"Me?" He laughs, bumping his arm against Jiang Cheng's, the level of affable he allows himself to settle into more concretely over the months they're spending here together. Not all edges will ever smooth over, but the poison beneath so much of it, the rot, has better been excised.

They cannot reclaim the past, but they've been redefining the present, and might find likewise, they can create a future that is less the permanent pain of their losses and failings, and something closer to forgiveness.

"Oh, here, nothing much. They say, move camp! I help move camp. They say, we need another body on this equaliser installation! I offer my body willingly. Perhaps my worst so far is... leaving fruit offerings at the statues back where we arrived."

He shakes his head, as if this is all terribly lamentable.

"These haven't been just or kind distortions of the past imposed over the present, have they."