“Aren’t you my sister?”

Lilith did not answer. She rose and descended the stairs. The silence broken only by the breeze dancing through the blossoms overhead. The kitsune stood too, sensing a need to draw close to the assassin. They cuddled, the kitsune’s tails wrapped around Lilith’s ankles like a faithful hound.

“I am. I was. But I didn’t bind myself to the kitsune, it was more like we were reunited. I was always the kitsune, long before I lost myself and became a villager in Tokyun as a young girl. Oblivion’s curse stole that from me, but now I am free to live the life I was meant to live.”

Ruby’s eyes widened as her sister and the kami began to dissipate, the clouds of glowing dust swirling together into a vortex of spiritual power. In a manner of seconds, the two were one, and from the mists emerged a facsimile of her sister, reborn whole and carrying weight on one shoulder and hope on the other.

“Good god. You…you look like a goddess!” Ruby dropped her jaw.

Lilith’s hair was long, below the shoulder and grey. Her eyes were pallid, half flickering with golden light and remnants of her human form. Tattoos ran down both exposed arms and protruded from beneath the ornate dress and kanzashi she wore atop her head.

“This is why I was hesitant to help you, Ruby. But know I realise I do not need to hide him any longer.”

“Why hide what you already were? Akashima was saved by the one thing it’s slowly abandoned during its own stagnation. You can make the people of Capitol, of all Akashima believe in the kami again. A kingdom that dances with kami and man, a life of harmony!” As the initial shock faded, Ruby found herself swift becoming drunk on excitement and possibility.

Lilith smiled weakly. She clicked her joints, still unsure of her new self, and let the remnants of her power faded. Her hair turned grey and her skin no longer danced with talismans. She appeared like a geisha, in geta and brandishing an ornate iron fan, and advanced back towards the torii.

“A beautiful dream. I can’t do it without you, sister.”

Ruby followed Lilith and embraced her. They walked out of the shrine and back into the house arm in arm, their long-forgotten sisterhood rekindled by a simple, universal truth. The Tantalum troupe were a family that time and war and terror would never break.

“After all you’ve done for me Lilith-sama, how could I say no? Let’s see your sake stores and you can tell me more about what ...well, whatever it is you are now.”

Lilith waved a hand and the paper panel into the house slid open. They entered the warm corridor and wove through the house to the inner-sanctum, a silk laden chamber filled with curiosities from Akashiman folklore and books and bottles and tapestries. Lilith slouched onto a chais lounge and pointed at the drinks trolley.

“The green bottle. Read the label.”