The Sword of Kaigen

by M.L. Wang

The moon and the ocean fear no change.

“Most strong things are rigid. If you are water, you can shift to fit any mold and freeze yourself strong. You can be strong in any shape. You can be anything.”

You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young.”

Suddenly, it wasn’t as though he was missing fingers. His fingers were the snow. They were the rivers, reaching all the way down the mountain to sink into the ocean and grasp the power of gods. He wasn’t bleeding out. He was the mountain. For the first time in his life, he was perfectly, overwhelmingly whole.

“Five people were here in the house with me when the Ranganese broke down the doors, and all of them are with us now.” Her snarl turned predatory, and she felt the need for blood in her teeth. “One of our sons was with you. Just one. And where is he now?” “Misaki—” “Where is he now, Matsuda Takeru?” she demanded savagely. “Where is he now?”

Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it.

“I had a brilliant son, loving friends, and a whole family growing up all around me. And I was too wrapped up in my own regret to cherish it. I didn’t take ownership of that life until it was all slipping through my fingers and it was too late.”