"- my apologies. I am glad that nothing went awry; I will avoid repeating the mistake. How is Lan-guniang doing?"

"Better. She's--still flinchy, about some things, but she's--I can make her smile. I mean probably you wouldn't realize she's smiling, she can be hard to read if you don't know her as well, but she's--somehow, even now, I can make her happy. That's the greatest blessing I've ever received, I think." 

"Lan-guniang is lucky to have a friend who cares so deeply for her. You seemed very happy this morning; I was glad for you both." He won't ask about their relationship. He doesn't actually think he has to. 

"Eheh, the wine last night did sort of help us get over a small communication gap." 

He laughs. "It relieves me that my misstep could bear such fruits. Congratulations. - oh, this reminds me. I have not yet visited Wen Chao today. Is there any aspect of his condition that I should know to expect?"

"Eh, if you're going to contuse an area, check it for wounds first so you don't cause more bleeding than you were planning to. Also, sour fruit juices are an excellent way of increasing pain to damage ratio." 

He smiles. "I will keep this in mind."

She grins and bows to him and leaves. 

Her "disguise," which she dons when they leave two days later, consists of a dark grey dress with red detailing, a hairstyle unlike what she usually wears, and a red-and-black opera mask. 

Wei Ying looks very beautiful like this and Lan Zhan will kiss her about it before they depart.

"How, um--open about this do you want to be--I can avoid kissing you in front of other people if you need me to although I really can't make any promises about how I look at you--"

“It will draw too much attention to your disguise. After the war...” Kiss.

Kiss. "After the war," she promises. 

The mask does a good job disguising the adoring looks, too. 

They travel mostly at night, skirting around Lanling because Jin Guangshan really cannot be trusted. 

According to their plans, it would take a week of cautious traveling to reach the Cloud Recesses. It takes them longer than that; Wen patrols are crawling over the land like ants.

Mostly by being slow and careful they're able to avoid notice, but there is an unfortunate incident where one member of a Wen patrol literally trips and falls into their hidden campsite during the day while they're sleeping. The man falls on top of Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, which results in Wei Ying running him through with Wen Chao's sword in a NOBODY FUCKING TOUCHES LAN ZHAN WITHOUT HER PERMISSION BUT ESPECIALLY NOT MEN rage, but not before his yells brought the rest of his patrol down on the travelers. 

Unexpected man falling on her while she's asleep: TERRIBLE and terrifying and disorienting and AAAAAAAAA

- on the bright side, an engaging sword fight is honestly the most therapeutic thing that could happen directly after such an incident; even with her leg not entirely healed, Lan Zhan finds an intense bout of sword fighting very calming.

The rest of the Wen patrol meet their ends very quickly.

"Are you okay???" Wei Ying wants to know as soon as all the immediate Wen soldiers are dead. 

Lan Zhan responds to this by holding Wei Ying very tightly and burying her face in her hair.

She kind of isn't okay. Now that the fight is over, her body has decided it can go back to being scared again: muscles all locked up and jittery. This is inconvenient and embarrassing.

That sounds like something she should respond to with snuggles and hairpetting and back rubbing and soft humming. 

All of these things are appreciated.

Nothing happened. There is nothing to have been afraid of. This is absurd.

Lan Zhan clings to her Wei Ying. She is remembering lots of unpleasant things right now, but Wei Ying is the only thing she actually sees or feels or hears. She focuses on that. Wei Ying is very good and Lan Zhan is very safe. After more time than she would like, she finally stops trembling.

"Apologies. We should move."

"Lan Zhan, would you think I needed to apologize if it had been a dog?"

Well in that case the thing Wei Ying is frightened of would actually be there, and nothing was actually here, now, was it?

"Mmm."

False, there was totally an actual man that actually fell on top of her. 

"Yeah, let's move out," she sighs. 

They do not immediately head in the direction they had been going to that night; someone's going to notice the missing patrol sooner or later and find the bodies, better to leave as little evidence as possible as to their actual destination and trajectory and identity. 

They reroute to loop around south of their initial path. It will take them the rest of the night and early morning to get back on track, this way, but everyone agrees that this is a priority.

Lan Zhan's leg is acting up after being fallen on by an armored man in combination with some heated combat and all this additional walking. Luckily, she is already getting to cling to human-crutch Wei Ying and no one has to notice.

Wei Ying notices!!! And worries. But she doesn't let on to anyone besides Lan Zhan, just makes sure she doesn't have to use the leg more than absolutely necessary and gives her gentle pets and squeezes.