The night after the fire, Yujin drank.
Pavilion lanterns still glowed warm, laughter spilling down carved halls — yet at a private corner, Yujin sat hunched over a cup, wine sharp on his tongue, sharper still in memory.
Across from him, Xiao leaned one elbow against the low table, dark hair falling like a curtain.
"Lan-Hun, you? Drinking enough to rival the Yiling Patriarch himself?"
"What broke that calm tonight?"
The tease held usual warmth — but his eyes, half-lidded, watched closely.
Yujin didn't answer at first.
He swallowed, throat tight, hand curling around the cup.
Finally, words scraped out, low and hoarse:
"A boy. Barely older than a fledgling. The fire started too fast — roof collapsed. I reached for him but—"
"All I caught was smoke."
He forced the wine down, as if it could burn away the sight.
"Gusu's men were there too. They were faster. Smarter. I… wasn't enough."
Outside, a single lantern swayed, casting fleeting red across pale robes.
"Why did you drink yourself sick over one stranger, Lan-Hun?" Xiao asked, voice softer now.
Yujin's gaze lifted — dark, raw.
"Because he was small, and he burned. And because this isn't the first time I failed."
The cup clicked against the table, hands trembling.
"Years ago, I tried to join Cloud Recesses properly. Not as a guest student — truly join the core. I admired Hanguang-Jun. Who didn't?"
A half-laugh, bitter at the edges.
"But at the trial round, my nerves… broke me. I misstepped on a talisman bridge, fell hard, wounded my arm. Disqualified."
Silence pooled between them, deep and uneasy.
"I thought: 'I'll try again.' But next year, the quotas shrank. Then the Sunshot scars returned in old Lan elders' hearts; they closed the doors tighter."
He took another shaking sip.
"I never tried again."
Xiao shifted closer, voice low as dusk rain.
"You still speak of them like family."
"Because they were," Yujin whispered. "Even from outside the clouds."
[ End Of Chapter 15 ]