Blame

"That's about everything important that happened." I explained.

I had moved out of Niam's arms a few minutes into telling the part of the journey where Niam was unconscious. I was embarrassed by how much I had cried on his shoulder. A clear wet patch had formed on Niam's black Kimono. He did not care which made me feel a lot better.

"How did they treat you here? Were there any complications?" Niam asked.

"Not really. I think they kept their real thoughts hidden away because of you. Every elder of your family realized just how much you had endured until this point. Your appearance and the stories that I told were the reason for that. You have gained some respect from the elders. I can't say much about the ones in our age range. I spoke with some briefly, but never more than it was necessary." I moved my head towards Niam's ear and whispered. "Some of them are weird."

Niam looked uneasy. He considered himself a burden, I was sure. He tried to find the right words to say, but knowing him, he didn't need to come up with meaningless words that tried to either apologize or thank me.

"You don't have to say anything." I said. "If the roles were reversed, you would've said that it was no problem, and that even greater hardships would follow."

He smirked. I had read him like a book. His mind was taken off of it and he let himself feel amused. 'The old Niam is back. And he is stronger than ever.'

"Your training. Don't tell me about it. I feel like I have to concentrate on my own path. I can't afford to stay a one-Cored Bearer. Your ways of training or methods differ from my path's ways. Just continue the way you are going now. I'm sure the Takeda Clan will help in your development as an archer."

*Niam Henka*

Tsuki had explained what had happened to her after I became a vegetable. It took about 2 hours for her to catch up to the present. It was around 9 pm, and I felt tired. My body was still using a lot of energy to balance itself. So I decided to sleep.

The next morning, I was called for breakfast. Tsuki woke me up and brought me to the estate's dining room. Almost all of my uncles, aunts, cousins and in-laws were present and sat along the long floor table. At the end of the table was my grandpa, Lord Henka. He, a slim, bald-headed and long white-bearded man looked at me with great interest. 'Time to be judged...'

I saw Tsuki's behaviour change drastically. I adapted as well and bowed deeply to greet my family members.

"Good morning. Thank you for taking care of me."

In response everyone slightly bowed back except Master Henka. I sat down on my legs and waited for Lord Henka to take the first bite. When he did, everyone started to eat. The table was silent, just as I liked it to be. 'A man needs some peace and quiet in the morning.

While eating, I realized something. I wasn't trying to survive in unknown territory anymore. Here at Henka estate, I had found some sense of safety. Immediately after that realization, the energy that was constantly used by my brain to calculate and survive was minimized. I felt huge amounts of energy be at my disposal again.

I looked around the table, trying to memorize my family members' faces and link them to their names. I noticed one aunt in particular. She was missing and arm and an eye. I wondered how her fighting style had changed after being handicapped.

Aunt Daitan noticed me observing her. As a response, she cheekily grinned. 'She is up to no good...'

After everyone was finished eating, the rooms' attention fell on me and Master Henka. Everyone expected him to say something.

"Do you feel better, my son Niam?" Master Henka asked with a powerful, yet calm, voice.

"I do, Master Henka."

"Come to my room in 15 minutes. I want to talk to you." He said. Then he turned to Aunt Daitan. "You come in 30 minutes."

"Understood, Father." She responded.

"You can go now." Master Henka ordered.

Everyone stood up and went into various directions. I went back to my room, Tsuki following close behind me.

Back at my room, the first thing I did was talk to Tsuki.

"You should go back. I need to settle in." I said.

"I know. I was going to tell you that I was going to go now. I was only allowed to leave the Takeda estate because you woke up. Unless you visit me, I can't come to you."

"I see. Is Gin here at the stables?"

"Yes, she is." She stood awkwardly at the room's entrance. "So I'll be going now."

She left, just like that. It was the first time I saw Tsuki go somewhere out of her own free will.

I proceeded to take a quick bath after Tsuki left. I left my room just to see Kagami waiting for me. He knew I didn't know where Master Henka's room was, so he voluntarily waited for me to come out.

"You are late, you know? About 3 minutes too late. You're new, so it might not be a problem. You need to be more punctual." Kagami said.

"That's not possible. My sense of time never failed me."

"I guess this is a first then. Maybe because you're injured... Let's go, he is waiting."

I stood in front of Master Henka's room.

"I am here, Master Henka." I announced my arrival.

"You may enter."

I slid the door to the side and was met with multiple bladed weapons, pieces of armor and flags with the symbols of our clan. The room was naturally lit by the sun, creating reflections in various spots in the room due to the blades.

I bowed deeply.

"Sit."

I followed the order of Master Henka as if I was a dog.

"I'm sorry about your mother and father. You have my condolences."

"Thank you, Master Henka."

"I remember it vividly. When your father came to visit us, he asked to marry your mother. And by tradition-" He reminisced, but I cut the last part off.

"A man must fight and defeat a female member of the clan in order to be allowed to marry her."

"That... is right. It seems that your mother has taught you they ways of our family. Does it also include the Space Entity Style?"

"Yes, Master. My mother taught me until I managed to beat her in combat. After I was able to beat her, we trained together and I stopped receiving any more lessons."

"I... I feel the need to apologize. What we did to your mother was unjust. We regret that we treated her the way we did." He said sadly, tears welling up in his eyes. "It's good to see that she even blessed the family with a descendant. We always thought that she completely rejected us after she left."

Grandpa's tears rolled down his cheeks, showing regret. I doubted the tears to be real, considering we shared the same blood.

"Your apology doesn't concern me. It is my mother that you wronged, and she is dead. It has nothing to do with me."

"You are right, you are smart. But would you still consider telling me more about yourself? Not the things that happened after the impact, but the things that were in your life before."

"I won't, respectfully, Master Henka. What is important is that I am here now, seeking guidance and shelter."

"I see." He paused. "I guess we'll start from the beginning then. Every child that carries the Henka blood has a birth right. That being a Katana. The Katana you carried was your mother's. We took it and placed it into the family's shrine, if you wondered what we did to it. We will begin by having a Katana be forged for you."

Just as Master Henka finished his sentence, a female voice could be heard from behind the shoji.

"I am here, Father." She announced herself.

"Come in, Daitan."

It was Aunt Daitan, the crippled aunt. She slid open the door, entered and sat down beside me. And just like she did at breakfast, she cheekily smiled at me.

"Tsuki told me about that." Master Henka pointed at my left hand. "Loss of grip strength. Unable to wield a sword properly in short. But as you can see, you aunt has a handicap as well, and that she did not have for less than a year. She lost her arm and her eye in the war. And since then, she trained herself to be able to wield a sword with only one arm. I see fit that you should learn from her. Do you have any objections?"

"I don't." I responded.

"Good. Your training starts now. She will fill you into the details later."