Refuge
Short fic
Wei Wuxian was a troublemaker.
He was loud, and unrestrained, and he liked to goof off. He was always teasing and playing pranks. He was reckless.
But he was not irresponsible, no matter what the rumors said.
He was smart, and he made sure things got done. The Jiang disciples loved their shixiong; they respected him, even as they laughed with him.
But just because he made their work enjoyable, did not mean that he didn’t make them work.
His drills were framed lightly, and if they were truly struggling he did not hesitate to step in and help, but they were rigorous.
No one who watched Wei Wuxian’s training drills could claim that they were lacking - with the exception, as always, of one Madam Yu.
But the boring truth could not stand up to the enormity of the rumors.
Wei Wuxian was trouble. This was one thing that everybody seemed to agree on.
(He let it roll like so much water off his back. Sometimes, he thought he could almost feel it bead there, like water droplets on the beaten wood of the old boats, refusing to leave him, sticking to his skin like a cold sweat.)
He may be trouble. He may bring chaos and destruction wherever he roams. He has heard such things so often that somewhere in the back of his mind, he has already accepted them as irrefutable truth.
But he has never been able to sit idly while he could be doing something, anything at all to help.
Madam Yu is a fighter; to surrender is unthinkable. She would - and will - fight to her death when the Wen come and bring the sect down with her.
She is the type of person to go down with her ship, cursing the skies even as the water closes over her head.
Wei Wuxian, however, has always known the value of a strategic retreat, has known it since he was on the streets, throwing his only food to the side so the dogs would chase it and not him, relying again and again on the half-and-half chances that he wouldn’t earn a new wound in the mold of sharp teeth by the end of the day. The chances that they would find whatever morsel he had picked up more tantalizing than himself, easy pickings and barely able to run away on legs shaky with exhaustion.
What this means is that when the Wen come to destroy Lotus Pier, they will not destroy the Jiang.
What this means, is that Wei Wuxian has a plan.
(He spends days scribbling furiously in his sickbed. He is not strong enough to walk more than ten paces, in those early days, but he can write, and his brain works just fine, and all he can think about is the fate of the Lan, and the boon that is Yunmeng’s river, and the threat of war looming ever-closer. The Wen will come; Wei Wuxian swears to himself that they will not stay.)
Madam Yu may be first lady of Lotus Pier, but Wei Wuxian is head disciple.
He will not allow the disciples who rely on him to die like cattle under his watch.
As soon as he is cleared to walk, he calls the youngest of the disciples to him. He takes them out, plays games with them, shows them sneaky ways to hide themselves and emphasizes the importance of staying together. He shows them how to swim quietly under the boards of the decks of Lotus Pier; shows them the quickest ways to leave without drawing attention. He prepares them in the best way he knows how to without scaring them. He plays games with ulterior motives and gives them tight hugs and prays to whatever gods will listen that they remain safe.
He sends the littlest ones home with lotus seeds in their pockets and whatever excuses he can think up in the moment, and hopes that someday there will be a sect for them to return to.
The older disciples meet a much different version of their Shixiong than they are used to. He is serious, and his eyes are calculating, and his hands are white-knuckled around his writing brush. The Wei Wuxian they meet is tight-lipped and stoic.
The Wei Wuxian they meet is preparing for war.
The Wei Wuxian they meet has sketches of Lotus Pier spread out in front of him, exit routes marked clearly and distinctly, with arrays scribbled erratically in the margins with arrows pointing to different areas of the compound. Arrays for confusion, for cloaking. Arrays for escape.
The Wei Wuxian they meet discusses with them in a quiet but confident voice the evacuation plan for the servants and disciples of Lotus Pier, and sends out scouts to watch for the advance of Wen that the main Jiang family refuse to believe in the possibility of.
The Wei Wuxian they meet shoves talismans and checklists in their hands as he talks about fire on a mountain, and a sect leader dead, and a sect heir silent with a broken leg, forced to walk day after day.
Wei Wuxian is their head disciple.
He is achingly, painfully young.
And he is bound and determined to protect them against an army.
(The disciples decide, then and there, that they are going to protect him as well.)
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