he did not have to rely on his position to garner respect, but for now, he would handle what random problems that he had caused now. He doubted that the Lan sect would cut relations just because of one mishap. It was not as though the Jiang had much to offer the Lan Sect, but their allying with each other did have some benefits. He doubted that they would end just because he had...flown off the handle once and slapped some idiot that had come between an argument with two sect heirs without naming themselves.

-

Nie Huaisang was not really sure what happened, but the Jiang Heir had stormed off the moment that he had finished speaking on what his theories regarding the nature of the strange Lan teen. It would seem that he had struck a chord somewhere, but he was not sure where, and could only watch as the Jiang Disciples rushed away from him towards the guest rooms. Huaisang hoped that he remembered about their stupid sword training later.

It was definitely something that he was not looking forwards to. He would go, but hopefully he would manage to figure out a way around having to actually fence with anyone. He did not like sparring, it was not his strong suit. He did not even particularly like the classes, but the classes were definitely better than the sparring or mock night hunts that they went on. There was no way that he was going to pass this year. He wished his brother would stop trying, but he knew that was a futile request.

He huffed, glaring at the back of the Jiang Heir's back. He could not believe that the man had just left him with no warning, though he supposed he should have been prepared for it either way. He rolled his eyes. He knew that the Jiang Heir was prone to dramatics, but even still. It was a bit too dramatic for his taste. Sure, he loved drama, but the Jiang heir was so exhausting to be around. Huaisang avoided it as much as he could, but there was only so much that Sect Heirs could do when it came to trying to avoid each other. He was really good at it, not nearly as good as Lan Wangji, but he was...unique, and barring that nobody really wanted to speak to him too much either way, they were far too frightened of him. 

He figured he could try and find that Wei character. He had liked the boy, and even if it meant wandering with Lan Wangji, as Nie Huaisang had a suspicion it would be rather difficult to find one without the other, he would deal with it. They had quite a warm and calm character, though Huaisang did see how he could be a bit impulsive at times, he clearly had a good heart. He had watched over the Wens, dealt with Wen Chao, and even protected Lan SiZhui. It was so amazing, really, how he had that sort of aura, and Huaisang could not help but wonder exactly how long it was that he had been in the Lan Sect. He had not been in the main inner pavilion last year.