Lan Wangji feels an echo of that same ache he felt when he spoke with that older, much sadder Galahad. It is not so acute now, because he is sitting across from his student, who is young and determined and who wants to live, but he can recall how it was to be even younger than that. He can recall the implacable sense that there was something holding him forever apart from nearly everyone else. Wei Ying chose him, as furiously as Lan Wangji fought it. He was the first person, aside from his own brother, who looked at Lan Wangji's unsmiling demeanor and wanted more of him.

"I understand," he says, meaning it. He hesitates, but not for long. "Tell me about him."