by Ryan Kirk
Asa, confused, agreed.
“Good. Find something refined to wear. If you need help, I can have people assist you. Tonight, you’ll be my date to a wedding.”
The look of confusion on Asa’s face itself was worth the evening. They met at the house Kiyoshi had told her about, the house of a wealthy merchant who was a close friend of Masaki’s. At least, as close a friend as one could be to a king.
From the looks Asa was giving all the participants of the ceremony, it was obvious she was completely out of her element. Kiyoshi wasn’t surprised. Like many nightblades, Asa’s life focused on the sword, and her life in particular was focused on revenge. She wouldn’t have made time for weddings and celebrations. Perhaps that was one of the reasons the blades faced the challenges they did. For all their power, they didn’t understand what life was about.
Even though Asa wore civilian clothing, Kiyoshi knew she was carrying at least three weapons.
Kiyoshi offered Asa his arm, which she took after only a moment of hesitation. Together they walked into the receiving hall of the massive house. Kiyoshi watched as Asa took the scene in. He sometimes forgot about the opulence with which the upper class lived. While his own existence was simple, he lived a life surrounded by men of wealth and power, and at times even he took their lifestyle for granted.
The merchant who owned the house saw Kiyoshi and hustled toward him. He bowed deeply. “Kiyoshi, thank you for your presence. We are honored to have you here.”
Kiyoshi returned the bow. “It is the least I can do, but I’m afraid I’m a poor substitute for Masaki. I wanted to let you know that if he were awake and well, he wouldn’t have missed this day for any business of the Kingdom.”
The merchant was visibly moved. “It is very kind of you to say so. He is in our thoughts, and we all wish him a full recovery.”
With that, the merchant continued on his way, greeting the guests. Asa turned to Kiyoshi. “Why are we here?”
“We are here because this man is a friend to the king. Not in a political way, although that is also true. They are actual friends, two boys who knew each other growing up. The king was invited, but because he can’t make it, I’m here to maintain his relationship.”
Asa shook her head. “That’s nice, but what I meant is, why am I here?”
Kiyoshi smiled. “I hope this evening shows you something, something very important.”
“What is that?”
Kiyoshi’s smile turned mischievous. “For that, you must wait awhile. If you don’t mind, of course.”
For a moment, Kiyoshi thought she might turn and leave to resume her hunt of Minori, but something held her back. “Very well.”
They wandered the ceremony without any real purpose. Kiyoshi knew a few of the people present, but not enough to keep them involved in constant conversation. The two sampled all the food that was offered, and Kiyoshi paid attention to the dishes. The food they ate was indicative of the state of trade. Mostly, everything looked to be continuing more or less as normal. He enjoyed watching Asa try dishes far beyond anything she’d ever experienced before. In many ways, it was like taking a child out into the world for the first time. Everything was new, and despite Asa’s nature, he could tell she was enjoying the experience.
A young man came up to them, and although Kiyoshi wasn’t immediately certain, it was soon clear this was the groom. The young man bowed deeply, far deeper than required by manners.
“My bride pointed you out. You are Kiyoshi, who cares for the king?”
Kiyoshi nodded.
“My bride tells me of how kind the king was to her when she was growing up. When he visited, he always brought gifts, and she remembers him fondly.”
“No more than Masaki remembers her. She was always a special girl to him. Were he awake, nothing would stop him from being here.”
The young man seemed unsure of exactly what to say next. “I don’t have much, at least not compared to the king, but if there is ever anything I can do, know our new family will always be there.”
Kiyoshi bowed, more deeply than he had to.
“Thank you. I will make sure Masaki is made aware of your generosity.”
The man, satisfied, left, and Asa turned to Kiyoshi.
“Are you here to make political alliances?”
Kiyoshi glanced at her with a hint of anger. It was the only thing so many people could see, only the advantages to themselves. “No. There’s no doubt my presence here will strengthen the alliance already in place, but that’s not why I’m here.” He looked at the young man as he rejoined his bride. “I’m here because Masaki would want to be here. Once, when that little girl was sick, Masaki sent me to heal her. There was no need. She would have recovered with rest. The merchant and the king were already fast friends, so there was no further political gain.”
He glanced over at Asa and saw her gaze fixed on him.
“He put my gifts to use because he cared. No other reason. And that’s why I’m here today. Because he cares. I do, too.”
He could see a new question forming in her mind. Then she asked, “You’ve given up everything for him, haven’t you?”
Kiyoshi hadn’t ever really thought about it that way. “Perhaps. But not for him specifically. For the Kingdom.”
“What did you do before you came here?”
Kiyoshi laughed. “Nothing worth mentioning.”
They circled the room for a while longer, but once all the guests had arrived, the ceremony began.
For a family of such stature, the affair was simple, lacking unusual extravagances. Although the quality of the food and the clothing showed the clan’s wealth, in many ways the ceremony did not differ from one held in the smallest village. Kiyoshi wasn’t surprised, knowing the family as he did. They were wealthy, but they didn’t lord their money over others, as many were likely to do. They lived well but quietly. Kiyoshi imagined this was one reason Masaki had remained close to them even after his ascent to power.
When the groom read his vow of commitment, Kiyoshi beamed. When the bride read hers, Kiyoshi couldn’t hold back his tears. It was such a bold decision, the choice to spend the rest of your days with another. Kiyoshi had never had such a relationship, and there was a simple beauty there that left him speechless. He remembered healing the little girl, how she had been so polite even when she was sick. To see her now as a young woman, taking this next step, was moving.
Asa noticed his tears but didn’t say anything.
The ceremony was short and soon ended. Afterward came the celebration. Music began, more food appeared as though by magic, and people danced with one another. Kiyoshi, moved by the moment, joined in the dancing. He tried to get Asa to join, but she refused. He felt sorry for the blade, but his joy was such he couldn’t worry much about her behavior.
Kiyoshi lost himself in the beat and even danced with the bride for a few moments before other eager guests got their turn. Eventually his body reminded him he had seen more than sixty cycles of life. He found Asa and sat down next to her. Her patience was clearly running thin.
She let him catch his breath, but then fixed him with her stare. “So, what is it I’m supposed to learn?”
Kiyoshi studied her, saddened that on a day like today, she wasn’t able to see what was right in front of her face.
“What do you see when you look around you?”
Asa looked quickly. “A wedding?”
Kiyoshi sighed. He had held out hope for the girl, but her single-mindedness closed her off. She could have been an ally, but now he wasn’t so sure. “This, right here, this is all that matters. Two lives coming together, to follow the same path for the rest of their lives. All the politics, all the power struggles, your desire to kill Osamu—all of it is meaningless. The only thing that matters is this, that people have the opportunity to live full and happy lives. The Kingdom is only worthwhile so long as it provides these moments. Serving the people is all that matters.”
Kiyoshi stopped. He could start
a rant, but it would do no good. He could already see the range of emotions running over Asa’s face. She didn’t like that he had called her life’s purpose meaningless, and she couldn’t see beyond that.
Asa confirmed his suspicion by standing up and leaving the room. Kiyoshi used his sense and felt her leave the house. Why were they all shortsighted? Asa’s happiness had been taken from her by Osamu’s actions, but even she didn’t recognize how important it was that such events never happen again.
Kiyoshi pushed her out of his mind. He loved weddings, and it would provide him a small glimmer of light in the darkness of daily life. He stood up, ignoring the aches in his body, ready to dance some more.
Chapter 16
Asa left the wedding, her mind more of a mess than it had ever been. Kiyoshi was unlike anyone she had met, and she was struggling to figure out just how he fit into her view of the world. Part of her understood his perspective and even found it appealing. Kiyoshi seemed to have something she didn’t, answers that came from cycles of experience. But the part of Asa that had guided her for so long was strong.
She thought of the long days and nights of her training to become a nightblade. The endless afternoons of meditation and combat practice. The brutal tests of endurance and mental fortitude. Becoming a blade had been the hardest thing she had accomplished, but the thought of revenge had pushed her through.
Her memory stretched back further, and she thought of the final moon of her brother’s life. How he had worked relentlessly to provide for the family, to do what their father should have done. Even when he knew he was sick, he pushed himself out in the fields every day. Asa had tried to get him to go to the village to find a physician, but he always told her he was fine. She didn’t realize until later that they didn’t have the money to pay for a doctor.
For Asa, her revenge always came back to first causes. She couldn’t blame her father for becoming a dayblade. The role wasn’t what he had wanted from life, but if he could make a sacrifice to save his family, he was more than willing. As a dayblade, he had seen little risk in what he was doing. The world had been a relatively peaceful place. She remembered him being eager to heal others.
But he had been at Two Falls, and there was only one person who was responsible—Osamu. The same chain of thoughts had sustained her for countless cycles. As a child she imagined a nameless commander giving the order to kill her father. She had always pictured the commander as a demon from the plays she had seen, with white face and horns. Now, for the first time, she replayed those childhood dreams, this time substituting Minori for the demon. Just like when she was young, the vision fueled her anger and sharpened her focus. It didn’t matter what Kiyoshi said or how noble his dreams were. This was the real world, and justice needed to be delivered.
Night was falling, and the streets, although still relatively empty for Haven, were clearing of people. No one wanted to be out after dark, including Asa. She was more than happy to spend the night ensconced in the bunk she had never reached the night before.
She turned a corner and ended up following a mother and child. Asa didn’t think anything of it until the little girl, who had not seen any more than four or five cycles, stumbled and fell. The tears gathered in her eyes, and although she looked like she would wail, her mother knelt down and comforted her right away.
Perhaps it was because of her recent conversations with Kiyoshi or the paths of remembrances she had already been following, but Asa was reminded of a memory she had suppressed a long time ago.
She had been with her mother not long before she had been sent away. Asa’s recollection was vague, but she remembered being angry, furious that her father wasn’t around. She had always been her father’s girl. She had raged and cried and screamed. Everyone else had dads who came home when the sun set. She didn’t understand why her father never returned.
Asa hadn’t been old enough to understand how her mom must have felt. But the memory struck her like a slap across the face. She always remembered the rage, but today she remembered how her mom had embraced her, her arms wrapped around her daughter in an attempt to keep the rest of the world away. Her mother never said anything, never tried to explain the loss away. She just held Asa, and Asa felt for a moment that on the streets of Haven, she could feel her mom’s tears on her hair.
Asa wasn’t sure she’d remembered the full memory before. Previously, she had always held on to the hate and the rage. But one memory led to another, and the only times she could remember her mom being angry was when Asa misbehaved.
A deep, stabbing guilt struck Asa, deeper even than the spear she’d taken the night before. She pictured herself as a righteous avenger, taking the justice her mother and brother deserved but never received. But they had never raged against their fate. They were sad, but they pulled themselves up and tried to put their lives back together. It wasn’t a new insight, but Asa held her past in a new light as she watched the mother and daughter. Her family had sacrificed everything for her. Everything had always been for her.
When her brother died and she had been identified as sense-gifted, there had been only one way forward for her. Had everything been wrong? She always assumed that if her family knew of her actions, they would look down on her with pride. But they had never wanted revenge. All they had desired was happiness.
Her thoughts brought her full circle, back to Kiyoshi and his little speeches at the wedding. All he wanted was to try to guarantee the most happiness for the greatest number of people. Was he right and she wrong?
Her mind raced in circles, and for a moment, she wondered if she would actually cry. It had been so long. Had all her cycles been misspent? What could she have done with a different goal? What if her family was disappointed in her? Why did she insist on avenging them?
The mother successfully calmed her girl down, and with an apologetic glance back toward Asa, she continued on. A simple moment, no different than any of thousands that happened every day, but it hit her hard. She cursed Kiyoshi for bringing such doubt into her life. What was it about him that caused this?
Then she put her finger on it. He radiated a feeling of peace, of satisfaction with his life. His path brought him contentment—hers, only anger.
Asa swore to herself and turned randomly down another street. She needed to think this through. Perhaps she should take his offer of alliance more seriously.
Asa was surprised by how angry she was. She supposed she should be grateful to Kiyoshi. Not only had he saved her life; he had been kind. After a moment of reflection, she realized she wasn’t angry at him. She was angry at herself. Angry at allowing herself to doubt.
Kiyoshi posed hard questions she had never asked of herself. All she knew, everything she lived for, was based on her desire to see Osamu die for his crimes. She had never questioned, just allowed herself to be driven forward. Kiyoshi didn’t know what she had been through, what the death of her father had done to her family. It was easy to judge someone when you were at a wedding, celebrating and enjoying delicious food, but another when you watched your brother slowly work himself to death and not be able to do anything about his fate. On the day he had died, her brother had been out in the fields, toiling.
But a small part of her wondered if Kiyoshi was right. She had never encountered another person with such a clear vision of their purpose. Kiyoshi gave everything for the Kingdom, and he knew why. He made her feel insecure in her own beliefs, and that angered Asa more than she thought possible.
The observation took longer than it should have, but soon she realized she had walked the streets of Haven alone for the second time in two nights. Her heart sped up for a moment before she calmed. She was still a nightblade, and despite her experiences last night, there wouldn’t be another group of assassins waiting for her. If nothing else, Minori would need several days to plan another attempt on her life. If what Kiyoshi’s shadow said was true, Minori might have other problems on his mind right now.
She sensed him before she saw him. She
couldn’t feel his presence, but she could feel his sense, and he was focused on her.
Asa’s heart stopped. It wasn’t impossible for another nightblade to be out on the streets at this time, but given her recent history, she was more cautious than before. She could tell he was waiting for her, and there was no way she could avoid or hide from him, not with the streets so empty.
Asa calmed herself. Perhaps it would come to battle, but perhaps not. She steeled herself and walked forward. As she did, he detached himself from the shadow of the building.
He was a younger man, taller than Asa and built with a wiry strength. It took her a moment to recognize him, but when she did, her heart raced. He was the nightblade who had welcomed her into Minori’s residence. She reached down through a slit in her robes and drew her short sword, strapped to the outside of her thigh. Her two throwing knives would be useless against an opponent who could sense her throw. She regretted hiding only one sword on herself for the wedding. She raised the blade, drawing the weapon parallel to the ground, ready to fight.
His confusion was evident. “I’m not here to fight. I wanted to meet you.”
Asa’s blade wavered for a moment, but she regained her control and held it steady. There wasn’t anything to say. Despite what he said, there was only one reason he would be here: to kill her. She wouldn’t give him the chance.
Asa sprinted forward, blade in front. She stabbed straight out at the man, right at the center of his torso. The nightblade twisted to the side, but Asa slid to a halt and twisted her wrists, bringing the sword back into line. She snapped her wrists, and the blade was forced to throw himself aside to avoid being cut. Asa followed him as he rolled backward, cutting down sharply with her blade.
The nightblade came to his knees, his own sword drawn. He brought his blade up, deflecting her own overhead strike down and to the side in a classic umbrella block. This put him inside her guard, and Asa backpedaled before he could cut at her. Instead, he took the moment to get back on his feet. A look of confusion bloomed on his face.
