[Feb 24][Yitian Dulong Ji][A Fragile Bridge]

[lilacfield.livejournal.com]

Title: A Fragile Bridge
Day/Theme: Feb 24/candlelight under the waters
Series: Yitian Dulong Ji
Characters: the Six Swordsmen of Wudang
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Yitian Dulong Ji belongs to Jin Yong, et al.

This doubles as a birthday gift for festivewind. Happy birthday, Feb! If you don't like this just yell.


They received news of Hu Qingniu's death on the day when they were commemorating another, more personal demise. That itself was a bad omen; they sat silently around the hall, each unwilling to look up for fear of seeing his own white, strained face reflected on those of his brothers.

"There is no word of what happened to Wuji," Song Yuanqiao finally said, choosing to echo their unspoken hope instead. "Even if someone did kill the old man, that doesn't mean Wuji is dead, as well."

"But where could he be?" Mo Shenggu asked, almost demanded. "If he is all right, why hasn't he come here? We're his uncles, the nearest he's got to a family - because I doubt his mother's folks would be all that eager to take him in."

Yin Liting looked as if he was about to speak, then subsided. Understandable, Song Yuanqiao thought. Yin Liting would not have liked to say anything favorable about the Ming Cult, not after what happened to Ji Xiaofu.

"I believe he's on his way here," Yu Lianzhou said, sounding more pacifying than confident. "It's a long way from the Butterfly Valley, and he's just a young boy. The journey would take longer for him than it would us."

Murmurs of half-hearted agreement trembled in the hall and faded before they could be fully voiced.

Fifth Brother, Fifth Sister, Song Yuanqiao thought. And now their son. We will remember them, but that is always scant consolation when you know you have failed and the people you love have receded into a memory, lights that flow in the distance.