Chapter 42. Something old, something new

The next morning Love found herself in a rare good mood as she made her way through the cold hallway towards the canteen. The clanging sound of her boots hitting the thick metal grates beneath her feet sounding strangely pleasant. 

This was not how she expected to feel just two days before a potentially dangerous mission to the Wastelands but she found it difficult not to feel upbeat. A member of the personnel team had woken her in the morning with a delivery from her old base, and as promised Elora had returned her belongings which she had left behind in her hasty departure. 

And sitting atop the single case was her prized possession. 

Gripping the hilt Love felt as though a weight that she had not been aware of, suddenly lifted from her chest. 

The katana was sheathed in a scabbard of black lacquered wood with a long two-handed grip ending in a plain, but perfectly crafted, circular black guard.