"It waaas.... a devil snake!" This time he mimes pouncing on Nie Huaisang. "With looong venomous teeth, and -"

Huaisang jumps back in shock, letting out a high-pitched yelp, only barely avoiding falling.  After the surprise, he feigns indignation.  It quickly turns into laughter.

He'd missed Wei-xiong.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. 

"A devil snake. With arms. Which is also possibly a ghost."

He grabs Nie Huaisang's arm to hold him up, this time not pretending to be a devil snake. "Yes, Jiang Cheng, how could it have arms if it weren't a devil snake? Obviously a devil snake has to be unusual." He pats Huaisang on the shoulder. "Nie-xiong understands."

They can walk back together. Wei Wuxian enjoys the walk. Just three equally happy and carefree teenagers doing carefree things! What fun.

They return to the main covered walkways and buildings of Cloud Recesses.  

Jiang Cheng practically shoves Wei Wuxian over to their sister.  "You stay here.  I'll go make sure Master Lan knows you're back."

Wei Wuxian bounces over to Yanli. "Shijie, I'm sorry I made you worry! Are you feeling alright?"

"I am now that I know you're safe," she says, touching his shoulder as if needing to confirm it. 

"Perhaps you can tell me of your day while we eat?  I've been keeping a pot of soup ready, for when you returned."

He hugs her for extra confirmation, and then again for soup gratitude. "Aww, Shijie! You're too good to us." He will eagerly and not at all impatiently sit down for soup.

"It was a strange day. I went on a walk with Lan Wangji, he showed me around the back hills a little. Then we got a little stuck, somewhere. But not anywhere dangerous, so you don't need to worry. We were fine. Also Lady Wen checked me for injuries even when I said that I was clearly fine, and I was right!"

She can retrieve the soup and serve him a bowl.  

"I'm happy that you're getting along with your classmates and making friends.  Lan Wangji seems like a good person." 

Jiang Yanli remembers Lan Wangji as the one who allowed them in after their invitation was misplaced.  He had originally seemed a little cold, though many people did if they felt awkward or shy.  That he'd arranged for them to be allowed inside said a lot about his kindness.

She decides not to bring up that he's missed the day's lecture.  Surely A-Cheng had already done so, and Master Lan probably would the next time they meet.

Wei Wuxian appreciates being neither nagged about the lecture nor pressed on the details of his story. Shijie really is the best possible sister anyone could have.

And this is the best possible soup! Wei Wuxian starts slurping it down eagerly, pausing for enthusiastic praise and noises of enjoyment. Best soup. Best sister.

Wangji finds his brother in his public rooms, conveniently alone. "Brother."

"Wangji! I'm glad to see that you're back; we had everyone out looking for you and Young Master Wei. Are you alright?"

"We should have privacy."

"...ah." He raises his hand in front of his chest, concentrating for a moment to gather spiritual energy, and then flicks outward. The air ripples, and the shielding seals around the room. "Alright. We cannot be overheard. What happened, Wangji?"

Wangji takes the Yin metal out from his robes, delicately holding it between two fingers, and sets it quietly on Xichen's desk.

"How did you find this? Were you hurt? Do you know what this is?"

"Yin Metal fragment.

I found this in the Cold Pond Cave, where I went to retrieve it. Master Lan Yi provided it. Her hold over its containment had been weakening."

"You... went to retrieve it? Wangji, who told you about this?"

"I found it by accident eight years ago. A month from now. Brother, I found this and the Qishan Wen Clan went to war over it and we barely won. Many died. Other griefs came afterwards. Somehow I am now returned to the start of it. I remembered the arrival of Wen Clan during the Saluting Ceremony. I remembered Master Lan Yi and the Yin Metal."

He looks up to meet Xichen's eyes, to let his brother read the truth in his face the way he always seems to. "I remember things that come after."

Wangji is being truthful, he can tell. While he doesn't know precisely what it would look like if Wangji lied - Wangji has never lied to him, and he wouldn't ever expect him to - Xichen is very familiar with the look of Wangji withholding things from him, Wangji closing away information. That does not look like this.

And more than that he looks... different. He holds himself with less tension and yet more sorrow than Xichen is used to. The grief flickering in his eyes, Xichen recognizes. He has not seen it since Wangji was a child.

Wangji is still a child, really.  Apparently this is what it looks like after his child brother goes to war.

"Thank you for telling me," he says slowly. "You must feel very disoriented. A war... how long does it last?"

"Little over a year. We have only several months before the violence begins. Wen Ruohan possesses one shard of the Yin Iron already; you sent me to search for the others. Wen Chao beat us to one. We never determined the location of the fourth, but we initially believed it to be in Yueyang. When we arrived, the Yueyang Chang Sect had been slaughtered and the Yin Iron hidden.

The Wen Clan demanded that young disciples from every clan, including heirs, be sent to Qishan. They struck Qinghe and Gusu. The Qinghe Nie drove them off, at that time. Gusu Lan - did not. Six months from now, the Cloud Recesses burn."

"...burn."

"Wangji," he says, quiet and infuriatingly patient. "I know you know that you must tell me..."