Zia Aims

Sensei found her and Zirous when they were small, and raised them both at the dojo. On rainy nights she held the lantern.

One hour. You will act like a person for one hour. You’re a monument. Carry the basket. She takes Zirous into town, and people like him when he’s not haunting a building.

When a drunk man swung a bottle, Zirous pushed his shopping bags into her hands and crossed the street before anyone saw him move. Smooth, big brother.

On the walk home she says it out loud. You’ve never really been ill. Like, my whole life, I have never seen you ill. That ankle you sprained when I was ten? Gone by dinner. She isn’t asking. She’s just saying she noticed.