CHINESE CRASH COURSE

wo de peng you - my friend

Hao jui bu jian - long time no see

Yihan - sorry

xie xie - thanks

(If you speak Chinese and these are wrong feel free to correct me!)

Will and Tessa rounded the corner and came to a screeching halt. Jem stood frozen in the doorway, waiting on a held breath. Tessa followed his gaze.

The stranger had shockingly long hair for a man, all tied tightly back into a single long strand like a girl's. His skin was a warm brown and his eyes slanted and dark as he took in the three of them. Though he was dressed in mundane fashion, the curling tails of marks were visible at his wrists and the collar of his shirt.

"Wo de peng you." Jem whispered dreamily.

"Hao jui bu jian." The man replied, a straight, white smile stretching across his face. Jem rushed forward without a moment's hesitation and wrapped the stranger in a suffocating embrace. The man welcomed him, eyes shining as if tears waited there. Tessa, Will and Sophie could only gawk at the sudden outburst of affection. The stranger laughed.

"It is good to see you old friend." He said fondly, ruffling Jem's silver hair.

"I take it you know the man, then." Charlotte said tentatively, entering the foyer just behind Will.

"Yes… yes." Jem said breathlessly, pulling away but keeping his hand on his friend's shoulder. "This is Ying Wei."

Tessa turned to Will to see if he was just as startled as she, but he wasn't watching Jem. She followed his gaze to Charlotte, and found herself wandering why the head of the Institute looked so nervous.

An hour later they were all seated in the parlor around the newcomer, ensnared in one of the many stories Ying Wei had shared of childhood.

"I told him plain as anything, 'Don't go over there! Those are warlocks!' And what does young James Herondale do?" Ying Wei exclaimed, tossing his hands up in mock frustration.

"I walked right up." James finished, smiling shyly. Ying Wei shook his head with a smile.

"The Downworlders thought it was so funny that they sent him home with a whole bag of Parthuux scales. You can imagine the look on his parent's face." The Shadowhunters laughed loudly, and Tessa discovered she clearly did not get the joke. Ying Wei leaned back into the wide armchair with a smile.

After the two young men had embraced, Ying Wei had been introduced as Jem's childhood friend, his greatest companion in Shanghai. The Shadowhunters of the Institute had been in rapt conversation with him ever since, except for Jessamine who was knitting sullenly by the window and Henry who was in the basement doing god-knows-what.

Tessa straightened her skirts for no particular reason and met Jem's eyes. He flashed a smile. He looked very happy, perhaps happier than she had seen him in a long while. Yet somewhere in the depths of those silver irises was a hint of melancholy. She was roused from her thoughts when Sophie brought in a tray of tea, which Ying Wei politely declined.

"British tea, can't stand the stuff." He wrinkled his nose. "Too bland."

"You get used to it." Jem shrugged. The other Shadowhunters of the Institute gazed on. Ying Wei's presence filled Jem with an energy they had never seen in the calm, introverted boy. It wasn't as if he suddenly became boisterous like Will, but he seemed to glow with a new-found enthusiasm.

"How was your journey?" Charlotte asked politely.

"Ah…" he folded his hands on his lap and sighed, "Exciting. Made use of a bit of warlock magic. A quick pop through a doorway and suddenly I'm in London."

"And why are you here?"

Will had said it casually, but he was leaning forward in his seat, fixing Ying Wei with a look that was anything but careless. Charlotte shot him a warning glance. Jem kept his gaze focused on his tea. For a moment Ying Mei was silent, then he smiled.

"Unfortunately I have official business to attend to here in London. I was only stopping by to speak to James." Will sank back into his chair, face stony. Tessa wondered briefly if he was jealous, but the idea was so childish she couldn't bring herself to believe it.

"You're more than welcome to board here in the Institute while you're in London. Our doors are open to all Shadowhunters." Charlotte said, but she spoke as if she were reciting verse, not extending an invitation.

"Xie xie." Ying Wei said, and then catching himself corrected, "Thank you, that would be splendid. You never know what kind of creatures dwell in mundane inns."

"We have our fair share of creatures here as well." Jessamine growled, the first time she had spoken since saying a brief and uncorteous hello to Ying Wei. Tessa found this very strange, considering how Jessamine was usually so eager to welcome any new man in the hopes he would fall madly in love with her. Maybe she wasn't interested in foreigners.

As the night wore on the residents of the Institute went about their business as usual. After all the idea of having new residents was not unusual; the Institute was basically a very exclusive hotel. Will was the first to leave, feigning exhaustion from an earlier battle. Later on in the night there was a great blast from Henry's workshop in the basement, and Charlotte went very white and excused herself. After a few minutes Sophie re-entered the room, her apron sticky with an unpleasant looking substance.

"Mr. Wei, I'll show you to your room if you like. Mrs. Branwell is… indisposed." She said hesitantly. Jem and Ying exchanged a glance before Jem interjected.

"We're going to stay up for a bit. I'll show him to the guest room myself." Jem said. Sophie looked as if she would object, but simply straightened with a nod and left. Tessa realized suddenly she was the only one left in the room with the two boys, and it made her feel strangely uncomfortable.

"I don't think we were introduced." Ying smiled at her, inclining his head.

"Tessa Gray. Pleasure to meet you."

"Ms. Gray…" he looked her over once in a particularly unpleasant way, "you are not Nephilim."

Tessa blanched momentarily but Jem quickly recovered for her.

"No, she is not," he interjected, "but she resides here nonetheless."

Ying Wei must have noticed the tension he created for he quickly added:

"I meant nothing by it, of course. I was just interested."

There was a precarious silence. Jem cleared his throat.

"Tessa…" he began gently, "perhaps Ying Wei and I could speak in private for a little while?"

The question was very polite, as Jem always was, but Tessa's cheeks still stung with embarrassment.

"Of course," she murmured, gathering her skirts and standing. She fled swiftly from the room before Jem could see the red flush in her cheeks.

The door closed with a very soft click. In the silence that followed Jem leaned back in his seat with an unhappy sigh. Ying Wei stood slowly and crossed the room, stopping in front of one of the small, soot-streaked windows of the parlor.

"While it is good to see you, I take it there's another reason for you being here." Jem began cautiously. Ying Wei traced his nails along the window pane, silent.

"I am here to extend an offer to you from the Shanghai Institute and Benedict Lightwood." He said, very softly, as if the words carried great weight.

"Since when have they been working together?" Jem replied, sitting forward. He had known Ying Wei couldn't possibly be here just to catch up, but it still stung to know he was here on business and not just for the sake of an old friendship.

"Since Yanluo has threatened to return to our realm."

Jem's stomach dropped. At the windowsill, Ying Wei's hands were fists against the cold glass. He turned to Jem, his eyes chips of granite in the dark room.

"He's coming to London, James. Yanluo is coming here. "

The moment the door snapped closed behind Tessa she balled her hands into fists and let out a breath. She couldn't believe she had gotten so flustered over their dismissal. After all, it had been a decade since the two boys had seen each other, of course they would want some time to catch up. She decided she would go to the library, curl up with a novel and put her mind to something else.

"Kicked you out, did they?"

She gasped, spinning to see Will. His ear was pressed to the wall, face screwed up in concentration.

"Will!" she scolded, "How perfectly rude of you!"

"A bit unusual of Jem…" he continued, as if she hadn't spoken. Her cheeks flared.

"He hasn't seen Mr. Wei since he was a child, of course he wants some time alone." She explained for the benefit of both herself and Will. He said nothing in response, clearly concentrating on whatever was taking place in the parlor. "Really Will, you're acting like a jealous child. Jem is allowed to have other friends." His eyes were narrowed meanly as they fell on her, and Tessa suppressed a smug little grin at having roused his temper.

"I am not jealous." He said.

"Prove it then." She smiled. At first he did not move. Then, slowly, he stepped away from the wall, seized Tessa by the hand and led her across the foyer and around to the stairwell. She would have resisted but for the soft pressure of Will's warm palm against hers and the urgency it conveyed.

"Don't you think," he began, sitting down on the bottom step and tugging her down with him, "it's a little strange that Ying Wei chose to come only now?" he asked quietly.

"Well he has to come sometime hasn't he?" Tessa said shrewdly, a bit flustered by Will's hand grasping her own.

"Tessa, Jem left Shanghai when he was very young. His friend could have come to see him anytime."

"They were both young. Who would let their child travel to London?

"Shadowhunter parents would. A boy as young as 8 is already equipped to slay a demon. Traveling to London pales in comparison. Honestly Tessa..." he sighed. Tessa's eyes narrowed and she wrenched her hand from Will's grip.

"What am I supposed to think?! There is nothing common or predictable about Shadowhunters!" she said spitefully. Will looked down at his now empty hand and back up at her, clearly surprised. "If you are so keen for me to see things your way, please explain." she finished, unable to stay mad when Will's blue eyes were gazing so deeply into her own.

He nodded slowly, eyes gleaming in the yellow lamplight.

"All that was besides the point. When Jem… when he came to London we were told he would not be contacted by anyone back in Shanghai. He was in such bad shape that they feared letters or visits would bring back unpleasant memories. Best for him to start a life out from scratch, they said."

"You're saying something has changed."

"Yes, most definitely. "

"But Will," Tessa interjected, "maybe they've just decided he's recovered enough to see his old friends again. It's been almost a decade. "

Will glared up at her, blue eyes blazing.

"Do you think ten years is enough? Do you think you could ever recover from what Jem endured? " He hissed. Tessa shifted away, surprised by the ferocity in his voice. He gripped her hand again, pressing his thumb into her knuckles painfully.

"If you watched your parents be murdered, could you forget?"

Jem sat ramrod straight in his armchair, watching his friend by the window. His heart was hammering at his ribcage, but he swallowed and spoke carefully.

"You're sure of this?" he said with remarkable calm. Ying Wei continued to gaze out the window. Jem wondered if his friend was afraid to face him after all that had happened. He had been there for Jem after his rescue, letting him sleep in his bed and share his family as the Institute was put back together. He had even been at the Institute hours before the attack. They had both gone through so much together.

"We've gathered information regarding a cult group of warlocks and Buddhist priests attempting a summoning."

"Mundanes and warlocks working together?" Jem asked incredulously.

"Unlikely but true. We think it's a way to make it harder for them to be caught and convicted. Any shadowhunters dealing with the issue have to work with the Accords and our laws about mundanes."

"How did you find out about this?" Jem asked, trying to fight down the rising panic in his chest.

"We were tracking them down over the past months. Naturally, Yanluo being a greater demon, we place a great deal of importance on keeping him in his own realm. A week ago they disappeared from the country. We sent word to the Consul, and he told us the group in question had been seen skulking around the London East End." Ying Wei turned, finally, and looked at Jem with a kind of brilliant hope. "Then he told me that the boy who Yanluo scarred was in London as well. "

"You didn't know before." Jem stated, shocked. He had always assumed his friend had at least been told, but apparently the Silent Brothers had sent him away in secret. Ying Wei turned back to the window, jaw set.

"I did not. In any case, due to the Beijing institute's... history with the demon, we have been allowed to insist in the investigation even though it is here in London. Naturally, we extended that offer to you."

There was silence.

"Jian?" he called, turning to face his old friend.

Jem was hunched over, head pressed between his hands, fingers laced through his thin silver hair. Ying Wei sped swiftly over to his friend.

"Yihan, Jian, that was foolish of me." He sat beside Jem, pressing a hand against his back. "We won't talk of this now." Jem lifted his head slowly, face surprisingly calm. Only the depths of his silver eyes displayed his distress.

"Now is a time for catching up." Ying Wei continued soothingly. "You look well. Your hair and your eyes, these are… new. But you look well." Jem nodded slowly, sweeping the silver strands from his forehead self-consciously.

"I feel well. London is good to me." He smiled sadly.

"Do you miss home?" Ying Wei ventured.

"My parents were my home. Where we lived did not matter." He paused, but then began again. "Yes. I miss the sunshine and the way the sun shone off the mounta-"

A cough tore its way up through his throat.

"Jian…?" Ying Wei asked cautiously. Jem's hand clutched his throat, flat nails pressing into the white skin.

"Will." He whispered, "Get Will."

What do you propose we do?" Tessa asked cautiously. She had stood and was now leaning on the banister, looking down at Will where he crouched on a stair.

"First we figure out for what purpose Ying Wei is here. I have a hard time imagining Jem won't tell me himself." Will added confidently. It wasn't a boast, Tessa realized, just a fact of being parabatai.

"And what am I supposed to do?" Tessa said, not without a hint of spite. He opened his mouth to speak, but a sound slipped from the other room, silencing him. Will turned as sharply as if a door had been blown off its hinges. Tessa didn't recognize the sound until its second occurrence. Will lunged from the stairs and reached the door, flinging it wide.

Just feet from him on the inside of the sitting room stood Ying Wei, looking very shocked. A brief look of suspicion passed over his features as he saw how quickly they had reached the parlor, but he said nothing of it, and Will was no longer listening besides. He had crossed quickly to where Jem sat, jaw clenched in pain. He had a handkerchief pressed to his lips, and it shook in his hand.

"It's fine, Will." He insisted, voice muffled through the thin fabric. Will seized his wrist and pulled the handkerchief away; it was spotless. He let out a terse breath just as Ying Wei cleared his throat, breaking free of his shock.

"This is my fault." He admitted, looking pained. "I seem to have upset him. " Will shot him a baleful look.

"I think it's best if you head to your room for the night. Tessa will show you where to go." Each word with an edge like a knife and though Tessa wished to argue she dare not. Ying Wei nodded slowly and followed Tessa out, who could do nothing but glare at Will before closing the doors behind her.

Will settled himself down next to Jem, placing a hand on his knee. The silence was broken only by the crackle of the fire in the grate.

"I really am fine, Will." Jem said softly, tucking the clean cloth back in the pocket of his slacks and leaning back in his seat. Will didn't look anymore relieved, but he removed his hand and folded it in his own lap.

"What were you two on about then that was so confidential?" Will asked, ever so lightly, but Jem had known him long enough to sense the undercurrent in his voice.

"You've been spying again haven't you?" Jem answered before Will could open his mouth to object, or rather to lie. "He's here on official business for Benedict Lightwood." Jem said carefully, twisting the pendant at his throat subconsciously.

"Why call in someone from Beijing?" Will laughed, so casually that If Jem had not known the nature of his parabatai he would not have guessed it to be an interrogation.

"You know how Lightwoods are." Jem replied, equally jovial.

"Gabriel, yes." Will consented, eyes flashing, "but the head of the Enclave wouldn't commit to something so,"

"Will please." Jem interjected. His hands were shaking faintly again, Will observed. His friend sighed, letting the pendant swing free. "It's hardly important. Now if you'll excuse me I've tired myself out and I think I'll go rest now." Jem stood, and Will gazed up at his brother-in-arms with a sort of disturbed satisfaction. He stopped before the open door, one hand pressed against the wooden frame, and turned back.

"Goodnight Will." Jem smiled, a smile that Will knew so well, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Will slumped back into his chair, alone now in the sitting room.

"Alright…" he murmured to himself, pressing his folded hands against each other forcefully.

"Alright."

AUTHORS NOTE

Next chapter will have some Jem angst hehe :) if you can find it in your kind hearts to review, please do!