If he hadn't already experienced being at the top, only to start all over again with nothing, he would find this place maddening. He still did, at times, if he was honest. The powerlessness and the frustration that follows are difficult feelings to overcome, but in the end, just stepping stones on the way to finding another way. There's always another way, he tells himself.

"We're going to get out, together," he insists, even as Lan Zhan leans in to kiss him. If nothing else, he is stubbornly resolute in his goals, unwilling to bend so long as he's fighting for a worthy cause. So many times it has meant putting aside his own feelings, his own power, his own pride, whatever it took. And he'd do it here too, if he had to, but the difference was that he had a selfish stake in it as well. His own happiness is tied so intrinsically to Lan Zhan's, he can't possibly sacrifice one without the other. For perhaps the first time in his life, his own survival is starting to play a factor in his decisions.