Lan Qiren pauses outside the second room. He is uncertain what lies behind this door, simply because Xue Yang is still such a mystery to him.
With Lan Huan, the situation is different. He and his eldest nephew have grown up together essentially, a child needing a parental figure and an uncle having a new responsibility, unexpectedly but no less welcome. They truly have grown up together, learning how to be what the other needed, and forging such a tight bond that it has become a powerful foundation for both of them. Lan Qiren knows Lan Huan, inside out.
But Xue Yang...Lan Qiren has nothing to go on except whatever bits and pieces A-Ying and A-Zhan have told him, and of course, his exemplary notorious skills. Whatever happens to him in the future, his formative years will prove crucial in moulding the man he will become. Right now, the child is at the perfect age to form worldviews which will become the canvas to the picture of his life, and it is up to Lan Qiren to make sure it is beautiful.
He takes a deep breath and opens the door, telling himself that it is unfair to have the same expectations in his mind that he has towards Lan Huan for Xue Yang. For one thing, Xue Yang is two whole years younger than Lan Huan, and has had none of the privileges that Lan Huan has been exposed to. There's no guarantee that he will find Xue Yang sitting in a lotus position and radiating a calm qi while he's meditating.
This will be Lan Qiren's chance to get to know Xue Yang properly, without others providing a distraction. He's looking forward to the challenge.
As his eyes adjust to the darkness, Lan Qiren leaves the door open slightly, letting in some of the hazy light.
A shadow flits past and again, quick flips and somersaults. It is a tangle of limbs in perfect synchronicity performing a set of complex moves, coming to stand still in the centre of the room, chest heaving on the little frame. Lan Qiren decides to watch him first, for a little while, just to get a better idea on what Xue Yang is currently experiencing.
The boy is fast, fluid, agile. The flow of qi is almost tangible, a glowing power that shines like an aura around his body, emitting powerful waves of surety, confidence and ... righteousness?
When he stands still, it's like an avalanche waiting to happen, like the crest of a wave suspended in the air a dozen feet away from the surface of the sea. The anticipation is a crackling intensity and the surefire knowledge of the impending impact.
Lan Qiren is reminded of an electrical storm that blew across Cloud Recesses once, when all the disciples had climbed up onto higher ground just to see lightning bolts tear across the sky in uneven, jagged white flames streaking up above them. Petrichor and ozone had weighed heavily in the air, warning them of a downpour that ultimately never came. The similarities between that and watching Xue Yang are uncannily the same, even if the medium is different.
The boy begins again, eyes shut fast, body in complete harmony. He seems to be following an internal form, a set of moves that seamlessly join together so that it's hard to tell when one ends and another begins. But what really catches Lan Qiren's eyes is his grace and suppleness, how much Xue Yang makes himself be the form, not simply a part of it.
His breathing is in harmony with each of his moves allowing for a liquid smoothness to his actions, and it isn't forced, it's completely natural.
This is meditation in motion, Tai Qi made alive, as the masters of old must have wanted.
How? How is this possible?
Where Lan Huan had glowed with an inner light just from his eyes, this boy has somehow channelled his entire qi to be a beacon of lightness, a hidden strength in every muscle. It's as if the sun has drawn a line around his body and claimed it as his own.
