"It involves me! I deserve to know!"

Jin Ling had spent the better part of the afternoon trying to convince Wei Wuxian to tell him how the storm gates worked. He'd begun to suspect that it was him that Wei Wuxian had first tried to link to and had failed. However, Wei Wuxian refused to admit it.

Jin Ling had tried everything. He'd used Fairy to try to coerce him. When Lan Wangji had told him off for this and threatened to use the silencing charm to prevent him from ordering his dog to intimidate Wei Wuxian, Jin Ling had switched tactics and sent Fairy away as a sign of good faith and that he could be trusted.

"How does that prove I can trust you?" Wei Wuxian had asked. "It only proves that you're afraid of Hanguang-jun!"

Jin Ling had tried being annoying and then tried being nice, but nothing would work.

Jingyi had asked Sizhui what was going on, but Sizhui refused to explain things to him until Wei Wuxian agreed to answer Jin Ling himself. Soon after that, annoying Wei Wuxian had become a team effort between Jingyi and Jin Ling. Jingyi was very good at it, but that didn't come as a surprise. Lan Wangji had long since silenced him for his impudence.

"I am begging you to stop!" Wei Wuxian cried after Jingyi managed to trip him for the third time. "I'm not telling either of you anything right now, all right?! If you keep this up, I'll have Hanguang-jun send you both straight back to the Cloud Recesses!"

The two boys exchanged looks, both a little afraid of the threat. Behind them, Jiang Cheng scoffed.

"Don't bother with him, Jin Ling," Jiang Cheng said icily. "He just wants to have this trick up his sleeve for later. He's not going to share it with you."

Wei Wuxian sighed. "That's exactly right," he said sarcastically. "I need every advantage I can get against you, Jin Ling, since we are so close in cultivation and ability level."

"Tch."

Relations had been strained since Jiang Cheng joined their group. Lan Xichen had joined in with no trouble, but that was to be expected. He had the sort of personality that could get along with anyone. Jin Ling's uncle was quite the opposite.

He mostly stayed quiet and kept his distance from Wei Wuxian, but there was a palpable tension between them. It was like trying to walk on glass barefoot without being cut. No one knew when the next misstep was going to happen, but there was no doubt that it was going to be painful when it did.

It didn't help that Jiang Cheng had inquired about the portal technique, and Wei Wuxian had also refused to tell him, presumably to keep it from Jin Ling as well.

Feeling defeated and not wanting to get sent back to the Cloud Recesses, Jin Ling fell back to walk with Sizhui. Jingyi reluctantly followed him.

Jiang Cheng continued to shoot dirty looks at Wei Wuxian's back. He didn't say anything, but Jin Ling didn't know how long that would last. He wondered if he should try to distract him to spare everyone the mess that would otherwise ensue.

When the silencing spell wore off on Jingyi, however, he realized he didn't really want to try pulling teeth to get his uncle to have a normal conversation with him.

He wanted to stay and listen as Jingyi asked Sizhui to share stories of his travels (in a way that was safe for him to do so without revealing his identity). He wanted to laugh at how jealous Jingyi got when Sizhui told him that he'd learned yet another fighting technique. He wanted to see Jingyi's face light up at an exciting tale, even if it was one Jin Ling had heard before. He wanted to listen to the appreciation in Sizhui's voice as he realized that both Jin Ling and Jingyi were genuinely interested in hearing what he had to say.

He wanted to spend time with his friends. But he also wanted to prevent a fight between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian.

Crack!

Jin Ling was buffeted to the side by a blast of wind. He tripped over Fairy and caught himself on the front of Sizhui's robes.

"How is this possible?!" Jingyi yelled, shielding his face. "I thought no one else knew how to do this!"

A two dimensional ovaloid structure that crackled with white sparks had materialized in front of Wei Wuxian. At first, Jin Ling was confused too – frightened that Xue Yang had somehow figured out this new trick and was using it against them.

When he recognized the voice on the other end, however, he remembered that this magic had not been developed by Wei Wuxian. There was one other person who knew how to wield it.

…And that person might just tell him what he wanted to know about it.

"Is Sect Leader Jin still with you?!" Nie Huaisang shouted.

Jin Ling couldn't see him very well through his fingers as he protected himself from the whirling debris. But the timid Nie Clan leader had, against all odds, made himself heard over the storm.

"Of course he is!" Wei Wuxian replied.

"What do you want with him?" Jiang Cheng cut in.

There was a pause.

"This matter involves only him," Nie Huaisang said. "I'd like to speak with him privately."

"How?!" Wei Wuxian asked. "You'll have to yell to hear over this racket!"

"What do you want with him?!" Jiang Cheng repeated.

"It's regarding Jinlintai…"

Jin Ling's limbs turned to jelly. What had happened? Was everyone all right back home?

"Jin Ling, what are you doing?!" Jiang Cheng yelled.

Without any conscious or rational thought, Jin Ling had stood up and sprinted for the portal.

"That's dangerous!"

"Jin Ling, stop!"

"We don't know how it works yet!"

There was a surprising amount of disapproval from the group considering the fact that Jin Ling had already used a storm gate in this manner before. The only person who didn't try to stop him was Nie Huaisang, who simply stepped aside to give him room to jump through.

The voices of his companions disappeared as the storm gate collapsed in on itself with a concussive wave that pushed Jin Ling even further forward.

He blinked in the bright sunlight, his eyes adjusting after having been in the shade of the forest. Nie Huaisang regarded him quietly as Jin Ling whirled around, taking in the scenary of the Unclean Realm.

This portal business was extremely disorienting.

"I elected to summon you outside," Nie Huaisang said, cooling himself with a different painted fan than the one he'd carried with him before. "I hope you don't mind. The storm wrecked my quarters last time."

Jin Ling simply bowed to him in response. His hands were sweaty and his mind was racing. He needed to know what had happened in Jinlintai.

Nie Huaisang didn't seem to perceive his impatience.

He invited him to come inside, which Jin Ling refused. He offered to have tea brought out to them. Again, Jin Ling refused. When he asked if he was hungry, Jin Ling couldn't take it anymore.

"With all due respect, Sect Leader" Jin Ling said through gritted teeth, "Can you please get to the point?"

Nie Huaisang hid most of his face behind his elegant fan, but Jin Ling could still see how taken aback he was by his bluntness.

"Um yes, of course," he said nervously. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to sit down first?"

"Tell me!" Jin Ling shouted. Then he caught himself, cleared his throat, and said, "Please."

Nie Huaisang was a little pale, but he did as requested of him.

"Jinlintai is under attack."

"WHAT?!"

Blood rushed in his ears. Jin Ling started to feel queasy.

This was his fault. He shouldn't have left. This was all his fault.

"Well," Nie Huaisang said in a frustratingly calm voice, "it's not technically under attack yet. But there is a force of various smaller clans headed that way and my people have determined that they aren't likely trying to negotiate for anything. They seem set on fighting."

A mynah bird chirped from a golden cage nearby.

It didn't make sense. Yes, there had been some issues back home when he'd left. People mainly complained about skyhigh taxes, which Jin Ling didn't honestly understand considering he'd lowered costs by cutting back a little on watchtowers (within reason, of course).

Compared to Jin Guangyao, he was a lot more lenient on that front.

There had been reports of collectors using force to take what was due from families. Jin Ling had tried to look into it but had come up with no evidence. He hadn't abandoned the investigation, though. Luo Qingyang was supposed to continue it in his absence.

Had she not done that? Was that why people were so angry?

"When?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Nie Huaisang replied.

"When are they going to be there?"

"My people saw them mounting a force almost a week ago," Nie Huaisang said. "I'd imagine they'll be there within a day or two. But they assured me that it wasn't a very large army. It should be an easy victory."

A day or two. That gave him almost no time to prepare. How was he supposed to learn to fight a war in a day?

"Tell me how to make the storm ga – the portals," Jin Ling demanded.

"What?"

"I need to know how to make the portals if I'm going to help them."

"Well all right, I suppose… wait…"

Damn. He'd remembered that Wei Wuxian hadn't wanted to tell Jin Ling.

Nie Huaisang fanned himself nervously. "I think it's time I get you back to the others," he said. "They can teach you what you need to know."

"No!" Jin Ling yelled as Nie Huaisang pulled out a piece of paper and began to draw on it. "Why would I go back when I can leave straight from here!"

"Nonsense," Nie Huaisang said. "You have to tell the others where you're going."

"Just tell me how to do it!"

Crack!

"Jin Ling!" Wei Wuxian, Sizhui, and Jingyi cried.

"Jin Ling, get back over here now!" Jiang Cheng commanded.

So Jiang Cheng didn't want him jumping into the portal before because it was dangerous. But now that he was far away, he needed to come back via whatever means were necessary. Typical.

"It was a pleasure chatting with you, Sect Leader," Nie Huaisang said. "Safe travels!"

"No, tell me!" Jin Ling shouted. "Tell me!"

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that! You'll have to come back and talk with me some other time! Goodbye!"

"Jin Ling, come here!" Jiang Cheng yelled.

Fairy barked at the storm gate.

It was useless. He wasn't going to get anything out of Nie Huaisang and there was no sense wasting time on him. Everyone knew that pushing the Nie Clan leader to do something he didn't want to do would only invoke a lot of frustration from the asking party and a lot of tears from the clan leader.

So, he jumped back through the portal, bracing himself for it to collapse behind him. He hadn't, however, braced himself for Jingyi and Sizhui to rush him.

"Don't do that!" Jingyi cried.

"We didn't know when you were going to come back," Sizhui said, his voice deceptively calm as he grasped Jin Ling's shoulder with a vice-like grip.

"I'm sorry," Jin Ling said. "I needed to know what news he had for me."

Jiang Cheng and Fairy stepped forward. Wei Wuxian edged away.

"And what news did he have for you?" Jiang Cheng asked, his tone acidic.

Everyone was quiet and looking at him. Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, and Wen Ning had maintained a respectable distance, but they, too, listened with rapt attention to hear what he might say.

Jin Ling's heart was in his throat.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "It's my business."

He looked around – for what, he wasn't sure. He just wanted this discussion to be over.

His eyes found Wei Wuxian's.

"I need to know how to make a portal," he said. "Now."

Just like that, all attention shifted to Wei Wuxian. He handled it with more grace, but then again, he was used to being the center of attention, good or bad.

"Come now, Jin Ling," he soothed. "First of all, I thought we all agreed that they were called storm gates."

"We most certainly did not!"

"Secondly," Wei Wuxian went on dismissively, "surely it's not that serious. Tell us what's going on and we can figure something out."

Jin Ling was shaking. He was still going to deny him?

"Listen," he said, barely containing his rage, "I don't care if you teach me or not. It's either you teach me how to use it or someone else sends me to Jinlintai."

"No one else can send you," Lan Wangji cut in.

Jin Ling's eyes widened. He never would have dreamed that Hanguang-jun would be the one to go against Wei Wuxian's wishes.

"Lan Zhan, no," Wei Wuxian pleaded.

Jiang Cheng looked like he would very much like to say something. His hands were curled into fists and his shoulders were tense, but he didn't breathe a word. Lan Xichen had his hands slightly raised, as if already prepping to break up an argument.

"The news from Sect Leader Nie was serious?" Lan Wangji asked Jin Ling.

Jin Ling nodded. He was feeling sick again.

"Then you should tell him," Lan Wangji said to Wei Wuxian.

"Or you can just send me yourself," Jin Ling said, also addressing Wei Wuxian. "I don't care."

Wei Wuxian sighed, defeated. "I can't send you," he said. "It's as Hanguang-jun said. I'd bet that none of us could send you. If you're really unfortunate, you might not even be able to send yourself."

"Why?"

"That doesn't matte-"

"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji said softly, placing a hand on his arm.

"Fine!"

Wei Wuxian whipped a scrap of paper out of Lan Wangji's sleeve and slapped it down on a semi-flat rock.

"Anyone have something to write with, then?" Wei Wuxian snapped. "Huaisang's not here to contribute anymore."

Without a word, Lan Wangji stepped forward and pulled the requested items from his sleeves. Jin Ling wondered exactly how many things he kept in there.

"Gather around!" Wei Wuxian called. "I'm only going to teach this once, so pay attention!"

Everyone did, except Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, and Wen Ning. Wen Ning wouldn't be able to use cultivation anyway, but Jin Ling wondered why Lan Xichen stood back as well. He suspected Lan Wangji had secretly told his brother how to use the technique.

Wei Wuxian began drawing a circular pattern across the page. His brow was furrowed. Jin Ling had rarely seen him concentrate so hard. Everything else seemed to come so easily to him.

The lines twisted and snaked around one another, like they were dancing. Wei Wuxian was drawing but to watch him do it was like seeing the inner workings of meditation, the lines as thoughts floating freely across the mind without attaching to anything.

"You have to focus on the person you're trying to link with," Wei Wuxian explained, his eyes still trained on the page. "It's a mandala pattern that you draw here. It doesn't seem to matter too much if you copy my design. The mind space is what matters more for this."

"I understand," Jin Ling said.

"And…" Wei Wuxian broke off. He took a deep breath, as if to steady himself, and then continued, "and you've got to have an emotional connection to the person you're traveling to. Have you got that with anyone in Jinlintai? Have any of you got an emotional connection to someone in Jinlintai?"

Instantly, Luo Qingyang's face came to mind. Then others came flooding forth as well: Yu Qingqi, Qin Huiyin, Mianmian…

"Yes!" Jin Ling said. "I have several! I-"

It hit him then. Wei Wuxian had tried to link with him and couldn't.

Jin Ling didn't understand. They'd protected each other. They'd saved each other's lives. He had let go of the hatred he'd held for so many years, and he'd told Wei Wuxian that he'd forgiven him.

How was there no connection between them?

He'd never realized how much he liked Wei Wuxian until he felt how much it hurt that he apparently didn't care for him the same way.

"I can get myself there," he said stiffly, taking the paper for himself. "Thank you for teaching me."

"Jin Ling, I-"

"Shhh," Jin Ling said, cutting Wei Wuxian off. "I have to concentrate."

He copied the style of drawing that he'd been shown, very aware of all the eyes that were focused on him. When he had the drawing down, he shifted his focus inward, delving into thoughts of Luo Qingyang.

He pictured what she looked like and sounded like. He reminisced on how he felt around her – safe, respected, happy. Memories of Luo Qingyang and her family filled his mind.

Crack!

Just like he'd seen moments before with Nie Huaisang, another oval rimmed with white electricity appeared in front of him.

It took more concentration than he'd expected. The tiniest distraction caused the gate to shrink.

On the other side, a pretty woman jumped and stumbled backward.

"Be safe, A-Ling," Jiang Cheng said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Jin Ling looked over at him, trying to summon a smile to show his appreciation that he wasn't pestering him to find out what was going on. But, he simply couldn't. Not when he thought about the war that awaited him across the threshold.

"Thank you, Jiujiu."

"We'd better get going!" Jingyi said with a grin.

"We?" Jin Ling repeated.

Sizhui inclined his head. "We're coming with you."

"No, I-"

"We know this is your business," Sizhui went on. "We swear not to share it with anyone else. But if you're in trouble, we're coming to help you in whatever way that we can."

"But none of the rest of you are coming with!" Jingyi warned, narrowing his eyes at Jiang Cheng. "We're a team, and that's final!"

Jin Ling growled in frustration. He wanted to argue with them and tell them there was nothing they could do to help. But, it was getting harder and harder to maintain enough focus for the gate. Already, the diameter had shrunk by several millimeters. He needed to go now.

"Fine. Hurry," he said.

"Please be safe, all of you!" Wei Wuxian yelled. Apparently he was willing to respect Jingyi's demand that only he and his fellow Lan disciple tag along.

"You too!" Jingyi and Sizhui replied together.

The three boys and Fairy together dashed toward the opening. None of them faltered at all, heading toward it at full speed.

"No, no, no!" a familiar voice screamed at their approach. "We were told they would arrive tomorrow at the earliest! This isn't possible! What is this?!"

Jin Ling jumped through the gate first, followed by Jingyi, Sizhui, and finally Fairy. His feet hit the marble floor of Jinlintai hard.

He had only a moment to take in the handsome table and potted plants that marked this room as the war room before his attention was redirected to the people within it.

A beautiful woman with hair drawn up in an intricate pattern atop her head looked at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open. Beside her was an equally beautiful woman with a stronger jawline and plainer ornamentation.

This second woman was not so disoriented by the display of new magic as her wife was. She crossed the floor with a confident stride and came to stand before Jin Ling, chin tilted up and face set with a soldier's determination.

"I'm glad you're here, Sect Leader," she said. "Please tell me that you've been trained in matters of war."

Jingyi and Sizhui exchanged looks with one another. They'd had no idea what they'd signed up for.

"I haven't," Jin Ling said, his voice hardly more than a whisper as he fought to control the fear welling up within him. "Have you, Luo Qingyang?"

Luo Qingyang's shoulders slumped. All the terror that Jin Ling felt was written there on her exquisite features.

"We're going to die," she whispered, sinking to the ground.

Her wife, Yu Qingqi, snapped out of her shocked stupor and hurried to her side, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"We're going to die," Jin Ling repeated dully.

His knees buckled as well, but Sizhui guided him down to prevent him from injuring himself on the unforgiving floor.

Fairy nudged his fingers with her wet nose, an act that usually brought comfort. Today, it did nothing but leave his skin a little colder than it had been.

"This is what Sect Leader Nie told you about?" Jingyi asked him, his face stark white.

Jin Ling nodded.

"WHY DID YOU KEEP THIS A SECRET?!" Jingyi roared. "WHO'S ATTACKING YOU?! WHY DID WE NOT BRING ZEWU-JUN OR HANGUANG-JUN?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR-?!"

Sizhui raised a hand to quiet him. Jingyi bit his lip and fell silent as requested.

"That's not going to help anything," Sizhui said.

"Right," Yu Qingqi agreed, rubbing the back of her wife's hand with her thumb. "We need to let the other advisors inside. They can help us figure out what to do."

Jin Ling frowned. He hadn't even noticed the fact that Luo Qingyang and Yu Qingqi were the only ones present in the room.

At that moment, there came a bang on the door.

"Please let us in, Head Advisor Luo!" cried the voice of one of Jin Ling's other advisors from the hallway outside. "We need to discuss this!"

Luo Qingyang must have panicked and locked everyone else out. It would have been funny if Jin Ling's entire body wasn't tingling with fear.

Jingyi squared his shoulders and marched over to the table. Jin Ling watched him very calmly take the porcelain water pitcher from the end and fill two cups with it. He then, equally calmly, carried those two cups back with him, handing the first to Luo Qingyang who accepted it without a word, and the second to Jin Ling.

"Drink," he told him.

Jin Ling didn't know how water was supposed to help his situation, but he'd also never seen Jingyi act so very… Lan. He didn't bother to argue with him.

"It's not too late to call for your uncle," Sizhui said quietly. "He would come for you if you asked."

Jin Ling almost dropped his cup.

"No!" he said more loudly than he'd intended. "I can't."

"Yes you can," Jingyi snapped, hands on his hips. "You just use that spell they taught you. You can't tell me that you and your uncle don't have any sort of connection! You're basically the same person!"

"We are not!" Jin Ling retorted. "And if I call for him, that proves that I can't handle my own affairs! What kind of leader would I be?!"

"One that's new to the role," Sizhui said gently. "It isn't weakness to ask for help."

Jin Ling shook his head, his vision blurry.

"You don't understand," he murmured. "I can't call for him. Please."

"If we die because you wouldn't ask for help, I'm going to haunt you, boy," Luo Qingyang growled. "I don't like your uncle much, but he fought and won a war. A real war. This isn't even that!" She scooted closer to him on her knees. "Which is more humiliating: calling for aid or losing what basically amounts to a skirmish?"

"Calling," Jin Ling answered immediately.

Luo Qingyang's eyebrows flicked skyward. "You don't like your uncle much either, do you?"

"It's not that," he said. "We've been informed that their forces are small. This should be easy. If I ask him to take care of it-"

"-others will question your judgement about other matters of state as well," Sizhui finished for him.

Jin Ling nodded.

"Fine," Luo Qingyang said. "We'll do this on our own. I'm not a fan of Sect Leader Jiang anyhow. But I'm still going to haunt you if we die."

You can't have it both ways, Jin Ling wanted to say. But he was too nauseous to speak.

"We can handle it!" Jingyi said brightly. "Even if they had twice the number, we could do it!"

"All we need is a plan," said Sizhui.

Luo Qingyang was helped to her feet by her wife. Jingyi offered a hand to both Jin Ling and Sizhui.

"A plan will be a simple matter," Yu Qingqi said, her eyes locked on the gilded door. "All that's left is to let them in."