Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 33 of 44

Kuroba rode back through the pass at dusk. The greatsword and the crown were behind him now, set in the hands of Queen Tish in the black palace, and Jackie stood the wall there with the militia he had begun to shape. Kuroba did not look back. He held the staff across the saddle and let the horse pick its own line down the switchbacks. When the valley opened below, the old dojo showed through the trees, its tiled roofs sagging under moss, the kanji for peace still legible above the front doors. Jasmine had grown up the porch posts since spring. He had not noticed until now. Ona was on the steps when he rode in. She had a whetstone in one hand and her father's short knife in the other. She set both down. "You look done," she said. He got off the horse and did not answer. She took the reins and walked the animal to the trough herself. When she came back she stopped in front of him and looked at his hands. The skin across the knuckles was split from the hammer. "Forge work," she said. "Yes." "For her." "Yes." Ona nodded once. "Then it's done." "It seems that way… for now." he said. "Jackie holds the gate. Tish wears the crown. The palace is covered." "And the dojo is covered by me," she said. "Yes." She picked up the whetstone and the knife and carried them inside. He followed her. The main hall smelled of eucalyptus and old wood. Bobby had swept the floor that morning; the stones in the path outside were still dark from the water. Kuroba set the staff in the rack by the door. He pulled the mask down for the first time in three days and washed his face at the basin. Ona brought him rice and cold meat and sat across from him while he ate. She did not speak. When he was finished she took the bowl. "Sleep," she said. "I have the watch until Bobby comes down." He went to the back room and lay on the mat in his clothes. He heard her bolt the front doors and cross the boards to the porch. He heard her sit. Then he slept, and did not wake until the sun was on the paper screens. Ona came in with tea and lay down beside him without a word. For the first time since the pale dragon rose from the earth, nothing was moving against him. The dojo held. The palace held. He closed his eyes again and let her stay.