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Title: All your stars are stories
Author: marcicat
Rating: T
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Summary: The unofficial team meets up for family dinner, followed by an unexpected camping trip.
Notes: Sequel to ‘All your worries are stars.’ Written for the September 2019 Brush & Lantern Challenge: ‘Caves, Courts, Cottages.’
“Look who finally came down from the mountain!”
Zhao Yunlan rolled his eyes in Lin Jing’s general direction. “I leave the mountain plenty,” he said. “Besides, doesn’t Da Qing visit you enough for all of us?”
Zhu Hong looked up from her phone. “You talk about leaving the mountain, you mean. I’m not sure you actually do it. You’ve delegated your seat at the Xingdu Conferences for the last three meetings.”
“True!” He pointed at her, then quickly changed it to a shrug when she narrowed her eyes. “But Xingdu slights Dixing by not inviting them, and this way they have a representative. And Shen Wei’s the only one of us who won’t start an interplanetary incident on purpose.” He hesitated, then added, “Probably,” and Zhu Hong laughed.
“He certainly won’t start one by accident, at least,” she said.
Lin Jing laughed, and pretended it was a cough. “Ah -- yes. Also, Da Qing visits for Lao Li and his dried fish. It’s hardly the same.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You know the trail goes both ways, right? Nothing’s stopping you from coming up.”
“Nothing? Your cottage up there doesn’t even have consistent wireless access!” Lin Jing protested.
Which was a prime selling point, as far as he was concerned. “That’s what the radio is for,” he said, with as much innocence as he could manage. “Also, I’ve been reliably informed that if it’s on a mountain, it’s a cabin, not a cottage.”
“The radio!” Lin Jing tugged his hair. “As a man of science, it physically hurts my soul every time I have to use that.”
“We’re here!” Guo Changcheng called. He was preceded through the door by an enormous white dog, and followed by a stoic Chu Shuzhi, carrying both their packs. “Are we late?”
“No dogs in the lodge!” Lin Jing said.
“You’re not late,” Zhu Hong told him. “We’re still waiting for Wang Zheng and Sang Zan, and the ambassadors too.”
“No dogs!” Lin Jing repeated.
Guo Changcheng put his hands over the dog’s ears. “Don’t listen to him,” he said. To Lin Jing, he added, “You’re going to hurt her feelings!”
Lin Jing threw his hands up in the air. “I’m more worried about the health inspector’s feelings, if they find out we’ve been letting dogs in.”
Chu stepped forward and crossed his arms. “You say that every time, and every time Xiaomi stays. There should be no difference between a dog and a cat.”
Da Qing popped out of the kitchen with a handful of dried fish. “You called? Oh, Xiaomi is here!” He stuffed the fish into his pocket and shifted to his cat form mid-leap. They raced further into the lodge together, and Lin Jing shook his head.
“Why do these things happen to me?” he asked, staring at the ceiling.
Zhao Yunlan patted his shoulder. “Just think -- in another life he might have been your boss!”
“Don’t even joke about it,” Lin Jing said. “Can you imagine?”
“Are you talking about Da Qing? I thought he was already the boss of you,” Sang Zan said, holding the door for Wang Zheng.
She waved her thanks and nodded. “That’s true. Da Qing’s the King of the Cats, and you’re honorary Cat Tribe, so he’s your king. Right?” She looked at Zhao Yunlan for confirmation.
“Sure,” he said agreeably. It wasn’t even remotely true, but it was funny. “Da Qing’s a great monarch. No complaints here.”
The best part was that he genuinely couldn’t tell if Sang Zan and Wang Zheng were joking or not. They worked the day shift at the lodge, while Lin Jing took the overnights, and he tried to steer clear of their pranks unless directly asked.
Sang Zan frowned earnestly in his direction and changed the subject. “The East Loop is getting overgrown again.”
‘Mm, I wonder why,” he said. “Maybe those new rumors about the eastern caves being haunted?”
If Sang Zan hadn’t been a ghost, he might have blushed. “They were lighting fires in the caves!” Wang Zheng said. “We had to do something!”
He waved off any further explanation. “Ah, it’s fine. Keeps them on their toes. We’ll put the East Loop on the next maintenance rotation. It’ll be a good excuse to bring in the heavier equipment and work on Zhang Shi’s landing area too.”
The door opened one more time, and Shen Wei and Ye Zun stepped inside. “Our apologies for not arriving earlier,” Shen Wei said. “We received a message from Dixing that is relevant to our meeting.”
“Urgent?” Zhao Yunlan asked. Usually their get-togethers were as much for socializing as they were for actual information exchange, but they could put the serious part first if it was important.
Shen Wei hesitated, but Ye Zun shook his head. “It’s waited this long,” he said.
Xiaomi dashed back into the room and skidded to a stop in front of Ye Zun, who sighed dramatically. “Hello Xiaomi.” He produced a treat -- probably literally out of nothing -- and ruffled the dog’s ears, and Zhao Yunlan pretended it wasn’t one of the most adorable things he’d ever seen.
Shen Wei caught his gaze and raised his eyebrows. Zhao Yunlan spread his hands apart in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture, and it looked like Shen Wei was trying not to laugh. He cleared his throat instead. “Yes. Lin Jing, where should we leave our packs?”
Neither Shen Wei or Ye Zun actually needed a backpack, but they usually carried one anyway. Shen Wei enjoyed the challenge of blending in with the Haixingren on the mountain, and Ye Zun enjoyed lying to people about his ultralight packing abilities. It worked out for everyone, really.
Lin Jing looked suspiciously shifty when he answered. “It’s like this,” he said. “Certain rooms are available. Or not. Of varying sizes! That is to say, depending on certain factors, a variety of options exist.”
“Lin Jing wants to know if you want more than one bed,” Zhu Hong said.
“Each?” Shen Wei asked. His expression was all wide-eyed innocence, and only Ye Zun’s hastily-suppressed laugh gave him away.
Zhao Yunlan draped his arm over Shen Wei’s shoulders. “Lin Jing, Ambassador Shen is a disciple of science, just as you are. You need to offer more specifics before a proper conclusion can be reached.”
Zhu Hong rolled her eyes. “How big is the bed,” she interpreted.
He beamed. “Exactly!” He leaned forward. “Ye Zun kicks,” he said conspiratorially.
“You kick,” Ye Zun muttered. “And Shen Wei is an octopus.”
“Touch is grounding, and research has shown it improves both physical and emotional well-being,” Shen Wei said. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
Ye Zun poked his shoulder, hard. “You know what, I think that did make me feel better.”
Lin Jing looked back and forth between them. Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong were laughing, and Zhao Yunlan raised his eyebrows. If he wanted to get a specific answer, he should have asked a specific question.
Finally, he said, “All the suites on the third floor are open. Ah, help yourselves?”
Shen Wei nodded, his official ambassador manners suddenly back in full effect. “Thank you, Lin Jing.”
Ye Zun tugged them both towards the stairs. “Let’s go. The faster you pick a room, the faster we can eat.”
***********
As soon as they were behind a closed door, he let his concern show through. “Are you all right?” Messages from Dixing weren’t necessarily bad news, but statistics weren’t on their side. He wasn’t entirely unaware of the planet’s history. And he hadn’t forgotten Shen Wei’s hesitation earlier.
“Yes,” Shen Wei said. Which was hardly conclusive. Shen Wei would probably say he was all right if the world was ending. Zhao Yunlan really needed to find a different question.
“Ye Zun?” he prompted.
Ye Zun’s expression was fierce, but he was looking at Shen Wei. “You can’t count on me to be your emotional translator all the time,” he said. “‘Are you all right’ doesn’t always mean ‘could you fight if necessary.’ And you!” He turned back to Zhao Yunlan. “Stop asking me to tell you how he’s feeling!”
He held up his hands. “I know. I was asking about you. Are you all right?”
Ye Zun glared at him, but it didn’t have any real anger behind it anymore. “No. I’m hungry, and Shen Wei is being an idiot.”
“You’re the one who said it wasn’t urgent,” Shen Wei said.
“No, I said it could wait, because I assumed you would want to tell Zhao Yunlan personally before announcing it to the entire group. I didn’t think you were going to pretend everything was fine!”
Shen Wei clenched his fists and walked away. Not far, but when he leaned on the windowsill and stared out, it looked like he was already a galaxy away.
Zhao Yunlan was equipped to deal with exactly one aspect of the situation. He pulled a container of food out of his pack and handed it to Ye Zun. “Good? For now?”
Ye Zun slid down to sit against the wall. “Yes. Thank you.” He looked at Shen Wei like he was going to say something else, then seemed to change his mind.
Right. Well, one twin down, one to go. Shen Wei was hard to read on a good day, but the window was big enough for two, and he was the one who’d said touch was grounding. Zhao Yunlan moved to stand next to him. It was too dark for him to see anything outside, but then again, he had terrible night vision compared to the others. He looked out anyway. Some conversations were easier without eye contact.
“Shen Wei,” he said softly, calling him back from wherever he’d gone.
“Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei murmured. “You’re here.”
He nodded. He might be panicking about what could possibly make Shen Wei so upset, but whatever it was, they would face it together. “Always. How are you feeling?”
Shen Wei let out a slow breath. “Angry,” he said. He leaned into him, a long line of warmth along Zhao Yunlan’s side, and for a long moment the only sound was Ye Zun eating.
“They found the lost ship,” Shen Wei said finally. “Months ago. The Xingdu Bureau labs have been studying it.”
“So Zhu Jiu was right.” Ye Zun had tracked him down after the kids said he’d agreed to help them and then disappeared -- he’d told them he was looking for the ship, and afterwards they got a very official-looking message from Dixing telling them — in the vaguest possible terms — to stop interfering with their agents.
Zhao Yunlan pretended he didn’t know about Dixing’s spy network the same way he pretended he wasn’t supposed to be doing the same thing for Haixing. He wasn’t, and everyone had pretty much given up on him ever filling a report, but he was familiar enough with the language to read between the lines. “But there’s more,” he said. The study of the ship was disrespectful but not unexpected; that alone wouldn’t be enough to fire Shen Wei’s anger.
“Yes,” Shen Wei said. “That generation of ships was powered by dark energy. The Xingdu scientists were -- impacted, by its presence.”
He frowned. He wished he thought that meant the lab had immediately ceased its study. Or that they’d decided to admit their findings to Dixing and ask for help. “They want to make it happen on purpose,” he guessed.
“Worse,” Ye Zun said.
Shen Wei hissed out a breath. “They’ve elevated a ‘matter of concern’ to the treaty committee. Due to our influence on you.” His fingers were clenched into a fist again. “They want to study you.”
He blinked. That was — unexpected. He honestly hadn’t thought the Xingdu Bureau would go to such lengths. “Me?” It was the closest he was willing to come to asking ‘are you sure.’
Shen Wei nodded. “The message we received was from the Council. Officially, they were informing us that we’ve been named in an issue brought before the treaty committee. Unofficially, it was both warning and -- permission, I suppose.”
His mind was racing through the options. They needed to talk about it with the others; that much was clear. “Permission?” he asked.
“The treaty makes it clear that the study of dark energy in Dixingren without permission of the committee is strictly prohibited. The Council is willing to extend that protection to you. If you seek sanctuary on Dixing, they will agree.”
“Do you think it will come to that?”
“Yes,” Ye Zun answered flatly.
“No,” Shen Wei countered. Then he looked away. “Possibly. The treaty committee is confident the rule should and will be expanded to include all Haixingren and Yashou. The timing is -- uncertain. As are the details of your employment contract with the Xingdu Bureau.”
In other words, regardless of what the treaty said, Xingdu could simply ‘reassign’ him to the labs, and that would be the end of it. He held up a hand. “Two things. One, I trust you, and it would be my great privilege to see Dixing by your sides. Two, if you think I wouldn’t quit my job and run off to Dixing with you in a heartbeat, I’m going to start doubting your powers of observation.” He dropped his hand on Shen Wei’s shoulder and patted it. “But we should talk with the others first -- something about this seems off.”
***********
“It’s a power play,” Zhu Hong said, plucking several skewers off the plate before passing it on.
Zhao Yunlan pointed at her. “Yes. But with what goal? Aimed at me, or the ambassadors?”
“You,” Da Qing muttered around a mouthful of food. “Historically speaking.”
Lin Jing nodded without looking up. “That’s true. Statistically speaking, it’s much more likely to be your fault.”
“Really?” Ye Zun seemed intrigued. “Do you have a chart?”
Lin Jing scoffed. “It’s only science if you record your results. Of course I --” He looked up suddenly, like he’d only just remembered who else was in the room. “--don’t, have a chart. Haha, why would I have something like that?”
“You can send it to me later,” Ye Zun said agreeably, like Lin Jing hadn’t just tried to deny its existence, and Lin Jing looked despairingly at the ceiling again.
“But you haven’t done anything!” Guo Changcheng protested. “You don’t even go to the Xingdu Conferences!”
“You send Ambassador Shen in your place,” Chu Shuzhi said pointedly.
“Last time he wore your jacket,” Zhu Hong added.
Wang Zheng looked like she was trying not to laugh. “It is a very distinctive jacket,” she said.
“I think it’s nice,” Sang Zan said, and Wang Zheng nodded.
“I’m not saying it’s not nice,” Zhu Hong said. “I’m saying it’s noticeable, and people noticed.” She waved a hand towards the door, or possibly the mountain beyond it. “If you wanted to hide away on your mountain and keep your--” She paused, and then amended whatever she’d been planning to say to, “--self, out of sight, you’ve chosen an interesting way of doing it.”
It was true that blending in wasn’t typically one of his most successful strategies. “Suggestions?” he said. He looked around the table.
“Don’t let them experiment on you,” Lin Jing said.
He felt Shen Wei tense next to him, and squeezed his hand under the table. “Yes, thank you, Lin Jing. Excellent advice as always.”
“Dixing is a beautiful planet,” Guo Changcheng said earnestly.
Da Qing scoffed, and leaned farther back in his chair. “They’re just toying with you. You push, they push back, and watch what happens. Running is stupid.”
“What about -- not running, but a strategic retreat?” Chu Shuzhi said. “Something that kept you out of contact for a few days. It would give the treaty committee time to take action.”
And it would keep them all out of Xingdu’s reach without officially breaking ties. He looked at Da Qing. “I thought running was stupid.”
Da Qing shrugged. “Running is stupid. And hard. Hiding is smart.” Shen Wei nodded his agreement.
Good enough for him. He looked back at Chu Shuzhi. “What are you thinking?”
Chu Shuzhi smirked. “The West Ridge.”
He almost groaned. The West Ridge was the most remote part of the mountain. He’d been not-so-subtly hinting that Chu Shuzhi should take over the trail maintenance in that section; clearly this was his revenge. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a bad idea.
“I like the West Ridge,” Ye Zun said.
“Of course you do.” They definitely had enough supplies to get there and back, but they weren’t prepared for an extended stay. Sure, technically Shen Wei and Ye Zun could portal to the store and back, but that would soundly defeat the point of staying out of sight. “How long, do you think?”
“Not long. They’re about to be distracted by something much bigger,” Zhu Hong said. Everyone looked at her, and she smiled. “What, you thought you were the only ones who could have news?”
“Oh?” As High Chief of the Yashou, Zhu Hong always had news, but it was unusual that she was able to share it.
“Have you found more of the Yashou tribes?” Guo Changcheng asked excitedly. Everyone stared at him. “What?”
“How do you know about that?” Zhu Hong asked.
“Was it a secret?” Chu Shuzhi looked unimpressed. “Ya Qing’s people hang out at the campsite a lot; we heard it from them.”
“I heard about it from your cousins,” Lin Jing said.
“We heard about it from Da Ji,” Wang Zheng offered.
“Don’t look at me,” Da Qing said immediately. “I didn’t tell her. Cats just know things.”
Zhu Hong wasn’t looking at Da Qing. She was looking at Zhao Yunlan. He held up both hands. “I can pretend I didn’t know if that would help?”
She sighed loudly, then shook her head and laughed. “Tell me what you’ve heard.”
“Only that the Yashou believe there may be additional tribes, and have been searching for them.” He carefully didn’t look at Shen Wei, who was definitely who he’d heard it from.
She waved it off. “Everyone knows what you tell one ambassador, you tell both, and one of them was bound to share it with you,” Zhu Hong said. “Yes, we’ve been looking for other tribes. And we found one.” She looked smug, as she should.
Lin Jing was practically climbing on the table. “Well? Who are they? What can you tell us?”
Zhu Hong smiled. “So that part has stayed a secret, at least. You’ll see. They’ll come with the full moon.”
“Werewolves?!” Guo Changcheng’s eyes were wide.
Chu Shuzhi gave his shoulder a gentle shove. “You read too many novels. Werewolves aren’t real.”
“Well…” Ye Zun said, trailing off with a speculative glance at Da Qing.
“It’s not werewolves,” Zhu Hong said.
“Bigger, or smaller?” Wang Zheng asked.
“Bigger.”
“Is it pandas?” Lin Jing asked.
Da Qing threw a napkin at him. “How is a panda bigger than a werewolf?”
“It could be!” Lin Jing held his hands out like he was demonstrating the size of an imaginary panda. “A were-panda! No, a dire panda!”
“Now who’s reading too many novels?”
“It’s not pandas either,” Zhu Hong said. “And that’s all I’m saying.”
Sang Zan started clapping, and everyone else joined in -- no reason too big or small for a celebration, really. Da Qing and Zhu Hong certainly looked pleased.
Shen Wei leaned towards him as the clapping wound down. “Do you think this will work?” he asked quietly
“What, us hiding in the mountains while the treaty committee holds emergency sessions and the Yashou provide a distraction? Sure.” He had no idea. But there was very little downside that he could see to taking what was essentially a vacation with his favorite people on two planets. Even if the location left something to be desired. He gave Shen Wei a sideways look. “Why?”
“You hate the West Ridge,” Shen Wei said.
He waved a hand. “Ah, I’m sure it’s not as bad as I remember it.”
***********
“Do you mind company?”
He couldn’t see Ye Zun’s expression in the dark, but his shadow shuffled over in a clear-enough invitation to sit. “You don’t usually ask,” Ye Zun said.
“Usually I can see you.” If Shen Wei was frustratingly good at maintaining a neutral expression; Ye Zun was the opposite -- he may have been the voice of Dixing, but he’d never been the public face of it the way Shen Wei had, and it showed.
Zhao Yunlan sat as close as possible and wrapped his sleeping bag more securely around his shoulders. The West Ridge wasn’t as bad as he remembered it, but only in the sense that it was worse. Colder, definitely.
He felt Ye Zun shrug. “I was either going to be cold and awake in the tent, or cold and awake out here. At least out here I can see the stars.”
“And the moon.” It would be full that night, although they couldn’t actually see it yet. He wasn’t sure how literal ‘they’ll arrive with the full moon’ was meant to be, but it couldn’t hurt to stay up a while. Or rather, it could, but it would probably be worth it. “You know who it is, don’t you?”
“I have a guess.” Ye Zun obligingly let him inch even closer. “Bigger than a wolf, willing and able to enter the city, and dramatic enough to time it to the full moon? All of those point in a certain direction.” Zhao Yunlan could hear the smile in his voice. “I think you’ll like them.”
“At this point I think I’ll like anything that means we get to go home.” It had only been a few days, but somehow it felt longer. Even Shen Wei had given up on his ‘I don’t feel the cold’ claims after the first night.
“Mm. Should be tomorrow either way,” Ye Zun said. “The treaty committee was -- motivated, to expedite the process.”
He turned his head, but it was still too dark to see Ye Zun’s expression. “What did you do?”
Ye Zun looked away. “Nothing that could be proved in court. They would have gotten there on their own eventually.”
They both startled at the sound of a zipper, and then Shen Wei said, “Why is everyone out here?”
He couldn’t help smiling. “We’re stargazing, Xiao Wei. Come join us.”
Shen Wei slid over to Ye Zun’s other side. As they all shifted around to accommodate three people, he heard a sleepy meow coming from inside Ye Zun’s jacket. That answered the question of Da Qing’s location, at least. “Stargazing,” Shen Wei said dryly. “Is that what they’re calling it now?”
“Brother!” Ye Zun’s voice was all mock-scandalized and delighted. “I’ll have you know it’s much too cold to do anything more interesting than stargazing at the moment.”
Zhao Yunlan leaned around him to tap Shen Wei’s foot with his own. “However! We will certainly take that under advisement for any future astronomical observances.”
Shen Wei laughed, and looked up. “Have they arrived yet?”
“Soon.”
He craned his neck back. The moon was cresting the top of the ridge. Suddenly a shadow passed in front of it. A winged shadow. And then another, and another. Someone put a hand on his shoulder, and his vision tinged with dark energy so he could actually see them. It looked like they were playing -- he hoped it was playing, at least -- swooping over and around each other in the moonlight.
“Is that -- am I seeing things? Because I really want the answer to be ‘no; that’s a bunch of dragons.’”
“‘No, that’s a bunch of dragons,’” Ye Zun said. “Though I’m not sure that’s the official term. A flock, maybe. A pack?”
“Dragons.” He could feel a laugh just waiting to be let out. “There are dragon Yashou, and you never told me?”
Da Qing stuck his head out and yawned widely. “It’s called Dragon City. The name had to come from somewhere.”
He poked at Ye Zun’s jacket to keep the damn cat from going back to sleep. “Do you know them? Can I meet them? Why didn’t you tell me?” He had at least a hundred questions, but those were at least in the top ten.
Da Qing yawned again. “Some of them. Yes. It was a secret.”
He was relatively confident that was meant to be one answer to each of his three questions, not three answers to his first one. “And now?”
“Now it’s not a secret anymore.” It sounded so simple when he said it. Like it was perfectly logical that after millenia of hiding, an entire unknown Yashou tribe was just -- flying back.
Ye Zun hummed in agreement. “I wonder why, though. Just because there’s a High Chief now? They didn’t show up for the last High Chief, did they?”
“Maybe they just wanted to be asked,” Shen Wei said, and something unspoken passed between the two of them.
“Maybe they did.”
He waited, just in case -- but when there was only silence, he gave a dramatic sigh. “What I want to know is, can we invite them to the cabin, or will we have to go to the city to meet them?”
“They like the mountain,” Da Qing mumbled. “They’ll want to visit.”
“Oh really.” That sounded suspiciously like ‘I know a lot more about them than I’ve told you.’
But Da Qing was already burrowing back into Ye Zun’s jacket. “Sleeping now. Talking later.”
He gave the sky one more look. “Talking later. And then we go home.”
“Together,” Shen Wei said, and he felt Ye Zun murmur his agreement next to him.
“Always.”
Author: marcicat
Rating: T
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Summary: The unofficial team meets up for family dinner, followed by an unexpected camping trip.
Notes: Sequel to ‘All your worries are stars.’ Written for the September 2019 Brush & Lantern Challenge: ‘Caves, Courts, Cottages.’
“Look who finally came down from the mountain!”
Zhao Yunlan rolled his eyes in Lin Jing’s general direction. “I leave the mountain plenty,” he said. “Besides, doesn’t Da Qing visit you enough for all of us?”
Zhu Hong looked up from her phone. “You talk about leaving the mountain, you mean. I’m not sure you actually do it. You’ve delegated your seat at the Xingdu Conferences for the last three meetings.”
“True!” He pointed at her, then quickly changed it to a shrug when she narrowed her eyes. “But Xingdu slights Dixing by not inviting them, and this way they have a representative. And Shen Wei’s the only one of us who won’t start an interplanetary incident on purpose.” He hesitated, then added, “Probably,” and Zhu Hong laughed.
“He certainly won’t start one by accident, at least,” she said.
Lin Jing laughed, and pretended it was a cough. “Ah -- yes. Also, Da Qing visits for Lao Li and his dried fish. It’s hardly the same.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You know the trail goes both ways, right? Nothing’s stopping you from coming up.”
“Nothing? Your cottage up there doesn’t even have consistent wireless access!” Lin Jing protested.
Which was a prime selling point, as far as he was concerned. “That’s what the radio is for,” he said, with as much innocence as he could manage. “Also, I’ve been reliably informed that if it’s on a mountain, it’s a cabin, not a cottage.”
“The radio!” Lin Jing tugged his hair. “As a man of science, it physically hurts my soul every time I have to use that.”
“We’re here!” Guo Changcheng called. He was preceded through the door by an enormous white dog, and followed by a stoic Chu Shuzhi, carrying both their packs. “Are we late?”
“No dogs in the lodge!” Lin Jing said.
“You’re not late,” Zhu Hong told him. “We’re still waiting for Wang Zheng and Sang Zan, and the ambassadors too.”
“No dogs!” Lin Jing repeated.
Guo Changcheng put his hands over the dog’s ears. “Don’t listen to him,” he said. To Lin Jing, he added, “You’re going to hurt her feelings!”
Lin Jing threw his hands up in the air. “I’m more worried about the health inspector’s feelings, if they find out we’ve been letting dogs in.”
Chu stepped forward and crossed his arms. “You say that every time, and every time Xiaomi stays. There should be no difference between a dog and a cat.”
Da Qing popped out of the kitchen with a handful of dried fish. “You called? Oh, Xiaomi is here!” He stuffed the fish into his pocket and shifted to his cat form mid-leap. They raced further into the lodge together, and Lin Jing shook his head.
“Why do these things happen to me?” he asked, staring at the ceiling.
Zhao Yunlan patted his shoulder. “Just think -- in another life he might have been your boss!”
“Don’t even joke about it,” Lin Jing said. “Can you imagine?”
“Are you talking about Da Qing? I thought he was already the boss of you,” Sang Zan said, holding the door for Wang Zheng.
She waved her thanks and nodded. “That’s true. Da Qing’s the King of the Cats, and you’re honorary Cat Tribe, so he’s your king. Right?” She looked at Zhao Yunlan for confirmation.
“Sure,” he said agreeably. It wasn’t even remotely true, but it was funny. “Da Qing’s a great monarch. No complaints here.”
The best part was that he genuinely couldn’t tell if Sang Zan and Wang Zheng were joking or not. They worked the day shift at the lodge, while Lin Jing took the overnights, and he tried to steer clear of their pranks unless directly asked.
Sang Zan frowned earnestly in his direction and changed the subject. “The East Loop is getting overgrown again.”
‘Mm, I wonder why,” he said. “Maybe those new rumors about the eastern caves being haunted?”
If Sang Zan hadn’t been a ghost, he might have blushed. “They were lighting fires in the caves!” Wang Zheng said. “We had to do something!”
He waved off any further explanation. “Ah, it’s fine. Keeps them on their toes. We’ll put the East Loop on the next maintenance rotation. It’ll be a good excuse to bring in the heavier equipment and work on Zhang Shi’s landing area too.”
The door opened one more time, and Shen Wei and Ye Zun stepped inside. “Our apologies for not arriving earlier,” Shen Wei said. “We received a message from Dixing that is relevant to our meeting.”
“Urgent?” Zhao Yunlan asked. Usually their get-togethers were as much for socializing as they were for actual information exchange, but they could put the serious part first if it was important.
Shen Wei hesitated, but Ye Zun shook his head. “It’s waited this long,” he said.
Xiaomi dashed back into the room and skidded to a stop in front of Ye Zun, who sighed dramatically. “Hello Xiaomi.” He produced a treat -- probably literally out of nothing -- and ruffled the dog’s ears, and Zhao Yunlan pretended it wasn’t one of the most adorable things he’d ever seen.
Shen Wei caught his gaze and raised his eyebrows. Zhao Yunlan spread his hands apart in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture, and it looked like Shen Wei was trying not to laugh. He cleared his throat instead. “Yes. Lin Jing, where should we leave our packs?”
Neither Shen Wei or Ye Zun actually needed a backpack, but they usually carried one anyway. Shen Wei enjoyed the challenge of blending in with the Haixingren on the mountain, and Ye Zun enjoyed lying to people about his ultralight packing abilities. It worked out for everyone, really.
Lin Jing looked suspiciously shifty when he answered. “It’s like this,” he said. “Certain rooms are available. Or not. Of varying sizes! That is to say, depending on certain factors, a variety of options exist.”
“Lin Jing wants to know if you want more than one bed,” Zhu Hong said.
“Each?” Shen Wei asked. His expression was all wide-eyed innocence, and only Ye Zun’s hastily-suppressed laugh gave him away.
Zhao Yunlan draped his arm over Shen Wei’s shoulders. “Lin Jing, Ambassador Shen is a disciple of science, just as you are. You need to offer more specifics before a proper conclusion can be reached.”
Zhu Hong rolled her eyes. “How big is the bed,” she interpreted.
He beamed. “Exactly!” He leaned forward. “Ye Zun kicks,” he said conspiratorially.
“You kick,” Ye Zun muttered. “And Shen Wei is an octopus.”
“Touch is grounding, and research has shown it improves both physical and emotional well-being,” Shen Wei said. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
Ye Zun poked his shoulder, hard. “You know what, I think that did make me feel better.”
Lin Jing looked back and forth between them. Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong were laughing, and Zhao Yunlan raised his eyebrows. If he wanted to get a specific answer, he should have asked a specific question.
Finally, he said, “All the suites on the third floor are open. Ah, help yourselves?”
Shen Wei nodded, his official ambassador manners suddenly back in full effect. “Thank you, Lin Jing.”
Ye Zun tugged them both towards the stairs. “Let’s go. The faster you pick a room, the faster we can eat.”
***********
As soon as they were behind a closed door, he let his concern show through. “Are you all right?” Messages from Dixing weren’t necessarily bad news, but statistics weren’t on their side. He wasn’t entirely unaware of the planet’s history. And he hadn’t forgotten Shen Wei’s hesitation earlier.
“Yes,” Shen Wei said. Which was hardly conclusive. Shen Wei would probably say he was all right if the world was ending. Zhao Yunlan really needed to find a different question.
“Ye Zun?” he prompted.
Ye Zun’s expression was fierce, but he was looking at Shen Wei. “You can’t count on me to be your emotional translator all the time,” he said. “‘Are you all right’ doesn’t always mean ‘could you fight if necessary.’ And you!” He turned back to Zhao Yunlan. “Stop asking me to tell you how he’s feeling!”
He held up his hands. “I know. I was asking about you. Are you all right?”
Ye Zun glared at him, but it didn’t have any real anger behind it anymore. “No. I’m hungry, and Shen Wei is being an idiot.”
“You’re the one who said it wasn’t urgent,” Shen Wei said.
“No, I said it could wait, because I assumed you would want to tell Zhao Yunlan personally before announcing it to the entire group. I didn’t think you were going to pretend everything was fine!”
Shen Wei clenched his fists and walked away. Not far, but when he leaned on the windowsill and stared out, it looked like he was already a galaxy away.
Zhao Yunlan was equipped to deal with exactly one aspect of the situation. He pulled a container of food out of his pack and handed it to Ye Zun. “Good? For now?”
Ye Zun slid down to sit against the wall. “Yes. Thank you.” He looked at Shen Wei like he was going to say something else, then seemed to change his mind.
Right. Well, one twin down, one to go. Shen Wei was hard to read on a good day, but the window was big enough for two, and he was the one who’d said touch was grounding. Zhao Yunlan moved to stand next to him. It was too dark for him to see anything outside, but then again, he had terrible night vision compared to the others. He looked out anyway. Some conversations were easier without eye contact.
“Shen Wei,” he said softly, calling him back from wherever he’d gone.
“Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei murmured. “You’re here.”
He nodded. He might be panicking about what could possibly make Shen Wei so upset, but whatever it was, they would face it together. “Always. How are you feeling?”
Shen Wei let out a slow breath. “Angry,” he said. He leaned into him, a long line of warmth along Zhao Yunlan’s side, and for a long moment the only sound was Ye Zun eating.
“They found the lost ship,” Shen Wei said finally. “Months ago. The Xingdu Bureau labs have been studying it.”
“So Zhu Jiu was right.” Ye Zun had tracked him down after the kids said he’d agreed to help them and then disappeared -- he’d told them he was looking for the ship, and afterwards they got a very official-looking message from Dixing telling them — in the vaguest possible terms — to stop interfering with their agents.
Zhao Yunlan pretended he didn’t know about Dixing’s spy network the same way he pretended he wasn’t supposed to be doing the same thing for Haixing. He wasn’t, and everyone had pretty much given up on him ever filling a report, but he was familiar enough with the language to read between the lines. “But there’s more,” he said. The study of the ship was disrespectful but not unexpected; that alone wouldn’t be enough to fire Shen Wei’s anger.
“Yes,” Shen Wei said. “That generation of ships was powered by dark energy. The Xingdu scientists were -- impacted, by its presence.”
He frowned. He wished he thought that meant the lab had immediately ceased its study. Or that they’d decided to admit their findings to Dixing and ask for help. “They want to make it happen on purpose,” he guessed.
“Worse,” Ye Zun said.
Shen Wei hissed out a breath. “They’ve elevated a ‘matter of concern’ to the treaty committee. Due to our influence on you.” His fingers were clenched into a fist again. “They want to study you.”
He blinked. That was — unexpected. He honestly hadn’t thought the Xingdu Bureau would go to such lengths. “Me?” It was the closest he was willing to come to asking ‘are you sure.’
Shen Wei nodded. “The message we received was from the Council. Officially, they were informing us that we’ve been named in an issue brought before the treaty committee. Unofficially, it was both warning and -- permission, I suppose.”
His mind was racing through the options. They needed to talk about it with the others; that much was clear. “Permission?” he asked.
“The treaty makes it clear that the study of dark energy in Dixingren without permission of the committee is strictly prohibited. The Council is willing to extend that protection to you. If you seek sanctuary on Dixing, they will agree.”
“Do you think it will come to that?”
“Yes,” Ye Zun answered flatly.
“No,” Shen Wei countered. Then he looked away. “Possibly. The treaty committee is confident the rule should and will be expanded to include all Haixingren and Yashou. The timing is -- uncertain. As are the details of your employment contract with the Xingdu Bureau.”
In other words, regardless of what the treaty said, Xingdu could simply ‘reassign’ him to the labs, and that would be the end of it. He held up a hand. “Two things. One, I trust you, and it would be my great privilege to see Dixing by your sides. Two, if you think I wouldn’t quit my job and run off to Dixing with you in a heartbeat, I’m going to start doubting your powers of observation.” He dropped his hand on Shen Wei’s shoulder and patted it. “But we should talk with the others first -- something about this seems off.”
***********
“It’s a power play,” Zhu Hong said, plucking several skewers off the plate before passing it on.
Zhao Yunlan pointed at her. “Yes. But with what goal? Aimed at me, or the ambassadors?”
“You,” Da Qing muttered around a mouthful of food. “Historically speaking.”
Lin Jing nodded without looking up. “That’s true. Statistically speaking, it’s much more likely to be your fault.”
“Really?” Ye Zun seemed intrigued. “Do you have a chart?”
Lin Jing scoffed. “It’s only science if you record your results. Of course I --” He looked up suddenly, like he’d only just remembered who else was in the room. “--don’t, have a chart. Haha, why would I have something like that?”
“You can send it to me later,” Ye Zun said agreeably, like Lin Jing hadn’t just tried to deny its existence, and Lin Jing looked despairingly at the ceiling again.
“But you haven’t done anything!” Guo Changcheng protested. “You don’t even go to the Xingdu Conferences!”
“You send Ambassador Shen in your place,” Chu Shuzhi said pointedly.
“Last time he wore your jacket,” Zhu Hong added.
Wang Zheng looked like she was trying not to laugh. “It is a very distinctive jacket,” she said.
“I think it’s nice,” Sang Zan said, and Wang Zheng nodded.
“I’m not saying it’s not nice,” Zhu Hong said. “I’m saying it’s noticeable, and people noticed.” She waved a hand towards the door, or possibly the mountain beyond it. “If you wanted to hide away on your mountain and keep your--” She paused, and then amended whatever she’d been planning to say to, “--self, out of sight, you’ve chosen an interesting way of doing it.”
It was true that blending in wasn’t typically one of his most successful strategies. “Suggestions?” he said. He looked around the table.
“Don’t let them experiment on you,” Lin Jing said.
He felt Shen Wei tense next to him, and squeezed his hand under the table. “Yes, thank you, Lin Jing. Excellent advice as always.”
“Dixing is a beautiful planet,” Guo Changcheng said earnestly.
Da Qing scoffed, and leaned farther back in his chair. “They’re just toying with you. You push, they push back, and watch what happens. Running is stupid.”
“What about -- not running, but a strategic retreat?” Chu Shuzhi said. “Something that kept you out of contact for a few days. It would give the treaty committee time to take action.”
And it would keep them all out of Xingdu’s reach without officially breaking ties. He looked at Da Qing. “I thought running was stupid.”
Da Qing shrugged. “Running is stupid. And hard. Hiding is smart.” Shen Wei nodded his agreement.
Good enough for him. He looked back at Chu Shuzhi. “What are you thinking?”
Chu Shuzhi smirked. “The West Ridge.”
He almost groaned. The West Ridge was the most remote part of the mountain. He’d been not-so-subtly hinting that Chu Shuzhi should take over the trail maintenance in that section; clearly this was his revenge. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a bad idea.
“I like the West Ridge,” Ye Zun said.
“Of course you do.” They definitely had enough supplies to get there and back, but they weren’t prepared for an extended stay. Sure, technically Shen Wei and Ye Zun could portal to the store and back, but that would soundly defeat the point of staying out of sight. “How long, do you think?”
“Not long. They’re about to be distracted by something much bigger,” Zhu Hong said. Everyone looked at her, and she smiled. “What, you thought you were the only ones who could have news?”
“Oh?” As High Chief of the Yashou, Zhu Hong always had news, but it was unusual that she was able to share it.
“Have you found more of the Yashou tribes?” Guo Changcheng asked excitedly. Everyone stared at him. “What?”
“How do you know about that?” Zhu Hong asked.
“Was it a secret?” Chu Shuzhi looked unimpressed. “Ya Qing’s people hang out at the campsite a lot; we heard it from them.”
“I heard about it from your cousins,” Lin Jing said.
“We heard about it from Da Ji,” Wang Zheng offered.
“Don’t look at me,” Da Qing said immediately. “I didn’t tell her. Cats just know things.”
Zhu Hong wasn’t looking at Da Qing. She was looking at Zhao Yunlan. He held up both hands. “I can pretend I didn’t know if that would help?”
She sighed loudly, then shook her head and laughed. “Tell me what you’ve heard.”
“Only that the Yashou believe there may be additional tribes, and have been searching for them.” He carefully didn’t look at Shen Wei, who was definitely who he’d heard it from.
She waved it off. “Everyone knows what you tell one ambassador, you tell both, and one of them was bound to share it with you,” Zhu Hong said. “Yes, we’ve been looking for other tribes. And we found one.” She looked smug, as she should.
Lin Jing was practically climbing on the table. “Well? Who are they? What can you tell us?”
Zhu Hong smiled. “So that part has stayed a secret, at least. You’ll see. They’ll come with the full moon.”
“Werewolves?!” Guo Changcheng’s eyes were wide.
Chu Shuzhi gave his shoulder a gentle shove. “You read too many novels. Werewolves aren’t real.”
“Well…” Ye Zun said, trailing off with a speculative glance at Da Qing.
“It’s not werewolves,” Zhu Hong said.
“Bigger, or smaller?” Wang Zheng asked.
“Bigger.”
“Is it pandas?” Lin Jing asked.
Da Qing threw a napkin at him. “How is a panda bigger than a werewolf?”
“It could be!” Lin Jing held his hands out like he was demonstrating the size of an imaginary panda. “A were-panda! No, a dire panda!”
“Now who’s reading too many novels?”
“It’s not pandas either,” Zhu Hong said. “And that’s all I’m saying.”
Sang Zan started clapping, and everyone else joined in -- no reason too big or small for a celebration, really. Da Qing and Zhu Hong certainly looked pleased.
Shen Wei leaned towards him as the clapping wound down. “Do you think this will work?” he asked quietly
“What, us hiding in the mountains while the treaty committee holds emergency sessions and the Yashou provide a distraction? Sure.” He had no idea. But there was very little downside that he could see to taking what was essentially a vacation with his favorite people on two planets. Even if the location left something to be desired. He gave Shen Wei a sideways look. “Why?”
“You hate the West Ridge,” Shen Wei said.
He waved a hand. “Ah, I’m sure it’s not as bad as I remember it.”
***********
“Do you mind company?”
He couldn’t see Ye Zun’s expression in the dark, but his shadow shuffled over in a clear-enough invitation to sit. “You don’t usually ask,” Ye Zun said.
“Usually I can see you.” If Shen Wei was frustratingly good at maintaining a neutral expression; Ye Zun was the opposite -- he may have been the voice of Dixing, but he’d never been the public face of it the way Shen Wei had, and it showed.
Zhao Yunlan sat as close as possible and wrapped his sleeping bag more securely around his shoulders. The West Ridge wasn’t as bad as he remembered it, but only in the sense that it was worse. Colder, definitely.
He felt Ye Zun shrug. “I was either going to be cold and awake in the tent, or cold and awake out here. At least out here I can see the stars.”
“And the moon.” It would be full that night, although they couldn’t actually see it yet. He wasn’t sure how literal ‘they’ll arrive with the full moon’ was meant to be, but it couldn’t hurt to stay up a while. Or rather, it could, but it would probably be worth it. “You know who it is, don’t you?”
“I have a guess.” Ye Zun obligingly let him inch even closer. “Bigger than a wolf, willing and able to enter the city, and dramatic enough to time it to the full moon? All of those point in a certain direction.” Zhao Yunlan could hear the smile in his voice. “I think you’ll like them.”
“At this point I think I’ll like anything that means we get to go home.” It had only been a few days, but somehow it felt longer. Even Shen Wei had given up on his ‘I don’t feel the cold’ claims after the first night.
“Mm. Should be tomorrow either way,” Ye Zun said. “The treaty committee was -- motivated, to expedite the process.”
He turned his head, but it was still too dark to see Ye Zun’s expression. “What did you do?”
Ye Zun looked away. “Nothing that could be proved in court. They would have gotten there on their own eventually.”
They both startled at the sound of a zipper, and then Shen Wei said, “Why is everyone out here?”
He couldn’t help smiling. “We’re stargazing, Xiao Wei. Come join us.”
Shen Wei slid over to Ye Zun’s other side. As they all shifted around to accommodate three people, he heard a sleepy meow coming from inside Ye Zun’s jacket. That answered the question of Da Qing’s location, at least. “Stargazing,” Shen Wei said dryly. “Is that what they’re calling it now?”
“Brother!” Ye Zun’s voice was all mock-scandalized and delighted. “I’ll have you know it’s much too cold to do anything more interesting than stargazing at the moment.”
Zhao Yunlan leaned around him to tap Shen Wei’s foot with his own. “However! We will certainly take that under advisement for any future astronomical observances.”
Shen Wei laughed, and looked up. “Have they arrived yet?”
“Soon.”
He craned his neck back. The moon was cresting the top of the ridge. Suddenly a shadow passed in front of it. A winged shadow. And then another, and another. Someone put a hand on his shoulder, and his vision tinged with dark energy so he could actually see them. It looked like they were playing -- he hoped it was playing, at least -- swooping over and around each other in the moonlight.
“Is that -- am I seeing things? Because I really want the answer to be ‘no; that’s a bunch of dragons.’”
“‘No, that’s a bunch of dragons,’” Ye Zun said. “Though I’m not sure that’s the official term. A flock, maybe. A pack?”
“Dragons.” He could feel a laugh just waiting to be let out. “There are dragon Yashou, and you never told me?”
Da Qing stuck his head out and yawned widely. “It’s called Dragon City. The name had to come from somewhere.”
He poked at Ye Zun’s jacket to keep the damn cat from going back to sleep. “Do you know them? Can I meet them? Why didn’t you tell me?” He had at least a hundred questions, but those were at least in the top ten.
Da Qing yawned again. “Some of them. Yes. It was a secret.”
He was relatively confident that was meant to be one answer to each of his three questions, not three answers to his first one. “And now?”
“Now it’s not a secret anymore.” It sounded so simple when he said it. Like it was perfectly logical that after millenia of hiding, an entire unknown Yashou tribe was just -- flying back.
Ye Zun hummed in agreement. “I wonder why, though. Just because there’s a High Chief now? They didn’t show up for the last High Chief, did they?”
“Maybe they just wanted to be asked,” Shen Wei said, and something unspoken passed between the two of them.
“Maybe they did.”
He waited, just in case -- but when there was only silence, he gave a dramatic sigh. “What I want to know is, can we invite them to the cabin, or will we have to go to the city to meet them?”
“They like the mountain,” Da Qing mumbled. “They’ll want to visit.”
“Oh really.” That sounded suspiciously like ‘I know a lot more about them than I’ve told you.’
But Da Qing was already burrowing back into Ye Zun’s jacket. “Sleeping now. Talking later.”
He gave the sky one more look. “Talking later. And then we go home.”
“Together,” Shen Wei said, and he felt Ye Zun murmur his agreement next to him.
“Always.”
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