Chapter Text
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Air was a funny thing. Sometimes he didn’t feel like he needed it; he felt it was too weightless. Yet he always ended up gasping when he forgot to breathe.
Wei Wuxian toppled out of his seat, taking two empty bottles and an untouched cup crashing to the floor with him. He fumbled for a moment before loudly whining and clutching his head dramatically.
“Ah, what has this world come to?! When have I ever done anything to deserve this cruel injustice? Ah, woe is the poor weary-” He yelped as a booted foot stepped on his ribcage.
“What you’ve done is fallen asleep sitting up you lazy drunkard! It’s dawn! Don’t you have work to do?!” The dark haired woman removed her foot only to kick the grey clad man still lying on the floor. He back pedalled, further dirtying his threadbare robes as he did so.
“Now Wen Qing, don’t be so mean! If you keep doing this you wont be getting any fish!” He rolled to his feet, picking shards of ceramic out of his tangled hair while teasing his almost friend.
“As if you can catch any sleeping in my brother’s kitchen! Go!” She scoffed, placing her basket less than delicately on the table he had just vacated. The man awkwardly laughed and strolled his way past her, sneakily swiping a peach from underneath the simple red cloth tucked over her basket and strolling out of the door. It slammed shut and propelled him forward a few inches with an indignant squawk.
“That’s for the peach, you heathen!”
“Love you too!” he replied, biting into the fuzzy skin.
The air was dry and still, the sky clear; a storm would be coming soon. He hurried his pace toward the docks. He would have to work quickly today despite his grogginess. He stumbled after a few steps and paused to shake a piece of dark ceramic out of his boot, holding the peach securely in his teeth. Wiggling his big toe through the hole and grimacing at the slightly swampy feel of sweaty leather, he resigned himself to buying new socks.
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Wei Wuxian hadn’t always been a fisherman. Well at least he thought he hadn’t. He remembered scrounging on the streets for a while, sharing food with old men with cracked dirty teeth and even dirtier nails. He remembered tucking his hair into his outer robe after someone cut off one of his long curls. He remembered the sting of teeth and absolute fear of scrambling with dogs to gather scraps. He remembers swimming in the sea and the sharp taste of brine. He remembered a gold glint and a soft upturn of lips.
Luckily for him he also remembered how to schmooze. He found a few silver pieces in a gutter one day. He immediately bought a new outer robe which he used to charm his way onto a boat somewhere near Yunmeng and never looked back. Whomever he used to be, he was strong, though months of mild starvation had made him thin. He quickly learned the art of social drinking and cajoled and made merry with a fisherman’s crew and no destination in mind.
He found that life traveling was always lively, especially when your colleagues were ever changing. Many drunken brawls revealed that he knew how to fight and paid for his drinks. In a port near Lanling he took a liking to wearing jewelry and often would accept pearls in lieu of gold. At one point he was paid with a dizi rather than money, which he was rather sour about until he learned how to make more than scattered notes and then found he rather enjoyed the soft airy sound.
A few times, after he had drunk all his fellow shipmates under the table, he sat staring over the sea with a cup of wine. He drank in the salty air and wondered if he had anything to miss.
But there was work to be done.
And work he did, for anyone and everyone who would offer him a place to rest his head. He traveled from port to port, lending a strong arm and a bright attitude to any ship desperate for either and willing to pay. Eventually, he made his way to Yiling.
Yiling was a ramshackle place - held together with more rotten rope and stubbornness than anything else and it reeked of desperation. Wei Wuxian knew his help would be needed here. So he plonked his meager possessions into a teetering shack off the coast and declared himself the new town fisherman and handyman. The first thing he did was chop down a sturdy tree and rebuild the sad excuse for building so it wouldn’t collapse in on his head.
Then he drew out his net and waded into the sea.
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Wei Wuxian was having absolutely no luck this morning. The most he had caught was a curiously large clump of kelp, which he was mildly worried it was going to crawl up the beach and eat him later, and a few broken shells.
“Damn it! Leave it to me to be up early the one day a storm drives all the fish away!” He huffed angrily, flicking the damp ends of his hair back over his shoulder and gathering his hand net back into his arms. He stumbled back up to the beach from the thigh deep water and dropped his tool into a dripping pile by his crumpled trousers.
He arranged himself into a lazy lotus position on the sand, untying the sides of his inner robe to let it fall back down his thighs. He tossed his straw hat in the general direction of his other clothes and flopped back onto the warm sand. Life sure had been easier when he had six legs.Wei Wuxian sighed as if to agree with his own musings, then blinked up at the gathering clouds.
Wait...
What?
Before he could examine the thought further he was interrupted by a crack of lighting almost perfectly in time with its accompanying roll of thunder as well as a visible sheet of rain approaching rapidly from the south. He fumbled with his belongings, grateful for his solitude in that he didn’t end up accidentally flashing anyone indecently as he scrambled toward his shack.
“Ah - ah -ah- wet - Ah!” He slammed his sliding door closed on the sudden downpour and slumped against it, dripping onto the wooden floor with sand caked between his toes.
“Why right now? Huh? You couldn't have waited two minutes?” He grumbled as he dropped his damp and sandy clothing into a basket to wash. He pulled on a pair of simple linen trousers and a tunic with a red hem before taking down his hair from its ribbon and wringing it out. He looped the fabric around his left wrist and left his hair down to dry in the humid air while he lit the stove. He sighed, but on the bright side, this counted as a bath and he probably didn't have to wash his hair again.
It only took one try for the flint to catch, a knack he’d found rather helpful many a time before. He rubbed his damp palms together and held them above the flame, listening to the wind batter his door. The clattering of the wood in its frame was not promising. The man sighed and resigned himself to a night of rice congee and zero booze; there would be no going out in this weather.
The man slumped over his low table gracelessly, groaning at the thought of wasting a whole afternoon without even a book to keep him busy. He fiddled with his ribbon, passing it between long fingers in an unfathomable pattern as he listened to the rain hit his roof. The world outside had grown dark, though it was barely past mid day; this storm was a rough one. On the bright side this would mean more bountiful fishing once it had passed, but for now it meant many hours stretched before him.
He paused in his fiddling to give the sleek ribbon a long stroke, gently tracing the pair of tiny blobs with long ears embroidered in gold on the end. It almost reminded him of a rabbit, one covered in tiny spots. He closed it in his fist and squeezed his eyes shut against the headache he could feel coming on.
He sighed and decided to experiment with his dizi until he was tired enough to sleep. Maybe the wind would provide sufficient harmony to silence his mind.
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Water was a funny thing. Sometimes it was serene and warm and gentle; an oasis, a safe place. Other times it was a vicious force pulling you in a thousand directions and none of them were the way you were intending to go.
Lan Wangji had never been a weak swimmer, even when he had just whelped and was still figuring out how all of his limbs worked. However, strong swimmer or not, the sea was the mightiest of all beings and she had decided his route. He just did his best to keep his arms close to his sides and his pale sheet of silken hair from being trapped in any random debris.
The storm had been sudden and fierce, most likely the work of some Mer either uncaring of those nearby or unable to control their own power. Or perhaps the sea herself has been thrown into a tizzy over some goings on of her inhabitants. Whatever the cause, Lan Wangji was using all of his remaining power to stay uninjured by the enormous swells and sharp debris. It seemed a mortal ship had been caught in the storm somewhere because large chunks of wood and rope occasionally passed his vision, illuminated by the gentle glow he had been named for.
The unnamed current that had caught him drove him far and fast through most of the night, and as the pale blue of predawn approached he reached the dropoff of a shoreline. He allowed his limbs to loosen as he crossed the natural border, he would be safe to rest here and get his bearings.
He flicked his long tail before him, inspecting the pale blue and white scales for injury. A few missing scales, but nothing serious. He inwardly scoffed at the empty patches and brought a glowing hand to the holes, leaving behind an unbroken expanse of shimmering pieces. He dug into the small qiankun pouch at his hip and removed a simple comb , vainly brushing the tangles out of his hair and freeing the ends of his long white ribbon.
No one could fault such a great beauty as Hanguang Jun for taking care in his appearance. Besides, it was one of the few ways of presenting his thoughts that he had left. By the time he had removed all signs that he had been in such a fierce storm he made his way closer to shore, hoping to find some forest of kelp or other shelter where he could rest for a few hours before finding his way back to the Gusu Lan pod.
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Wei Wuxian was not amused. After an evening spent making very little progress on composing a song that didn’t circle back to something familiar he had woken up to a beach covered in random debris. Mostly driftwood, with smatterings of kelp and sea shells where there had once been nothing but smooth sand.
‘This’ll take ages to clean up! “ He moaned, kicking the nearest piece of driftwood and regretting it immediately. As he nursed his sore toe he turned his attention to the battered dock that stuck a mere 15 yards into the sea. It was in his best interest to keep it from collapsing, as building another would take far more time and energy than Wei Wuxian had to share at present.
He squared his shoulders, adjusted his straw hat, and began to pick his way to the stalwart dock. After tripping more times than he was comfortable admitting, which was more than zero, he finally found his foot on firm wood rather than sand as he gingerly stepped onto the platform. He moved slowly, listening for any worrying creaks that might indicate an unscheduled dip into the sea. As he moved further he gained confidence, taking longer strides and broadening his grin.
As he neared the end a bright sheen on his left hand side stopped him in place. He turned and quickly scanned the horizon. He heard little but the gentle rocking of small waves, the post storm sea was calm and all but glass smooth. He narrowed his eyes. He saw blue, blue,more blue, a little bit of teal, some more blue, a flash of white -Huh? He squinted at the smudge, a slightle too bright spot in the calm seas of early morning.
His searching, however, would quickly be curtailed by absolute panic.
"Bark!"
Dog! Dog! Dog!
In his indelicate scramble in response to the sudden terrifying sound of the evil land beast, Wei Wuxian fumbled and slid off the edge of the dock, smashing his head into the pile. A boy and his blood fell into the calm waters below.
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Lan Wangji hadn’t expected to find a human settlement so quickly. They tended to be rather spaced out along coastlines, as humans were fairly territorial creatures. He made a note to keep an eye out for any wayward nets, it would not be acceptable to be forcibly taken like some brainless arapaima.He hadn’t spent 13 years living in sorrow to die so shamefully. Sometimes he wished for the days when years had felt like minutes, when they held as little meaning as a breeze. Wei Ying had changed his view on many things.
His fins twitched in restrained emotion, but he’d had much practice in breathing through the waves of his grief. He let his mind’s tide wash over him until it was but a gentle lapping at the edge of his thoughts and not a crashing wave.
He was ready to keep going.
He skirted the edges of the small village, noting the aged wood and the aged people. A quiet village. Peaceful. One Wei Ying would have loved to be the center of attention in. The Mer gritted his teeth in frustration. His thoughts were idle today. It wasn't helping. He released his sorrow in a quick burst of qi that lit the waters around him - it should be invisible in the morning light.
He continued on his way, hoping to find some coastal shark whom he could ask for direction.
They tended to skirt the long wooden paths humans built over the water, easy shade from which to spring and surprise larger fish. There was one about a li to the east, and Lan Wangji made his quick way toward it.
Maneuvering the calm post storm waters was as simple as breathing, if one didn't worry about being seen. However if one wished to remain inconspicuous, one wrong twitch of a fin would alert anyone of the large predator swimming ever closer to the human structure. A figure was making its way across it. Slender, with long dark hair under a wide brimmed hat. Male by the cut of its clothing, delicately picking its way to the end of the dock.
Lan Wangji sunk ever so slightly deeper, hoping the depth would conceal the white of his hair from the mortal as he swept under the wooden platform. If he could get close enough to pop his head fins above the water unseen, he could listen to the mortal speak and perhaps find out where he was.
The man froze and looked directly at him, eyes searching.
The Mer froze accordingly, knowing his pale pigmentation would be difficult to detect without motion in the pale morning light. However as fate would have it, his hiding would be meaningless.
Something startled the human and he crashed into the calm water with a cacophonous sound and the scent of blood. Lan Wangji rushed toward him. Life was precious, especially to those mortals for whom it was short. There was no reason to let the creature die.
All too soon he had the man in his arms, his powerful tail propelling them quickly to the surface. His hat obscured his head but not the blood billowing into the water from the back of it. Lan Wangji hoisted the dead weight up onto the wooden structure, propping himself on an elbow so he could see the man more clearly. He removed the bamboo hat and -
'Wei Ying.'
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