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Dai He hadn’t been a disciple for very long and hadn’t learned much yet. Nothing useful, at least. He could barely remember the way around Qian Cao peak, let alone the names of disciples from other peaks - he’d met them, at most, once or twice! If that!
So when a Qiong Ding disciple was hastily carted into the infirmary, he was a bit confused about the amount of panicking going around. Aside from the obvious fact that there was an unconscious disciple being brought into the infirmary, of course.
Although. Dai He peered at him. He didn’t… look particularly injured? Lack of physical maladies aside, there were no outward signs of any weird qi happenings. To be fair, he’d only really had a few (relatively brief) lessons on the former so far, but. Hm. This seemed a little out of his ability.
The acting supervisory healer-slash-instructor made a relieved noise as she finished checking the unconscious disciple over. She turned to the pair of Qiong Ding and Wan Jian disciples who had carried him in.
“I don’t see anything immediately wrong with him,” she reassured. “For now, I think we just need to keep him under surveillance. In the meantime, you two should alert your teachers. They should probably be there when we discuss what happened.”
The two nodded, still pale-faced, and quickly left for their respective peaks. She released a breath and turned to where Dai He was loitering in the doorway.
“Dai-shidi,” she said hurriedly. “Go fetch Song-shidi.” Dai He nodded and darted away, thankful that she’d asked him to find someone he actually knew. He located his shixiong fairly quickly, and returned to the room to find the supervisory instructor herding a pair of Bai Zhan disciples into the room.
She nodded in thanks and handed him a scroll and a half-cleaned quill. “Dai-shidi, Song-shidi, watch your shixiong.” What! He didn’t know anything! He was just here to watch and get first-hand experience! “Take notes if he does anything strange or his condition worsens. Get one of your shixiong if he starts convulsing.”
Convulsing!? Was that a possibility!? Dai He turned to Song-shixiong, who looked as lost as he did. Very helpful, Song-shixiong, very reassuring! He snuck a look at the Bai Zhan disciples. They looked… confused. One of them had a splint on one arm and a large bruise poking out from behind the bandages wrapped around her jaw. Well, that explained their presence on Qian Cao, but what -
Their instructor sketched a bow at the two of them and added, “Please also keep watch and interfere if he wakes up combative.” The two of them bowed back, looking firmly back in their comfort zone. Dai He was not! Dai He was firmly out of his comfort zone!
He opened his mouth to try to express this, but their instructor was already out the door. She’d abandoned them on that note!?
The door swung shut with the quiet thud of well-maintained hinges and a well-padded door frame.
Dai He looked around the room, fiddling with the nib of the quill. Song-shixiong was staring at the door. The pair of Bai Zhan disciples were glancing around the room, taking in the wide windows and packed shelves. The unconscious disciple’s breathing was nearly audible.
For lack of anything better to do, Dai He crossed over to a table and carefully wrote out ‘Patient seems fully unconscious. Breathing not impared.’ He paused for a moment, trying to think of something else to say. ‘No visible movements,’ he settled with. Nothing else came to him.
Finally, the non-bandaged Bai Zhan disciple spoke up. “Something went wrong getting his sword?”
“What?” Dai He asked, startled.
“Just a guess,” he said, a little defensively. “It’s just - he looks a little too young to have that?” He gestured to where there was indeed a sheathed sword lying next to the disciple. Dai He hadn’t noticed it at all.
“Ah,” Dai He said. “This one. Isn’t actually sure.” He cringed. All three of them were looking at him now.
“Weren’t you here when he came in?” Song-shixiong frowned at him.
Well yes, but actually no. “Shijie didn’t actually explain his condition.” The pair nodded at him.
They lapsed into silence again until there was a soft rustling. On the bed, the disciple had craned his head up to look around at them, clearly confused.
“Oh, good!” Dai He said a little desperately. He reached for his paper. “How are you feeling?”
The disciple quietly cleared his throat. “Fine, mostly.”
Song-shixiong quickly went through the typical questions. “Remember everything? Name? Date? Differences in vision? Hearing? Have any homicidal urges?”
Yue-shixiong – Dai He mentally cheered. A name at last! Hopefully he’d remember it! He’d been assured that eventually he’d know just about everyone from Bai Zhan by name. Judging from the tone used, though, it wasn’t something he was particularly looking forward to. – seemed to be a little hazy on the date, but got it after a few seconds of thought. He claimed to have no homicidal urges. Which was exactly what someone with homicidal urges might say, so really, what was the point in asking? Dai He supposed that occasionally it might trigger a ‘yes, in fact, I do’ and an attack, but… shoot he was still talking.
“...sword, I think,” Yue-shixiong finished. He shifted around for a second, then noticed his sword laying next to him. The Bai Zhan disciples stiffened as he reached for it. He frowned at it for a moment, then quickly drew the blade.
Dai He scrambled backwards to get the table between him and the sword. He! Was! Not! Trained for this!!! Faint and a little nauseous, he gave into the urge to cover his eyes.
Except. Nothing else seemed to happen? He peeked around his fingers to find Yue-shixiong staring at the sword in his hands. After a moment, he blinked, suddenly animated again, and shoved the sword back into its sheath as if on reflex.
Yue-shixiong’s eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed backwards onto the bed. Was that a no for homicidal urges? Dai He wondered, a little hysterically. After a couple of seconds, Song-shixiong climbed down from off of a shelf and slowly inched his way towards the freshly-unconscious-again disciple to check him over.
Eventually he gave a shrug and the other two relaxed. “He seems… fine?” Song-shixiong sounded baffled. Dai He could relate. What was that all about.
Whatever it was, it probably counted as something he should be writing down. He thought for a moment, then scribbled, ‘Yue-shixiong woke up. Answered questions correctly. Noticed and unsheathed sword. Seemed to freeze up. Sheathed sword and passed out. Song-shixiong checked him and said he’s fine.’ Somehow. Dai He had no idea.
He looked to Song-shixiong. “Should we get someone?”
Song-shixiong’s face scrunched up. “Maybe. Shijie said that was for convulsions, though.” They looked at each other, then towards the other disciples, receiving only shrugs. Great! That solves everything!
Dai He had no idea why he was at Qian Cao.
“Well. Let’s just. Keep watching Yue-shixiong for now?” Dai He’s voice trailed off.
They kept watching Yue-shixiong for now. Why were they following his lead. Dai He should not be in charge here. Dai He should be in the library, studying what little he’s learned so far of physical ailments! And physical ailments only! Or, even better, Dai He should be in bed, smothering himself with the blankets.
Yue-shixiong shifted again and all the heads swiveled towards him in unison. Slowly, he sat up, then looked around.
Slowly, Song-shixiong said, “How is. Ah. How is Yue-shixiong feeling.”
Yue-shixiong shook his head, expression a little bewildered. “Still fine. A little off-balance.”
Dai He moved to note that down and when he looked up Yue-shixiong had picked up the sword again. Dai He moved behind the desk again, slower this time, as the sword was unsheathed.
Again, Yue-shixiong’s expression was fixed on the sword. After a moment, he lowered it, then seemed to consider the room around him with a sharp look in his eye.
“Dai-shidi, this… this disciple had the date correct, yes?”
Why was Yue-shixiong asking him! How did he even know his name!?
Thankfully, Song-shixiong answered for him. “Yes, the date was correct.”
“Why?” the Bai Zhan disciple asked, somewhat suspiciously.
“Testing something,” Yue-shixiong answered, glancing around the room before fixing his gaze back to the unsheathed sword sitting innocently in his lap. Actually. Dai He wasn’t absolutely sure, but when he focused he was pretty sure he could feel qi radiating off of the sword from across the room! That – that wasn’t normal, was it? Dai He didn’t think that was normal.
Before he could think to voice this bafflement, Yue-shixiong took a final look around the room and abruptly sheathed his sword again. Like before, he collapsed immediately, the sword’s qi cutting out at the same time.
Again, Song-shixiong checked him over. Again, Song-shixiong shook his head at him, confused.
Dai He cautiously marked down a negative for murderous urges. He looked down at the paper, then back to Song-shixiong. “Shijie said convulsions, but maybe we should…”
“No,” Song-shixiong answered after a moment of thought. “She did specifically say convulsions.” He paused again, then turned to the Bai Zhan disciples. “Any thoughts from your corner?”
They glanced at each other and shrugged.
“She did say convulsions,” the bandaged one said. “And I don’t think…” He checked with his partner, who shrugged at him again. “Yeah, I don’t think those were convulsions.”
Wonderful. Although. “Maybe we should do some research on our own?” Dai He offered. “Song-shixiong has been here longer than I have, is there something we can reference?”
Song-shixiong frowned in thought. “It’s not comprehensive, but it might work.”
After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to flag down any unoccupied Qian Cao disciples, the two of them set off, leaving Yue-shixiong in the hands of the Bai Zhan duo, which. Dai He wasn’t thrilled about. They seemed pretty tough, though, and it had taken Yue-shixiong a while to wake up last time. Yue-shixiong probably wouldn’t wake up before the two of them returned.
Yue-shixiong woke up before the two of them returned.
Or, rather, the two of them returned just as Yue-shixiong began stirring. Fantastic. He was reaching for his sword again. Wonder what’ll happen this time, Dai He thought, tired. What could possibly happen.
“Hey,” the Bai Zhan disciple said before Yue-shixiong could draw the sword. The other boy startled a bit.
“What?”
“What were you testing?” he demanded.
Yue-shixiong frowned. “I’m not entirely sure,” he said, and then drew the sword.
Great, Dai He thought, I wonder how long it’ll be this time.
Yue-shixiong lifted the sword thoughtfully, then looked back to the Bai Zhan disciple. “Oh. I was testing this.”
“Testing what?”
Dai He shared a bewildered glance with Song-shixiong. There was a light creaking noise, and he looked back to see Yue-shixiong climbing out an open window.
What! He had no idea what was happening, and voiced as much.
“This disciple will return soon,” Yue-shixiong said politely. “Please don’t worry yourself for my sake.”
Yue-shixiong then stepped onto his sword and took off through the air.
“He can do that?” Dai He asked empty air. “He knows how to do that already?”
He received nothing but shrugs for his trouble. They watched Yue-shixiong steadily shrinking into the distance.
“Where is he going?” Dai He wondered aloud. He’d passed Qiong Ding already. The only peaks in the same direction were the alcohol and beast taming peaks. Was he going there?
“No earthly idea,” Song-shixiong answered as they clustered around the window, squinting into the distance.
Yue-shixiong passed the alcohol and beast taming peaks.
“He’s, um,” Dai He said, at a loss. “He’s leaving the Cang Qiong mountain range. Should we be stopping him?”
“Still not convulsing,” said the Bai Zhan disciple, as if that solved the matter decisively. Maybe it should, Dai He thought. Maybe it did.
“Well, he said, um. He said he’s coming back? Let’s start looking into what might be happening.”
—
It wasn’t until the sky was beginning to streak orange that Dai Hua bolted upright from where he’d been dozing off over the book.
“This disciple was supposed to be watching him!” he screeched, jolting the Bai Zhan disciple with the injured jaw awake from where she’d been sleeping soundly on the patient’s bed. Shoot. Shoot shoot shoot. He had one job! He can’t make notes and observations from this distance!
He! Had! One! Job! And he’d –
“Hey,” said the other Bai Zhan disciple, peering out the window, entirely unmoved since Yue-shixiong had left. “I think he’s coming back.”
“Yes, Yue-shixiong said that, but –”
“No,” Song-shixiong cut in. “No, look, I think that’s him.” He gestured into the distance, where a tiny speck was silhouetted against the glow.
Dai He forced himself to calm. Think. How to put this into his notes. He glanced at the paper and silently prayed his writing was legible and didn’t clearly show that his patient had been missing for most of the day.
He squinted at the slowly-growing dot in the sky. Was Yue-shixiong… carrying something? After a few minutes, it became clear that their missing shixiong was, in fact, carrying something. Or possibly someone. Or possibly a dead body, but that seemed unlikely.
Hopefully, or else Dai He was going to have to amend his notes on Yue-shixiong’s prospective murderous urges.
When Yue-shixiong had passed back into the mountain range, it became clear that he was headed right back towards them. They shuffled out to meet him at the entrance to find him carefully unloading another boy who seemed to be asleep. They were both covered in ash and soot. Yue-shixiong’s new sword had blood on it.
He smiled at them, disconcertingly cheerful. His mouth moved for a moment, like he was whispering to himself. Then, without cleaning it off, he sheathed his sword again and joined his buddy passed out on the ground.
“Should we…” Song-shixiong trailed off, waving his hand in a suggestion of carrying Yue-shixiong back into his room. He frowned in the direction of the other boy.
“Maybe there’s another bed stored in the room,” the Bai Zhan disciple suggested. His companion just looked grumpy at being woken up.
There was, in fact, another bed in the room.
The peak lord and their teaching instructor were also in the room.
Dai He had no idea how to explain this.