What if while travelling, Lwj stops at a random inn and someone, a stranger stops him, and all she says is, “you have your mother’s eyes” and Lwj’s heart stutters and he spends the night sitting across this stranger, listening to stories about a mother he barely knew but loved.

Like he breaks curfew just hear a few stories about this woman he called his mother. This person who was kind, who was beautiful and always taught him to do what was right and to follow his heart. He just listens and listens about when she was free.

A few more older men and women join in too, contributing their own stories and they tell Lwj how he takes after his mother, that she was known for following chaos too. That she tried to help people when she was young. That they wonder what happened to her.

And it hurts so much but Lwj just listens and for once, just once he bends the rules and tells these people that, his mother lived a happy life, that she was happy, and he hopes this last part was not a lie, “but that she was loved and she loved too.”

Anyways wwx comes looking for him eventually, and he finds Lwj sitting at a table, and it’s late and he’s drinminf his tea, and Wwx can see how heartbroken Lwj looks but also how healed and at peace he looks and he decides not to ask tonight and instead holds lwj’s hand.