Chapter 241
I looked at the small token, the character for heart carved deep into the green stone. It was worn smooth at the edges, polished by years of being held, carried, passed from hand to hand. I thought about my father's hands, how they had guided me through forms when I was young, correcting my stance, teaching me to breathe. How they had held me steady when I wobbled, caught me when I fell, released me when I was ready to stand alone.
He had never been a man of many words. But his hands had always spoken.
"I want you to carry this into your marriage," he said. "Not because you need to be a warrior. But because you need to remember that you already have everything you need inside you. The discipline to stand. The compassion to heal. The strength to forgive." He glanced at the others, then back at me. "That is what I have tried to teach you. That is what I am proud to see in you."
I closed my fingers around the jade. "I will carry it," I said. "Always."
