Epilogue

Lan Kai-Le

2021 years after The Long Night

Xi Qiáng Forest

It was Wen Reian’s birthday soon, and the end of the year. The man had spent the last two days in Hêi’àn City visiting his family, while Lan Kai-Le explored the woods on his own. Before Reian left, he’d entrusted Kai-Le with a special task, one that he was currently in the process of completing…

Each flat white stone that he fished out from the bottom of the river, the hunter washed off very carefully with his thumbs and then placed it in a basket. Reian was in the middle of finishing a collage of them on the inner walls of their home, a little pet project he’d started a few months ago in an attempt to add some more ‘them’ to the place.

“All I need now is those white, creamy stones from the river to the west! Lan-Le?! Would you, please?”

So now he was.

Wen Reian was very… thoughtful, in the way he loved. Lan Kai-Le wasn’t used to having someone brush his hair, or set out his clothes in the morning, or worry about every scratch and injury he got after being in the forest for days on end.

Adjusting to Reian’s love was so easy, but sometimes it left Kai-Le reeling, his heart unable to comprehend just how much someone cared for him.

Wen Reian brought home a music box from Sanlín City. He’d gone there a few weeks ago to visit an old friend. It turned out that a friend's wife makes these boxes, and had one special ready for Reian. A little thing, fragile. It had beautiful purple and blue glass on the outside, a red velvet inside where a tiny water well spun around and around.

Lan Kai-Le enjoyed looking at it. He enjoyed listening to it even more, after Wen Reian would wind it up. The healer sat it on their table and smiled, clasping his hands together and proceeding to sway around the room, humming the tune softly and then taking Lan Kai-Le’s hands and coaxing him into dancing along.

The hunter’s heart was as soft as the velvet inside the music box for Wen Reian, and as see-through as its glass. The healer looked at him, and Lan Kai-Le forgot what pain felt like. There was nothing but peace now, and as Wen Reian asked later that night if he could do something for him, Kai-Le felt his love for the man only grow as he watched Reian place Kai-Le’s trinkets inside the box.

His mother’s jewelry, beads, his father’s coins… Wen Reian handled them all so carefully, the same way he did their owner. As the song came to an end, Lan Kai-Le watched how Wen Reian continued to hum it over and over, forever cementing the sight and sound inside the hunter’s heart.

Now, Lan Kai-Le enjoyed the thought of Reian coming home tonight and seeing what he’d gathered from the river. Reian would get so excited, probably place his hand on Kai-Le’s heart, checking in as usual, and then he’d smile…

“Nice to see you too,” he’d say.

And Lan Kai-Le would nod, “Mn.”

Their days were like that. Spent together, or apart, but always on each other’s mind.

Lan Kai-Le longed for the moments when he could be within Reian’s arms again. Safe, loved. Though he felt Reian loving him even when he was alone.

As if to prove it to himself, Lan Kai-Le closed his eyes and focused, gently touching on the place in his soul where Reian had shown him. Kai-Le always insisted that the light inside was Wen Reian’s doing. Reian said it was Kai-Le’s aura. Either way, it was his and it was his token.

Kai-Le’s eyes flew open suddenly at the sound of a snapping branch-

Golden eyes were then fixed upon bright green ones, and Lan Kai-Le felt his whole body freeze at the strangeness of the person on the other side of the river.

Threat, predator! His blood pounded as he watched and tracked how the man moved. He was almost inhuman…

And he was watching Kai-Le.

They were locked in a staring match for a while, maybe waiting to see who would attack first? Then the stranger, his reddish hair whipping around in the breeze and bringing his unique scent to Kai-Le, spoke-

“Which way is Hêi’àn City?”

Lan Kai-Le almost growled aloud at the slithering, smooth voice. He wasn’t sure why by all his senses and instincts were telling him this man was not to be trusted. That he was some sort of creature…

Despite himself, the hunter pointed, never moving his gaze. The green-eyed man looked, and Kai-Le saw a sudden glint of yellow in his eyes as he turned. Then the stranger stepped forward. Kai-Le’s skin prickled…

“Perhaps you can help me with something else?”

Get lost, Kai-Le wanted to say, but he resisted. He resisted because of the stranger’s next words.

“Do you know by chance, if someone called Wen Reian is still residing there?”

A sharp growl began at the back of his throat, and Kai-Le watched as the creature’s eyes narrowed, clearly sensing the hunter’s growing urge to attack him.

Kai-Le’s mind was whirling-

Wen Reian?! He knows of Wen Reian? Would he hurt him, what does he want?!

The stranger raised his hands, a placating gesture as he offered a hesitant smile. It didn’t reach his eyes and made Kai-Le even more on edge.

“My apologies, I was hoping to speak with him about further treatment, but if that isn’t possible, I will be on my way…”

Kai-Le moved as the stranger did, matching his every step until the creature fixed his eyes upon him again. Teeth clenched together so tight they ached, Lan Kai-Le spoke in a low tone, one that only another from the forest might hear-

“Who are you?”

That same smile, so transparent and false, as if the creature knew so much that Lan Kai-Le did not. The hunter paused. There was something… very wrong about this man.

“Ah,” the stranger nodded. “Forgive me. It’s been too long without the company of others, I’ve forgotten introductions. My name is Su Lan,”