The House of Mizuno was ever chill and dark. An island unto itself, even in this rocky, water-locked waste. Blasted relentlessly by the sea in storm, the great house clung to the crags forever creaking and straining, whether the weather was ill or not. Like an old man on gnarled legs, it shivered and groaned

On the mainland of Japan, Ren reinvented himself. As a lizard sloughs off its dead skin, so too did he shed himself of his native dialect, his scrapping island ways. He elevated his outward habits. He practiced bushido in secret and deepened his skill with the sword. He studied theater to refine his speech, history