Covert Ops

SEVEN OF SWORDS

"Black of day, dark of night
We share this paralyze.
The door cracks open, but there's no sun shining through
Black heart, scarring darker still,
But there's no sun shining through

What I've felt, what I've known,
Turn the pages, turn to stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you?

Yeah, what I've felt, what I've known,
Sick and tired, I stand alone..."*

! ! !

One thing I learned, if I learned anything at all, is you have to get your hands dirty if you're gonna really come to know what these people's lives are about. It was one thing living the high life in the Peaceful Kingdom, passing quickly by the parts of it all that nobody talked about. Here, in the place where life and death hanging in the balance is what defines the essence of the Kingdom of the Blade, I was sinking into the swill of quicksand which was part and parcel for those whose lives play out here.

It was true, a lot of the time, 'there's no sun shining through.' The skies were stormy, and I knew if I was the street urchin Oliver, I wouldn't be able to escape Bill Sikes any more than I could avoid my brush with covert ops right here.

When I saw him, skulking around, slipping in and out of the shadows, lifting the prize blades, now, no longer some training exercise, but the real thing, I immediately connected him to the kid I saw not long ago, learning the tricks of the trade. The chance always exists that someone will take the lessons, and go to the dark side of the Force. What makes it so is anybody's guess. Is it inborn? Conditioned in?

I was standing watching, wided eyed, that imagined flash forward, from the Logan5 of The Blades. Then I wondered about it, and now I felt as if I'd traveled through the decades to Blade5 (now Blade7), a runner, price on his head, disgruntled and either not caring enough for where his actions might lead him, or having fully embraced the Sith within.

Cloaked, and with a stealth that was a skill honed from both his early days, and from a life where success relied entirely on not being detected.

The Seven-ness lies within the bounty this thief pulled in.

[insights]

The general idea of this card would be seen in ideas of betrayal, spying, infiltration. Other possible ways to see this is however, might be found in the idea of stealth, and bravery.

What I find interesting is the sequence of cards here, where Blade5 is followed by the 6, what is the 'rite of passage' which then is followed by Blade7, showing the possibility of a more honorable meaning here.

*song for Seven of Swords: Unforgiven ii by Metallica