Chapter 12: The Hero Comes Home

The Hero's column reached the fork at noon, and it took an hour to go past the lantern.

There were forty soldiers in white and gold, two wagons of baggage, and a priest on a mule.

At the front, on a white horse with a braided mane, rode Kaito Asahina.

He had grown.

He sat taller than he used to, and his hair had been cut by someone expensive.

The armor on his chest caught the sun.

Beside him rode the girl with the gold-trimmed cloak.

She was the Princess, twenty-one years old, with a pale clever face and eyes that missed nothing.

She looked at the lopsided sign above the door, and at the new tiles on the roof.

Then she looked at Hanae, standing in the yard with flour on her apron.

Then she smiled the same small smile she had smiled at the gate.

Hanae kept her hands still.

Kaito swung down from the saddle.

"Hanae!" he cried, and opened his arms. "You kept the light on!"

He hugged her.

He smelled of horse and soap and some sweet oil from the capital, and she stood in his arms.

"Look at you," he said warmly, over her head, so that everyone could hear.

"My little neighbor, with her own inn. Isn't it charming? She always did like to cook."

"She waited for me here, you know, all this time."

"I didn't wait," said Hanae.

He laughed.

"Your Highness, may I present Morikawa Hanae, a dear friend of my family since we were children?"

"Hanae, the Princess is the Crown's envoy to the Hero's party."

"I am delighted," said the Princess, and she was not.