Her breathing evens out some. But it does not stop. 

She's so so warm, and the cave is cold. 

Very, very cold. Lan Zhan notices and appreciates Wei Ying's warmth. Appreciates it more the more she slumps over on top of her, shivering. The shivering has gotten worse, which is disappointing. It isn't very proper to twitch indulgently about.

Everything hurts except where they hold each other. Everything is cold except where they touch.

Jiang Cheng still doesn't like the stupid peacock. But he can appreciate that Koi Tower is closer than Lotus Pier, and that while the Jin sect heir has many faults, failing to comprehend how awful the Wen sect is being isn't one of them. 

He doesn't have to forgive the peacock for what he said about A-Jie in order to be grateful when he grabs enough retainers to move a boulder and rushes back to the mountain with Jiang Cheng. 

(A-Jie's honor is of paramount importance, but it doesn't hold a candle to Shijie's life.) 

They find Shijie and Lan Zhan unconscious, in very bad shape, and clutching each other yards from a pool that now contains a very, very dead horrible monster. 

The first order of business is to get them out of the horrible cave, and their wounds cleaned and bandaged.

Then there's nothing they can do but keep guard against Wen patrols and wait for the girls to wake up and be well enough to be moved. 

Wei Ying wakes up first. Once the fever breaks, she really is mostly fine, at least compared to Lan Zhan's hideous array of injuries. 

"A-Cheng?" she croaks. 

He's at her side in an instant. 

"You idiot, you could've died," he chokes. "How am I supposed to explain to A-Jie if I come home without you?"

She pats his cheek. "I'm sorry, A-Cheng. But I didn't die! It'll be alright." 

She glances around and relaxes fractionally when she sees Lan Zhan, then tenses again when she sees that the other girl is still unconscious with the weight of her wounds. "Is she--" 

"She'll be fine. Eventually. Probably. I'm more worried about you." 

Pout. "You always worry about me."

"You always make me!!!"

Sigh. 

"If you think you're alright to travel, we should go home." 

"--We have to bring Lan Zhan. It's because of her that I'm not way more badly hurt, and--it's not like she can go back to Gusu to recover."

"Fine." 

The two of them make goodbyes to the Jins (APPROPRIATELY GRATEFUL ones, Shijie, I know he's a stupid peacock but if he hadn't helped I might not have made it back in time--) and set off. 

Lan Zhan wakes gradually, painfully. The world is dim and fuzzy and does not immediately contain Wei Ying within her line of sight, which she finds profoundly distressing. Lan Zhan tries to sit up.

"Lan Zhan! Careful!" 

Oh look, there's Wei Ying!

"Your wounds haven't healed yet, you really don't want to put weight on, uh, anything." 

"Wei Ying," she whispers. "You..."

Hug. 

"I'm okay," she murmurs. "A-Cheng didn't go back to Lotus Pier, the peacock brought him back to Koi Tower with him and then came back with help from there. He's not all bad, I guess. But they got back faster than I thought, and--it was fast enough." Snuggle snuggle. "We're headed to Lotus Pier now." 

Lan Zhan hugs Wei Ying back with one arm. The other doesn't seem to be cooperating very well. "No," she mumbles. "'must return to Gusu..."

"Lan Zhan, you need to rest and recover."

She tries to sit up again, hisses through her teeth. "I am needed."

Wei Ying obstructs this by snuggling her some more. 

"Your sect needs you well more than they need you now," she says firmly. "If I had let you get yourself killed covering my escape back in the cave they wouldn't have you at all. If you get yourself killed now then they still won't have you." 

The snuggling obstruction is pretty effective! Lan Zhan sighs, eyelids drooping miserably. 

Snuggle snuggle pet pet. 

"We got out of that stupid cave," she murmurs. "We'll get through this, too."

Gentle forehead-kiss. 

"...If I can, I'll come and help."

Lan Zhan reaches out for her hand. "How close are we to Lotus Pier?"

Wei Ying takes her hand and squeezes it. 

"A couple of days."

She presses her lips together.

"Travel is obnoxiously slow without swords." Pet pet pet.