Lan Wangji gives Magnus' shoulder one fond, firm squeeze, his hand heavy there for the time it takes to complete the gesture. The church, such as it is, is still quiet and warm around them, and he steps back only to allow himself to admire it again, to appreciate what Magnus has done. Much of the time, he is glad of all there is to learn, an endless library of inventions and discoveries and histories of years that stretch well beyond his own time. He will never grow bored. He will never run out of books as he once thought he might do with the Cloud Recesses library, which was considered luxuriously expansive. At times, it aggravates him, a petty and almost childish desire for familiarity and for the feeling of unquestioned authority of knowledge he had at the Cloud Recesses. He is caught somewhere between those feelings now.

Some things change very little. This clearing looks nothing like Gusu, but the tranquility it evokes is known, and comforting.