WangXian Untamed

Chapter 7 - Determination

Lan XiChen turned to the two waiting disciples at the Gate.

"Please remember we do not speak behind another's back."

With a last look for his brother, fast disappearing down the path to the village, Lan XiChen turned back towards Cloud Recesses. His uncle, Grandmaster Lan QiRen, must be informed, and he was determined to organize his thoughts before confronting him with today's events. And after Lan QiRen he would face the elders.

Slowly, step after slow step, Lan XiChen made his way back inside Cloud Recesses. When he finally drew to a stop, lost in thought, he raised his eyes and discovered he had unconsciously made his way to the Gentian House. It had been a long time since he was last at his mother's one-time home. Prison, more like, he thought to himself. He walked up and quietly slid open the doors, revealing the immaculate rooms beyond, always kept in readiness even though their owner was long gone. The last time he'd been here was when Lan WangJi had been terribly ill as an adolescent, and he needed the sense of a hug from someone. Uncle QiRen would and could never offer such a simple comfort, so he had come here, the one place in his life that had hugs in abundance and sat alone until he felt he had absorbed some of the lingering affection he so desperately needed.

Lan XiChen sat at the table, facing the yard through the open door. Spring was well established, and the green and growing things sent a pleasant fragrance into the stale and silent rooms. The softening evening light was gentle on his eyes, and he settled to organize his thoughts and make some decisions.

First, this was his brother, his beloved Twin Jade. How did he feel about this? He had never put much thought into marriage and mating. When and if he felt the need for a partner, he assumed it would follow the usual course. It would be discussed with Uncle QiRen, candidates and their attributes weighed, a selection made. Negotiations would take place and marriage would follow. Love was simply not required. In Cloud Recesses all necessities were attended to with great care and completeness but love... love was not a necessity.

His thoughts wandered back to his childhood – monthly days of affection and caring with his mother, his father absent in secluded meditation, Uncle QiRen's close and vigilant training. Would love have made the discipline any sweeter? Lan WangJi had been so young when their mother passed away. With cold words of utility telling him it was no longer necessary to visit Mother, she was gone, the child had faithfully kept to his schedule of visits. An entire day each month spent patiently kneeling before the Gentian Room, waiting for loving hands to open doors that never moved. Month after month, year after year. To this day Lan XiChen knew his brother kept his monthly vigil, although he had long since come to understand the permanence of "gone."

The soft voice of Lan SiZhui drifted though the open door, calling back to another disciple he was simply going to feed the rabbits and would return soon. The rabbits. Lan WangJi loved those bunnies. And Lan SiZhui, too, for that matter. His mind recalled a barely mobile Lan WangJi, terribly injured by his Punishment, relentlessly searching the Burial Mounds for something, anything from his lost love. Alone, he sought a sign, some memento, anything to ease the torment inside so much worse than his physical agony. Eventually he dragged his battered body home cradling a small boy burning up with fever. He had refused to leave the child alone in the Healing Hall and brought him to his own home. In the Jingshi he was with him constantly. He even insisted Lan XiChen bring bunnies to cuddle with the tiny form, seeming to comfort them both. When the child finally awoke a clean slate, with no memories and no recognition of anything but the bunnies and Lan WangJi, he had seen the brokenness in his brother ease just the smallest bit. Enough so that Lan XiChen had himself gone to Lan QiRen and faced his cold, clipped resistance until he agreed the child could remain at Cloud Recesses with Lan WangJi.