Nuan-er decided she was going to learn how to fly. There was no talking her out of it. It was a long journey from Nightless City to the Cloud Recesses. They were practically on the other side of the world from each other. Nuan-er didn't care how long the journey was going to be, because they flew... Every. Single. Day.

The first day she flew with Wangji-gege, A-Die. She hadn't called him A-die yet. Not out loud. But, Nuan-er had begun testing it out in her head. Wangji-gege, A-die. Xian-gege, Baba. They hadn't asked her to call them that. Nuan-er had noticed other people called them that sometimes. Calling Xian-gege, Nuan-er's Baba or Wangji-gege, Nuan-er's Die.

Nuan-er hadn't decided if she should call them that. They hadn't asked her to, but... They were their new caretakers, but they felt like more than that. Maybe closer to what Mama was. Nuan-er knew she had had a Baba before. She didn't really remember him. He was gone before her Didi was born. Nuan-er assumes that he had been closer than their later caretakers. More like Mama, less like Gugu or Shenshen.

Nuan-er decided to try it out in her head for a while. See how it felt without risking how other people might react to it. So she was in A-die's arms the first time she flew. Nothing but loud wind and open air around them. Her A-die holding her securely so she wouldn't fall. Of course Nuan-er didn't just want to look at what she could easily see. She wanted to look at the way her A-die was standing on the blade of his sword. She squirmed trying to look at other angles. Wanting to ask how A-die was flying, and could she learn how to do it too? A-die didn't seem to like the squirming much. She didn't get to look around nearly as much as she wanted to. So the next day she asked if she could fly with Baba.

Baba not only allowed squirming. He let her stand on the sword all by herself! All by herself as long as the shiny blue talisman ropes were on her. Baba flew underneath A-die a few times so Nuan-er could get a better look at what a cultivator flying looked like.

Nuan-er stood on the sword and pretended she was the one flying. She knew it wasn't the case. Baba told her it would take a long time for her to be able to fly for herself. She would have to get bigger, and work really hard. Then she'd get her own sword and she could learn how to fly by herself.

Nuan-er did not let that discourage her. Her Baba told her she was clever. He'd taught her how to activate talismans by herself. There were rules. She wasn't allowed to activate a talisman she didn't know. And, since they were really complicated, and she couldn't read them yet, her Baba had started marking some talismans for her. Little pictures drawn on the backs of them so she would know which one was which.

She was absolutely going to learn more talismans. They could do so many things! Her Baba had given her ones that could light up. Ones that could alert him if she was in danger. Ones that could protect her if someone tried to hurt her. Ones that would let her know if something was wrong with A-Yuan. She used those ones at bed time. One would be placed with A-Yuan and she would have the other one. If something was wrong, like he was upset or in pain, it would light up. If she woke up anxious she could just check the talisman and know he was okay.

Her Baba gave her talismans to help her hide if there were ever dangerous people around. They were not to be used for hide and seek. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else, and Nuan-er was already the best at it. She liked the butterfly talisman the best. It would shoot out sparkly butterflies. They were beautiful, and she could chase them around to try and catch them for a bit until they disappeared. A-Yuan liked that one a lot too.

The first time A-die saw Nuan-er activate a talisman by herself he had been impressed. Nuan-er could tell. Even though A-die had a very quiet face. Like he was whispering, but with his face muscles. His eyes widened slightly, and his mouth opened a bit without him speaking. He was surprised! He didn't expect her to be able to do it. Nuan-er was already proud of herself before her A-die patted her head and told her she had done a good job.

Baba was so excited he couldn't stay still. He bragged to A-die that Nuan-er was very clever and resourceful. She wanted to be able to activate the talismans herself. Then she pestered her Baba to teach her. She might have tried pestering A-die, but Baba was the one who was always making new talismans. It seemed like more of a Baba question. Eventually he taught her, but only after she promised to follow the rule. Never activate a talisman unless you are completely sure you know what it does.

Nuan-er was mildly disappointed that her Baba couldn't teach her to fly as quickly as he taught her to activate talismans. Apparently she needed to have lots of spiritual energy to fly. She would have to cultivate. Meditation and swords and studying and other things that Nuan-er only kind of understood.

It sounded like a lot of work, but... Sword fighting looked pretty cool. She had seen lots of people fight with swords, and if she got good at it she would be able to protect herself all on her own. Also cultivation would be what let her make her own talismans, and she very much wanted to learn how to do that too.

So maybe flying was going to take a bit longer, but there would be lots of interesting things to do before then. Nuan-er decided it would be enough to enjoy flying with her Baba for now. He would go fast or do fun spins if she asked. She'd learn how to do it herself some day. She had a feeling her Baba and A-die would probably look at her all proud when she learned how to fly. Like how they did when she learned how to activate talismans.

Nuan-er pouted when her Baba told her that they had reached Cloud Recesses. That meant no more flying. Her Baba laughed and told her he could take her flying tomorrow if she missed it too much. Nuan-er decided to accept that. She liked flying, but she would like to be able to do things other than flying too.

Nuan-er stared up at a giant rock wall covered in writing. She pulled on her Baba's sleeve to get his attention. He wasn't one of the people talking. Which was weird, Baba was usually talking. However, since he wasn't talking, it meant she couldn't be interrupting him.

"Xian-gege. What's that?" She asked in a loud whisper. Her Baba's face did something weird. Like he had eaten something he didn't like, but was trying to be polite by not saying anything.

"Ah... that wall lists all of the Cloud Recesses rules." Her Baba explained. Nuan-er frowned.

"That's an awful lot of words Xian-gege." Nuan-er said skeptically. That looked like way too many words to be rules. What could anyone possibly need so many rules for?

"It's true. You can ask your Wangji-gege. The Cloud Recesses has over three thousand rules." Her Baba said with an over dramatically grave look on his face. That... meant absolutely nothing to Nuan-er. She didn't know how many 'three thousand' was. Nuan-er frowned.

"Is that a real number?" She asked. Her Baba smiled brightly. It was nice to see. He hadn't had many bright smiles lately.

"Yes Baobei, it's a real number. It's like..." Her Baba's voice trailed off as he thought about it. "You have ten fingers, five on each hand, right?" Wei Wuxian inquired.

Nuan-er looked at her hands and nodded. She knew how to count to ten.

"So if you had ten people hold out their hands and count their fingers you would have one hundred fingers!" Her Baba said dramatically. "A thousand is what you would get if you count to one hundred ten times. So if you had one hundred people and counted all of their fingers you would reach one thousand. Three thousand is three of those."

Nuan-er gave her Baba a flat look. Like the kind A-die gives random people when he doesn't want to listen to them talk, but they won't stop doing it. Baba talks more than anyone, but A-die never gives Baba that look.

However, Nuan-er's Baba lost her when he tried to make her take the jump from one hundred to one thousand. She still only had a vague idea of what one hundred might even look like, and her Baba had thoroughly lost her with the rest of his explanation. She felt it was appropriate to indicate that she did not want to hear him trying to explain what three thousand was anymore.

"What's that face for Nuan-er? You imitating Lan Zhan now?" Her Baba asked with a smile. Technically Nuan-er was mimicking a face her A-die made, but Nuan-er pouted anyway.

"Too many. If ten people can't count it on their fingers then the number is too big." Nuan-er said, folding her arms across her chest. Her Baba tilted his head.

"The number? Or the number of rules?" Baba asked. Nuan-er was having a hard time deciding if there should really be three thousand of anything. She didn't really think anything in that quantity made sense, but... The stars were really pretty. She wouldn't want less of them. So she supposed the problem was having so many of something like rules.

"Too many rules." Nuan-er decided with a firm nod. "I won't follow more rules than I can count." Her Baba's face broke into a wide grin.

"Ah, my Baobei is so smart. I agree. Three thousand is too many rules." Her Baba said, nodding in agreement.

"Wei Ying." Nuan-er looked up at hearing her A-die call for her Baba.

"Ah, Lan Zhan. Our Baobei thinks there are too many rules." Baba said with a smile.

"Nuan-er will learn." A-die replied. Nuan-er frowned.

"What if I don't follow them? What if I learn all of them and still don't follow them?" Nuan-er demanded.

She looked at her A-die and then her Baba. Their faces were doing something weird. A-die's face looked like there were a lot of emotions in it, but she wasn't sure what they were. Baba looked quiet and nervous, glancing at A-die like he also wanted to know the answer. A-die knelt down on the ground beside her.

"No matter how many rules you break. I will still love you. You will still have a home and a family, always." A-die's voice was very serious. He glanced up at Baba as he spoke to her, like he was saying this to Baba as much as he was saying this to her. Nuan-er frowned a bit in thought.

"What if I break all of the rules?" Nuan-er asked then. A whisper of a smile played on A-die's face.

"Even if you break all of the rules. I will still love you and protect you." A-die said, the happy glow in his eyes matched when A-die was particularly happy and amused. Nuan-er held hands with her A-die and her Baba as they entered the Cloud Recesses. Nuan-er smiled to herself. She liked calling them Baba and A-die in her head. Maybe she'd try saying it out loud some time.

Bǎobèi: Treasure (a term of endearment.)