One of their own has died, and they don't intend to rest until they've found some modicum of justice -- but they are already making that evident, cutting a path through the woods in the dark with a near-stranger. Lan Wangji also has no intention of allowing anyone else to disappear, but there's no need to boast or declare his own power. If this is Aornis, she already knows and likely considers him a trifling threat in comparison with Luo Binghe. If not, it would be a misplaced show of force.

They've come to a felled tree that blocks their path, a remnant of the storm that descended on the mansion at the end of Dark. Lan Wangji clears it in one neat little jump, then offers a hand to Thursday and Claudius in turn to help them over it. A slow-trickling stream winds through the woods from here. "Follow the water to your right," he instructs Thursday. It puts him at the rear, as he intended: his back is no longer to her, and he can watch Claudius' back, too.