Wei Wuxian has been holding on by a fraying thread for far too long. To himself. To sanity. To composure. To his temper, though that's been the hardest thing to hold back. To ignore all the pain enough to act as normal as possible. Even the strongest can't hold on forever, and his breaking point had been reached and rushed right past.

He doesn't hear the frantic call of his name, nor how Lan Zhan picks him up and carries him through the crowd until he finds them a place to stay. He doesn't even feel the hand tucking hair out of his face.

Only when the sweet healing song of the guqin has been playing for a few hours does he twitch before shifting on the soft bed. His breathing eases, and eventually he opens his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. The spirits are quiet, he absently notices, blinking slowly.

But he doesn't want to move.