I thought the Lord Protector cut it off. Like a loyalty thing. Because he went away and didn't come back when he was supposed to.

I thought it was like those marks some of them are supposed to have, that mean they belong to the Protector's court or whatever, only this is something everyone can see, so it's like a reminder of how he made a hash of things and can't afford to do that again.

I'm not sure we're supposed to talk about this stuff, though. I thought maybe that's why the story didn't really say.