Before the Blade is Drawn

In the crèche behind the iron Sweet joy was all she heard Then her father came like winter and she left without a word He took the child from sunlight from the guarded, quiet halls And gave her to the training yard where mercy learns to fall He taught her where the pulse lives He taught her where it ends He taught her every smiling mouth may hide a blade within Crossbow, staff, and hidden knife powder, dart, and flame A princess is a target until danger knows her name See the hand before the strike See the lie before the word Hear the threat beneath the silence before the threat is heard If the world has teeth, my daughter then bare your teeth as well No throne for mercy No softness where you dwell Before the blade is drawn before the crown can fall Before they name the war she’s already seen it all Ulisin, Ulisin daughter of the vow He taught her how to rise again so she would never bow No kiss upon her forehead No comfort in the night His love was in the bruises that blossomed from each fight He set her against giants and watched without a sound But when she rose still breathing he gave a nod, and turned around No throne for mercy No tears before the men No heart upon the table where the wolves come in again If they will call you woman like a weakness or a chain Then make the word an omen and teach them to fear your name Before the blade is drawn before the crown can fall Before they name the war she’s already seen it all Ulisin, Ulisin daughter of the vow He taught her how to rise again so she would never bow But somewhere past survival past the lessons and the scars She looked beyond the throne room to the nations and the stars Ruling was a shelter but conquest was a door If enemies may rise one day then why not rise before? She learned to count the living like shadows on a wall To weigh a thousand beating hearts and never hear them call Pity was a doorway Mercy was a chain The future was an enemy that had not yet learned its name She did not become empty She became exact Every tenderness within her was folded into fact And somewhere in the silence where the child had been before A queen looked out through human eyes and opened up the war No throne for mercy No throne for fear I learned the lesson You made it clear No throne for mercy No child, no flame You gave me the blade I gave it my name Before the blade is drawn before the banners rise Before the first oath breaks she’s already weighed their lives Ulisin, Ulisin black crown, crimson dawn The war was won within her mind before the blade was drawn No throne for mercy No room for the small She learned to see the danger and became danger to them all