Nana's Untamed Flash Fiction Oneshots

Seek and Find-Part 4

The visits to Wei Ying's home were illuminating. Lan Zhan tried not to snoop. He had interceded at Third Haven and that had been enough.It told him everything he needed to know for the time being and what direction to approach this new version of the man

. It was clear. Wei Ying desired love, but the people he had chosen in this life were not prepared to deal with the enormity of that need. When Wei Ying loved, it was intense, all of it. 

From its lightning strike kindling to the bright heat of the flames, his joy spiraled upward like a small, fiery tornado. His pleasure in even the tiniest thing, down to the smallest cactus in his self-created jungle, was the most adorable thing ever. Therefore, when the relationships ended, they were dreadful calamities. Not many could handle Wei Ying's enormous emotional appetites. 

Lan Zhan recalled the way he had shied away like a frightened colt from it himself, back in Cloud Recesses. However, his own need for that kind of love always won, and he constantly ran back into that sweet vortex of emotion, fully aware of what he was doing. Devotion to that glorious, intense, singular madman was his stimulant and he craved it like opium. Once the young cultivator committed, it was literally for eternity.

He was learning patterns as he studied Wei Ying's paintings Most were landscapes and both of his relationships had begun with lovely, intimate settings, in dreamlike atmospheres and soft sunlit glows. The innocence around 'The Beginnings' as Lan Zhan called them, reminded him of fairytales, fragile, and unrealistically perfect. This Wei Ying was searching for what could never be. He was back to being that eternally optimistic romantic. 'I love, so it must happen.' Then came the painting of the same setting as the first, but with hints of unease and foreboding. Thicker strokes, more muted light. 'The Pursuit of Permanance." And of course, the inevitable followed. The third study was 'Dark Despair'; palette knife slashes of paint, lava-like reds, bruising purples, obliterating blacks, and grays. Lan Zhan knew these phases. They could mirror the timeline of the first half of their first lifetime; except for the one thing they had experienced...the happy ending. These two separate series of  windows into Wei Ying's soul had no happy ending. 

It was time that his husband had one again.

Lan Zhan had prepared a swift attack, unexpected and yet subtle.  He would be the relentless one. Wei Ying would be disarmed quickly, and General Lan would not allow him an avenue of retreat.

This was going to be fun.

Two days before Wei Ying came home, Lan Zhan wrote a note to his neighbor. One that pushed lot of buttons. Then he went shopping. There was much he had to do. It took almost the entirety of the remaining morning to set his scene at his new place. He moved a white sofa in, covered in soft chenille, cozy, inviting, and a reminder of childhood snuggles. Light blue sheers were hung floor to ceiling around his own wall of windows, allowing diffused light to pour in yet giving the feel of seclusion. Bright tribal cushions were piled in corners, easily pulled out for board games or watching movies. Candles were ready for lighting and so was sandalwood incense. He made sure to throw out the decorating magazines he had grabbed and shamelessly stole all his ideas from. Except one. 

He made one last visit to the studio next door and left the note on Wei Ying's table, It was very early but farmers get up early, and he headed to an acquaintance's farm outside of St, Michaels. Finally, he drove his small pick-up truck to Easton to pick up a project he ordered from the Arts Department. The professors and students were delighted to help out and rushed it for him. After all, his donations over the years had made their department the finest on the tiny campus. The last had purchased the 3D laser printer that helped complete the project he needed on time. And in doing so, it helped them all ace the semester. 

He lugged everything up by himself, happy with his purchases. The first thing was a large box that shifted awkwardly in his arms. He tucked is softly in his darkened bedroom and laid it gently on his bed. His second trip was another large box, heavier but not a problem for the man with wide shoulders and well-muscled for arms. Three smaller boxes followed, still not a problem.. As he wheeled the last item toward the building with another load for the freight elevator he looked up and saw movement in Wei Ying's studio. He must have gotten home at last and entered by the back entrance. Lan Zhan was now in a hurry. The larger item was a long, flat, white,   wooden box 12 feet by 12 ft, 10 inches high. It had a solid floor but no top. This thing WAS heavy, and he felt a thin sheen of sweat on his forearms as he wrestled it on the two-wheeler.  When it was inside, he fit it into the space under the bank of windows, right in the center. Then he opened the three flat boxes and pulled out lengths of small white picket fences. These, he popped inside   the sides of the wooden box. Then he removed the box from the Arts Department. Now he was grinning. Inside, cut from white Lucite, was a perfect, to-scale copy of the Third Haven Meeting House. The front door was permanently open and inviting. He placed it carefully in the center at the back of the 12x12 box. He lined the bottom of the box with straw. He got up and stretched and brought the box from the bedroom. Once again, he moved with great care as he opened it. The first thing he picked up was a half-grown, pure white, lion head bunny. He held it up and touched noses with it. It was calm and stared bravely, even sternly, into golden eyes like his own. He smiled into the face framed with the beginning of a full ruff around the bunny's features, which were shaped slightly like a Scottie dog.

"Hello, Hanguang! Welcome to your new home." He placed the rabbit in the center of the retaining box, and it sat patiently, watching and waiting.

"Okay...wait, he will be out in a second..." And before he could count, another bunny bounded free, shook himself, and abruptly hopped in to pile onto the patient Hanguang. He was black with mischievous silver eyes, a cute pink nose that never stopped twitching, ready to start having fun. His ruff was coming in as well, and he ran forefeet through it, making it look even wilder. 

Lan Zhan laughed out loud. 'Laozu, you are nothing but trouble already!" He watched them fondly. He had never been allowed pets before and quite suddenly, he felt...at home.

"Guys, I need a shower. I think we may have company in a while, and I smell like a pig right now. Hang on. I will be through by suppertime."

He was promptly ignored as Laozu backed away from Hanguang then instantly leaped on the white rabbit again. Then he dashed away. So typical, the calmer rabbit was lured into a chase, and he began to pursue the other with a purposeful look in his determined golden eyes. It was now ON!