bubble // zhuiling

six

Lan Jingyi

           Surfacers were officially confusing to Jingyi.

'It's like he didn't even want me to save his life!' Jingyi scoffed, looking at Jin Ling. 'The Young Mistress probably has plenty of servants at her disposal!'

Sizhui shot him a warning look. Jingyi definitely didn't know what he saw in that ungrateful princess.

Him and Sizhui had left the cave for an hour or so to get food. Jin Ling was still adjusting to the headbands magical properties, and exhausted after he literally stopped breathing. They deemed him unfit to escape, and he seemed to want to know more.

On there way to getting food they'd run into Lan Xichen again. He'd looked at them for good news. Sizhui explained that Jin Ling had woken up and now they were going to discuss details over seaweed and cod soup.

Lan Xichen said he'd inform Hanguang Jun and Wei WuXian that there was another Surfacer in Lake Lan.

Now all three of them were back in the cave and Sizhui was sitting them down to talk some more.

"This is soup from our clan. Enjoy, please," he gestured to the bubble that floated in front of a skeptical Jin Ling.

"Oh, for fucks sake, it's not poisoned!" Jingyi sighed, digging in.

Jin Ling's frown remained, but he hesitantly tried it. "I'm not even gonna ask how this is at all possible."

"Do you have any more questions in general?" Sizhui smiled.

Jin Ling chewed thoughtfully. "So, just double-checking, you don't eat people?"

           Sizhui shook his head with a chuckle. Jingyi was, as usual, baffled by his patience with people. "We don't eat people, no. We mainly eat seafood and plants from the lake."

          Jingyi stared at him. "We have a few questions for you though." Jin Ling swallowed and nodded.

           "What do you want to know?"

            Jingyi forgot about how annoyed he was with the Surfacer and let his curiosity shine through. "Everything."

•

Jin Ling

            The excited gleam in Jingyi's eyes was started to creep him out. Sizhui also looked interested, but he masked it well.

           Jin Ling didn't know where to start. "Um... I'm from the Jin Clan of Lanling and the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng-."

           Sizhui interrupted him with, "What does air taste like?"

          He was slightly taken aback, but thought about it for a while. "Air... air tastes like what surrounds you. In summer it's sweet and thick, and it smells like the rocks and streams by Carp Tower. In autumn it's like... the colour orange. In winter it barely has a taste at all. It's so clear and sharp, and cold and it makes your ears go red."

           Jin Ling looked up to see the two boys captivated by his words. He continued. "And spring is filled with the sweet scent of flowers that have just bloomed. Lotus Pier would be covered in them." He smiled sadly. "When you go on boat rides the air is so fresh and pure. Spring air is the best."

           Spring had been his mother's favourite season. That was what his uncle had told him one morning in April. The lilacs reminded him of her, he said.