"It's hard for me to say...you're the first visitors I've had since I first came here. I don't know anything about this Wen Ruohan besides what the two of you have said. But yes, if he is the type to actually use the Yin Iron as Xue Chonghai did, I would say that we are." 

"He's so extremely the type." 

Lan Zhan takes the piece of Yin Iron from Master Lan Yi; it burns under her fingertips, colder and more unpleasant than ice.

She shivers and tucks the Iron away into the depths of her sleeve. "We must tell Brother right away."

"Yep. Ugh, Jiejie is gonna freak out so much." 

"I can keep the guqin from attacking, but that won't let you through the wards again, unless whatever brought you here acts again, Wen Ying." 

"Are you saying I have to stay here forever because I'm not a Lan?"

"No. The clan adopts sometimes, after all. It's not tied to the bloodlines. It's tied to the ribbon." 

She quirks a very subtle eyebrow and twitch of the lips at her descendant. 

Is. 

Is she really allowed -- supposed to -- 

Is Master Lan Yi going to officiate -- 

Lan Zhan spreads her arms and glides through the air, descending back into the freezing water beside Wen Ying. She gives Lan Yi plenty of time to leave, or to change her mind and order Lan Zhan to stop, or to -- start instructing them through marriage rights --

She isn't thinking straight. This is inappropriate on so many levels. Lan Zhan isn't dressed appropriately at all in only her sopping wet inner robe. (Wen Ying's robes are also wet, and also white, and Lan Zhan is very very very carefully not looking anywhere near her chest but she can feel her ears burn all the same.)

(She doesn't avoid looking at Wen Ying's face, which is a mistake. There's snow on her eyelashes and her lips are dark from cold. Lan Zhan can't breathe.)

Master Lan Yi isn't stopping her. Lan Zhan pulls her headband loose and loops it around her wrist, once, twice, three loops.

Three loops of the other end around Wen Ying's wrist.

"Ah! Thanks!" she says brightly, COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS to the context. 

Lan Yi takes her hand off the guqin. It does not wallop Wen Ying again. 

Good, because Lan Zhan is busy being walloped enough for the both of them.

"Kinda wish I'd thought of this earlier, I could've saved a few dunkings," she says cheerfully. "Which way is out?" 

She points. 

"Thanks!" 

Possibly this smile isn't going to help Lan Zhan's wallopedness quotient. 

"C'mon," she says, making her way in that direction and tugging on the ribbon to get Lan Zhan to follow her. 

That smile doesn't help at all and the tugging on her bound wrist helps even less and it's all that Lan Zhan can do to stumble dazedly after her.

The passage turns out to be narrow enough at the other end that some pushing is needed to get through, pushing that ends with Wen Ying falling on top of Lan Zhan as they make it out. 

"Ah! Sunlight!" 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Lan Zhan...the sun is higher in the sky than it was when we went in," Wen Ying says slowly. "Is my time sense completely off or were we not in there long enough that it should be morning again." 

Lan Zhan fails to process a single one of these words.

"-- Wen-er guniang?

Oh - Wen-er guniang! Lan-guniang! You're okay, are you okay!" Mianmian dashes down the path towards them.

oh no

"We're fine!" she says, getting up off of Lan Zhan and starting to unwind the ribbon from around her wrist. "How long have we been missing?"

(Oh no she isn't supposed to unwind it yet! What about -- Lan Zhan is really unsure about when and how the deflowering is supposed to transpire under these circumstances but the ribbon is definitely supposed to still be on --

-- what is she thinking, there isn't going to be any deflowering, Wen Ying is either clueless about the ribbon or she doesn't care at all, but either way -- they didn't even do their bows, is this a real marriage, why didn't Lan Zhan ASK MASTER LAN YI FOR CLARIFICATION -- 

-- is this what being drunk is like, this must be what it's like, Lan Zhan has never felt so stupid and dizzy at once in her entire life --

-- Focus -- 

Wen Ying's breasts were just right on top of hers and her body was warm --)

"All night and morning!! Classes were cancelled when you didn't show up so that everyone could search around, Grand Master Lan seemed really worried -- everyone was really worried! Where did you both go, Wen-er guniang?"

"We accidentally got stuck in a weird cave and it took us a while to get out."