Work Text:
Wei Ying skips along at A-Zhan’s side, holding A-Zhan’s hand firmly. Running was forbidden. A-Die had explained that it was sort of okay when the flagstone paths were dry during the summer but now that autumn had arrived with flaming maple leaves, apples getting rip everywhere, and rolling banks of fog enveloping the Cloud Recesses, the flagstones were too slippery for even sort-of-kind-of-maybe-not-accidental accidental running.
Skipping is okay, though, as long as Wei Ying hangs onto someone in case he slips. A-Zhan almost smiles as Wei Ying skips next to him. It’s more in the corners of his eyes than his mouth but that’s okay. That’s just the way A-Zhan is.
“It’s so pretty, A-Zhan,” Wei Ying says as they make their way from the creche where they’d been playing with the other little kids to A-Die’s office. “The fog makes everything so soft and dim.”
“Mm,” A-Zhan agrees with a firm little nod. “Snow is good, too. Very cold though. Wei Ying needs to wear more layers when the snow comes.”
“A-Die said the same thing,” Wei Ying says.
He counts the steps up to A-Die’s porch, six, then the steps to A-Die’s door, three, and knocks four times. It takes a count of five before A-Die opens the door and smiles down at the two of them.
“Thank you for coming so swiftly, A-Ying,” A-Die says, eyes warm and mustache twitching as he almost-smiled at A-Ying. “Please come in. Let me help you with your shoes.”
A-Zhan stands still, patiently lifting each foot so that A-Die can pull his shoes off. Wei Ying, of course, does not stand still because he pulls his own shoes off so that he can hand them to A-Die who smiles and pats Wei Ying’s head approvingly.
“We have guests,” A-Die says as he leads Wei Ying and A-Zhan into a small very pretty side room off of the big room where A-Die keeps all his sect leader paperwork, books and files that Wei Ying can’t read yet.
There are two people in pretty purple robes there, a man and a woman. The woman is very stern with sharp, narrow eyes and a mouth that looks like she’s about to start lecturing. Wei Ying pats his robes to make sure they’re in place the instant she looks at him. A-Zhan promptly checks Wei Ying’s ribbon and then his own, so A-Zhan clearly sees that she’s stern, too.
The man looks like the sketches A-Die has of Baba. His face is a little rounder, less of a square chin that Baba had, but he had the same eyes and the same cheeks and the same nose and a sad little smile as he gazes at Wei Ying that make Wei Ying shiver into his dragon shape so that he can swarm right up onto A-Die’s shoulder.
“This is Jiang Fengmian and his wife Yu Ziyuan,” A-Die says to introduce them. “They are your shushu and shumu. Jiang Fengmian searched for you every day after your parents died. He did not find you because he did not think to look in the woods.”
“Oh,” Wei Ying says as he shifts back and sits between A-Die who rubs circles on Wei Ying’s back and A-Zhan who promptly grabs Wei Ying’s hand so that he can cling while glaring furiously at both Shushu Fengmian and Shumu Ziyuan.
“We saw you several months ago before a discussion conference, A-Ying,” Shushu Fengmian says with a sad look but a gentle smile that’s the exact opposite of Shumu Ziyuan’s. “It was very clear that you’re happy here so we talked to your A-Die who suggested that perhaps your new family could come visit once the summer heat broke. Lotus Pier is hot much like Yiling in the summer, but with much worse humidity.”
“Worse?” Wei Ying says, horrified.
“Much,” Shumu Ziyuan says, huffing a little and shifting like she was a swan or a goose or something settling on her nest. “I’ve yet to fully adjust to the humidity and I’ve lived there for decades now.”
Wei Ying looks up at A-Die who smiled the tiniest smile he has, the one that barely wrinkles the corners of his eyes while his eyes go warm and his mustache twitches up just a little bit at the corners of his mouth.
“Can A-Zhan come, too?” Wei Ying asks hopefully.
“I’ve already spoken to my brother and his wife,” A-Die says, patting Wei Ying’s back. “They agree that it would be good for A-Huan and A-Zhan to see other places. If you want to go visit, they will come along, too.”
“We have two children of our own,” Shushu Fengmian says as if he has to entice Wei Ying to visit, which is silly now that Wei Ying knows that A-Zhan can come along. “They’ve been told of you, and they’re quite interested to meet you.”
“Our daughter Jiang Yanli is Lan Huan’s age,” Shumu Ziyuan explains with a fond roll of her eyes at Shushu Fengmian’s failure to tell Wei Ying anything about his cousins. “She takes after Fengmian very strongly so she’s a Mandarin duck. Our son Jiang Cheng is a year younger than you, Wei Ying. He takes after me, so we’re fairly certain he will be a goose like me. His core isn’t quite strong enough for him to shift yet.”
Wei Ying grins at her, bouncing on his cushion in excitement. “I thought you looked like a swan or a goose! You’re so fierce!”
Her narrow little glare turns utterly smug, only getting worse when Shushu Fengmian smiles at her like he’s utterly besotted with her. It’s so cute. They’re so cute! Wei Ying can’t, he just can’t!
He collapses into A-Zhan’s side, squealing quietly and wiggling at how cute the two of them are together. A-Zhan hums happily as he pulls Wei Ying almost all the way into his lap which of course means that Wei Ying has to change into a noodle and wrap around his neck.
“Oh, my,” Shumu Ziyuan murmurs, fingertips of one hand pressing against her lips as if she doesn’t want her smile to show. “Really?”
A-Die chuckles. “Really. A-Ying and A-Zhan have been fast friends from the moment they met.”
“He’s the cutest, softest, prettiest, most perfect baby of a floof of a bunny ever,” Wei Ying says, giggling.
A-Zhan huffs, patting Wei Ying as he stares up at A-Die with his most serious expression. “Sharks, Shufu?”
“The sharks leave the river during the autumn,” Shushu Fengmian says so promptly and so firmly that A-Die must have discussed the whole tiger sharks in the river around Yiling thing that still upset A-Zhan every time he thought about it. “The baby sharks are already moving out to the ocean. By the time you visit, there should be no sharks at all.”
“Mm,” A-Zhan hums, leveling his most suspicious don’t-believe-you look at Shushu Fengmian. “…Okay.”
Shushu Fengmian’s eyes wrinkle up as he tries really hard not to smile at how adorable A-Zhan is when he’s all suspicious. Wei Ying snuggles down into A-Zhan’s collars so that A-Zhan won’t grab Shushu Fengmian’s arm and bite him the way he did with Nie Mingjue’s arm when he visited last month.
A-Zhan gets very bitey when he thinks people aren’t taking Wei Ying’s safety seriously enough.
“A-Die, when will we go?” Wei Ying asks, snout poking out of A-Zhan’s collar because he knows just how cute it is and how quickly grown-ups cave when he does that.
“Tomorrow,” A-Die says with his widest almost-smile and a fond chuckle. “Why don’t the two of you go tell A-Huan? You know how he frets if someone else packs things.”
“We can do that!” Wei Ying says, waving the tip of his tail at his new Shushu and Shumu. “Thank you for inviting us!”
“You’re family, Wei Ying,” Shushu Fengmian says with an actually happy smile instead of a sad smile trying to pretend to be happy. “No matter where you go or what you do, you’re always welcome at Lotus Pier.”
Wei Ying squeaks and hides under A-Zhan’s collar because that’s too nice and it makes him feel too many emotions that are too big without hiding. Which is fine. A-Die says that Wei Ying can hide in collars whenever his emotions are too big for him. But hiding in A-Zhan’s collars is much better than anyone else’s so Wei Ying stays there until A-Die sends them off to tell A-Huan about their upcoming trip.
“I hope they’re nice,” Wei Ying comments as A-Zhan makes his way across the Cloud Recesses through the cool, damp fog.
“Better be,” A-Zhan huffs, stomping one foot. “If they’re not, I’ll bite them.”
Wei Ying laughs and hugs A-Zhan with all the strength of his noodle body. “Thank you, A-Zhan.”