It is a clear day when Sect Leader Jiang Fengmian arrives at the Cloud Recesses, a small boy in identical YunMeng Jiang purple following behind.

"This is my son and heir, Jiang Cheng." Jiang Fengmian says, "and I would like him to study at the Cloud Recesses."

The boy introduces himself with his courtesy name, and little Jiang Wanyin, only eight years old, salutes flawlessly and addresses Lan Qiren politely. Canine ears stand straight and pointed on his head, his grey-furred tail hanging limply behind him.

Lan Qiren narrows his eyes.

While the Cloud Recesses accepts student cultivators every year, Jiang Fengmian is speaking of having his son stay in the Cloud Recesses for years, to "train him in the ways of a gentleman, cultivator, and heir." he says, with his usual calm, placid expression.

"But would the heir of YunMeng Jiang not be better trained in YunMeng Jiang itself?" Lan Qiren asks doubtfully, and Jiang Fengmian sighs.

"My son's temperament is...difficult. At such a young age, he already tends toward aggression and bluntness, qualities that do not bode well

for his future role as a sect leader. I am hoping to correct his growth while he is still young, and I can think of no better place for him than the Cloud Recesses."

Jiang Fengmian continued to praise the teachings of Gusu Lan, as well as the behaviour of the Twin Jades,

renowned even at their young age. He professed hope that Jiang Cheng would learn from them, especially from the Second Jade, whom was the same age as him.

Lan Qiren thought of the young boy who had so quietly and patiently accompanied his father, manners flawless, and frowned.

But as his father, perhaps Jiang Fengmian knew things that he, an outsider was not aware of.

The Jiang Sect Leader then continued to offer advantageous trade agreements as payment for the Cloud Recesses hosting Jiang Wanyin, and Lan Qiren eventually relented.

He trusted the man, and the Cloud Recesses would not turn away a young mind in want of improvement and learning.

Watching Jiang Wanyin formally bow to his father, canine ears flattened against his head and tail drooping as he desolately watched his father leave, however,

did not sit well with Lan Qiren.

The boy's eyes were wide and mournful, his fists clenched tightly at his sides in a sad, longing resignation.

Then he bowed to Lan Qiren again, and called him teacher.

As the son of the Violet Spide, where was his aggression? His bluntness?

Perhaps it would surface after the boy had stayed here longer, and become more used to the Cloud Recesses.

Jiang Wanyin's violet robes were exchanged for white ones, like the uniform of Gusu Lan, but bordered in lavender and embroidered with the nine-petaled lotus.

He attended his lessons with Wangji, who sat even stiffer with the intrusion of another, and Lan Qiren hoped they would be friends.

The silence that permeated with Jiang Wanyin's perfect posture matching Wangji's, made that possibility unlikely.

"Grandmaster Lan," Jiang Wanyin's high-pitched voice asked one day, "How do I hide my ears and tail?"

Lan Qiren blinked, looking into the pale blue eyes of the boy, and slowly allowed his dragon horns and tail to reveal themselves. "It requires mastery of the self, Jiang-gongzi,

to become aware of our appendages before we can control them. The first step is to improve your cultivation, ideally with meditation."

Jiang Wanyin listened intently and nodded, setting off to follow his instructions almost immediately.

Lan Qiren later learned that the boy had almost caught frostbite, sitting outside and trying to mediate, as he had seen other Lan disciples do.

Wrapped in warm blankets and fed soup by a smiling, soothing Xichen, Lan Qiren visited Jiang Wanyin with a disapproving expression.

"Child, did you not notice that your limbs were losing sensation?! Gusu is not like YunMeng, it is much colder here, too cold for a child your age to be sitting outside when it is nearly winter!"

Jiang Wanyin burrowed deeper into the blankets, until only his eyes were visible,

shame visible even from the top of his head that peeked out.

"Young Master Jiang, please come out, you need to drink this soup to warm yourself up." Xichen coaxed gently.

Jiang Wanyin did as he was told, even though his eyes dared not meet Lan Qiren's.

After obediently swallowing another spoonful of soup, he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, I got...I got caught up in trying to meditate. I thought I was getting better because I couldn't feel anything."

Lan Qiren sighed. Meditation could free the mind from mortal needs, but there was a reason why young children were not allowed to meditate outside, exposed to the elements. "In the future, you are to meditate inside, with Wangji and Xichen, until you are old enough and advanced

in your cultivation to attempt meditating outside, is that clear?"

Jiang Wanyin nodded with wide blue eyes.

"Copy the rules once, after you are well enough. Is that understood?"

Jiang Wanyin shrank slightly, but again nodded his acknowledgement.

"Which Gusu Lan rule did you break, Young Master Jiang?" Lan Qiren asked, and at the frozen shock on the young boy's expression, Xichen came to his rescue. "Rule 591," he hinted helpfully, "Children are not allowed to-?"

"Children are not allowed to meditate outside!" He blurted

out, as Xichen nodded encouragingly.

"If you knew that, why did you do it?" Lan Qiren questioned.

Jiang Wanyin drooped again. "I heard that meditating outside could really help my cultivation, and I really want to become better as fast as I can." He admitted.

"As you said before, Grandmaster Lan, if my cultivation is more advanced, I can gain control of my ears and tail, so I can hide them better." He reasoned.

Lan Qiren blinked. He wasn't aware that the matter was so important to the Jiang heir.

"What is the reason for wanting to

master that technique so quickly?" He asked.

Xichen, whose ivory dragon horns and tail had been present the whole time, looked at Jiang Wanyin curiously.

Under the covers, Jiang Cheng's tail curled up forlornly.

"If I can hide my ears and tail, A-Die will let me go home." He said, and Lan Qiren stilled in shock.

"I have a new shixiong that A-Die brought home. His name is Wei Ying," and that was something Lan Qiren was aware of. The news that Jiang Fengmian had adopted

the son of the late Cangse Sanren had spread quickly, "and he is afraid of dogs. He was too scared to approach me, because of my ears and tail."

Grey canine ears flattened themselves against his head.

"A-Niang can hide her ears and tail because she's a skilled cultivator,"

"and A-Jie is a cat, like A-Die. But because I'm still not as good, A-Die sent me here so I could learn to hide them quicker. So I want to learn as quickly as possible."

Xichen glanced at him, his brown eyes wide and full of concern.

"Please teach me, Grandmaster Lan." Jiang Wanyin said, looking at him with such hope in his blue eyes. His innocent child's heart, believing the best of his father, was unaware of what was transpiring around him.

Excessive emotion was forbidden, but Lan Qiren felt only rage.

'Do not succumb to rage.'

That too, was forbidden.

Lan Qiren took several deep breaths to quell the broiling anger he felt, allowing his sleeves to cover his hands balled into fists. Jiang Wanyin's expression was expectant, waiting for instruction from an elder - him.

"Do you see Xichen's dragon features, Jiang Wanyin?" Lan Qiren spoke, and immediately heard the automatic edge of anger in his tone, regretting it in the way the Jiang heir gazed at his nephew as instructed and nodded apprehensively. "He has not yet learnt the technique."

"Xichen is eleven years old." Lan Qiren continued, Jiang Wanyin younger by- "Three years older than you. It is a difficult technique to master."

At the implication of his words, Jiang Wanyin's ears flattened against his head. "Oh." He murmured, and Lan Qiren clenched his teeth.

Lans were not permitted to lie. But the boy only wanted to go home, and the truth that such an advanced technique would take years - years before his father might come back for him - only made the child despair.

Lan Qiren had broken another rule, by allowing his words to hurt.

"But Xichen is older than you, and more experienced. He can help you improve your cultivation faster." His nephew, whom, recognizing the task that had been set before him, smiled encouragingly at the boy. Jiang Wanyin immediately perked up, seeing the challenge he faced,

nodded low in imitation of a bow from where he sat on the bed. "I will work hard, Grandmaster!" He insisted, blue eyes blazing with determination, and his instinctual words indicated that this was not the first time he had made such a promise. "I'll master the technique as soon

as I can!"

Lan Qiren nodded, and Jiang Wanyin looked just about ready to throw the covers off himself and hop off the bed to continue his training, so he immediately ordered, "You are not to leave the bed until you have fully recuperated, is that clear?"

The boy deflated slightly, the speed at which his tail wagged flagging as he constrained his excitement, but he still obeyed. "Yes, Grandmaster Lan."

As Xichen continued to feed Jiang Wanyin soup, Lan Qiren took his leave, his mind occupied. He would have to put together an

accelerated course of learning for a young child to improve his cultivation as rapidly as possible - but given that Jiang Wanyin came from outside Gusu Lan, would it even be prudent to train him in the ways of swordplay and cultivation from a sect he would not inherit?

But as soon as the thought came to him, it turned sour. Would it not be the right course of action to summon Jiang Fengmian back to the Cloud Recesses, and have him take back his own son - now that Lan Qiren knew what he intended to accomplish?

The trade agreements had already been drawn up - and were in the process of implementation - the agreements that consisted part of the compensation Gusu Lan received for taking in the Jiang heir.

Taking in. As if he were a stray, and not a child.

And if what Jiang Wanyin said was true, if Jiang Fengmian really could act so foolishly and abandon his child for such a trivial reason-

Cangse Sanren's son afraid of dogs. Jiang Wanyin was hardly an animal, yet tossed aside like one.

The image of a winter night came to mind.

It was still the hour of shen, but in the depths of winter, the sky was as dark as night when a Lan midwife stepped out of the Gentian House and delivered a newborn Xichen into Qiren's hands, the babe bundled in padded blankets to keep warm.

The final time he had seen his older brother was after his wedding ceremony, after which he had disappeared into his seclusion and never appeared again - choosing his doomed infatuation with a criminal of a woman over the sect.

Three times Lan Qiren had been handed children

by their own fathers, both whom spoke not a word of abandonment when their actions were loud enough.

Jiang Fengmian was not in seclusion, but with his tumultous - and unhappy marriage with Yu Ziyuan, the death of Cangse Sanren, the reappearance of her son, and the easy way

he had dumped Jiang Wanyin in the Cloud Recesses-

-would he take his blood son back?

And if he did, what sort of father would he make to the boy?

Xiongzhang had not emerged in eleven years, no matter how many entreaties Qiren made.

As was his duty as an uncle, he had cared for and raised his nephews.

Closing his eyes, Lan Qiren came to the conclusion that to uphold his duty as a Lan, as a person of principle,

he would have to care for Jiang Wanyin.

It seemed that a proper curriculum would have to be drawn up for the heir of YunMeng Jiang, after all.

---

A violet figure was stark against blue skies and snow covered mountains.

The guards posted at the entrance of the Cloud Recesses saluted to the woman elegantly stepping off her sword and sheathing her blade wreathed in qi, as her magenta eyes narrowed.

"Send word to Lan Qiren." Yu Ziyuan's lips twisted, "I'm here for my son."

"At once. Welcome to the Cloud Recesses, Madam Yu." The Lan disciple receiving her at the gates saluted politely. She returned the gesture perfunctorily and strode forward.

"Madam Yu, I will need to inform the Grandmaster of your arrival first-"

"And you will. Before that, you will tell me where Young Master Jiang is." She demanded, glaring.

"I'm not sure." The Lan disciple replied, stunned at the Violet Spider's brazenness. "He is most likely attending lessons with the younger children-"

"Where."

"Madam Yu, if you will allow me to alert the Grandmaster, he will be with you shortly-"

"Useless!" She barked. "I'm here for my son, I have no use for Lan Qiren!"

Another wide-eyed disciple watched the commotion, the Violet Spider's booming voice attracting more and more

onlookers as it went on. Catching the harried look of the disciple trying to placate Yu Ziyuan, he nodded and left as quickly as possible to find the Grandmaster.

"I will find him myself." She hissed, turning away from the Lan disciple and continuing through the pathways.

Heads turned at the furious woman storming through the Cloud Recesses, the vibrant pink and purple of her ensemble, matched with her glittering golden crown seeming to leech colour itself from the sedate whiteness of the walls. She ignored the Lan disciple attempting to talk

sense to her, caught off guard by her blatant disregard of rules and convention by so flagrantly trespassing into the heart of a Sect not her own.

Lan Qiren was alerted to the presence of Yu Ziyuan by a flustered Lan disciple, who told him that she could not be reasoned with.

He sighed deeply, worry prickling at his mind as he set down his current work to rise. Yu Ziyuan's ferocity matched that of a tornado, of nature itself, and she would not stop until she reclaimed what she so desired.

Jiang Cheng's morning lecture was interrupted by the call of his name, the voice achingly familiar.

"A-Cheng!" Niang's voice was as loud and stern as it always was, but as he turned his head to see her - and it was really her, in bright pink, purple and the very same headpiece

standing at the entrance of the classroom with her features soft in a way he rarely saw.

The rules of the Cloud Recesses immediately flew from his mind. Jolting up, he shouted, "A-Niang!" and ran from his seat to her, colliding with her legs and hugging her tightly.

The scent of lotuses filled his nose, the scent of home, and Jiang Cheng automatically teared up as he clutched at his mother's skirts. "You're here!" He cried out, "Am I going home?!"

Yu Ziyuan bent and picked up her son in her arms, hugging her baby tightly. "Of course."

When Lan Qiren arrived at the junior classroom, he was greeted with the sight of Yu Ziyuan cradling Jiang Cheng - whose tail was wagging rapidly in joy - and stroking his hair. Uncaring of the instructor and Lan children staring at them, the formidable Violet Spider now struck

an uncommonly gentle image. Her lupine ears rested low against her hair, and Jiang Wanyin had clearly inherited the shade of his animal appendages from his mother, his own ears and tail the same grey colouring.

For a moment, Lan Qiren hesitated.

He very well could have let her take Jiang Wanyin back to Lotus Pier where he belonged. The way she had barged into the Cloud Recesses, refusing to be escorted, was understandable in how she was just a mother who missed her child.

But once that moment passed, he strengthened

his resolve.

"Madam Yu." He greeted her, "Welcome to the Cloud Recesses."

"Grandmaster Lan." She replied in return, although her lips twisted wryly, recalling how they had been youths years ago, inhabiting the very spaces they now did.

"There is tea and refreshments at my office, if you would proceed."

He had been worried that she would immediately leave once she had gotten hold of her son, but the boy she was now reunited with had calmed her down. She narrowed her eyes at Lan Qiren, but sharply nodded.

"Of course." She said silkily. "There, you can tell me why you agreed with my husband-" the word hissed with disgust and derision, "-to keep my son from me."

Jiang Wanyin stared at them with large blue eyes. Feeling the weight of the ordeal ahead, Lan Qiren heaved a sigh.

"Does..."

Jiang Cheng's small voice made the gazes of both adults snap to him. He clutched at his mother's robes, but kept his eyes down with his brows furrowed.

"Does Grandmaster Lan think I shouldn't go home?"

Wide pup's eyes met his, and Lan Qiren silently, instinctively,

thought, yes.

Not with that kind of father.

But he has experience with children, and children can be easily hurt by the brutal truth.

"Well, Qiren? What do you think?" Madam Yu said sarcastically.

"Why do you ask that, Jiang-gongzi?" Lan Qiren asked instead.

"A-Niang said...you agreed with A-Die I should stay here. The first day, he talked to you..." Jiang Cheng trailed off, expression hiding his upset feelings.

Did he conspire with Jiang Fengmian to keep him away from his home, is what Jiang Cheng is asking.

The truth is easy

for him to tell.

"No, Jiang-gongzi. I did not know of your father's intentions until the day you arrived here."

"Oh..." Blue eyes lowered, still troubled. Without further ado, Lan Qiren gestures to the direction of his office, already witnessing Jiang Cheng brooding over his

thoughts the same way Wangji has the tendency to.

"Then why did you not send him back." Madam Yu hissed out.

"It is forbidden to jump prematurely to conclusions."

She scoffed, but said nothing until they were seated in his office, his desk between them, Jiang Cheng in his

Mother's lap and leaning against her with her arms still encircling him.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for all this, or I'm leaving." She snaps, her son's eyes flickering to her.

"I believe this is a matter best left between us both, Madam Yu."

Her eyes narrow.

"Whatever it is you have to say, just spit it out."

Lan Qiren eyed Jiang Cheng's curious expression at both him and his mother as he weighed his words.

"Harshness on a young sapling may damage it irreparably." He recited, watching Yu Ziyuan's posture stiffen.

"What are you trying to say."

"I will never try to come between you and your son." Lan Qiren went on, acutely aware of the woman's fierce temper. "Let me speak to you alone first, before you speak to Jiang Cheng."

He ignored the woman's mutter of "-addressing my son so

informally-" before he spoke directly to the boy.

"Jiang Cheng, the weather is pleasant today." He gestured in a slow arc to the courtyard outside his quarters, with the puffy white clouds in the azure sky and the bamboo swaying gently in the breeze. "Why don't you go outside

and play?"

"Play?" The mere mention of play had the puppy's tail wagging, and Qiren silently thanked the short attention spans of children.

"Yes."

"No." Yu Ziyuan's grip tightened on her son. "I don't know what tricks you're playing, Lan Qiren, but know that I still haven't

decided whether to forgive you or not."

Despite the logical wrath of a mother, Qiren couldn't help but sigh.

"I do not play tricks, Madam Yu. Jiang-gongzi will be right outside. You can keep an eye on him at all times."

He placed both hands on his desk to show her he had

nothing to conceal, and Jiang Cheng's pleading eyes bore into her. Her expression twisted, until she finally relented.

"Stay where A-Niang can see you." She barked to him, finally withdrawing her hands, and he happily sprang from her lap. "Thank you, A-Niang!" He chorused

joyfully, before darting out into the warm sunshine.

Once he was directly outside the window to his office, he gave them both a shy smile before continuing to frolic in the grass. Madam Yu's gaze flicked over to him and softened, while Qiren nodded in acknowledgment.

Her violet eyes flicked back as sharp as flint with her teeth bared.

"Now get on with it."

"As I had previously mentioned, I did not know of his father's intentions until the day he arrived here and convinced me to take him in."

"And how did he convince you?" Madam Yu sneered.

"Trade agreements, concessions, and his reason that Jiang Wanyin has a difficult

temperament, aggressive and brash."

"How dare he." She snarled. "There is nothing wrong with my son! Fengmian is just trying to replace him with that Wei Wuxian by getting rid of A-Cheng!"

Gossip is forbidden, but Lan Qiren is, not of his own volition, hearing it nevertheless.

"Wasting trade agreements on this." She continued to fume. "How dare he. I didn't punish him enough."

"Jiang Wanyin caught frostbite." Qiren continues matter-of-factly, seeing her eyes snap to him in rage, "He was trying to meditate in the cold to expedite his cultivation,

so that he could retract his animal appendages. He knows that Wei Wuxian is afraid of him, because of his fear of dogs, and that is the reason why he is not allowed home."

He could see the hatred brewing in Yu Ziyuan's eyes, and went on.

"That is why he should not be sent back to Lotus Pier."

"You dare." She hissed.

"Jiang Wanyin knows that he has been abandoned." Qiren meets her livid gaze with his. "He was present when Jiang Fengmian spoke about his temperament, and he resigned himself to it."

"I only have my own account to judge Jiang Fengmian by. But by bringing Jiang Wanyin back to that household, all you will do is hurt him further."

"I am trying to secure his future!" She raged. "I will not let his birthright be stolen by that street rat!"

"Will Jiang Wanyin's presence truly make a difference? His father could so easily abandon him elsewhere."

"And YOU enabled him!" She snarled.

"Because Jiang Wanyin was left in the Cloud Recesses. I cannot speak for different circumstances."

Yú Ziyuan was beginning to come around to his perspective, and he vividly saw how much she loathed it.

"He must be at home, where he belongs. Jiang Fengmian will vanish A-Cheng away over my dead body." She resolved again.

"So you will continue to wound him with the truth?"

Lan Qiren continued disapprovingly, "to let that boy's self-esteem be destroyed this way?"

"Lans do not lie. I suppose you have told your nephews about their truth behind their parents?"

Hailing from Meishan Yu, Lan Qiren shouldn't have been surprised that Yu Ziyuan knew.

Of course she knew. "No." He said truthfully. "They will know when they are ready. Despite my efforts to obscure the truth, it will and already has trickled out in some ways."

"Then how is my son any different?" Yu Ziyuan sneers. "if he knows the truth, he is on a level ground."

"He knows what he needs to know to motivate him. To spur him on to improve. His father will have no choice but to recognise him."

A person, once brilliant, will never understand the difficulties of their less fortunate counterparts. Lan Qiren has had years to swallow that

bitter fact, the wound recently reopened by his older brother's nonchalant parting words.

"Qiren, you will be fine."

It wasn't that easy.

"By hurting himself?" Lan Qiren continues, trying to rein in his aggravation. "He nearly caught frostbite. What else might he be driven to

do, to impress his father?"

"And his mother?" Qiren couldn't help but jab. "You may have been hardened by adversity, Yu Ziyuan, but a young child may break from it."

Her glare was poisonous, and he once again reminded himself that she was a mother who missed her son.

Madam Lan came alive when A-Huan and A-Zhan visited her, and drooped once their monthly visit was over. "We can draw up a visiting schedule if you'd like, and of course you will be welcome to visit Jiang Wanyin whenever you please if he stays here. He will need a link to his true

Sect. He can also return for periods in the year." Lan Qiren continued, outlining the compromises that could be made. "In the meantime, you can block Jiang Fengmian's overtures to make Wei Wuxian the heir of YunMeng Jiang." The heavens shuddered at what the offspring of

Cangse Sanren would be like.

Yú Ziyuan's expression of pure loathing had not changed, but he could see the calculations in her mind and her reluctance. Surely she was aware of the situation. She was far too sharp not to have noticed favouritism.

"Fine." She hissed. "Fine."

"But put one of your slimy toes out of line-" she glared at his dragon appendages, "and Jiang Cheng comes home with me immediately."

In the end, she cared more for Jiang Cheng.

"Of course." He would rise to the challenge.

"We have much to discuss," she said as threateningly

as possible, at another stab at dominance.

"A-Cheng!" She called sharply, her voice as if projected into a straight line to her son, and Jiang Wanyin immediately heard her, canine ears flicking up with his excellent innate hearing.

When he came trotting back to her side,

she regarded him solemnly. "You will be staying in the Cloud Recesses."

Almost instantly, his blue eyes began to water with tears.

"W-Why?" He murmured wetly, and Lan Qiren closed his eyes in exasperation.

"I'm not going home? To Lotus Pier?" Jiang Cheng whispered,

before Lan Qiren quickly supplied. "Your home will come to you, Jiang-gongzi. Your mother and sister can come to visit you, including the Jiang disciples, or your mother's attendants."

Jiang Cheng sniffled. "A-Jie?"

"Yes, A-Cheng." Yu Ziyuan continued. Lan Qiren did not miss

the way her expression had folded at her son's emotional reaction, and he could almost consider her tone sheepish. "Stay here and improve your cultivation, A-Cheng," she put her hand on his arm, "you will become stronger, faster, smarter, and more competent."

"You will make me proud." She said, and his eyes sharpened. Blinking his tears away rapidly, he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand before nodding dutifully.

"A-Niang will stay? A-Jie will come? And Jinzhu, Yinzhu-?" He wondered, and Yu Ziyuan nodded firmly.

Once their arrangements had been hashed out, Yu Ziyuan leveled Lan Qiren with a glare. "I expect nothing other than the best for my son," she declared, and Lan Qiren had expected her to say nothing less.