22 - Aihi
The streets of Nagasou's Upper District hushed when Aihi and her procession marched to the Sānlóngguón diplomat's quarters. Workers had cleared away the snow, leaving the road pristine and shimmering like ice.
Aihi came dressed for battle.
Not because she needed both her katana and wakizashi at her waist or the two tantōstrapped to her arm and thigh—she could have fought with both arms behind her back and the energy supplied by her irezumi—but because she needed Nianzu and Zixin to stop thinking of her as a dainty princess and instead as a blooded warrior.
She was a more subdued version of Takeha's ferocity with her row of smaller topknots, each spiked with dragon's claws, a net of sapphires weaved through her tight braids. Instead of the jūnihitoe, she wore gold and azure pl
