"I will speak to him when the time is right," Lan Zhan says, still petting the rabbit in his arms. "Not before. Once he has lived past this mess he is entangled with, we can look to a future. Whether he comes to Gusu or not... will, as always, be his choice."

The discussion has drained Lan Zhan of hiss calm and good humor, graying him now. He would love to grab hold of that happy ending. But happiness and safety have been ripped from his hands time and time again. His fear is sensible, his reluctance reasonable.

Even now, over a decade later, his heart still hurts, the scars still pull uncomfortably, and he wonders if immortality if actually a goal he should strive for.