[pfsb]

[acrookedpath]

The good news: the energy-revealing array works!

The bad news --

It's not bad news, he insists to himself. It just... is. It's a complication, a hole in the road, a little snare tripping him up. That's all. It doesn't have to be more. It might not even be in the first place, yes? He is dead, Lan Zhan is alive, of course seeing just how very alive would stir something in him. That's all it is.

Right?

Never mind that he's fairly certain if he placed the same array on Harrow, or Tom-gongzi, or Ingress, he would not have been struck the same way. That -- it's ridiculous, this is all ridiculous, and that's why he's out here by the lake, standing on a flat rock with another array of talismans fluttering in his hand.

The key is not just luring resentful energy from the forest, despite the suppression around the inn. It is how swiftly he can do it. During his coffee-fueled spree of work last night, he drew up some new lures that ought to work faster than a traditional set. Now he scatters them in a wide circle around his feet, gestures sharply, and sends a bolt of red energy into the yellow paper slips.

Silently, in his head, he begins to count. One... two... three...

At the count of thirteen, something boils at the forest's edge, dark and oily.

Wei Wuxian smiles and lifts his flute to meet it.

Comments

[acrookedpath]

His mouth twists a little, wryly. "I hope it will not come to that," he says.

He almost asks, will you fight back? or will you go to your death willingly? -- but, well. Speaking of cruelties. And if Wei Wuxian is honest with himself... he is afraid to ask.

(Harrow has not yet appeared in his nightmares alongside the Wen remnants, but he still believes it is only a matter of time.)

[we_bring_hell]

She swallows. "I saw the corpses of the Fourth. I would rather have Gideon Nav."


She looks down. "I am sorry. My distraction has turned to ashes. My emotions are--erratic."

[acrookedpath]

The wry quirk to his mouth grows to an equally wry smile.

"There is no need to apologize," he says. "I would not call them erratic. Sometimes our burdens grow heavy enough that we cannot keep everything so neat and contained. And besides," he adds, lighter, "I seem to remember I wept like a child in your quarters not too long ago. Your emotions do not trouble me."

[we_bring_hell]

"I asked you," she reminds him, "to share something painful from your life."

"The tragedy of Canaan House sprung to my mind unbidden, when we were trying to speak of lighter things." Her voice is wry, describing it so, but she is not joking. Not at all.

[acrookedpath]

"All the same," he says, gently, "I am still not troubled. If it hurts you to speak of it, then do not speak of it. But if you only worry of hurting me -- do not."

[we_bring_hell]

She thinks about it.

"I need not rehearse all our griefs," she says. "Only this--the only hope is to become a Lyctor. Not just for the Ninth, anymore, but for all of us in the House. Something is hunting us, one of us is a traitor, and without Lyctoral power I believe we will surely die."

"Of the available candidates, I believe it must be me, Palamedes Sextus, or--to my utter shock--Ianthe Tridentiarius."

[acrookedpath]

Which is... far above and beyond the troubles he last heard of Canaan House. Wei Wuxian breathes out, frowning.

"Can you gather any help from outside Canaan House?" he asks. "Help from here? If people can cross from the inn to other worlds..."

[we_bring_hell]

"From here, perhaps," she says, frowning. "There is no way to send a distress call to the Cohort--the idiots of the Second have been demanding it, and the priests of the First keep telling them it is impossible."

"But from here, perhaps." She hasn't considered this before. "There are some heirs I would rather not share the secret with, but... yes, perhaps."

[acrookedpath]

He nods.

"I am not sure how much I can help," he admits. "I reacted so poorly to your thanergy that I do not know what would happen if I stood in Canaan House as more than a paper doll. But I will do what I can, should you wish it."

[we_bring_hell]

"I think you would find as much resentful energy as you could bear, in Canaan House."

Perhaps too much. The sum of all necromantic transgression, Teacher had warned.

"When I return I will have to deal with the Sixth, before anything else. If you saw Camilla Hect waiting outside our suite... I'm not sure what it could be, but it bodes poorly."

[acrookedpath]

"Do you have any idea?" He's frowning again. "Even a slight one?"

[we_bring_hell]

She thinks. "Two possibilities come to mind."

"I like the Sixth, but I have feared they may be allied with the Seventh, who I do not trust. That shoe may have dropped."


"Alternatively, Gideon may have found the head in my closet."

[acrookedpath]

"Yes, that could be it," says Wei Wuxian blandly. "Is there a reason for the head in your closet?"

Harrow, what. Yes, necromancers, he is not squeamish, et cetera, but what.

[we_bring_hell]

"I didn't have time to take the whole body," she deadpans.




"Everyone thinks Dulcinea the Seventh is a sad, pretty invalid. While I wasn't paying attention she seems to have wrapped Gideon and Palamedes around her finger. But her cavalier was dead before he set foot on the First. She's been puppeting the corpse for weeks. I know the signs."

"When I finally got a chance to test the necromantic theorems on him, the spell collapsed immediately. And it is good that I took the head, because whoever took the rest of the body destroyed it to hide the evidence. Unfortunately, I don't know who to trust, so it's been sitting in my closet in a box."

"The spell backlash should've killed her--she is bed-ridden but still alive. I do not know how. I do not trust her." And her mistrust had--arguably--gotten the Fourth killed. "And I am not jealous."

[acrookedpath]

There would be no point for Wei Wuxian to interject with a mild I never said you were. He will let her denial stand without the humiliation of comment.

Besides, there are far more important matters to discuss.

"If the Seventh has manipulated Palamedes -- he is the Sixth, yes? And Camilla is his cavalier? Would she be concerned to find her adept is being manipulated so?"

[we_bring_hell]

She thinks about Palamedes Sextus and his cavalier.

Cam? Go loud.

"I do not think I can come between them. And I doubt Dulcinea Septimus could, either. If the Sixth have betrayed us, it will be as a unit."

She doesn't want to believe it of them; that moment of alliance in the dining room, when she and Gideon had read each other's intent and acted together to protect the Sixth, is precious to her. But how could Dulcinea be strong enough to do all this alone?

[acrookedpath]

"So neither would listen if you brought forward proof they were being manipulated? Camilla would not move to protect her adept from potential harm by the Seventh, but stay at both their sides?"

[we_bring_hell]

"That is what I suspect," she says. "If she is waiting for me, he has most likely sent her. To kill me or to confront me."

"If it is confront me, I can explain my suspicions. I can at least try to convince her. If she is waiting to kill me... perhaps I should go directly to Palamedes."

"I think I can take him," she muses. "His specialty is psychometry; my specialty is armies of skeletons. I do wish we could've seen into his suite."

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian pulls his mouth to one side, thinking.

"Well," he says, slowly, "I do have the means to find resentful energy now. You would not have to pour thanergy into me if I tried to sneak into his room again. I would have to stay outside, so I do not risk loosing anything inside the inn, but..."

He turns a palm upward.

[we_bring_hell]

She frowns. "If you are willing. I know last time you were debilitated for some days. But I would give much to know what I am walking into."

[acrookedpath]

"I am willing," he says with an easy smile. "And it was not for so terribly long -- besides, I think it will be easier this time."

He uncrosses his legs, ready to stand from the rock.

"Let me fetch more of what I need from Madam Bar. I think -- hm." He casts a thoughtful eye toward the back door of the inn. "I will activate it outside and you can carry it to your front door?"

[we_bring_hell]

She frowns. "Is it safe to leave you unaccompanied while your senses are extended that way?"

She does not pronounce the question mark.

[acrookedpath]

"Reasonably so."

(Somewhere, Lan Zhan just developed a spiltting headache and has no idea why.)

"If there is a way to keep an eye on me as well as the front door -- perhaps leaving the back door open?"

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow gives him a Look. "Make your preparations," she says, reaching for her earlobe. "And I will make mine."

[acrookedpath]

Ah, if Wei Wuxian had a coin for every time someone gave him a look like that. He does what he always does: grins, guileless and bright. "I shall return shortly, Harrow."

And after bowing a quick farewell, he heads inside.



The preparations do not take very long at all. It is the same paper doll talisman as before -- animation, plus transportation of sight and hearing. The key will be in how well he can simultaneously summon the resentful energy, steer the doll, and communicate what he sees to Harrow.

Fortunately, he did not gain his reputation as a cultivator on rumor alone.

Soon, he has returned to the grounds -- a respectable distance from the inn, still, but closer than where he stood on the flat rock. A paper doll and another set of lures dangle from his hands.