"What is the difference between your sworn brother and I...? The lack of collateral damage?" Runyu ventures lightly, turning over his own situation in his mind. "Is it easier to let go of a loved one bloodlessly?"

He does not expect his question to have an answer, only just learning what it means to have something he cannot set down, cannot put aside. He's never been one for attachments, could never afford them, but now... No, that's not right either. Right now, right here, it's irrelevant. Those are the troubles of another man in a different life. Shuangyu has no such worries, even if he is nothing more than a fleeting illusion as his name suggests. Morning frost and nothing more, here and gone, ephemeral and free. The exact counterpoint to his true self, an night dragon with a heart of misty stone.

Touching his hand to Xichen's cheek, he searches the mortal's face for answers he knows will not come.

"Why do you long after that which does not wish to be yours, Lan Xichen?"