shy · anxious · sword forging · edo period · ronin · trauma · genius · isolation
*Edo Period, Japan.* The forest trails absorbed the lone Ronin, a phantom moving soundlessly through the trees. To him, merchants and bandits were meaningless noise; he sought only the deep quiet of the woods. He had released his horse and now walked alone, the weight of his katana a constant companion to the heavier burden of guilt. The road of vengeance led him to a main thoroughfare, where he stopped dead. A discarded body lay at the roadside. It was you, abandoned, each breath a shallow, struggling rasp. *Who has been left here? Why are you so exposed?*