On Thayne, Kami, and Sisterhood

There was no greater mercy than death. At least, that is what legends tell you. To die as a hero allows one to ascend to a higher purpose, to leave a legacy long lasting in your wake. For Lilith Kazumi, however, there is another path to greatness. To serve one’s country so long as it still draws a collective breath, as its people fight to protect it. For centuries, Akashima had lain beneath the boot of the Komodo – a Greater Oni crueller than any other villain. Though Akashima’s greatest heroes had risen, and fallen beneath his fiery wrath, only one brave enough to say no defeated him. With allies of stern heart and sterner determination than she, the Greater Oni were slain, and their souls bound in the self-same blades which forged the country’s independence long ago.

Rather than let their enemy succeed in destroying all, Lilith took the souls into her own. A conflicted creature bowed beneath the weight of their ruination gifted freedom to her people. The Crab, the Crane, the Dragon, and the Spider are now entombed in her own fiery soul; interred in a paragon of everything Akashima stands for. In the wake of their war, Akashima has taken slowly to a new way of life. It has risen to the challenges of a new way of thinking, free of the yolk of slavery to a self-named Shogun. Taking the mantle of a senator, Lilith has guided the reconstruction efforts for three decades. Only now, on the eve of the thirty first year since the fall of the Four have the Senate’s efforts come to fruition. Tomorrow, on the first day of a new year, she intends to hand over the control of the Senate to the elected officials who have served under her guidance.

“This is such a crock of shit.”

Ruby blinked.

“I’m sorry Lilith?”

Seated at a low black table, the sisters continued their annual reunion tea in awkward silence. Their words resonated in the air like stark reminders of their differences.

“I’ve not seen you in a year and your first news is that?” The senator pursed her lips and hovered her teacup near her lips, the well-rehearsed ‘resting bitch face’ of the teahouses.

“You’ve not been easy to find; never mind the fact I’ve had my own melodrama to deal with.” Ruby pouted.

“Don’t throw that in my face, not today.”

“I am pleased for your successes, very much so. But I can’t in good faith let you make life changing decisions without all the facts.”

“How does this upstart Thayne making another tedious come back impact my life here?”

Ruby took a deep breath and set her cup down on the table. She found fleeting strength in devouring another steamed dumpling and let it digest before resuming.

“The implications for what we are, for who we are is obvious. You have a right to know what will happen when this plan is carried out.” Ruby had tried to be subtle, kind, and sisterly. Now she could see Lilith’s duties had steeled her resolve to their once trite ways. “I can see you have…transgressed your mortal limits in other ways.”

“If you are referring to the Kami’s return, that was never my intention.” Lilith looked out the window at the summer idyll n the grounds of her home. Even the torrid heat and beauty of the lilacs in bloom failed to calm her crowing agitation. “The Kitsune awoke, and I heard Her cry.”

“I can’t imagine what that felt like. When you showed me all those years ago, I could not hope to understand. Now, with everything that’s happened…I think I do.”

“The Kami are not all that different to Thayne, though lesser in every respect. When the Shogun’s ways were quashed, people started to dream of their ancestors. The Kitsune embodies familial ties stretching through time and between planes. Finally, the dead could rest, and people had free will again.” Lilith had meditated on the implications of all that had changed in Akashima for days. It was only when Ruby slapped her in the face with her revelations that they started to sound pious and fantastical.

“You were always Akashima’s daughter. When you came to my house all those years ago, I tried so hard to tame that wild heart. Not even my most scrupulous methods could bend you to anything other than your okiya.”

“A meiko’s life ends in one of two ways, as well you know. Death, or her becoming a geisha.” Lilith softened a little and returned her gaze back to her sister. “As I’m alive, I’m sure you know how my life will end.”

“When Lysander kills the last Illar, he will end our connection to the Tap. Wherever you still see that life as a curse, or a blessing, it does not matter. It will be gone. All the power and platitudes that came with it will be gone.”

Lilith had long dreamt of a day when she could fear the number of her days. All the challenges she had faced had been muted against the knowledge that she would rise anew. Now, with Akashima ready for power to return to the Senate; suddenly she felt afraid.

“We have both lived for an insufferably long time.”

“A thousand lifetimes.” Ruby knew all too well the weight of her years. “I have lived since the first tribes settled these lands. I am part of their fables. They still sing of my deeds in Berevar’s cold heart. However you choose to take this news, we will all die interwoven with the history of this world.”

“That’s what scares me the most. We are fighting for free agency, for the right for man to choose his own destiny. Yet, how much of that history did we guide and cajole into what we perceived to be right?” Lilith set down her cup and readied herself to stand.

“I won’t apologise for one second. We made mistakes. Fuck me, big ones too. We tried to run from our responsibilities and came tumbling bac into our own messes.” Ruby sensed their tea was coming to an end and scoffed another dumpling. With her mouth full, she stuck out her tongue.

“Really?” Lilith’s deadpan expression soon cracked into a smile.

“Yeth,” Ruby lisped, before swallowing the last of her supper. “We can get on with life knowing others can live theirs.”

“Do the others know?”

Ruby nodded. “Well, actually, me and Leopold know. Duffy, too, of course. I have been unable to find Arden. Do you know where he is?” Slipping in the real reason for her visit, Ruby expected to be rebuked, but sighed with relief when Lilith proffered an answer.

“I’ll tell you if you answer a question.”

“Go on?”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

Ruby reflected on the past. When last, she and the silent swordsman had seen one another, they had sung the song to erase the troupe from the memories of all mortal things. When she realised that had been thirty years prior, her heart sank.

“I thought as much.” Lilith pointed to the window and rose from her pile of cushions. “Let’s take a stroll, I’ve something to show you.”

Ruby followed, regretting eating so much at the prospect of another of Lilith’s educational hikes. They left the comforts of Lilith’s parlour and ventured out into the mid-afternoon sun. A traditional house by all accounts, Lilith’s residence in the centre of Akashima’s capital was an edifice to tradition. The paper walls and pine struts marked it as one of the oldest houses in the city, but the garden broke convention with imported trees and flowers from across the world.

“This place really is something.” The spell singer admired the evergreen shrubs cut neatly into pillars surrounded by flower beds. Each bore the fruit of a tree from all the great continents, and she listed Fallien pears and Aleran tomatoes amongst them. “I’ve never seen some of these flowers.”

“For centuries, Akashima closed its borders to all. As part of the democratic process, we invited, all be it slowly envoys from all the great nations to our home. Every flower and tree you see came from seeds brought by those envoys. It’s a reminder of what we have accomplished.”

“What you accomplished; you mean?”

“For a long time I was proud of what I had done but realise now I was never alone. The Senate warmed to the ideas I was presenting like a glacier thawing, but warm they did.”

As they walked through the garden, the neat gravel path turned more rugged. It wound about a small hill in the eastern part of the grounds atop which stood a cherry blossom so splendid and bright Ruby could not look anywhere else. When she remembered where she had seen it before she cried with surprise.

“That’s the tree from Market Square!” She clapped.

Lilith stopped at its base; her brow beaded with sweat from the climb. She rested a palm against it and bowed her head.

“Given I was raised in Scara Brae, it was only right that the first envoy to receive a summons was from Valeena’s court. In return for opening trade lanes between our nations I asked for one, simple favour.” She pulled bac her hand and gestured to the tree.

“Is it a seed, or the tree itself?”

“He was surprised when I asked. It is just a tree to him, of course. Nobody in Scara Brae would have missed it.”

“I sure as hell missed it!” Ruby approached and gave it a long, warm hug. “How ever did they bring it here?”

“Like all these plants, it came by boat. They dug it up and potted it in a great trough and somehow it survived the voyage. Funny, really…if I had known what was going to happen, I would have brought more than just this fucking tree.”

“I don’t think anyone could have saw what happened coming.”

Whatever foul hell had been unleashed with the fall of Lornius had ricocheted through the leylines of the world. The deserts of Fallien boiled, the jungles of Dheathain had come alive, and Scara Brae had crumbled beneath the waves. That was over two decades ago, and only ash remained to tell its history.

“That was the last time I saw you, Ruby.”

It had been a bitter reunion for the troupe. They came on wings and through portals to save as many of their kin as they could. The speed at which the ruin descended upon them was unrivalled; less than a thousand survivors lived to tell the history of Scara Brae. In two generations, there would be no one alive save the troupe who laid eyes upon its shores.

“Has it really been so long?” Ruby looked hurt but did not try and excuse herself.

“I’m not angry. Not anymore. Our lives diverged just as Scara Brae broke apart.” Lilith held out her hand and gestured for Ruby to approach. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

Ruby walked closer but lingered at arm’s length.

“I’m so sorry, Lilith. I do not even know why we lost touch. We had such big dreams. When we tried to reignite the passions of our youth and they failed to spark I fell into the darkest sadness.” Ruby remembered their laughter in the playhouse but soon remembered what followed.

“If I’m being honest sister, I never thought it would work.”

“Our revival?”

“I wanted it to. The more effort we put in, though, the hollower it felt. When Duffy disappeared that summer, I was glad. I was no longer torn between my family and my home.”

“I remember now.” Ruby looked up at the branches of the cherry blossom. The way the sun danced through the blossoms took her back to the moment she had said goodbye to Lilith. “It was spring. You had just shown me the Sukoshi Kitsune.” She sighed. “I was scared that I was going to lose you to whatever you were becoming.”

“You were excited for me at first. But I saw your heart deflate. You knew what it meant.”

Ruby tried to hide her admission, but it was clear on her face.

“It doesn’t matter now. I know why you were scared. We have been so intertwined we were forgetting who we were apart.” Lilith walked forwards, ignoring Ruby’s flinch. “But I know, now, who and what I am.”

As they hugged, the wind danced through the boughs and the toll of distant bells marked the start of late afternoon. The hug was bittersweet. Old friends, sisters, and war-torn heroines reunited beneath the tree that had served as a backdrop for many of their successes and failures.

“Mortal or not”, Lilith continued, “you are my sister.”

“I never had doubt.” Ruby let the tears flow.

“You did.” Lilith pulled away and looked Ruby in the eye. “I felt it. You were scared not of me, but for me. You know what it meant to become consumed by your hopes.”

Ruby had fallen foul of her own rage countless times. She had been consumed by her power and it cost her dearly. She embodied the Phoenix just as Lilith now embodied the Kitsune.

“I did. I do. But you seem to have mastered those fears.”

“Rather than become the Kitsune, I allowed myself to be it’s vessel. Through me, it became its own entity. All those years harbouring the souls of the Greater Oni steeled my soul against the fires that tried to consume it.” Lilith pressed a hand to her chest. “Feel here.”

Ruby held out a hand and was surprised to hear two heart beats.

“What the hell is that?”

“The Kitsune and I are twinned. Neither will consume the other so long as we accept the existence of the other.” Lilith pushed Ruby’s hand away and pointed east. “Come on, we’re nearly there.”

Ruby looked back at the tree and frowned.

“That wasn’t what you wanted to show me?” Confused, furthered by Lilith’s silence, Ruby had no choice but to follow.

On the far side of the hill the garden continued to the verges of Lilith’s grounds. The neat sculpted landscape gave way to a wall of bamboo thicket. Lilith waved her hands in intricate patterns and purple symbols flew from her fingertips. They shot into the bamboo and parted it, a gravel path leading inward.

“If you had read any of the letters, I have sent over all those years apart, you’d be prepared for what I’m going to show you.”

Ruby quickened her pace, cursing her lackadaisical approach to communication. She had received some of the letters but held her own grudges and refused to open them.

“I thought you weren’t angry?” she pleaded.

Lilith chuckled. “I’m not. But it’s far too much fun to tease you after so long.”

The sisters walked through the bamboo in renewed silence, each trying to serve up an array of quick retorts to avoid being one-upped. Despite the tension it was playful, echoing the growing electric in the air. The path spiralled, seemingly in on itself in concentric circles that felt less like a spiral and more like an illusion.

“I’m getting dizzy,” Ruby moaned.

“We’re nearly there.”

Sure enough, the path righted and broke onto cracked flagstones of jade. Thick roots pushed the broken shards apart and pink flowered moss smothered the once gleaming shrine’s radiance. Bamboo encircled them, hiding away one of Akashima’s greatest secrets.

“What in the hell is this?” Ruby stopped on the first flagstone, gazing open-jawed at the strange edifice ahead.

“This, Ruby, is the Dai Uzu.”

On an altar of steel and stone, a whorl of energy engulfed a storm of blades. The green light pulsated out over the clearing, thick and heavy and full of life. Ruby tried to make sense of the folding lights and flurry of swords, but it made her nauseas to look at it.

“What am I even looking at?”

The more Ruby tried to make sense of it, the more it confounded her. It made her question up and down, right, and wrong, and life itself. Her thoughts became a jumbled mess of contradictions.

“The source of the Kami. We’d call it a maelstrom, though it’s more graceful than that.” Lilith knelt before it and arranged herself into a meditating stance. “Come, sit with me. Don’t look at it.”

“It’s hard not to,” Ruby grumbled. Whenever she pulled away and the dizziness began to ease, she found herself looking back to start the cycle anew.

“Stare too long and it’ll stare back. Come on. Sit with me and listen.”

Ruby approached, careful not to stare too long and mirrored her sister’s position. Unused to the pose, she clicked her back and tried to get comfortable. As instructed, she listened. The roar of the maelstrom dissipated the moment she closed her eyes. Sudden, overwhelming calm washed over her.

“That’s unsettling.”

“In this clearing you are exposed to two things. First, a wellspring of the Tap. Second, the combined dreams and nightmares of every Akashiman.”

Whispers of fable and fox crept into Ruby’s mind. All the childhood stories Lilith had shared with her came to life in her mind’s eye. Kami and Oni of all shapes and sizes flashed before her, laughing and cajoling in a great tapestry of faith. Ruby opened her eyes and it faded, the roar and while returning lie a thunderclap.

“The Tap and the Kami are one and the same?” She closed her eyes again before she threw up.

“If what you said about the Illar is true, it should come as no surprise. The Tap is alive. It burgeons and boils with the hopes of all who are touched by it. When those dreams are concentrated enough, things happen that break the laws of nature.” Lilith raised her hand and closed her fingers into a claw. She concentred her will onto the maelstrom and it began to shrink. In a heartbeat it was closed, and the storm of blades settled into a static array. Ruby watched in awe, then realised what the blades were.

“Your tanto. What purpose do they serve?”

“When I discovered this wellspring, the shrine was all but gone. I rebuilt it, a way of reconnecting with my ancestors. The more time I spent here though, the more I realised something strange was happening. The closer I brought the daggers the more powerful the maelstrom became.”

“The tanto, or the Oni perhaps?” Ruby tried to stay focussed but struggled with yet more world breaking news. “I’m lost.”

“The Tap creates as well as consumes. We thought it devoured things, but it is not as simple or as crude as that. It adapts. I started to see Kami in the grounds, then I recognised it was taking the very idea of the daggers and giving them life.”

“You told me the Oni were different, though. Why would benevolent creatures stem from such malevolent beings?”

“The more I experimented the more real the Kami became. From fleeting glimpses to tangible, living things. I questioned everything I had been taught as a spirit-warder, seeing the barriers between worlds fall before my eyes. Turns out the Oni and the Kami are cut from the same cloth.”

“I remember you telling me the Greater Oni were once Kami who became too powerful. They wanted more faith, as all gods do, and the Greater Kami cast them out of…well, the Tap I’d wager.”

“You’re catching on.” Lilith commanded the blades to return to her and they floated neatly into the scabbards on her hips. “The irony that I could bring the Kami to life with the souls of the Oni is not lost on me. I’m still not sure it’s the right thing to do, but when they are bound in the maelstrom, I can become in part the Kitsune.”

“Wait. You’re telling me you found a way to lift the curse?” Ruby’s heart lifted.

“Not completely. Once before every full or crescent moon I must remove the blades and let the Kami falter. There are some parts of our culture that speak of Kami devoid of reason. Creatures once so dangerous the Greater Kami cast them to the stars and bound them in celestial bodies. I am fettered by my actions still, but no longer tortured by the Crab, Crane. Komodo, and Spider.”

“What will happen, Lilith, if you are not here to tend to the shrine?” A sense of foreboding grew in Ruby’s heart.

Lilith sighed. “Though you seek to severe our ties to the Aria, the part of the Tap which gives all bards their power I have made another connection. The bond I share with the Kitsune will remain, and with it the burden of a Kami.”

“Burden?”

“The Kitsune. Do you remember what it means?” Lilith turned to her sister with a pensive expression.

“Good lord, no. It has been centuries since our first summer in Scara Brae. I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast.” Ruby wrinkled her brow. “Enlighten me?”

Lilith continued with a soft tone, glad to finally share her secret with another.

“The greatest of the Great Kami is Inari Okami. What we would call a god of fertility, agriculture, and everything unique to Akashiman culture. The Kitsune is how he manifests in our world, its number of tails growing as his power grows. Nine tails symbolise a time of renewal and power in our country’s history.”

“You had nine tails when you showed me your true self. Your work with the Senate has done wonders for your home.”

“It has. It will continue to do so. But you’re not listening.” Lilith pointed to the shrine. “The Kitsune came from the Tap to preserve that which Inari Okami holds dear – Akashima. It needs a vessel to manifest in the physical world and if I do not welcome him into my heart, then this land will wither and die.”

“Why? All those years when the kami were thought dead Akashima remained.” Ruby tried to reconcile what she knew of the Thayne and of the Kami. They were supposed to be the same. “I thought people gave gods power, not the reverse.”

“I don’t know why the Kami are different to the Thayne. They are both born of the Tap, that is undeniable. The similarities end there, however. Unlike the Thayne, who feed off the prayers and fear of mortals the Kami are the one who dream and give rise to us.” Lilith corrected herself. “Well, give rise to Akashima.”

“You’re saying your home is a fever dream?”

“I have communed with the Kitsune and Inari Okami only fleetingly. From what I can understand someone found this wellspring and when the harnessed its power, it was Inari Okami who broke through the veil. From another world, perhaps, or another time; but his presence planted a seed of culture and thinking in that poor man’s mind. The founder of Akashima was possessed by Kitsune and everything we stand for stems from that union.”

Ruby started to miss the nausea from the maelstrom. At least it had a cause. The dread in her stomach now was unwavering.

“You’re saying you have to stay…”

Lilith nodded softly. “Akashima will only thrive and prosper if the union between mortal and Kami remains. That means that I must commune with the Kitsune so Inari Okami’s blessing can shield our lands.”

“What will happen to it when the Illar are all gone?” Ruby started to worry.

“We all set out to kill the Thayne when we learnt their true nature. The Kami, however, are not the same. Just because two people are born in the same place doesn’t make them accountable for one another’s crimes.”

“I guess…but how do you know the same thing won’t happen again? We’re not doing this to change our lives, we’re doing it to change everyone’s life.” Ruby had taken a long time to accept their fate. But, as they drew close to the grand finale, she realised how blinkered she had become.

“Akashima needs the Kami. The Kami need us. I cannot explain why this feels different, but it does. Just as the Old Gods will keep nature in harmony with our world, the Kami will stand vigil over these lands. The Greater Oni were corrupted by the Forgotten Ones, just as we were.”

“Do you promise to make the right choice when the time comes?” Ruby looked at her sister with the weight of worlds. “To choose man over whatever power this being gifts you?”

Lilith nodded. “It doesn’t control me. It needs me. Just as I need it. We’re symbiotic, rather than parasitical.” The geisha unsheathed the Komodo and held its blade to the maelstrom’s light. It glowed with red flame, as though reacting to the Tap.

“That such evil could be used for such good is no end of joy to me. I thought I would spend the rest of my days fighting my demons. Now, I will spend them inspiring providence and hope in the hearts of my kin.” Lilith flicked her wrist and loosed the dagger back into the whorl of the maelstrom.

“But with the end of the Thayne comes the end of our immortality. One day, you will die, and then what happens?”

Lilith took a moment to think, throwing the remaining blades to join the dragon. Once again, the maelstrom stormed and raged, and across Akashima the spirits returned to tantalise dreams and frolic with gleeful children.

“I’d resigned myself to an eternal vigil. To be a bastion till the world falls apart.” Lilith had chosen to leave her life behind and become the Kitsune proper; to wear a mask and hide away to let her ancestors live through her. “I was a spirit-warder once, my mother passed down the arts to me as a child so that I too could teach another. They were all but wiped out by the Shogun’s ronin; perhaps it’s time to restore the old ways.”

“Were they not an order who existed to kill the Kami?”

“In a way, yes. They ensured that Kami who became too chaotic were stilled. Once, they hunted the lesser gods to keep the balance between Oni and Kami equal. The more I succeed in this, the less chance there is of creatures like Tsukuyomi returning and corrupting the Kami into creatures more akin to the Thayne.”

“Were it anyone else asking me to walk away, I’d decline. The risk is too great, but you are the strongest person I know.” Ruby patted her sister on the shoulder. “I trust you to keep the balance.”

“I’m sorry if this plays havoc with your plans. But, rest assured, no matter if you kill the Thayne and the last Illar…one day, mortals will be consumed by their own greed and history will repeat itself.”

Ruby wanted to believe that this time, they would break the wheel. That dreams would stay dreams and not come to life to enslave their dreamers. Perhaps she was right, or perhaps she would be proven wrong. But if history had taught them anything, it was that nothing changed if people accepted their fate.

“I don’t care what happens to other worlds. Althanas will stand alone and be what it may of its own accord. I am tired of our fates being playthings of the Illar. Whatever creatures are born in this new frontier will never be so cruel and all consuming as the Thayne. If we fall, then it is because we are flawed, not because the gods decide.”

Lilith laughed. “If there’s one thing we’re good at, it’s making a fucking mess of everything we touch.”

Ruby chuckled, an infectious laugh that lifted their hearts.

“For once we agree on something,” the spell singer leant back and rested on her palms, tucked behind her head to shield her head from the flagstones. She stared skyward. “What does this mean for us, though?”

Lilith reflected on her choices. “If you’re asking if this is goodbye, I don’t know.”

“That wasn’t the enthusiasm I was hoping for…”

“What were you hoping for?”

“That you’d still be a part of my life, maybe?” They stared at one another awkwardly.

“We’ve not been a part of each other’s lives for three decades. Longer than that, in fact. For once, I don’t know what the future holds and that’s the best thing.”

“So not a goodbye…”

“I understand. The others feel the same.”

“Duffy, you mean?” Lilith smirked. “Leopold wouldn’t dare leave your side.”

“Yes. Duffy talked about the troupe and trying to go back to that life, but the spark is long gone. When Lysander’s deed is done, and the torch passes to Duffy he’s going to leave for Radasanth.”

“I wish I could see him.” Lilith smirked wider. “The thought of all that worldly knowledge and talent in the body of a boy amused me.”

“He looks the same as when I first met him. Cheeky little smirk, snotty nose, and intolerable curiosity and lanky as a streak of bacon.”

“Ha! You must be a saint to not want to slap him all the time.”

“It’s refreshing. No more half-truths and grand schemes to save the world. Just a boy wanted to see the world.” Ruby pushed herself up and swept the fringe from her eyes. “I said goodbye to Duffy thirty years ago. It’s easier to part ways when someone’s already dead to you.”

“This isn’t goodbye, Ruby. Even if our lives carry us to distant shores you will always be my sister.” Lilith drew a symbol in the air and brought warmth into the clearing as afternoon turned to a cool evening. “We’ve grown apart in distance but closer in spirit. You will always be welcome here.”

“And you in Salvar.”

“You misunderstand. I can’t leave.”

“Can’t, or won’t?” Ruby pouted.

“Both. I have always chosen you no matter the cost to my home. Now, without question, Akashima comes first. If I leave, everything I have worked for and everything we sacrificed to change the world will be for naught.”

“I respect that.” Ruby pressed for more in her mind but let it rest. “Without the Aria, though, the journey here takes three weeks.”

Lilith nodded. “I know. You have spoken of Duffy and you know my decision. What will you and Leopold do?”

“When Leopold’s business in Salvar is stable I intend to return to Raiaera and finish my education.”

“That’s fantastic news!” Lilith beamed a smile. “You were always the better singer.”

“The world still burns from the cataclysm, but some scars still blemish the land from long before. I want to help rebuild Raiaera and help them move on from Xem’Zund.”

“An admirable goal. Please, though, do me one favour.”

“Oh?”

“You have one life left. Do not waste it helping others. We have done that for aeons. Treasure every moment as though it were your last.”

“Funnily enough that’s what Leopold said.”

“At least he read my letters…”

“Oh stop, I get it, I’m a terrible sister!”

“The absolute worst,” Lilith said with relish. “But thank you for coming. Late, but better than never.”

“Maybe one day I’ll visit for visiting’s sake and not to tell you the world is ending.”

“I’d like that. Tea, perhaps? Uncle Sei still clings to life in the mountains but his daughter runs the Teahouse now.” Lilith stood and tightened her obi. Ruby stood also, though gave up tending to her appearance.

“I’ll leave looking fabulous and upholding legacies to you, dear sister.” Another hug brought their reunion to an end.

“And I, dear sister, will leave the happy ever afters to you.” They exchanged a bow.

“Can I see you one last time?”

Lilith smiled. At last, they reached an understanding. Though they pledged to see one another, they both knew that this would be the last time they crossed paths. Time had not been kind to either of them. Lilith let the power of the Kami flow through her and transformed into a fox as tall as an ox with nine flaming tails whipping behind her. Ruby let her own power broil and her hair burst aflame. She waved goodbye awkwardly and painfully before vanishing in a whirl of blue ribbons and regret.

The Kitsune darted into the bamboo thicket, its whimper echoing through the garden long into the night.

Thread Title: On Thayne, Kami, and Sisterhood
Judgement Type: Basic Rewards

Sukoshi Kitsune receives:

1180 EXP
120 GP

Rewards Added

Congratulations on Sukoshi achieving Level 5!