Blind to You

Unseen Beauty

A/N: extra warning: discussions of surgery and brief mention of death as a result.

Enjoy the chapter!!

xxx

Jin Ling slipped out of the room, sword clutched tightly in his hand. The low evening light of Lotus Pier covered his attempt at sneaking out, but no one was in the halls anyway. Jiujiu had been asleep for a few hours, and Jin Ling figured he had the rest of the night.

He left a note for Lan Sizhui in case he was late coming back in the morning, but didn't take anyone with him; it wasn't like he was doing anything dangerous.

The healer from Caiyi had asked to meet him, just outside the town limit, on the condition of secrecy. She hadn't shown herself here in years, and apparently wanted to keep it that way. He didn't really care either way.

Jin Ling rested against a tree, watching the few remaining candles in the city burn out until the only light was supplied by the half moon hanging in the empty sky.

"Young Master Jin?"
He whipped around, keeping a hold on his sword. "Healer Wen."
The old woman stepped out of the shadows, rather tall and elegant for her age. Long, sweeping green robes gathered at her feet, crusted with bits of dirt and mud from the ground, but otherwise clean and expensive looking.

She had pure white hair that fell past her shoulders in a long plaited rope, carrying a small bag that she set on the dirt as they faced each other.

"Kind of you to meet me so late an hour," she said, bowing respectfully. "I recalled some..." She paused, though Jin Ling didn't know why. "Scrolls and books, old ones, that I had hidden many years ago. I believe the information could be of use for your uncle's... Condition."

Indicating the bag, Healer Wen continued, "They are quite valuable, so I would appreciate their safe return."
Jin Ling eyed it. "And what kind of books are these exactly?"

He wanted to make sure that they were actually helpful, or else it wasn't worth the trouble. He didn't really want to haul a bag of old books for the entire walk back to Lotus Pier.

"A few writings on curses and supernatural illnesses. I must emphasize, Young Master Jin, these are very important texts."
"Alright, alright, I get it. Thank you, Healer Wen," he said, grabbing the bag and nodding to her.

"My pleasure. And, do be careful. They have a sort of energy about them. I fear I might have been followed by some living corpses on my way."
As she spoke, a crashing sound came from their left, deep in the forest.

"You leave first, Healer Wen. I can handle a few of these bastards."
"My apologies; my presence would be of no help to you. Then." She turned and hurried off.

Jin Ling groaned and raised his sword. "This is going to be a pain."

Xxx

Jiang Cheng had Sandu firmly gripped in his fist, using it as a support, and was leaning on Lan Xichen with his other side. They had tried to stop him from getting up, but he adamantly refused. Not when his nephew could be gone.

Granted, he was trying to keep the panic at bay as Jin Ling could have just gone out, or went for a walk, or done any number of things, but the idea that there was a small possibility he was hurt or needed help didn't sit right in Jiang Cheng's mind. His aching, tired mind.

Wei Wuxian was rambling off all the places he looked from beside them, and he heard another pair of footsteps, probably Lan Zhan, join him and match his step.

"Wei Wuxian," Jiang Cheng suddenly barked, trying to focus amidst his vicious migraine. "Please, shut up for a second. Let me think."

It was hard when he felt about two seconds away from passing out entirely, but Jin Ling was more important. Jiang Cheng could never sleep knowing he was gone somewhere, doing who knows what, with anyone in the world. Well, probably only a few other people- that's it!