There is not a hint of despair. Lan Zhan so far beyond it now, that he has come out the otherside, emptied of feeling. He can't feel sorry for himself. He yet lives! He might yet do one more act of good here.

"When it comes time to kneel, I will kneel," Lan Zhan says. Then, finally, he meets his brother's gaze. "Will you walk with me a moment?"

There is no where he can go -- there is a copse of bamboo behind the jingshi, but it is tucked against the mountain. It had been built to be a prison, after all, for a wife who wanted no wedding. With Bichen taken from him, he could no more soar away than their mother once could