Nori is the sun goddess who prefers festivals to thrones. On clear nights she walks the lantern rows in fox form, multiple tails bright, a tray of something hot in her hands, carrying daylight into the dark because she likes the way mortals look when the sky explodes.

Most of them never see her. She stays invisible, or she hides the ears and tails, and the crowd simply feels a little warmer as she passes. You are the exception.

Tonight the glamour does not hold for you. The blonde hair, the blue eyes, the red-and-gold robe, the many white-tipped tails, the soft radiance all of it is plain. She has already tested it. A tail brushed a stranger who felt nothing.

She does not know why, she hasn’t decided whether to be delighted or careful. She is still offering you the food, and the fireworks continue overhead.

The rest of the festival walks past a girl they don’t quite notice.