time-travelling xichen is king of the babies
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"Meng-guniang?"

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She straightens A-Yao's hat and picks up their bag. "We are ready, my lady."

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A few hours of hanging out in the main room of the inn sifting for gossip reveals nothing useful. Xichen knows that his mom is stressed about the possibility of talking to Sect Leader Jiang and hugs her about it. 

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She is very stressed about that possibility, and she is very stressed out sitting in this main room with so many people passing by in so many directions. The hug is appreciated and met with a slightly strained smile.

Lihua keeps one arm wrapped tight around A-Zhan and one hand clenched on the hilt of her sword. She trusts A-Huan to be paying sufficient attention to what nearby people are saying because she cannot actually concentrate on any words herself.

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He listens and hugs her and eventually pulls her outside where there aren't so many people. 

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She hugs him close and tries to breathe properly. "Thank you, A-Huan. Did you. Find -- hear, anything?"

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"No, Mommy. Mommy, if it affects you this much, wouldn't it be better to ask Sect Leader Jiang and get it over with?"

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She strokes his hair and inhales shakily. "Mm. You're. Very smart, A-Huan. Good boy." She sounds miserable about it. Kisses him gently on the forehead. "We - we should go. Yes."

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"Let's stop somewhere in-between where there aren't other people first so you can calm down. You're shaking, Mommy." 

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So she is. Inconvenient.

"Yes. Yes, you're right. We should - do that. Hold your brother for me for a moment, sweetheart."

She passes A-Zhan to A-Huan and unsheathes her sword. It takes her a little while to get it ready to mount; she keeps checking behind her and every direction around her, double and triple checking. 

Lihua grits her death, forcing herself to fucking focus, and offers Meng-guniang her hand.

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Hand offering is unexpected and a little flustering! She blushes and accepts the help onto the sword, murmuring her thanks. A-Yao is passed up to her and she balances him on her hip.

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And then she climbs on and scoops up her children and their bag and they can LEAVE.

 

She isn't keeping track of exactly where she's going other than Approximately West, but that's fine. The further they get from the town, the more her thoughts clear. Once they pass over the crest of a low hill and she sees no other villages in sight beyond it, she touches down and lets everyone off to rest.

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TIME FOR MOMMY HUGS. He doesn't think A-Zhan needs prompting to hug Mommy too but he's ready to give such a prompt if he's wrong. 

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He's not wrong at all!!! A-Zhan will hug Mommy as best as he can, even though his arms are shorter than Brother's and he can't reach around her all the way.

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She folds the three of them down to the grass and clings to her children, who are safe and perfect and hers.

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She lightly scolds A-Yao for watching them during their emotional moment and then busies herself pulling water out of the bags for everyone to drink.

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"We love you, Mommy. We love you so so so much." 

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HUG. "Mommy loves you too," she whispers. "I love you so much."

She stops shaking after about fifteen minutes of clinging. They can keep going, now. She is calm enough to fly well.

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Xichen watches her VERY CAREFULLY for signs of incipient shaking. 

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There isn't any shaking!

There are signs of increasing weariness, but it doesn't affect her maneuvering of the sword at all. They can make it to Yunmeng without any collapses.

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"Maybe you should rest first, Mommy. If Sect Leader Jiang sees how tired you are he might notice it, and it would be better if he notices as few things about you as possible. And he might try to be hospitable, and refusing would be noticeable too." 

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Those are, frustratingly, some good points. She wants to get this over with badly, but her body is still ludicrously weak. 

She sits down and opens her arms to invite A-Huan into her lap. "Is there anything else I should know about Sect Leader Jiang, or ways I should behave at Lotus Pier?" 

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"Sect Leader Jiang is easygoing and nonconfrontational; his wife is not. Tell him you're an acquaintance of Cangse-sanren's who wants her advice on a case. Don't do anything to imply they were sleeping together, especially if his wife is in the room. If she snaps at you, don't argue even if she's wrong. If he tries to offer to let you stay even if you don't look tired, say you're going to meet someone and they'll worry if you're late." 

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That's all reasonably straight forward. This will probably be fine, unless Lan disciples are there, in which case it will not be fine.

For now she'll rest and try not to think about it.

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