Abide With Me

The Prophecy

Wei Ying tutted, and rolling his sleeves back, picked up the Princess' head carefully and eased her onto the dry reed mats. SaMi wetted her face and the Princess groaned, rubbing the orange crystal on the tiara around her forehead. "Oh Chengse, where are you?!" cried the Princess. 

SaMi handed everyone cups of fragrant tea made from Wadamal* flowers.  

"Hibiscus tea," said Wei Ying to Lan Zhan, picking up and draining his cup. Soon, the Princess sat up.

Rubbing the topaz on her tiara again, she looked at Lan Zhan. "Hanguang Jun," she began timidly, "I'd like to know more about Master Wei's dream." Lan Zhan nodded and glanced at  Wei Ying. 

"What would you like to know?" asked Wei Ying, looking kindly at her.

 "Well," she said "you were asleep, dreaming. You saw my Prince....and then you woke up! What if it was all just a dream?" she asked pitifully, hoping against hope that her Prince was not imprisoned somewhere!

Wei Ying exchanged looks with Lan Zhan and said in a gentle tone, "I don't really know any more, it began as a dream after I fell asleep, but the sounds, and smells all felt real. And then I woke up with this flower in my hand!"

"How do you explain this?" asked Lan Zhan, now wearing a worried look. "Do you remember anything else? Did you feel anything different, physically?" he asked.

"I felt a kind of buzzing before the dream began," said Wei Ying "and it felt like I was there physically, but just watching the scene, an observer!"

Hearing this, Lan Zhan turned and paced the room, his mind agile. "The Haili Ba!" he said, snapping his fingers. At the others' mystified expressions, he clarified, "Remember, yesterday Wei Ying stepped into the Haili Ba in the laboratory? At that time he mentioned feeling a similar buzzing sensation like the one before the dream, right, Wei Ying?" 

"So," said  Wei Ying, "You mean my dream had something to do with the Haili Ba? Quite possibly!"

"Do you think that the Prince is trying to communicate with you?" asked Lan Zhan, his brow furrowed. 

"How could he do that?" wondered  Wei Ying. 

The Princess and SaMi exchanged looks furtively. 

Lan Zhan continued to pace uneasily and finally halted in front of Wei Ying and picked up his hands in his own. Wei Ying started in surprise but kept quiet, seeing anxiety brimming in Lan Zhan's eyes.

Lan Zhan sighed and keeping hold of Wei Ying's hand, answered the unspoken question, "I think that the Prince is trying to tell you something through the flower. Wei Ying was exposed to An Nengliang yesterday and it has somehow become connected to him."

Turning to the Princess, he looked directly into her eyes. "How did the Prince communicate with An Nengliang?" There was pin-drop silence as the Princess stayed uncomfortably silent.

"We need answers, NOW! said Lan Zhan, in his best Second-Young-Master-of-Gusu-Clan voice, turning to the Princess. 

"Very well, ask away," said the Princess looking wide-eyed and not a little guiltily at her guests.

"Princess, if you wish that our efforts result in recovering Prince Chengse, you must not hide any details from us,"  Lan Zhan said, his demeanor icy.

"I am willing to answer your questions," she mumbled, her tears spilling onto purple lashes. 

She turned to Wei Ying, who patted her fins reassuringly and said, "No need to be scared, he is not angry. Take a seat, Lan Zhan," said  Wei Ying firmly.