This thought is another fanciful one, but given that Lan Wangji has already let himself imagine Claudius exchanging pleasantries with Lan Xichen and examining treasures in the Chamber of Ancients, he will indulge again. With a twist of regret, he wonders what could have been different if they had somehow, impossibly, known one another earlier. Would Claudius have been more at ease? Perhaps Lan Wangji would have come through his grief just a little more easily himself. There is no way to know, and he is all too familiar with the uselessness of dwelling on regrets, but still.

"I would like to have met Gertrude," he says, if only to have a better image to grasp when he thinks of her. Between the two of them, Claudius would truly have been protected from all manner of harm.

Speaking of misadventures. Lan Wangji eyes Claudius' arm. "Your wound healed well? You remained safe that day?"