"May I enter?"

"Mm."

"I just came from questioning our prisoner. The Wens have neither found Zewu-Jun nor heard word of him. Wen Chao claims that none of the survivors were killed after your surrender. Most have scattered. He does not know the whereabouts of your uncle, though it is possible that Wen Xu does."

"You believe him."

"Wen Chao is cowardly, and a poor liar."

This is true.

"Please believe that it is a personal priority of my own to find your brother and assist your sect."

She believes him. That doesn't really explain why he's here.

"Why did you come directly to tell me this?"

"Wen Chao also told me something sensitive, that I have made sure he will not repeat."

- she doesn't have a sword - they should've thought of this, why didn't she think of this - 

"It helped my mother to have a glass of wine, when this happened. I know it does not abide by Lan principles, but until I find your brother I have little else to offer." He holds out the gourd of wine.

- oh.

Yes. This makes a lot more sense. Lan Zhan makes herself breathe.

"My apologies if I've overstepped, Lan-guniang. I'll leave this here. Please send a servant for me if you have need of anything else." He doesn't step further into the room, gently setting the wine down and backing away.

He closes the door softly behind him.

It takes her an hour before she can move well enough to retrieve the wine gourd. That was a very nice gesture. She is ashamed to have reacted so poorly.

Lan Zhan places the wine down on her desk and stares at it. She wonders about Meng Yao's mother. She wonders about her own mother.

She pours herself a small cup.

Wei Ying returns a while later, in much better spirits. 

"Hi Lan Zhan, I'm back!" she says brightly, sliding the door open. 

Lan Zhan is on the floor, gazing up at the ceiling with lidded eyes. She blinks when she hears Wei Ying's voice.

"...Lan Zhan?"

Wow, is that Wei Ying. 

Wow.

Lan Zhan is on the floor and Wei Ying appears to not be on the floor and one of those things definitely has to change.  Lan Zhan sits up and sways groggily in place. She reaches out with one hand. "W'Ying."

Wei Ying sits down beside her. "Lan Zhan, are you okay???"

Oh good, Wei Ying is here. Excellent. Wonderful. Lan Zhan leans forward until she loses balance and slumps against Wei Ying entirely. "The rest... 's for you."

...She picks up the gourd and sniffs it. Wine. Oh. 

"You're drunk?" Like that one time Nie-xiong served wine in teacups and Lan Zhan accidentally drank some. Okay. That's not so bad. But: "Where did you get this?" The idea of Lan Zhan deliberately seeking out alcohol is bizarre. 

Oh, is it time to sniff things. Cool. Lan Zhan will sniff Wei Ying's neck, perhaps. "Mmmeng Yao."

"--Oh. That makes sense. Did he, um, tell you--I didn't think to threaten Wen Chao into silence, so he had to do it, I'm sorry I didn't think of it." 

"Mm." Yeah, that was. That was really bad. Wasn't Wei Ying's fault, though. Lan Zhan tries to communicate this by very slowly and gently patting Wei Ying's knee.

"Ah, Lan Zhan, you're so forgiving," she sighs.