Fire and Flames

by Ebb

All in the Nightless City have exchanged their red flames for stark white sorrow. A great tragedy has befallen us, they keen. We have lost our best and our brightest and no one will come close to burning as he once did.

But where is the wife? someone asks. Another shakes their head. Let her have her space, they reply. The grandeur of the affair despite the war had been at her urging and so she will return swiftly to tend to the rest of the affairs, but there is no one else who would take his loss harder than his young, yet-childless bride. Leave her to her mourning, they insist. She has never shirked duty and she will not do so now.

The Black Lotus is dressed in pure white, eyes turning to steel as the red fades from the edges. "I cannot take you all the way," she instructs. "You will enter this room. Find the right cabinet and follow the tunnel downwards, and be on your guard even when you emerge. The signal will be two sharp whistles, a pause, and two more. He will be ready." She stops outside an unremarkable room and sweeps her gaze across them. "Anything else?"

"Shijie," Wei Wuxian says. His right hand twitches like he's about to reach out for Jiang Cheng beside him, but it falls still as he continues, "It's been hard on you."

Jiang Yanli smiles for the first time since she'd brought them into enemy territory, soft and familiar in a way that makes Wen Ning press closer to his sister's side. "It's hard to wear white," she replies, quiet. "I keep thinking I see his red on my sleeves."

"When will you be joining us?"

She shakes her head. "Not yet," she says, sliding the door open and gesturing them into what seems like a small study. "I still have my duties to attend to."

Wen Ning steps in after Wen Qing, who murmurs something quiet that the Black Lotus acknowledges with a small nod and smile. Wei Wuxian goes to follow, but pauses when Jiang Cheng hovers outside, brows furrowed as he stares at his feet.

"I miss you," is all he says, and something in her careful expression snaps. Then all three of Yunmeng's children are rushing towards each other, clutching at one another like they're drowning and the others are the only raft in the swirling rapids around them.

"I'll come back soon," she promises, face pressed into their shoulders. "We'll find home again."

Wei Wuxian nods furiously. Jiang Cheng just stains her mourning robe with more tears.

They do not have long before Jiang Yanli finally pulls away from her brothers with great effort. "Now I look the part," she laughs; her face has settled back into that of the Lotus, but her eyes are still filled with unmistakable sorrow. "Free Lan Xichen," she says, both order and plea. "Turn the tide."

"You ask the impossible," Wei Wuxian replies, grinning, and Jiang Cheng's eyes are alight in a way Wen Ning has not seen since... before. Then she turns away, and the smile dies on Wei Wuxian's face as his brother's eyes turn cold, focused on the mission ahead.

The door shuts behind them. Together they step deeper into the palace, sun-slaying arrows reaching for another.