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She hated him. He was the clear winner of this particular lunch- Lan's ammo was gone, and now he'd get to be the smug one.

"In time." She smoothed out her robes, looking to the side to glare away any staff who might have been witnessing the spectacle- because such lunches were often, their little spats. Pouring herself a new cup of tea, Lan's grip was much better on her teacup now.

"He protects. As for now, that is his role, though in time it will change. He.. doesn't seem content to follow Death or Medea much."

She sipped her tea, letting out a small sigh.

THEN it hit her.
"Pardon." She gave Mengyao a skeptical look.
"You finally proposed?"

Finally. FINALLY. A bit slower than she thought he really ought to have taken but better late than never.

"Well, I will consider my marriage to her dissolved... provided that I will be getting that invite. I mean, I can't some stallion marrying my lovely wife now can I? People will think we're starting some sort of bride sharing if not." A mild jest.

Mild.

"But, tell me, are you ready to bind yourself to her like that Mengyao? I know you both care deeply but-" A very very small notion to the hints of grey on his skin.

"Such things will not cause rifts as they have in the past?"

She looked at him, slightly mollified at the fact she'd be invited. Then in the same expression, softened her posture, "If you wish only kin then please, do not feel I must be invited for guilt or such- I know you both." Lan claimed as she had in the past.

"But... I always worry. I ask only what I do because I worry for you both." She looked again to his hands. To his face.

"You have both.. a hard road in your futures. To travel it together is a blessing. A blessing I see that shines when you are with her." Lan motioned for the small lunch to be brought out. The tea was nearly finished.

"I try to aid but I know there is little I can do. There is still so much we do not know of Insanity, yet you both have a bravery and a love I can only see others coming to envy in the bond you share."

Still, what of the future, what of the next generation-
"But it does bring a question Mengyao, a question I must ask, not just because I am your friend but as a noble- If either of you should fall and be lost to us, lost with no hope of a return- are you ready if such a day should come?" A grim question for a grim prospect.

"If such a thing were to happen to her, could you let her go? And alternatively if you were to be consumed- you would understand that we as a clan cannot risk all for one?"
Could you accept death by insanity and that she might be left without you.

As one of her maids came in, Lan reached into her robes, a small thin box pulled from the vast pockets that were simply a part of their robes.

She waited until the lunch was presented. Thin slices of beef barely glazed and cooked over rice. Sauces, Fresh vegetables, a desert of rice cakes- Lan's common favorite.

"Then promise me Mengyao Miao, promise me on your honor as a noble, as the head of your house, as a horseman, as your friend, that if you ever question yourself, that you think, even for a moment, that you have lost all hope, that there is nothing left-" She opened the box. Inside, a thin blade. A blade made for a small, yet efficient death. The blade a woman held when she would rather die than be taken by the enemy.

Her hand shook as she lifted it out and set it in front of him. Eyes unable to meet his own.
"If the enemy threatens to take you, do not let them. There is no shame in such an action." Death before dishonor.
Death, before you would allow your enemy to take you.

There was a slow intake of breath as she watched him, judging, assessing him not like a friend but simply as another of nobility. A forced dis-attachment that they had been trained to do, something they were forced to learn if they ever wished to deal in politics, in the ever changing word that was nobility. He'd taken the 'gift' she'd offered on a whim, driven by the horrible fears of the worst case scenario.
He was willing to do anything for Lifen then.
Including die.

Lan's body stilled and with a small intake of breath, she left her tea untouched, pulling out however the small bottle of sake, opening it, and giving herself a generous helping to her cup. It was downed in seconds. Then ignored as if she hadn't literally just taken a shot right in front of him.

"You and Lifen- I swear." Back to her tea, she let herself smile.
"I swear I'm going to worry myself to death over you two until that ceremony. You know how many mares are going to want to get a piece of you now you're off the market? The stallions who'll try to seduce Lifen now that she's 'taken'? Gods above... You're getting wed." She started chuckling.
"Never thought I'd see the day you'd love anyone more than your own reflection."

She slipped him some of the sake, still pretending it wasn't alcohol. "Good to hear."

She relaxed in her seat, expression softening as somewhere in the garden cicadas began to grow restless, their sound echoing in the open air. "我很高兴为你的婚姻。这是一个足够长的时间等待，我认为。"