( The reason was vanity, he does not say, because dozens of lines of lace rim his own robes, and he who was never chosen fine silks for mundane bearing must throw the first stone.

But then, she passes, and the subterfuge need be only small. Better she attempts it than Lan Wangji struggles with the renown limitations of his appetite for falsehood. He nods, then — all at once, falls into step, and their deception, their attempt to sneak in is ended.

They are legitimate now, a merchant and her bodyguard. He directs them down the corridors — )

Speak little. ( ...just as a guard, inevitably, pauses them — at first, with an absurdity of patience and the wave of a hand, asking who they are and where they are gone. )