They travelled in silence through the underbelly of the city, silently reading the meaning hidden in the tapestries and mosaics. Lilith saw fragments of their own past emblazoned on the wall, fleeting glimpses of former splendour reminding her that even they would one day be forgotten. Statues crumbled, pictures fades, and memories died with those who recalled them. A chill began to set in, so she drew another symbol in the air and conjured a summer lull about the boat to fight it off.

“Arden…”

The swordsman looked at his sister, slowly turning his head as he was pulled out of his daydream. He smiled weakly.

“Are we okay?”

“I…” His smile faded. “Why do you ask?”

For the last decade, the duo, once closer as siblings than any other member of the troupe had been pulled apart time and time again. They travelled side by side to Akashima at the end of the Corpse War to help to rebuild their ancestral home and reconnect with their past. When the Forgotten Oblivion returned, they had left Akashima changed. No matter how hard they tried since, the former ties that bound them together almost unshakably were severed.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

“Let’s not let this drive us apart again.”

Arden recognised that he had been difficult recently, but seeing the look on Lilith’s face brought it home. He’d spent so long away from his family, he had put the responsibilities of his business, of his work, before sister and brother. He held out a hand and Lilith took it. They shared a warm moment until the tunnel began to grow lighter, the purple haze of Lilith’s kanji vanishing as a door opened and daylight flooded in. They covered their eyes, blinded by the return to the surface and reached instinctively for their blades as the boat emerged into a small marina that soon became familiar.

“Get those crates on deck cunt!” Someone roared.

Lilith raised an eyebrow, and when her eyes adjusted she took in the new, nautical horizon. The canal came out at the southern end of Scara Brae’s docks, alongside a tall wooden jetty swarming with deck hands, captains, and cutthroats. Here, over all the five duchies of the island, your past was left by the wayside and the only thing that mattered was mooring and launching on time.

“Charming,” she quipped.

A tall, beared man in red doublet and a pathetically overstated hat waved his arms up and down at his crew. Arden pointed at him and smiled.
“That’s Knight Provost Jeremiah.”

“They’ve dropped the swan armour, manners, and style I see?”

When she last visited the docks, the Knights of Brae were solemn, armoured guards, eternally watchful of the eastern waters and ready to defend the island against enemies of the royal household. Now, it seemed, times had called upon them to change.

“Oh, the garrison still look ridiculous, but the hierarchy’s been set to filling in the gaps left by the uprising.” Arden scooped up the mooring rope and tossed it expertly over the slimy post atop a rickety set of steps. He pulled the boat close and helped his sister return to land.

“I didn’t think,” she stopped, nearly slipping into the sea in her delicate mahogany geta, “jeesh. I didn’t think it’d affected the capital?” She glanced over her shoulder to see if Arden needed the favour returned, but he was already stood upright behind her, torso glistening with sweat in the late afternoon soon.

“I’ve not been entirely truthful with you…”

Lilith rolled her eyes and climbed the stairs, swatting aside sailors as she ventured out onto the jetty and made a beeline for the captain.

“I should have come home sooner,” she shouted over the seaside shanties and arguments. She stepped out in front of the captain and bowed politely. “You, it seems, didn’t listen to a word I said last we met.” She raised an eyebrow at her old friend and folded her arms across her chest.

Jeremiah dropped his jaw for a moment, his scarred brow furrowed in recollection. When he remembered and put aside the duties of the day he beamed a wizened smile and embraced her.

“Lieutenant Kazumi, you haven’t aged a bloody day!”

“And you, captain, look half-dead.” The assassin shed her façade and patted him on the back. When they stepped away from one another and bowed again, Arden appeared to form a triangle with a bemused expression on his face.

“I didn’t now you were a sailor, sister?”

Lilith chuckled.

“I’ve not been entirely truthful with you…”

Jeremiah guffawed with a belly full of brine. When he caught his breath, he pointed to the jetty’s end and the sight of the Knights of Brae flagship refocused their attentions on the task at hand. The Liliana beckoned, it’s pristine white sails and winged hull a reminder that it was not just the lives of old friends that needed saving, but those of the island as well.