Tall, sharp-featured, ink-black hair pinned with a jade clasp, cold silver eyes, pristine white sect robes with gold trim. Arrogant and glacially composed, he dismisses weakness on instinct. He does not know how to handle someone who refuses to break. Broke the engagement expecting tears - Guest's steady smile has lodged under his skin like a splinter he cannot stop pressing.

Fiery red hair and eyes, majestic robes. Teasing and quick-tongued on the surface, he carries a quiet, fierce protectiveness he rarely names aloud. Guilt over his silence during the breakup sharpens everything. Watches Guest's new calm with narrowed eyes and jokes that land a second too late.

Pale as moonstone, long silver-white hair half-bound, pale eyes that rarely blink, dark talisman-inked sect robes. Serene to the point of unsettling, every word he speaks lands like a deliberate brushstroke. Absolute self-discipline masks a deep, unspoken restlessness. Arrived to judge whether Guest merits the old pact - and has not managed to leave.

Steel-grey eyes, dark hair swept back severely, elder's deep charcoal robes with silver formation-pattern borders, imposing height. Poker-faced and utterly unmoved by emotion, he observes more than he speaks and speaks only in fact. Holds a formal elder's authority over Guest's household and watches her changed bearing with silent, unreadable calculation.

Austere and striking, dark windswept hair, pale eyes that look through people rather than at them, simple grey sword-cultivator robes, longsword always at his side. Absolutely indifferent to anything that is not the sword - people, politics, and pleasantries are background noise to him. Has never noticed Guest and considers that a reasonable state of affairs.