The Value of Recognition

Heh heh so... we've got a little problem

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him. His qi seems normal but then why isn't he waking up?" said Lan Sizhui, feeling worried and guilty.

"Lotus Pier is close, let's take him back and alert the healers," said a frantic Jin Ling.

They all agreed that was the best course of action. Lan Sizhui carried Wen Ning, who was the only one who could properly hold an unconscious Sect Leader Jiang at the moment, on his sword. Travelling with three people was taxing and Jin Ling flew next to him, passing him spiritual energy so that he wouldn't fall. They made quite the procession and as they approached Lotus Pier the disciples noticed something was wrong immediately.

As they landed they were quickly surrounded by worried Jiang disciples, some of whom shot Wen Ning suspicious glares.

"We're taking him to the infirmary, go and find Healer Zhang," commanded Jin Ling.

"Yes, Sect Leader Jin." They reluctantly dispersed, though some of them trailed behind the group to keep an eye on their Sect Leader.

Entering the infirmary, Wen Ning placed Sect Leader Jiang on the bed and they waited in worried silence.

"Okay what happened?" said Healer Zhang, striding into the room and foregoing formalities in her no-nonsense way.

"We were chasing a spirit and we'd caught it, but at the last minute it attacked Sizhui. Jiujiu pushed him out of the way but he got hit by that weird blast of light it sent out and now he won't wake up!" said Jin Ling, his voice going wobbly at the end.

When he'd seen his Jiujiu lying like that on the floor for one heart-shattering second he'd thought he was dead. He knew he would be having nightmares about this moment. He wouldn't feel secure until he knew his uncle would be okay.

Healer Zhang tsked and muttered something about self-preservation as she put up a screen and went about examining her Sect Leader.

Except, she'd come to the same conclusion as Sizhui. "Sect Leader Jiang is fine, or so it appears. Nothing seems to be wrong except that he hasn't woken up. There's a small mark on his arm that I assume is the site of where he was hit but other than that I can't find anything wrong."

"But something is wrong! Why won't he wake up?" Jin Ling cried. They had tried to rouse his consciousness to no avail.

Lan Sizhui was feeling guilty that it was to protect him that Sect Leader Jiang was like this. He couldn't just sit still and do nothing but he didn't know what he could do that the healer couldn't. "I'll go and write to Wei-qianbei. Maybe it's a curse? Wei-qianbei might be able to see if anything is off. A-Ling, could I have one of your butterfly talismans? It would be faster and we don't know what is going on so the faster he can get here the better."

Jin Ling handed him the talisman without a word. Things between him, his uncle, and Wei Wuxian were complicated, though it was better than before. But he didn't care about anything at the moment other than making sure his uncle was okay and if Wei Wuxian could help he wasn't going to refuse. Lan Sizhui hurried out of the medical quarters (with Wen Ning slinking behind him; he felt awkward just standing there) and Jin Ling turned back to the doctor expectantly, "Do you have any theories at all as to what happened?"

"Well we don't know what the spirit was trying to do. What do you know about the spirit?" asked Healer Zhang.

"It was a terrifying thing!" said Lan Jingyi, shivering at the memory, "The townspeople we spoke to said that it was possessing people and stealing away children with the hosts' bodies, causing many people to be wrongfully accused of kidnapping."