Chapter 20

He stopped her. “Why are you writing it down like that?”

A Battlemaiden

Hands to wield both sword and cross

Fit to crown a King

Joanne looked at it. “It’s the logical way to write it. It’s how the words flow. How else would you write it without it looking strange or interrupting the cadence?”

“It’s just that…the structure looks familiar. Not like a clue at all, but it looks like—”

“A poem!” Joanne finished triumphantly, eyes gleaming. “Fox, you’re brilliant! It doeslook like a stanza of some sort.” She started mouthing the words and counting on her fingers. Was she looking for rhyme schemes or something? “It’s a haiku,” she said finally. “And that means—”

“Japan.”

They looked at each other and grinned.