UGH. Okay then she can have two more chains just for her this time, and Wen Xu dives towards her right after them.

"You do not get to touch her ever again," she hisses, destroying the other two chains and parrying his sword. 

He bares his teeth, feints to one side and then swings his sword around from a new angle. If he has to be disadvantaged in this fight by emotion over his father's death, she certainly deserves to be disadvantaged as well. "It's a little late, A-Ying --" jab "-- do you know, we took bets on who could make her cry, first --"

"Fascinating. Tell me all about who you made these bets with and who won, it'll be very useful when I'm trying your accomplices later on," she says coldly. Block. Parry, deflect--

"You aren't going to be trying anyone. I'm gonna put your head on a spike outside my palace --" She's moving defensively, Wen Xu takes that as a good sign. He tries slicing at her neck.

She sidesteps smoothly, fluidly converting the motion into her own whirling strike. 

"Oh, please. Even if you do manage to kill me here, you're no Wen Ruohan. You can't keep the Wen Sect safe from all the gratuitous enemies you've helped him make. And you can't disavow him. I've been making friends and doing damage control. I can keep our people safe, by cutting out the rot like you. Your father was a madman and your brother a fool. There's only so far you can push someone before they hate you more than they fear you, and even if I hadn't put him down now, someone was going to manage it eventually. The only question was how much damage you guys were going to do on your way out. Even if I die here, it'll be that much less blood and death between here and your fall than if I hadn't acted at all, that many fewer innocent lives lost." 

Okay but consider: he doesn't give a fuck about any of that.

He dodges, but not quickly enough -- he yelps furiously as her sword slices across his shoulder.

She bets she knows something he does care about, though. 

"I've already done two-thirds of the work, by headcount, after all," she taunts. "At least they both died as they lived: Wen Ruohan fucking with forces he should've left alone, and Wen Chao whining like the little bitch he was." 

He stumbles. "You--"

She cuts a slashing red line across his chest. 

"I tried to convince him not to make me kill him, but he just wouldn't listen to reason," she tsks. "There was only so much damage I could let him do. And he never did have the brains not to smash everything he ever stumbled into, hm? You'd think he didn't have a big brother to teach him better." 

OW, FUCKER --

He staggers backward and lunges again, shouting in fury. 

"Seriously, if he meant so much to you you'd think you would have taught him...anything...ever..." She skips lightly out of the way. 

"Shut the fuck up." He pulls back, readying himself to lunge again, teeth bared and bloody -

And then he chokes, and spits blood, and there is a sword point stabbing out from the center of his torso.

She shoves him to the ground, Bichen still speared through him.

Sways precariously. 

"Lan Zhan!" 

Wen Ying hastily sheaths her sword and steps forward to support her wife. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Mhm." She's in a lot of pain, again, but Wen Ying is unhurt and so Lan Zhan is very okay.  She slumps forward for a kiss.

Kiss kiss. 

"Tell me how he hurt you," she says in a low voice, hands skimming ever-so-lightly over Lan Zhan's ribs. 

It turns out that Lan Zhan is able to appreciate Wen Ying touching and speaking to her like that even through large amounts of pain.

"M'Ribs hurt. Worse to breathe," she murmurs. She cannot tell whether a third rib has been broken. Pain has wound tight and hot around her entire chest. "I hit my head, it seems not too badly."

Can Lan Zhan get more kisses for being honest about her injuries this time, she thinks that deserves more kisses.

She can ABSOLUTELY get more kisses. So many more kisses. 

"I'm so sorry," she whispers. Kiss kiss. "I promised you'd be safe from him." 

"Not Wen Ying's fault." Kiss kiss. "We are safe from him now."

"Safe from all of them." Kiss kiss. "Oh, Lan Zhan, I was so scared when you hit that tree--" Kiss kiss kiss. "I love you so much, I was so worried for you." 

Lan Zhan sighs and rests her head on her wife's shoulder. Nods. "I'm sorry for scaring you, love. I love you very much."

"...Wen Ying was very attractive, that angry."

Wen Ying blushes. "Ehehe, you think so?" 

She blushes too. "The way you cut apart the chains. Was..."

Honestly worth getting slammed into any number of surfaces.

Time For More Kisses Now.