Wen Tang Changpu and Wen Qing leave the next day with little fanfare, promising to visit again before the Lan Cultivation conference. As soon as they go, Lan Qiren asks Wei Ying to replicate the freezing talisman he drew a few months ago. Wei Ying complies, already guessing why the old man wants them.

Then, Lan Qiren calls for four of his fastest sword fliers and tasks them with the mission to bring back at least four of the special leaves that provide sustenance for a year, advising them to use the freezing talismans to ensure their freshness.

They only have to wait a week, during which time Wei Ying comes up with the notion to use a battery in the containment array, using it to concentrate the amount of spiritual energy it can hoard before distributing it equally across the array. The battery means he can cut a significant portion of Cultivators out of his equation.

When the scouts return, the children are gathered and taken to a special series of buildings without any windows. Ventilation is provided through strategic holes in the walls, enough to allow a constant fluctuation of air but also to minimise distractions. This allows the occupants of the rooms to be able to cultivate and use meditation to the best of their abilities.

The children have already said a fond farewell to Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze, for once, allowing themselves to be kissed and loved unlimitedly. Now, they just have to say goodbye to Uncle Qiren.

He crouches down and offers each boy one leaf. Wei Ying's freezing talisman allowed the leaves to remain fresh and tasty, just as green as the day they were plucked from the tree.

Then he hugs A-Huan and wishes him well. If A-Huan clings to him a little longer then that's just between the two of them. A-Huan waves at everyone before entering the first room. When his door closes, Lan Qiren does the same for Xue Yang, who honestly wasn't expecting a hug and had resigned himself to a cold farewell.

"Remember, concentration is imperative. Here," Lan Qiren presses a warm finger to the centre of his body, where his dantian is, "here," he moves the finger to the centre of his forehead where the third eye is, "and here," he presses at the crown of Xue Yang's head. "It is all about learning yourself, learning how to channel your own unique brand of energy to move through your meridians and to collect at these strategic places. Think of it like a water cannon, where you need to build up the supply of water enough to be able to shoot it specifically at a target. You will know what to do next."

Xue Yang gives him two finger guns. "I like the sound of that," he grins as he saunters away, murmuring words like, "shooting" and "targets".

"That boy...far too cocky for his own good," he mutters fondly, staring until Xue Yang disappears behind closed doors.

He's become quite charmed by the young boy recently, endeared by his inquisitive nature and eager questions, though the penchant for murder is mildly disturbing. Hopefully, this secluded meditation will help him control those urges, even though Lan Qiren can understand wanting to shut people up permanently. It goes hand-in-hand with the job of being a Sect Leader, acting or otherwise.

Then he turns to the last two.

"I suppose you both will need only one room." It's a statement, not a question.

"Mn." Lan Zhan grabs Wei Ying's hand for good measure.

"We can meditate together," Wei Ying agrees.

"Someone will take your laundry and leave fresh clothes every day. There will be provisions should you need them, including water."

"Yes, Shufu."

"Yes, Shifu."

They both bow together, and that's when Lan Qiren can't take it any more. He crouches again and takes both of them into his arms, hugging them fiercely.

"I can't make my mind up about whether to treat you as kids or adults because neither seems right. But both of you are equally important to me. Let there be no doubts about that."

Wei Ying pats his shoulder because really, what else can he say?

Then, hand in hand, both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying enter the third room.

Lan Qiren waits until they close the door before turning around and going back to see his friends. Work is waiting for him, but it will still be waiting later, and at the moment, he needs company to expel his melancholy. He never would have admitted this, but without the children, life will be a whole lot quieter.

**************

The first week passes and Lan Qiren has taken to walking past the seclusion area first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It is lonely sleeping in the Hanshi by himself, so when Cangse Sanren urged him to lay down a bedroll in their guest house, he agreed without an argument.

She's taken apart the rules so many times that Lan Qiren wonders what his ancestors were thinking, writing so many of them out, and then not content with paper, carving them into stone? When so many of them are blatantly contradictory to each other. Whenever Cangse Sanren thinks he's brooding, she will purposefully say something incendiary, riling him up to defend the Lan Clan ideals, making him think doubly hard about why certain rules were created.

Of course, it's a distraction, one that works superbly.

By the third week of not having the children around, Lan Qiren begins visiting the classes of the younger children, the ones that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan had attended when they were hiding what had happened to them. He stands outside the door listening in, and trying to make himself feel better. When that doesn't work, he goes to talk to his friends again, finding their company and spending time with them like a healing balm to the wound of missing his nephews, Wei Ying and Xue Yang.

There's no way to tell if they are making any progress yet, or not. Before they entered seclusion, Lan Qiren made it abundantly clear to them that if this wasn't the right method for them, then they weren't to force themselves. He had expressly and patiently told them that if at any time they felt like coming out of the rooms, they absolutely could.

He misses them so much.

Cangse Sanren is drawing on a piece of paper when he enters.

"Would you like some tea?" He offers, sitting down at the little table and putting the water to boil.

"Yes, please," she replies, taking a moment to really look at him. "Are you having withdrawal symptoms?"

He'd forgotten how sharp she is.

"What was A-Ying like as a child?"

"Naughty little cretin. Trust me, if he was quiet, I was shitting bricks, mark my words. I had to keep an eye on him ALL the time, I kid you not." She laughs, no doubt about some fond memories.

"What did he do?"

"What didn't he do? That might be a more apt question. I remember one time, we passed by a tiny little town in the middle of the monsoon season, and the small inn we were staying at was infested with these green lizards, you know the kind I mean?" When he nods, Cangse Sanren continues. "Well, A-Ying made a game out of catching them by the tail, and they were kind of cold and slimy, but he never knew how much pressure to exert, so he'd be hanging on and the poor thing would wriggle so hard as to detach itself by its tail, and A-Ying found that frickin hilarious! He laughed until he threw up!"

"I see," Lan Qiren says, not seeing at all but loath to admit it.

"Well, what about A-Huan and A-Zhan? Did they get up to any mischief?"

"No. They were model children." Lan Qiren insists. "Although there was that one time I was ill with a bad cold, and Lan Huan overheard from the kitchen staff that hot milk with cardamom and nutmeg helped with clearing out the sinuses, and relaxing one's muscles ready to sleep. He snuck out of the Hanshi after curfew and made me some, but because there was no one around at that sort of time to ask, he guessed at what constituted as cardamom and nutmeg, picked the bottle that most looked like what he expected, and dumped a whole lot in it."

"It wasn't cardamom or nutmeg, was it?" Cangse Sanren snickers.

"Black pepper." Lan Qiren clears his throat uncomfortably. "It cured me."

"Really?" she shrieks with laughter. "For how long?"

"I haven't been sick ever since."

That produces a peel of unconsciously bright laughter.

"Tell me more about A-Ying."

"Let me see," she taps her nose thoughtfully, an unconscious action. "There was the time we were camping out in the woods, hunting a particularly vicious tree spirit, when A-Ying disappeared. He must have been around three then, and we were worried sick. We searched high and low, calling for him until it was dark, and then we heard him laughing. Not just a little bit, either, but that kind of full bellied laughter that kids do, making them catch their breath.

"We crept closer, wanting to rush towards him, and he was obviously having the time of his life! There were around six red pandas who were grooming him, the full works, licking him and finding the absence of fur absolutely disturbing! Another one kept rolling an apple towards him, and when he didn't immediately start eating, they tried to teach him how to bite into the fruit! It was honestly so bizarre, Qiren!"

"What did you do?"

"Oh, those cute rascals scarpered as soon as we entered the clearing, and A-Ying was so startled, he started crying. Turns out, he was just incredibly hungry. Another time, he'd just learned to talk and there was no shutting him up. He was driving me up the wall with his chatter, and at first, we thought he was just practising how to form words, but he was telling us about the cat that was following us."

"Was it a cat?" Lan Qiren asks her, kind of dreading her answer but wanting to know, just the same.

"A fucking raccoon, that's what it was. Cute, though."

"A-Zhan was a biter."

"What? That cherubic face? No way."

Lan Qiren lifts his sleeve up to his elbow where there's a scar of baby teeth, just the front two teeth on the top and the bottom of a mouth, in the meat of his forearm.

"How did you earn that?"

"I was insisting on bedtime. He wanted another story." Lan Qiren lifts up his trouser to reveal a pale ankle with the same scarring. Four cute little teeth marks. "This was because I made him eat a brussel sprout. He still hates them."

"Why haven't you gotten rid of the scars with your golden core?"

Lan Qiren looks anywhere except at her. "I like them," he tells her, unable to lie. "It will be something to remember them by when they're older, and no longer need me."

"A-Ying never bit me," Cangse Sanren tells him, enjoying this bizarre competition of swapping kiddie tales. "But once, when his teething got out of control, I found him chewing on a rubbery snake. A python too, and luckily, he must have just fed because he was content to let A-Ying gnaw on him. Kind of funny, though."

And that's how Wei Changze finds them, talking about their children over hot tea and sweet osmanthus cakes on a sunny afternoon.

**************

Meditation is boring. Wei Ying knows this, and yet his fierce determination sets in as he and Lan Zhan sit down to start.

"Back then, I never had time to sit down and concentrate on strengthening my golden core," Wei Ying explains. Lan Zhan is listening avidly, and it makes him feel so much better. "Madam Yu was relentless on the training grounds and she hated that my golden core formed earlier than Jiang Cheng. So she kind of made it her life's mission to prevent me from making it stronger by myself."

"How did you cope with that?" Lan Zhan scoots closer so that their knees are touching.

"I realised I could meditate while completing the Jiang sword forms, and that made me memorise them faster, and she still hated me more. Honestly, there was no winning with her. Anyway, I discovered meditation in motion, and I became so good at it that I unconsciously began cultivating even when I was doing the most boring shit. I could only properly meditate after everyone had gone to sleep, and by that time, I was no longer sharing with Jiang Cheng, so I didn't have to worry about accidentally waking him up. But the trouble was, I'd be so tired by the end of the day that I'd end up falling asleep instead. So I quit, and just did it during my normal days, and it worked."

Lan Zhan takes his hand and gives him a kiss in the centre of his palm. "For good luck."

Wei Ying grabs his hand just as quickly and does the same, his cheeks dusted with pink as he smiles back, his lovely silver eyes crinkling at the edges. "Good luck, Lan Zhan. I love you." And then he quickly shuts his eyes, the memory of Lan Zhan's shocked face easily providing a better stimulation for his purpose.