Her father Tesson was a strange man. Undoubtedly one of the rulers of the underworld, yet no urge to claim the crown. As soon as she stepped foot through the gate, her father's overwhelming presence disrupted the harmony of her world. His song was louder than anything else, yet deeper and more subtle as well– if the Adjudicators were an empty space in the plane of the world, his was an iron weight molding the whole plane around it.
As soon as she blinked, he was upon her, but his eyes were glazed over and teary. His figure by itself was intimidating, a tall monster of a man nearly double her height, and yet his current appearance was… pitiful.
"Maria? Have you returned?"
He reached out to her, so gently as if afraid to break her. He tried to wipe some blood from her face, but his rough and callused thumb only scratched her skin further.
"Oh, Maria, my dear. I'm sorry, Maria. Tell me I haven't lost you."
"Pops… It's Zora."
But he didn't hear her. He would get like this, from time to time, so she took his hand and began to guide him toward his chambers. He followed her like a lost child, led from the great maw of the entrance to the great hall within.
Like its name suggested, the Iron Palace was built with sturdy metals, but rather than a hasty collage like the buildings seen in all the layers of the Webs, the Palace was a strange feat of clean architecture sitting atop a lonely mountain. Each pillar within the pristine hall was a clean and polished slate, the decorative vines threading the ceiling also made solely of metals.
Acknowledging her entrance, the head servant greeted her austerely, nodding and moving with haste when noticing her father's tame and delirious state. He, too, knew of Tesson's condition.
Tesson's bedroom was as large and grandiose as always, the bed made so mighty so as to withstand his giant frame. The head servant soon returned, providing a little bowl filled to the brim with a purple liquid. Holding that bowl to her father's trembling lips, she soothed him however she could.
"Mom is… Maria is gone, Pops. It's just us."
"No, no, my Maria, I swore…"
Though he had definitely wanted to protest that statement, upon drinking the liquid, he fell asleep despite his struggle.
Zora sighed. She really did resemble her mother with her hair undone, but he'd started having these episodes long before her hair had grown as long as it did. Tesson murmured in his sleep, whispering the name of his love over and over as if he could summon her, fitful and discomforted in sleep yet unable to wake till the day-lights.
Good enough, she supposed, as she'd have to find her siblings in this palace to ensure their safety. The morning would fix things– it always did. At least, that was the consensus she shared with her father, through all these years she'd lived.
Stepping out of her father's chamber, she walked along the long hall that led to the rest of the palace. In her recent absence, it had already changed, with developments to accommodate more followers of her father's smithy. New rooms were erected where the empty hall once mourned the loss of life, adding just a little bit more vitality to the once dead realm.
The head servant returned once more, this time with bandages and antiseptics that he no doubt made himself.
"Must you always get so hurt, young lady?"
"An Ashin heals quickly, Klead."
"Spilled blood is lost blood regardless of who it comes from. I've lived a long life, young lady."
He chuckled.
"I've seen immortals bleed. They will live, of course, yet in the moment, they are most pitiful."
He sat her down on a bench in the grand hall of Tesson's manor, overlooking the many chambers that split off of the mountain manor's main vestibule. Klead's hand was as scarred as she remembered it, with overlapping injuries leaving marks, healed strangely over the course of his long life. His entire body bore at least faint traces of scars, the cicatrix creating a gradient of lighter shades across his darker body.
Yet he, too, was gentle like wind, addressing her wounds tenderly.
"I hate to see you bleed."
"Me? Or blood in general."
He chuckled.
"At my age, all blood seems distasteful. Conflict is for those who have something to prove, and I hope you soon realize you have nothing of that sort."
Zora's deepest wounds were patched up, and her lighter wounds were given ointment to prevent scarring. Klead worked in silence, yet it wasn't uncomfortable. He had taken care of her like this in her youth many times, as well. In the stillness she noticed the color and texture of his grey hair growing more silver and whitish in hue. The way it was combed belied a darker nature.
"Sorry, Klead. For what it's worth, I'm not usually one to bleed," she smiled. "I usually only pick winning fights."
"But when you have people to protect, you act just like your father. And that… scares me."
"Maybe when the kids grow up I'll let them take a hit or two in my stead. Till then, they just need to grow up like normal kids," Zora laughed. "As normal as they can, down here."
Klead smiled too, with a signature warmth.
"They've been worried sick. Would you like to see them?"
Zora nodded.
They both slowly rose from the bench, and Klead gestured for her to follow. His footsteps made no noise on the marble.
In front of one of the doors in the long hallway, Zora stood awkwardly. As the door opened, her little siblings all ran to hug her, not saying a word but not wanting to let go.
"It's ten thousand years too early for you bedbugs to worry about me."
But this affection made her smile. Azi made its way back to her shoulder, and nestled itself there.
***
In no time at all, the kids were sleeping. She was five years older than the twins, and seven over Talin, so seeing them acting like the kids they were, as opposed to- for lack of better words- adults, was a heartwarming sight.
"It was a Snowman I fought," she told Klead, who closed the door behind them. "Likely second-rank, but I couldn't be sure."
"Strange. They never police the Webs. A second-rank would have duties closer to the pit, no?"
"He said I had two million on my head."
"You've become quite something in the time you've been gone, young lady."
"Do you think it was the High Seats of Eden?"
"I wonder as well…"
"Or the Far Duke of Blades? Because I'm collecting the Mirrorblade?"
Klead smiled.
"Do you still believe in that old myth? Of granting any wish to the one who completes it?"
"It's not a myth. It's happened before."
"If you insist," he laughed. "Now get some rest, lady Zora, or you will not heal as much as you'd like."
He left briskly, and she returned to her room for the rest of the night. It was cozy, just like she'd remembered, and some of her older items and trinkets lay around on the walls and in the drawers. How comfortable it was, in a strange way, that her room was still so close to her father's.
The lights would be on by morning, but for now she would let the night take her.
***
Zora awoke to the frenzied jumping of children. Mei and Talin had thrown themselves at her, piling on top of her now-awake self like some overgrown leaves freshly fallen from an ancient and towering tree..
Looping her arms around their napes in a headlock, she squeezed lightly.
"Say, it seems I've found some bedbugs. Are you joining us, Third?"
But Litost shook his head, leaning against the doorframe.
"He's been acting like this since yesterday," Mei pouted. "I think he's been feeling like he's too weak."
Talin added on, "I don't like sparring him anymore. He's too serious and it hurts."
Zora sat up, letting go. They fled to Litost's side, but soon dropped the playful manner upon noticing her more somber expression.
"Alright guys, go find Klead. I'm gonna talk to Li."
Mei left first, cautiously, keeping an eye on the room as she left. Talin followed shortly after, pausing in the same way but scurrying off to catch up with Mei.
"C'mere, Li. Hold Azi."
She patted the bed next to her, so that her brother could sit. Azi traveled from her shoulder to his arms, chittering happily and flailing its stubby limbs in Litost's embrace.
"Is that the problem, what Mei said?"
"...Yeah. You said we can help you when we're older, but we're older and I still feel useless."
"You say useless, but I would be lost without you guys. You're like my anchors in this world, so I don't drift too far and get lost forever."
"Except I'm the one lost, Zora. What do I wield my sword for? Why am I the only one thinking like this? I swing and swing in practice till my hands bleed, but when it comes time to fight my legs freeze and my eyes shake. I couldn't do anything against the Snowman. Nothing at all."
"Me neither, Li. I was too weak to win with my own strength," she smiled weakly.
"What? But you killed him!"
"I didn't. At least, I didn't fire that last shot. He might be alive somewhere, for all I know. Isn't that 'weakness' as well? Not being able to pull the trigger when it matters?"
"No. Kenji said it takes strength to show mercy."
"Maybe," she sighed. "Or maybe your strength isn't one meant to be confined to a sword. Swing and swing all you'd like, but desire can't be learned."
When she looked at him, his gaze was affixed with a learned helplessness, like a flower growing from the side of a cliff. He quickly turned away, hiding his eyes from her– to no avail, as she could hear his heart's song regardless. It spoke of defying those chains, unlearning the roots that held him to that cliff.
But alas, the boy still cried. She saw it faintly, as he too left to join her siblings. The Palace was too large for them to stay in a room and mope. With the help of Klead, they were surely exploring its many facilities.
Now, there was only one guest left to address.
"Come in, old man."
"Good morning, Zora."
"You could have said something to Li, too."
"What could I tell a child who grieves his sword, when I myself am but a shield?"
Zora dug into her chest pocket, bringing out the cracked box, tossing it to Tesson.
"Kenji gave me that. He said you could help me, but I had to… come back."
"You're safer here."
"I'm just fine with the Spiders. At least there, I have some hope of being fixed."
He crouched under the doorframe to fit inside her room. Still, the floorboards creaked wherever his mighty feet stood
"Klead gave me a summary. You have a bounty from Eden?"
"For being what I am, no doubt."
"If that's so, that's even more reason for you to stay here."
"But what if you see Mom again? I know you're running low on opiates too..."
"Just stay inside when the day-lights turn off. Everything will be fine."
She couldn't tell if he was trying to convince her, or himself. For the position he held as one of the strongest creatures of the underworld, the man shook in his convictions. Whenever the day-lights went out, and he saw Zora's face, he would see Maria, though he was sure Maria was dead.
That wasn't the only reason she had wanted to leave so badly. He had said the words 'everything will be fine', to Kenji as well, on a certain day many years prior. When prompted on what to do about the fact that Zora remained an Ashin, Tesson could offer no solution.
Zora remembered very, very well, what he had said–
'It wasn't supposed to be like this. She wasn't supposed to turn out like this.'
They had thought she was sleeping, but she was never a subscriber to having a curfew. Instead, she snooped in on Tesson's office, which doubled as his forge. As she was Ashin, they couldn't pinpoint her presence– she left a little hole in the world that they couldn't find, not the way she could find theirs.
Klead was there too, as well as a fourth man– Curain, who was Tesson's main informant. Maria had passed just a few days prior, and the atmosphere within the entire Iron Palace was dismal and lifeless. Even the bioluminescent plants no longer spewed their little lights, as if the world around them grieved as Tesson did.
"If she wasn't born… Maybe she shouldn't have been born…"
Those words froze her heart. Why would he say that? She stood up from her hiding space. She was young, but not too young that she didn't understand what he meant. That her life wasn't worth Maria's death. Somehow, somewhere, she came about by mistake.
So she left. Under the watch of glowing night, she who was not born of the dark left into the embrace of those who were, leaving the mountain for the second time in her life.