Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was an open secret in the Alliance that General Kunlun knew nothing about military strategy. He was useless with any weapon except his own, and his hand-to-hand combat skills left much to be desired. Having traveled a great distance, he had no relevant understanding of the terrain or local resources.

He did have the ear of Ma Gui and Fu You. He was welcome at any meeting they attended, and he wasn't afraid to speak. He asked for explanations of things others dismissed out of hand, and he interrupted people who should not be interrupted to call out those who were silent.

Kunlun was clearly human, and as such, controlling his antics should have been the responsibility of Ma Gui. But Fu You tolerated Kunlun, and everyone knew Ma Gui wouldn't go against her. The Human-Yashou Alliance had stood against the Dixing Rebels since the beginning, and no one man would be enough to break it.

Allied Dixing turned a blind eye to any and all indiscretions committed by the foreign general. The Black Robed Envoy owed Kunlun his life, so the Allied Dixing forces would never speak against him. The Envoy defended his people with every power he had, and they followed without question.

They followed both the Black Robed Envoys, not that everyone believed there were two of them.

II

“Where is he?” Ye Zun’s angry arrival in the ancient medical facility is both alarming and unproductive, and he doesn’t care. No one knows which twin stands before them and which one kneels beside a patient bed, and that’s the way they like it.

Maybe he’s the calm one. Maybe not. A little wary respect can go a long way.

“He’s fine,” Jiang Ning says, intercepting him before he can twist his fear and frustration into something stronger. “Look, see?” The daytime healer points toward the kneeling figure like Ye Zun might not have noticed. “He just wanted to help and we couldn’t stop him.”

“You think that makes him fine?” Ye Zun glares across the facility, knowing the effect is lost behind his mask. “I think that makes him a martyr.”

“Make him rest if you can,” Jiang Ning tells him. “Otherwise stop upsetting everyone with your useless worry. He’s alive. That makes him luckier than most.”

Why she thinks that will reassure him is unfathomable to Ye Zun. He was supposed to be the one in the field today. He should have been at the cliffs when the Rebels attacked, and he should have taken the damage that almost cost his brother his life. The damage that could yet kill him, if he doesn’t stop pouring all his energy into others.

Many of their people died today, and it’s unfair to argue with Jiang Ning. Ye Zun stalks past her without another word. He takes in the careful web of energy his brother has draped across the prone form above him, the wrist he holds pressed to his own forehead, and the flicker of life that gutters between them.

Shen Wei looks up when Ye Zun drops a hand to his shoulder. His eyes are unseeing, but he reacts to the breath of energy fanning that flame to steadiness again. It’s all Ye Zun has left to give after a day of doing exactly this, and it’s enough. He’s the healer, after all. When his power is at its lowest ebb, it’s still enough to pull someone back from the edge.

Or push them over it, but he doesn’t think about that. Shen Wei is the fighter. He’s taught Ye Zun to be ruthless in defense of himself and others, but they don’t strike first and they can be merciful when circumstances allow.

“Thank you,” Shen Wei whispers. Then, because Ye Zun has foolishly returned to him the strength to stand, he pushes himself to his feet. “I must go make my report.”

“You must not,” Ye Zun snaps, but quietly, because they shouldn’t be seen arguing with each other. “You must go deeper underground and recover. We are nothing without you, brother.”

“You are everything,” Shen Wei murmurs. “But I will not shirk my duties.”

“You don’t have to,” Ye Zun says. “Give me your report, and I’ll deliver it to Fu You.” When Shen Wei hesitates he adds, “It does no one any good to see you collapse between here and the Council Room.”

Shen Wei is at least peripherally sensitive to appearances, and he lets himself be convinced. He describes the day’s intelligence and ensuing skirmish in low tones while Ye Zun walks him downstairs. He gives as much detail as he can muster about the mysterious savior who interrupted the rout and sent their enemies into retreat.

That physical description doesn’t match the stranger Ye Zun finds in the Council Room with Fu You and Ma Gui later, but he reacts to Ye Zun as though they’ve met before. With a pleased exclamation, the stranger walks over to clap him on the shoulder, beaming expectantly when Ye Zun’s hood turns toward him. He’s the only one who dares.

“You are?” Ye Zun says coldly.

“Ah!” the stranger declares, removing his hand and shaking a finger in Ye Zun’s face instead. “You’re not the one I met before! How is your brother? Not that he’ll admit it, but I hope he isn’t badly injured?”

“My--” Ye Zun stares at him, trying to see in him anyone who would know. He isn’t of Dixing, and Ye Zun is certain he’s never seen this man before in his life. Yet he somehow knows Shen Wei? “How do you know my brother?”

“He didn’t tell you?” The stranger holds out his hands. “Fighting bad guys, mysterious stranger appears, bad guys run away? I’m disappointed I didn’t make more of an impression!”

“You?” Ye Zun stops glaring but it’s probably hard to tell with his eyes as wide as they feel right now. “You are his savior?” It’s rude but he glances at Fu You and she nods, just once.

The stranger is smiling, looking very proud of himself, as well he should. Saving Ye Zun’s brother is the same as saving him. He owes this man a debt that won’t be repaid as long as he lives.

“My lord,” Ye Zun says, “there’s nothing I can offer you that’s as valuable to me as his life. But know that whatever you ask of me, you will have.”

“Whatever I ask?” the man repeats with a laugh. “My dear twin--” And how does he know they’re twins, Ye Zun wonders? “I promise you, the only thing I want from you is to see you take off that mask and smile.”

This time he’s careful not to look at Fu You when he says, “I’ve made other promises that make that difficult, my lord. But when this is all over... ” He says it despite the awareness that none of them may live to see it end. “I will certainly fulfill your wishes to the best of my ability.”

“When this is all over,” the strange man echoes, and Ye Zun sees the same shadow on his face. “Yes,” he adds. “That will be something to see, won’t it?”

II

Kunlun knew a great deal about the Hallows for someone who had never seen or been exposed to them. He said he’d heard stories, that he’d studied them from a distance. He said he could track their movement by the way forces around them behaved. As preposterous as it seemed, their own scouts were able to confirm this, and people who had ignored Kunlun before started to seek him out.

Allied Dixing treated him no differently. When the Black Robed Envoy called him “my lord,” so too did every Dixing member of the Alliance. The title was never revoked, despite Fu You introducing him as “General Kunlun.” Even when Kunlun convinced the Envoy to call him by name instead, the rest of Allied Dixing did not alter its address.

The humans followed Ma Gui’s example and referred to him as “General,” but the Yashou were less consistent. Fu You herself called him “Kunlun,” except when making introductions, and generally the tribes avoided distinctions of title. Kunlun had befriended Daqing the moment he arrived, and the young prince of cats called him everything under the sun.

Aside from the Envoy, Kunlun didn’t correct any of them.

He stood out enough that there was no mistaking him. They referred to him constantly, in sometimes grudging but increasingly positive terms, without any confusion. All someone had to do was mention “the foreigner” and everyone knew who they were talking about.

II

“You like him,” Ye Zun says, falling into bed beside his brother. They shouldn’t both be sleeping at the same time, but Shen Wei hasn’t gotten up yet and Ye Zun is exhausted.

Shen Wei doesn’t even pretend not to know who he’s talking about. “Yes,” he says.

“Why?” Ye Zun wants to know. “I think he’s very suspicious. He knows a lot about things no one else knows, and nothing at all about things everyone knows. He’s useless in a fight, but when he goes out as a guard mysteriously everyone comes back alive. He has nothing to say, but he’s always talking. And people ask him what he thinks; that’s what I don’t understand. Why do we care what he thinks?”

Shen Wei doesn’t move, but Ye Zun can hear him smiling when he says, “You like him too.”

“Of course I like him!” Ye Zun exclaims. “That’s exactly what bothers me! He’s funny and witty and charming; he raises morale just by walking into the room. We all like him.”

“And,” Shen Wei says patiently. His hand finds Ye Zun’s in the dark, the power a vibrant glow between them as their fingers tangle together.

“He’s just one person,” Ye Zun reminds him. “He arrived with nothing and no one. If he’s such a great leader, where are his people? Why is there no one to vouch for him except two people who won’t let us ask any questions? We don’t know anything about him.”

“But he knows us,” Shen Wei says quietly. He sounds thoughtful, and he’s listening.

“Yes,” Ye Zun mutters, curling up against his side and letting his eyes close. There’s no question about that, and Kunlun has offered no explanation. “He definitely does.”

When he wakes again he’s alone. He can feel Shen Wei only faintly, far off on the other side of the mountain. Jiang Ning will be expecting him underground, but she probably won’t have eaten so he stops to collect breakfast, or lunch, or whatever meal she’s skipped most recently from the canteen.

Kunlun is there. Ye Zun frowns, because he’s sure Kunlun is following his brother’s sleep-wake schedule on purpose. Which means this is the middle of his day, yet here he is: not planning or meeting or scouting. Just idle in the canteen.

Kunlun brightens when he sees Ye Zun, waving enthusiastically for him to sit down, to join him. Kunlun makes a show of making space even though there’s no need. If he hadn’t demonstrated his ability to tell them apart over and over again--when no one else even tries, let alone succeeds--Ye Zun would be more wary.

As it is, he still feels the need to say, “I’m not the one you’re looking for.”

“On the contrary,” Kunlun says with his irrepressible smile, “you’re exactly the one I’m looking for! Candy?”

Ye Zun hopes his mask keeps him from looking too eager, but Kunlun has a seemingly endless reserve of Flower Tribe sweets. There are rumors that he steals them from Fu You, or that Fu You gives them to him openly, or that he has bewitched another source that he keeps secret to prevent others from threatening his supply. He doesn’t share the candy as freely as he shares his words or his smiles.

He gives Ye Zun two, and Ye Zun reluctantly pockets one for Shen Wei. Kunlun’s sharp eyes don’t miss the gesture, and he flicks a third candy across the table at Ye Zun. “Believe me,” Kunlun says, “he has plenty. I meant for you to have two.”

Ye Zun doesn’t argue.

“I have a question for you,” Kunlun continues. “How much do you hate the idea of me kissing your brother?”

Ye Zun puts the first honey candy in his mouth and considers this. “Not as much as I hate the idea of him pining uselessly forever,” he says at last. Generously, he thinks.

“Okay!” Kunlun says, pointing at him. “That’s a start! Not as much as him being alone, but more than… what? More than him finding someone else?”

Ye Zun feels his lip curl and he doesn’t try to hide his disgusted expression. If this is what Kunlun thinks of them, then he isn’t worthy of what Shen Wei would offer. “There won’t be anyone else,” he says. “There shouldn’t even be you. We can’t afford the distraction and our people don’t deserve to come second.”

“Right,” Kunlun says. “Of course.” He drums his fingers on the table for a long moment, then says, “Do you mean to tell me that neither of you plans to take a lover until after the war is over?”

Ye Zun pushes his food out of the way and leans forward, bracing his elbows on the table. “I mean to tell you,” he says, “that we are the Black Robed Envoy, and we don’t need anyone else. If you want my brother? He’ll let you have him. But you’re the only one for him, ever, and if you hurt him I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes,” Kunlun says, waving his hand impatiently. “You’ve given me this speech before and trust me, it was a lot more frightening the first time. Now I just find it perversely adorable.”

It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s typical of the foreigner.

“My question stands,” Kunlun continues. “Will you let me have him? Because I know you, Ye Zun. And I know him. He won’t be happy if you aren’t.”

Ye Zun stares at him. “You’re a general,” he says. “A leader of fighting forces half a world away, or so everyone says. Why don’t you know anything about military strategy?”

“Because I don’t have to,” Kunlun replies. “I know people. And whatever they might be or do, militaries are made of people.”

Ye Zun narrows his eyes. “If I say no, will you stay away from my brother?”

“No,” Kunlun says.

It makes Ye Zun smile, and that’s not as easy as it used to be. “Very well,” he says, gathering up the food as he stands. “I have to take this to someone, but you have my permission. Don’t waste it.”

Kunlun grins up at him. “Pleasure talking to you,” he says. “As always!”

Ye Zun doesn’t think they’re talking about the same “always.”

II

The Alliance never saw Kunlun court the Black Robed Envoy. Not because he was discreet about it, but because he just… never did it. He never acted like someone trying to woo a prospective lover.

From the first day he arrived, General Kunlun behaved as though the Black Robed Envoy was already his cherished partner in all things. He acted like someone who had fallen in love so long ago he never thought of questioning it. The Envoy accepted this attention with his usual equanimity, and the war went on.

Until it became clear that Kunlun's attention would not wane, nor was it being dismissed. He doted on the Envoy whether he was healing or fighting, angry or calm. He constantly looked to him for his opinion, for his reaction, for support or just to see that he was there.

All of Dixing knew there was more than one Black Robed Envoy. Allied Dixing didn’t hide this from the other forces, but they still spoke of them as though they were one. Those who never saw them together might have been forgiven for assuming this was the case.

Only a careful eye saw the growing disparity in whispers and touches and late nights that turned into mornings.

II

The first time Ye Zun walks in on Kunlun kissing his brother, he stops to watch. It’s never been strange to watch his mirror image doing something he isn’t doing himself. But Shen Wei has never done anything he wouldn’t do before.

It’s more disconcerting than he expected to see someone who looks like him holding onto the brash general as though he were something precious and fragile.

Shen Wei doesn’t let him go, but Kunlun turns his head anyway. He winks at Ye Zun and whispers in Shen Wei’s ear, “It’s okay. I asked him first.”

This makes Shen Wei push him back, and Kunlun holds up his hands in a thoroughly disarming gesture. Ye Zun smirks at him. Shen Wei prefers not to talk. He treasures the occasional moment when he doesn’t have to think of anyone or anything else. He isn’t lonely, not in the way Kunlun must be, and he doesn’t need reassurance about his own twin.

Ye Zun could have told him that.

“Brother,” Shen Wei says, ignoring Kunlun entirely for a long moment. “Do you mind?”

He’s very serious, but he knows the answer. It doesn’t keep him from asking.

“Of course not,” Ye Zun says. “But if I’m going to break his concentration like that, maybe you should do this in his room sometimes.”

Shen Wei smiles, and he really does look ridiculously happy. “Yes,” he says. “Of course. We will.”

“We will?” Kunlun repeats. When they both turn to him at the same time, he widens his eyes and throws his hands to the sides with a smile to rival Shen Wei’s. “Right now?”

Ye Zun doesn’t answer, but Shen Wei says, “No,” without hesitation. “My brother’s going to bed,” he adds. “I’ll stay with him until he falls asleep.”

“Of course you will,” Kunlun says, as though this makes perfect sense. “Who doesn’t need someone to stand guard while they try to slip through the gates of sleep?”

Ye Zun blinks. He often thinks of Shen Wei as the guardian of his dreams, but he’s sure he’s never mentioned it to anyone. Not even his brother.

“May I join you?” Kunlun asks, suddenly serious. “I offer my services as gatekeeper if they wouldn’t be an intrusion.”

“Do you have candy?” Ye Zun demands.

This makes Kunlun brighten. “I do!”

“You can stay,” Ye Zun told him. “Until I fall asleep; no longer. Presumably you have another private space you can take my brother where no one is trying to rest.”

The presence of his twin lulls him safely through the haze and nightmares into honest dreams, warm and kind and largely unmemorable but for the way they make him feel. He doesn’t hear Kunlun say a single thing. It’s probably a record silence for him. He thinks he feels a hand in his hair as he drifts off, but it’s the only contact he’s aware of and it might be real, rather than displaced.

They're gone when he wakes up, of course. He finds a note beside the bed, written with the fabric-script Shen Wei picked up from a kind woman so many years ago. The words are raised and soft when he runs his fingers over them: You are always first in my heart.

There are two honey candies tucked next to the message.

The next time he finds them in a compromising embrace it’s in the medical facility, which he would consider tremendously unfair except that Shen Wei was only there to help out while Ye Zun slept. Shen Wei is a terrible healer because he doesn’t know when to stop. He can’t keep enough of himself in reserve to prevent things from going horribly wrong when he’s tired, and somehow Kunlun knows that. He must have stepped in to distract Shen Wei and it’s definitely working.

“Look,” Ye Zun says, looking around at the place they’ve chosen and the interrupted view that makes them mostly invisible. “I think you have the right idea, but I certainly don’t want him going back to work after this.”

He’s startled Kunlun, which is funnier than he expected. Shen Wei knew he was there, of course. Shen Wei always knows.

“I was just--” Kunlun begins, but the Black Robed Envoy’s hood is on his shoulders and the mask is in his hand. Shen Wei smiles, unguarded and amused, and Kunlun finishes helplessly, “He was tired?”

“Then he should be in bed,” Ye Zun says. “Make sure he gets there safely.”

The advice is obvious but effective. He takes comfort in the way they heed it.

Shen Wei is never surprised by his presence, and Kunlun eventually stops… stopping, every time he notices Ye Zun. Ye Zun approves. Quarters are close and he and Shen Wei are closer. There’s no need to pretend.

The first time Kunlun waves for him to join them, Ye Zun is the one who stops. There’s a bonfire and music and he can feel Shen Wei somewhere up on the cliffs, because of course he wouldn’t stay and socialize like a normal person. Ye Zun looks up, hood sliding just a bit as he scans for a silhouette against the sky.

He finds two that look like one, and closer than he’d expected. They’re not avoiding people, then. They’re just being… well, discreet is the wrong word. Polite, perhaps.

When they move enough that he can recognize the taller figure, he’s surprised to see it wave. He can tell from the sense of Shen Wei that the gesture is meant for him. He climbs up after them then, because who else does he have?

Shen Wei is pressed against Kunlun’s side. He doesn’t move away or hold out his arm, but Kunlun does. Hold out his arm. And Ye Zun doesn’t know what to do with that.

“Your choice,” Kunlun says. It’s not an order to “come here,” or “join us,” and Ye Zun wonders when Kunlun learned the differences between them so thoroughly. “You’re always welcome. As little or as much as you want.”

It’s cold out and Ye Zun has no interest in anyone but his twin. So he steps carefully up to Kunlun’s side, awkward and out of place until an arm settles over his shoulders and pulls him closer. Shen Wei’s hood is down. Ye Zun’s is not and his mask is firmly in place, but no one says anything.

They just stand there, watching the fire dance against the night. Together.

II

The Dixing forces were neither the largest nor the strongest contingent of the Human-Yashou Alliance. Perception of them suffered for their superficial association with the Rebels. They were the underground, the darkness… the enemy of the enemy, at least until they turned.

The Black Robed Envoy was part of the Council because he represented a fighting force, but no one outside of Allied Dixing looked to him for advice or opinions.

Except for General Kunlun. The foreigner looked to him first and last, and he spent an unprecedented amount of time staring in between. He didn’t always seem to realize he was doing it. His attention would wander or his gaze would drift, and the next time he spoke he would be looking at the leader of Dixing, even when he was talking to someone else.

No one mistook his favor for wariness after the first few days. When it became clear that Kunlun’s interest was committed--and that perhaps he wasn’t as mad as he’d initially seemed--the rest of the Council began to wait for the Envoy’s reaction as well.

It was less a matter of courtesy than convenience: if they didn’t wait for it, Kunlun interrupted them to ask. But it became a habit, and Kunlun never stopped.

When the Envoy started to show interest in soldiers who weren’t of Dixing, their leaders didn’t turn him away. He asked about their experience, their plans, their troops and their tactics. He asked them what they knew and what they didn’t, and they told him.

When Kunlun asked his opinion, the Envoy told him what he’d learned.

II

When Shen Wei is away overnight Ye Zun often finds Kunlun outside, staring at the stars alone. Tonight is no exception. He invites himself into the circle of silence that surrounds his brother’s lover and sits down without a greeting. He stops just short of saying, This is your fault, you know.

Kunlun probably does know, and Ye Zun doesn’t like it.

“You’re turning him into a general,” he says instead.

He expects Kunlun to deny it. Maybe he’ll laugh at the idea, or shrug it off like it’s impossible. If he acknowledges it at all, Ye Zun thinks he’ll consider it of no consequence. He isn’t sure why he brought the complaint to Kunlun at all, except that there’s no one else.

Kunlun doesn’t deny it, and he doesn’t brush it off. He looks at Ye Zun and sighs, holding his gaze when he says, “I know. And I’m sorry for that.”

Ye Zun frowns. “That’s the right answer,” he says, studying that unfathomable expression from behind his mask. “How could you possibly know what I mean? What he’s becoming?”

They must seem so young and inexperienced to Kunlun. He can tell stories from the farthest corners of the world. How would he ever recognize the subtle changes in someone like Shen Wei?

“I told you,” Kunlun says, with a smile that looks strangely wistful. “I know people. Him more than most.”

Ye Zun wants to say that he doesn’t, that he can’t know Shen Wei better than anyone. That’s always been Ye Zun’s role. He won’t let it change now.

He knows how much it will hurt when he asks, “Are you trying to make him into what you know?”

Kunlun’s smile vanishes. For one vindictively satisfying second he looks stricken. “No,” he says. “No, never. I wouldn’t. I can’t. You know he can’t be bent. No one could ever mold him into anything.”

“And yet you look to him for answers,” Ye Zun insists, “and he gets them for you. You must know he’s talking to the other leaders in an effort to live up to your expectations.”

“No,” Kunlun says firmly. The panic is gone from his expression. “This is what he does.”

“This isn't what he does!” Ye Zun exclaims. “He’s the strongest of us, and strength comes from balance! We’re healing and harm together, never one without the other! You’ll tear him apart if you drive him to nothing but destruction!”

“He has you!” Kunlun shouts back at him. “You’re supposed to keep him from doing only what I say!”

Ye Zun stares at him in surprise.

Kunlun sighs again, throwing his head back to appeal to the stars. Bracing his hands on the ground behind him, he’s still staring up as he says, “He learns, right? He’s learning to lead. I wish he wasn’t at the head of an army--I wish neither of you were--but that’s where we are right now. Better to learn how to win than to lose.”

Ye Zun doesn’t know what to say to any of that, so he says the first thing he thinks of. “You’re assuming we’ll win.”

Strangely, this is the part Kunlun doesn’t hesitate over. “We will,” he says. “I promise you that. The Alliance will win this war, and when it’s over, your brother will take his terrifying ability to learn everything in sight and apply it to something else. Something…”

Kunlun smiles up at the sky now, like he’s seeing what he wants to see in it. “Scholarly,” he says at last.

Ye Zun studies him carefully: this probably not-mad foreigner from a place too far to name. Who travels alone, yet laughs with the prince of cats and celebrates with the humans and looks at Shen Wei with such longing it’s impossible to think he prefers solitude. He’s filled with enough certainty to imbue the entire Alliance… yet in moments like these, Ye Zun sees fear.

“Kunlun,” he says, trying to sound as confident himself. “How do you know what’s going to happen?”

Kunlun doesn’t laugh, but the smile is still on his face when he lowers his gaze from the stars. “I can see the future,” he says lightly.

It could even be a joke, but Ye Zun doesn’t think it is. “Can you?” he asks.

Kunlun looks at him for a long moment, and finally he shrugs. “Yeah,” he says. “Sort of. Not in a way that’s helpful, though, so don’t get any ideas.”

“I’m not,” Ye Zun says neutrally. He definitely is.

“You definitely are,” Kunlun tells him, leaning forward to drape one arm across his knee and shake a finger in Ye Zun’s face. “This is what I know: you win. We win! The Alliance wins its war and there’s peace for a long time.”

“Good,” Ye Zun says warily. “But you’re not pleased?” He knows the way things sound isn’t always the way they are. And winning isn’t everything.

“Ah, you survive,” Kunlun says, waving a hand at him like that’s all he cares about. “I mean, you both survive. And Daqing. Hopefully a lot of other people too, but that’s all I know. My magical powers stop after the cat.”

“And us,” Ye Zun says.

“Sure,” Kunlun agrees. “The twins and the cat.”

“Why?” Ye Zun demands. It doesn’t make any sense, unless Kunlun has attached himself to them specifically because he knows they’ll live.

“I don’t know,” Kunlun admits. “Probably because I love you best.”

Reversing cause and effect is a more positive way of looking at it. Ye Zun will allow for this possibility, but it evokes an interesting question. “Does my brother know?”

Kunlun doesn’t look evasive, only tired in response. “I don’t know,” he says again. “I’ve told him, yes. But I don’t think he believes me.

“He wants to,” he adds, glancing at Ye Zun and then away again. “Maybe that’s why he doesn’t.”

Ye Zun understands this contradiction all too well. But he isn’t the leader of Allied Dixing for nothing. What Shen Wei learns, he learns. They both learned what and how to believe a long time ago.

If Shen Wei is doubting now, then Ye Zun is prepared to keep the faith for both of them.

II

When Kunlun disappeared, Ye Zun remembered the conversation about time and love and how hard it could be to believe in the things one wanted the most. There was a vortex in the sky and another one in the ground. Kunlun disappeared into the one above. Ye Zun knew he had to believe enough for two people when he pulled Shen Wei into the one below.

They didn’t learn anything else for a long time. They wouldn't know how long until they woke up, and Dixing took them back, and they had to learn everything about the world all over again. Not just the underground world, either.

Kunlun wasn’t in Dixing, but Shen Wei said that was only to be expected. He was human, or close enough. He would be in Haixing. He might be alone. He might need help to find them, so they either had to make it easier for him or find him first.

In the end, they did both.

II

“They’re transparent,” Shen Wei says. “You can literally and intentionally see through them. I hardly see how glasses are the conceptual equivalent of a mask.”

They’re walking across the university campus at lunchtime, and Ye Zun is happily planting his new and very showy cane exactly the way his brother likes to brace his weapon against the ground. “This cane isn’t anything like a blade, but I’m still not allowed to hit people with it.”

Shen Wei huffs a quiet laugh but refuses to let it go. “That’s not even an appropriate comparison, let alone a logical response to my protest.”

“Was it supposed to be?” Ye Zun counters. “Look around you; the world is mad. I see little call for logic here.”

It isn’t lost on him that their stroll is taking them right past the scene of last night’s attack, but Shen Wei is still a protector, and he will worry at the incident until it’s resolved. Ye Zun is simultaneously a distraction and a comfort. He knows his role.

He also knows that neither of them is expecting a shout from up ahead, or the person falling from a second-story window. Shen Wei’s gaze goes first to the victim, while Ye Zun looks for the source. There are two people hanging out that window now, yelling down to the person on the ground, and there’s no mistaking either one of them.

Shen Wei glances up before Ye Zun can warn him, and for a frozen moment he stares like a long-dead world has come back to life. Kunlun stares back at him. It’s a look worth all the time in between.

Ye Zun smiles.