Lan Wangji stays silent, expressionless through the slow sinking feeling. He tries, as much as he can, to be honest with Magnus. It is a privilege of this place, of the circumstances that brought them together. This is not like bringing Wen Yuan back from the Burial Mounds and cloaking him in Lan white to keep him safe from his own identity.

He has to fight for the words, and so he speaks slowly. "Those questions were from Claudius. I would not have thought of them myself." It sounds flimsy as he says it. "This technique, Inquiry... it is rare to play more than a few questions. I had not considered disseminating personal messages." Yet another hesitation -- logically, once Claudius asked for two, perhaps he should have thought to ask for more. He has reasons, but they feel like pale imitations of true excuses. "When I played this with Claudius, I was--" His hands, folded neatly in his lap, tighten on one another. "I was overwhelmed." That word seemed to work to express his distress to Claudius. It might work for Magnus, too.