WangXian Untamed Together

Chapter 7 - Resentless Energy

Lan WangJi gathered Wei WuXian in his arms and drew him into his lap. Wei WuXian was quaking, his breath too quick and too shallow. He clung to Lan WangJi's body, fingers twisting in his white robes, pulling him closer and curling up to lay his own ear above his husband's heart, that most soothing of rhythms. The new anatomy made for a change in the cuddle – longer limbs did not fold quite so neatly into the confined space – but the jostling itself seemed to ground Wei WuXian slightly and contact with his husband had ever been his best comfort. Lan WangJi gently stroked Wei WuXian's hair in a calming manner, murmuring quiet reassurance and encouraging Wei WuXian to slow his breathing. At last Wei WuXian drew a ragged breath and made to sit up. Lan WangJi released him and looked closely at his face for a hint as to what had taken place. Wei WuXian's face was pinched, and he still shivered from time to time.

"Stay," said Lan WangJi, and his low tones conveyed the order clearly to Wei WuXian's overwhelmed mind. Quickly Lan WangJi settled Wei WuXian on a cushion, then brought a blanket and wrapped it carefully about his husband's shoulders, folding him into its warmth. He then rose again to fetch the makings of tea and a small dish of nutmeats. Without the patience for fire, he used a talisman to bring the water to an immediate boil and swiftly made a soothing yet energizing tea. He held the tea cup in one hand and supported Wei WuXian with his other arm. He helped Wei WuXian to sip until the shivering finally calmed. Wei WuXian took a second cup of tea into his own hands and the liquid trembled as he drank.

Looking up from under his lashes, Wei WuXian gave a weak smile of reassurance to Lan WangJi, whose shoulders relaxed on meeting his eyes.

"Wei Ying... what did you find?" asked Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian put the empty tea cup on the table, and gently waved away the offer of a third cup. Pulling the blanket closer about his shoulders, huddling into its shelter, he answered Lan WangJi.

"It was... it was amazing, Lan Zhan. Truly. I was able to talk to the energy... the energy that's in me. It's in me, Lan Zhan. In me! Like I'm it's home..." Wei WuXian's eyes widened with wonder as he searched for words to convey his conversation. Still unfocussed, looking inward, he failed to note the flash his words evoked in Lan WangJi's eyes, the gold flickering and frozen a moment... his Wei Ying, a home for unknown energy? His Wei Ying, possibly at risk?

"It's resentful energy... but different. It's not the same. Well, it was. That is, it said they used to be... It said it... they.... it....", Wei WuXian struggled with how to describe the entity with which he spoke. "I don't know how to call it... it's like a being made of so many spirits, so much resentful energy... and yet so ancient that the energy remains while the resentment is gone... who knew that could even happen, Lan Zhan? To have resentful energy trapped here for so many centuries that the energy remains but the resentment is lost. I'm going to have to revisit all my former theories, Lan Zhan. I always supposed it was resentment that tied the spiritual energy to this plane and once their thirst for revenge was slaked the energy would dissipate forever... I thought that was it. Everyone did. It's what we're taught... but they... it...

Wei WuXian's eyes were cloudy silver pools, looking blindly into the middle distance as he tried to parse his experience in a way that Lan WangJi would understand. The experience was so far beyond anything that he'd ever been exposed to before, the revelation so earth-shatteringly novel, shaking every belief he'd ever held as being inviolate... He spoke slowly, testing his words as they were uttered, doing his best to convey the impossible.

"I was told they used to be resentful energy. That they have existed for so long all memory of former existence has been wiped from recall. The energy lost any need for retribution as their former life faded to nothing. And yet they are still here, energy seeking a purpose, an anchor, without the dark aspects that prevented their dissolution when the original body was no longer alive. Still here. Still sentient. Still energetic. They... it..." Wei WuXian shook his head. The blanket slipped more loosely about him as he reached out his hand and called ChenQing to his side. She vibrated only a moment on the stand where she was kept, before slapping firmly into his grasp, with the solid connection of welcome familiarity. Wei WuXian held ChenQing before him, raised in both hands as if for an offering.