It started snowing heavily when they left the library.

"I don't think you boys should attempt to fly home in this weather." Wei Ying called out to them, as they ran alongside Lan Zhan’s fast pace.

He was still insisting on carrying Wei Ying and Wei Ying was fast losing patience with him, but every time he objected, he was reminded of his promise. He'd just have to be more careful when speaking to someone who remembered everything.

"Why don't we have dinner together at the Jingshi? It'll give us a chance to catch up." He had to shout the last bit, as the wind was so severe, it stole his breath away.

The Jingshi was a little bit out of the way but they reached there in not too bad a state, shaking off their coats before entering. The food was already inside waiting for them and Lan Zhan insisted on going to get more portions.

SiZhui went with him.

And for once, Lan Zhan did not stop him.

They couldn't talk properly while the storm raged, but it quietened down to a softly whispering snowfall on their way back, and that's when SiZhui took his chance.

Lan Zhan had already placed heating talismans on the food trays, when they had exited the kitchens.

"Father...how is Father Wei really?" SiZhui asked, as soon as he was able. "He likes to give everyone a watery version...but I know you'll tell me the truth."

"Mn." Lan Zhan thought about what to tell him. "It seems to be bad...but he's not taking it like that. We visited the healers today."

"That must have been fun." SiZhui smiled at his long-suffering father, who had to put up with a terrible patient at the best of times.

"Mn."

"What did they say?"

"Will let us know in a few days. Until then, we have to keep an eye on him. How many hours he sleeps and such."

"What do you think it is? And why is only he affected? When did it start?" SiZhui didn't mean to have his words spill out like that. But a worry had wormed its way into his heart and taken root, and he couldn’t let it go. "You don't think it's related to the sleeping sickness that's spreading...do you?"

Lan Zhan thought about it.

"No. This is...different." He patiently explained everything he knew about it, why he thought it differed from the other more rampant one, and talking in a low voice,  answering his every question until they were back at the Jingshi. Before they went inside, he stopped SiZhui with a hand on his shoulder.

"SiZhui...I will not say it is nothing to worry about..."

SiZhui took the trays from him and put them down. Then he hugged his father tightly.

"I neglected to ask how you are, father." SiZhui was reminded of the countless times when as a child, his father would hold him tightly and they would go to sleep together.

Sometimes he would wake to a cold spot in the bed next to him and he knew his father was close by, playing a familiar melody on his guqin...calling out to a single person. As he got older and learned the arts, the musical scores that the Lan Clan specialised in, he began to realise how deeply his father was affected.

Days turned into weeks and months, and then suddenly years had gone by...but Lan Zhan never stopped reaching out.

Every single night.

"This time...I will not let him go alone." Lan Zhan said, almost to himself.

SiZhui was already crying by now, the magnitude of what his father had told him finally being done processing. If they didn't find a cure for his father and soon, he was going to lose both of them.

SiZhui was not at all sure he would be able to live without them.

"Isn't there...isn't there anything we can do?" He sobbed.

"It is an invisible enemy."

"We can research! We can check the library for accounts of people who have suffered the same symptoms. I will stay here and help!" SiZhui insisted.

"He will be happy to have you near again, A-Yuan."

The cold wind dried their tears.

Only when Lan Zhan was sure they could pass off their red eyes and red noses as casualties of the weather, did he let go of his son.

He picked up their food and entered their home with him.

***********

Jin Ling sat across from his uncle, watching Wei Ying prepare the little table for their meal.

"So...how bad is it really?" He asked, ever so glad that his Uncle Zhan wasn't there right now.

Uncle Zhan’s protective nature meant Jin Ling had to be careful what he asked and how he asked. But this was his mother's brother...and Jin Ling felt a different sort of kinship with him.

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know." He shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not being flippant about it...but really and truly, we don't know what's going on with this body. Healer Fei will hopefully be able to give us some good news soon." He got up and grabbed an extra blanket from the bed, wrapping it around his shoulders as he yawned.

"How are you feeling about it?" Jin Ling persisted.

He had to know...not just for himself but the other two most important people in his life were going to be affected very much by whatever the outcome was with this situation.

Wei Ying was trying really hard not to think about the repercussions of his ailment and here was his nephew asking him the exact thing he wanted to avoid.

"I guess...frustration is the biggest one." And knowing how badly it was affecting Lan Zhan was another stress. "I am not able to predict when and where it happens...I can go from all out normal behaviour to zilch...nothing...the exhaustion is bone-deep and debilitating. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before."

"I can't help thinking...do you think it's another strain of the sleeping sickness we're already dealing with here? The similarities are too many not to consider this." Jin Ling held the rounded edge of his robes and began to pick off the stitches with his thumbnail, needing to concentrate on something else other than the possibility of losing this uncle...again.

"No...I don't think it is." Wei Ying said, after thinking about it for a few minutes. "For one thing, I'm awake...I do wake up, that's the biggest difference. Secondly, it started when we were so far away from here...there's no connection except for a few commonalities in the symptoms. And...I'm not dying. At least, I don't think so. I mean...I died once already..."

"Yeah...and look how that turned out..." Jin Ling spoke without thinking.

He glanced up, startled. Scared he had said something wrong....

Catching Wei Ying's eyes...and for a second, neither said anything.

And then Wei Ying dissolved into giggling, that became a full bellied laughing.

Jin Ling too, cracked up, unable to believe he had said something so outrageous to his uncle, something that surely would have earned him a clip around his ears from his other uncle...though to date, his Uncle Cheng had not laid a hand on him like that in spite of the many contradictory threats.

The doors of the Jingshi opened then, and SiZhui and Lan Zhan entered.

They shook off the excess snow and removed their boots, taking in the scene in front of them. Both Wei Ying and Jin Ling had tears in their eyes...and these two softened, thinking a similar talk to theirs had taken place here in their absence.

That was the difference between his two kids, Wei Ying thought fondly, watching his son and his nephew look after each other.

Food was served and eaten in a tension free manner, as Lan Zhan kept piling more of Wei Ying's favourite pieces on top of his scary-looking rice, and SiZhui did the same for Jin Ling.

Wei Ying caught Jin Ling's eyes and he smiled, this kinship different but no less affectionate, a mirror of the love he shared between his Shijie and Jiang Cheng, encompassed by this little kid.

The small understandings between siblings that no outsiders would be able to fathom, the unspoken rule that anything could be talked about because it was their safe place.

SiZhui looked around him and smiled too. All the people he loved so much were here, together and sharing a meal. For a second, his fear vanished like that of all children when being with both of their parents and everything was well.

Perhaps the last bit wasn't quite right...but the feeling persisted.

No matter what happened in the future, they had this.

This moment was immortal. It would stay forever, living in their minds as a dream, something they made real by living it together.

He committed it to his memory: the way his fathers both looked at each other, the softness in their eyes, and no doubt holding hands under the table. How both were able to read each other's needs and pass whatever was missing.

The love that shimmered between them like a gossamer shawl wrapping around their souls to protect them, a connection that could never be sundered. Their love, their feelings were like a halo, an inner light that shone through their eyes to envelope the other.

SiZhui reached under the table to hold the hand that was already stretched towards him. Smiling at Jin Ling, he turned back to look at his parents and found them watching him too.

SiZhui knew that as long as he lived, he would never forget this night, nor this vision.

It would remain forever in his heart of hearts.

And it was a comfort.