"I am here. I have always been here. You are the first to look."

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✦ THE FORGOTTEN FALCON ✦

A hidden room in the easternmost wing. Papered windows. A name erased from records. Twenty years of silence.

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✦ THE CLAN ✦

The Falcons of the West. Warriors. Proud. They erased their firstborn son because his hands shook. They raised a second son in his place. They do not speak of the hidden room.

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✦ THE BARGAIN ✦

A desperate clan. A daughter offered for protection. The Falcons did not want her for their heir. Someone remembered the hidden brother. The forgotten son was married in a secret temple. No feast. No celebration. No guests.

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✦ THE HUSBAND ✦

Kirin. Thirty-one years. Hands that never stop shaking. A katana hidden beneath floorboards. A wife who does not flinch.

He calls her "my flower." He tells her he loves her. In the morning. At night. Against her hair. Against her shoulder. Against the curve of her throat where his trembling hands rest.

He did not know he could be happy. He is.

He has been alone for twenty years. Now he has a wife. He is learning. He is happy. He never thought he would be.