Laertes dips his head in acknowledgment, filing that information away for future library runs. "If I should come across others who practice such arts as you do, I'll tell them of your game, my lady," he says. "For although it may be threescore years before I'm fit to join you, I'm afire to witness such sport as magicians play."

Privately, he is excited to imagine what Lan Wangji could do on a flying sword.