Kuro was given a vague warning when Sólstaðuric forces came to Hiroki—Kyoumi knew it wouldn’t stop them, but the request came from Roken. Of course, the foreign leader didn’t seem optimistic either, but she understood it; he said his wife was from Kuro, so there were personal reasons behind the letter.
Until they got word of Kuro’s movement, they planned. Usually, at least her, Sorai, the Hiroki head, and Roken were there—on some days, another Hiroki or a Sólstaðuric chief might join as well. For the moment, however, it was just the four of them gathered around in the makeshift war room.
“We have mostly everything thought out,” Hiroki decided. “We know our general course of action and a few backup plans.”
“Kuro should’ve gotten the message by now,” Sorai said. “We’ll have their answer soon enough—it wouldn’t hurt to keep the soldiers ready.”
“I can go ahead with that,” Hiroki replied, standing up. He nodded towards Kyoumi. “Might want to make sure you can take a few hits, Queen—if you’ve even picked up a sword in your entire live. You’ll need it.”
Kyoumi sighed and stood after he left. “At least I have some assurance that these men thought of Utaka the same way,” she murmured.
“To be fair,” Sorai pointed out gently, “You haven’t had any kind of weapon on or near you since last summer. It does make you look like an easy target.”
Roken stood and looked at both of them. “It shouldn’t hurt to visit the training area. I have silly little questions for you, so we could try out hand at it together.”
Kyoumi nodded, and Sorai—the only one able to easily navigate the Hiroki house, oddly enough—led them outside. The training area was large enough for several smaller groups to train without interfering with anyone else; like the one back at the palace, the outer edges were marked with trees. The sakura petals were getting paler as they fell, with summer getting closer.
She opted to let Sorai and Roken practice first, and tried to entertain conversation to make the sight a little more bearable. Roken helped her in that endeavor, asking after the little cultural things that seemed to have piqued his interest; he explained it by saying his wife was always more interested in Sólstaður’s customs to fully explain her own.
After roughly half an hour, the men opted to pause. Sorai turned towards Kyoumi, offering the sword.
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“Your turn, Kyoumi,” he said kindly.
She hesitated to take the sword—she recognized the faint desire to test how sharp the blades were on her own skin, and it scared her—but Sorai didn’t want to take that as an answer.
“Five minutes,” Sorai tried to reason, frowning when she remained in her position near the edge. “You don’t even have to actually hit me, just try to defend. If anyone needs the practice, it’s you.”
“Dark thoughts don’t bode well with training sessions,” Kyoumi murmured quietly.
Sorai sighed. “Well, now I’ve remembered where Taiyo gets it from. Your reputation’s not getting any better—especially since you have a witness.”
Roken himself, fortunately, was remaining silent. When she glanced at him, a kind of realization came on his face.
“This will possibly sound rude,” Roken began, his expression softening a bit, “But your parents were murdered, weren’t they? Around the same time Nari died.”
She frowned. “Please don’t give me that much pity. Yes, my parents were killed—but in general, I’m…hesitant to put myself in a situation that might lead to certain thoughts. Let’s leave it at that.”
Roken nodded, and put on a more neutral expression; he sat his sword near one of the trees and waited for the other two to take his place.
Sorai sighed yet again, coming close enough to put the sword in her hand. “Five minutes,” he insisted kindly. Quieter, he added, “What will end up killing you wouldn’t be your own blade—it will be one of Kuro’s, if you keep this up. Do it for the boys.”
Kyoumi paused for another moment, then nodded. “For the boys,” she agreed. She accepted the sword now, adjusting her grip for a moment; Sorai, for now, claimed the sword that Roken had used earlier.
…
Kuro sent a group out to the Hiroki fort a few days later. Kyoumi was supposed to stay somewhere in the middle—not as dangerous as the front line, but she would see more action than in the back—but ultimately she barely fought at all. This extended to Sorai, who stayed near her; Roken essentially took Kyoumi’s place as a strong opponent.
Staying out of danger both reassured and worried her—a few soldiers came back to her position every now and then to relay news from further down the bridge. Word came of one soldier whose features were more obscured than the rest; that person caused the most casualties, reportedly killing a few Kuro soldiers as well.
Near the end of the battle, she could’ve sworn she saw that person; they approached, seemed to notice her and Sorai, then ran back towards the front line. The Kuro soldiers started retreating after that, leaving the Gin and Sólstaðuric forces confused.
Kyoumi requested the full report before it was sent back to Gin no Shuto for the Tsujihara family. Over a battle that lasted three hours, Gin lost about a hundred soldiers, and both Sólstaður and Kuro lost a few dozen; Kuro lost their general, which explained their retreat—although they weren’t sure which side did the deed considering the odd soldier. It wasn’t their best, but it was far from their worst.
She hoped they could keep it up. Calling it a success, their next step would go on a definite offensive for the first time in centuries.