( You may wish, he does not say, to speak to the men who possess the arrows.

But then, Wen Kexing never lent himself tot he practicalities of survival, and Lan Wangji languishes, briefly, in the arrested state between drifting and perfect suspension, balance safe, secure but slow.

He directs the sword, swerving, until the pointy ends of the incoming arrows are far too distant and low-flying to tickle their feet, let alone imperil their progress. He does not ask how Wen Kexing is navigating the challenge, gut-born or otherwise, of their travel. Better to distract. )

I wished to see the abductors. If they sought our kind or mere spirits for enslavement. What they knew in truth.

( ...then Wen Kexing arrived and, presumably, Lan Wangji got very bored. )