Knife (Your Lancer Interlude 2)
#5 of Your Lancer
Interlude 2/3 of the "Your Lancer" series
This is a complementary material to Part 2 and is meant to be read after that.
A child and his teacher have a talk about what makes a weapon.
Word Count:235
On a sunny day, in the agora,
My teacher asked me:
"What is a knife?"
What a strangely simple question.
"A knife is a weapon."
I answered with pride.
"Is that so?"
The old jackal waddled to a bench.
With the assist of his cane,
He sat with a grunt.
"When a butcher cuts the meat,
Is the knife he uses a weapon as well?"
He stumped me, but not for long.
"Yes. It harms the meat,
So it must be a weapon."
He answered me with a grin.
I fell in one of his traps again.
"Now suppose you find a comrade in a net,
And you cut the rope with a dagger.
Is the knife a weapon then?"
I rushed to answer.
"No. It doesn't harm anyone."
I realized my answer immediately after,
My face quickly heated.
He just cackled.
"Chalkinos, listen well.
A knife is a tool. Always is.
Even if it has the power to harm,
The one to make it a weapon
Is its wielder."
I looked in awe at the man.
He was inspiring and unchanging.
Home had a strange air about it.
But I could find in him
Balance.
Another jackal entered my life.
I misjudged him.
Even if my hand was led,
It was the one to brandish the weapon.
In my bed, I heard,
Along with the footsteps that left my room,
Master Sophron's smug cackling.