Wen Reian

2019 years after The Long Night

Farming District

“I don’t care who he killed, would you get out of here?!”

Wen Reian was just about at his wit’s end with Lan Kai-Le, and had definitely considered drowning him more than a few times, but the hunter just kept staring at him.

Apparently Reian’s healing of his hands had made Kai-Le wary of him. Besides that, the man just wouldn’t stop trying to convince Wen Rei to exit the river with him, citing their shared need for revenge.

“Xie Xingyue,” Lan Kai-Le tried again. “Must die…”

Reian was in the process of yanking off his clothes, shivering as the sun had begun to set while he tried to wash the sand out of his eyes and nose.

Tossing his outer robes onto the shore with a huff, the man shot Lan Kai-Le an aggravated look.

“Fine! Whatever, you go get your revenge! Just leave me alone, you’ve done enough already. I’m going to find A’Jun on my-”

Reian froze when he realized that Lan Kai-Le was staring at him, unblinking, and it was only a few thoughtless moments later than Wen Rei realized it was because he had divested himself of his clothes and was trying to scrub the sand off his body.

Turning bright red, more in fury than embarrassment if anything, Reian shouted-

“Turn around!”

Lan Kai-Le tilted his head as if he didn’t understand why Reian would want something like privacy, then finally did so, facing his back to the healer who glared at him and silently wished he could just slip away right now undetected.

Why is he so strange?! So stupid-

But… and as Reian thought this, his heart ached; I would have died today if he weren’t there. Ugh! And A’Jun wouldn’t have been taken at all!

Frantically washing and about to get dressed as fast as possible, Wen Reian stared cluelessly at Lan Kai-Le’s back, as the man hadn’t moved a muscle since he’d told him to turn around. He really was simple-minded.

Reian chewed at his lip nervously, as he tied his clothes and muttered out a faint, simply curious phrase; “You said Xie Xingyue killed your parents, yes?”

He watched Lan Kai-Le’s shoulders tense at the name and then he only nodded. Reian frowned, dragging himself up out of the river and squeezing the water from his hair as he shivered. He didn’t bother using up his energy to warm up, as a huge portion of it was still working its way through his own body, attempting to heal the bruises on his throat and the wound on his head that still ached.

“Well, kill him if you have to,” Reian sighed. “Just don’t let me see you aga-”

His words were cut off suddenly by the sound of loud splashing, and Reian glanced over at the bank beside him when he realized that Lan Kai-Le was now standing there, staring at him again, dripping wet.

The healer frowned. Lan Kai-Le’s eyes in that moment were incessant, pleading. It made Reian feel as if he owed him somehow! Ridiculous. Why should he feel sorry for the man?! He didn’t kill his parents! Nevertheless, that guilt remained, a feeling which only persisted when he tried to walk away.

Despite his every insistence not to, Lan Kai-Le followed...

Reian yelled at him. He ignored him. He even got so frustrated that he pushed Kai-Le away and no longer felt the least bit guilty when the man stumbled.

At last, realizing that this would get him nowhere, Wen Reian went back to ignoring him. He felt Lan Kai-Le still following at somewhat of a distance, as the healer made his way into a little farming district by the river. After being allowed upstairs to dry his clothes and eat something by the nice couple who owned the bank side granary, Reian once again had to deal with the fact that the hunter still would not leave him alone!

Glaring across the room at the man, who was leaning with his arms crossed against the windowsill as he looked outside, Wen Rei finally had enough of the silence and huffed;

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”Why are you following me?! You got me into this mess in the first place!”

Lan Kai-Le did not respond. Reian frowned...

“I’m going back to the palace as soon as possible, you cannot come with-”

Suddenly the man answered, “Looking for the same thing.”

The healer tried to ignore his annoyance at Kai-Le’s fragmented sentence, and instead stood up, tying his now dried-by-the-fire robes on and then pulling on his boots. His hair still hadn’t dried all the way and it was doing that thing he hated where it curled, but he didn’t have time to wait.

“It’s none of my business who you want to get revenge on,” Reian stated simply. “Be grateful I’m not getting you arrested for kidnapping and be on your way…”

Lan Kai-Le stopped Reian as he tried to leave by placing himself between the healer and the door. Wen Reian’s fists clenched as he craned his neck to stare up at the man, whose features, tattoos, and glowing yellow-green eyes never ceased to frighten and amaze him in the worst way.

“Move,” he gritted his teeth.

Lan Kai-Le did not. Reian was seconds away from reaching out in a fit of anger to fill the hunter’s mind with enough pain to incapacitate him for a while, when he heard the man’s deep, steady voice pleading...

“I am owed-”

Wen Rei was confused. If anyone else had said these words he would have been absolutely enraged. I owe you nothing! You betrayed me!! Why was it that because it was Lan Kai-Le who said them, Reian felt his heart twist. He heard the hidden meaning, all the things he was trying to say.

I don’t owe him. He means the man who took his parents' life, the man who orphaned him. He is owed revenge, and wants my help to get it.

Obvious. Wen Reian was a trusted member of the King of Hêi’àn City’s inner circle. He was on his way right now to meet with whomever was in charge of this place and demand every able-bodied person be sent out looking for Xie Song-jun, and in essence, Xie Xingyue.

I can’t help him, Reian decided. Not only did he put us in this situation in the first place, but I can’t have him getting in the way and potentially putting A’Jun at risk for his revenge...

“Get out of my-”

Reian was about to step past Kai-Le, but then the man was grabbing Reian in his ridiculously large hands and squeezing so tight the healer winced.

“Ow! Let me go!”

Lan Kai-Le’s expression had once again dissolved into a vengeful, murderous one, and Reian felt that if the man opened his mouth now, or growled, Reian would be able to see the points of fangs glittering behind his curled lips.

No such thing happened, what did? Lan Kai-Le pushing Reian so far back against the wall by the window, Reian wondered if he might be plastered to the stone for all eternity.

The bigger man just kept on pressing, Wen Rei panicking as he felt his arms being squeezed in Kai-Le’s hands, hard enough to bruise.

The man huffed, seeming on the verge of maybe doing something he likely wouldn’t regret. Reian recalled how he’d killed all those men in the forest the day they’d first met. How he’d snapped the neck of one in a heartbeat, and plunged the ends of his spears into the chests of the others...

He really could kill me here, just for denying him-

Reian held his breath, trying to recall everything Xie Yi-jun had taught him about hand-to-hand combat and self-defense. Unfortunately, he’d been a little less than receptive to the lessons, and barely paid attention past daydreaming of his King’s handsome face as Yi-jun held him immobile.

I really could use some of that knowledge right now! My King, please forgive me...

Reian felt Lan Kai-Le’s grip only getting tighter, and the way he was pressed between the wall and the hunter’s body was beginning to make him feel claustrophobic and sick.

As those brightly lit eyes, filled with pain and purpose glared down at him harshly, Wen Rei, in a moment of pure desperation, managed to send out from his body into the other man’s, enough of a shock to knock him off-balance. Hardly thinking, only terrified to remain in the same room with him, Wen Reian closed his eyes tightly and pushed...

Moments later, he heard a faint crashing, and then after forcing himself to peel his eyes open, it was still several seconds before he’d gathered enough courage to peer down over the ledge of the window. Umm… oops-

What first struck Reian’s mind was very brief terror. He hadn’t actually meant to kill Lan Kai-Le. Or maybe he had, it was hard to tell. Second, as Reian saw how the hunter had fallen straight on top of the chicken coop under the window from the second floor, Reian bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing aloud.

Mmmph, serves him right!

Lan Kai-Le was lying in the remains of the coop, feathers, dust and hay floating in the air, sticking to nearly every inch of him. Reian couldn’t shake the sudden elation he felt at seeing such a sight.

“Aha!” A soft giggle escaped his lips that turned into a quite self-satisfied smirk as he watched the hunter shake his head in a daze and then blink up at Reian.

The healer leaned out the window a bit to call down-

“Remember that the next time you get any ideas about following me!”

Then, with one last look at Lan Kai-Le’s disheveled state, his glaring making Reian only that much more thrilled, he pulled back from the window. After finishing pulling his shoes on in a hurry, Wen Rei risked one last glance outside, and he saw with a pleased nod that Lan Kai-Le had sulked off, clearly no worse for wear except maybe having his pride a bit scuffed up.

Reian bit back his smile as he hurried down the stairs, thanking the couple one last time and insisting that they take his money for his stay. At the very least, it will help them pay for a new chicken coop…

Starting off as soon as he could towards the capital again, Reian’s thoughts had shifted completely from the irritating hunter. All he knew was that he must find A’Jun. He would do anything, go anywhere. He’d die for that girl, he’d die for her fathers- pretty much already had. He swore to them all, until his dying breath he would keep each of them safe.