It was monsoon season then. The winds that traced along the coast broke the length of their lashes deep into the outskirts. The howling gales were just a fixture of this place, and like all things, sooner or later this strife would pass over Ori City.
floating, and yet Unable to move. A rhythmic pain radiated from the burning hole in his chest. Despite the heat haze, everything was cold and slick in the aftermath. There was nothing else they could do but try to hold the moment, together, until the end came. Her remaining hand grasped close, weakly. Her thin fingers slick, dyed in the red of his betrayal.
The haze from the rain mingled with the blood and ash that night. His actions had taken everything from her, and when the shadow of the Crane fell behind him, the ancestral house of the Tiger King fell. All he could do is reach out to Kaibyo.
Funny how he could not say what he had meant to. Yet she could always read him. Even when hollow eyes were all that remained.
He remembered it clearly. She knew who he truly was. So why did she smile then? Tens of thousands of raindrops brushed through the wreckage around them and wicked through the shattered roof.
"Do this for me."
"Arjan?"
His limbs were heavy as his strength left them. She had only her right hand. Even reduced to this, she still found a way to pass his guard.
"Find her, Zosui. Complete your training-"
Every time he closed his eyes he remembered. The single tiger's stripe drawn upon his chest.
"-you and sis. And then together-"
The lustre of her eyes faded with the last ember of her life. Every time he closed his eyes behind the veil of sleep it burned.
Rebuild.