The Archer and His Moon

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji watch a play about Hou Yi and his wife, the goddess of the moon, Chang-e, and Wei Wuxian can't help but notice the similarities between himself and the legendary archer. But he never could have guessed exactly how close they really were.

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Written for Day 5 of WangXian Week. The possible prompts were "Past | Future | Mythology AU"

Thank you to DLanaDHZ and Alessariel for the beta!

The legend mentioned in this story is a real legend from China. Apologies for any errors in its telling. I literally learned about it 8 hours ago.

Apologies also for any errors in the upload. I am watching BangBangCon at 2 AM and am very distracted. (I also edited it with my betas during the concert, so...sorry for any errors. They are all mine.)

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The stage was outside, set up at the edge of the town of Biran. It was a raised platform, large enough to hold a dozen or more actors at once for a grand battle scene, and high enough that people could see the action unfold even if there was a crowd in front of them.

Wei Wuxian had been to a few plays as a child. Not many, since much of his time after being adopted by Jiang Fengmian was spent practicing swordsmanship, archery, and the many centering and calming cultivation techniques necessary for creating and strengthening a golden core.

He also researched and created talismans for fun and fighting, but that wasn't typical for a disciple.

Still, the idea of plays fascinated Wei Wuxian. The actors wore such colorful, fun outfits and masks, transforming themselves into heroes and beasts and gods! They moved so fluidly and told such moving stories. If Wei Wuxian were not so in love with the idea of being a cultivator and helping the people of the world, he might have become an actor.

Madam Yu would have killed him if he ever tried, though.

Though Lan Wangji still held the title of His Excellency, that did not mean he could not travel from time to time. When there were no pressing issues for him to handle, he often let his husband drag him on a journey. Usually that meant taking a long, winding route between the Cloud Recesses and the home of some other sect leader or back home from one, so they could pretend it was a trip related to His Excellency duties, but they enjoyed it all the same.

It just so happened that, during this particular journey, they had come into town just in time to catch the first show of the night.

"Lan Zhan! Let's watch the play," Wei Wuxian said, tugging on Lan Wangji's sleeve like a child. "Have you ever watched a play? They're fun. Come on!"

For a moment, though he seemed to want to give in to whatever Wei Wuxian wanted, Lan Wangji hesitated. His eyes drifted over the large crowd gathering around the stage and his posture stiffened. Immediately, Wei Wuxian understood. He remembered how hesitant Lan Wangji had been as a teenager to enter crowded places, how he still preferred to host small meetings between five or fewer cultivators at a time even to this day.

Wei Wuxian pressed his lips together and cast his gaze around, trying to think of a solution to the problem. How could he get Lan Wangji somewhere he could watch the show without overwhelming him or causing him anxiety?

"Oh!" Wei Wuxian tugged on Lan Wangji's sleeve again to get his attention, then pointed to the roof of a nearby building. "Come on. We can watch from there."

To avoid drawing attention, they went around to the back of the building before leaping to the roof. From their new vantage point, they could easily see the action happening on stage without needing to push in amongst the crowds.

"See? Perfect." Wei Wuxian preened with pleasure. "Now we can sit back and enjoy. Ah, I wish we had bought some wine first."

Lan Wangji frowned. "Stay."

He turned and jumped off the roof again, leaving Wei Wuxian gaping after him. Where was he going? But Wei Wuxian did as told and waited. Only a few minutes later, Lan Wangji returned, two jars of alcohol in hand. Wei Wuxian grinned.

"Lan Zhan! You spoil me!" He leaned over to give his husband a peck on the cheek in thanks before uncorking the first jar and taking a swig. Lan Wangji's ears turned pink. "Ahhh. It's not Emperor's Smile, but that is still good."

Shortly after, there was a call to attention on the stage and the crowd's chatter quieted. The story that unfolded was, as Wei Wuxian had expected, very moving.

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Hou Yi was a skilled archer. He had, at his Emperor's request, defeated countless beasts and monsters, and was renowned the world over for his skill with a bow. He could shoot blindfolded and never miss his target, or backward and upside down and still get a bullseye. His arrows, it was said, were blessed by the gods.

In that time, there were ten suns. They had been princes on earth but now they followed each other one after another through the sky, giving humanity exceedingly long days and noticeably short nights. Then, one fateful day, all ten suns rose at once. The heat was unbearable, and the world began to burn.

"Help us!" ordered the Emperor. "You must make the suns set or we will all die."

Hou Yi went out into the bright heat of the suns and tried to reason with them.

"If you burn the earth, who will watch your journey through the sky?" he asked. "What has humanity done to earn this punishment, and what can we do to end it?"

But no matter what he tried, the suns would not set.

"If you do not set, I will shoot you out of the sky," he warned them.

The suns ignored him, so he pretended to take out his bow, aim, and shoot at them in their lofty abode. Still the suns would not set. They laughed at his antics and burned all the brighter.

Finally, Hou Yi did what he had promised. He notched his arrows and, one-by-one, shot the suns from the sky. As each one fell, the earth healed more and more. Finally there was only one sun left, and his mother begged Hou Yi to spare him. When Hou Yi did, she gave him a great gift: A perfectly cultivated golden core. The key to immortality.

The audience oo'd and ahh'd appropriately. Wei Wuxian followed along with a grin.

Hou Yi did not want to be immortal without his beloved wife, Chang-e, however, so he removed the core he had been gifted and kept it safe inside his house. When he found a way to make Chang-e immortal too, then he would restore his core and they would ascend together.

But then, tragedy struck.

One of Hou Yi's apprentices coveted the golden core. His name was Feng Meng, and he tried to trick Hou Yi or Chang-e into giving him the core, but they would not be fooled. Finally, he broke into their home while Hou Yi was out hunting and Chang-e was alone. Though she tried to stop him, Feng Meng nearly took the golden core!

To protect the core her husband had earned, Chang-e took it within herself. Immediately, she floated into the sky, ascending to the heavens. Before she could go too far, she alighted on the moon and chose to stay there as its goddess – where she could still watch over her beloved husband. Hou Yi was heartbroken when he learned what happened. To be so divided from the one he loved was almost more than he could bear.

Hou Yi built an altar for Chang-e that night, with her favorite food – moon cakes filled with lotus seed paste – and prayed in her memory. The power of his love drew her from the moon to the mortal realm, and so they were able to spend one last night together.

The play ended with Chang-e explaining that she could only remain on earth for one night a year—the anniversary of her ascension to godhood—the mid-autumn festival. She asked Hou Yi to build another altar in a year, if he still loved her then. Hou Yi assured her he would, and she rose into the heavens once more.

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Even after the play ended, Wei Wuxian could not get it out of his mind.

"Hou Yi was amazing," he gushed that night before bed. "His archery skills alone! Shooting blindfolded! Shooting backward!"

Lan Wangji poured him another cup of wine. "Wei Ying can do that too."

The reminder had Wei Wuxian grinning. "I can, can't I? Sometimes I forget how amazing I am," he chuckled. "How do you always remember everything? Won't you forget even one thing, Lan Zhan?" he teased.

"Never." Lan Wangji lifted his own cup of tea placidly. "Wei Ying is too precious to forget."

Which earned him a passionate kiss that led straight into their everyday, lasting well into the night.

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"I've been thinking. What Hou Yi and Chang-e did is a lot like what happened with me and Jiang Cheng," Wei Wuxian mused two days later, as he rode Lil' Apple through an open field, Lan Wangji leading the ornery donkey by the reins. "He had a golden core, but he didn't want to have it if his loved one couldn't. So he took it out of himself. Then it went into Chang-e. It was a core transference, just like what Wen Qing did for me."

"Not the same," Lan Wangji refuted, keeping his eyes forward. At Wei Wuxian's curious hum, he explained, "Their transference was not painful."

"That's what you think," Wei Wuxian quipped, holding up a finger like he was about to teach a lesson. "Who said the play got all the details right? Maybe it was painful, but that part of the story doesn't sound heroic enough, so it's been left out over the years. We don't know."

He sighed, a happy sound, and looked up at the sky. The moon was nowhere in sight, given that it was mid-day, but he pretended he could see it anyway.

"How amazing, to think I have something in common with a legendary archer and his moon goddess wife." His smile turned into a lecherous grin and he leaned over the side of Lil' Apple to be closer to Lan Wangji as he spoke. "Will you be my moon goddess, Lan Zhan?" he crooned.

Lan Wangji did not hesitate for a second. He nodded. "I will be Wei Ying's moon, if Wei Ying will be my sun."

That had Wei Wuxian hiding his face in his hands, then in the mane of the donkey for extra coverage. "LAN ZHAN!"

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Another similarity occurred to Wei Wuxian while he was in the bath a few days later. The water clinging to his skin, dripping back into the bath, reminded him of the Xuanwu Cave, and suddenly it hit him.

"We're both monster slayers!"

A curious hum came from the other side of the privacy wall. Wei Wuxian gripped the edge of the tub and leaned in the direction of Lan Wangji's voice, though he did not get out to go to him.

"Hou Yi and me. He defeated all those mythic beasts. You and I defeated the Xuanwu as teenagers." He gasped. "And there's more! Hou Yi shot the suns out of the sky. The Wen sect's symbol is the sun, and I killed quite a few of them. The whole Sunshot Campaign was about 'shooting down the sun' that was the Wen sect. So that's another way we match!"

He giggled. To think, Wei Wuxian, the despised Yiling Patriarch, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, had so much in common with a legendary honored figure like Hou Yi!

Lan Wangji peeked around the privacy wall. "Between the two of you, I think Wei Ying is more impressive."

With a snort, Wei Wuxian responded, "And I think between the three of us, Lan Zhan is the most impressive." He stuck his tongue out. "Now what?"

For a moment, he thought Lan Wangji was going to join him in the tub, but no. He just got a self-satisfied smile on his face and said, "We will have to agree to disagree," before disappearing around the wall again.

His husband really was too good. How was Wei Wuxian meant to compete with such perfection? With a smile, he let himself drift below the surface of the water.

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"I miss eating lotus seeds," Wei Wuxian pouted after lunch, near the end of their journey.

Cloud Recesses was only a day's ride away, no matter which route they took. They would be home, and Lan Wangji would be back to business as usual, before the sun set the next day.

The pout morphed into a dreamy smile. "You know what's great? That even the moon likes lotus seeds."

Lan Wangji tilted his head to the side in curiosity. It was more than enough invitation for Wei Wuxian to keep talking.

"The moon cakes Hou Yi put on the altar of the mid-autumn festival for Chang-e," he reminded. "They were filled with lotus seed paste. That's practically the best food he could ever give her." He chuckled. "No wonder she loved him."

For a few minutes, they continued walking down the road in relative silence. Relative because Wei Wuxian was never completely quiet. He hummed and bounced as he went, whistled when he heard a bird call nearby, and clapped his hands together periodically as if composing a beat for a new song.

As Caiyi Town came into view, and thus their stop for the night, Lan Wangji spoke up. "The mid-autumn festival is soon."

Wei Wuxian tilted his head to the side. "Oh? Do you have special duties then because you're His Excellency?" A little laugh escaped him. "Hard to imagine the Lan sect celebrating a festival. Isn't it too loud?"

"It is not excessive," Lan Wangji said. Then, "We can make an altar. For Chang-e. With lotus seed mooncakes."

Wei Wuxian stopped dead. Lil' Apple bumped into him from behind and let out a terrible sound of protest, but Wei Wuxian hardly noticed. "What?"

Lan Wangji's ears were faintly pink, but his expression was firm. "You saw similarities between your life and theirs. It is important to you. We can honor them with an altar."

The core transfer. The archery. The beasts and the suns. The lotus seeds. There was so much about Hou Yi and Chang-e that Wei Wuxian saw in himself and his life. To honor them with an altar, as if they were family, would be—

"That would be amazing. Thank you, Lan Zhan."

Lan Wangji shook his head and held out his hand. As Wei Wuxian accepted it and kept walking, Lan Wangji said, "No need for thank yous."

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The altar was nothing too fancy. It did not follow the Lan sect or Jiang sect in design. It was a simple table, really, just a place to hold the memorial tablet for Chang-e. The tablet was what Wei Wuxian spent the next two weeks working on. Designing, carving the shape and the name, the details along the edges, the effigy of the moon. He spent all his free time—whenever he wasn't working with the Junior disciples or doing his part as the partner of His Excellency—working on it.

The final details were finished the night before the mid-autumn festival.

The day of the mid-autumn festival, many of the Lan disciples went to Caiyi Town to participate in the celebrations. The Elders and the more stringent disciples, or those in isolation, remained in the Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian went down with the Juniors for a few hours, but when Lan Wangji appeared near sundown, he was quick to hop on Bichen with him and fly back home.

They set up the altar and the memorial tablet in the jingshi. Lan Wangji had cooked the pastries, so they were all perfectly shaped and stacked on the altar beside the tablet. On the other side of the tablet was a small bronze bowl filled with fine, clean sand.

First, they offered the memorial tablet a bow. Then they each lit a stick of incense and placed them upright in the bowl. The subtle smell of the smoke began to fill the room as they offered a second bow and prayed.

"Oh how I have wished for this day."

At the voice, both men spun around to find a woman standing in the jingshi with them. Her outer robe was a warm, burnt orange. Her inner robes were white. There was a delicate purple sash around her shoulders. Her hair was pinned up in an elaborate updo and yet still hung long enough to touch the floor. Most of the pins in her hair resembled flowers, but the most prominent pin was in the shape of a rabbit. Her face was small and her eyes were kind, and her skin tone shifted from pale to tan like the shades of the moon in the sky.

The men blinked repeatedly, as if she were a vision that would clear away, but still she remained. Wei Wuxian managed, "Are—you—Chang-e?"

A smile as bright as moonlight lit her face and she moved forward to take Wei Wuxian's hands in her own. "It has been so long since anyone in the family left mooncakes for me, and that tablet is the most gorgeous I have ever seen." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Even Hou Yi would be envious."

Wei Wuxian stared.

A goddess was holding his hands.

A goddess was holding his hands!

Though Wei Wuxian's brain had ceased to function, Lan Wangji's had not, and he had picked up on what, exactly, the goddess had said.

"Family?"

Chang-e's smile was now fond. She could not seem to take her eyes off Wei Wuxian. "Yes. My dear, dear, grandson." Her eyes narrowed briefly. "Plus a few generations, I grant, but yes."

Without meaning to, Wei Wuxian jerked his hands out of her grip to motion wildly at himself. "I'm your grandson?!" he shouted, and Lan Wangji winced at the volume.

It didn't seem to bother Chang-e however. She merely laughed and put a hand to her mouth. "Of course. Have you never wondered?"

At their wide eyed, blank stares, her mirth faded into something resembling concern.

"You managed a core transfer, when there was a mere fifty percent chance of survival," she reminded him. "And then you were thrown into the Burial Mounds—a place so full of resentful energy that even I could not see through it. Your soul should have been ripped to shreds, and it would have if you were entirely mortal." A hint of her smile returned. "I am glad my blood runs through your veins so you could survive."

Wei Wuxian felt faint. As if sensing this, Lan Wangji put a hand on his elbow and nodded to the goddess. "Tea?"

The room was blessedly silent as Lan Wangji prepared the tea. Chang-e sat posture perfect at the table, and Wei Wuxian did his best to imitate her even though his body protested. The goddess looked around the jingshi with pleasant interest, as if she were really a relative visiting her grandson's new home for the first time.

The first cup of tea Lan Wangji placed before Wei Wuxian was downed in one gulp, no matter how it burned his tongue and throat. The second cup was placed alongside a disapproving look from his husband, so Wei Wuxian withheld from repeating the action.

Alcohol would be great right about now.

Surprisingly, Lan Wangji was the one to break the silence once all the drinks were poured. "Wei Ying is not human?"

Chang-e shook her head with another smile. "Of course he is. I was human once, and my husband was still so when our child was conceived. Her humanity is what required her to grow up among mortals rather than in the heavenly realm with me. It was there that she fell in love, and that love is what kept her from returning to me." She nodded toward Wei Wuxian. "There is but a bit of godly power coursing through his soul. Not much, but enough."

Wei Wuxian felt like he was reeling. He was a god. The offspring of a god. The offspring of a god's offspring. Whatever. Close enough.

All of his wit had fled him.

"Wait. So, the similarities between Hou Yi and me?" he asked, doubting.

Was he only so quick with a sword, was his skill in archery, was his previous core only so strong…because he was a god? Not through any talent of his own, but through his blood?

Chang-e looked at him like he was being particularly dense. "The skills you have honed in your life cannot be passed down through the blood, my grandson. Take pride in them. I do." And there was another smile as she preened—so similar to Wei Wuxian's own proud grins.

She was a bit cheeky, this goddess. That was not something the play had prepared them for. It startled a laugh out of Wei Wuxian, and the tension in the room bled away. And conversation began to flow.

The parent who shared this same godly heritage with Wei Wuxian was his mother, Cangse Sanren, who had very nearly attained immortality herself before she left Baoshan Sanren's mountain and fell in love with Wei Changze. Chang-e had been excited to meet her one day, but she died while still mortal. And no one had made a memorial tablet and altar for Chang-e during the mid-autumn festival since Hou Yi passed away!

They talked about other descendants too. Sons and daughters throughout the years that Chang-e had watched grow, live their lives, and die. They had been soldiers for kings, scholars, then artisans and merchants. Cangse was the first to walk the path of cultivation, after an accident left her an orphan like Wei Wuxian, and she was the first to realize her heritage since Chang-e's own daughter.

"I think she was going to tell you, when you were a little older," Chang-e told Wei Wuxian. "She told her husband before they got married."

Before the night was over, she and Wei Wuxian were teasing each other left and right, like old friends. They playfully fought over the best way to grow, cook, and eat lotus. They judged each other's husbands, each claiming theirs was the more accomplished, the more beautiful, the more doting of the two. Lan Wangji's ears were as red as Lil' Apple's favorite food the entire time, and when asked his opinion, he merely shook his head and refrained.

That made Chang-e laugh, loud and long, and admit that yes, "Your husband is very cute."

A bird began to chirp outside, the first evidence that it would soon be morning. The full moon was low among the trees, and the sky was beginning to lighten with the coming of the sun. Chang-e's laughter drifted away like mist and the remaining smile was wistful.

"My time on earth grows short," she said. "I have not had such fun in so long. I am sorry to go."

Wei Wuxian smacked his hands on the table, startling her, but his eyes were on Lan Wangji. Without a word, they agreed.

"Next year," Lan Wangji promised. "We will set up another altar."

Tears gathered in Chang-e's eyes and she covered her mouth with her hands. "Will you? Truly?"

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian nodded in unison. "You are family," Lan Wangji said.

"You're fun, which is more than I can say for half the people in the Cloud Recesses," Wei Wuxian added. "Not to mention you know more about my history than anyone else I know. You have to come back!"

The goddess took up one of each of their hands and smiled at them gratefully. "Thank you. That makes me so happy. Thank you."

The first rays of the sun peeked over the mountain top and Chang-e began to fade away.

"Until next year," she said like a vow. "My family."

And then she was gone.

Almost immediately, Wei Wuxian broke into the widest, longest yawn of his entire life. Lan Wangji took his hand and began to lead him to bed. They shed their outer robes and tucked themselves in under the covers. Despite the day starting for everyone else, they were just lying down for sleep. It was the day after a festival, though, so perhaps they would be forgiven for sleeping in.

"My grandmother is a goddess," Wei Wuxian yawned into his pillow. "I have a grandmother."

The second statement was said with more awe than the first. He had never had any blood relatives of his own—not since his parents died. His adoptive parents and siblings, and even his son—none of them were his by birth. But now he had someone, and the idea was staggering.

Lan Wangji nodded. "And you will see her every year for as long as you wish." He leaned forward to plant a kiss on Wei Wuxian's forehead. "Sleep."

With his arms and legs wrapped securely around his husband, and his heart wrapping around that promise, Wei Wuxian slept.

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fin

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