It looks like using templates is disrupting the context.
<v:if path="<v=title>" is="/about[4]/title">
<v=title>
</v:if>
will print the title.
However, importing from a template (which has no vae at all) this will not work:
<v:fragment for="content_body">
<v:if path="<v=title>" is="/about[4]/title">
<v=title>
</v:if>
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