In the end, there was little Lan Zhan could say to Lan Xichen's brutal account of events, except to reply politely that yes, he would like breakfast; yes, he was sober enough to have the inn prepare some himself, Brother, thank you. Would Brother like some food from the kitchen as well?

Lan Xichen brushed his fingers against the side of his younger brother's wrist before he could remove himself from the room, a wordless wait. Lan Zhan stilled himself mid-step, and turned inquisitive eyes at his brother.

"Wangji. You might want to think about what Young Master Wei means to you. He knows that you mean well now. He will listen."

Lan Zhan had spent so much time trying to derail Wei Ying from the path of destruction that he hadn't really stopped to consider this. There wasn't, he supposed, a definite form to his affections, a somewhere where his feelings needed to go. At some point along the way, his feelings for Wei Ying had become a constant, a sentiment always at the forefront of his heart. As long as he could keep Wei Ying - as long as he was safe - then he was content with the status quo.

Wei Ying would listen to whatever he had to say, and think him an honourable friend. But at least he would allow Lan Zhan to keep him, and not fight him for everything at every turn.

That would be enough. That would have to be enough.

The Second Jade tilted his head mutely and stepped out of the room.

Considering the hour, he hadn't anticipated Wei Wuxian's presence in the inn; hadn't had the heart to deal with his possible reactions given the disaster that was last night.

As luck would have it though, Wei Wuxian was curled up on yet another windowsill on the ground floor, a cat in a sunny nap spot, legs swinging back and forth as he held onto something in his lap. As Lan Wangji made his way across the breadth of the inn, that something moved.

The demonic cultivator had once again found himself inhuman company. He was holding a small child in his arms as Lan Zhan looked on, ducking his head as he muttered into the kid's ear. The child gave a contented hum, doe-eyed and docile as he clutched at his master's lapel.

Lan Zhan recognized this child, too. He thought of sharp fangs tearing at human flesh, of a small mouth munching on severed fingers, and couldn't help the repulsion that rose up his throat like bile.

Wei Ying shouldn't be making the undead out of children's corpse; shouldn't make children do his slaughtering for him, he couldn't help think, but didn't say.

Some of it must have shown on his face though, because Wei Wuxian let out a soft huff at his expression. The child considered him, the dominating qi that suffused the air around him, and buried his face in Wei Wuxian's shoulder.

"Something you want to say, Lan Zhan?"

Lan Zhan shook his head, his gaze never leaving the child.

"He has been in this form for too long." he said instead, as Wei Wuxian patted the child, "His spirit is not strong. If you keep on summoning him, soon he won't be able to reincarnate."

Lan Zhan waited for the biting retort that would inevitably follow these comments, but Wei Wuxian simply snorted, jostling the child in his lap for attention.

"You hear the good brother, A-dou? You gotta go pass on. I told you it's time to go, you can't keep lingering here."

The child he'd named bean, of all things, snuggled himself against Wei Wuxian, whining softly, and Lan Zhan had to fight down the urge to tear the creature off of him.

Wei Wuxian shouldn't have given the thing a name. Now he was as much the child's as the child was his; trying to get rid of the resentful spirit would be like tearing a babe from its mother.

"He belonged to the Nanyang Zhao," Wei Wuxian explained unexpectedly, as A-dou brought chubby arms to the nape of his neck, "Wen Chao slaughtered his whole family like cattle, in the middle of the night. He couldn't understand why there was so much screaming, and why he had to be so frightened.

"His hatred would have consumed the whole town, so it is better that I summoned him. Isn't it so, A-dou?"

A-dou giggled against Wei Wuxian's neck, tickled by the locks tumbling down the side of his face. Lan Zhan could already imagine A-dou sinking those fangs into his master's flesh, drawing life blood from the slender neck, and couldn't help the chill that raced up his spine.

The whole ordeal sounded reasonable enough, except that all cultivators worth their names knew that they should not grant names to ghosts, demons or any otherworldly creatures that easily. Names, after all, carried with them unspeakable power and bondage. These creatures were not of this world and not of their kind; getting too attached would only pose a danger to the cultivator's own spirit.

Wei Ying was among the best cultivators in his generation. This was something, Lan Zhan thought, that he was no doubt fully aware of.

Except that the man had emerged from the Burial Mounds with his newly acquired demonic cultivation powers, and had started naming the undead left and right.

Wei Ying had truly been flirting with the heretic for far too long, and Lan Zhan intended to put a stop to it.

"I let him avenge his family and told him that he didn't have to be afraid anymore. But even then he doesn't seem to want to go on to the afterlife." Wei Wuxian sounded genuinely baffled, and Lan Zhan had to suppress a soft sigh.

This was Wei Wuxian at his finest: he'd endeared the little ghost with a nickname, held him like he would a sibling, avenged his family, and he still had no idea why A-dou would give up reincarnation just to stay by his side.

He was so oblivious, and Lan Zhan had no idea what to do with him.

"So, um, Lan Zhan, can you do me a favour?"

Lan Zhan nodded.

"Hey, hang on, I haven't even said what yet," Wei Wuxian laughed softly, and scratched his head, embarrassed.

"A-dou thinks my Song of Rest is a joke. He just flops around and yawns and giggles to himself whenever I play it, as if it's a lullaby and I'm not trying to get him to move on already," he said, feigning insult.

"You're much better at this than I am. Can you help send him off?"

What he didn't say was this: with the loss of his golden core and his practice in demonic cultivation, his requiems had lost much of their power. The dead rose when he beckoned, but would linger loyally even when he asked them to let go.

Lan Zhan regarded him solemnly, as if trying to see through what Wei Wuxian was asking him.

"Yes."

A-dou's plaintive cries as Lan Zhan's Song of Rest washed over him would have sent the whole inn into a panic if Lan Zhan hadn't had the foresight to put a sound barrier in place. Wei Wuxian held the child close and muttered encouraging nothings in his ear as the resentment left him, the small body fading slowly into dust before their eyes. When the last note of the guqin rang, though, the panicked cries had already shifted into soft laughter.

Wei Wuxian watched, charcoal eyes unblinking, as the last of the dust finally glimmered and fell away. When he finally turned around to look Lan Zhan in the eyes, the soft gratitude in his eyes took Lan Zhan's breath away.

"Thank you, Lan Zhan."

Lan Zhan merely inclined his head and continued to look at him, a silent question in his eyes.

This issue with A-dou had obviously persisted for some time. Wei Wuxian had never thought of going to Lan Zhan for help, except that he had now. Wei Wuxian could have left the inn like he had obviously intended to, last night. Instead he'd lounged around at the most conspicuous spot possible, the ghost child in his lap, as though he was there for the sole purpose of waylaying Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying was trying to tell him something. He thought he knew what; he wasn't sure he was ready for that.

"So, um, Lan Zhan, do you want food? My treat today!"

"I would be grateful," said Lan Zhan, since everyone seemed to be offering food to him today.

They ate in relative silence. Wei Wuxian had seemingly relaxed somewhat in his presence, digging into his own dishes with a gusto that reminded Lan Zhan of the days before the war, when Wei Wuxian would consume all and everything with the manners of a hungry wolf cub.

"Lan Zhan," the man finally spoke up when Lan Zhan put down his chopsticks, because speaking while eating wasn't permitted at the Cloud Recesses and all that shit. He would respect that just this once. Lan Zhan turned to him with questioning eyes.

"Do you usually remember stuff you say while you're drunk?"

The Second Jade gave him a heavily guarded look, as though daring him to say anything further, and Wei Wuxian chuckled. Either Lan Zhan did remember, or someone had kept him up to date with his late night shenanigans.

"I'm not trying to embarrass you or anything. God, Lan Zhan, you're so much fun sometimes."

This did not appear to placate Lan Zhan, whose look at him sharpened into a glare. Wei Wuxian chuckled some more, then turned in his seat to look at him direct, his eyes the shade of shining obsidian in the midday sun.

"I'm going back to Lotus Pier today," Wei Wuxian told him, his lips quirking into a rueful smile.

"My job's done here, so I gotta go. But well…I think it's something I'd better ask now, since you're also headed for Gusu and I'm not seeing you anytime soon."

He shifted uncomfortably, as if he wasn't altogether sure how to put this.

"I don't have a family. My parents died night hunting when I was small, and I don't even remember them that well. Well, Shijie and Jiang Cheng are like my siblings, and Uncle Jiang was like a father to me all these years, but they've already done so much for me, and I'm a servant's son so I can't possible presume…"

Lan Zhan knew the rumours about Wei Ying's birth: how he'd been a son to Jiang Fengmian's servant and good friend Wei Changze, how Wei Changze had subsequently married Cangse Sanren, the woman who had allegedly caught Jiang Fengmian's heart. How Jiang Fengmian had not hesitated to take Wei Ying in and raise him as his own when both his parents died. And how, as a result, Madame Yu had despised Wei Wuxian like she had hated no one else.

There had even been rumours that Madame Yu would have gladly killed Wei Wuxian there and then, if it meant that the Lotus Pier could stave off the Wens' invasion for another moment. The corners of Lan Zhan's mouth tilted downwards.

"You are not merely a servant's son."

"Yeah yeah, okay," Wei Wuxian waved his hand, dismissing the point before it could become a serious argument.

"What I want to say is, I really thought about it last night, and I would be very happy if you'd be my family – if you'd be my brother. I swear that I'm not messing around with you!"

Lan Zhan looked down, long lashes shielding his amber gaze, and didn't answer. At some point, one end of his forehead ribbon had found its way to the front of his robes. Wei Wuxian watched as Lan Zhan ran absent fingers across the length of the fabric, as if the esteemed cultivator was stalling. He sighed and backtracked, offering a tentative laugh just to break the ice. There wasn't much mirth behind it.

"I thought so. No sweat, Lan Zhan, you're still a great friend, I just thought I'd take another shot, now that you're actually sober..."

"Yes."

At the end of the day, he hadn't been able to deny Wei Ying anything. Lan Zhan was doomed from the very beginning - he thirsted for Wei Wuxian's affections like a dying man in a desert, and didn't have the luxury to care about what form it came in.

"…what?"

He would be anything Wei Ying asked him to be. And in return, he could keep Wei Ying, could have a legitimate excuse to keep the Jiang cultivator close and shield him from the evils of the world.

Wei Wuxian was returning to his sect. Chances were that they would not meet, not until the next Conference, or until trouble brought the Clans together. This was Lan Zhan's last chance, something he could not realistically pass up on.

"I would be honoured to be your brother."

The bright, dazzling grin that lit up Wei Wuxian's entire countenance at that moment was nearly enough to sooth the sharp ache that threatened to tear his chest apart.

Lan Xichen knew that something was wrong the moment his little brother closed the door behind their mutual room.

"Wangji, have you eaten?"

"Brother," Lan Zhan didn't turn around, his hands lingering on the doorframe moments too long, and Lan Xichen could discern stress from the rigid lines of his brother's back, "what is our clan's ritual for forming a pact of brotherhood?"

Lan Xichen was instantly alarmed. He reached out to guide Lan Zhan to the centre of the room, his hands ghosting over his brother's tense shoulders.

"Sit down, Wangji."

His brother did.

"Wangji, you shouldn't be doing that," the First Jade sighed, pained, as Lan Zhan stared resolutely at a spot on the oak table. He couldn't quite believe the folly of his lovestruck sibling.

"You don't see Young Master Wei that way. This isn't right; nor is it fair to either of you. Once you took the oath, there is no going back – you must take Young Master Wei as your brother, and nothing else. Do you understand?"

"He does not see me any other way," was the even reply, the lack of infliction in Lan Zhan's voice breaking Lan Xichen's heart.

"If you want, Brother can talk to him for you. You haven't even given him the chance to consider it any other way, Wangji. I've already said this once: maybe you should."

Lan Zhan stilled, and shook his head minutely.

"This is for the best. He trusts me now. He will stay, and be safe."

His precious little brother looked up, and Lan Xichen saw, for the first time in many years, the lost child standing in front of their mother's cottage, asking him why mother had needed to go; if mother didn't want to see him because he had been bad, and whether mother would stay, if he behaved.

Mother hadn't been able to be at their side regardless of what he did. But maybe if he played this right, Wei Ying would stay, for a change.

"Brother, I have already given Wei Ying my word."

"You foolish child," Lan Xichen admonished, more exhausted than angry, and Lan Zhan shifted his gaze back to the oak table, chastised.

Lan Xichen eventually had to leave him to his foolish machinations, knowing too well that whenever his little brother told him his decisions, they were already final, and didn't need his input.

Maybe, the First Jade rationalised, maybe this was a good thing, and an easier path for Wangji. Maybe someday, Wangji would grow comfortable with having Wei Wuxian as his brother, would accept that his romantic feelings were not meant to be reciprocated.

Wangji would remain the impeccable Second Jade of Gusu. He would not need to endure the icy rage of the elders, nor would he need to face the mocking disdain of the cultivation world should he choose to make his feelings known.

He would be able to back Wei Wuxian in times of strife, his own formidable might and the weight of the Lan Sect behind him, and stand his ground by the other's side. In time, he would finally let go of whatever teenage crush that he had on the Jiang cultivator, and settle with a lady who matched him in wits and temperament.

But Lan Xichen knew his brother, and this was not the way it was going to go.

They emerged from the room, mirror images of pristine white, to find Wei Wuxian hounding Nie Mingjue like an overexcited puppy. They were drinking again; Wei Wuxian pouring wine down his own throat with a careless swig that reminded Lan Xichen of his younger self, back when Cloud Recesses still stood tall and Wei Wuxian was gallivanting around the place like he owned it.

Before yesterday, in the midst of the Sunshot Campaign, this image would have been a jarring one; but Lan Xichen had seen how his own brother got around Wei Wuxian when drunk. Nothing was ever quite as surprising thereafter.

"We took our oaths at the dais at Nightless City. Why does the place even matter, if the hearts are true?" Nie Mingjue was saying, voice gruff, to Wei Wuxian's agreeing nod.

"Yeah, that's what I think, but then when you're doing rituals with a Lan…"

"Then you ask the Lan in question. Xichen!" Nie Mingjue called out, his loud voice reverberating around the inn as he spotted his sworn brother behind Wei Wuxian's shoulder, "Young Master Wei here is asking what the Gusu Lan would need, before he could claim Wangji as his brother. Tell him."

"Sect Leader Nie!" Wei Wuxian protested at the choice of words. Lan Zhan stood emotionless to Lan Xichen's side, as though none of this had anything to do with him.

"I don't suppose the place matters," replied Lan Xichen mildly, "as Big Brother says, it is the heart that counts."

But the heart, Lan Xichen thought to himself, is not true. Heavens help them all.

"Lan Zhan, is that right? Where do you want to do it? What do we need for the ceremony? Incense, sacrifices, wine…better not wine again…would tea do?" He looked to the two elder cultivators, askance. Nie Mingjue gave him a somewhat indulgent shrug, Lan Xichen an approving smile.

With Wei Wuxian right in front of him, it was only too easy to see why Lan Zhan had felt compelled to make the pact. Wei Wuxian's happiness emanated off him in waves, having found a kindred spirit who would stay, who would care despite his reputation for the heretic, at the end of a series of losses and tragedy.

"Anything will do," Lan Zhan said softly, the if it is with you unspoken but so very clear to Lan Xichen's ears. Wei Wuxian beamed at him.

"Then how about we take the oath at Yunmeng, and I show you around Lotus Pier afterwards? I'm sure Shijie and Jiang Cheng would have liked to witness that."

Lotus pods that have their stems attached produce sweeter seeds, he remembered Wei Ying saying, years ago, and watermelon skin could be fried and eaten. These were Lan Zhan's only impression of Yunmeng, of Wei Ying's home, before it went up in flames. The Second Jade was sure that Jiang Yanli would have welcomed his newfound brotherhood with her shidi. He couldn't say the same for Sect Leader Jiang.

He nodded.

"He has a pure soul, not yet tainted by the resentful energy he commands. He will make a good brother," Nie Mingjue said, one hand clapping heavily on Lan Zhan's shoulder as Wei Wuxian eventually went off to pack his luggage for the trip, his excitement trailing off after him like a palpable force field.

"Guide him, Wangji. See that he does not fall to his own powers."

Was that, Lan Zhan wondered, what Nie Mingjue had wanted for Jin Guangyao himself? Was that why he'd agreed to have Jin Guangyao as his younger brother, no matter how much he scorned his character and doubted his words?

Lan Zhan bowed, his gratitude for the righteous leader of Nie heartfelt.

"I will. I swear it."