The tale of the fox and the dragon egg

Chapter 24 - Bridge

The blade underneath his feet was steady and calm. A stable presence in the back of his mind as he allowed to let his spiritual energy stream into it. Thankfully, it was a welcome distraction from the time he waited for the other to get on.

And finally, he felt a tentative dip of the blade in front of him.

Careful and slow, Wei Ying stepped onto the blade in front of him and Lan Zhan allowed himself to open his eyes, not realising he had closed them in the first place. The red ribbon in the foxes' hair glowed in the sunlight, vanishing almost shyly into the flowing long dark hair. 

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Lan Zhan was silent as he watched his brother vanish between the clouds.

Maybe it was nothing new. He was silent all the time, rarely allowing words to leave his lips. But they rarely needed to. Or couldn't. Even the esteemed Hanguang-jun had bad days or moods in which words seemed almost impossible for him.

Such as the last days.

Maybe it was not a bad mood per say. More of a tiny spot, festering and growing over time. Worry, sadness, confusion, a whole cocktail of different emotions.

Everything because of one fox and a young dragon child.

He, too, felt conflicted about the consequences of the trial. It was a half success. The Gusu Lan had dropped their accusations of the Yiling Patriarch, something that couldn't have turned out better. Now they would need to prove the same to the Yunmeng Jiang, to Jiang Cheng, something that seemed almost impossible.

And not only that. A-Yuan would need to stay behind. For the first time since Lan Zhan met both Wei Ying and Lan Yuan, it would only be himself and the fox. A fact that still tugged at his heartstrings.

At first, when his elder brother asked the child to stay in Koi Tower, he had been angry. Very angry. Even when Lan Xichen entrusted the dragon child to Jin Guangyao, something didn't feel right.

But it wasn't his place to speak against the decision of his clan leader, in front of every other of the cultivation world. It would have been a huge affront, something that wouldn't be forgotten in a long time.

Lan Zhan thought that he made the right decision.

The Gusu Lan rules were deeply imbraided into his bones. His elder brother had been there, his uncle had been there. It was a sign of respect to stay silent. And besides that, the dragon clearly understood the reasons of why his brother decided what he decided.

Now, he wasn't sure about his decision anymore.

Communication was still a confusing thing. After the death of his mother, he had turned to every rule that was possible, buried himself into the teachings of his clan and refused the social contact his elder brother wanted him to have.

It meant little to a boy that was a grieving child.

So, when Wei Ying stood in the pouring rain, his face turned to the waterfall of a sky and told him to leave, he did not understand why in the first seconds.

From all the years before, he had followed the principles that laid open in front of him. They were clear to read for him. Do not lie. Respect your elders. Do not take your own words lightly. He did all those things.

And yet his heart pinched in guilt.

For the first time, Lan Zhan needed to think about his deeds in another light but logic. He needed to think what his words truly meant. Or what his silence would mean to those around him.