She has no idea what she's going to do if the war lasts more than five months. She isn't not going to fight, but she will probably be worse at it. 

She leans against Wei Ying.

Cuddlecuddlecuddle. "I love you, Lan Zhan." 

"I love you."

And then maybe she'll just cry on her for a little bit.

That is so extremely reasonable!!!

Wei Ying really wishes Meng Yao or Lan Xichen were here, it would probably be useful to have the perspective of someone who is definitely an adult and knows what's really going on. 

"...Maybe we could say it was a magical accident?" she ventures eventually. "While I was working on developing new talismans. Instead of us being dumb." 

"That is better." Squeeze. "Wei Ying is clever."

"Hee, I am." Snuggle. "If I can actually develop a talisman that at least in theory could do it, then I can reverse-engineer that to figure out what I should have been trying to do when it happened." 

"Mm." Snugglesnuggle. Lan Zhan is still not in a good state of mind, but she feels like some of the weight on her has been lifted. Wei Ying is an excellent teddy bear.

Snugglesnuggle. Wei Ying is the most dedicated teddy bear. 

"I should probably stop going on scouting runs. Talisman development time is more valuable." 

"Yes." Relief! Wei Ying is perfectly capable, but Lan Zhan still hates it when she goes out into danger without her.

"It's not that I haven't been taking things seriously, but--well. There's a deadline now." 

Cling. "What are you working on?"

"Well, you vetoed that modification to the talisman that burns to alert you of resentful energy, so I'm finding some other way to make really big explosions. And this would probably be easier if I had Zidian at hand to study, but I've had some ideas involving lightning. And I've been testing something that's supposed to disorient large groups but so far it just makes people hallucinate the smell of jasmine. And I've been trying to figure out an array that will temporarily make the ground behave like a liquid within its boundaries but no joy there so far. Also I've been working on adding a time-delay function to talismans so you can put them on an arrow, fire the arrow, and then activate it when it hits its target or in midair."

Squeeze. "Would the lightning come from the sky?"

"Oh, no, Zidian wouldn't be nearly so useful a reference for that. If I was going to do that, I'd--oh hmm..." she says, and dives for paper to scribble down her thoughts. 

Lan Zhan watches her work and pets her hair. When after a few minutes it reaches nine in the evening, she falls asleep on Wei Ying's shoulder.

Aw! Aww! Awww!

Wei Ying has the cutest fiancee ever. 

Wei Ying continues to cuddle Lan Zhan sitting up until it gets to a time that she feels is appropriate for going to sleep, then carefully picks up Lan Zhan and carries her to the bed. 

If Lan Zhan were awake she would find this incredibly romantic and might have to write more love songs about it.

But tragically, she is asleep and cannot properly appreciate how adorable this moment is.

Wei Ying tucks her in and snuggles up and goes to sleep, one hand resting gently on Lan Zhan's stomach. 

They continue collecting scouting reports on Wen activity. They manage to intercept a few communications; Nightless City has no idea what happened to Wen Xu although the fact that he was supposed to have left Lotus Pier not too long before the "visiting disciples" "spontaneously rebelled and fled" is noted. The contingent at Lotus Pier is not above suspicion, however, and are consequently being exchanged out on a schedule they can take advantage of to reclaim Lotus Pier when the number of Wen "defenders" is minimal. 

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan have a brief argument in which Wei Ying wants Lan Zhan to stay behind on the grounds of her condition and Lan Zhan refuses unless Wei Ying also stays behind. Wei Ying gives in when Lan Zhan points out that she has a right to personally address the wrongs done to her own sect, although she does worry-snuggle Lan Zhan about it kind of a lot. 

Taking back Lotus Pier is easier than taking back Cloud Recesses was in some ways and harder in others. They have fewer adults, fewer fully-trained cultivators on their side. But Wei Ying has had some very motivated talisman development time since then. 

"Lan Zhan, I want to go back to the front right away so we can get this stupid war over sooner rather than later," Wei Ying says once the dust has settled. "But if I skip out on cleanup without telling A-Cheng why, it'll upset him. Is it okay if I tell him."

"You may. Have you told him we intend to wed?"

"Not in more specific detail than you overheard that one time when I told him about us in the first place. A war really isn't the best time for a wedding, so, I couldn't really figure out how to say it without the, uh, context." 

"I agree. Should I accompany you?"

"Yeah, if you're willing. Otherwise he might think I was joking initially. I would say something ridiculous like that if it were in fact ridiculous and not true, I have to admit." 

Then she will come.

"A-Cheng, I know you want me to stick around and help rebuild, and honestly, I want me to stick around and help rebuild, but instead of that, I have to go back to the front immediately."