Wei Dong didn't emerge from his quarters for two full days after the assessment. When he finally did, it wasn't toward the training grounds or the mess hall, but toward Elder Rong's private chambers, moving with the stiff, deliberate walk of someone who'd rehearsed what he was about to say and still wasn't sure he believed it himself.
Rong's attendant almost turned him away. Rong himself, curious despite his own troubles, allowed the audience.
"You're the cousin," Rong said, seated with his still-useless arm resting in his lap, studying Wei Dong with something between contempt and calculation. "The one who stripped his badge."
"I want to help you deal with him," Wei Dong said, the words coming out faster and rawer than he'd planned. "Whatever you're planning against Wei Liang. I know th
