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THE BEGINNING

In the beginning, there were two suns and twopast the truth Past the shaht before A story of good and evil, light and dark A story where the triuh above its eneers reached for the calloused warmth of his uba’s hand The nursemaid from Kisun had been with hi else--she was gone

Now there was no one left

Against his will, the boy’s vision cleared, locking on the clear blue of the noon sky above His fingers curled around the stiff linen of his shirtsleeves

Don’t look away If they see you looking away, they will say you are weak

Once aze

The courtyard before hi white, surrounded on three sides by rice-paper screens Pennants flying the golden crest of the eht stood grim-faced onlookers--samurai dressed in the dark silks of their formal hakama

In the center of the courtyard was the boy’s father, kneeling on a small tatami mat covered in bleached canvas He, too, was draped in white, his features etched in stone Before him sat a low table with a short blade At his side stood the ht his father’s eyes For a ht his father looked his way, but it could have been a trick of the wind A trick of the perfu above the squat brass braziers

His father would not want to look into his son’s eyes The boy knew this The sha the shaan to pound out a slow beat A dirge

In the distance beyond the gates, the boy caught theThey were soon silenced by a terse shout

Without hesitation, his father loosened the knot fro the skin of his stomach and chest Then he tucked his sleeves beneath his knees to prevent hiraced samurai should die well

The boy watched his father reach for the short tantō blade on the small table before him He wanted to cry for hile look ers turning bloodless in his fists He sed

Don’t look away

His father took hold of the blade, wrapping his hands around the skein of white silk near its base He plunged the sword into his stoht His features reh the boy searched for it--felt it--despite his father’s best efforts

Never look away

Finally, when his father stretched his neck forward, the boy saw it A srimace In the same instant, the boy’s heart shuddered in his chest A hot burst of pain glimmered beneath it

Thestrides, then swung a glea katana in a perfect arc toward his father’s exposed neck The thud of his father’s head hitting the tatami mat silenced the drumbeats in a hollow start

Still the boy did not look away He watched the crie of theof the fresh blood caught in his nose--warm metal and sea salt He waited until his father’s body was carried in one direction, his head in another, to be displayed as a warning

No hint of treason would be tolerated Not even a whisper

All the while, no one came to the boy’s side No one dared to look him in the eye

The burden of shaht he could ever bear

When the boy finally turned to leave the e door nearby A nurse off the latch, the other clenched around two toy swords Her skin flushed pink for an instant

Never look away

The nursemaid dropped her eyes in discoirl through the wooden gate They were a few years younger than he and obviously from a wealthy family Perhaps the children of one of the sahtened the fine silk of his ki to acknowledge the presence of a traitor’s son