The singing grew louder.
It came up the road slowly, the way it had that afternoon, unhurried and calm, rising and falling with the same gentle rhythm. Jin stood in the middle of the asphalt and listened to it come. He didn't move. He didn't reach for his swords. He just watched the dark road where it curved between the ruined buildings, and waited.
Then the first lantern came around the bend.
Then another. Then a dozen more. Small paper lanterns on long poles, swaying gently as they were carried, throwing soft yellow light across the cracked road and the pale robes of the people beneath them.
It was the same procession. Jin recognized the shape of it right away. The two loose lines. The slow, steady walk. The banners on their tall poles.
But there were more of them now.
