( This, snapped, cutting. Lightning in one strike, and his voice husked and hollowed after, tinny. He does not broker repetition. Does not require it. The girl volunteers her impulsiveness, and if Lan Wangji, sword trailing where the fingers drum and circle, has learned anything — if he has become a man of knowing anticipation at all — it is this:
The young should not be permitted their impunity. It does not salvage or flatter them. They do not pursue, armed with strategy or knowledge of circumvention, only with — hope.
The docks shudder and settle, flat board sighing out as Caitlyn's steps deliver her close. There is a swelling and an ache in them, a slow and petrified dilation. Too much water.
At his feet, beneath waves, the dead sleep restlessly. They have no time, he knows, and a woman's knee quakes, and a man's elbow jolts. They have no time. )
We take oars. Fishing rods. ( Instruments that can enter water without leaving them vulnerable and exposed. )
no subject
You are not.
( This, snapped, cutting. Lightning in one strike, and his voice husked and hollowed after, tinny. He does not broker repetition. Does not require it. The girl volunteers her impulsiveness, and if Lan Wangji, sword trailing where the fingers drum and circle, has learned anything — if he has become a man of knowing anticipation at all — it is this:
The young should not be permitted their impunity. It does not salvage or flatter them. They do not pursue, armed with strategy or knowledge of circumvention, only with — hope.
The docks shudder and settle, flat board sighing out as Caitlyn's steps deliver her close. There is a swelling and an ache in them, a slow and petrified dilation. Too much water.
At his feet, beneath waves, the dead sleep restlessly. They have no time, he knows, and a woman's knee quakes, and a man's elbow jolts. They have no time. )
We take oars. Fishing rods. ( Instruments that can enter water without leaving them vulnerable and exposed. )