CH 30 – Ego judges and punishes. Love forgives and heals

(sorry I know its a long chapter heading but its a lovely quote I found and I felt I had to use it somewhere. I wish I knew its author though.)

Wei Ying walked into the JingShi and plopped himself down on a cushion at the table with a complete lack of grace, then winced a little when half of his backside missed the cushion completely and hit the hard wooden floor instead. Lan Zhan, who had sat properly on the other side of the table, was looking over at the antics of his husband and trying not to smile. It was good Wei Ying was complaining again, it meant the anger that had seeped out earlier was again contained. He wasn't a fool, he knew the words hurt more than Wei Ying would ever let on, but all he could do was be here when he was needed. Patting his knee Lan Zhan smiled.

'Here might be more comfortable.'

Wei Ying didn't need a second invitation, he was off his own cushion and straddling Lan Zhan's lap before Lan Zhan had even realised he had moved. Neither one of them seemed bothered that no one had cared to shut the door and that they were in full view of the courtyard. After all the only two people who ever came here where SiZhui and Lan XiChen and they had long ago realised that if the door was open the two would be doing anything too shameless. SiZhui had always knocked before entering when the door was closed, after all they were his parents and he knew he would be in trouble with at least one father if he didn't have basic manners. However Lan XiChen had once walked straight in without knocking while impatiently looking for Lan Zhan. The sight of them having afternoon sex, completely naked, with Lan Zhan pinning Wei Ying against the wall seemed to have scared the elder jade so much that he never again entered without both knocking and waiting for someone to shout 'come in'.

Wei Ying wanted to wriggle about on his husbands lap, tease and play with the lover underneath him, but they both knew that now wasn't the time for such things. Instead he lowered his head onto Lan Zhan's shoulder and breathed in the sent of sandalwood and soap that made the scent uniquely his. Just when he was feeling like he could drop off to sleep on his lovers knee, Lan Zhan spoke.

'Have you noticed anything strange since our bond got changed by my brother?'

Wei Ying lifted his head to look the other in the eye, the look of confusion not hidden at all.

'Errrrr Lan Er-ge….what does that have to do with…..well anything?'

Lan Zhan just smiled and, reached round his lap full of person, to pick something up off the table. Wei Ying was still confused but waited patiently. As Lan Zhan straightened again Wei Ying saw what he held in his hand, it was ChenQing. In all the years they had been together Lan Zhan had always been able to touch his flute but only when he wasn't in the room. If he tried when Wei Ying was around he had always received the same shock everyone else did as the instrument defended itself. Yet here he was, only inches away from Wei Ying, holding ChenQing without any negative effects at all. Wei Ying was flummoxed.

'How…..' he asked

'I don't know' Lan Zhan said honestly 'but I think it has something to do with our bond changing into a tether, as my brother described it. It has never happened before, certainly not between one cultivation partner who has a core and one without. Who knows what changes there have been.'

Wei Ying was still staring at Lan Zhan's hand as he spoke.

'So you can now use ChenQing? But I assume you can't use the powers of it as the cultivation needed is in my body and the power doesn't transfer right?'

Lan Zhan once again shook his head uncertain. Wei Ying should have known he would never have tried to actually use the flute without permission, even if he was curious. Then an idea came into Wei Ying's mind and he shuffled a little on his lovers knee, earning him a raised eyebrow from Lan Zhan as a warning that his movements where getting him too close to, meeting or no meeting, being pinned to the floor for the afternoon. Grinning Wei Ying turned back to face Lan Zhan and placed Bichen securely in the others palm, now it was Lan Zhan's turn to look confused but he held it anyway. Slowly Wei Ying held his hand above Bichen's hilt and willed the sword to come to his palm. He didn't actually expect anything to happen, after all the sword was safely in the hands of its master, however to both men's astonishment the sword actually began to rattle. It didn't move or leave the scabbard but it definitely responded.

As both men stared at each other, unsure what to make of the new development they heard loud noises coming from outside. They couldn't hear the conversation completely however the voices involved where clear to both of them. The first voice was that of SiZhui, a voice they would know anywhere. The second voice however was that of the unknown Sect leader from the assembly earlier. Glancing over his husbands shoulder Wei Ying shifted in order to to rise to his feet.

'Don't go out there on your own' Lan Zhan spoke quietly, gripping his shoulder. 'We both know that man has something against you'

Wei Ying patted Lan Zhan's hand slightly, moving his hips against the tented area of Lan Zhan's trousers before leaning forward slightly and whispering in his ear.

'I think you need to calm down a little before you go anywhere…..don't you?'

'Wei Ying!' Lan Zhan warned.

Wei Ying just laughed happily as he stood, smoothing out his rumpled robes before walking out the door, leaving Lan Zhan sat by the table taking a few deep breaths.

Outside Wei Ying could see the two people just by the gates to the JingShi's courtyard. It was obvious the Sect leader was trying to force his was in while SiZhui was having problems keeping him back without resorting to a physical tussle. He coughed loudly as he approached the quarrelling pair and almost laughed the look of utter relief that passed over his son's face at receiving help. The Sect Leader saw him then and stilled, glaring daggers in his direction. Everyone seemed to forget that he had decades of experience of people NOT liking him, so whatever the man hoped to accomplish failed. Wei Ying simply glanced at the man, as if assessing him and finding him wanting, before he turned his full attention to SiZhui.

'Hey Wei WuXIan! I don't care who you think you are, you don't treat a Sect Leader like this!' the man shouted. Only to take a deep breath when he realised he was being ignored.

'Why are you here A-Yuan?' Wei Ying spoke as normally as he could towards his son, hoping SiZhui would take the hint.

'Uncle XiChen wanted me to tell you and Lan Father the assembly will be recommencing in half an hour Wei Father'

The Sect Leader was stuttering, trying to get words out his mouth but not quite succeeding. Wei Ying felt like patting his son on the head, the boy was quick to catch on. Wei Ying would normally never call his son A-Yuan in front of visitors, he was simply making a point by doing so. SiZhui had realised this and managed to respond in a way that included all his family connections while still sounding polite and adult. Lan Zhan this boy can be sarcastic and polite all at once…..we have created a monster….he thought smiling. Outwardly though he simply nodded and responded.

'Thank you A-Yuan, I will go tell Lan Zhan and we will make our way back soon.'

SiZhui said nothing. He simply bowed deeply to Wei Ying, bowed slightly to the (by now extremely irate) Sect Leader, and left with what could be considered a breaking of the no running rule. Wei Ying turned to the Sect Leader as if seeing him for the first time and nodded.

'I believe you want to speak to me?' He said as if the man in front of him wasn't turning purple from rage.

'You!…..You!…...How can you…...Ive never….such an…..insult…..' The man stammered.

Wei Ying continued to wait, positioning himself just outside the gates to the JingShi. A silent statement of where his private territory began. The man stammered incoherently for a few more minutes, not helped by the fact Wei Ying had decided to lounge against the side of the gate as if not at all interested in the conversation. Which to be honest he wasn't. Eventually though the man found his voice and spoke, the sound filled with venom, acid and command.

'You dared decide on your own that you would not treat my Sect!. What gave you that right to decide my people's lives were worth less than yours?'

Wei Ying remained slouched where he was as he responded.

'If I remember correctly I gave you a warning about disrespecting my Sect, before making that choice...therefore the decision was yours!'

'What I stated was the truth! Even your own Sect leader can not control you.'

'And what I stated was the truth…..A man never goes back on his word'

'I should have known better than to try and reason with the YiLing Patriarch'

'Yes you should, you should have tried reasoning with Wei WuXian instead'

'Semantics, both men are the same'

'No they are not!' Came Lan Zhan's voice, as he appeared through the JingShi doors, cutting through the conversation. Like Wei Ying he had a relaxed air to his stance, although not as relaxed as actually lounging on a gate post, and he spoke with a bland conversational voice. 'Wei Ying is a person, The YiLing Patriarch was something people made up years ago to enable them to kill him without remorse.'

As Lan Zhan reached his husbands side he glanced sideways and Wei Ying stood up straight with reluctance. The Sect Leader was shaking with rage as he looked from man to man, obviously not sure who he was most angry at.

'I am a Sect leader…..' He exclaimed

'We are aware of that' Lan Zhan spoke blandly.

'You are not only refusing to aid my Sect but also undermining it's sense of justice by saying it would enable a man to be killed without evidence!'

'And everyone in the hall knows that' Wei Ying responded just as blandly.

The man paused for a second. His eyes wide as he looked at the two. Slowly his jaw tightened and his face became less angry but more determined, the fury in his eyes also lessened but was replaced with a blank stare, almost emotionless. Wei Ying felt a shiver crawl down his spine at the changes and was about to speak up when the man straightened up to his full height before speaking. As with his look his voice had also changed. The volume was lower but filled with determination and hate.

'It seems HE was right' The man spoke, addressing the two but almost to himself. 'The Lan Sect has been rotting from within for years now and needs clearing if it has a chance to get back to its former glory. As for the YiLing Patriarch, the only chance he has for redemption is death. This time permanently.'

Wei Ying grabbed Lan Zhan's hand to stop him unsheathing Bichen. The man was still a Sect leader and Lan Zhan could get into trouble for stabbing the fool through the throat in his own backyard. As the man walked away, head held high as if he owned the place, Wei Ying wasn't sure what had unnerved him more about the exchange. However the look in the man's eyes when he left, and the tone of voice the last time he spoke. It could only be summed in one word.

Vengeance!

Once Wei Ying was happy that Lan Zhan could walk back into the assembly without slicing the idiot in two as soon as he laid eyes on him, the two made their way back to the hall. Not that seeing Lan Zhan slaughter the idiot like a pig would bother him any, but he didn't really think it would look very good in a hall full of other Sects.

Eventually the two got close enough to the hall that they could hear the raised voices coming from the inside. Obviously no silencing spell was being used as they could hear discontented voices from the other side of the square. It didn't really matter though as they both continued to walk, only letting their joined hands drop as they approached the door. As soon as people began noticing who had arrived the voices, which had been shouting across the room, suddenly lowered and people drifted back to their original groups in hushed tones. Neither of the two paid any attentions to this as they once again walked up the centre isle, onto the dais and sat at the table next to Lan XiChen. The hushed tones just continued, accompanied by furtive glances their way. As if he knew what was going to be asked Lan XiChen leaned over a little and whispered.

'That mouthy Sect Leader from earlier came in and announced as loudly as possible that he was not going to negotiate with people who had no honour. When he left quite a few of the small and medium Sects left as well'

Looking around the two noticed that even though their was as much noise as before, there were defiantly less people in the hall. All the five high Sects were still in attendance, along with the medium Sects that either had swore loyalty to them or relied on them. But the majority of the smaller Sects had vanished. Before Wei Ying could figure out why the idea of such a loudmouth idiot actually leaving sent such a chill up his spine, Lan XiChen had held up his hand for silence and the resumption of the assembly.

This time it actually went rather well. The five large Sects all knew each other, and for the most part trusted each other. The idea that had been put forwards by Lan XiChen earlier on, for each Sect to give a list of each cultivator still injured was readily accepted. There was then a small break in speaking, allowing a small awkward silence to flow through the room. Eventually Jiang Cheng stood up from his cushion and spoke.

'We all saw what happened earlier. The smaller Sects have less people so are more frightened of loosing members, but that was not a display of being frightened. They were aiming for my brother! They were aiming for us. I don't think for a moment that it's the small Sects trying to cause us harm. But someone is! Like I said earlier, try to think about when the rumours began in your areas….have they changed and when.'

As he sat the murmurs began again among each group. But stopped, as if their vocal cords where suddenly cut, when Lan Zhan himself stood and held his hand up for silence. Lan Zhan never normally spoke at assemblies except to greet everyone, and that was at official assemblies. This one wasn't. People couldn't help but look over to the man now stood on the dais, hi regal bearing and almost toneless voice were hard to ignore anyway. But everyone present knew that Lan Zhan would not bother even opening his mouth unless he had something worthwhile to say, so when he spoke it was worthwhile to listen.

'It is clear that we are not dealing a simple outbreak of a virus. Curing all the still ill cultivators must be our first priority, for this we must work together. Finding out who is behind this and what they want must be our second priority.' Lan Zhan paused as he scanned the room. 'But I will make one thing clear. I will not allow a witch-hunt like happened twenty years ago. Whoever is behind this will be found and convicted on evidence not hearsay and rumour. Those Sects who have already left have done so at their own will, no one has forced them. You are all healers or Sect Leaders, I expect you all to hunt for answers and justice. Not fulfil personal vendetta's.

As Lan Zhan sat, Wei Ying could feel his hand shake gently as he laid his own atop his husbands. Lan Zhan was trying hard to internalise all the anger and frustration but it was obviously getting to much for him. The speech he had just given had shown that even the great HanGuang Jun had his breaking point, and he was currently reaching it. Glancing over, Wei Ying looked to his brother-in-law, who glanced back with an equal look of concern on his face. The hall was once again silent. No one had missed the thinly veiled threat behind the logical and calm words.

The assembly continued for another few hours, but neither Wei Ying or Lan Zhan spoke again. Most of the speaking was done between Lan XiChen and Jiang Cheng, with occasionally Jin Ling giving his opinion or another Sect leader speaking out about something he didn't agree with. All the arguments were more like debates and less like arguments with everything kept quite civil. When things wound down a plan had been reached, agreed by all the Sects present in the room. As all the Sects rose to exit, so did Wei Ying, Lan Zhan and Lan XiChen. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan exited first, walking slowly down the central isle. Slowly each Sect Leader bowed to Lan Zhan and wished him well, he in turn nodded his head and wished them a safe return home. Wei Ying saw out the corner of his eye a look from Jiang Cheng as he passed which could be interpreted as 'will he be ok'. Wei Ying nodded and smiled thinking 'He will be fine, I will look after him.'