someone who did not die

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Wind whips Jiang Cheng’s face, stinging his cheeks, and he glances down at the tiny yellow bundle in his arms to ensure A-Ling’s face is adequately tucked into his chest. It is. That’s good, that’s… at least something is going right in his life right now. At least A-Ling’s cheeks won’t sting on the way back to Lotus Pier. He’s so little, and fragile, and he doesn’t understand, yet, that the best person on earth has died today, but he will soon. It will fall to Jiang Cheng to explain it to him.

 

There’s something missing from the world, with A-Jie gone. He thought he missed her when she moved to Jinlintai, but knowing she isn’t there either? That she is gone, forever, and she’s never going to make him soup again, or tell him funny stories about Jin Zixuan’s stumbling attempts at romance, or hold her son– Jiang Cheng slows his sword. It isn’t safe to fly as quickly when he can’t see through the water in his eyes. He doesn’t cry– he can’t cry. He won’t. Not in public anyway. There may not be anyone at this altitude that he can see, but one never knows for sure. A-Ling stirs at the change in speed, and starts to fuss. Thank god they aren’t far from home.

-

Soon, Jiang Cheng will have to see to the running of a sect. There is much to do when rebuilding from scratch, and no time to be taken off while Jiang-zongzhu mopes about events he can’t change, but that will have to wait for morning. For now, Jiang Cheng touches down at Lotus Pier and stops by the kitchen to get something for the baby to eat. They push stew onto him, as well, and he accepts. Tonight, Jiang Cheng sits on the floor of his childhood bedroom, freshly repaired and uninhabited since the attack, to feed his sister’s orphaned son. In the morning, he will wake early;  see to it that Jin Ling is looked after for the day by one of the aunties down at the pier while he takes a shift helping rebuild the dock. Tomorrow he will sit his nephew on his lap while he looks over his correspondence, but for tonight, he lies down in the bed he grew up in, lies A-Ling next to him on top of the covers, and weeps.