Once You See The Ocean (I/VII)
Title: Once You See The Ocean
Pairing: Fanxing
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of dragon abuse, slight gore (later chapters), Fight scenes with everything they encompass
Length: 52k
Summary: In all his time as a dragon trainer, Yixing has never felt a connection like the one he feels with Yifan; strong and instant, right from the very first moment he lays eyes on the dragon.
A/N:
Title inspired by a love poem by Yuan Zhen
曾经沧海难为水
Once you see the ocean, no other water can compare
除却巫山不是云
No other clouds is more impressive than those of Mountain Wu,
取次花丛懒回顾
now I walk through the flower (other women), yet never look at any of them,
半缘修道半缘君
half because of you, half because my meditation
(Translation taken from Quora)
I wrote this fic for Exordium, and I still can't believe I made it (and that it turned out this lengthy). It was a wild ride writing this piece, lots of frustrations and late nights, staring at my editor all day only to end up with like 1000 words for the day. Yet I am so glad I participated in Exordium, and I'll definitely be there for the next round if they should hold one! Big thanks to everyone who helped and supported me with writing this piece, especially Lo and Grace, my lovely beta readers ♥♥♥
But enough talking, I hope you'll enjoy the fic!
Chapter 1
The first thing Yixing associated with Yifan was controlled strength.
Their initial encounter happened just the way initial encounters usually happened for Yixing, starting with a sweating, panting apprentice bursting into his room. The boy-Zhao Yang or Zhao Qiang or something similar, if Yixing remembered correctly-stumbled ungracefully through the doorway and almost fell face first onto the floor after having tried to knock with force on the door that had been left ajar. It only took Yixing one look at the apprentice for him to know what was up, even as the young boy was still struggling to regain his breath.
For the whole past week, Yixing had barely talked about anything else with Lu Han than the newcomer that was set to be delivered that morning. It had been almost half a year since their fortress had gained a new occupant, and if the rumours were to be trusted, this one was bound to cause quite the stir. From the looks of the apprentice, it had already started, because the boy was pressing out wheezing syllables that Yixing figured out were supposed to mean ‘you’ and ‘needed’, even if the real definitions of the sounds were lost. The boy must have run up the stairs all the way from the lowest underground floor up to the dormitory where Yixing's room was located.
He would have loved to offer the poor boy a glass of water and a seat, but if the apprentice had been instructed to rush to get him, the situation must have been calling for his immediate attention, meaning he couldn’t afford to waste any minute. It was in the middle of the season of the Holy Days, which left the fortress understaffed as a lot of his colleagues were on a leave, away to visit their family and loved ones. Yixing had remained, his birthplace too far away to make the two days he’d have with his parents and grandparents worth the journey.
Being called upon in such haste meant that the newcomer was more than the person who had been assigned to oversee the transfer from the merchant could handle. Given his ample experience in dealing with newcomers, added to a track record of not drawing all too bad injuries from it, he had been elected as the backup.
He mentally scolded himself as he rushed out of the door, for having gone up to his room to tend to his correspondence instead of dealing with it in the dining hall or library-both places where he would have been closer in reach to the dungeons. Newcomers were known to be rampant by nature, and one who refused to let himself be controlled could cause quite the damage. There really was no more time to lose.
He was on his third flight of stairs when he realized that his scale armour was still dangling from the hook on his door, forgotten in his urgency to get to where he was needed. The gear designed specifically for protecting him from temperamental youngsters had been hung in its place for so long that it blended into the normal scenery of the room, so much so that Yixing forgot it was even there. A small curse at his negligence got bitten off before it could make its way past Yixing's lips, and between one heartbeat and the next he hesitated in his descent, torn whether he should rush back up to get it or just leave it be and trust in his own abilities to prevent any situations that might endanger his physical health. He knew that Huang Lei would be upset with him if he found out that the trainer had transgressed the fortress’ regulations-and not for the first time at that-but with the mental images of the potential chaos a youngster might cause if it wasn’t contained and calmed down quickly enough, he decided that he was willing to take on the risk of another scolding.
‘Better safe than sorry,’ the elder always said. For Yixing he had changed it to a special variation of ‘ Better a little late and safe than sorry,’ when the male in question had been resting in the infirmary, still a bit high from the anaesthetics the medics had given him before closing the gaping wound across his hip with 15 stitches. Yixing, being well known for his stubbornness, had taken to pretending the advice had never registered with his painkiller-muddled mind.
The temperature dropped proportionally with every step he took towards the dungeons, and while he didn't miss his scale armour for its protective qualities, he did find himself wishing he had pulled it on for its warmth. He could at least have grabbed one of the jackets from his closet, he berated himself as he felt goosebumps crawl across his skin.
He wished they would stop bringing newcomers into the dungeon. More often than not, he would have Lu Han by his side during these descents, the other being the one who was sent to fetch Yixing since he always knew exactly where to find the younger male. It always gave Yixing the opportunity to voice his complaints about the stupidity of the rule, how it was completely unnecessary to put the newcomer’s pens in the lowest level where the air was always icy and all the corridors were damp. Of course he knew why the rule existed in the first place. It was born from the higher ups’ fear that a newcomer might escape if it wasn’t kept deep below ground, where it had no chance of getting far, should it ever be able to break out of its cell.
Once he reached the underground level, it was not difficult for Yixing to figure out which room he had to hurry to; a little throng of people had assembled in front of a room towards the end of the hallway, and the muffled, agitated squawks coming from behind the door could be heard all the way to the stairs. His eyes immediately fell on his best friend, standing in the middle of the people Yixing assumed to be the mercenaries hired by the merchant for their muscles, not necessarily their brain. When Lu Han saw him, he immediately lifted his arm to wave the younger man over.
"Thank god you're here,” Lu Han greeted him as soon as Yixing came to a halt beside him. “The new one is causing a bit of a commotion."
"I figured," Yixing replied. His curtness wasn’t spurred by a displeasure at talking with Lu Han, but rather his own sense of urgency, and the other male, as always, didn’t take offence since he knew exactly why Yixing was not up for smalltalk. He immediately skipped to recounting all the information Yixing needed to know before entering the heavily guarded room with the hope of calming down whatever was going on inside. There wasn’t much to be told, only the age of the newcomer and a rough summary of how the transferring process had unfolded so far. Yixing used the time of listening to pull out the chainmail gauntlets he always kept inside his pants’ pockets, just to be on the safe side whenever his forgetfulness struck him again. Some protective gear was better than none, he reasoned as he fastened their binding around his wrists.
"Got it," he answered as soon as Lu Han finished his recollection, and with a short nod towards the elder by means of gratitude, he turned towards the sturdy iron door and used the metal of his glove to rap against the surface.
A low metallic rumble resounded through the hallway, reflected by the stone walls, and for a moment Yixing couldn’t stop his mind from wandering. He pondered just how paranoid the people who had designed these dungeons had to have been.
Sure, newcomers had a tendency to run rampant but as young as they were, none of them would be strong enough to destroy a proper, solid wooden door, rendering the use of iron unnecessary. Better safe than sorry . It all came down to the rule that all people in his field of work had been indoctrinated with. And he had to admit that this rule probably kept most of the people in his profession alive.
“This is Yixing, can I come in?” He called as soon as the sound of his knocking had faded away, unanswered. His words, however, were immediately followed by the sound of shuffling from the other side of the door, and a surprisingly high-pitched growl. A few shouts later, Yixing could hear the heavy bolt being pulled back, the door opening just enough to reveal a small gap, one through which Yixing could barely even see into the room.
"You got 'im down?" The man that was holding the door open yelled back over his shoulder, checking with his partner whether it was safe to let Yixing enter. A more or less convinced sounding grunt of affirmation had the person standing in the gap widen it far enough for both Lu Han and Yixing to be able to pass into the room.
The scene that greeted Yixing wasn't unexpected, not all all, neither was it uncommon, and perhaps it was exactly that which amplified the anger churning in Yixing's stomach. There were half a dozen people present in the room, way too many to give the newcomer any chance to feel even remotely safe and calm down. The thing that really made Yixing feel like either throwing up or digging his fingernails into his palms until he drew blood, was the sight of two bulky men in the far corner of the room bodily keeping the newcomer pinned to the ground, making it virtually impossible to even see the figure of the dragon beneath the bodies of the merchant's brainless assistants.
He knew that merchants had a tendency to hire rather coarse men for manual labour, and no matter how much he wished it were different, he had no influence whatsoever on the merchants and their-in his opinion, rather poor-choices of mercenaries, so he swallowed his anger in an attempt to exude as much authority as possible.
"It's alright, the door is closed," Yixing announced as soon as the man standing beside him had slid the lock back into place, effectively sealing the room from the inside once more. "Could you release him now?" And as an afterthought he tacked on, “Please?”
“Ya sure of that? Quite a handful that one is, and not in the best of moods,” the man closest to Yixing asked dubiously.
From the looks of it, he was the head of the trio of mercenaries the merchant had hired for helping him deal with the transport of his rather recalcitrant good. Said merchant was stood a safe distance away from the commotion, clearly trying to stay out of harm’s way the best he could should the dragon manage to break free.
"Yes, we're sure," Lu Han intercepted when Yixing didn't make any move to reply himself, his eyes fixed onto the scene of the two men struggling with the poor creature they were trying to keep pressed down to the ground. "Yixing is an expert in handling the likes of him. Just do as he says."
The leader of the mercenaries exchanged a quick glance with the merchant, but neither of them looked very convinced. The decision whether to obey or refuse the order was taken from them, however. Yixing heard another growl, deeper this time, and a blink of an eye later the two heavily muscled men were stumbling backwards from the force of the small body. A tail lashed through the air, and only years of experience saved the two men from having a rib or two broken as they immediately dived away from the dragon, landing on the ground after a not so elegant leap.
It was their luck, Yixing thought, that the small creature they had been forcefully repressing didn't make any move to follow them as they crawled across the floor to get away. The young dragon jumped forward a little, as if to make sure that the two of them knew to stay away from it, but then it immediately retreated to the security of the corner. It held its head high in what was alertness more than pride, the twitching of its tail speaking as much of annoyance as it did of nervousness. The dragon’s whole demeanour told Yixing that it was only seconds away from hissing and baring its teeth in a showcase of fighting spirit.
Yixing couldn't blame the young creature for having its patience worn thin either, with the treatment it had been subjected to just a few seconds ago. And considering how little knowledge and finesse merchants usually displayed during the capturing and transport of young dragons, Yixing could very well imagine just how hard the other must have had it up until this very moment.
"I need to calm him down," he stated the obvious; anyone with two eyes could have seen that the dragon was agitated. It was the very reason why Yixing had been called in the first place. When none of the men present made any move to leave, however-as if they expected Yixing to work some magic that would make the dragon turn as meek as a young lamb with a flick of his wrist-the trainer added with a bit of a bite to his voice, "He doesn't exactly harbour the best of feelings for you, so it would be highly appreciated if you could leave me alone with him for now."
The tone he was speaking in wasn’t really one appropriate for dealing with their suppliers, especially since Yixing didn't hold a particularly high position. Huang Lei allowed him to get away with quite a few things-most of them being centered around his protective gear and missing precautions-because he was good at his job.
It wasn’t even as if Yixing really was trying to stop himself from letting his attitude slip into his words; his patience always ran particularly thin where merchants dealing with dragons were involved, and being faced with the reality of the way they treated the young creatures made Yixing lose his composure way quicker than was normal for him. "You want us to be able to evaluate him properly, right? Then it would be for the better if you leave the room now."
The merchant was hesitant, his eyes showing worry for the sum he would receive. He didn't really care about the well-being of his stock , not as long as it brought him enough money. He didn't stay because he wanted to make sure that the dragon was fine, he only wanted to stay so that he could talk Yixing into believing him that the good he delivered was of the highest quality, as he feared that a higher training effort for an unruly newcomer might lessen the price he could demand for it. The merchant was trying to get into Yixing’s good books by remaining to show support, unaware that it had the exact opposite effect on the dragon trainer.
In order to finally get rid of all the unnecessary people cluttering the room and pushing the young dragon further into a state of unsettlement, he proposed for Lu Han to take the merchant and all his mercenaries to the bursar’s office. As soon as he had spoken the name of the old man with graying hair in charge of the fortress’ financial matters, he could see a hopeful spark in the merchant’s eyes as if he could already see gold coins right in front of him. Lu Han, immediately picking up on Yixing’s plan, wasted no time in emphasizing what a good idea that was. It always amazed Yixing how Lu Han was able to retain his charming attitude in the face of the man that made Yixing completely forget his usually gentle and friendly nature.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Lu Han had explained to him once, but even if Yixing understood the reasoning, he still knew he was no good at catching flies with vinegar or honey.
Within a few seconds, the merchant had rounded up all his mercenaries, their eagerness showing that none of them still wanted to be in the same room as the growling dragon. Just as the merchant was about to open the door, he turned around to assure Yixing once more that he only ever delivered goods of the best possible quality, and even though it might not look like it at the moment, this time was no exception. Knowing that there was absolutely no use in arguing, Yixing decided to go for honey instead of vinegar after all as he bowed politely, telling the man that he had never been in doubt about the quality of anything he delivered. A flicker of doubt remained in the middle-aged male’s eyes, but he willingly let himself be ushered out of the room by Lu Han.
Yixing exhaled loudly in relief when he finally heard the telltale clicking of the lock falling into place, dropping the forced smile from his face along with it as his features smoothed out until only a genuine, miniscule upwards curving of his mouth remained. He disregarded the iron bolt, not bothering with barricading the door behind him-he knew there was no danger at all of the dragon breaking through the solid metal, even with the door unlocked.
Now that it was just the two of them, Yixing finally allowed himself to properly study the young dragon. He was greeted by petulant eyes looking right back at him, fixing him with a stare full of distrust and wariness, much like Yixing had expected. He had harboured the slight hope that the mere departure of the merchant would be able to ease at least a bit of the tension from the dragon's body, but from the looks of it, nothing of the sort had happened.
Yixing let his eyes rake over the newest member of the fortress. The dragon was small, its shoulders not yet reaching up to Yixing's hips. At that distance, the dragon's eyes seemed to have a dark, brownish colour-nothing out of the ordinary. The same couldn't be said about the colour of its scales, however. The deep scarlet was a shade Yixing had never seen on a dragon before, one he had only read about in books.
The creature’s snout was defined by surprisingly sharp lines for a dragon so young, and its wings were halfway unfolded, a stance either meant to attempt to shield itself, to be ready to escape as quickly as possible, or to try and make itself appear bigger and more threatening, implying that it was ready for attacking at any time. Yixing had seen the very same posture linked to either of those intentions, so it was impossible for him to decide which one applied. Then again, it was the most likely that they all were somehow intertwined with each other either way; all present to some degree in any situation that involved at least one of them.
He's barely more than a hatchling, Yixing thought bitterly. He knew that dragon hunters always preyed on younger dragons, preferably those barely old enough to be able to move away from their parent’s watchful eyes far enough that they could be lured into traps. None of these capturing principles took into account that the mental bond between a dragon and its parent tore when the hatchling was taken away, leaving scars and lasting mental damage if the point right between where the bond finished developing and started solidifying was missed.
With that in mind, Yixing took one careful step towards the dragon which was still cowering in the far corner of the room, half poised for attack, half poised for flight. The trainer's movement forced the hatchling into action, and instead of backing away it took a step forward as well, hissing aggressively and flapping its wings a little in a gesture meant to intimidate Yixing. While the reaction didn't exactly get Yixing closer to his goal of pacifying the scarlet dragon, it still eased a bit of the tension in his stomach. Which, considering that the situation he was in-without his protective harness at that-had just gotten a tad more dangerous, but he was too elated about seeing that having had the bond with his parent severed didn’t seem to have left any deep-running mental scars.
The will to fight was clearly visible in the hatchling, and Yixing knew that dragons that had been taken away too young would choose defence over offence in nine out of ten cases, if they were disoriented and uprooted by the loss of the connection with their parent. All too often had he had to witness hatchlings trying to crawl as deeply into the corner of a room in an attempt to bring as much distance as possible between them and the dragon trainer, hissing weakly in an attempt to mask their fear with aggression. Without success.
This dragon, however, glowered back at Yixing lacking any reserve. Of course there was fear visible in his eyes-the discomfort at being separated from his kind and parents and being thrown into a scarily unfamiliar environment was leaving its mark on the hatchling. Still, those emotions didn’t overwhelm the dragon, they only spurred on its fighting spirit.
Yixing took another step forward, to test the waters. He had met countless dragons unaccustomed to captivity, had stood inside dozens of what they called "acclimatisation chamber" in the fortress; an unjustifiably nice name for the holding cells buried deep in the mountain their fort was built on top of. His experience told him that, judging by the dragon's behaviour up until then, it was more than likely that advancing further would earn Yixing a display of dominance.
Yet he still found himself slightly surprised when the hatchling rose to its hindlegs with an angry snarl, unfolding its wings to their full size. Given its young age, the span only roughly equaled the width of Yixing spreading his arms apart and even standing upright, it didn't beat Yixing in terms of height, but it easily compensated for what it lacked in physical size by its fangs. Before Yixing even had time to study the dragon properly, it jumped forward in his direction.
All of Yixing’s survival instincts screamed at him to turn and run, or to at least crouch down and shield his most vulnerable body parts. Despite being smaller than Yixing, the hatchling's claws and teeth were more than sharp enough to deal some very serious damage. Yixing had to call upon years of training to fight down the impulse to assume a protective stance. Instead, he squared off his shoulders and met the dragon head-on with another step forward.
Everything that was going to happen in the next few seconds was about establishing Yixing’s position of power, about showing that he wouldn't be scared away that easily. The long scar running down from his elbow to his wrist and from his hip all the way back to his lower back spoke of such encounters gone wrong, and countless other smaller scars and scratches were accounted for by the tightrope walk that dealing with newcomers always was.
But Yixing risked getting hurt, always, because he knew that he didn't have any other choice. This was the only way he could hope to gain the trust of a dragon like the one before him, staring him straight in the eye, looking impossibly self-assured and dominant even while having to tilt its head back to be able to hold Yixing's gaze. A dragon like this one didn't give its trust to people who showed weakness by letting themselves be easily intimidated.
"You can try whatever you want," Yixing said, his voice hard and unyielding because it needed to be. He lowered his tone, until it was barely above a whisper, the words escaping in the resemblance of a hiss, but dragons had very good ears, so there was no danger of him going unheard. "I won't bow to you. "
He took another step forward although there barely seemed to be any room left between the two of them, and he could read the internal conflict of the dragon in the baring of its teeth and the lines of its muscles contracting beneath scarlet scales. The hatchling was trying to oppose him, to fight back against Yixing's blatant challenge, but at the same time it weighed its options carefully.
It was when the dragon turned around abruptly, knocking its tail against Yixing's legs hard enough to throw him off balance for a moment but not using even nearly enough force to actually cause any harm, that Yixing decided that he would not let anyone else take this one on for training. The dragon with the rare, beautifully coloured scales and the fire burning in his eyes would be Yixing's to look after and train.
He was intrigued by everything surrounding the dragon, its gaze, its scales, its will to fight, but most of all the self control it exerted so shortly after being captured. If the hatchling had wanted to, or if it only had let its concentration waver for a short moment, it could have seriously hurt Yixing in the previous face-off, but it didn't. His reaction was indicative of a diligent mind resting within that young body, waiting to be nurtured and grown until it would reach its full potential.
Yixing didn't think the merchant had any idea just how valuable of a catch the hatchling really was.
☙❈❈❈❧
Huang Lei's office had always been a mystery to Yixing. The owner of the dragon fortress was a very put together person, always organized and with a clear plan in mind. He had played an important part in bringing the kingdom victory in the great battle of Tian Shan. His role in tactile communications had ensured that the king's army could win in spite of being outnumbered.
As a sign of gratitude to the war hero, his wish of holding the reigns of the most prestigious dragon rearing fortress had been granted. Located high up in the almost impassible mountain range that coined the landscape to the far east of the kingdom. All of his military history and the way he always kept his thoughts straightened out led Yixing to believe that the older man's office would be the very picture of an organized, minimalist working space, but it was the exact opposite of that.
The walls of the medium-sized chamber up on the highest storey of the fortress were lined with bookshelves, all filled to the brim and beyond. Books that couldn't find a space on the shelves were strewn all over the room, covering all kinds of furniture, some piling up to little towers while others were lying opened on the couch table, as if they had been in the middle of being perused when their reader got distracted and abandoned them. There were other trinkets placed on the various surfaces throughout the room, little wooden figures the fortress' head had carved together with his son when the boy was learning how to handle a knife properly, little drawings by his daughter in picture frames.
A large window embedded into the wall opposite of the door was facing the courtyard below, the heart of the fort that was surrounded at three sides by the stone building. The fourth side was left open, allowing the even ground of the courtyard to give way to the uneven stone of the mountain for a few feet before the cliff made the stretching ground come to an abrupt halt. There it plunged into the rift that separated the plateau the fort was built on from the higher mountains which lay beyond it.
Through the slightly stained glass Yixing could see colourful shadows move against the backdrop of the snow covered mountains, disappearing whenever they dropped below the cliff and reappearing as they rose back up towards the sky. The sun reflected from their scales as they moved through the air with ease, and any other day Yixing would have been tempted to still for a moment and watch the dragons play their game with the wind, but there were more pressing matters on his mind as he closed the door behind himself. The lock fell into place with a dull clicking sound, but Huang Lei didn't look up from where he was taking notes in one of his books.
Knowing that the fortress' owner was aware of his presence, Yixing silently waited with his hands clasped in front of his body. A few seconds passed where the gentle stroking of Huang Lei's brush over the paper was the only sound to be heard in the room, then the elder straightened his posture, dabbing the bristles on a small cloth to get rid of the excess ink before putting the brush back into the container that was housing all his other brushes.
"Yixing."
"Laoshi," the dragon trainer replied, moving one hand to his side and one to his chest as he bowed; deeper than just the nod of his head he would usually give when addressing his superior, but not as deep as he would bow in a formal setting.
For a split second he considered adjusting his posture to express more respect, to tilt his upper body further down in consideration of the fact that he was about to bring forward quite the huge request, but he knew Huang Lei favoured an air of fraternity amongst everyone in the fortress, uncaring of status and seniority, so Yixing straightened back up without further ado.
He saw that Huang Lei reciprocated the gesture of greeting by a slight inclination of his head, before moving the book that laid in front of him to the side for the ink to dry, gesturing for Yixing to take a seat in one of the armchairs next to the bookshelves, facing the window and subsequently the desk. Yixing declined the offer of settling down in one of them-he didn't plan to stay long.
"What brings you here, Yixing?" The man in his early fifties asked, letting his hand sink down to rest on the desk again with an air that spoke of him not being surprised by the younger preferring to stand.
"The newcomer," Yixing replied, trying to get his racing thoughts to slow down enough for him to pick out the phrases necessary to voice his request. Huang Lei was a master with words, and Yixing, while not on the same level of proficiency as the elder, wasn't too bad at handling rhetoric either. And yet, before he could stop it, the only thing he knew for sure in a sea of half-formulated arguments slipped out from his lips, "I want him."
Huang Lei's eyebrows arched up higher towards his hairline at Yixing's bluntness, surprise painting his features for a moment as he studied the man standing before him with interest.
"I see." The elder reclined in his chair a little, and Yixing, mortified at his own insolence in the face of his superior, rushed to explain himself with burning cheeks.
"I know this sounds selfish, but the newcomer he- he-," Yixing stumbled for a moment as he tried to find the right word to sum up everything he had experienced with the hatchling mere minutes prior. "Laoshi, he has fire, " he stressed the last word, accentuating it with a slight shake of his hand, his state of excitement making him speak with his body as much as with his mouth. "There is so much potential in him. He is young, very much so, but just five minutes with him are enough to be able to tell. And I want to help bring that potential to the surface."
Just as the sentence was out of his mouth, he reconsidered, deciding that he was more resolute than his words implied, so he rephrased, "I am sure that I can help bring his potential to the surface. I might not have spent much time with him yet, but I have enough experience to be able to tell a connection when I feel one. And with him- I don't know how to explain it," Yixing floundered, his thoughts quicker than his tongue could hope to catch up with, his hands helplessly waving around in the air as he tried to put the strange sense of resolution he had felt when he faced the hatchling into words. But Huang Lei's gaze held a sense of understanding, so Yixing decided to not dwell on trying to find a description. "You always tell me I should not settle, that in order to improve I always have to challenge myself. He is exactly that, the challenge I want to face, so we can grow together."
Huang Lei mustered him with inquisitive eyes, but just as Yixing drew in a breath to elaborate, the elder said, "Okay."
"...What?" Disbelief tinted Yixing's voice, the emotion also painted over his face.
"I will assign you to him. He's yours."
"Just like that?" Yixing inquired, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop because he had pictured this talk to require a lot more persuasion on his part.
"Well, we all have known for a bit that there would be a newcomer," the elder chuckled good naturedly, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a small smile. "So of course I've been thinking about who would be best fit to take him on as a protégé. There were a few options I considered, and you have always been one of them. As you said, you want to challenge yourself, and I think you're capable of taking on this challenge. You asked to be the one responsible for him, and I do believe that you will be able to handle him."
Stunned into silence, it took Yixing a short moment to grasp what had just happened, and then he was taking a step back and bending his upper body forward in the ninety degree bow he had foregone when he first entered the office. "Thank you for your trust, Laoshi, I will work hard. I won't disappoint you."
"I know you won't, Yixing," a smile coloured Huang Lei's voice as he told the younger to straighten up again, "You said this newcomer has a lot of potential. Well, so do you. I am sure you two will be a great team."
Yixing was tempted to let a dozen more sentences of gratefulness fall from his lips, but he decided against it. Instead he schooled his features in a serious expression. "Thank you, Laoshi."
Huang Lei accepted his words of gratitude with a slight nod of his head. "And now go, your new protégé is waiting for you."
__
I'll post a new chapter every week, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!
Pairing: Fanxing
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of dragon abuse, slight gore (later chapters), Fight scenes with everything they encompass
Length: 52k
Summary: In all his time as a dragon trainer, Yixing has never felt a connection like the one he feels with Yifan; strong and instant, right from the very first moment he lays eyes on the dragon.
A/N:
Title inspired by a love poem by Yuan Zhen
曾经沧海难为水
Once you see the ocean, no other water can compare
除却巫山不是云
No other clouds is more impressive than those of Mountain Wu,
取次花丛懒回顾
now I walk through the flower (other women), yet never look at any of them,
半缘修道半缘君
half because of you, half because my meditation
(Translation taken from Quora)
I wrote this fic for Exordium, and I still can't believe I made it (and that it turned out this lengthy). It was a wild ride writing this piece, lots of frustrations and late nights, staring at my editor all day only to end up with like 1000 words for the day. Yet I am so glad I participated in Exordium, and I'll definitely be there for the next round if they should hold one! Big thanks to everyone who helped and supported me with writing this piece, especially Lo and Grace, my lovely beta readers ♥♥♥
But enough talking, I hope you'll enjoy the fic!
Chapter 1
The first thing Yixing associated with Yifan was controlled strength.
Their initial encounter happened just the way initial encounters usually happened for Yixing, starting with a sweating, panting apprentice bursting into his room. The boy-Zhao Yang or Zhao Qiang or something similar, if Yixing remembered correctly-stumbled ungracefully through the doorway and almost fell face first onto the floor after having tried to knock with force on the door that had been left ajar. It only took Yixing one look at the apprentice for him to know what was up, even as the young boy was still struggling to regain his breath.
For the whole past week, Yixing had barely talked about anything else with Lu Han than the newcomer that was set to be delivered that morning. It had been almost half a year since their fortress had gained a new occupant, and if the rumours were to be trusted, this one was bound to cause quite the stir. From the looks of the apprentice, it had already started, because the boy was pressing out wheezing syllables that Yixing figured out were supposed to mean ‘you’ and ‘needed’, even if the real definitions of the sounds were lost. The boy must have run up the stairs all the way from the lowest underground floor up to the dormitory where Yixing's room was located.
He would have loved to offer the poor boy a glass of water and a seat, but if the apprentice had been instructed to rush to get him, the situation must have been calling for his immediate attention, meaning he couldn’t afford to waste any minute. It was in the middle of the season of the Holy Days, which left the fortress understaffed as a lot of his colleagues were on a leave, away to visit their family and loved ones. Yixing had remained, his birthplace too far away to make the two days he’d have with his parents and grandparents worth the journey.
Being called upon in such haste meant that the newcomer was more than the person who had been assigned to oversee the transfer from the merchant could handle. Given his ample experience in dealing with newcomers, added to a track record of not drawing all too bad injuries from it, he had been elected as the backup.
He mentally scolded himself as he rushed out of the door, for having gone up to his room to tend to his correspondence instead of dealing with it in the dining hall or library-both places where he would have been closer in reach to the dungeons. Newcomers were known to be rampant by nature, and one who refused to let himself be controlled could cause quite the damage. There really was no more time to lose.
He was on his third flight of stairs when he realized that his scale armour was still dangling from the hook on his door, forgotten in his urgency to get to where he was needed. The gear designed specifically for protecting him from temperamental youngsters had been hung in its place for so long that it blended into the normal scenery of the room, so much so that Yixing forgot it was even there. A small curse at his negligence got bitten off before it could make its way past Yixing's lips, and between one heartbeat and the next he hesitated in his descent, torn whether he should rush back up to get it or just leave it be and trust in his own abilities to prevent any situations that might endanger his physical health. He knew that Huang Lei would be upset with him if he found out that the trainer had transgressed the fortress’ regulations-and not for the first time at that-but with the mental images of the potential chaos a youngster might cause if it wasn’t contained and calmed down quickly enough, he decided that he was willing to take on the risk of another scolding.
‘Better safe than sorry,’ the elder always said. For Yixing he had changed it to a special variation of ‘ Better a little late and safe than sorry,’ when the male in question had been resting in the infirmary, still a bit high from the anaesthetics the medics had given him before closing the gaping wound across his hip with 15 stitches. Yixing, being well known for his stubbornness, had taken to pretending the advice had never registered with his painkiller-muddled mind.
The temperature dropped proportionally with every step he took towards the dungeons, and while he didn't miss his scale armour for its protective qualities, he did find himself wishing he had pulled it on for its warmth. He could at least have grabbed one of the jackets from his closet, he berated himself as he felt goosebumps crawl across his skin.
He wished they would stop bringing newcomers into the dungeon. More often than not, he would have Lu Han by his side during these descents, the other being the one who was sent to fetch Yixing since he always knew exactly where to find the younger male. It always gave Yixing the opportunity to voice his complaints about the stupidity of the rule, how it was completely unnecessary to put the newcomer’s pens in the lowest level where the air was always icy and all the corridors were damp. Of course he knew why the rule existed in the first place. It was born from the higher ups’ fear that a newcomer might escape if it wasn’t kept deep below ground, where it had no chance of getting far, should it ever be able to break out of its cell.
Once he reached the underground level, it was not difficult for Yixing to figure out which room he had to hurry to; a little throng of people had assembled in front of a room towards the end of the hallway, and the muffled, agitated squawks coming from behind the door could be heard all the way to the stairs. His eyes immediately fell on his best friend, standing in the middle of the people Yixing assumed to be the mercenaries hired by the merchant for their muscles, not necessarily their brain. When Lu Han saw him, he immediately lifted his arm to wave the younger man over.
"Thank god you're here,” Lu Han greeted him as soon as Yixing came to a halt beside him. “The new one is causing a bit of a commotion."
"I figured," Yixing replied. His curtness wasn’t spurred by a displeasure at talking with Lu Han, but rather his own sense of urgency, and the other male, as always, didn’t take offence since he knew exactly why Yixing was not up for smalltalk. He immediately skipped to recounting all the information Yixing needed to know before entering the heavily guarded room with the hope of calming down whatever was going on inside. There wasn’t much to be told, only the age of the newcomer and a rough summary of how the transferring process had unfolded so far. Yixing used the time of listening to pull out the chainmail gauntlets he always kept inside his pants’ pockets, just to be on the safe side whenever his forgetfulness struck him again. Some protective gear was better than none, he reasoned as he fastened their binding around his wrists.
"Got it," he answered as soon as Lu Han finished his recollection, and with a short nod towards the elder by means of gratitude, he turned towards the sturdy iron door and used the metal of his glove to rap against the surface.
A low metallic rumble resounded through the hallway, reflected by the stone walls, and for a moment Yixing couldn’t stop his mind from wandering. He pondered just how paranoid the people who had designed these dungeons had to have been.
Sure, newcomers had a tendency to run rampant but as young as they were, none of them would be strong enough to destroy a proper, solid wooden door, rendering the use of iron unnecessary. Better safe than sorry . It all came down to the rule that all people in his field of work had been indoctrinated with. And he had to admit that this rule probably kept most of the people in his profession alive.
“This is Yixing, can I come in?” He called as soon as the sound of his knocking had faded away, unanswered. His words, however, were immediately followed by the sound of shuffling from the other side of the door, and a surprisingly high-pitched growl. A few shouts later, Yixing could hear the heavy bolt being pulled back, the door opening just enough to reveal a small gap, one through which Yixing could barely even see into the room.
"You got 'im down?" The man that was holding the door open yelled back over his shoulder, checking with his partner whether it was safe to let Yixing enter. A more or less convinced sounding grunt of affirmation had the person standing in the gap widen it far enough for both Lu Han and Yixing to be able to pass into the room.
The scene that greeted Yixing wasn't unexpected, not all all, neither was it uncommon, and perhaps it was exactly that which amplified the anger churning in Yixing's stomach. There were half a dozen people present in the room, way too many to give the newcomer any chance to feel even remotely safe and calm down. The thing that really made Yixing feel like either throwing up or digging his fingernails into his palms until he drew blood, was the sight of two bulky men in the far corner of the room bodily keeping the newcomer pinned to the ground, making it virtually impossible to even see the figure of the dragon beneath the bodies of the merchant's brainless assistants.
He knew that merchants had a tendency to hire rather coarse men for manual labour, and no matter how much he wished it were different, he had no influence whatsoever on the merchants and their-in his opinion, rather poor-choices of mercenaries, so he swallowed his anger in an attempt to exude as much authority as possible.
"It's alright, the door is closed," Yixing announced as soon as the man standing beside him had slid the lock back into place, effectively sealing the room from the inside once more. "Could you release him now?" And as an afterthought he tacked on, “Please?”
“Ya sure of that? Quite a handful that one is, and not in the best of moods,” the man closest to Yixing asked dubiously.
From the looks of it, he was the head of the trio of mercenaries the merchant had hired for helping him deal with the transport of his rather recalcitrant good. Said merchant was stood a safe distance away from the commotion, clearly trying to stay out of harm’s way the best he could should the dragon manage to break free.
"Yes, we're sure," Lu Han intercepted when Yixing didn't make any move to reply himself, his eyes fixed onto the scene of the two men struggling with the poor creature they were trying to keep pressed down to the ground. "Yixing is an expert in handling the likes of him. Just do as he says."
The leader of the mercenaries exchanged a quick glance with the merchant, but neither of them looked very convinced. The decision whether to obey or refuse the order was taken from them, however. Yixing heard another growl, deeper this time, and a blink of an eye later the two heavily muscled men were stumbling backwards from the force of the small body. A tail lashed through the air, and only years of experience saved the two men from having a rib or two broken as they immediately dived away from the dragon, landing on the ground after a not so elegant leap.
It was their luck, Yixing thought, that the small creature they had been forcefully repressing didn't make any move to follow them as they crawled across the floor to get away. The young dragon jumped forward a little, as if to make sure that the two of them knew to stay away from it, but then it immediately retreated to the security of the corner. It held its head high in what was alertness more than pride, the twitching of its tail speaking as much of annoyance as it did of nervousness. The dragon’s whole demeanour told Yixing that it was only seconds away from hissing and baring its teeth in a showcase of fighting spirit.
Yixing couldn't blame the young creature for having its patience worn thin either, with the treatment it had been subjected to just a few seconds ago. And considering how little knowledge and finesse merchants usually displayed during the capturing and transport of young dragons, Yixing could very well imagine just how hard the other must have had it up until this very moment.
"I need to calm him down," he stated the obvious; anyone with two eyes could have seen that the dragon was agitated. It was the very reason why Yixing had been called in the first place. When none of the men present made any move to leave, however-as if they expected Yixing to work some magic that would make the dragon turn as meek as a young lamb with a flick of his wrist-the trainer added with a bit of a bite to his voice, "He doesn't exactly harbour the best of feelings for you, so it would be highly appreciated if you could leave me alone with him for now."
The tone he was speaking in wasn’t really one appropriate for dealing with their suppliers, especially since Yixing didn't hold a particularly high position. Huang Lei allowed him to get away with quite a few things-most of them being centered around his protective gear and missing precautions-because he was good at his job.
It wasn’t even as if Yixing really was trying to stop himself from letting his attitude slip into his words; his patience always ran particularly thin where merchants dealing with dragons were involved, and being faced with the reality of the way they treated the young creatures made Yixing lose his composure way quicker than was normal for him. "You want us to be able to evaluate him properly, right? Then it would be for the better if you leave the room now."
The merchant was hesitant, his eyes showing worry for the sum he would receive. He didn't really care about the well-being of his stock , not as long as it brought him enough money. He didn't stay because he wanted to make sure that the dragon was fine, he only wanted to stay so that he could talk Yixing into believing him that the good he delivered was of the highest quality, as he feared that a higher training effort for an unruly newcomer might lessen the price he could demand for it. The merchant was trying to get into Yixing’s good books by remaining to show support, unaware that it had the exact opposite effect on the dragon trainer.
In order to finally get rid of all the unnecessary people cluttering the room and pushing the young dragon further into a state of unsettlement, he proposed for Lu Han to take the merchant and all his mercenaries to the bursar’s office. As soon as he had spoken the name of the old man with graying hair in charge of the fortress’ financial matters, he could see a hopeful spark in the merchant’s eyes as if he could already see gold coins right in front of him. Lu Han, immediately picking up on Yixing’s plan, wasted no time in emphasizing what a good idea that was. It always amazed Yixing how Lu Han was able to retain his charming attitude in the face of the man that made Yixing completely forget his usually gentle and friendly nature.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Lu Han had explained to him once, but even if Yixing understood the reasoning, he still knew he was no good at catching flies with vinegar or honey.
Within a few seconds, the merchant had rounded up all his mercenaries, their eagerness showing that none of them still wanted to be in the same room as the growling dragon. Just as the merchant was about to open the door, he turned around to assure Yixing once more that he only ever delivered goods of the best possible quality, and even though it might not look like it at the moment, this time was no exception. Knowing that there was absolutely no use in arguing, Yixing decided to go for honey instead of vinegar after all as he bowed politely, telling the man that he had never been in doubt about the quality of anything he delivered. A flicker of doubt remained in the middle-aged male’s eyes, but he willingly let himself be ushered out of the room by Lu Han.
Yixing exhaled loudly in relief when he finally heard the telltale clicking of the lock falling into place, dropping the forced smile from his face along with it as his features smoothed out until only a genuine, miniscule upwards curving of his mouth remained. He disregarded the iron bolt, not bothering with barricading the door behind him-he knew there was no danger at all of the dragon breaking through the solid metal, even with the door unlocked.
Now that it was just the two of them, Yixing finally allowed himself to properly study the young dragon. He was greeted by petulant eyes looking right back at him, fixing him with a stare full of distrust and wariness, much like Yixing had expected. He had harboured the slight hope that the mere departure of the merchant would be able to ease at least a bit of the tension from the dragon's body, but from the looks of it, nothing of the sort had happened.
Yixing let his eyes rake over the newest member of the fortress. The dragon was small, its shoulders not yet reaching up to Yixing's hips. At that distance, the dragon's eyes seemed to have a dark, brownish colour-nothing out of the ordinary. The same couldn't be said about the colour of its scales, however. The deep scarlet was a shade Yixing had never seen on a dragon before, one he had only read about in books.
The creature’s snout was defined by surprisingly sharp lines for a dragon so young, and its wings were halfway unfolded, a stance either meant to attempt to shield itself, to be ready to escape as quickly as possible, or to try and make itself appear bigger and more threatening, implying that it was ready for attacking at any time. Yixing had seen the very same posture linked to either of those intentions, so it was impossible for him to decide which one applied. Then again, it was the most likely that they all were somehow intertwined with each other either way; all present to some degree in any situation that involved at least one of them.
He's barely more than a hatchling, Yixing thought bitterly. He knew that dragon hunters always preyed on younger dragons, preferably those barely old enough to be able to move away from their parent’s watchful eyes far enough that they could be lured into traps. None of these capturing principles took into account that the mental bond between a dragon and its parent tore when the hatchling was taken away, leaving scars and lasting mental damage if the point right between where the bond finished developing and started solidifying was missed.
With that in mind, Yixing took one careful step towards the dragon which was still cowering in the far corner of the room, half poised for attack, half poised for flight. The trainer's movement forced the hatchling into action, and instead of backing away it took a step forward as well, hissing aggressively and flapping its wings a little in a gesture meant to intimidate Yixing. While the reaction didn't exactly get Yixing closer to his goal of pacifying the scarlet dragon, it still eased a bit of the tension in his stomach. Which, considering that the situation he was in-without his protective harness at that-had just gotten a tad more dangerous, but he was too elated about seeing that having had the bond with his parent severed didn’t seem to have left any deep-running mental scars.
The will to fight was clearly visible in the hatchling, and Yixing knew that dragons that had been taken away too young would choose defence over offence in nine out of ten cases, if they were disoriented and uprooted by the loss of the connection with their parent. All too often had he had to witness hatchlings trying to crawl as deeply into the corner of a room in an attempt to bring as much distance as possible between them and the dragon trainer, hissing weakly in an attempt to mask their fear with aggression. Without success.
This dragon, however, glowered back at Yixing lacking any reserve. Of course there was fear visible in his eyes-the discomfort at being separated from his kind and parents and being thrown into a scarily unfamiliar environment was leaving its mark on the hatchling. Still, those emotions didn’t overwhelm the dragon, they only spurred on its fighting spirit.
Yixing took another step forward, to test the waters. He had met countless dragons unaccustomed to captivity, had stood inside dozens of what they called "acclimatisation chamber" in the fortress; an unjustifiably nice name for the holding cells buried deep in the mountain their fort was built on top of. His experience told him that, judging by the dragon's behaviour up until then, it was more than likely that advancing further would earn Yixing a display of dominance.
Yet he still found himself slightly surprised when the hatchling rose to its hindlegs with an angry snarl, unfolding its wings to their full size. Given its young age, the span only roughly equaled the width of Yixing spreading his arms apart and even standing upright, it didn't beat Yixing in terms of height, but it easily compensated for what it lacked in physical size by its fangs. Before Yixing even had time to study the dragon properly, it jumped forward in his direction.
All of Yixing’s survival instincts screamed at him to turn and run, or to at least crouch down and shield his most vulnerable body parts. Despite being smaller than Yixing, the hatchling's claws and teeth were more than sharp enough to deal some very serious damage. Yixing had to call upon years of training to fight down the impulse to assume a protective stance. Instead, he squared off his shoulders and met the dragon head-on with another step forward.
Everything that was going to happen in the next few seconds was about establishing Yixing’s position of power, about showing that he wouldn't be scared away that easily. The long scar running down from his elbow to his wrist and from his hip all the way back to his lower back spoke of such encounters gone wrong, and countless other smaller scars and scratches were accounted for by the tightrope walk that dealing with newcomers always was.
But Yixing risked getting hurt, always, because he knew that he didn't have any other choice. This was the only way he could hope to gain the trust of a dragon like the one before him, staring him straight in the eye, looking impossibly self-assured and dominant even while having to tilt its head back to be able to hold Yixing's gaze. A dragon like this one didn't give its trust to people who showed weakness by letting themselves be easily intimidated.
"You can try whatever you want," Yixing said, his voice hard and unyielding because it needed to be. He lowered his tone, until it was barely above a whisper, the words escaping in the resemblance of a hiss, but dragons had very good ears, so there was no danger of him going unheard. "I won't bow to you. "
He took another step forward although there barely seemed to be any room left between the two of them, and he could read the internal conflict of the dragon in the baring of its teeth and the lines of its muscles contracting beneath scarlet scales. The hatchling was trying to oppose him, to fight back against Yixing's blatant challenge, but at the same time it weighed its options carefully.
It was when the dragon turned around abruptly, knocking its tail against Yixing's legs hard enough to throw him off balance for a moment but not using even nearly enough force to actually cause any harm, that Yixing decided that he would not let anyone else take this one on for training. The dragon with the rare, beautifully coloured scales and the fire burning in his eyes would be Yixing's to look after and train.
He was intrigued by everything surrounding the dragon, its gaze, its scales, its will to fight, but most of all the self control it exerted so shortly after being captured. If the hatchling had wanted to, or if it only had let its concentration waver for a short moment, it could have seriously hurt Yixing in the previous face-off, but it didn't. His reaction was indicative of a diligent mind resting within that young body, waiting to be nurtured and grown until it would reach its full potential.
Yixing didn't think the merchant had any idea just how valuable of a catch the hatchling really was.
☙❈❈❈❧
Huang Lei's office had always been a mystery to Yixing. The owner of the dragon fortress was a very put together person, always organized and with a clear plan in mind. He had played an important part in bringing the kingdom victory in the great battle of Tian Shan. His role in tactile communications had ensured that the king's army could win in spite of being outnumbered.
As a sign of gratitude to the war hero, his wish of holding the reigns of the most prestigious dragon rearing fortress had been granted. Located high up in the almost impassible mountain range that coined the landscape to the far east of the kingdom. All of his military history and the way he always kept his thoughts straightened out led Yixing to believe that the older man's office would be the very picture of an organized, minimalist working space, but it was the exact opposite of that.
The walls of the medium-sized chamber up on the highest storey of the fortress were lined with bookshelves, all filled to the brim and beyond. Books that couldn't find a space on the shelves were strewn all over the room, covering all kinds of furniture, some piling up to little towers while others were lying opened on the couch table, as if they had been in the middle of being perused when their reader got distracted and abandoned them. There were other trinkets placed on the various surfaces throughout the room, little wooden figures the fortress' head had carved together with his son when the boy was learning how to handle a knife properly, little drawings by his daughter in picture frames.
A large window embedded into the wall opposite of the door was facing the courtyard below, the heart of the fort that was surrounded at three sides by the stone building. The fourth side was left open, allowing the even ground of the courtyard to give way to the uneven stone of the mountain for a few feet before the cliff made the stretching ground come to an abrupt halt. There it plunged into the rift that separated the plateau the fort was built on from the higher mountains which lay beyond it.
Through the slightly stained glass Yixing could see colourful shadows move against the backdrop of the snow covered mountains, disappearing whenever they dropped below the cliff and reappearing as they rose back up towards the sky. The sun reflected from their scales as they moved through the air with ease, and any other day Yixing would have been tempted to still for a moment and watch the dragons play their game with the wind, but there were more pressing matters on his mind as he closed the door behind himself. The lock fell into place with a dull clicking sound, but Huang Lei didn't look up from where he was taking notes in one of his books.
Knowing that the fortress' owner was aware of his presence, Yixing silently waited with his hands clasped in front of his body. A few seconds passed where the gentle stroking of Huang Lei's brush over the paper was the only sound to be heard in the room, then the elder straightened his posture, dabbing the bristles on a small cloth to get rid of the excess ink before putting the brush back into the container that was housing all his other brushes.
"Yixing."
"Laoshi," the dragon trainer replied, moving one hand to his side and one to his chest as he bowed; deeper than just the nod of his head he would usually give when addressing his superior, but not as deep as he would bow in a formal setting.
For a split second he considered adjusting his posture to express more respect, to tilt his upper body further down in consideration of the fact that he was about to bring forward quite the huge request, but he knew Huang Lei favoured an air of fraternity amongst everyone in the fortress, uncaring of status and seniority, so Yixing straightened back up without further ado.
He saw that Huang Lei reciprocated the gesture of greeting by a slight inclination of his head, before moving the book that laid in front of him to the side for the ink to dry, gesturing for Yixing to take a seat in one of the armchairs next to the bookshelves, facing the window and subsequently the desk. Yixing declined the offer of settling down in one of them-he didn't plan to stay long.
"What brings you here, Yixing?" The man in his early fifties asked, letting his hand sink down to rest on the desk again with an air that spoke of him not being surprised by the younger preferring to stand.
"The newcomer," Yixing replied, trying to get his racing thoughts to slow down enough for him to pick out the phrases necessary to voice his request. Huang Lei was a master with words, and Yixing, while not on the same level of proficiency as the elder, wasn't too bad at handling rhetoric either. And yet, before he could stop it, the only thing he knew for sure in a sea of half-formulated arguments slipped out from his lips, "I want him."
Huang Lei's eyebrows arched up higher towards his hairline at Yixing's bluntness, surprise painting his features for a moment as he studied the man standing before him with interest.
"I see." The elder reclined in his chair a little, and Yixing, mortified at his own insolence in the face of his superior, rushed to explain himself with burning cheeks.
"I know this sounds selfish, but the newcomer he- he-," Yixing stumbled for a moment as he tried to find the right word to sum up everything he had experienced with the hatchling mere minutes prior. "Laoshi, he has fire, " he stressed the last word, accentuating it with a slight shake of his hand, his state of excitement making him speak with his body as much as with his mouth. "There is so much potential in him. He is young, very much so, but just five minutes with him are enough to be able to tell. And I want to help bring that potential to the surface."
Just as the sentence was out of his mouth, he reconsidered, deciding that he was more resolute than his words implied, so he rephrased, "I am sure that I can help bring his potential to the surface. I might not have spent much time with him yet, but I have enough experience to be able to tell a connection when I feel one. And with him- I don't know how to explain it," Yixing floundered, his thoughts quicker than his tongue could hope to catch up with, his hands helplessly waving around in the air as he tried to put the strange sense of resolution he had felt when he faced the hatchling into words. But Huang Lei's gaze held a sense of understanding, so Yixing decided to not dwell on trying to find a description. "You always tell me I should not settle, that in order to improve I always have to challenge myself. He is exactly that, the challenge I want to face, so we can grow together."
Huang Lei mustered him with inquisitive eyes, but just as Yixing drew in a breath to elaborate, the elder said, "Okay."
"...What?" Disbelief tinted Yixing's voice, the emotion also painted over his face.
"I will assign you to him. He's yours."
"Just like that?" Yixing inquired, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop because he had pictured this talk to require a lot more persuasion on his part.
"Well, we all have known for a bit that there would be a newcomer," the elder chuckled good naturedly, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a small smile. "So of course I've been thinking about who would be best fit to take him on as a protégé. There were a few options I considered, and you have always been one of them. As you said, you want to challenge yourself, and I think you're capable of taking on this challenge. You asked to be the one responsible for him, and I do believe that you will be able to handle him."
Stunned into silence, it took Yixing a short moment to grasp what had just happened, and then he was taking a step back and bending his upper body forward in the ninety degree bow he had foregone when he first entered the office. "Thank you for your trust, Laoshi, I will work hard. I won't disappoint you."
"I know you won't, Yixing," a smile coloured Huang Lei's voice as he told the younger to straighten up again, "You said this newcomer has a lot of potential. Well, so do you. I am sure you two will be a great team."
Yixing was tempted to let a dozen more sentences of gratefulness fall from his lips, but he decided against it. Instead he schooled his features in a serious expression. "Thank you, Laoshi."
Huang Lei accepted his words of gratitude with a slight nod of his head. "And now go, your new protégé is waiting for you."
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I'll post a new chapter every week, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!