"Is it as you imagined?" Mimi beams in satisfaction as the clan leader looks about him in wonder.
The area set aside for the trine welcome feast practically glows in the light of the thousands of blue and white lanterns. Taking inspiration from the robes the Gusu clan often wore, Mimi had created lanterns of various blues and white. Lit by her foxfire, the lanterns float unassisted, creating a star-like quality. Each lantern bore the Gusu clan crest. Going with this theme, Mimi created tables in the shape of stars for each clan before putting smaller tables behind them for their entourages. The grass she had carefully molded over, so it resembled and felt like deep green tile. Mimi had decided that she was not going to be hearing complaints of grass stains on silk robes.
"You will be planning events with me from now own," Lan Xichen proudly offers her his arm and inspects the decorations.
"The musicians should be arriving within the hour," the clan leader guides her around the large field.
"Are you nervous?" Mimi asks, smiling and thanking all the extra help hired from the town.
"I shouldn't be," he inspects each platter of food that they brought out.
"What is bothering you?" Mimi squeezes his arm gently, trying to show her support.
"I am not sure if this will work. That it will help our cause with the nag, that our clans will be strengthened," Lan Xichen confesses, his eyes far away.
He had not seen the Lanling Jin sect or Qinghe Nie sect in two years. Avoided it if he was quite honest with himself.
Mimi strokes his arm, "It will be fine. I am sure tonight will be a success."
Smiling down at her, Lan Xichen wonders how exactly he had gotten quite this lucky. A squeaking noise causes them both to look over. Chen and Dumplin were sliding around the floor. Chen dragging Dumplin along on the back of her skirts.
"Alright, you two, I said you could stay up to see the clans arriving, but now it is bedtime," Mimi extricates herself from the clan leader.
"But Mimi," the two girls pout in near synch, and Mimi scoops them both up and quickly gets them off the reflective tile.
Chen's reflection had revealed her fox shape.
"I know," Mimi sets Chen down, and as soon as they are behind the residence door, she goes, "Chen, you need to remember to hide your reflection. I could see your fox form in the reflection of the tile."
"I'm sorry, Mimi, I was just so excited about seeing all the clans. They are so colorful and pretty," Chen looks down at the ground.
"It's hard to control, but that's why you have to be aware of it at every moment. You never know who might be watching," Mimi caresses her sister's cheek.
"Is that why we can't go to the party?" Dumplin asks.
"Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi are also not going to the party," Mimi says conspiratorially, "and they already went to bed an hour ago."
"So, why do you get to go?" Chen argues as she lets her hair down.
"I have to go. The clan leader is worried about the nags and hopes that this archery tournament will help. I am supporting him," Mimi pulls her girls closer to her, "I hate being around so many cultivators and won't enjoy a moment of it."
"We want to support him too," Chen defends.
"I know you do, you both do," Mimi kisses them on their heads, "but you can also do that by getting plenty of sleep tonight and doing well at the tournament tomorrow. Now get ready for bed."
"Will you leave the pretty floor until after the tournament?" Dumplin asks.
"I can do that," Mimi slowly sees the smiles returning to their faces as they get ready for bed.
Mimi is proud and a little upset as she watches her siblings. They were growing up right before her eyes. Waiting until both of her girls have washed and brushed their hair. Mimi checks on them. She knocks on Chen's room first. When she receives permission, she enters and sees that Chen had taken her advice to her heart. Hunkering down in her blankets. Mimi kisses her on the top of her head and nuzzles her nose.
"Night, cub," Mimi cards her fingers through her hair.
"Night, Mimi. Will, the clan leader, be alright, tonight?" she asks.
"I'm sure he will be fine," Mimi says, "sometimes adults just get nervous around other adults. You can ask him tomorrow."
"I'll do that. Night, Mimi."
Mimi closes the door and checks on Dumplin.
"Ready for bed, cub?" Mimi asks as she tucks the small child in.
"Yeah, when will you be home?" she asks.
"Hopefully, before it gets too late," Mimi sighs and strokes Dumplin's hair before nuzzling her nose.
"But if you get scared while I'm gone, Mameki is here too."
Mimi summons a ball of foxfire and tosses it into the air above Dumplin's bed, "What would you like to see tonight?"
"Can you do the Gusu clan symbol?" Dumplin asks, and Mimi chuckles.
"Of course," Mimi waves her hand, and the Gusu clan symbol begins to shine from out of the foxfire.
Nuzzling her nose, Mimi wishes her littlest sister a good night before closing the door a crack.
This done, Mimi swiftly magics herself into the deep blue robes she had chosen for the event. The color flatters her. She would look like she was a part of the Gusu clan and hide if she needed to.
Stepping out of the residence, Mimi nervously eyes the gathering. It looked like people were already mingling. Perhaps she could sneak in, make an appearance for an hour, and slip away when no one notices. Plan set in motion, Mimi steps on to the floor. Lord Qiren immediately greets her.
"I am told that you had a part in the decoration," he says, offering his arm to her.
Smiling in greeting, Mimi says, "I wanted to help as much as I could. How are you feeling?"
"That robe of yours has been a great comfort," Lord Qiren places a comforting hand on hers, "Your family must miss your eye for detail," he chuckles, leading her out on to the floor, and Mimi thinks to herself that that was probably the last thing they missed about her.
"I haven't seen any correspondence from the Shen clan. I hope they are doing well," Lord Qiren looks her over worriedly, and Mimi is reminded of the clan leader.
"My family is not much for correspondence. They are quite old fashioned, my lord," Mimi says.
"None of that. We are practically family," Lord Qiren nods at a man from the Qinghe Nie sect.
Before Mimi can think of a response, she is tugged in the other direction by Master Wei.
"Future sister in law is looking well tonight," Master Wei grins at her before effortlessly twirling her.
"Are you already drunk, Master Wei?" Mimi teases, wondering where Lan Zhan could be.
He gives her a look of betrayal, "I have not even had a sip! Yet."
Laughing, Mimi lets him twirl her carefully about the floor until a gentle arm slips around her waist and pulls her away.
"Hey, you can't hog the Lady Shen!" Master Wei protests as Mimi is towed away by the clan leader.
"Thank you. I was beginning to feel a little dizzy."
"You looked like you needed assistance," he chuckles, but his smile did not reach his eyes until he looks over her robes, and his eyes become tender.
"You look like the night sky," he says almost a little awkwardly, but his eyes were reverent.
Mimi realizes that they were nearly inversions of each other. Her robes were a simple dark blue. His outer robes were a soft light blue, and his inner robes were a dark blue.
Reaching around him, Mimi straightens his new forehead band and adjusts his hair. His face immediately softens, "Come, there are some people I would like to introduce you to."
Mimi could not even begin to try and keep the sect leaders' names straight. She could only color-code individual names with particular aesthetic choices. But Mimi smiles and bows to the lords as gracefully as she can. She realizes that individual clans seemed to give the clan leader more nerves than others.
Keeping his arm firmly upon her waist. Lan Xichen introduces a relatively small man that flitted about with a fan. Always holding it either in front of his face or off to the side, never in the same place. The clan leader's arm tightens a bit on her waist as he makes this introduction. This went on for a couple of hours as he led her about, mingling.
"I think I might need name tags," Mimi whispers to him as they get out of earshot of the last clan leader.
"It takes time," he comforts, "I am grateful for your presence."
"Xichen," Lord Qiren calls from across the hall.
"I will be right back," the clan leader promises before regally stepping across the floor.
Slinking to the drink table, Mimi sniffs for something non-alcoholic.
"May I be of assistance, Lady Shen?" an unfamiliar older gentleman approaches her.
Mimi immediately does not like the look in his eyes. Politely moving aside, Mimi bows courteously, "I wouldn't want to trouble you, my lord."
She nearly bumps into another older man who also had a strange glint in his eyes, "What is a beautiful creature such as yourself locking herself away at Cloud Recesses?"
"I don't know what you mean, sir," Mimi backs away and soon finds herself surrounded by men.
Looking around for the clan leader, Mimi politely backs away from the men. She felt little touches grazing her waist and arms. Alarmed and feeling like a caged animal. Mimi looks around for the exit or the clan leader but spots Lan Zhan in a little shadowy corner by himself. Better yet, he had a general aura of do not talk to me unless you want to be skewered.
Extricating herself from the crowd, Mimi darts to his side like a strike of lightning and sits by his side. He raises an eyebrow at her as she sits down on a pillow next to him.
"I'm sorry. I thought I might be safer over here. I didn't want to embarrass your brother by cutting off roving hands."
He looks over the crowd of men who seem to debate amongst themselves whether or not it is worth chasing her. Lan Zhan places his sword on the table in front of him. Mimi sighs in relief as her would-be suitors immediately get the message and clear off.
"Thank you, HanGuang Jun," Mimi sighs in relief.
"Stay," he says quietly.
"I will do just that."
He nods and continues to watch the crowd.
"Where is Master Wei?" Mimi asks quietly, knowing that the black-cloaked cultivator had to be somewhere nearby.
He nods to a banquet table where the scruffy-looking man is talking animatedly to the scowling clan leader of Yunmeng Jiang sect.
"What is their relationship?" she asks curiously as the clan leader's vambrace begins to glow with an eerie purple light.
"They were brothers once," he supplies quietly, watching and waiting to get involved if necessary.
"I am assuming the clan leader is not partial to Master Wei at the moment?"
"En."
Delayed by his uncle, who asked for his support to second an opinion on a rule of Go. Lan Xichen returns to the spot where he had last seen the Lady Shen.
Looking around for her, Lan Xichen is intercepted by an elder of the Qinghe Nie clan, "Congratulations, clan leader, for the lovely choice in a future bride. You have waited long enough."
"I am quite fortunate to have been discovered by her," Lan Xichen responds politely as a drink is put into his hand by another elder from a separate clan.
"We must celebrate this union!"
Lan Xichen sips politely at the liquid. The alcohol burning the back of his throat with a vengeance. He covers his cough as the congratulations continued.
Nie Huaisang sneaks up behind him, "That name, Shen. It is an isolationist sort of clan, is it not?"
"I have heard Lord Shen slaughtered many in the Battle of Condoroan, many years ago," an elder from the Yunmeng clan says sternly.
"The Lady Shen is from a well-established clan in the West. Her family merely doesn't dabble in politics," Lan Xichen explains as another drink is pressed into his hands.
"Dumplin has been practicing. I am pretty sure she is getting close to doing her first handstand," Mimi brags, as Lan Zhan delicately removes a sort of wallet from his robes and shows her a printed image of a small child in the Gusu sect robes doing a lopsided handstand. Someone had been messing with her families' printing press; she thinks smugly as she studies the photo.
"Is this Lan Sizhui?" Mimi asks, her voice growing soft.
"En," Lan Zhan shows her another photo of a young Lan Sizhui in the middle of a pile of white bunnies.
He produces a third picture of Lan Sizhui being held in his brother's arms as he sucks on the forehead band ribbon, the one she now wore braided in her hair.
"Time goes by so quickly," Mimi says, staring at the picture.
A sudden crash of glass startles the two as they look up towards the noise. The sound of a flute duet merrily bounces upon the air. Lan Zhan returns the wallet to his robes and sets his hand on his sword. A cheer undulates through the crowd as another round of glass clatters loudly to the floor. Standing to see better, Mimi puts a hand to her mouth in shock.
"HanGuang Jun," Mimi does not know whether to laugh or be horrified by the strange scene before her.
His face unreadable, he follows her gaze and his eyes widen. The Gusu clan leader is happily dancing and playing the flute upon one of the tables with Master Wei, who is doing the same. They were performing a strange interpretative dance, knocking their knees together and trying to outplay each other. Mimi looks to Lan Zhan, and he looks back at her before they are picking their way across the floor. When they emerge from the crowd, Lan Xichen spots her almost immediately. He grins widely and beckons her up on to the table with him and Wei Wuxian.
"My lord, I would much rather dance with you down here, where there is a lack of things to trip over," Mimi calls to him.
"My fated is wise as she is lovely," Lan Xichen shouts to the room to the cheers of the crowd. He taps his head with his flute before clumsily hopping down from the table.
Lan Zhan does not bother with such subtly and picks up Master Wei, throwing him over his shoulder as he protests.
The clan leader hugs her to him tightly before picking her up and twirling her around.
"Did I tell you? You are so beautiful," he stares at her in awe before twirling her once again.
"Of course, you did. You are always very considerate" Mimi subtly reaches around his waist, ignoring the looks from the men around them, and guides him away.
"So why did you drink? I did not think you imbibed in alcohol," Mimi asks as she winces at his rather difficult breath.
"Why? They were congratulating me for finding you!" he hugs himself happily, and Mimi can't help enjoying this adorable man. But he stops suddenly and grabs her shoulders gently, "Where did you go?"
"I was sitting with your brother. He was showing me pictures of Lan Sizhui as a baby. I sat by him and talked the entire time," Mimi says, slightly amused by the spark of jealousy that momentarily appears in his eyes.
He nods, appeased, "He was very lonely."
About to ask him to elaborate. The clan leader tugs gently at her hair as if looking for something.
Realizing what he is looking for, Mimi shows him a part of the loose blue ribbon, "Is this what you're looking for?"
He giggles, literally giggles, before tripping over himself to nuzzle her forehead with his own.
"I love it when you wear this. It makes me tickle inside."
"You get tickled inside?" Mimi asks, intrigued.
He looks down, ashamed, and his eyes get watery, "I tickle here," he points to his heart, "here," he points to his stomach, and then he makes a downward upward motion that she didn't understand at first until she did. Well, that is adorable.
"Its . . . okay to tickle," Mimi takes a handkerchief from her sleeve and wipes his face.
"You . . . don't mind if I . . . tickle for you?" he asks, and Mimi makes a mental note to never refer to arousal without mentioning the word tickle to the end of her days.
"You make me kinda tickle too," Mimi confesses, tapping his nose with her handkerchief.
He looks up at the stars, then back at her with large eyes, "Fireflies, can we catch them, please?"
"Go ahead, catch a couple for me," Mimi nods at him, and he runs a couple of feet before jumping up to grab at them.
Making sure they were not being observed, she waves her hand and creates an illusion of stars next to the clan leader.
"I move the stars for no one," Mimi sings quietly to herself as she happily watches his delight, as he reaches his hands slowly out before him to touch the stars.
When he had exhausted himself, Mimi tugs him towards his residence. His arms wrap around her waist affectionately as he buries his face into her hair, "I caught one. I caught a firefly."
"You did," Mimi praises and enjoys his attention for a moment before dragging him inside. His eyes are drowsy as he watches her.
"Do you want to get ready for bed, or do you want help?" Mimi asks him.
He boyishly shuffles his feet before trundling in the direction of where she knew the bathroom is. Mimi meanders to his bedroom and turns down the blankets on his bed. She manages to find a glass, and with a wave of her hand, fills it with water. Setting it on his nightstand, Mimi debates whether just to leave. She could probably just get away with going home.
Realizing she is being watched, Mimi looks up to see the clan leader. He had washed his face and changed into sleeping garments. What catches her attention is the large number of pillows he is carrying.
"Clan leader?"
He sets down the pillows near the bed and sluggishly moves to her side. She watches in confusion as he carefully removes his forehead band from her hair. He carefully ties the ribbon loosely around their wrists. Tying them together. He smiles happily and tugs her into his arms. Humming contentedly.
"You are so cute like this," Mimi can't help saying as he tugs her toward the bed.
"Stay?" he pouts.
Waving her hand, she subtly makes the obviously one bachelor bed a bit larger. He notices the difference and tugs her towards it. He bounces on top of it and chimes, "It's bigger!"
Mimi waves a hand and changes her clothing into something more suitable for bed before making sure all the lamps had been extinguished.
"Let's go to bed," Mimi lays down and pulls up the covers, effectively tucking them in.
She lays down beside him, curling up. What she doesn't expect is him leaning over her body. Did he want something more? She knew she was attracted to him, but she also knew that he would absolutely despise himself in the morning. She certainly was not going to take advantage of him. He sets a large hand on her hip before dipping down and grabbing two large pillows. It is still light enough in the room so that she could observe him. To her amusement, he sets a pillow between them, and then another, and then another, until it is a veritable fort of pillows.
"Clan leader," Mimi raps on the pillow with her knuckle, the forehead ribbon still attached to her wrist is tugged a little.
"What are you doing?" Mimi asks, trying to see him through all the pillows. She wonders if this is a no girls allowed type of fort.
There is no answer. Choosing another tactic, Mimi asks, "Do you want to cuddle?"
He tugs twice, and the wall of pillows does not move. Mimi smirks, "Can we hold hands?"
Seemingly considering this proposal, he tugs once, and she could see the hand attached to her own slowly wiggle out from beneath the pillows. Deciding to lay down once again, Mimi takes his hand, and he squeezes it.
Drawn awake to the feeling of something tugging on her wrist, Mimi slowly opens her eyes. The room is still quite dark. She hears a groan from the other side of the fortress.
"There is water on the nightstand. Would you like me to grab it since I'm closer?" Mimi says into her pillow.
There is silence from the other side of the fort before the tugging continues again. The pillows are slowly removed one by one, and Mimi suddenly feels like she is behind a curtain of some sort of game show.
"Lady Shen?" he asks, his voice panicked.
"Breathe," Mimi slowly stretches and reaches over to grab the cup for him.
He takes it from her with shaking hands and drinks the contents. Replacing the cup on the nightstand, Mimi once again curls up on her side, deciding that continuing to sleep is better with the blankets still containing her warmth.
Feeling his panic ramp up beside her, she pats the bed, "Lay back down. It can't be time for you to get up yet."
He dutifully follows her instructions, but she can sense his discomfort, "You got quite drunk at the welcome feast. You danced on tables with Master Wei until your brother, and I fetched you both. You chased fireflies for a while until I brought you here. You asked me to stay and," she gives the ribbon a slight tug, "tied us together."
He makes a groaning noise, and Mimi could see he had both hands covering his face, "I didn't make any sorts of advancements toward you, did I?"
She chuckles, "On the contrary, you were quite the gentleman. You built that impressive pillow wall and would not let me in unless it was to hold hands. It's alright, don't worry about it now," using her side of the ribbon, Mimi tugs his wrist gently to her and strokes his hand.
"If it is any consolation. You are a better flutist than Master Wei and are the far superior dancer," Mimi says gently.
This gets a snort out of him, and he finally turns to look at her, "You are not upset?"
Scooting a little closer, but not close enough to spook him, Mimi says, "As long as you don't make a habit of it. I am not upset. Would you like me to stay?"
She didn't see him move in the dark until she could feel him right next to her, "Yes."
Making a contented noise, Mimi once again nestles down in the pillow and closes her eyes. He shifts a little before turning on his side as well. Deciding just to let him relax with her in his bed, she doesn't move, enjoying his closeness. He reaches out with his legs, and Mimi accepts this.
Attempting to pull her closer, she mumbles, "I am comfortable; stop it."
Instead of moving her, he moves and, facing her, puts an arm around her waist. He nudges their foreheads together, "I have always wanted to do that."
"Dancing on tables with Master Wei?" Mimi asks, slowly nodding off.
"Putting an arm around someone I care about while in bed," he murmurs.
This confession prompts her to open her eyes, and she reaches out to wrap an arm around him as well.
"Better?" she asks, and he rumbles, "Better."
"Goodnight," Mimi reflexively rubs her nose to his and then promptly falls back to sleep.
"Goodnight."