The last few remaining stragglers in the dining hall were gone, by the time Gyuvin and Ricky were done eating. They didn’t have any training or lessons scheduled at night, but considering he’d just spent the day doing only half the amount of training his body was used to having, Gyuvin found he had too much energy to fall asleep just yet.
“Wanna spar a little?” he asked lightheartedly. They were on their way back to their living quarters, weaving through other cultivators in the corridors, some drinking in pairs and groups, some just sitting around and talking under the moonlight. The grounds were alive with activity now that they were in their leisure hours, and Gyuvin thought to himself, through the flickering warm light of lanterns and the sound of laughter echoing all around, that the Peak was really a beautiful place when he stopped to admire it.
“Really?” Ricky answered, following just close behind. “Don’t use your holy weapon then.”
“What? Why?”
“You always train with Yuexi. Aren’t you worried you’ll grow reliant on it?”
Gyuvin laughed softly. “Why shouldn’t I be reliant on Yuexi? It’s not like I could ever lose a holy weapon.”
Ricky gave him a mildly exasperated look. “Then go find someone else to spar with.”
“What? Okay, okay fine. Come back!”
The outdoor grounds were quieter than the central areas of the Peak, paved paths of smooth gray stone and white sand broken occasionally by groves of rustling willow trees. Luminous energy stones lined the walkways on either side, gentle wavering light that glowed brighter when they were near as the stones amplified the spiritual energy radiating off their bodies with every step.
Gyuvin abandoned the idea of serious training soon enough; he was happy to just walk along the pathway, kicking sand over the energy stones he passed by to cover them. He looked back when he reached the end of the path, facing a grove of soft grass and a small pond. Ricky was just a few steps behind, systematically kicking the sand away from the energy stones so they could glow properly again. He fixed Gyuvin with a look.
“Childish.”
Gyuvin contemplated sticking his tongue out at him, but he feared he’d only prove Ricky right.
Lightning lit up the night sky just then, thunder rumbling through the peace of nighttime. Ricky looked up and watched the lightning flash across the darkness for a long moment before letting his eyes fall.
“I think it’s going to rain,” Gyuvin said, stating the obvious just to fill the silence. “Should we head back?”
The rain came just as he finished the last sentence. Clouds overtook the stars in the sky and the air filled with the smell of imminent rain, heavy drops soaking fast into his hair, cold where they trickled down his neck. Gyuvin glanced at Ricky for a second, waiting to see if he would open a barrier to keep the rain away, giving up and opening one himself after a few more seconds passed. It didn’t seem like Ricky was inclined to protect himself from the rain at all. It was summer and though the weather on the peak was typically cooler because of the altitude, the rain wasn’t too cold, but Gyuvin remembered that Ricky had a poor constitution, and standing out in the rain getting soaked through probably wasn’t the best idea out there for him.
A thin screen of golden light bloomed above them like an umbrella, Gyuvin’s spiritual energy shielding them both from the rain that was becoming heavier and heavier by the second. Ricky said nothing, only stretching his hand past the protection of the screen and letting the raindrops collect in his open palm.
Gyuvin laughed. It was the kind of thing children did; he’d done it too when he was five or six, running out into the rain with Junhyeon and the other disciples at Meteor Court, slipping and falling on the rain-slick tiles and laughing themselves to stitches, sticking out their tongues trying to catch raindrops in their mouths. His father had still been with him, then. It had been a long time since rain meant anything to him other than a mild natural hindrance.
“Never seen rain before?” he asked playfully.
Ricky shook his head. “It doesn’t rain at Moonrise Palace.”
Right, how could he have forgotten? It made sense that Ricky had hardly ever seen rain. Moonrise Palace sat at the summit of one of the tallest peaks of the Kunlun Mountains. The weather at higher altitudes was bitterly cold all year round and any precipitation whatsoever came only in the form of occasional snowfall.
They stood there in silence together under the golden screen as the rain continued pouring down on them. Gyuvin focused on trying to remember what Ricky had taught him weeks ago, the technique to hold a barrier up without having to actively think about it. As long as they were safe and dry, he didn’t really mind standing out here and waiting. Cold water pooled in Ricky’s outstretched palm, dripping down from between his fingers onto the white sand for a few minutes, before he eventually let his hand fall, shaking the water off his fingers.
“Let’s go back,” Ricky said softly. He opened his own barrier then, a blue shield expanding above them, nudging Gyuvin to tell him he was taking over.
Gyuvin flinched away from Ricky’s touch involuntarily. His fingers were ice-cold where they’d been out in the rain. “You’re freezing. We should have headed back sooner-“
“Don’t worry about me,” Ricky answered, smiling gently. “I’m not made of glass.”
Ricky’s rain screen was more expansive than Gyuvin’s and there was enough space for them to walk without touching each other, as opposed to Gyuvin’s which had been just big enough for them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. He could still feel the imprint of Ricky’s arm against his, though the other boy wasn’t very warm.Â
Gyuvin walked a small distance behind, watching him from just a few steps away. Ricky’s posture was flawless, his hands clasped together behind his back as usual, but Gyuvin could see the way he was fiddling with his own fingers trying to regain some warmth in his hands. He gathered up some energy in his palm, enough for a simple five-stroke warming talisman, and he caught up to Ricky in a second, holding his arm out behind him so the talisman could radiate its warmth onto Ricky’s hands. It would be much more effective if he were to make contact, but Gyuvin didn’t know if Ricky wanted him to touch him again.
He couldn’t tell if he hesitated because he was afraid Ricky would pull away, or if he was afraid Ricky wouldn’t, but none of those mattered more than the immediate concern of keeping him warm.Â
“It’s not so cold now that we’ve left that corner,” Ricky observed, breathing a little sigh of relief.
Gyuvin nodded along. “It must have been the wind over there. It gets chilly at night.”
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