She turned to Keal and held out the cloth bundle. " This is a herbal mixture, I’m going to make it for you two to drink, it’s not going to taste nice, but you need to drink it all." She glanced at the remains of fire at the room’s center, she didn’t question it. " I need hot water to dissolve the mixture."

"What’s that?" Keal asked chin pointed at the cloth bundle

"The mixture that will help you," Lin Wan said simply. "You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to. But I think you should."

Da Jun, from his position on the far pallet, spoke without looking up. "Will it hurt?" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"No," Lin Wan said. "It’ll just taste bad."

Da Jun was quiet for a moment, weighing this with visible seriousness. Then he nodded. "Acceptable."

Keal went to get hot water without further questions. He came back quickly. Lin Wan broke the herbs apart herself, steeping them in the water and stirring until the liquid turned a deep brownish green. The sharp medicinal smell of it rose immediately, strong enough that Da Jun wrinkled his nose from across the room.

"That smells terrible," Da Jun said.

"Yes," Lin Wan agreed, dividing it evenly between two cups. "Drink it anyway."

She handed them over. Keal took his and drank in three long swallows, his jaw tight the whole way through. Da Jun took four, slower, with the expression of a male doing something deeply unpleasant out of sheer stubbornness. But he finished every drop.

Lin Wan collected the cups.

"Sleep," she said. "You’ll feel better in the morning."

She turned to leave. At the doorway she paused and glanced back at both of them.

"And thank you," she added. "For opening the door before I knocked."

Da Jun looked confused. "We heard your steps."

"I know that," Lin Wan said.it was nice to not have to knock and wait for an answer.

She stepped back out into the corridor. Behind her, she heard the stone wedge scrape against the floor as Keal removed it and let the door close.

Wang and Qin Mo were still at the table when she returned. Both of them looked at her as she came back in. Neither asked anything. But Lin Wan had left with something in her hand and returned with nothing, and both of them had eyes sharp enough to notice.

Lin Wan sat down and picked up her cooled broth.

"Morning will come early," Qin Mo said after a moment. Not quite a suggestion. More like a statement that expected agreement.

Lin Wan looked at him. "Is that your way of telling us to go to sleep?"

"The valley sun rises early," Qin Mo said.

"So does the rest of the world," Lin Wan replied pleasantly. But she finished her broth and stood anyway.

Wang stood with her. As she passed him, he pressed two fingers briefly to the top of her head, a small quiet gesture he had started doing at some point without explanation, and that Lin Wan had started accepting without asking why.

She went to her room without ceremony.

She didn’t hear Wang and Qin Mo stay at the table a while longer. She didn’t hear the silence that settled between them, the kind that didn’t need to be filled.

And she didn’t see the longing in Qin Mo’s eyes as he looked at her until she disappeared into before he finally set down his cup and retired.

Morning came quietly and all at once.

Lin Wan was up before the light had fully settled. Wang had gotten her water and dropped it at the door, she remembered when she felt him draw her in to his body it was already so late, he must have spoken with Qin Mo all night, She washed her face, dressed, and stepped out into the corridor.

She almost walked directly into Keal.

He was standing just outside his doorway. Lin Wan took a quick step back, expecting the pale drawn look from the night before.

It wasn’t there.

Keal wasn’t at full strength yet. But the grey undertone that had been sitting under his skin was gone. His posture was different, more upright, less like someone quietly bracing for collapse. His eyes were clear.

"You look better," Lin Wan said.

Keal looked at his own hands for a moment. Then back at her. "I feel better." He said it like he was still adjusting to the fact of it. "Da Jun is still sleeping. But his breathing changed in the night. It was not good before, before the drink."

"Let him sleep," Lin Wan said.

"What was it?" Keal asked. "What you gave us."

"Herbs."

Keal looked at her steadily. The look of a male who understood he wasn’t getting the full answer and had decided that was acceptable. "Thank you," he said quietly. "Lin Wan."

’No longer female Lin, tsk!’

Lin Wan smiled at him, small and genuine. "Don’t mention it."

She moved past him down the corridor and nearly walked directly into Wang, who had clearly been awake long enough to have already gone outside and come back. He looked at her. Then past her at Keal. Then back at her.

His expression didn’t change. But the question was right behind his eyes.

From the far end of the corridor, Qin Mo appeared. He took in Keal’s posture and the colour returned to his face in one sweeping glance.

Then his golden eyes moved to Lin Wan.

Lin Wan looked back at both of them with an innocent expression,

"Is there anything for breakfast?" she asked.

Wang stared at her for one more second. Then he turned and went to find something to eat.

Qin Mo watched her a moment longer, inwardly he was shocked, what did she give to Keal and Da Jun,

it’s unheard of, he was patient waiting for Keal and Da Jun to snap and become feral so he would deal with them, as it should be.

But, somehow, wan’er had saved them, something that has never happened before

Then he followed Wang without a word.

Lin Wan exhaled and allowed herself one small private smile before she followed them both.

She didn’t know why they were looking at her like that.

She had simply given two sick males some herbs.

That was all.