Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 32 of 44

Kuroba left Ona on the porch at first light. He told her Bobby would ride down from the pass by midmorning to watch the square with her. He did not tell her where he was going. She looked at the staff by the door and back at him and nodded once. He took the staff and a plain riding cloak and went east on foot. By the time the sun cleared the ridge he was through the pass and the black palace stood ahead, gold trim burning in the new light. He did not go to the front hall. He crossed the yard to the forge behind the kitchens. There was a forge there. Kuroba worked the fire himself. He drew ethereal chi into his hands the way he had drawn it in the palace fight, but slow now, threaded into the metal instead of thrown. He hammered a blade from black stone, onyx and obsidian. He set stones from the palace vault into the guard and the pommel, one at a time, each pressed with a breath. When the greatsword cooled he laid it across the anvil and started on the crown. He shaped the band from the same black steel and set the gems by hand. He did not sleep. He carried both pieces up to the hall on the second evening. Tish was at the long table with a ledger and a cup of tea. Jackie stood at the far wall and did not move. Kuroba set the greatsword flat on the table and the crown beside it. The stones caught the lamps. "These are yours," he said. "The blade will hold a strike from a lava edge. The crown will let you feel a lie in the room." Tish looked at the crown a long moment before she touched it. "Why now," she said. "Because I will not always be at the gate," he said. "And because the palace needs to look like it has a queen, not a woman they pity. Ideally… you’ll never have to use it. Jackie is a capable protector. But you must have it. Just in case. Plus… it looks good on you." Tish lifted the crown and set it on her head. She did not smile. She pulled the ledger back toward her and turned a page. "Then I will wear it," she said. The palace was hers now in a way it had not been that morning, and the dojo was still Kuroba’s to defend and cultivate.