Lan Zhan held Rumi and Li XiWang's hands and they walked to the kitchens. Lan Zhan was feeling nervous because he had promised Wei Ying he was going to make Moon cakes for him, but he had not the faintest idea how to. Yet determination prevailed and he moved forward with a purpose.

"What are we going to make, father?" Li XiWang asked, no fear in her eyes.

Lan Zhan wished for some of that confidence to rub off on himself.  But he smiled at both of them.

"Moon cakes. I will need both of you to help."

"WingAnLaZhan!" Rumi agreed, smiling with his purple eyes and pointy teeth.

He really was the sweetest child.

"Have you ever made them before?" Li XiWang asked, grinning with excitement.

"No." Lan Zhan would have faltered, but her next words were motivating.

"It doesn't matter. We can ask someone. And if there's no one there, we'll figure it out."

Just her confidence in what they were about to do was awe-inspiring. Lan Zhan squeezed their hands and crouched down in front of both his children.

"Thank you." He said simply.

And when they both hugged him, he realised how much he needed that, and them. Children had that rare form of bravery that reminded adults of the courage that lay hidden deep within their hearts. Courage that only had to be looked for and it would bloom into a beautiful flower like the rarest lotus.

"We can do it, father." Li XiWang said, fearlessly.

"WingAnLaZhan." Rumi pumped the air with his fist.

"Alright. We need someone to show us." Lan Zhan stood up full of purpose.

A cook saw them and was just about to leave, when Lan Zhan pushed Li XiWang in front of him to talk to her. From behind the child, he glared back at the old woman, daring her to say no to his kid.

"Madam, please would you be so kind as to show us how to make Moon cakes?" Li XiWang asked sweetly, having no idea of what was going on behind her.

"O-of c-course..." she stammered.

"Two batches." Lan Zhan amended, lowering the strength of his glare by five notches to you-better-not-fail-but-thank-you-for-agreeing rather than the I-will-obliterate-your-family-line-if-you-say-no level ten that he had begun with.

He was taking no chances with the seriousness of this task. And he wanted it done before Wei Ying woke up.

"H-have you made t-them b-before?" She asked, directing her question to the least scariest person, because the demon-child was looking up at the adult and then mimicking the glare.

The cook was not going to mess this up.

"No. But you're going to show us." Li XiWang beamed at the poor woman, who didn't know whether to be charmed or scared now.

"Madam will direct us." Lan Zhan said, rolling up his sleeves elegantly.

Li XiWang found aprons for all three of them.

"Begin." Lan Zhan commanded.

The cook was compliant and able to assess their skills so she went for the easiest ones to make.

"These are called Snowy Moon Cakes because they are served cold. First we must make the custard filling." She said, reaching for two large bowls.

She prepared the ingredients and did her each action slowly so Lan Zhan could copy her. She put one whole egg and three egg yolks in a bowl, waiting until he did the same. Then she added the milk and some melted butter began to stir. In a separate bowl, she combined the dry ingredients. After mixing them well, she combined the wet ingredients with the dry and stirred again.

She then poured the mixture into a saucepan and began to stir constantly. She talked throughout and while Lan Zhan found it irritating, he politely refrained from making any comment, until she said his arm might get tired from stirring constantly.

That's when he snorted.

This whole thing didn't look too difficult after all, and maybe his daughter was right: they could do this.

When the contents of the saucepan were dry and no moisture remained, she packed both separately into bamboo leaves and went outside to bury them in the snow.

"Now we are going to make the outer layer." She said, reaching for more ingredients.

The children were watching her with rapt attention, all of their concentration on her every action.

She put dry ingredients in another bowl. Then she added milk and oil and condensed milk, mixing until there were no lumps. Then she put both batches into a large steamer.

"We have to cook that for half an hour." She told them, feeling slightly better about her guests.

She cleaned up and the children helped her with wiping the dishes.

Lan Zhan paced impatiently.

He had to admire her efficency. Not a single second was wasted while they waited and the woman seemed to have an internal clock, because they both knew when those thirty minutes were up.

Then the strange mixture was almost rubbery and she began to knead it until it was smooth. After that, she separated the batch into twelve equal pieces. She made the children help with rolling the twelve pieces into perfectly round balls which they enjoyed immensely.

She rolled out the tiny discs and then went to retrieve the bamboo covered custard from outside. Again, this she separated into another twelve pieces and again the children helped with making them round.

Then each custard ball was wrapped within the white glutinous discs. The children watched in awe as she placed the mold on top and it came away with a design.

She dusted them with powdered sugar and proclaimed them ready.

"Would you like to taste them?" Lan Zhan asked the excited children.

They nodded eagerly and ate three before he could stop them. The cook packed them up and gave them two boxes, keeping the ones she had made separated from the ones the children and Lan Zhan had made. He thanked her and they left.

On the way back to the Jingshi, when they passed by the Hanshi, Li XiWang had a suggestion.

"Can we share these with Uncle XiChen and Uncle Cheng? And can little Li Li have some too?"

Lan Zhan nodded, proud of her nature to want to share something good. In that, she was very much like her other father. They delivered the sweet treats to surprised Uncles who told them their little cousin was still sleeping, but as soon as she was awake, they would try them together.

Jiang Cheng did have a suspicious look on his face when they mentioned they had made the cakes themselves, but Lan Zhan clarified that theirs were made by the official cook, hugging Wei Ying's box to his chest.

Then they returned to their home. It was quite dark now, and fresh snow began to fall as they reached indoors. The children were yawning already and Wei Ying was still asleep. Hui Gai smiled when he saw them return, shaking off the excess snow flurries from their robes.

"Can we go to sleep, father?" They stumbled into their room and were asleep as soon as they had changed their clothes.

Lan Zhan came out of their room as Hui Gai stood up.

"Did he wake?" He asked the Demon.

"No."

"He needs the rest..." Lan Zhan said, as they both looked towards their dear person on the bed. "And I still have a few things to do."

"I can stay. I could also help..." Hui Gai offered. "You need to rest too." He flexed his muscles. "While I'm as fresh as a daisy."

Lan Zhan snorted. The demon could be funny when he wanted to be. But it was nice to have some help now and then.

"Alright. When I return, please can you deliver this letter?" He sat down at the little table and pulled out everything he needed to write. In his excellent calligraphy, he explained in a short and concise manner, everything he needed to divulge. He handed the letter to his friend.

When Hui Gai saw who the letter was addressed to, he would have paled if he could.

"Oh, come on!" He threw up his hands.

"You wanted to help." Lan Zhan smirked. "I'll be back in ten minutes, tops."

He vanished, appearing outside Wei Ying's favourite restaurant in Caiyi Town where he picked up two portions of his favourite noodles, one spicy and one not.

When he returned, Hui Gai vanished with a scowl.

Lan Zhan placed the food next to the Moon cakes and turned to the sleeping man.

Wei Ying was resting so peacefully, he didn't want to wake him. So Lan Zhan took off his outer robes, stoked the fire after warding it so no errant sparks could cause an accident, leaving it still able to heat the room.

Then he climbed into bed next to his husband, smiling when the other naturally sought the solace of his arms.

"Goodnight, my Wei Ying." He said softly, kissing the top of his head.

Wei Ying's scent was still slightly different...was his last thought as he fell asleep with his whole world resting in his arms.