onthewillowsthere | [closed post -- training]

The day after Evil Twin Magnus leaves, Galahad shows up for his training with Lan Wangji exactly as he always does (although later in the day, because Lan Wangji asked him to wait until afternoon to meet) -- if Lan Wangji were going solely on his appearance, he'd see absolutely nothing out of order. He throws himself into the sword forms with his usual focus. But he's gripping the hilt of his sword too tightly, and his movements are tense; he's never graceful, but today he's almost clumsy, and each failure or misstep only seems to pull him tighter, like an overwound watch.

Current Mood: weird

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

onthewillowsthere

He nods. He doesn't like thinking about what he must be missing because of Aornis, but he likes less how it affects the people he loves. Magnus being hurt, Shen Yuan's death, Claudius' determination to be at the center of protecting their community (he trusts Claudius, but he still worries that he's putting himself in deliberate danger).

"Do you think it will be over soon?" Claudius thinks so. He believes the net is tightening. We're approaching the climax of this mystery, he told Galahad a few days ago, looking at the drawing in Galahad's sketchbook again. The pieces are all ready on the board. --I'm mixing metaphors, of course.

From:

lightbearinglord

"Yes." Bichen is as heavy as ever at Lan Wangji's hip. He can't help but wonder if he will need to use it before long, in a way that he has not been called to use it in quite some time. If so, he is as ready as he can be. They only need to account for as many eventualities as possible.

From:

onthewillowsthere

"Are you afraid?" curiously. He doesn't mean of this final confrontation with Aornis -- not exactly. The question is meant more to encompass everything that has happened with her so far.

From:

lightbearinglord

The question takes Lan Wangji another moment. "Yes," he says, then. "I am not afraid of fighting her. I'm afraid of what else she could take." He doesn't know the extent of Aornis' powers, if she could slip a hand into his mind and pull every memory of Wei Ying free, washing him clean of the Yiling Patriarch just as his uncle and brother so often wanted for him. He has to believe that it would be impossible for him to look at Wei Ying and fail to love and desire him, but the memories themselves are precious.

From:

onthewillowsthere

Galahad nods. He's thought of this too. He already has so many tenuous memories -- so many things that Damien or Laurel experienced that he has only the slightest grasp of, but also his own innate tendency to lose things when he's in the grip of strong emotion, just as he lost so much of the day the visitors came, and his inability to remember faces -- and it seems as if, for someone whose object is to take, it would be a simple matter to alter things further. It alarms him to consider how easily Aornis could affect him, or, if he's beneath her notice, affect Claudius. If she decided to remove the memory of Claudius from everyone here, the way she did herself, because he's investigating too intently--

From:

lightbearinglord

Lan Wangji is still holding onto Galahad, and he knows nearly every tell that Galahad's body has by now. As his tension coils tighter again, Lan Wangji pulls him back into the embrace, firm and decisive. "She can't take everything. Claudius has it all in writing."

From:

onthewillowsthere

Claudius has it all in writing. He has his dossier, the one he gave Laurel the key for; he has Lan Wangji, to whom he's written notes of explanation. Galahad breathes in and out carefully, imagining the fish flowing through his airways into the world, the ten thousand things.

From:

lightbearinglord

For several long moments, Lan Wangji is quiet. He notices how deliberate Galahad is with his breath, how his chest rises and falls where he's nestled into Lan Wangji's arms, and so he matches it, slow and even. Aornis can take memory, but surely she can't take feeling. Surely she could not keep Lan Wangji from loving Wei Ying, trusting Claudius, or wanting to protect Galahad. The reality of those feelings is so stark. They strike him as utterly indelible.

From:

onthewillowsthere

Finally, Galahad says, "I am overwhelmed." He's only realizing it now, but it makes sense. Aornis, Evil Twin Magnus -- his own Evil Twin, old and longing for death -- studying Shen Yuan's body to make sure it grows correctly and well, training with Lan Wangji for future dangers he can't predict, Claudius' story of Luo Binghe in Aleksander's body. There are too many things pulling on him, like a wild current.

From:

lightbearinglord

Lan Wangji knew that already, because he recognized it, but it is better for Galahad to have come to the realization himself. He doesn't answer immediately. He looses one final breath, and indulges himself in cupping the back of Galahad's head in his palm, an affectionate touch to his hair that is without any sort of utility. "No training today. Come inside with me."

From:

onthewillowsthere

It feels good to be touched like this, for no reason other than comfort. He nods. "Yes, Hanguang-jun," as he would acknowledge an order in training.

From:

lightbearinglord

And so Lan Wangji ushers Galahad inside, keeping a hand flat and steady between his shoulder blades until they're indoors. He never touched any of his Lan junior disciples like this; it would never have occurred to him. When Sizhui grew old enough, he intentionally stopped touching him with overt affection where anyone could see.

By the time they step inside, he's made a small decision, and he brings Galahad up the stairs with him, to the room he shares with Wei Ying.

From:

onthewillowsthere

Galahad has never been to Lan Wangji's room before, but he knows this isn't the parlor Lan Wangji likes, where he sometimes sits with the rabbits. When they enter, he looks up at Lan Wangji uncertainly. The room is spare and clean, tidy in a way that makes perfect sense for Lan Wangji, but it also feels like a place that isn't meant for Galahad.

From:

lightbearinglord

"Sit." He urges Galahad gently toward the low table where he likes to serve meals and tea.

Wei Ying must have finally awoken sometime late in the morning, but there is some evidence of his presence. Fond and exasperated, Lan Wangji tidies the bedding, folds and tucks away the pair of trousers half-wedged under a pillow, and sends Bichen flying neatly into its place on the wall beside the bed. Once he is satisfied, he joins Galahad, sitting across from him.

From:

onthewillowsthere

He's already seated, arranged neatly with his legs crossed, the way he likes to sit under the kotatsu, his shoulders straight and sharp. He watches Lan Wangji attentively.

From:

lightbearinglord

For now, Lan Wangji doesn't say anything. All of the components for tea are laid out on the table, neat and ready for use. He draws a talisman from his sleeve to heat the pitcher of water, with silent gratitude to Wei Ying, then drops a cake of tea into the pot and fills it with water. While it steeps, he dips each cup in the hot water with the tongs, one by one, and sets them aside. He knows Galahad won't mind the silence.

From:

onthewillowsthere

And he doesn't; he sits quietly and watches Lan Wangji perform this ritual. It's soothing to see the deliberate steps, one-by-one.

From:

lightbearinglord

After a little time, when the sharp and herbal smell of tea is drifting on the steam to join the ever-present sandalwood scent of the room, Lan Wangji holds back the drape of his sleeve and pours them each a cup of tea, precise about it so that not a drop is spilled. They'll need to wait for it to cool, now. It's another thing he likes about the ritual of serving tea: the enforced pauses, like taking slow breaths. It would be possible to cool the tea with cultivation, but he prefers not to. They can wait.

From:

onthewillowsthere

Galahad reaches out to curl his fingers around the cup, but only to warm them against the delicate porcelain. Within this room, everything feels hushed and protected.

From:

lightbearinglord

Lan Wangji settles in, holding his own tea and watching the steam curling away from its surface. He is still silent; he can break this silence in time, if it becomes necessary, but in this moment, it has the feeling of something necessary, something that tucks them safely away from the outside world.

From:

onthewillowsthere

Finally, Galahad asks, "Did you meet my Evil Twin?"

From:

lightbearinglord

It is on the very tip of his tongue to protest that Galahad's double was not evil, but dwelling on that is pointless. He already knows that Magnus was using the term generally. "I did," he says. "Do you remember anything?"

From:

onthewillowsthere

"No. Magnus said he was really depressing."

From:

lightbearinglord

That is one, somewhat blunt, way of putting it. Lan Wangji studies his tea, thinks for a moment, and then says, "He was sad. It was an untouchable sadness."