Honoured (NaNoWriMo18)

ii. the burden of war

"I am going back to the battlefield."

At first, Jun thought she misheard. He had already served in the army, and he was barely in any condition to even so much as walk for too long. Surely she was mistaken?

As the words echoed throughout her mind, however, she knew she had heard him correctly. He was going back.

"Why?"

It was the only word she could get herself to think, let alone say.

A grim smile formed on Bao's face. "The Ozawa Clans are invading, so Emperor Zao wants to raise an army at Jinsu to stop them." He paused, plucking the opened scroll from within his sleeve. "This is a document requesting one man from each family joins the army."

One man. If Jing had still been here, he would have been the one to go off to war, but because of Jun, her father was the one that would have to.

"You can't," she protested. "You're ill! You can't go!"

Her vision blurred slightly, but she wiped at her eyes before any of the tears could fall. One glance at her mother told her that there had already been enough crying.

Bao couldn't seem to meet her eyes, instead he brought his gaze to the scroll. "There was one more thing mentioned in this letter, but since most can't read, I doubt this will be common knowledge."

He seemed hesitant, which was odd enough, but there was a flash of fear in his expression that Jun would have missed if she had so much as blinked, which was enough to silence whatever complaint she had for the moment.

"It seems the Great Dragon is awake."

Every child knew the legend of the Great Dragon. It had once terrorized the nation, but was now in a deep slumber. There was a prophecy stating that if the Dragon were ever to wake, the land would be engulfed in flame.

With both the Great Dragon and the Ozawa Clans' invasion, the empire of Zao was at a great disadvantage. It was no wonder they needed an army raised.

"You would be hunting the Dragon?"

There was a clatter as Su stood up, scooping up her bowl and utensils before leaving the room. Her body seemed stiff as it moved, and Jun guessed she didn't want to hear any more of this; not for a second time.

"That, I don't know," he replied, once Su was outside of hearing range. His voice dropped, and Jun found herself taking her seat again. "The messenger mentioned a training camp, so I'm assuming the veterans would be sent off to battle immediately. I just don't know whether the fight is with Ozawa or the Dragon."

He stood up, eyeing the direction Su had gone. "It will be a few weeks trip, so I leave in the morn'."

Except he will likely never make it there. Even if he did, there was only enough medicine to last a month before he would need to find a way to get more. He would either die from illness, or on the battlefield, and that thought helped him stand tall.

His daughter was no fool. She likely knew this as well as he did.

This would be his last dinner as a family.

Despite this, his eyes crinkled as he gave Jun a comforting smile. "Take care of your mother, will you?"

Jun only nodded, her bark colored gaze stabbing into the table in front of her. Willing herself not to cry.

Even though she had only eaten half of her soup, she stood up, collecting both her and her father's bowls and set to work washing them. Her hands itched to move, though her mind could only focus on one thing.