Princess Cromwell and Her Six Brothers
"You were clever from childhood, tough in spirit. You focused on precepts and the principles of law, yet you were not as rigid as you are in this life. You seemed aloof and cool, but you valued affection and loyalty the most. You were respectful and devoted to the elders, and you took meticulous care of your martial fellows."
Raiden listened in silence. The images in his mind grew clearer and clearer—mist, peach blossoms, halls, bluestone paths, and himself in plain scholar's robes, standing before the Hall of Precepts with a book in hand, his brows and eyes cool—yet when his junior fell, he reached out first to steady her; when Skyweave shared insights on cultivation, he thought seriously a