to the time of greatest sorrow, in the time of greatest need (джен)

Ten seconds ago, Jin Rulan had been standing in a nice village, trying to untangle the qi powering a cursed object. “It makes people disappear,” while accurate, was not a helpful description of what he wanted to find and ease apart so that the power could naturally return to the world.
Five seconds ago, Jin Rulan had found the central tangle, and tugged on it.
Right now, Jin Rulan was standing on the edge of a faintly familiar cliff, staring down at two people he couldn’t believe he recognised.