( He should not speak; there is antagonism, but no expectation. He owes Wen Kexing less than he is owed in kind. But it stifles, at times, claws biting his jugular, to be seen but perennially, incompetently misunderstood. Skipped over. What are the burdens of young master Lan, if his nature is shaped to bear them? If his shoulders cannot tremble or droop or fall? )
I have been exhausted each heartbeat of sixteen years.
( Small turbulence of her in drift, Bichen skitters, drops incrementally. They are preparing for a landing — not on hard ground, where whatever pursuers might recall to stalk them, but on a neighbourly, sturdy rooftop that has tasted seemingly little of recent battle. No frost wyrms here, when Lan Wangji crosses the last of the distance in a leap, when he breaks his fall on his arm, when he —
Breathes.
Then turns, calling the sword to gentle descent. ) But it is not such hardship, is it? To live, tired but content. Better than with a heart heavy or a head bowed.
no subject
( He should not speak; there is antagonism, but no expectation. He owes Wen Kexing less than he is owed in kind. But it stifles, at times, claws biting his jugular, to be seen but perennially, incompetently misunderstood. Skipped over. What are the burdens of young master Lan, if his nature is shaped to bear them? If his shoulders cannot tremble or droop or fall? )
I have been exhausted each heartbeat of sixteen years.
( Small turbulence of her in drift, Bichen skitters, drops incrementally. They are preparing for a landing — not on hard ground, where whatever pursuers might recall to stalk them, but on a neighbourly, sturdy rooftop that has tasted seemingly little of recent battle. No frost wyrms here, when Lan Wangji crosses the last of the distance in a leap, when he breaks his fall on his arm, when he —
Breathes.
Then turns, calling the sword to gentle descent. ) But it is not such hardship, is it? To live, tired but content. Better than with a heart heavy or a head bowed.
( Can all men make such a claim? )