Plain Blade

At the mouth of an alley stood a child in straw sandals. No one knew his name. On a cold night in a ruined temple, he traced a symbol beneath the offering table. At the foot of the city wall, a blind beggar casually drew a single stroke. Later, a plain blade left its sheath, and the snow and wind across the land fell still. That symbol, it turned out, was the opening move of a sword technique. And that child never returned to the alley.