All he can think to say are things Lan Zhan already knows.

I will miss you.

I wish you didn't have to go.

I love you.

It is as if the last day erased all of the three days preceding. If he wants to do something besides pace the floor waiting for Lan Zhan to return, perhaps he ought to re-read his notes and organize them a little better. Or he could give up and abandon thinking altogether for the day: go for a swim, visit the archery range he thought he spotted some weeks ago.

"It has been some time since we explored the forest," he says. "We do not have to hunt, but if you'd like to walk there tonight...?"