A/N: The mesh of CQL/Untamed and MDZS canons is more obvious here. I think I might continue this, but I'm not sure if it should be as a series or all in one multi-chaptered fic. I'm on the fence there. I'm open to opinions.

Chapter summary: In which we see the other side of Lan Xichen's actions from last chapter.

2: Sympathy

The rain stung his face as he flew from Cloud Recesses to the Caiyi inn where he and his escort were staying for the night. The wound to his pride still stung, but the satisfaction of finally cracking Lan Xichen's infamous jade façade would fill his night with the sweetest of dreams.

The Lan Clan was lauded for their self-control and docile manner, preferring to fight with silly words and ridiculous music, resorting to swords when all other options failed. Few could say they matched words with a Lan and walked away with their pride intact. Even fewer could claim victory against the elder of the Twin Jades of Lan.

Wen Chao looked forward to telling his father of his victory. Lan Xichen had been a thorn in Wen Chao's side since the Jade humiliated him the day he and his escort arrived in Cloud Recesses two years ago. Using music to rip his sword away and slam it blade-first into the floor mere centimeters from his toes was insulting alone. But to then watch as Lan Xichen dared to approach Wen Chao while holding that despicable xiao and with his sword nowhere in sight, as if Wen Chao was a bug and not a threat, and command -command!- Wen Chao to show restraint!

Just the memory of the encounter, those narrowed golden eyes staring him down, ignited a hateful fury in Wen Chao's breast. Filthy Lan and his filthy arrogance. The Qishan Wen Clan were unmatched and unquestioned in their power and authority. Who was Lan Xichen to stand against the power and authority invested in Wen Chao?

Then again tonight Lan Xichen insulted Wen Chao's power and authority. Refusing to hand over the other piece of the Yin Metal Wen Chao knew the Lan Clan kept hidden away in that mountain of theirs. No fool would believe the Lans were stupid enough to give the Second Jade Lan Wangji the only Yin Metal piece in their possession and send him off alone without an escort. The fact they had even attempted such a farce was offensive.

Lan Xichen's reaction, or lack thereof, in their little meeting tonight was evidence enough. The Lans still kept a piece under lock and key. Most likely in that heavily warded mountain of theirs Wen Qing spoke of. Resting place of the Lan ancestors. A thinly veiled lie hidden behind the façade of polite passiveness. Infuriating!

It had taken every ounce of self-control to not burn Lan Xichen where he sat when the First Jade closed his eyes and continued meditating while Wen Chao was still present in the room. But that was ultimately Lan Xichen's folly. The Jades of Lan came in a matched set. Wen Chao's spies had been staying informed of Lan Wangji's travels, waiting for the opportune moment to attack and retrieve that piece of the Yin Metal. If threatening Lan Xichen to his face wasn't enough to crack the First Jade, then perhaps threatening the Second Jade would do the trick.

And wonder of all wonders, the First Jade did indeed have a flaw. It seemed the chink in the First Jade's armor was the Second Jade Lan Wangji, and it had been Wen Chao who discovered it. Lan Xichen's face had remained passive in meditation. But his hand had twitched ever so slightly, gripping the silk draping over his knee. It was the only visible tell of Lan Xichen's distress, but it was Wen Chao's victory.

If Wen Chao could convince his father to allow him to be the one to attack Cloud Recesses, then he could be the one to smack some emotion into the First Jade. Preferably fear. But even if Wen Chao couldn't convince his father and Wen Xu was ordered to lead the invasion instead, perhaps he could ask his brother to include a caveat in the demand for surrender.

Lan Xichen clearly knew where the other Yin Metal was hidden by the Lan Clan. It was entirely possible he'd hidden it there himself. The Lans were ever so proud of their Twin Jades. Lan Xichen was unlikely to leave the Cloud Recesses anytime soon. If Wen Xu could capture the First Jade alive, then even if he didn't have the Yin Metal on him, Lan Xichen could be convinced into revealing its location. Worst case scenario, the First Jade could be traded back to the Lan Clan in exchange for the Yin Metal.

If both Jades were captured, then the Wen Clan would have both pieces of the Yin Metal and the power to wrench the Lan Clan into line. Wen Chao looked forward to the day when he could crush that accursed xiao in his bare hands while Lan Xichen watched. Every insult, every snub, every dismissal the First Jade ever offered Wen Chao would be paid back in full. He'd make sure of it.

For the time being, he would rest, dream of the Qishan Wen's ultimate victory, and let his Dire Owl hunt. Messenger butterflies may not offer physical sustenance, but they were ever so much fun to catch.

The candle was burning low when the tiny butterfly messenger fluttered in through the window. Nie Mingjue frowned at the sight. It was rare to receive a butterfly at this time of night. He would be the first to admit that it was late and he would probably get an earful about his lack of healthy sleep patterns from his younger brother in the morning. But being a Clan Leader meant a seemingly endless flow of paperwork and duties that required his attention, seal, and approval. If that meant staying up late to get it all done, then so be it.

Who else would be up this late and think to send him a message?

Curious, he held out his hand and let the tiny, glowing messenger touch his palm.

:A-Jue.:

Xichen?!

:My actions are being watched. Look for Wangji. The Wens are hunting him. If you find him, send him home with all speed.:

The tiny butterfly faded away as Xichen's whispered message ends. For a moment, Mingjue simply stared at his hand in shock and tried to process what he'd just heard. Xichen was always careful of his appearance and tone when he thought he was observed. His carefully cultivated smiles and patient personality drew in others and made them feel safe and welcome. It was disarmingly effective and masterfully crafted by the First Jade of Lan.

But Mingjue knew from personal experience that the emotions beneath the jade mask were often tumultuous and intense. The first time Xichen actually lost his temper and yelled at Mingjue had been the day the then-Nie Clan Heir had fallen in love with Zewu-jun. Since then, Mingjue started to learn to read the truth hidden behind Xichen's jade mask and glimpse A-Huan, and not Clan Heir Lan Xichen, the First Jade of Lan.

Nevertheless, the emotions brimming each word of Xichen's message were not those Mingjue wished to hear. Worry, suspicion, wariness. Xichen adored his little brother Wangji like Mingjue adored Huaisang. Why would the Wens being hunting Wangji? Why would Xichen suspect he was being watched?

The Gusu Lan Clan was a peaceful clan that was not known for overstepping their bounds in any case as far as Nie Mingjue was aware. Nor had the Lans made any move against the Qishan Wen Clan. If any of the five major clans were ever to make a move against the Wens, it would most likely be Mingjue's own Nie Clan. After the assassination of his father, Nie Mingjue had sworn vengeance against Clan Leader Wen Ruohan.

Why would the Wens go after the Lans?

If Xichen was indeed being watched, then Mingjue wouldn't send a reply butterfly in case it was intercepted. Instead, he would keep an eye out for Lan Wangji and pass on Xichen's message if he could. In the meantime, he would have his spies listen for any word on the Lan Clan, especially in reference to the Wen Clan.

He made a note to ask Meng Yao to start on that first thing in the morning.

He had to admit, he was certainly tempted to let Wen Zhuliu chase after the Second Jade and watch as Lan Wangji's golden core melted into oblivion. The horror in the Second Jade's face would have been satisfying in its own way.

But why do it now? Wen Chao's brother Wen Xu was already in Cloud Recesses. It was only a matter of time before the Lans surrendered and submitted to the Qishan Wen's superiority and the First Jade was captured. Wouldn't it be fun to force the First Jade to watch as his precious little brother's golden core melted in front of him? That might even be all that was need to drive a wedge through Lan Xichen's armor and persuade him to hand over his piece of the Yin Metal.

Lan Xichen's core would need to be melted as well, of course. Wen Chao was confident in his own strength as a cultivator, but he wasn't stupid enough to deny the spiritual power of the First Jade. The man was a force to be reckoned with and Wen Chao wanted none of it. At least the First Jade's sword would be sealed and forever unusable after his core was melted. So there was that.

Ah, today was a good day indeed.

Cloud Recesses was burning. Cloud Recesses was burning!

Wangji could barely believe his eyes as flames dances through the trees and across the rooftops of his home. A few Lan clansmen darted between buildings, their cloud white robes visible against the stark black smoke and hungry red and yellow flames. A streak of blue in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he whirled, Bichen at the ready, just in time to see Xichen duck into the Library Pavilion.

Xiongzheng!

Wangji ran towards the Library Pavilion, stepping aside when three young Lan juniors hurried out, almost smacking into Wangji as they did so.

"Second Master Lan! Welcome. So good of you to join us."

Turning to the voice, Wangji seethed. Young Master Wen Xu strode across the courtyard as if he owned it, ignoring the stepping stones and trudging directly across the moss and flowers. A faint whimper from behind reminded Wangji of the three young junior disciples hiding in his shadow. He tightened his grip on his sword and adjusted his position so he stood firmly between Wen Xu and the children.

Wen Xu noticed the adjustment and smirked. Pausing a few paces away, Wen Xu bowed mockingly at Wangji.

"Welcome to the Cloud Recesses, Second Jade of Lan," Wen Xu said, his voice dripping with dark pleasure. Straightening, he clasped his hands behind his back and made a show of looking around the place, his eye drawn to the flames leaping high into the sky from nearby buildings. "The additions are very nice, if I do say myself. Red is such a lovely color."

Disgusting.

"Ah, yes, I forgot," Wen Xu gasped, snapping his fingers. "You wouldn't happen to have seen Lan Xichen, have you? He insulted my clan and refuses to surrender himself."

Impossible. Xichen was careful with his words at all times. He would never do such a thing.

At Wangji's silence, Wen Xu gave a put-upon sigh. "Honestly, all of this might have been avoided if he had just kowtowed and asked forgiveness but…" He pursed his lips. "I suppose we can't all have what we want." Then his shoulders lifted and a pleasantly surprised smile appeared on his face. "Or perhaps we do! Wangji-"

He dares!

"-you have a piece of the Yin Metal as well, don't you?" Wen Xu continued, heedless of his insult.

…as well?

"Well, since my brother could take your piece from you and I doubt Xichen-"

He dares!

"-will surrender his piece willingly-"

His piece?! There was another piece?

"-then perhaps we can come to an arrangement."

Former Clan Leader Lan Yi implied the Lan only had one piece when she met Wangji and Wei Ying in the Cold Pond Cave. That piece felt like a weight where it rested in the qiankun pouch against his chest. There was a second piece?

Wen Xu sneered. "Are you even listening to me, Second Jade?' he hissed. "Dealing with your ridiculous elders was annoying enough." Uncle! Father! "Now even you insult me with your silence. You Lans are despicable and deserve to be cleansed by the sun's fires."

A small hand clutched the back of his robe, clinging fearfully, and Wangji drew Bichen. The action resulted in several Wen blades now lifted and aimed at him and an amused grin from Wen Xu who, tellingly, had not drawn his sword yet.

"Clan Heir Lan told us to go to the Cold Pond Cave," the junior whispered just loud enough for Wangji to hear. "He didn't follow us out."

The hand released his robes and the sound of fleeing footsteps was a relief. Wen Xu clicked his tongue and shook his head condescendingly. "Now, now, Second Jade of Lan. And just when we were getting to the good part." Grinning, Wen Xu lifted his hand revealing several talismans which fluttered in the hot wind from the surrounding fire. With a flick of his fingers, the talismans flew at the Library Pavilion.

No. The Library! Xiongzheng!

Horrified, Wangji sent Bichen flying, easily slicing through two talismans. But the third landed on the library's roof and burst into flames. Wen Xu laughed as Bichen returned to Wangji's grasp.

"Let's play a game, Second Jade," Wen Xu declared, his taunting words stopping Wangji from flying to the roof and putting out the fire with his own robes. Wen Xu untied one of the two jars handing from his waist and held it up so the bolt of white cloth tucked into the opening at the top was visible. "You hand over your piece of the Yin Metal, and I'll give a gift to the Cloud Recesses. Refuse, and it won't be a gift."

Wangji glared.

Sighing, Wen Xu shrugged. Then he flicked his fingers and the white cloth blossomed with fire a moment before Wen Xu tossed the jug and burning cloth through a library window. The resulting smash of pottery was accompanied by and explosion of flame and heat.

No!

"Now," Wen Xu said, turning his attention back to Wangji and untying the second jar. "Let's try this again. Surrender your piece of the Yin Metal and I give the Cloud Recesses a gift. Or refuse and it won't be a gift."

Wangji charged. Wen Xu made no move to dodge or attack. He merely smiled and let his escort leap to his defense. They were no match for Wangji in terms of skill, but their numbers were making it frustrating.

"Or, I can offer you an alternative," Wen Xu said, moving closer to the burning library with a relaxed manner. "You can tell me where your brother has hidden his piece of the Yin Metal and I'll leave the library intact."

Impossible. Wangji knew of no other piece of the Yin Metal in the Lan Clan's possession and xiongzheng was in the library. A flutter of white followed by a frightened squawk just as another Wen soldier fell to Bichen's blade. Whirling away from another blade, Wangji brought Bichen up to strike at Wen Xu-

-and froze.

Wen Xu grinned and pressed his blade hard enough to the Lan junior disciple's neck to draw blood. The tip of Bichen had pierced the Lan disciple's outer white robe, but gone no further.

"In the middle of our game, Wangji?" Wen Xu teased, clicking his tongue once more. "There are rules," he jerked his sword, slicing deeper into the disciple's throat and earning him a pained grunt, "to games. You Lan are so fond of rules."

The disciple stared fearfully up at Wangji, quaking in Wen Xu's grasp. Su She? The jar of flammable liquid was now in the hands of a Wen clansman standing close to Wen Xu's side.

"Last chance, Wangji," Wen Xu said, his eyes hard. "Where is the First Jade of Lan and his piece of the Yin Metal?"

A glimmer of gold, the tickling touch of a messenger butterfly on the back of his neck, and-

:Wangji!: Xichen's unexpected voice filled his mind, startling him. :The Wen have attacked Cloud Recesses! The disciples are retreating to Cold Pond Cave. Stay away from here. Please, didi, stay away and live!:

Xiongzheng!

Wen Xu's face screwed in fury. "Speak!" he shouted, jerking his sword again.

"In the library!"

Dumbstruck, both Wangji and Wen Xu paused before looking at Su She shaking in Wen Xu's grasp, a trickle of blood slipping down his neck. Then Wen Xu laughed merrily.

"Well, it appears I won't be needing you anymore, Wangji," he said, pleased. "Looks like I've found myself a Lan more hospitable to my requests. Informants are so dreadfully hard to come by these days."

He shifted his hold on the Lan disciple. "In the library, you say," Wen Xu asked. "What is in the library? The First Jade or the Yin Metal?"

"B-b-both," Su She blurted, white ringing his wide, terrified eyes. "Clan Heir Lan was sent to the library to retrieve the Yin Metal and the Lan Clan's ancient relics and flee."

Wen Xu's eyebrows rose and he pursed his lips, impressed. "I see." He nodded to the Wen clansman by his side and Wangji watched in horror as the damp white cloth was set aflame and the jar raised.

Wangji moved to release Bichen, hoping to shatter the jar before it struck the library walls, when a sharp pain in his right leg knocked him to his knees, leaning on his sword for balance. The jar sailed through the air, smashed through the tattered window, and added its fuel-fed flames to the blaze.

No!

"Ash is so much easier to deal with than people," Wen Xu said thoughtfully. "People argue, hide, or are stubbornly silent. Much like you, Second Jade," he added, glancing at Wangji. "We'll come back once the place is nothing but ash and retrieve what we came for. In the meantime," he tapped his captive's cheek with a finger, "where are the rest of the Lan?"

Xiongzheng, Wangji thought, feeling his heart crack under the heat of the Wen Clan's flames, forgive me.

Bichen flashed in the firelight as Wangji pushed himself to his feet and mounted the blade, biting back the agony in his broken leg. Air rushed past his face as he took flight, struggling to keep most of his weight on his uninjured left leg and not overbalance. From above, Cloud Recesses was nothing but a smudge of roiling black and red that burned even from this high up.

Heavy with heartache, Wangji turned Bichen and flew towards the entrance to the Cold Pond Cave. He couldn't honor his brother's plea for him to stay away from Cloud Recesses, but he would honor his wish to live. Once the piece of the Yin Metal in Wangji's possession was safely in the Cold Pond Cave, then it would be unreachable by anyone except a Lan with a forehead ribbon.

Though, judging by the cowardly actions of the captured Su She, the Cold Pond Cave's location would not remain a secret for long. However, Su She had no forehead ribbon and thus couldn't enter the Cold Pond Cave unless another Lan chose to offer assistance as Wangji did for Wei Ying two years ago.

The memory of Wei Ying pulling his Lan ribbon off completely during the Qishan Wen's archery competition just last year sprung unbidden to his mind and his face warmed.

Well, Wangji amended silently, perhaps not the same… type of assistance.

He couldn't see their faces, but he could hear their screams and that worse. How many disciples hadn't made it into the Cold Pond Cave before Wen Xu captured them? How many would he kill before he was satisfied? How much would the Wen Clan steal from the Lan over the evil of the Yin Metal?

Where was xiongzhang?

"The forehead ribbon!"

Su She!

"It's the forehead ribbon. Only those with a Lan forehead ribbon can get in," Su She's babbled.

Traitor!

"Su She, how dare you!" another voice cried out in dismay. "You traitorous do-"

The voice cut off by the distinct sound of a blade piercing flesh. The unknown disciple coughed wetly then there was a ringing silence.

"The ribbon, you say?" Wen Xu, sounding amused. "Go find me a Lan ribbon, would you?"

"Yes, Young Master Wen!"

No!

Wangji moved before the realization of what was about to happen fully took root in his mind. He limped out of the Cold Pond Cave's wards and into the sunlight. He had never hated the sun before.

Ten Lan disciples, some with forehead ribbons, some without, lay dead on the ground. The eleventh knelt on his hands and knees, shaking and wide-eyed and staring up at Wangji as if he'd seen a ghost.

Su She.

Wangji narrowed his eyes at the pathetic traitor. If Su She survived this, he would never be welcome in Lan territory ever again. If xiongzhang was found dead in the ashes of the Library Pavilion, Wangji would kill Su She himself.

"Wangji," Wen Xu said. "Had a change of heart?"

Tearing his golden gaze from the traitor, Wangji turned to Wen Xu and held out the qiankun pouch holding the Yin Metal. "Take it and leave Cloud Recesses," he said.

Wen Xu scoffed. "You think you're in a position to make demands?"

"Take it and leave Cloud Recesses," Wangji repeated, unmoving.

After a moment, Wen Xu shrugged. "Fine, fine," he said, waving lazily. "But how do I know the Yin Metal is in there?" he asked, nodding to the qiankun pouch in Wangji's hand.

Careful of his broken leg, Wangji limped forward, refusing to flinch when the Wen clansmen rushed to surround him, their swords pointed at his chest. Wen Xu stood still, relaxed and smiling as Wangji approached. Stopping two paces from the Young Master Wen, Wangji loosened the strings of the qiankun pouch and the Yin Metal rose from the fabric to hover two inches from his hand.

They lost.

Jiang Fengmian was a reasonable man. He loved his children, all three of them, equally. He loved his wife Yu Ziyuan, despite their rocky relationship. He loved Lotus Pier and the entire Yunmeng Jiang Clan with all his heart and soul. His daughter Jiang Yanli was a beautiful woman with a soft heart and sharp intellect, much like her mother. His son Jiang Cheng was a proud young man, brave, skilled with the sword, sharp-tongued like his mother, and impulsive like his father.

Wei Wuxian may not be Fengmian's son by birth, but he was his son by heart. A-Cheng and A-Li adored A-Xian. A-Cheng and A-Xian were inseparable and both boys bowed to A-Li's request, no matter what it was.

Fengmian was a reasonable and an understandably proud man.

He was not above hiding his horror at Clan Heir Lan Xichen's frantic butterfly message.

:The Wens have attacked Cloud Recesses. They're using wicked sorcery to turn our own injured against us. Even the dead are used as puppets!:

The teacup slipped from his fingers and struck the table, miraculously not shattering. But Fengmian's mind wasn't on replaceable porcelain. His mind looped through the Lan Clan Heir's message, examining each word and the emotion behind them.

The Qishan Wen can control the dead?! They can turn the injured living into puppets as well?!

The dead could not be controlled. Fierce corpses rose from the grave and roamed the land due to the resentful energy enveloping their bodies. Some sought to complete an unfinished task, some sought the rites of burial they had been denied, some just sought blood for blood's sake. They all devoured the living.

But Jiang Fengmian had never heard of a fierce corpse being controlled by the living. Not until now, that is.

Resting his hands in his lap to suppress their unsteadiness, Fengmian thought hard. If the Qishan Wen had truly attacked the Gusu Lan Clan at Cloud Recesses, then that meant they knew about the Yin Metal the Lans had concealed there. It was just as Clan Heir Lan Xichen warned might happen two years ago when A-Cheng, A-Xian, and A-Li were studying in Cloud Recesses.

The Lan Clan Heir and Grand Master Lan Qiren suspected the Wens would begin their search in earnest at some point. Especially when the two Dafan Mountain Wens, Wen Qing and Wen Qionglin, had been placed in the same classes as Fengmian's own children. It was a deliberate move to intimidate and spy on the Gusu Lan Clan and everyone knew it.

Fengmian heard from A-Cheng and A-Xian how Clan Heir Lan Xichen had defused a tricky, politically and physically dangerous situation without ever raising his sword and with the calm disposition of a still, reed-filled pond. He truly deserved the title of Zewu-jun.

Which made the audible distress in the Clan Heir's message all the more worrisome. If this was as serious an attack as the message led him to believe, then Fengmian would need to prepare his own Yunmeng Jiang Clan for a similar assault. They would not be caught unawares.

Meng Yao's loss was a thorn in Nie Mingjue's side. It wounded his pride knowing he had trusted someone as morally twisted as Meng Yao, only to discover his folly after one of his own men lay dead, Meng Yao's blade in his gut. He had kicked the snake out of Qinghe Nie territory.

Still, he'd trusted the serpent. He'd trusted Meng Yao to help A-Huan. Now the homicidal Xue Yang had escaped, Mingjue had lost his best advisor, and he had no idea what or how much of the internal workings of Qinghe had been leaked. Not to mention the precarious position he had inadvertently put Xichen in by trusting Meng Yao to coordinate the Nie Clan's spies.

At least Mingjue had been able to pass on Xichen's message to Lan Wangji when he arrived with Wei Wuxian and Huaisang a couple days ago. That had been a weight off Mingjue's mind. One good thing is a sea of darkness.

Rubbing his hand down his face, Mingjue grimaced. The heat was intense and there would be no rain until later in the afternoon. Unfortunately, that made it maddeningly hot and humid in the meantime. He would never admit it out loud, but a part of Mingjue actually wished he had one of Huaisang's ever-present fans to cool himself with.

Taking one last swig of water, he strode back onto the training field and moved through his clan's saber forms with Baxia. He knew them all by memory so it allowed him to work out, maintain his form and strength, and focus his mind.

Or it did, until something small and golden fluttered over the Unclean Realm's stone wall. The glowing butterfly stood out starkly against the dark gray of his clan's fortress. Pausing to lower his saber, he held out his hand and waited with bated breath. Was it one of his spies with an update on the Qishan Wen Clan movements? Was it Huaisang with yet another excuse to avoid his saber practice? Was it-

:The Wens have attacked Cloud Recesses. They're using wicked sorcery to turn our own injured against us. Even the dead are used as puppets!:

The butterfly vanished like dust on the wind, taking Mingjue's breath with it. He had never heard Xichen sound so emotionally distraught before. It was so shocking that it took a few seconds for Mingjue's mind to comprehend the actual message itself. But when he did…

Ancestors have mercy. A-Huan!

The Qishan Wen were arrogant and cruel and unquestionably evil. But Mingjue never imagined the Wens would outright attack another clan. Attack Qinghe and the Unclean Realm, absolutely. Their two clans had a history of skirmishes and Mingjue doubted that would ever stop until the Wens fell from power.

But to attack the Gusu Lan Clan… The attack Xichen…

What had the Lans ever done to deserve the Wens' destructive fury?

He blinked when another butterfly fluttered into his vision, landing delicately on his still open palm and Xichen's voice once again filled his mind.

:They're dying, A-Jue! I feel them. Every life lost, I feel it. My people are dying and the Wens are laughing! A-Jue, I'm so sorry.:

A-Huan! The sharp clang of metal striking strong echoed in the stone training yard as Mingjue reached out with both hands. He wasn't sure why. Did he mean to grasp the messenger butterfly before it crumbled to flickering ash? Did he mean to catch his lover's words before they faded into memory? Did he mean to catch the ghost of Xichen, struggling somewhere in the inferno of Cloud Recesses as his clansmen perished around him?

Mingjue didn't know. He didn't know and it was killing him!

The last thing Songwind k'Sheyna ever expected to see on patrol that night was the shocking sight of a person tumbling through the dense foliage of the Pelagirs from the sky. The literal night sky. Songwind stared down at the crumbled body in disbelief, then back up at the cloudy sky, then back at the ground. Odd. Where on earth had they come from? Songwind hadn't seen any flashes of light or felt any pull of magic on the ley-lines or nodes in the area.

Shifting to more a balanced position, Songwind leaned forward to get a better look at the body lying sprawled on the forest floor. He didn't recognize the the style of clothes the body wore. It was nothing like the Tayledras, the Shin'a'in, or the wanderers who strayed into the Pelagirs from Valdemar. It was hard to tell whether the person was male or female from this distance base on their hair and clothes alone. Their hair was long and midnight black and their clothes were possibly once various shades of blue beneath the dirt, singed edges, and what looked like smoke and soot. Something also gleamed a dull silver in the mess of black hair.

Their sword laying on the ground nearby glistened white, silver, and something else, possibly green. It was a beautiful sword that shone like moonlight. It's matching sheath was tucked in the person's belt next to a woodwind instrument made of a curious blueish white material inlaid with silver. It didn't look like any wood Songwind had ever seen before. Unfortunate really. Songwind could think of several people who might be interested in that instru-

What?!

Songwind stared down in alarm as the person shifted and got up! Impossible. No one could survive a fall from such a height, especially the way they landed. Yet, despite everything Songwind knew to be true of the human anatomy, the stranger reached for their sword and used it as a brace to get to their feet and stand. However, they folded and nearly fell over when they tried to stand upright. Songwind had never seen an event as miraculous as this before.

Something flickered on the edges of Songwind's senses that felt almost like a node that was almost wrung dry pushing the last bit of its energy into a ley-line. But there was no node in this area. The sensation stopped when something small and glowing a faint gold formed in the stranger's hand by their fingers before fluttering up to the sky. A butterfly? Did... Did the stranger just... create a butterfly with magic? Was that magic?

The stranger followed the glowing butterfly's path with their eyes which gleamed the same shocking shade of gold as the butterfly. For a moment, Songwind was sure he'd been seen, but the stranger didn't react to his presence. The butterfly fluttered past Songwind's face and hovered in front of him curiously for a moment. Songwind couldn't resist the desire to reach out and offer a finger for the tiny, little thing to land on. But the butterfly dodged, its wing brushing his finger-

:-A-Jue-:

-as it flew up and away.

A Mindspeech message?! A Mindspeech message in a butterfly? Songwind had never even heard of that before. What manner of magic was this?

Tinkling chimes met his ears and Songwind abruptly turned his gaze out into the dark shadows of the Pelagirs towards Valdemar warily. A white creature ghosted from shadow to shadow, chiming as it went, and Songwind held himself still. He only knew of one being of pure white that chimed when it moved: a Companion. Was... Was this impossible stranger a Herald? Why wasn't he wearing white then?

A voice, rough from abuse and barely loud enough to be heard, wafted up where Songwind hid in the treetop. The stranger sheathed their sword and reached out to the Companion just as it burst forth from the shadow of the Pelagirs. The snow-white Companion came to a stop before the stranger, pressing its nose into their chest as its ears twitched excitedly back and forth. For a full minute, neither the Companion nor the stranger moved, then the Companion knelt. The stranger wobbled briefly before collapsing limply onto the Companion's back, silent and unmoving. Slowly, the Companion shifted its body until its rider was safely and securely on its back before standing and galloping back through the Palgirs towards Valdemar.

Well, that wasn't something you see everyday.

It was a full day before another messenger butterfly appeared in Qinghe. This one was ragged and fluttering weakly across the floor of the Unclean Realm's main hall during a meeting. Its golden glow was dim and guttering like a candle at the end of its wick. Its wings were torn and a mist of wispy gold trailed after it, as if the tiny creature was already in the process of fading away.

Mingjue leapt over his desk, ignoring the astonished cries of his clansmen and brother, and sprinted across the room. He fell to his knees, sliding a bit on the stone floor, and caught the tiny butterfly in his open hands. The butterfly's legs touched his palm and the tickle of spiritual energy brushed his own.

The voice was so faint, Mingjue had to strain to hear it even though it was in his own head. The message was broken by what sounded like coughing. The words seeped in sorrow and despair and a bone-deep exhaustion.

:I'm sorry, A-Jue. I'm trying… but I don't think I'll make it to you tonight. …I can't breathe. I'm so tired. A-Jue… forgive me… A-Jue…:

The butterfly faded to ash and Mingjue roared.