Ah. Two thoughts connect. “Lan Wangji was concerned about starting a witch hunt,” he says. “Against Luo Binghe, in fact. Galahad tried to fight Luo Binghe on my behalf … and his anger was clarifying for me. To everyone else, I'm sure I seemed reeling and unreasonable for unearthing a settled grudge. But I’d never expected anyone to take my part the way Galahad had. I’d never been told, in the way Galahad told me, that my pain mattered. I was alert for consequences. Galahad's nightmares were it, I thought -- petty cruelties to salve Luo Binghe's wounded pride. But I confided in Lan Wangji, and it's for my peace of mind that he's been investigating. He and I both interviewed Shen Yuan, and we both came to the same conclusion. Luo Binghe wouldn't harm one of Shen Yuan's friends. To Shen Yuan, I'm sure I seemed as unreasonable for suspecting it as I am for still dwelling on any harm Luo Binghe's done to me."
Another reason, Claudius thinks, not to push the feelings he's tried to suppress on Sagramore. It's safer for him to be Shen Yuan's friend, and safer to be Luo Binghe's friend, too. This is the peace you wanted, he reminds himself. Sighing, he says, “It’s true Lan Wangji hasn’t found other suspects. But she wasn’t on the list to be considered. She was on the list of victims. She spoke of bad dreams ... and I confess I encouraged her to think of them as Luo Binghe’s doing. She mentioned them to Lan Wangji before me -- and Luo Binghe was also his first thought, for all the effort we’ve gone to clear his name.” And so? How did it all circle back here? Was it just the inevitable tangle of information, rumormongering gone awry, conflating victim and suspect in the end? If Luo Binghe seemed so obvious, and yet was cleared of suspicion by the two who suspected him first, why suspect Aornis without even a flicker of a motive? What motive could there be? Claudius forces himself to think.
“Was it ... provocation, perhaps?” he muses aloud. “Or if not provocation, pulling strings, to see how they connect. Speak of dreams, and see whose name is mentioned. Send dreams, and see who’s blamed for them.”
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Another reason, Claudius thinks, not to push the feelings he's tried to suppress on Sagramore. It's safer for him to be Shen Yuan's friend, and safer to be Luo Binghe's friend, too. This is the peace you wanted, he reminds himself. Sighing, he says, “It’s true Lan Wangji hasn’t found other suspects. But she wasn’t on the list to be considered. She was on the list of victims. She spoke of bad dreams ... and I confess I encouraged her to think of them as Luo Binghe’s doing. She mentioned them to Lan Wangji before me -- and Luo Binghe was also his first thought, for all the effort we’ve gone to clear his name.” And so? How did it all circle back here? Was it just the inevitable tangle of information, rumormongering gone awry, conflating victim and suspect in the end? If Luo Binghe seemed so obvious, and yet was cleared of suspicion by the two who suspected him first, why suspect Aornis without even a flicker of a motive? What motive could there be? Claudius forces himself to think.
“Was it ... provocation, perhaps?” he muses aloud. “Or if not provocation, pulling strings, to see how they connect. Speak of dreams, and see whose name is mentioned. Send dreams, and see who’s blamed for them.”