Chapter Text
When Wei Wuxian is eighteen, he bids farewell to the land and all that comes with it: family, home, duties, reputation. Then he acquires a ship that's seen better days, and a crew to go with it, and decides to turn to a life of piracy.
Five years later, he almost drowns.
This is, in and of itself, nothing unusual. For pirates it's an occupational hazard, just another part of the job. Wei Wuxian has almost drowned before, several times, and survived, which he rather thinks is something to be proud of.
This time, however, it's different.
It’s not that Wei Wuxian actually dies, but that he wakes up in a cave, at the edge of a shallow lagoon. He's too far from the shore to have washed up here, and when he looks around, he realises that his jacket and shoes have been removed folded and placed neatly to the side. Which means, someone must have saved him and placed him in here. But who?
As Wei Wuxian shrugs his garments back on and then exits the cave to take a look around, he tries to recall what had happened. His vessel had been invaded by some...rival pirates, as tends to happen. This invasion had happened to coincide with a rather violent storm which, long story short, had resulted in Wei Wuxian getting swept overboard. This is not the first time that this has happened, and it probably won’t be the last. Still, he wonders who this mysterious rescuer was. Most people, upon finding an extremely shady-looking, pirate character floating in the water or washed up on the shore, would just leave them alone and keep a wide berth and maybe report them to the naval officials.
(The last one has happened before. Waking up in jail - not fun. Would not recommend.)
Wei Wuxian checked the cave, but the person had left no traces behind as clues. All he has to go with is a vague recollection of a song, gentle and soothing. A blurry yet strangely familiar face, and a vaguely familiar...tail.
But it was probably a dream. It has to be. After all, he hasn’t seen Lan Zhan in years, not since he’d left Yunmeng. What are the odds that they’d encounter each other here, that Lan Zhan would save him? Wei Wuxian scoffs. It must’ve been a vision conjured by...a concussion. From when he’d knocked himself out on a piece of driftwood. Yeah, that’s it.
After wandering around outside for a few minutes, he comes to the conclusion that he’s probably somewhere around the Yiling region. After he wanders around a bit more, he finds himself in a small, seaside town. He strolls through the marketplace and buys himself an apple to munch on, half a loaf of bread, and a bag of candy (somehow, his money pouch had survived the ordeal). Most people give him a wide berth, and he can’t blame them - he knows what kind of reputation pirates have around these parts.
Eventually, he sits at the pier, dangles his feet off the edge into the cool water, and waits. He’s not worried about his crew finding him - they’ll know where he is. Sure enough, after he spends a few hours watching the fishermen and trying unsuccessfully to get seagulls to come eat the bread he’s throwing out for them (why do even birds avoid him?) Suibian limps into the harbour.
Ignoring the way people mutter and scurry away at the sight of what is very obviously a pirate vessel, Wei Wuxian grins, tosses the remnants of the apple to the gulls who still eye him with suspicion, and boards his ship. Wen Qing is waiting for him, looking supremely unimpressed.
“Missed me?” Wei Wuxian tries.
“This is the fourth time in three months you’ve gotten yourself washed overboard,” Wen Qing says. “Sooner or later, you’re going to drown, and I won’t be surprised.”
“Mean,” Wei Wuxian complains, then yelps as Wen Qing grabs his wrist hard to check his pulse. “Be nicer to me! I am your captain, after all!”
“Shut the hell up,” Wen Qing says, then finally releases him, apparently judging him to be in no imminent danger of collapse. “You won’t be anyone’s captain if you’re dead.”
“But I’m not,” Wei Wuxian points out, just as A-Qing leaps down from the mast and hollers, “Cap! You’re back!”
Wei Wuxian chuckles, and tosses her the bag of taffy he’d bought from a stall at the pier, which she catches with a yell of glee. “Yep! I’m not so easy to kill, you know!”
“That doesn’t sound like a theory you ought to be testing so frequently,” Xiao Xingchen comments mildly, stepping onto the deck. As usual, Song Lan is in tow, one hand resting lightly on Xiao Xingchen’s elbow. Wherever A-Qing is, the two of them usually aren’t far away, hovering like protective mother hens, because chances are that, left unsupervised, A-Qing will get up to something dangerous or illegal or both. What an exceptional pirate.
“I see we didn’t need to bust you out of jail this time,” Mianmian says, appearing alongside Wen Ning and A-Yuan, who toddles over to A-Qing to beg for sweets. “Pity, I had some new knives I wanted to test out.”
“Well, sorry to disappoint,” Wei Wuxian says, glaring - they all know how much he hates smelly jail cells, they should be more considerate! - “but I was rescued this time.”
Practically every single pair of eyebrows shoot up in unison. “Rescued?” Mianmian echoes blankly. “By whom?”
“I don’t know,” Wei Wuxian says, then smirks and adds, “probably some pretty maiden who was so enamoured by my dashing good looks that she had to save me -”
Mianmian rolls her eyes spectacularly. “At least try to be believable!”
“Fine!” Wei Wuxian says, wounded - why is that so hard to believe? “Actually, I think - it might have been a merperson!”
Song Lan stares at him blankly. “That’s believable?”
Wei Wuxian sniffs. “Well, I don’t remember much, but I do remember that they were really pretty. And that they had a nice voice. And, I think, a tail?”
“So you’re concussed,” Wen Qing says flatly. Holding up a hand, she says, “How many fingers -”
Wei Wuxian bats her hand away. “I’m not concussed! I saw what I saw!”
“Please do not take offense, Captain,” Song Lan says lowly, “but merpeople are not...on the best terms with humans. You know that. I do not think that a merperson who found you wounded and unconscious would be very likely to save your life.”
“Zichen,” Xiao Xingchen says quietly, and it sounds as much like a reprimand as Xiao Xingchen is capable of, “do not generalise.” Song Lan looks away.
Not all merpeople hate humans, Wei Wuxian thinks. Lan Zhan hadn’t…
But then again, it probably was just a dream. He sighs, and watches Yiling fade to nothingness in the distance as Suibian sails off into the open ocean.
Some months later, Wei Wuxian and his crew board a Wen smuggling vessel. Wei Wuxian usually has nothing against smuggling, personally (he even engages in a spot of it himself, time to time), except when it's Wens behind the operation. This is because, more often than not, the goods he finds on the ships are of the less savory variety. Valuable cultural artifacts they've stolen from remote tribes, extremely malevolent cursed objects or sometimes, in some of the worse cases: rare, endangered animals to be sold off or killed.
And in the most distressing cases of all, humans.
It seems to be a fairly routine boarding, at first. The smugglers try to put up a fight, but barely last ten minutes against Wei Wuxian's crew. While Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, Mianmian and A-Qing stay up on the deck to keep watch over their captives, Wei Wuxian takes Wen Qing and Wen Ning down to the cargo hold to see what they can find.
At first glance, nothing overly unusual. Just the usual stolen goods. Wei Wuxian was planning to make a stop at a port in Yunmeng soon, anyway - while he's there, he'll drop the goods off (anonymously, of course) and the officials at Lotus Pier will ensure they're returned to their proper owners. And what can’t be returned will probably be added to the treasury at Lotus Pier. That’s just the way the world works, apparently.
So, nothing much out of the ordinary. The three of them walk around for a while, cataloguing the items they can see, and then Wei Wuxian comes across a mostly innocuous-looking barrel in the corner of the hold.
"Hey, Wen Qing," he calls, "come check this out."
"What's going on?" Wen Qing asks, walking over. When Wei Wuxian points to the barrel, she frowns and says, "What about it? It's just a barrel. It's probably got wine stored inside or something."
"Yeah," Wei Wuxian says, "but look. There are holes in the lid - why would the smugglers do that?"
Wen Qing's frown deepens. "Open it and see, then."
A little warily, Wei Wuxian pries the lid off - and can't contain his gasp at what's inside.
The barrel is filled to the brim with water, and curled inside, head bowed below the surface, is a man. Wait, not a man - in the place of legs, there's a tail. A familiar tail.
Wei Wuxian's breath hitches. No, it can't be -
At the sound of the lid being removed, or at the sudden influx of light, the merman lifts his head and surges out of the barrel abruptly. His eyes, narrowed defiantly, latch onto Wei Wuxian and immediately go wide and shocked. He slumps back down into the barrel, still staring at Wei Wuxian like he can’t believe he’s real. Wei Wuxian...shares the sentiment.
“Lan Zhan?” he breathes.
Lan Zhan’s golden eyes have yet to leave his face. Even in the shadowy hold, they seem to catch the few dim sunbeams filtering down from above and glow. (Wei Wuxian had always used to wonder, at that - some sort of bioluminescence, he'd supposed. Lan Zhan had only given him a blank stare whenever he'd asked about it.)
Slowly, Lan Zhan brings up his hands and signs, [Wei Ying?]
Wei Wuxian laughs - more of a giddy exhalation of breath. He can’t help it, it’s just - he’d honestly never thought he’d get to see Lan Zhan again. He’d resigned himself to it, told himself that missing his friend would get him nowhere. And even if they have to meet like this, in the dingy hold of a smuggler’s ship, it’s worth it just to see Lan Zhan’s face again.
Before he can stop himself, Wei Wuxian’s stepping forward and throwing his arms around Lan Zhan, hugging him tightly. He feels Lan Zhan stiffen slightly, and hears a noise of surprise from Wen Qing.
“Wei Wuxian,” she says, voice tight, “you... know this merman?”
“Yeah,” Wei Wuxian tells her, still clinging to Lan Zhan - he finds himself reluctant to let go, especially now that Lan Zhan’s brought his own arms up to circle his waist tentatively, “he’s...he was my friend.” Friend seems simultaneously too much and too little to describe what Lan Zhan had been to him, but Wei Wuxian’s not going to get into that.
“You were friends with a merman?” Wen Qing says skeptically. Wei Wuxian pulls away to frown at her.
“Yeah,” he says, “Why is that-”
Just then, Wen Ning appears, saying, “Captain Wei, I didn’t find any -” He stops dead in his tracks the moment he spots Lan Zhan, and immediately takes three large steps backwards. Then he seems to change his mind and darts over to hide behind his sister instead. “Is that - is that a merman?”
“Yep!” Wei Wuxian says, beaming. “Guys, meet Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan, meet -” Turning back to Lan Zhan, he sees that the merman has shrunk back slightly into the barrel, staring at the two Wens with obvious apprehension. Oh, right - merpeople and humans usually didn’t have that much interaction to start with, did they? And besides Wei Wuxian, it’s quite possible that the only other humans Lan Zhan’s had contact with have been those smugglers who put him here - no wonder he’s wary of Wen Qing and Wen Ning.
“Lan Zhan, it’s okay,” Wei Wuxian says, trying to keep his voice as soothing as possible. Lan Zhan’s eyes snap back to his. “These are Wen Qing and Wen Ning. Wen Qing’s my first mate, and she’s a healer. They’re both my friends, they won’t hurt you.” Unconsciously, his hands have come up to sign the words as he speaks - a habit he’d picked up during those many years he’d used to talk to Lan Zhan almost every week, to make certain that Lan Zhan could understand him.
Lan Zhan still looks pretty suspicious, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise - it had taken almost five straight months of nonstop pestering before he stopped darting away underwater the moment Wei Wuxian caught a glimpse of him. It’ll probably take a lot longer than five minutes for him to warm up to Wei Wuxian’s crew. That’s fine, though, they can get to that later. Right now, Wei Wuxian’s number one priority is getting him off this ship, and away from the smugglers. Then he notices something he’d overlooked before: the faint smell of blood hanging in the air.
Looking closer, he notices how murky the water in the barrel is. Before, he’d chalked it up to a consequence of the darkness in the hold, but now he realises the water is also tinged with red and, peering closer beneath the surface, he sees that Lan Zhan’s beautiful tail is marred with several long, deep gouges, delicate fins torn and ragged.
Wei Wuxian’s breath catches. How did this happen? Anger, hot and fierce, flares within his chest - was it those Wen bastards? Catching Lan Zhan’s shoulders, he demands, “Who did this? Who hurt you?”
Lan Zhan looks a little taken aback by his sudden change in mood, but he signs, slowly, [No one. It was an -] Then he makes a sign Wei Wuxian doesn’t recognize. Seeing the way Wei Wuxian blinks confusedly, he takes Wei Wuxian’s hand instead, and traces the character there, running his finger lightly over Wei Wuxian’s skin. (Wei Wuxian tries to pretend the touch doesn’t make him shiver, for reasons he can’t quite describe.)
“It was an accident?” he asks, to confirm. Lan Zhan nods, then signs, [Shark.] Wei Wuxian sighs. He knows Lan Zhan’s not telling him the whole story, but again, he needs to get Lan Zhan out of here as quickly as possible - he can interrogate him later. So he turns back to Wen Ning and Wen Qing, who both look visibly perturbed, and says, “Wen Qing, let’s go back up on deck and see what our good friends have to say about this. Wen Ning, you stay down here with Lan Zhan.”
Under other circumstances, the twin expressions of horror on Wen Ning and Lan Zhan’s faces would be comical. As it is, it’s still pretty funny, but Wei Wuxian can’t tease them properly like he wants to - he can only sign, [I’ll be back soon, Lan Zhan, don’t worry!] and follow Wen Qing out the hold.
“So,” Wen Qing says, as they walk, “Is this the mysterious beauty who saved you?”
“Probably not,” Wei Wuxian says, a little dejectedly. “I don’t think Lan Zhan would...he’s still my friend though!” Or at least, he hopes they’re friends - he has no idea what Lan Zhan considers him, especially after five years. “We knew each other since we were kids - that’s how I learnt the sign language merpeople use, and a little bit of their language - not much, though, because Lan Zhan barely speaks -”
“Okay, okay,” Wen Qing interrupts, “putting all... that aside, you’re saying that you were interacting with a merman for what - years? You do realise just how many laws, both spoken and unspoken, you’ve broken, right?”
Wei Wuxian shrugs. “Since when have you ever known me to be concerned with laws, huh?” he says flippantly. “We’re pirates - our entire existence is technically illegal, so…”
“Oh, yes, you’re such a deviant,” Wen Qing says, voice dripping with sarcasm. “And that’s why you cried when we saw that baby whale -”
“Stop bringing that up, it wasn’t my fault - it was really small, okay? And oh, look at that, we’re here!” Blinking slightly in the bright sunlight, they walk over to where the rest of the crew has already gotten the smugglers tied up and shoved together in a pile. A-Qing circles them, periodically poking at them with her cane, and Xiao Xingcheng and Song Lan follow her, periodically pulling her away. Mianmian, perched on the railing and munching on something, brightens predictably at the sight of Wen Qing and calls, “Find anything interesting?”
“Not really,” Wen Qing replies, “except for a merman.”
When Wei Wuxian walks over to the captain of the smuggling vessel, he actually has the gall to spit on his boot - which is why Wei Wuxian feels no remorse whatsoever when he kicks his teeth out. He looks down at the rest of the smugglers, who at least seem to be marginally wiser than their captain, given the way they’re shivering with fear, and smiles. Even if they don’t know who the Yiling Patriarch is yet, they’ll find out soon enough.
He draws his sword slowly from its scabbard, the soft hiss of metal on leather ringing out through the silence that’s fallen. Motions languid, he places the tip under the captain’s chin and tilts his head up. “I’m afraid you’ve put me in a rather bad mood,” he says softly, “so I’d advise you start explaining.”
Wei Wuxian’s crew transfers the loot from the smuggler’s ship to Suibian with a speed that comes from years of experience. When they’re done, finally, Wei Wuxian gets Wen Ning to help him take Lan Zhan, in the barrel, over as well.
“Lan Zhan, are you alright?” Wei Wuxian asks anxiously, as they cross the plank connecting the two ships. “We’re not jostling you too much, are we?”
Lan Zhan shakes his head.
All the other goods are stashed in the hold, but Wei Wuxian keeps Lan Zhan on deck instead. Who knows how many days he’d had to spend crammed into this tiny barrel, away from the sunlight - the last thing Wei Wuxian wants is to put him beneath decks again.
Suibian sails away from the Wen ship, leaving the smugglers still bound - they’ll figure something out, Wei Wuxian is certain. After the way they told him they’d captured Lan Zhan - shot a harpoon through his tail and hauled him up with a net - they’re lucky he didn’t drown the lot of them.
Wei Wuxian sets course for Lotus Pier and, by the time he's done with that and returns to the deck, it’s to find that his crew has already congregated around Lan Zhan, eyeing him with interest, suspicion, or a mixture of the two. Even A-Yuan is there, clinging to Wen Ning and gazing, wide-eyed, into the barrel. They’re all chattering amongst themselves, loudly and excitedly - Lan Zhan, for his part, has retreated down below into the barrel till only the top of his head is still above water.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Wei Wuxian calls, watching his crew start guiltily, “he’s not some piece of treasure for you to gawk at! Give him some air!”
“He doesn’t need air,” A-Qing points out, stepping back anyway, “he can breathe underwater.”
“It’s a figure of speech,” Wei Wuxian says, a little despairingly. He turns to the rest of his crew and says, “Well, don’t forget you have actual work to do! Just because we have a...guest...for now doesn’t mean you can stand around staring all day! Chop chop!”
Not without considerable grumbling and eye-rolling, they head off - Wen Ning and Mianmian below deck, A-Qing scampering up the mast to her usual perch, Song Lan and Xiao Xingcheng off to the prow. Just as Wen Qing is about to leave, however, Wei Wuxian calls her back. “Lan Zhan is injured,” he says. “I wondered if you could take a look at his tail, see how bad the damage is?”
“I’m a human healer, not a fish one,” Wen Qing reminds him drily, but follows him over to the barrel anyway. Lan Zhan has emerged slightly, probably realising that most of the crew have left - now, the entire top half of his face is poking out from the water. He sinks back down slightly when he sees Wen Qing, but sits up fully at the sight of Wei Wuxian.
“Hey, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian says, and smiles at him. “How are you feeling? What did you think of my crew?”
Lan Zhan gives him a look and signs, [Loud.]
Wei Wuxian cackles. “What, me or them?”
[Both.]
This just makes Wei Wuxian laugh harder. “Ah, Lan Zhan, you really haven’t changed one bit!” This sobers him up a little, however: the reminder of just how long it has been since they’ve seen each other. Who knows how much Lan Zhan has changed in those five years, what has happened to him? If he even still wants to -
Wei Wuxian pushes these thoughts away. Not the time. Instead, he shakes his head and tells Lan Zhan, “You remember I introduced Wen Qing to you before, right? She’s a healer? Well, I wanted her to take a look at your tail. Do you mind just, uh…” he gestures vaguely, “letting us see?”
Lan Zhan shakes his head and signs, [I dislike others touching my tail.]
Wei Wuxian raises a brow. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with me touching it, did you?”
[You’re different.] For the sake of his own sanity, Wei Wuxian decides not to think too much about that.
“I’m sorry, you did what?” he hears Wen Qing say, behind him.
“Ah, it’s nothing, just - look, Lan Zhan, she doesn’t have to touch your tail, okay? She just has to look at it - I'll help you, and I'll be quick, I promise -"
Still looking somewhat wary, Lan Zhan nods slowly, and shifts back against the side of the barrel to give Wei Wuxian better access. He lifts his tail, and Wei Wuxian gently gathers it up, fingers slipping slightly off the smooth, slick scales, and brings it out of the water and rests it on the edge of the barrel. He hears Lan Zhan make a small, clicking sound as he accidentally brushes against one of the wounds, and he mutters a quick apology.
[I am fine,] Lan Zhan tells him immediately.
“You’re really not,” Wei Wuxian says, giving his tail a significant look. Just the sight of it makes him feel furious, all over again - Lan Zhan really has such a beautiful tail, pearlescent white flecked with blue and tapering down to deceptively delicate, gossamery fins. That those smugglers would dare to harm him - they really got off easy, Wei Wuxian thinks darkly, not for the first time.
“Okay, okay, you can continue your little heart to heart later,” Wen Qing says, stepping forward. She pushes Wei Wuxian to the side and leans over Lan Zhan’s tail, then frowns. “Are you sure a shark was responsible for this?”
Lan Zhan nods.
“Oh,” Wen Qing says, slowly, “It’s just, these wounds look a bit like - nevermind. How much do they hurt?"
[Not a lot.]
"Stop lying," Wei Wuxian groans. To Wen Qing, he says, "He claims it's not bad, but I can tell he's in pain -"
"And he's the patient," Wen Qing reminds him. "Okay, how about this - try moving your tail, side to side, then up and down." It’s then that Wei Wuxian realises just how deliberately still Lan Zhan has been holding his tail. Before, Lan Zhan’s tail had always been the most expressive part of him - his face was all but unreadable, most of the time, but his tail would betray his mood by flicking agitatedly, swishing gently through the water when he was relaxed, and once, memorably, thrashing wildly when he was furious with Wei Wuxian. Now, however, it’s completely motionless.
Lan Zhan only manages one aborted flick before wincing visibly, which means it must hurt a lot, to be able to elicit such a reaction from him.
"Hm," Wen Qing remarks drily, "thought as much."
Wei Wuxian shakes his shoulder lightly and scolds, "Idiot! Why did you try to act like it was fine?"
[Did not want to trouble you,] Lan Zhan signs mulishly.
"Ughhhh," Wei Wuxian groans. “Why did you think it would trouble me? You know what would trouble me? If you were to die!”
"Well," Wen Qing says, gesturing for Wei Wuxian to put the tail back into the water, "as you could probably tell already, you're in no condition to be swimming any time soon. I can try to make some salves to speed up the healing process - no guarantees on how they'll work on, ah, fish - but it'll still take at least a month for you to recover enough to manage out in the ocean. My recommendation is that, for now, you stay on board the ship -"
Lan Zhan shakes his head immediately. A little stung, Wei Wuxian tells him, "Hey, I know you don't wanna deal with us for much longer, but it's not safe for you if you can't swim properly! What if the shark comes back to finish the job?"
[No,] Lan Zhan insists stubbornly. [I will be fine.]
“You can’t even move your tail properly, how will you be fine? How do you think I’ll feel if we toss you back into the water and you get eaten or something, huh?” Lan Zhan looks away, and Wei Wuxian makes a wordless sound of frustration. “Lan Zhan, come on. It won’t be for that long, seriously. Before you know it, you can leave, and we’ll never have to see each other again.” Lan Zhan turns back to him at this, expression unreadable. “But just - just stay for a little while, okay? I won’t let the crew bother you, I promise.”
After a long moment, Lan Zhan signs, [En.]
“What, did he agree?” Wen Qing asks. Wei Wuxian nods, and she says, “Oh, good. First things first, though, we’ve got to change the water in that barrel. Heaven knows how long those smugglers have had him in there, I don’t want to risk the wounds getting infected.
So that’s how, between the three of them, they manage to figure out a way of changing the water while keeping everyone’s dignity intact. Well, as intact as is possible, in this situation. At one point Wei Wuxian, a little reluctant to just let Lan Zhan lie on the deck like a beached fish while Wen Qing tips the bloodied water over the side of the ship, ends up holding Lan Zhan up in his arms while she does.
Lan Zhan doesn’t seem to mind that much; he just wraps his arms around Wei Wuxian’s neck and props his chin up on his head nonchalantly. Wei Wuxian, however, is having a bit of a crisis - he’d never before given much thought to the fact that Lan Zhan is basically naked all the time. But in five years, he’s gotten... larger, and it’s a bit distracting, especially when he’s so close and there’s so much bare skin and -
Needless to say, Wei Wuxian is immensely relieved to hear Wen Qing clearing her throat pointedly and showing him the barrel filled with fresh seawater. Wei Wuxian doesn’t quite drop Lan Zhan in, but he doesn’t quite let him down gently, either - Lan Zhan is, after all, rather heavy, and Wei Wuxian’s not quite in the most focused state of mind possible at this point. Lan Zhan gives him a rather betrayed look, then sinks below the surface to sulk.
“Do you have any tonics?” Wei Wuxian asks Wen Qing. “Any that’ll be safe for him?”
“It’s that part I’m not sure about,” she admits. “I’d prefer to make my own, but I’m running a bit low on ingredients right now - I’ll buy some more when we reach Lotus Pier, but for now I’ll just use what I have and hope for the best.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring.”
“It’s better than nothing. Oh, and the crew wants to talk to you, belowdecks - I think you owe them a bit of an explanation for all this -”
Wei Wuxian winces, and follows her down. “Are they angry?”
“More confused than anything, I think. Look, you’ll see for yourself.” They walk into the tiny room that functions as a makeshift mess hall, and A-Yuan immediately launches himself at Wei Wuxian’s leg and latches on like a monkey.
“Xian-gege,” he says, grinning gap-toothedly up at Wei Wuxian, “can I see Fish-gege again? Please?”
Wei Wuxian doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “In a bit, don’t worry,” he says tells A-Yuan, prying the boy off his leg gently. Looking up at the rest of the crew, gathered around, or on, the rather rickety dining table, he sees that they’re all looking at him expectantly - even Xiao Xingchen, somehow. “Okay,” he says, “before you all start to chew me out, let me give you the rundown. Lan Zhan’s my friend, I’ve known him for ages, he’s not gonna hurt us, he’s injured right now and can’t swim, so he’s going to be staying on the ship with us till he’s recovered. Any further questions, objections, etcetera?”
“You’re friends with a merman?” A-Qing blurts. “What the fuck?”
“Language,” Xiao Xingchen says mildly.
“Isn’t that...technically illegal?” Wen Ning asks tentatively.
“Where are you even going to keep him?” Mianmian demands. “Just leave him up on deck for any passing naval official to see?”
“What will we feed him?” Song Lan asks quietly. “Do we have to fish?”
Wei Wuxian pauses for a second, before replying, “A-Qing: yes, I am, why does everyone find this so hard to believe? Wen Ning: yes, it is, but Lan Zhan’s hardly the most illegal thing we’ve ever transported, so who cares. Mianmian: we can drape a canvas over him or something if we’re boarded, don’t worry about it. And Song Lan: I think Lan Zhan said he eats mostly seaweed, which we can buy in bulk at the ports, so don’t stress too much. Any other concerns?”
“Plenty,” Mianmian remarks, “but you seem pretty deadset on keeping him here, so.”
Wei Wuxian frowns. “Well, if it makes you guys uncomfortable, I’ll try to figure something out - but seriously, he's not going to try to harm us. I trust him.”
"Maybe that is the problem," Song Lan murmurs. The rest of the crew turns to look at him. In the dim light of the gently swaying lantern overhead, his face looks even more serious than normal, which is honestly impressive.
"What's that mean?" Wei Wuxian asks uneasily.
"He has a white and blue tail, doesn't he?" Song Lan says. Wei Wuxian nods, and he continues, "I have heard...stories. Of merpeople with tails of that colour. All merpeople possess the ability to weave spells with their songs, but this kind is especially powerful - they can create storms and waves over one hundred feet high to sink ships, they can lure entire crews to their death by drowning. I have...seen it happen."
The room is quiet after this fun little anecdote. Finally, shakily, Wei Wuxian says, "Okay, maybe some merpeople… do do stuff like that. Maybe Lan Zhan's family does. But I know he won't - I'll bet my life on it, if he tries to... sabotage us in any way, I will make him leave, but until then, please just -
Xiao Xingchen smiles gently at him. “Captain Wei, please don’t worry about that. We’re all a bit...surprised, but we don’t mind having your...Lan Zhan?...here with us. Don’t worry, we will not try to force him to leave -”
“Unless he tries to pull some sort of magic mer-bullshit and sink the ship!” A-Qing hollers. “Then we’ll turn his fish ass into sushi -”
“Language,” Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan sigh, in unison, while Wen Ning covers A-Yuan’s ears.
“Anyway,” Wen Qing says, “worst case scenario is, he’ll be with us for at least another few months, depending on how long it takes for his injuries to heal. Although -” she shoots Wei Wuxian a look which he does not like at all, “I get the feeling that our good captain won’t mind that much, judging by how he and the merman kept giving each other moon eyes earlier -”
“What?!” Wei Wuxian squawks. “I didn’t - I don’t - stop making things up!”
“Oh, what’s this?” Mianmian says, grinning. “You have the hots for a merman?”
“Don’t say it like that,” Wei Wuxian groans, collapsing at the table and burying his face in his arms. “And no, I don’t! Lan Zhan is just a friend!”
“A friend who apparently lets you touch his tail -”
“It’s not like that!”
“Is that some sort of euphemism?” Xiao Xingchen asks interestedly.
“No,” Wei Wuxian says tiredly, as Song Lan gives him a look that plainly says if it is a euphemism, do not, under any circumstances, explain it to us.
A while later, after they finish their dinner, Wei Wuxian decides to try introducing his crew to Lan Zhan. One at a time, of course, because he knows what a fiasco it’ll be if they all decide to swarm him at once. It goes...as well as can be expected. Which is to say, no one says anything outright hostile, but no one is particularly welcoming either (with the exceptions of Wen Ning and Xiao Xingchen, who are apparently physically incapable of being mean, and A-Yuan, who actually tears up a bit when Wen Ning drags him away from the barrel.)
Wei Wuxian supposes he can’t blame them. After all, they don’t know Lan Zhan like he does. So far, the only impressions they’ve formed of merpeople have been from the tales spread of their vicious, cruel ways. He guesses he’ll just have to give it time. Hope that, when they get to know Lan Zhan a little better, they’ll warm up to him.
Eventually, after the entire crew has been introduced, Wen Qing has applied the first dose of medicine to Lan Zhan’s tail, and everyone has gone to bed except for Song Lan, who’s headed to the prow for his lookout shift, Wei Wuxian is left alone with Lan Zhan.
“I know it’s past your bedtime and all,” he says, leaning against the side of the barrel. When Lan Zhan sits up, their shoulders are almost touching. He’s nibbling quietly at the dried seaweed Wei Wuxian had found in the pantry and brought for him. “I’ll leave you alone to sleep, soon. But I just wanted to talk to you first. I know we didn’t really get a chance to, what with all that’s happened. Unless you don’t want to - that’s fine, we’ll talk in the morning.”
Lan Zhan shakes his head. The moon is only a thin sliver in the sky, the faint light barely enough to illuminate any of his features - except for his eyes which, as always, seem to glow all on their own. [It is fine,] he signs. [I want to talk with you too.]
Wei Wuxian smiles, a little helplessly. “That - that’s good. Great. How’s your tail feeling? Did the medicine help?”
Lan Zhan nods, and Wei Wuxian tries to glower at him as threateningly as he can manage. “I hope you’re not lying to me!”
[I am not.]
“Oh, ok. Well, I’ll take your word for it - for now!”
A momentary silence falls, broken only by the soft lapping of the waves and the gentle creaks of the ship. It’s not awkward, though - being with Lan Zhan rarely ever was. Maybe it’s this thought that prompts Wei Wuxian to blurt, “I missed you.”
He winces a little at how that had sounded, but Lan Zhan just signs, [I missed you too.]
“It’s been a long five years, huh?” Wei Wuxian says. “What have you been getting up to?”
A cloud passes over the moon, blotting out the light, and plunging them into darkness again. Wei Wuxian startles when he feels Lan Zhan’s cool fingers take his hand, and his heart starts to beat faster for a reason that’s not quite fear - but Lan Zhan only traces characters on his skin. Oh, right, Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have been able to see his hands if he signed. Nothing interesting , Lan Zhan writes. What about you?
One of the first merpeople idiosyncrasies Wei Wuxian had discovered, after meeting Lan Zhan, was that their ears were apparently receptive to both human speech in air and merspeech underwater. However, merpeople were incapable of actually speaking the human tongue, and were also unable to vocalise the merspeech above water, just as humans couldn’t speak underwater. Strangely enough, though, their writing system is all but identical to that of humans, minus a few syntactic discrepancies here and there.
It’s all very intriguing, and implies a lot about what might have been a shared evolutionary and social history between humans and merpeople, some time in the distant past before the two parties decided to cut all contact and start fighting each other. The scholar in Wei Wuxian itches to investigate further, but he’d never pressed Lan Zhan for details.
So while Lan Zhan had been able to understand Wei Wuxian, he couldn’t speak - which was how he’d ended up teaching Wei Wuxian the sign language merpeople used to communicate with each other. Wei Wuxian remembers long, sunlit afternoons spent in the quiet waters near Lotus Pier, Lan Zhan patiently showing him how to arrange his fingers or writing in the sand to translate new signs. Hours spent in the shadowy network of caves beneath the cliffs, Lan Zhan tracing words onto his skin when it got too dark to see. Just like he’s doing now.
Lan Zhan is still holding his hand, and it’s...distracting. The feel of Lan Zhan’s cool fingers on his bare skin makes his breath catch, makes his words get trapped in his throat. Makes him afraid he’ll blurt out something he shouldn’t, again. So he reaches over to Lan Zhan’s own hand, in turn, and writes, Just the usual pirate business. A spot of looting, smuggling, treasure hunting, sunk some naval ships the other day - I’ve gained quite a reputation.
En, Lan Zhan writes. His fingers linger on Wei Wuxian’s skin, tracing small circles almost unconsciously, before he writes, Why?
Wei Wuxian blinks. “Why what?” he asks.
Why did you...leave?
Wei Wuxian thinks he knows what Lan Zhan means, but it doesn’t exactly make him want to talk about it any more. What had happened five years ago at Lotus Pier, what had happened because of him - is not a very pleasant memory. He sighs, and writes slowly, deliberately, That is a very long story.
It is, and not one he’s sure he wants Lan Zhan to know. Because if Lan Zhan finds out what part he’d had to play in the disaster, if Lan Zhan finds out just what kind of person he really is...Wei Wuxian is not sure that the merman will ever want to see him again.
Will you tell me? Lan Zhan writes. His fingers have migrated from Wei Wuxian’s hand to his forearm, which is arguably even worse for Wei Wuxian’s heart, which already feels like it’s about to beat out of his chest.
I’d rather not, Wei Wuxian thinks. Instead, he says, “Maybe another day. As I said, it’s a very long story, and you need to rest up now. Focus on getting better soon, so you can leave as soon as possible.”
He’d thought Lan Zhan would be happy at the prospect of being able to return to the open ocean, to his home beneath the waves. Instead, Lan Zhan looks away and does not reply. The moon has emerged from behind the clouds again, and the faint silvery glow is just enough for Wei Wuxian to see the way Lan Zhan’s eyes are downcast, his mouth pressed into a thin line. He looks almost -
Wei Wuxian coughs, and withdraws his hand, pretending he’s not reluctant to do so. “Okay, I’ll - I’ll leave you alone now! Get some rest, I can see you’re tired! I’ll see you tomorrow morning!” He barely sticks around long enough to see Lan Zhan nod before he’s fleeing belowdecks to his quarters and collapsing facedown on his bed, hiding his burning face in his pillows.
Some pirate captain, huh? he thinks, wryly. He can still feel the phantom sensation of Lan Zhan’s fingers ghosting over his skin, and he has to roll around a few times to calm himself down. Why is he reacting like this, all of a sudden? Is it just because he’s missed Lan Zhan so much?
It’s fine. It’ll be fine. It’s just for a few weeks. He’ll survive.