[ Her hand does tremble at that, and she sets down the cup to look at him. ]
You tried dying? You weren't the one to raise a-Yuan.
[ Everything she's gleaned has been in snippets, things she's been able to put together. a-Yuan raised by Hanguang-jun. Wen Ning alive, but trapped for years. All of them older than what she remembers. ]
( He goes quiet, and drinks his second cup before he responds. He's not overtly trying for mirth, but he smiles, because that soften things, and he thinks they need softening to some degree when talking to her not for taking away from their impact, but for taking away their impact on him. )
I thought they'd murdered all of you. A-Yuan included. Shijie—she died, at the same time they were throwing your ashes to the wind. They never intended for peace, Wen Qing. They murdered everyone, and then they called for my blood before the last of the bodies had cooled, and I was too late to do anything about it. You weren't wrong, you know? Even if we'd found the one who cast that curse, and he was there, I learned by now, who would have believed it? Who would have considered that it wasn't Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch, who was out for blood and the unrest of the righteous world, when they scrambled and maimed and killed of their own volition chasing after the tiger seal in those moments before I destroyed it.
( He doesn't say anything about Jiang Cheng. He feels like saying his shijie died indicates enough of... that moment, Jiang Cheng's grieving outrage, and the stone under his feet, under Lan Zhan's chest, that shuddered at Sandu's strike.
He'd preferred dying, to being the death and ruin of the last two people he believed mattered to him in that world, A-Yuan unknown and feverish in Yiling, away from them all. )
[ It's only been a few months for her, and there hasn't been time to process any of it here; or rather, she has deliberately avoided thinking too deeply about it.
She fiddles with the hem of her robes, for the first time since she was a child, then smoothes it down, and reaches for her cup again, finishing it off. ]
You were supposed to find him. And live, somehow. I had hoped that turning ourselves over would be the end of it. The knife would be gone, and the Wen's dismantled, nothing to fear from us. [ It had been a foolish hope, but it had made the walk to Carp Tower that much easier. ] How long were you... dead? Gone?
( He offers a hollow, aching smile. No need to say, 'it would have been easier to find him if I'd been told he was there.' Tell him how, pin it to him where he lay immobile on his stone bed, hay spilling off and down like the hopes they'd held for all that time?
He pours her another drink. )
Sixteen years. Sixteen years, before someone contrived to convince a deeply unhappy man to sacrifice himself to bring back the vengeance of a family murderer.
( A dry, tired smile. Oh yes, what a reputation he'd been given, and what a siren's call that had been to the tormented, unravelling Mo Xuanyu. )
[ Sixteen years, and a-Yuan a Lan, and— her eyes widen and she picks up her cup, drinking deeply. ]
So a-Ning was under Jin Guangyao's control for sixteen years.
[ She led him to his death, or what should have been his death, and instead doomed him to torture. Her words haunt her: they were doomed long before they ventured to the Burial Mounds. ]
And you came back. Hanguang-jun is fond of you, still.
( he automatically fills her cup again, once it empties. )
Imperfectly. From what I can tell, he got away, couldn't be found. The... ones trying to use people inundated with resentment like that had low success.
( this doesn't make it better, and he knows, but... it's what she should hear. he doesn't get to decide against it. )
I know, I just... in Sa-Hareth? We were living in a run down farm. Right now, we're on a haunted road traveling with a ghost army, being attacked by tar-bird creatures and with walls kidnapping people to tombs we have yet to unlock... I was hoping Taravast would be more stable. Less survival, like this.
... You're welcome. You'd be proud of the man he became. I'm... so sorry, so incredibly sorry, you didn't get the chance to witness that yourself.
( It takes a lot not to just see about downing the rest of the wine himself. Only trying Better, thinking on how he can't spend each night in semi-drunk reverie, keeps him from downing it now. )
[ Well, it wasn't the best choice, but there had been no other path she could see then. ] I'm glad you were able to see him. And that a-Yuan knows him now.
( She'd also believed that the righteous world would hold anything righteous within it. Justice, instead, failed to exist. It wasn't convenient for the ones early in their power. )
Mm, and! You should tell A-Yuan all the stories of Wen Ning as a child. I'm sure he'd love hearing them.
[ Out of everything, that makes her smile, looking back at Wei Wuxian. ]
Those would be good to share. And the good moments in the Burial Mounds. [ There had been some. ] Does Sect Leader Jiang know about him? There's a bonding opportunity, sharing stories about your childhood with a-Yuan.
( distract the dog. he sounds softer as he asks, but... he hates it. that there are fears he can't just push aside and fake his way past, until it's slightly more like truth that he's not as afraid as he really is. )
Of course. Tell me when you would request such a distraction.
[ She has no fear of dogs, and it's easy to offer him an opportunity to talk to Jiang Cheng. She stands, holding her cup out to him so he can return it to the rightful owner. ]
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You tried dying? You weren't the one to raise a-Yuan.
[ Everything she's gleaned has been in snippets, things she's been able to put together. a-Yuan raised by Hanguang-jun. Wen Ning alive, but trapped for years. All of them older than what she remembers. ]
Sect Leader Jiang didn't take you in?
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I thought they'd murdered all of you. A-Yuan included. Shijie—she died, at the same time they were throwing your ashes to the wind. They never intended for peace, Wen Qing. They murdered everyone, and then they called for my blood before the last of the bodies had cooled, and I was too late to do anything about it. You weren't wrong, you know? Even if we'd found the one who cast that curse, and he was there, I learned by now, who would have believed it? Who would have considered that it wasn't Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch, who was out for blood and the unrest of the righteous world, when they scrambled and maimed and killed of their own volition chasing after the tiger seal in those moments before I destroyed it.
( He doesn't say anything about Jiang Cheng. He feels like saying his shijie died indicates enough of... that moment, Jiang Cheng's grieving outrage, and the stone under his feet, under Lan Zhan's chest, that shuddered at Sandu's strike.
He'd preferred dying, to being the death and ruin of the last two people he believed mattered to him in that world, A-Yuan unknown and feverish in Yiling, away from them all. )
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She fiddles with the hem of her robes, for the first time since she was a child, then smoothes it down, and reaches for her cup again, finishing it off. ]
You were supposed to find him. And live, somehow. I had hoped that turning ourselves over would be the end of it. The knife would be gone, and the Wen's dismantled, nothing to fear from us. [ It had been a foolish hope, but it had made the walk to Carp Tower that much easier. ] How long were you... dead? Gone?
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He pours her another drink. )
Sixteen years. Sixteen years, before someone contrived to convince a deeply unhappy man to sacrifice himself to bring back the vengeance of a family murderer.
( A dry, tired smile. Oh yes, what a reputation he'd been given, and what a siren's call that had been to the tormented, unravelling Mo Xuanyu. )
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So a-Ning was under Jin Guangyao's control for sixteen years.
[ She led him to his death, or what should have been his death, and instead doomed him to torture. Her words haunt her: they were doomed long before they ventured to the Burial Mounds. ]
And you came back. Hanguang-jun is fond of you, still.
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Imperfectly. From what I can tell, he got away, couldn't be found. The... ones trying to use people inundated with resentment like that had low success.
( this doesn't make it better, and he knows, but... it's what she should hear. he doesn't get to decide against it. )
Haah, much to my surprise, yes.
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Anything else I should know? Who knows about your core?
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( Not the only timeline discrepancy, he means. )
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( It takes a lot not to just see about downing the rest of the wine himself. Only trying Better, thinking on how he can't spend each night in semi-drunk reverie, keeps him from downing it now. )
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[ Well, it wasn't the best choice, but there had been no other path she could see then. ] I'm glad you were able to see him. And that a-Yuan knows him now.
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Mm, and! You should tell A-Yuan all the stories of Wen Ning as a child. I'm sure he'd love hearing them.
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Those would be good to share. And the good moments in the Burial Mounds. [ There had been some. ] Does Sect Leader Jiang know about him? There's a bonding opportunity, sharing stories about your childhood with a-Yuan.
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( it's a defense line Wei Wuxian cannot get past, which is rather ingenious, but also, hah. )
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[ Wen Qing has no strong love of animals, especially pets, but she can spend time with one without problem. ]
Or maybe I should mention it to him. A-Yuan was concerned, if he calls me "aunt," that Sect Leader Jiang might react poorly.
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( distract the dog. he sounds softer as he asks, but... he hates it. that there are fears he can't just push aside and fake his way past, until it's slightly more like truth that he's not as afraid as he really is. )
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[ She has no fear of dogs, and it's easy to offer him an opportunity to talk to Jiang Cheng. She stands, holding her cup out to him so he can return it to the rightful owner. ]
Thank you, Wei Ying.
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You're welcome, Wen Qing.
( and for everything that could not be. )
And thank you as well.
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