"Yes," says Xie Lian, to Janet, truthfully. "He is mostly content to let them live their afterlives, but they do not question his rule, and they are all eager to impress him."

He pauses before he answers Galahad, thoughtfully scratching under his chin. "He is very powerful, and very clever. He recognizes no authority but that which he has made himself. I would trust him with my life." He nearly adds something about how handsome San Lang is, or his commanding presence, or the way he can be one moment towering and terrifying and the next as soft and open as the flowers of his name—but the frankness with which people ask questions in this place, and the conversation they've just thankfully left behind, make him close his mouth around those details. He does not wish to be pressed.