"Science Fiction" means—to us—everything found in the science fiction section of a bookstore, or at a science fiction convention, or amongst the winners of the Hugo awards given by the World Science Fiction Society. This includes the genres of science fiction (or sci-fi), fantasy, slipstream, alternative history, and even stories with lighter speculative elements. We hope you enjoy the broad range that SF has to offer.
She puts down the dao; traces the flat of the blade with a callused finger; feels the pitted steel, the runes brocading its surface; breathes out. This is not hers anymore. But its voice knifes through her gut, nonetheless, hot with accusation, the shriek of metal-on-metal, bitter as stomach acids.
"Were they worth it?"
She puts down the shield; puts down the battered, rusted armor, textureless from long use; puts down the visor half-eaten by a dragon's rage; puts down the helmet, the longbow, the quiver of rotting arrows.
"Was it all worth it?"
She pulls back the strings of her apron, twists them into a bow. She will never be graceful enough, never be pliable, never learn how to totter on stilettos without tumbling. Her skin will always bear a memory of iron, her smile a sharpness inexplicable in this manicured battlefield of confections and double-edged compliments. She will always smell of war.
She speaks a single word. Flames, oily, a scintillant indigo, leap to swallow the armament of a life laid to rest. The weapons scream a final assault: was this life worth the cost of the last?
She looks up the stairs. Outside, there is sunlight and the sound of her sons gamboling like foxes through the backyard. And she thinks to herself, as she glides up the rungs:
Yes. Oh, yes.
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, October 13th, 2016
Become a Member!
We hope you're enjoying The Price of Small Joys by Cassandra Khaw.
Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.
Daily Science Fiction does not have a paywall, but we do have expenses—more than 95% of which are direct payments to authors for their stories. With your $15 membership, less than 6 cents per story, we can continue to provide genre fiction every weekday by email and on the website to thousands of readers for many years to come. You may also choose to support us via patreon.
Rate This Story
Please click to rate this story from 1(ho-hum) to 7(excellent!):