inbox | eastbound

[downswing]

lan wangji
missives | encounters

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[lonelydream]

[ There's another long pause; have you ever read such a reluctant text? ]

Much less than Wen Kexing thinks I do.

[downswing]

Months or years?

[lonelydream]

He thinks there's still a few years. At the very least, a bit more than one.

[downswing]

I ask how long you have.



( Wen Kexing's feelings, at a practical level — irrelevant. )

[lonelydream]

I've been here longer than I thought I'd survive.

[downswing]

I require a specific number.

[lonelydream]

I thought I'd have days. A week or two, at most. I've been here just about one month, now.

[downswing]

Nothing is impossible.

Yet to strengthen a nascent core against lethal illness within a month is improbable.

Seek Anduin, Nynaeve, Hermione.

[lonelydream]

It's not an illness; it was a form of torture.

[downswing]

Against lethal harm, an immature core is unlikely to prevail.

[lonelydream]

[ Well, he didn't really expect otherwise. It was a brief bloom of hope, that's all. ]

I see. Thank you for your frank honesty, Master Lan.

[downswing]

Better time unwasted. Seek Anduin and Nynaeve.

[lonelydream]

Not Hermione Granger?

[downswing]

Any of the three.

[lonelydream]

What is the difference between them and their abilities?

[downswing]

Best inquired.

Their sorcery unlike our qi.

[lonelydream]

All right. Do any of them have any understanding of qi, that you know of?

[downswing]

Perhaps compatible notions.

[lonelydream]

Master Lan, you said you knew two other Zhou Zishus.

[downswing]

Indeed.

[lonelydream]

Did neither of them tell you the specifics of what we did?

[downswing]

We were acquainted, not familiar.

[lonelydream]

Ah. That makes a lot of sense.

[ After all, Zishu wouldn't have spoken to anyone about the Nails himself if he wasn't so aware that he's desperately running out of time. ]

[downswing]

Yet I wish for your recovery.

[lonelydream]

As do I.

[ A brief pause, and then he continues: ]

If it doesn't work out, though, I know Sect Master Lan will take care of Wen Kexing. I am aware your relationship is contentious but I'd ask for your patience. If I die, he is unlikely to take it well.