WangXian Untamed Together

Chapter 11 - Home Again

Wei WuXian leaned back from the table, resting on his hands with a broad smile on his face. It felt good, coming home.

Home.

The Jingshi truly felt like home. He quietly marvelled over that for a few minutes, turning the idea over in his head and finding it appealing. Idly he wondered if this would hold true, no matter the place, so long as Lan WangJi was beside him. He tipped his head and looked at his husband, sitting perfectly in place beside him, sipping his tea with his habitual elegance. Yes, wherever Lan WangJi was, there would be home. He turned to face the two teenagers across the table and his smile softened. A son. And friends. Family was here. Family made a home, too. He sighed in contentment.

"Father Wei?" asked Lan SiZhui. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking it feels good to be home," Wei WuXian answered.

Lan WangJi's lips twitched slightly in his near-smile, pleased that his husband referred to the Jingshi as home. He'd ached alone for long, empty years, sadly assured in the absolute knowledge Wei WuXian would never share this space, never have the chance to consider it his home. The fact he was here, and felt this way, was a blessing and a miracle and Lan WangJi was grateful.

"So, what happened while we were gone?" inquired Wei WuXian. "Anything interesting? We'll catch up with ZeWu-Jun tomorrow on the Sect news, but what have you been up to in our absence? Anything you want to tell us about that unexpectedly large night-hunt? Hmm?"

Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi exchanged rueful looks.

"Can we just say that we learned a lesson about who to listen to?" asked Lan SiZhui.

"We really did think we'd done all the proper work up before we went there," added Lan JingYi.

"Tell us how you heard of the case and gathered information. Start at the beginning," directed Lan WangJi.

Lan JingYi bumped shoulders with Lan SiZhui. "You tell," he whispered. "They're your fathers."

Wei WuXian raised an eyebrow at Lan JingYi to show he'd been heard, then turned his attention to Lan SiZhui.

"The small hamlet about a half a day's walk past Caiyi Town on Biling Lake sent an envoy to ask for help putting a ghost to rest," started Lan SiZhui. "The ghost had begun to haunt their marketplace and was causing problems. They're a small place and their market isn't much, but it provides for most of the families in the area and is important to them. He gave all the information we asked for – when the ghost first showed up, did they know who it was or what they wanted, how it was acting – and the Grandmaster agreed that a group of juniors would be sufficient to handle the ghost with appropriate supervision. As you know, he put the two of us in charge of six juniors to handle things. We went out the day after your journey started."

"The juniors were all cleared to travel by sword, so we flew there by midday," added Lan JingYi.

Lan WangJi nodded. "Continue," he encouraged Lan SiZhui.

"When we arrived the hamlet treated us to a midday meal at the home of the elder who had asked for assistance. We noticed during the meal that several of the older children were repeatedly hushed and finally sent from the room when they tried to speak with us. At the time, we just thought they were being a bit too formal and trying to treat us with respect."

"We didn't think that afterward," Lan JingYi offered.

"As I was saying," continued Lan SiZhui, sending a brief glare to this friend, "It turned out to be a bit different than we were led to believe. We've written our reports and they are waiting for you in the Lanshi, Father Lan. We were able to put the ghost to rest reasonably simply, his needs were small, but then a second ghost made their presence known. No sooner had it been sent to rest than a third ghost appeared. He went to rest easily, too. These were simple country people and the ghosts didn't have deep desires or complicated histories. Any wandering Cultivator, even of small skill, could have easily granted them rest for no more than the cost of a meal or a night's sleep indoors. I suppose being a small place no Cultivator has happened to cross their path..." Lan SiZhui looked lost in thought for a moment, as if this were a new thought he'd only just realized, then resumed telling his tale. "After the ghosts were dealt with, it was too late to return to Cloud Recesses that night, so we were put up in the village. Being a small place, they put us up in pairs in the various homes. Sharing the evening with the families, the children who had earlier been hushed were permitted to speak freely with us and revealed that the multiple ghosts had been well known, before things got so out of hand they voted to send an elder for assistance from Gusu Lan. When we all got together on arriving back in Cloud Recesses, it turned out that all the host families had known that the elder wasn't being truthful. They had the idea that if the Lan Cultivators knew it wasn't a single ghost, that there were three of them, that we might refuse them aid. He seemed to think that helping them would come at a cost they couldn't afford and didn't understand that we take these tasks to both train our juniors and help the public. Anyway, we told ZeWu-Jun about it and put it in our reports as well."