WangXian Untamed

Chapter 25 - Changes

5:00 AM and Lan WangJi opened his eyes. Something felt different. Lying there, looking at the ceiling as his brain completed waking, he took stock and realized the change. Every morning he was accustomed to find Wei WuXian sprawled half over him, half over the bed, as if occupying as much room as possible assured him he was alive to take it. This morning there was no arm flung over his chest and no leg tossed across his own. He turned his head. Wei WuXian lay exactly as he had when he felt asleep, tucked up against Lan WangJi's chest, head over heart, in his favourite place, encircled by Lan WangJi's left arm.

Wei Ying has not moved? wondered Lan WangJi. He sat up, moving carefully to free his arm from about his lover without waking him. Why has Wei Ying not moved? He knew from experience how the active and antsy man carried that physical behaviour with him even into sleep, tossing, turning, and twisting throughout the night. But not last night, apparently. He shook Wei WuXian's shoulder gently.

"Wei Ying?"

No response.

Lan WangJi tried again, shaking a little more urgently and speaking more loudly.

"Wei Ying, wake up."

Still no response.

Lan WangJi was concerned now. He rose from bed and turned to his husband. He gently placed him onto his back, head on the pillow, and drew the bedclothes about his still body. He sat at the edge of the bed, and looked at his unresponsive husband, searching for something to tell him what was happening. Wei WuXian lay without stirring. The dark circles under his eyes were pronounced, now, and his cheekbones and jaw seemed more angular somehow. Lan WangJi's memory provided a picture of Wei WuXian as a young man, his sharp and colourful beauty, before his soul came back to animate this very pretty, smaller frame. Is it because I can see his soul through his eyes that he looks more like my Wei Ying every day? wondered Lan WangJi. He brushed his fingertips over the rosy lips. Even these seem brighter and fuller, more like my Wei Ying's... I kissed his lips but once. I should have liked to have kissed him more. Filled with regret, Lan WangJi gently laid his own lips on those of Wei WuXian.

A moment of softness, then a gentle response before "Lan Zhan?," whispered a sleepy voice. "Aiya, why are you waking me up so early? We'll play later, yeah? Let me sleep...." And that beloved voice slipped away as Wei WuXian drifted into a natural sleep.

Lan WangJi closed his eyes a moment in silent gratitude that his husband was well after all. Perhaps he had just been exhausted and more deeply asleep than was his wont.

Wei WuXian spent that day as usual, in the Library Pavilion, working with Wang Xiu to unearth any avenue of information that could lead to a treatment or explanation for Grandmaster Lan QiRen's situation. The men tossed hypotheses back and forth, taking turns arguing each side to tease out the smallest morsel of possibility. For the first time the pains were frequent enough that Wang Xiu noticed Wei WuXian's winces and asked about them.

As usual, Wei WuXian brushed off his concern. "Oh, I've seen a Healer and it's nothing. There's nothing the matter with me at all, so it's probably just getting used to the food or the climate or some such everyday nonsense. It's really nothing to worry about."

"Pain is a letter from one's body to one's mind," reminded Wang Xiu.

"Well then, this letter is going straight to the dead letter office, for I've no time nor patience to deal with it right now," declared Wei WuXian. "Really, the Healer checked me out quite thoroughly and even my worrying husband had to accept that there's nothing wrong. It's not surprising to me to think it could be the food. I'm used to the spices of the world in our wonderful cuisine in Yunmeng. Even you, Wang Xiu, must admit that the food of Clan Lan is not only nutritious but overly medicinal!" He made a face, thinking of the daily soup to start the evening meal. Soup that would be easily substituted for a medicinal tonic anywhere else, rather than a foodstuff. "The more tolerable tastes of your cooking simply mean no flavour at all. And the climate, too. Yunmeng is warm and humid, and we're in and out of the water like amphibians all day. Here it's cool and breezy and the sun is often hidden behind clouds or fog. Of course, I'm taking a bit of time to adjust! It's perfectly understandable." So saying, Wei WuXian dismissed the matter from his mind, although he did take to hiding his pains from Wang Xiu as best he could, being but a desk apart.