Ooh! 

The flower petals against the blue sky are gorgeous. 

And Lan Zhan amidst a flurry of petals is even more gorgeous than regular Lan Zhan, which Wen Ying had not previously been confident was possible. 

Lan Zhan, gazing up in peaceful awe at the beautiful petal shower, does not notice Wei Ying staring. 

But Wen Qing does. “Nice flowers, hm?”

"Yep. Gorgeous flowers." 

Something passes overhead that is not a gorgeous flower and is, in fact, an ominous spooky bird. The Yin Iron pulses colder in its pouch, grabbing Lan Zhan’s attention away from the flower show.

"Let's get to the Flower Lady's house now." 

They definitely should. Wen Qing quickly asks someone for directions; the house is just up those hills right over there.

Lan Zhan leads the way, Yin Iron pouch clenched tight in her fist.

A servant greets them when they arrive. 

"Are these ones here for the poetry reading?"

"No," Wei Ying says firmly. (Alas) "We need to speak to the Flower Lady urgently about the Yin Iron." 

The servant blinks. "I...will inquire of her." 

A few minutes later a slightly older woman comes to the door, eyeing their group critically. 

"You all seem a bit young to be sect leaders," she observes. 

Deep bow. "It is an honor, Lady Florist. Are we supposed to be sect leaders?"

"That's who was supposed to know about the Yin Iron, last I heard." 

"We were sent by Sect Leader Lan."

"Master Lan Yi's protection over the piece in Cloud Recesses weakened. Sect Leader Wen seeks the other fragments."

"We are trying to collect the remaining two pieces before Wen Ruohan can."

"And yet three of you are Wens." 

"We're double-agenting. I'm planning a coup." 

She laughs. "Well, alright then. Come inside and we can talk." 

A coup???????

Nie Huaisang doesn't have the necessary context for any of this, but it all seems quite exciting to hear about and he really wants to see the pretty gardens, so of course he'll stick with them for now.

She bows and leads everyone else through the doors.

"Wow, your gardens are amazing! No wonder they call you the Flower Lady." 

"Oh, it's, you know, something to pass the time. Nobody needs to know as much about flowers as I've figured out," she laughs softly. 

She leads them to a receiving room with a table and pours everyone tea. The tea is very fragrant and might smell just a little bit like some of the flowers. 

"Now. Tell me everything that's happened so far." 

Wen Ying considers that she and Lan Zhan are the ones who were around for most of what happened at Cloud Recesses, and considers Lan Zhan's taciturn nature, and the fact that she was around for the incident on the mountain all those years ago, and launches into an expository narrative that catches the Flower Lady up with everything anyone who's reading this thread would know. 

The Flower Lady sips her tea. 

"Interesting. That would explain the owl." 

Huaisang appreciates being filled in!!! Now he can stop pretending that he knows what the fuck is going on when he does not, and instead focus on pretending that he is absolutely supposed to be here and on this mission and knowing these things when he is not.

"The owl means that Wen Chao is near. He might soon come here and attack you."