She Watched It Burn

5% 17th in The smoke rose long before the stopped. She didn’t run. Didn’t cry. There was nothing left to save. Her village, her kin, the only soul who ever called her by her real name. They left her with fire and silence. She kept both.

Now, the silence walks beside her. The fire moves through her blade. She doesn’t speak of the past. But when they see her coming, they remember what they thought the flames had buried.