[Sumi had, in fact, seen the phoenix. She'd seen people whose entire bodies were covered, like Huo's was now, so she'd considered it prudent to check her back when the markings appeared. It had confused her, though, because the phoenix generally had positive connotations, while practically all the other images she'd seen looked frightful in some way, or depicted violence and death.

Maybe she'd violently killed a phoenix. Who knew?

Sumi's eyebrows inched higher when Huo rather inelegantly dodged the subject. She'd read his comments in the journal, and was fairly certain that he'd felt strongly about the meanings of the tattoos. Now he was hemming.] Could they? I rather think they have fairly specific meanings, even if we don't necessarily have enough information to ascertain that meaning.