It is true, which is what makes it a painful reminder. It would be impossible to winnow Lan Wangji's objections down into succinct words, especially in front of Sagramore, a friend with whom he has only just begun to share a few small parts of himself, and Magnus, who sees him as a figure of parental authority. He walked away, once, handed himself over for punishment trusting that Wei Ying would survive the way he impossibly survived everything, and he was wrong. If he had come to the Burial Mounds even a day or two later, A-Yuan would not have survived, and instead of a living, wailing reminder of Wei Ying and the Wen remnants, he would have found the cold body of a lonely orphan.

Magnus is neither of them, and they are both alive now. Lan Wangji has a talent for seeing their ghosts regardless. If Magnus had lived, doubtless they would not be here now, making tamales in the kitchen, and yet the injustice of his death rankles anyway.

He takes a careful breath as he steps away from the stove to begin peeling the blackened skins from the peppers. "There is no need to be sorry." Perhaps he overstepped. He only wants Magnus to know that his death is not a trivial matter to him.