RONIN
Feeling ever more lost and chastised, Ronin wanted to reply but found that he had no words for Safrin. Whether that was because she was right or because he didn’t feel as though he could offer anything that wouldn’t be rebuffed was anyone’s guess, at this point. He was still meant for so much more, and while once the weight of that responsibility wrapped about him like armour, now it threatened to crush him altogether.
And who was he now, exactly? He didn’t move, watching the flower spin between her fingertips. ”A broken man,” he said simply. ”Once I was naive and optimistic, and I thought I could change the world. So I grabbed life by all the sharpest edges, and they cut me up. I’ve killed too many people, and seen too many die. I’m no longer so entitled as to think that just because I choose the hard tasks, that there will be a happy ending.”
Gazing up at the sky, though, at the star he knew shone down upon him, he couldn’t not think of Vanya. Of the mother of his child, who had asked nothing of him but to stay with her on that last, long night, until she fell asleep forever. ”I’ll do it,” he decided softly and quietly. ”To get her down from the sky, I’ll do it. To protect you from Ludo, I’ll go back to the Grounds and do what I can for LongNight.” And may the gods have mercy on him.
And who was he now, exactly? He didn’t move, watching the flower spin between her fingertips. ”A broken man,” he said simply. ”Once I was naive and optimistic, and I thought I could change the world. So I grabbed life by all the sharpest edges, and they cut me up. I’ve killed too many people, and seen too many die. I’m no longer so entitled as to think that just because I choose the hard tasks, that there will be a happy ending.”
Gazing up at the sky, though, at the star he knew shone down upon him, he couldn’t not think of Vanya. Of the mother of his child, who had asked nothing of him but to stay with her on that last, long night, until she fell asleep forever. ”I’ll do it,” he decided softly and quietly. ”To get her down from the sky, I’ll do it. To protect you from Ludo, I’ll go back to the Grounds and do what I can for LongNight.” And may the gods have mercy on him.
one more wish for you
