Akiko woke before dawn. As she lay in her futon, staring at the ceiling, she couldn’t put her finger on any reason why she should be awake, but awake she was, with no hint that she could get back to sleep. The sky was beginning to brighten, its light spreading above her. She glanced around the room; everything looked normal. Sighing, she sat up, grabbing the yukata and pulling it on as she stood up. Carefully opening the window, she stepped out onto the veranda and then down into the garden, crossing the bridge to purify herself at the water basin before going on into the shrine precincts.

As she stepped through the gate, the sunlight reflected off the burnished copper roof of the shrine was dazzling, and she had to shade her eyes. Her heart seemed to leap into her mouth, and she quickly looked around. There was a white stone path under her feet, and a gleaming white torii just behind her. The unpainted wood of the shrine building in front of her glowed warmly in the dawn sunlight.

There was no sign of the house.

She glanced back, at the steps descending through the forest into the clouds below, and put one hand on the torii to steady herself as she took deep breaths to calm down.

<em>It’s just Tamao wanting to see me,</em> she thought. <em>Nothing to worry about.</em>

As if answering her thoughts, possibly actually answering her thoughts, the doors of the shrine swung open, golden light spilling out from within and competing with the sunlight. The air got warmer, and then hot, and Akiko found herself starting to sweat even in nothing but the yukata. The light was bright enough to hurt her eyes, forcing her to squint.

Except when she was looking directly into the shrine, she found. She took a step forward, and a lancing pain shot up her leg as she brought her foot down. <em>Sandals,</em> she thought, stepping out of them and leaving them by the torii. The stones of the path were warm underfoot, almost hot enough to hurt, and she walked quickly towards the shrine. The air was still and silent, and her footfalls, even barefoot, sounded loud in the morning. As she started climbing the steps, she could smell the wood, as fresh as if it had just been cut.

On the shrine veranda, she grabbed the rope and rang the bell, its peal ringing clear and bright, the light from within the shrine shivering and shattering at the sound, dissolving in fragments that seemed to burn around her.

Tamao was just within the doors, his head rearing up, eyes fixed on her.

Akiko dropped to her knees without thinking, bowing her face twice to the floor, clapping twice, and then bowing once more. Slowly, she looked up. The gems of his scales flashed in the sunlight, or glittered in the gloom, red like fire. Lightning danced around his mouth, lancing out as he opened it, revealing curved teeth the size of Akiko’s hand.

Tamao lowered his face towards hers, and Akiko could feel the anger coming off it. An image of Kawasaki rose in her mind, and the buildings swayed and fell in a great earthquake.

Swiftly, Tamao pulled back, the doors of the shrine slamming shut in front of Akiko with a blast of air that pushed her back, rolling her down the steps of the shrine.

She crashed onto the path in the gloom, the impact knocking the breath from her body. The shrine building was gone; she was lying at the end of the path, and could see the iwakura in front of her. She was barefoot, in her yukata, and the stones of the path were chill under her feet as she walked to the top of the stairs. The sandals were there.

Stepping into them she shivered, as chill sweat stuck her yukata to her skin.