Work Text:
The first time that Lan Xichen met Mo Xuanyu, it was of course in Koi Tower. Jin Guangyao was to host a cultivation conference the day after the next one, and so he and Nie Mingjue had taken the opportunity to make a visit of it. Now that the three sworn brothers were two Sect Leaders and an heir, it was much harder to find the time. Indeed, both of Lan Xichen's intended companions were delayed. A servant had served Lan Xichen tea, and then he was left alone to wait for Jin Guangyao to finish whatever task his father had set him to this time. Knowing it could be quite some time, he had started reviewing the notes he wished to present to the conference.
Absorbed in his work, his first indication that someone else was in the room was the polite, but firm, clearing of their throat. A young boy, of maybe eleven or twelve, or unusually small and thirteen, entered. The bow he gave was far too low, but impeccably done regardless. He was dressed as a Jin disciple, and even marked out as a descent of the founder himself, "Lianfang Zun apologises for the delay, Zewu Jun; he is ready to see you now."
"It is no matter," Lan Xichen smiled at the boy.
He did not return the smile, keeping a rather serious expression on his lips as he lead the way to a meeting room. It was a little amusing in the way; the boy was walking with a posture that could only come from a conscious effort to 'stand properly', an illusion ruined by him clutching at his slightly too long sleeves every time he did not require his hands to open one door or another. It was a little strange that he had never seen him before; Lan Xichen had been relatively certain that he had seen every member of the Jin Clan by now, but then they were a large family and larger Sect. It was not an impossibility that some minor curtmember had been forgotten.
Surely the boy was in favour now, to be leading an esteemed guest through the halls, but Lan Xichen knew how quickly such things changed.
Regardless of which branch he had crawled out from, he led Lan Xichen quickly and precisely to his destination, holding open the door for him when they got there.
Lan Xichen bowed his thanks to the boy, before entering. And there was Jin Guangyao, already pouring the tea despite the thousands of messages piled up for him to deal with.
"Second Brother, welcome," Jin Guangyao gestured for Lan Xichen to take a seat, before looking to the door. "Thank you, a-Yu."
The boy slipped just enough around the doorway for his bow to be visible, "does brother Yao require anything further of this Disciple?"
"Not at all," Jin Guangyao's smile was a fond sort of soft as he looked at a-Yu, even with the slight shake of his head. "Though, I believe the weapons master was looking for you."
The annoyed puff of air from a-Yu's lips was audible even from where Lan Xichen was knelt, but he bowed again and departed. Any further thought of him melted away as Jin Guangyao turned back to him, and took his own place at the table.
"I will introduce him to you and First Brother when he arrives," was the last that was said of the matter that day.
The second time was but the next day. Nie Mingjue had arrived late the previous evening, and now they shared more tea in one of Jin Guangyao's many, many offices. For some reason, they had been bought four cups; Jin Guangyao did not question it, so neither did Lan Xichen.
Over tea they discussed current happenings, and the gossip of their realms. Nie Mingjue asked after Lan Wangji - still colder than ice, still even more closed off to others than he had ever been, but these days his wounds were as healed as they would ever be. Free of his enforced seclusion, he raced across the world, seeking problem after problem and destroying it as though seeking repentance in the destruction of darkness. Lan Xichen, in turn, asked after Nie Huaisang, then then they both asked after Jin Guangyao's own family.
"A-Su is doing well," Jin Guangyao smiled to them when they asked him in turn, pride apparent in his every movement and smile. "As is a-Ling. A-Ling is, of course, top of his age group, though sometimes I worry he is taking a little too much after his other uncle. Just this week he-"
He was cut off by a knock at the door, and all three of them turned to look; it had been made very clear that they were not to be disturbed unless in an emergency. Jin Guangyao frowned, before calling for whoever it was to come in.
The boy from the previous day slipped inside, eyes widening as they settled on Lan Xichen. He offered him a kind smile; the boy's expression read of utter bewilderment, before he seemed to remember himself and dropped into one of the lowest bows ever performed by a Jin.
"A-Yu," Jin Guangyao sighed as he spoke, gesturing for the boy to stand. "Do you need me for something?"
A-Yu looked up, adoration and fear in his eyes as he looked to Jin Guangyao. His fingers twisted a little in his robes, but otherwise he hid the anxiety well, "father told me to prepare the conference hall, but has not left instruction on how he wants it prepared."
Jin Guangyao gave another sigh, but his smile had shifted into the same warm indulgence that he always gave Jin Ling, "so you came to bother me, instead of asking the servants?"
"You don't laugh at me when I need assistance; it is not my fault that nobody bothers to tell me anything in advance of me needing to know!" the boy objected, pulling himself to his full height. His voice was sharp as though angered, but Lan Xichen could hear the whine of distress behind it. “It is as though father wants me to fail him, just so he can have an excuse to-”
"I will help you" Jin Guangyao gestured him over to the table, effectively cutting off whatever insult has been about to be said. "After I have finished entertaining my sworn brothers; would you like to join us? The servants did bring us an extra cup."
A-Yu blinked rapidly, his indifference from earlier having shifted into an expression worthy of one of Lan Wangji's rabbits. He glanced very quickly to Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen, each in turn, and then he nodded. Jin Guangyao shifted, making room for him at his own table, and took the spare cup that Lan Xichen had wondered about either. He poured the tea, placing it where he expected a-Yu to sit.
The boy scurried over, formality forgotten as he quickly knelt into his place. Jin Guangyao was watching him expectantly, and Lan Xichen smiled to see the boy fail to notice this. Rather than introducing himself, the boy reached out and grabbed Jin Guangyao's sleeve, pulling the loose fabric to his lap as though he were trying to hide himself behaind it.
After a few moments, Jin Guangyao shook his head, expression fondly exasperated, before smiling to his sworn brothers, "this is Jin, formally Mo, Chu, courtesy name Xuanyu. The youngest of my half-siblings; father bought him into the family a few weeks ago, and is still settling in. A-Yu, these are my sworn brothers, sect leaders Nie and Lan."
As each was gestured to, they recieved a polite smile from Jin Xuanyu, one which broke into bright adoration when he turned to his brother It was a little strange, he thought, that Jin Guangyao had not mentioned his new little brother, but Jin family politics, especially where their Sect Leader's children were concerned, were... Complicated. He had probably just needed time to settle.
Hesitantly, Jin Xuanyu looked up, eyes scanning over Lan Xichen before settling on Nie Mingjue. His cheeks promptly lit bright red.
"Oh, wow, you're huge!" the words escaped his lips before he could clasp his hands over his mouth.
The response was the gruff laughter of Chifeng Zun, and slightly flustered apologies from Jin Guangyao. Nie Mingjue waved them off, reaching over to place a piece of cake on the boy's plate, "training, eating, and a good does of the old Nie blood will do that. So eat up; that's point two, is it not?"
It took a little more than that - even by the standards of the Nie Sect his physique was impressive - but the boy merely nodded to the answer. He stared at the cake, looking almost confused as he glanced between it, his at yet untouched tea-cup, and Jin Guangyao. Jin Guangyao nodded to him, a weary smile on his face, and yet Jin Xuanyu still hesitated. His fingers hovered near the tea-cup, and Lan Xichen frowned at just how brittle they looked. The Jins were often wiry in their builds, but there seemed very little of the athletic muscle there either. Just skin and bones, a boy who didn't seem to have ever eaten nearly enough.
A bastard of the Jins; had his life before been tainted by that? If so, Lan Xichen could only be thankful the boy was now under Jin Guangyao's careful watch. Some people found the youngest of the venerated trio uncomfortable, but Lan Xichen knew him to be kind and gentle; a good man. Jin Xuanyu seemed to as well; he quite clearly adored his brother...
It seemed all three of them had younger brothers who needed their worry. If only life could be gentler to them all.
"Go on, eat up," Nie Mingjue encouraged, and Lan Xichen wondered if he had noticed it too; he was not the usual one of the three of them to be handing out cake, of all things. No matter the quips it came from
Still the boy looked hesitant, so Lan Xichen leant over and put an apple there, too, "we invited you to join us, young master Jin; your father will surely be pleased you are entertaining such important guests. Would it not be more rude not to eat too? We will help with your duties, after."
The suspicious look on the boy's face morphed into a wide, if hesitant, grin, and he picked up the cake with gestures almost as though his fingers were the beak of a bird. With his other hand he picked off crumbs placing them in his mouth. Jin Guangyao watched him like a hawk for a small while, before smiling in seeming contentment, and turning back to his sworn brothers.
"So, where were we?" Jin Guangyao smiled at them. "I believe you said Hanguang Jun found something concerning on his last hunt, second brother?"
Lan Xichen sighed and frowned; it was not exactly a topic for pleasurable conversation, but... Well, maybe it were best to decide on their unified stance before the meeting. Briefly he surmised the situation Lan Wangji had found on his hunt in the former Qishan territories, and the oddities there. He discussed it back and forth with his sworn brothers a while, almost forgetting the silently scowling boy sat almost in Jin Guangyao's lap.
It was very easy to forget him, before he spoke, "you said Qishan?"
Before his youngest sworn brother could silence the boy, Lan Xichen nodded, "yes. The territory was split between the remaining major clans."
"Might there be a mass grave, then?" Jin Xuanyu did not look up from the tea he was swishing with his finger. "Its about the right time for the resentment to have gathered..."
That was a matter they had considered, but, when they had checked the registry, they found no record of one being there. Before he could comment on that, Nie Mingjue already had, "good thinking, but there's no mass grave there."
"Are you sure?" he did not even seem to realise how rude he was being as he replied, his fingers now still as he cocked his head to one side. "It may have been the Wens burying your dead, or their own. Or it might have been your people not filing their paperwork. Or the paperwork getting damaged or lost. Or even someone covering it up. I'm sure there's reasons someone wouldn't want a mass grave finding."
The rambling words, stating so bluntly something that all good cultivators wished to deny, cut through that illusion quickly enough. He could almost feel Nie Mingjue's raised eyebrows, and Jin Guangyao's exasperation. Still, Lan Xichen did his best to smile reassuringly at him, noticing the horror slowly dawning on his features as Jin Xuanyu realised he had insinuated incompetence of people far his senior, "what makes you say that?"
"I was reading last night-" Jin Xuanyu glanced hesitantly at his brother, face brightening when he received a permissive wave of the hand in response. "It's not quite a typical example, at least for a war, but it does match one of the ways an untended mass grave of murder victims can fester. Hence why I mentioned Qishan's own authorities; Teacher Li makes it very clear that the Wens killed nearly as many of their own people as the war did. I think the book also had a list of mass graves not on the record the writer had found during his travels? Many of them were older, but still untended. It was very interesting! I just... Wish it didn't have practical implications. I'd much rather these things were just interesting, not important because they're dangerous, you understand?"
Nie Mingjue exchanged a look with Lan Xichen; he nodded back. They had known each other so well for so long that when, a moment later, Nie Mingjue stated the Nie Sect would re-examine the area that Hanguang Jun had found the problem in, there was not an ounce of surprise; while the Lan Sect were perfectly capable of checking things over, and while they would have talked in circles around the suggestion for a while the suggestion was so obvious that they eventually would have concluded the same, he was not entirely sure who exactly he would send to deal with it. Any one of a number of his Sect were capable of it, but most were already busy with more local and urgent tasks, while Lan Wangji was near impossible to control any more. With Nie Mingjue offering to take it on, the situation would be resolved before it became a crisis.
"A-Yu," Jin Guangyao's eyes narrowed at his little brother, a strange, if pleased, expression on his face. "... Do you know which book this was in?"
Jin Xuanyu nodded, folding his hands between his knees, and blushing again, "yes, elder brother! I could fetch it, but... I'm not sure where the library is from here."
Clever, but not an eidetic memory then; surely then he could manage directions. But an exceptional one, none the less. With his claimed interest in information for information's sake, it would follow through.
"We will visit shortly," Jin Guangyao waved a hand as though to dismiss the topic, though did not begin one of his own. "We can collect the book, then take you to the conference hall. And we shall examine the list of mass graves while you do your chores; I'll send some disciples out to check them, that we can update the registry. How anyone could have missed this already, I apologise for the oversight. If there truly are mistakes..."
"Its no trouble at all," Lan Xichen smiled away the apology before Nie Mingjue could comment, just as he had always been taught to do. "We would have concluded the same; your brother just saved us a lot of time. And, I doubt anyone has read most of the books in your library."
"True, true," Jin Guangyao laughed in response, gently patting his younger half-brother's hair. "See, a-Yu. You are useful."
Jin Xuanyu seemed to think about that for a few seconds, before blushing, nodding, and nipping off another few crumbs of cake. It was a very strange way to eat anything, somewhere between overly cautious and extremely absent minded, but Lan Xichen refused to stare. The Lans did not, despite some claims, have exclusive rights to eccentricity.
Neither, it seemed, did they have them to devaluation, but then only only needed to look at any of Sect Leader Jin's children to prove that.
The following silence was rapidly becoming uncomfortable. As was always his task, he tried to move the conversation elsewhere, "so, young master Jin, how is Lanling treating you?"
Jin Xuanyu startled at the question, looking at his brother again. One hand wormed its way over his shoulder as he frowned, seeking some sort of reassurance. Jin Guangyao patted the hand a few times, after which his younger brother seemed to work out how to answer, "its... Very big. And I do not think many of the disciples like me... But the lessons are interesting, if difficult, and the library has a lot of books. Some of them are really terrible, but others are good. Just... Harder to find. I think they hide the interesting books on purpose!"
"I'm sorry to hear about the other disciples," Lan Xichen smiled at him; was that the correct response? "I am sure they will get used to you in time; you seem a lovely young man. Anyone should be proud to make your acquaintance."
The boy almost preened under the praise - certainly a Jin, as if there was any doubt - and his face shifted into a far too elated at a coy smile, "you think I'm lovely, then?"
"A-Yu," Jin Guangyao sounded more exasperated than before, causing Nie Mingjue to burst into laughter once more. Jin Guangyao frowned harder, whining out a "first brother"; Nie Mingjue laughed harder at that, Lan Xichen and Jin Xuanyu joining him.
The sixth or seventh time that Lan Xichen saw Jin Xuanyu was at the first cultivation conference after Nie Mingjue's death. Usually he would be trailing after Jin Guangyao but, with the amount of support the desperate Nie Huaisang needed to get his thoughts in order, the younger boy had been asked to wait with the other Jin disciples.
He was... hesitant about this at best, but had complied with his brother's request. It would only be later that Lan Xichen would remember just how badly the general Jin Sect thought of his third brother's brother, and curse himself for not commenting on it. It was not like Jin Guangyao to forget such a detail but maybe, like Lan Xichen, he had just thought the situation had improved over time; Jin Xuanyu could be harsh, but he was kind and funny and, had he not been a bastard, would surely have been the darling of his sect.
It was not as though there was much competition in the Jin Sect, especially once one considered the fact that, for all his name and being the heir, Jin Ling was more a Jiang than most of their own disciples ever would try to be. To some readings, anyway. Lan Xichen had always thought that he exemplified the very best, and very worst, of the essence of both Sects.
Nie Huaisang's problems were multiple, and exhausting, but none of them beyond the join skills of himself and Jin Guangyao to solve. The hardest part was trying to work out what he needed from between his tears, which in their turn were exhausting. Eventually one of the Nie Sect's own advisors appeared and, after Lan Xichen explained the situation to her, she took over dealing with it.
Lan Xichen felt awful to abandon Nie Mingjue's darling baby brother to his advisors, knowing what his own were like, but she seemed to have a sensible head on her, and he did actually have duties for the Lan Sect to perform. So, he headed towards the building where his own advisors had gathered, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable arguments; by far the greatest problem with hosting the cultivation conference, he thought, was that every member of his Sect wanted to tell him what to do, and all of their orders contradicted, and all of them were close enough at hand to make themselves heard.
He never made it to them; instead, his attention was distracted by a much louder argument than those the Lan rules permitted. Jin Guangyao also stopped, whatever he had been chattering about freezing on his lips as he turned towards the noise. A frown quickly taking over his entire face, he marched off in that direction.
Lan Xichen followed.
A few corners away, in a side garden, they found the source of the noise; two Jin Sect disciples were threatening Jin Xuanyu, their swords drawn, while he warily eyed each in turn, a much shorter knife clutched between his fingers. His expression seemed not so much scared as defensive, a snarl of anger. One to match their own. A book lay torn and discarded at the side, surely somehow the source of the argument one way or the other.
Jin Guangyao cleared his throat. This seemed to have the opposite effect to intended; the pair of unknown disciples moved in closer, even as the throat clearing became a 'stop'. Jin Xuanyu managed to block a number of the blows as Lan Xichen ran over, but he was by no means skilled enough to take on multiple, superior opponents.
He did managed to get a slash on one of their wrists before Lan Xichen made it over, physically separating the fight. Jin Guangyao made it over a moment later, pulling himself to his full, if still comparatively small, height, "now why don't you explain to me why you drew your swords on my little brother?"
Lan Xichen almost pitied the two disciples, as they seemed to realise that no answer would save them. Seeing his sworn brother's torn attention, he gestured for him to deal with the two men, then approached Jin Xuanyu. He was still holding the knife, tightly clenched between his fingers and shaking as he did.
"A-Yu," he settled on saying. "You're safe now; please put the knife down."
"Big brother Chen?" he did not put the knife down, but his voice wavered.
Under other circumstances, the address would have pleased Lan Xichen. Maybe he would have even teased the boy about it a little, In these ones, however, he pushed it aside for later, "I am here; Jin Guangyao is dealing with the disciples. Would you put down the knife, so I can check you for injuries? Nobody else is here."
Jin Xuanyu did not comply immediately - not until Jin Guangyao led the offending disciples out of sight - but eventually did.
He still shook, though if it were from fear or anger Lan Xichen was not certain. Mostly likely some of both. He waited until Jin Xuanyu had relaxed a little, before reaching out to him. The boy shuddered a little, before wiping the knife on his sleeve, and taking a deep breath and dropping into a bow, "this disciple thanks Zewu Jun for his assistance and concern; he assures him that he was not injured in the confrontation, and will take any punishment necessary."
"I'll be the judge of that," Lan Xichen caught his arms, just as he always did for his brother, then guided him to sit. With the boy's grudging consent he checked him over.
To his surprise he did, indeed, find no visible injuries. When he asked to check more thoroughly, he was firmly rejected; Jin Xuanyu moving a little further away from him.
Too invasive, Lan Xichen assumed, or maybe he was embarrassed about the fact Lan Xichen would be able to tell his core was under developed; of course it would be, he had started cultivating so very late. Still, he did not seem to have been lying, and really in the few seconds of combat any injuries sustained really would most likely be visible.
"Alright. Shall we just sit and catch our breath a little, then?" Lan Xichen took his hands away, resting them in his lap.
Jin Xuanyu still seemed to be coming down from the adrenaline, and so they sat together. Not wanting him to think that he was paying him undue attention, Lan Xichen reached over to pick up the discarded book. He was surprised to find it very, very similar to some of the books Lan Wangji kept in places that he surely thought were well hidden, and most likely were against anyone who was not his brother. With a sigh, he realised what must have happened; teenagers could be cruel, and to find someone already considered an easy target looking at cutsleeve erotica... He could hope that Jin Guangyao, along with the fact that Jin Xuanyu had managed to land a hit when they had not, inspired them to back off.
He dusted the book off, smoothed out the crumpled pages, and passed it back to him.
Jin Xuanyu looked cautiously between the book and Lan Xichen, before taking it and hiding it away. He then still watched Lan Xichen, clearly suspicious.
Realising that he was not going to receive a question to de-escalate the situation, Lan Xichen smiled at him, "maybe keep it a little better hidden next time?"
"Ah," Jin Xuanyu relaxed a little. "You... Don't mind?"
"Not at all," he replied, mind comparing Lan Wangji's angry blush to Jin Xuanyu's cautious wonder from indirectly admitting to the same thing.
He did not quite smile as though Lan Xichen has hung the stars, like he did for Jin Guangyao, but it was still brilliant. Lan Xichen smiled back, his conspiratorial wink earning him a very slight laugh from the teenager before him.
It was then that Jin Guangyao returned, tension running through his every muscle. They seemed to relax when he heard the laugher, coming to sit with them.
"Second brother?" he asked. "I have spoken to them, and informed them that you will decide their punishment for breaking the rules of Cloud Recesses; father will decide on them embarrassing the sect in such a way when we return. I do apologise for all of this."
"Not at all," with some regret, he stood. "I will have them returned to you once they have completed their punishment."
"You're leaving?" Jin Xuanyu looked at him with wide eyes.
Lan Xichen glanced to Jin Guangyao, and then back to the boy, "I will come find you before dinner, but I need to see to this and entertain my clan elders."
"Oh, Elders," Jin Xuanyu's nose scrunched in disgust at the idea, earning a very mild, token scolding from his brother, and a slightly laugh from Lan Xichen himself.
"Oh, Elders indeed."
The last time that Lan Xichen saw Jin Xuanyu, by that name at least, he did not yet know it would be the last time. He was visiting Koi Tower once more; Sect Leader Jin was gravely ill, and so he came to help his younger sworn brother take more formal control of his Sect. The work had taken a while, though not as long as he had expected. When they were done, with some time to spare, Jin Guangyao offered to how him around the private family gardens. Lan Xichen saw no reason to decline, and realised that maybe his sworn brother needed some time to be angry about his father's ways despite the fact in public he must look the part of a proper son. Private gardens would be the ideal place, one where they were unlikely to be disturbed.
Jin Xuanyu was already there when they arrived, looking up from his book with a startled expression when a greeting was raised to him, "oh! Hello."
He started scrambling up to bow, but Jin Guangyao waved him to sit back down, "we are all brothers here, no?"
Jin Xuanyu's confusion morphed into a grin. Still, he made a note of his place in his reading on the back of his hand, before putting the book away. He then looked up to the two men before him, grin slowly dropping into expectation.
"We were thinking to spend a little time here before I have to leave; would you like to join us?" Lan Zichen asked.
Jin Xuanyu tucked his hair behind his ear, and nodded. Jin Guangyao even offered him the plate of cakes; he took one, holding it in one cupped hand, and picking at it with the other. Just like he had their first meeting. Jin Guangyao shook his head at the mess he was making. Noticing that, he only make his peckings smaller, and his happy smile twisting into a smirk.
"As you can see," Jin Guangyao was obviously intentionally avoiding acknowledging his brother's expression. "This is the private family garden."
"The privacy makes it useful when you want to read your erotica in peace," Mo Xuanyu managed to keep his face straight until the end of the sentence, breaking into giggles at the exasperated glare that Jin Guangyao gave him.
"I suppose," he shifted uncomfortably.
"It's also very good for hiding when we cannot pretend to be sad about father any more," Mo Xuanyu continued. "He's kinda a bastard."
"A-Yu," Jin Guangyao sighed dramatically. "Please."
Jin Xuanyu cackled in response, "sometimes Madam Qin and I compare books."
"A-Yao," Lan Xichen cut in, before his sworn brother could get more embarrassed. "I don't mind; he's just teasing."
"I know," he turned a sharp look on Jin Xuanyu, though there did not seem to be any hate in it. "Though these are very brave words from the brother I found rearranging the library at two in the morning to-"
"Shhhh," Jin Xuanyu did not seem too embarrassed; despite his blush, he was laughing uncontrollably.
Jin Guangyao rolled his eyes, fondly patting his younger brother on the head, before turning back to Lan Xichen, "second brother, may I show you the orchid garden-"
Needless to say, the tour of the private gardens was very entertaining, but not very quick at all. Jin Xuanyu kept making comments for the sole purpose of teasing his elder brother, and Jin Guangyao teased back. Knowing how fraught his relationship with Jin Zixuan had been at times, and how it had been cut short so soon, Lan Xichen was glad to see them acting like, well, brothers. Teasing and playing and just... enjoying one another. He missed that, the days when Lan Wangji had been... Lan Wangji had never been like Jin Xuanyu, but once they had teased and laughed in their own ways. These days...
These days, Lan Wangji was the ice that everyone claimed he could be, a brittle wall only the youngest disciples could break past, and Lan Xichen was terrified for what would happen when it broke.
The mood turned sour by the thoughts, he made his excuses to leave slightly earlier than intended; he missed his own brother, and so claimed he wished to be back in Gusu in time to share dinner with him. The Jin brothers seemed to understand, letting him go without forcing him to explain, and wishing his journey well.
"See you soon, Big Brother Chen!" Jin Xuanyu had called as he waved and grinned.
Lan Xichen gave a little laugh, and waved back to him, "very soon, I hope."
He was attacked by a very quick hug, which was just long enough to involve Jin Guangyao in as well, before he stepped up onto his sword.
And with one last smile to the pair, Lan Xichen flew away.
The next time that Lan Xichen should have seen Jin Xuanyu, a clearly unsettled Jin Guangyao met him alone. After a few years of a-Yu being always near constantly in his shadow, it truly was a little strange to see.
To begin with, Lan Xichen wondered if the teen was just busy with something else. It was not unusual for Disciples to be given responsibilities, after all, and were a-Yu away on a night hunt, it would explain why Jin Guangyao was so very unsettled; it was only natural for an older brother to worry for the younger one. So Lan Xichen did his best to distract him, keeping up a constant stream of things for Jin Guangyao to think of.
But then hours passed, and evening came, and Jin Guangyao did not seem settled at all. Not only that, but the hand clinging to his sleeve became more noticeably absent as time went on. And then there was the fact that, usually, Jin Guangyao said something when a-Yu was away on a hunt... Some explanation, at least, so that Lan Xichen did not keep wondering where he was.
In the end, Lan Xichen could not fail to ask. Maybe he could help, if he knew what the problem was? It was probably their father; Sect Leader Jin, unwell as he was, was still an infuriatingly unpleasant man to spend time with, and from what Lan Xichen had seen had no love at all for his sons.
"A-Yao?" Lan Xichen gently reached out to touch his arm, and he shuddered under the touch. "A-Yao, where's your brother?"
Something seemed to break inside him; Jin Guangyao's face fell, morphing from careful porcelain to utter sorrow. There were no tears, but somehow it made the heartbreak all the more apparent.
"What happened?" Lan Xichen's own heart broke at the expression, but... He had to know, had to do... something. Was a-Yu in trouble? In trouble with their father, maybe. "Is... Is there's anything I can do? If its your father, he can come stay in the Cloud Recesses a while; we have healers, if he needs them, and Uncle would adore him. It would be no trouble."
Jin Guangyao shook his head, turning away once more. There were now tears in his eyes, pooling upon his lids as they failed to drip down his face. Nothing... Nothing good could come of that expression, now of the way Jin Guangyao tried to hide it. He took a deep breath, and spoke but a few words with enough despair to shatter Lan Xichen's heart.
“Second brother,” he said it with a despairing sob. “There is nothing you can do.”
Lan Xichen's heart fretted more; what could have happened? What could possibly-
“He's already dead."