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Aether was tired..

That much was obvious even from a quick glance. The usual radiant smile he wore was replaced with a perpetual frown, and his once-bright eyes were now adorned with bags underneath. 

Being tired wasn’t something new for Aether in his time in Teyvat. There have been numerous instances where the Golden Traveler has navigated events in Teyvat with nothing more than a few hours' sleep and a near unstoppable drive to find his sister.

The Traveler could cast his mind back to the beginning of his time in Inazuma, when Kamisato Ayaka tried to recruit his help in the Inazuma civil war. He wanted nothing more than to find his sister, not become embroiled in another civil war.

Or when he found himself involved in the trial of the Hydro Archon, Furina. He knew she was hiding something, but no matter how hard he tried to get her to open up and confide in him, she wouldn’t budge. Watching the woman he now considers a dear friend stubbornly hold onto her secrets was one of the more exhausting aspects of his time in Fontaine.

Or his time in Natlan as a whole? The Traveler can’t remember the last time he fought so much. Zipping around the nation, fighting the Abyss and trying in vain to save as many Natlanese as he could. In between comforting Paimon, liaising with Mavuika and delivering messages in his spare time, the nation of Pyro really ran him ragged.

This fatigue, however, was something much different. It was an emotional wound that has been festering for the last five years, slowly permeating through his soul whilst he distracted himself with exploring and understanding the various nations of Teyvat and all of its inhabitants. 

It chipped away at his ever-weakening mental state, slowly beating him down until the lush green forests of Sumeru, the deep blue lakes of Fontaine and the luminescent hues of the Natlan graffiti blurred together to create a depressing and unwelcoming grey. 

He was just… very tired. 

As the Traveler and Paimon stepped off the teleport waypoint in Inazuma City, they were greeted with an Inazuma City that was barely recognisable from the first time they visited. 

Where once the streets were policed by patrolling Tenryou soldiers, strictly enforcing the Vision Hunt Decree and interrogating citizens, the soldiers were now stationed at various points throughout the city, keeping a watchful eye out for any dangers to the public.

The towering spire of Tenshukaku once cast a shadow over Inazuma City, reminding them that their Omnipresent Archon was always watching over them. Now, the Shogun’s abode was a warm reminder that they lived under the protection of one of the strongest deities in the land.

It felt safe. That would be how Aether would describe it if he was asked. The things that once were used as tools for oppression and persecution were now used for protection and guidance. It was one of the happier endings to a civil war that the Traveler had seen.

“Ah, we’re back in Inazuma!” Paimon exclaimed next to his ear, floating around his head and taking in the scenery around them. “Is it just Paimon, or does the air feel different in Inazuma?”

Aether glanced over at his companion, closing his eyes whilst he tried to remember what he was here for. “It’s probably the Electro energy”, he replied absent-mindedly.

Paimon’s smile faded at her best friend’s tone. Aether had been like this for a few days now, and she didn’t quite know how to cheer him up. It was very different to the Traveler that she had gotten to know over the last five years. 

The Traveler she knew was always happy. Even though he sometimes made some nasty jokes, he was always there to help people in a pinch. And he did it all with a smile. 

Paimon knew she was a burden to her friend sometimes. She ate more food than the Traveler could afford sometimes, and she couldn’t help out in a fight. She’d asked before if the Traveler ever got tired of having Paimon around. He always promised her that she was irreplaceable and he cared for her deeply, but some days, when they weren’t very busy, her thoughts begin to wander.

Paimon had tried to do her best to cheer her friend up over the last few days, trying all sorts of different things to try and get a smile or a laugh out of the Traveler.

First, a few days after Columbina had saved them from that sinner, Paimon had done her best to surprise Aether with some dinner in the Serenitea Pot. Luckily, she had run into Amber, who was taking some time to relax in the teapot, and who helped her prepare a Sweet Madame. It wasn’t the best Sweet Madame she’d seen - nothing would beat Aether’s cooking - but the pair were proud of themselves.

When Aether walked through the doors of the teapot mansion an hour later, Paimon floated over with the dish in her hands and told Aether that she had prepared dinner. Unfortunately for Paimon, Aether merely thanked her and told her that he just wanted to go to bed, trudging upstairs and flopping onto the bed, still wearing that same blank expression.

Another time in the teapot, she was talking with Furina about Aether’s glum mood when she had an idea. She remembered that the Traveler often laughed when Paimon got in trouble for being too greedy. She also remembered him cracking a smile when she accidentally swallowed some water in Natlan.

It was here that Paimon would hatch her genius plan with Furina. Furina would sit in the dining room, enjoying her cakes. Paimon would “try to sneak a cake” from under Furina’s nose, before being thwarted by one of Furina’s Salon Solitaire. Paimon only hoped that it wasn’t the big crab one. She’d seen how hard it hit hillichurls.

Alas, all of Paimon’s careful planning was all for nought. Aether didn’t even crack a smile, simply telling Paimon that’s what she gets for being too greedy, leaving Paimon with a stinging face, wet hair and a still glum Traveler.

Back to the present, Aether shook his head and opened his eyes as he remembered why he was here. Today was the day he would be doing his weekly Archon visit, this time with Ei, the Electro Archon.

For years now, the Traveler has made it a habit to catch up with the Archons at least once every few weeks. It was Venti who actually suggested it, once asking him why he doesn’t visit as often, and subtly hinting that he should maintain his relationships with Teyvat’s most powerful.

This week, he was visiting Ei, and he wasn’t prepared. He respected and cared for Ei a lot. He had watched her grow from a goddess caged by grief and immovable ideology, to a ruler who used her ideals of eternity and married them to the transient nature of the world, creating a beautiful and dynamic balance that would ensure for far longer than the eternity she once strived for.

He didn’t want to face Ei in his current state. Aether stopped. He didn’t really want to face anybody in his current state, if he was being entirely truthful with himself. But he had responsibilities as the Traveler. Perhaps that was the problem. Since waking up on the beach in Mondstadt, every year in Teyvat has only made the divide between “The Traveler” and Aether feel wider and wider. 

Aether continued walking, Paimon following close behind. His first stop was the Adventurer’s guild, to see if the helmets he collected from some wandering Ronin belonged to any bounties.

The duo walked up the stairs to the main high street of Inazuma City, Paimon giving a smile and a wave to Aoi of the grocery store on the way. As Aether approached the desk of the Adventurer’s Guild, he dropped the helmets onto the table.

“Ad Astra Abyssosque, welc-” Katheryne began, but was quickly interrupted by the Traveler.

“Are there any bounties attached to these ronin?” Aether asked, wasting no time being cordial or making conversation with the humanoid puppet. 

Katheryne picked up the helmets, taking a second to inspect the kanji engravings that adorned many ronin’s helmets in Inazuma. She then turned around to look through a large-looking record book, scanning through at a pace unmatched by regular humans.

“Unfortunately, these Ronin were not wanted by the Adventurer’s Guild. Might I suggest checking with one of the three commissions? They also issue bounties independently of the Adventurer’s Guild”, Katheryne replied, folding her hands in front of her and returning to the same static pose that most Katherynes make.

Aether sighed, picking the helmets back up from the table and putting them back into his bag. 

“Are we going to visit the Yashiro Commission?” Paimon asked, before getting excited again. “Oooh, can we? Paimon hasn’t seen Thoma or the Kamisato’s in ages,” she exclaimed, spreading her arms wide as if to demonstrate how long it has been. 

“We don’t have time” Aether reminded Paimon, fastening his bag and moving on from the Adventurer’s Guild before Katheryne could even finish her customary farewell.

The pair continued their journey through Inazuma City, crossing the bridge by the potion shop, cherry blossoms decorating their path, reminding them of where they were. 

As the Traveler and Paimon approached Aisa Bathhouse, they were stopped by a voice calling out to them. “Hey Traveler, Paimon. It’s been a while.”

The Traveler inwardly sighed. Another distraction? He craned his head leftwards to see who wanted their attention. Before his eyes could even rest upon who called out to them, Paimon’s voice confirmed who they’d run into.

“Thoma, hello!” She shouted, waving at Thoma, who accepted Paimon’s wave as an invitation and crossed the street to meet with them. Thoma stopped before the pair, bowing respectfully before his friends, before Paimon did the same thing. As well as a floating creature of indeterminate origins can bow, anyways.

“I’m glad to see you’re both alive and well,” Thoma said, looking towards the duo. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen them. Was it the Mikawa Flower Festival? Shaking his head, he continued conversing.

“How have you both been doing? Have you journeyed to any cool and interesting places since we last spoke?” He asked.

Paimon thought for a minute, unsure of how much she should tell the young housekeeper. Quickly reciting the places that they’d been since they last spoke in her head, Paimon quickly decided on some places that she could tell Thoma about with no problem. 

“Well, after things were done in Natlan, we stopped by Mondstadt because it was nearly time for the Windblume Festival.” Paimon began her recollection.

Thoma smiled fondly. He loved Inazuma and all of the friends he had made here. The Kamisatos were practically family to him. Nonetheless, his heart still longed to return to Mondstadt one day, to return to his old home and spend a while there.

Thoma was dragged out of his musings by something Paimon mentioned. “Wait, a trial? During the Windblume Festival? Who would be so… dastardly?” He asked. Trials weren’t as common in Mondstadt during the Windblume Festival, as most people are too busy enjoying the festivities to cause much trouble. Those who do wind up on the wrong side of the law are usually just kept in jail until the festival ends.

“Oh, it was Albedo, the chief alchemist of the Knights of Favonius”, Paimon explained, her face paling as she saw Thoma’s shocked expression. “He didn’t actually do anything!” She quickly dispelled Thoma’s worries. “It was just somebody pretending to be him.”

Thoma’s face and body relaxed upon hearing this. At least things seem to be going well in his old home. 

Paimon continued to tell Thoma about their adventures in Natlan, with the hidden city within the mountain and the time they spent in the summer at the Eazybreeze Resort. 

Aether remained silent, something which didn’t go unnoticed by Thoma. He was used to the Traveler not speaking much. Paimon often acted as his mouthpiece. But this was different. Usually, the Traveler would chime in to either correct something Paimon was saying, elaborate on parts of the story that Paimon glossed over, or temper the overexaggerations that Paimon liked to include in her retellings of their adventures.

Thoma nodded along as Paimon finished her story. “I see.. Sounds like you’ve surely had a busy day,” he chirped, “Are you coming here to relax? At the Aisa Bathhouse, maybe?”

Paimon shook her head. “No, the Traveler is going for a meeting with E- the Raiden Shogun”, she quickly corrected herself. The Raiden Shogun’s name was a secret, as far as Paimon knew. Paimon didn’t want to be the one who gave it away, and certainly didn’t want to be the one to explain herself to Ei.

Thoma grimaced. “Yikes, you guys never quit, huh?” He asked, empathising with his friends and their seemingly endless list of tasks, commissions and requests. Whether the grimace was solely due to empathy over their situation or lingering discomfort at the mention of the Electro Archon was unclear.

Aether decided to speak. “Thoma, are you heading back to the Kamisato Estate?” He asked. 

Thoma raised his eyebrows, clearly caught off guard by the Traveler. “Oh-ah, yes, yes, I am. Would you like to come with me?”

The Traveler simply shook his head and then unfastened his bag, pulling out the helmets from before. “Could you take these to the Yashiro Commission to see if there’s a bounty on them?”

Tentatively, Thoma reached out and took the helmets from his friend. “Sure thing. Is there anything else?”

“Could you take Paimon with you, too?” The Traveler asked, doing his best to ignore the hurt expression on Paimon’s face.

“W-why can’t Paimon come with you?” She asked, her voice matching the expression on her face. Aether’s heart lurched in his chest. He didn’t want to hurt his friend. But he really needed to be alone right now.

“You usually find my meetings with the Raiden Shogun boring anyways”, Aether pointed out, hoping that Paimon sees the wisdom in his words and remembers the other times she’s accompanied him to their meetings in the Plane of Euthymia, where she often just complained about being bored or distracted herself with drawing in the sand of the eternal plane.

“Well yeah but-” Paimon began to think of a reason to stick by her best friend’s side, but was interrupted again.

“Please, Paimon,” Aether pleaded, also shooting a look to Thoma, which he hoped could convey the importance of this conversation, “After I speak with the Shogun, we can go to the bathhouse for a while and have one of those ‘special treatments’”.

Before Paimon could once again speak, Thoma jumped in with his own suggestion, flashing a warm and disarming smile towards her, “It’s okay, Paimon. We can go to the Kamisato Estate for a few hours. Ayaka would love to see you again.”

Paimon wanted to argue again. She didn’t want to leave her friend alone, especially now when he looked like he needed a friend the most. But there was something in his eyes. Something that told her that Aether needed this, that continuing to argue with him would only drive him further away. What good would maintaining a close physical distance do if it meant that the emotional one would grow even further?

“Oh, fine”, Paimon said, anxiety obvious in both her voice and body language, “but if you’re not back before dinner is served, Paimon will fly up to Tenshukaku herself and give that Shogun a piece of her mind.”

At this, Aether let out a small chuckle, and Paimon beamed. It was the first time she had seen him smile in a few days. He walked up to her and ruffled her hair, earning him a frown as she tried to realign her hairpiece. “I’d expect nothing less, Paimon.”

He waved Paimon and Thoma off, mouthing a quick ‘thank you’ to the housekeeper. Now he was alone. His destination? Tenshukaku, for a meeting with a goddess. 

As Aether approached the large doors to Tenshukaku, one of the guards spoke up. “State your business, please”, he asked curtly. The Traveler simply sighed. Did the palace guards really not remember that he was a frequent guest here? One that the Shogun specifically allowed unfettered access to the palace grounds? 

“I’m here to see the Shogun. She’s expecting me”, Aether said, handing a written invitation that he remembers handing to the same guard just over a month ago.

The guard held it in front of his face, scrutinising it in a way that only served to further agitate the Traveler. Seemingly happy with the invitation, he handed it back to the Traveler, motioning for another guard to unlock the large doors at the entrance to the palace.

The halls of Tenshukaku were the same as he remembered them. The same ornamental swords and polearms dotted the various display cases, tables and walls that lead to the throne room, and various calligraphy paintings adorned the walls of the palace.

A conversation he once had with Ei had taught him that these paintings were called Shodō, a method of calligraphy that allows for artistic expression of different words and concepts. When he asked Ei what some of the paintings in the palace meant, she only grinned at him in a way that he seldom saw from the goddess, and pulled out a book on the Inazuman language that Aether swore weighed more than Paimon, dropping it on his lap.

‘I really should have read that book some more, Aether thought. Perhaps then, he could understand what some guards called him under their breath, or the words that the Wanderer shouted whenever he was kicking Anemo energy at hapless hillichurls.

The doors to the throne room opened with a guttural groan, likely not oiled in decades, especially with how closed off the Shogun had become. Tenshukaku had likely seen more activity in the last few years than it had in the hundred years prior to his arrival.

The Traveler had conflicting memories of this place. On one hand, he once battled the Eighth Fatui Harbinger, La Signora, to the death in this very room. He couldn’t get the smell of her wrathful, yet sombre embers out of his nose for weeks. 

Yet on the other hand, he had many conversations with Ei in this very room, developing a friendship that he was grateful to have, and slowly but surely pulling the Archon out of her self-imposed shell of isolation and stasis.

The room had hardly changed much since his duel before the throne with Signora. The old tatami mats that were stained with both frost and fire burns were replaced, and there was now an actual throne within the throne room.

When Aether asked her why there wasn’t one originally, Ei confessed that the image of her puppet sitting on the throne reminded her too much of Makoto. However, now that she had taken a more involved role in the running of her country, she had decided to face her grief and bring back the throne. She had found that her subjects were more at ease, more likely to speak their mind when their Archon wasn’t standing over them.

“Traveler, your arrival here was expected. I trust your journey here was a simple one?” Came the robotic tone of the Raiden Shogun. The puppet. 

Aether debated telling the Shogun about the guards on the door and their refusal to remember his face or name, but decided against it. Some fights simply weren’t worth it, and enough members of the Tenryou commission already didn’t like him for the damage that he had done to their clan.

“It was fine”, Aether replied, showing the Shogun a reassuring smile. Over the last few years, Aether had noticed some small changes in the Shogun’s behaviour and mannerisms. She still remains the mostly robotic and detached puppet ruler of Inazuma; that much hasn’t changed. Yet, on more than one occasion, the Traveller has noticed the Shogun attempting to engage in small talk with either himself, Kujou Sara or the servants around the palace. It was oftentimes painful to watch, like Paimon trying to solve a maths equation, but the growth warmed Aether’s heart.

Such a change wasn’t quick, though. Ei was changing, and was also enacting changes throughout Inazuma at a pace that Aether could only describe as ‘slow’. If Ei’s pace was slow, the Shogun’s was downright glacial. Still, perhaps Wanderer was the best example of the folly of rushing things with divine puppets.

“I see. The One Within is prepared to accept you as a visitor”, The Shogun reported, knowing why the Traveler was visiting today.

Aether smirked, deciding to have a little bit of fun with the Shogun puppet. “Perhaps I’m here to see you today. Have you ever thought of that?”

The Shogun’s expression shifted to one of understandable confusion, which brought a small amount of delight to the Traveler. It wasn’t often you could visibly shock or confuse the puppet.

“Have you come to visit me?” The Shogun asked, which wiped the smirk from Aether’s face immediately. He wasn’t expecting her to call his bluff, although he wasn’t sure why not. The Shogun was a very no-nonsense individual.

“Um- no. Not today, sorry.” Aether stammered out an apology before extending an olive branch, “But if you’d like, I can free up some time to visit you, too?”

The Shogun looked pensive for a moment, likely evaluating if a visit from the Traveler is in line with her programming and ideals of eternity. Perhaps Ei’s influence was more crucial than he thought, because the Shogun’s response actually surprised him.

“That would be acceptable”, said the Shogun, surprising both of them. “But for now, you are here to see the One Within. Are you ready?”

Aether nodded and soon felt the familiar pull against his soul as he was transported to Ei’s Plane of Euthymia.

The first thing he felt was the sand beneath his feet. Giving his eyes a moment to adjust, he looked around the Electro Archon’s personal plane. Although the plane of Euthymia was largely unchanged since the first time the Traveler visited, it was a reflection of Ei’s consciousness. Much like the aforementioned Archon, the Plane of Euthymia had undergone some small, but much-welcomed changes.

The sky, once a deep red, was now the serene purple of Electro. Aether vaguely remembered Yae Miko once telling him that the sky in Ei’s consciousness directly reflects her mood. He wasn’t too sure what purple signified, but it certainly was more inviting and less ominous than the red it once was.

The Torii gates that dotted the realm were no longer crumbling, neglected and decrepit, now looking similar to the various Torii gates he’d see out in Inazuma, with vibrant red paint and healthy wood.

Even the sand seemed to have shifted to better represent Ei’s changing outlook on life, feeling less like coarse gravel and more like the white sand of Inazuma’s various temples.

“Traveler, how lovely to see you”, came a voice from behind him. Aether turned to greet the owner of the voice, the Archon of Inazuma, Raiden Ei.

Falling into a respectful bow before the Archon, Aether greeted her back. “Hello, Ei. It’s lovely to see you too.”

Ei raised her eyebrow, letting out a melodious chuckle as she took in the sight before her. “None of that, now. How many times do I have to say? You and I are equals.”

Aether wasn’t sure how equal they were, exactly. She’d kicked his ass, to be blunt, in every single sparring session that they’d ever had. Sure, he wasn’t nearly as powerful as he once was, but still, he wasn’t quite sure if he would call them equals. 

Regardless of his thoughts on the matter, Aether stood up straight again. “I’m here in your realm. I should pay the appropriate respect,” he said.

Ei simply dismissed Aether’s reasoning with a wave of her hand, taking a seat on one of the chairs that she had brought into the Plane of Euthymia. “Nonsense. You changed my life. The need for such honorifics and shows of respect has long since been quelled.”

The Archon motioned for Aether to take a set, which the Traveler graciously took. “Well, I didn’t really do much. Miko was the one who helped me get into the Plane of Euthymia, and it was thanks to the people of Inazuma that you saw that there could be another way”, he said, not willing to take the credit for ending the civil war.

“Oh, really?” Ei asked, crossing her leg and fixing the Traveler with a warm, but steadfast smile. “Then what about when I fought against the Shogun puppet for five-hundred years? Was it not you who came to my aid?”

Aether scratched the back of his head and looked away nervously. “Again, I don’t really think I did all that much. Miko was the one who let me in, and you were doing a good enough job of fighting against the Shogun. Your will to create something new was stronger than the Shogun’s programming.”

Ei tried to ignore how those words made her feel, the warmth in her chest pushed into the back of her mind to be analysed and dissected at a later date. 

“You struggle to accept compliments and praise”, Ei observed, noticing how the Traveler used any opportunity he could to take praise that was meant for him and hoist it onto the shoulders of others.

“I-I don’t,” Aether protested, face turning red at the accusation. “I just don’t think what I do is particularly praiseworthy. I’ve always had a lot of help. If I did this all on my own, I would have found a way to screw it up.”

Ei’s eyebrow raised. “Oh, whatever do you mean by that?” She asked, curious as to where this shift in tone had come from. From her experience, the Traveler was a man who was capable of nearly anything. From what little she knew of these things, he was a man with a will to rival the world. This… self-doubt was new.

The Traveler blanched. He had said too much. “Ah, nothing. Don’t worry about it”, he said, desperate for a topic change. Quickly, he shifted the conversation back onto Ei, “So, how have things been with you since we last spoke?”

The Archon knew that Aether was trying to change the subject. It was obvious, even to someone as socially inept (as Miko would put it) as her. She briefly thought of asking further questions about what Aether had just said. To her, that wasn’t the Aether she knew.

Instead, she chose to ignore it for now and indulge Aether in his conversation. She was not only eager to share some of the news that she had, but also to see his reaction to said news.

“Well, I recently spoke with Kamisato Ayato and Ayaka of the Yashiro Commission”, she began, and Aether’s ears pricked up at the mention of his two friends. “The final reports are in from the Mikawa Flower Festival, and it was a success by every metric.”

Although Ei tried her best, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face or out of her voice as she told the Traveler the news. “Once again, I believe I have you to partly thank for that”, she said.

Aether scoffed inwardly. More praise? What did he do during the flower festival anyway? It was mostly Mizuki and Miko who took care of everything. All he did was help with some stalls.

“Thanks to the festival”, she continued, unaware of the conflict brewing within Aether, “we’ve started building up our tourism industry. Kamisato-san tells me that it will take a while for tourism to contribute significantly to our economy, but slowly, people are choosing to visit the land of Eternity”. 

That didn’t entirely surprise Aether. Even during his time in Inazuma as a fugitive and Captain of a resistance squad, he was often amazed by the sheer beauty of the nation of Inazuma, just resting behind the scars and fog of warfare.

Perhaps what Ayato didn’t mention to Ei was that the largest reason for both the increase in tourists, and the hesitance of further ones was the Shogun herself. The Shogun was powerful and maintained a presence in a way that was magnetic to people. However, she had also tarnished her reputation due to the vision hunt decree, being referred to as a tyrant as far away as Fontaine.

Aether smiled. “I’m glad to hear it was a success? Are there plans for any future festivals in Inazuma?” He asked. He always enjoys the festivals in Inazuma. It was as if the people, finally free from the repressive state maintained by the Shogun and Tenryou Commission, had years' worth of celebration and festivities to get out of their systems. As such, every festival felt like it was the last one on Teyvat.

“I believe that Kamisato-san and Miko are working on something new, but I haven’t heard anything”. Aether felt a nervous bead of sweat drop down his forehead. Comically, Ei must have been thinking the same thing as the Traveler, as she put her hand to her chin.

“Perhaps I should keep an eye on them”, she muttered before folding her hands back into her lap.

“What about your adventures, Traveler?” She asked him, and it was Aether’s turn to share. His heart began to quicken. He really didn’t want to explain what had happened in Nod-Krai. He couldn’t even think about it without getting upset or angry. The last thing he wanted was to be either of those in front of Ei. 

“Well, I um.. Paimon and I spent some time at a new resort in Natlan with some friends. Together, we helped our friend see his parents one last time,” Aether said, choosing to focus on Natlan rather than Nod-Krai for now.

Ei’s eyes lit up. Although, as an Archon who has lived for so long that erosion has begun to set in, she had seen more things than she could even remember, she had lived quite a sheltered life for the last five-hundred years. She’s grateful that the people of Inazuma still have faith in her to lead them, but it does mean that she often finds herself living vicariously through the novels that Miko brings to her and Aether’s stories.

“A resort? Tell me more,” she asked, and Aether told her the story of how they helped to open up the Easybreeze Holiday Resort, unite Bennett with his parents one last time, and enjoy a few days of sun, food, fun and friends.

Listening to Aether’s stories, Ei found herself enthralled. She did her best to picture the scene in front of her. Sandy beaches, blue sea, a blazing sun, and the smell of good food. Ei wasn’t so sure on what the people in Natlan eat, so she supplemented it with her own ideas of good food; this was HER reimagining after all.

She imagined tables lined with her favourite foods: Mochi, Taiyaki, some Sushi and perhaps a hot pot? She imagined the people around her, celebrating life and happiness. She imagined her friends, like Miko and Mizuki. She paused for a moment, deliberating her next choice. ‘Fine’, she relented to herself, ‘Barbatos can come too’.

The faint smile on the Archon’s face quickly fell, however. She knew that all of this would forever remain a fantasy. Her time at the Mikawa Flower Festival had shown her that, despite her efforts, the people were still largely scared of her. Not only that, but most of those whom she had considered friends were long since dead. To Ei’s knowledge, she only had Miko, Mizuki, the Traveler and the Archons. Everybody else couldn’t be classified as friends when they were her subjects.

Ei snapped back to the present, just as Aether had finished explaining how Mavuika had ridden her motorcycle over a sharp cliff edge, driving perfectly down a mountain to land with a flourish to the glee of the hundreds of spectators at the resort.

That was something else that her imagination provided that reality could not. The Pyro Archon had a bond with her people as tight as Ei’s bond with the people of Watatsumi was frayed. She could never enjoy any festivities as Ei.

“Well… it certainly sounds like you finished your adventure in Natlan on a bright note,” Ei remarked, noting the fond smile that broke onto Aether’s face, likely without him even realising.

“And what of your next adventure? You were heading to Nod-Krai, yes?” She asked, and the light in the Traveler’s eyes died as swiftly as the smile was wiped from his face.

“I-um, yes. Our next stop was Nod-Krai”, Aether faltered for a second before continuing, “There hasn’t been much happening at the moment, really. We’ve just been exploring the area and completing commissions. It’s been rather boring.”

A blatant lie, of course, but Aether didn’t want to recap Nod-Krai. 

“Really?” Ei sounded as surprised as she looked. “Usually when you journey to a new nation, you become involved in whatever local conflict or crisis is ongoing,” she laughed a little. The fact that she was the reason why Aether had to step in to assist in the civil war was not lost on her.

“Not this time. It’s been totally quiet”, Aether said quickly. 

‘Too quickly’, Ei thought to herself. The Traveler was hiding something. She was certain that it wasn’t something too dangerous. Information had a way of spreading throughout Teyvat, and news of other crises, such as the Fontaine flood and the Abyssal invasion of Natlan, found their way to her ears surprisingly quickly, usually from the mouth of one nosy Kitsune.

But the Traveler was definitely hiding something. This time, Ei would listen to the little voice in her head and would pry deeper into Aether’s reluctance to discuss Nod-Krai.

“I’ve heard that the Fatui are very active in Nod-Krai,” she said, guessing that the most likely perpetrators were the Snezhnayan’s, who’ve stuck their noses into the business of every nation in Teyvat. Aether’s face remained passive, however, giving nothing away as he spoke.

“They’re there. There’s a big research facility that they built to research the power of the moon. Nothing different to what they do wherever else they go”, he growled.

The Electro Archon latched onto that growl, pulling it apart and analysing what it could mean within a single moment. ‘Was it something the Fatui did?’ She thought to herself, and her palms itched. There was a small but dangerous part of her that wanted nothing more than to cut through the ranks of the Fatui and their Harbingers with the power of the Musou no Hitotachi, leaving nothing more than a faint hint of ozone as the only sign that they ever existed.

‘Electro always chooses the path of least resistance’, she thought to herself. Why go through the trouble of annihilating the Fatui when she could just puncture its beating heart for daring to hurt her nation and her friend?

Ei took a calming breath. It would do her no good to get lost in her emotions right now. “What did the Fatui do?” She asked, her voice layered with concern.

“The Fatui didn’t do anything”, Aether said. “A Harbinger tried to make threats, but I’ve faced stronger foes and lived to tell the tale.” From anybody else, this statement would have been unsubstantiated bravado, pointless posturing to overcompensate for a shortcoming in strength or ability.

But Ei knew that the Traveler was lacking in neither of those. 

With the culprit responsible for making her friend withdrawn shrouded in the same darkness that the Traveler’s mind was currently clouded by, Ei was back to square one. 

“Was the Abyss acti-” Ei moved to continue her questioning, but was interrupted by Aether, who had clearly had enough.

“I’m tired of talking about Nod-Krai, Ei”, he sighed, dragging his hand across his face in a manner that almost made Ei feel tired herself.

“Oh”, Ei paused. She’d clearly pushed too far out of the realm of concern and into the realm of interrogation. Both Miko and Makoto had warned her that she often didn’t know when to give up. For now, Ei would take a hint.

“I apologise, Traveler”, Ei’s purple eyes glanced down at the ground. “I pushed you too far, and it was wrong of me to ask you to share things that you didn’t want to”.

The Traveler just looked at Ei for a moment - guilt written across her face - before running a hand through his hair and letting out a breath. “Don’t worry about it, Ei. No harm done”, he said glumly.

Ei wasn’t entirely convinced, however Aether didn’t leave much room for argument. Instead, she thought it would be best to switch to lighter topics.

“Would you like some tea?” Came the voice that snapped Aether out of his self-induced daydream.

Aether stood up suddenly, causing his chair to make a creaking noise as the quick movement jostled it in the sand beneath their feet. “Honestly, Ei? All I want to do right now is spar?”

Ei blinked. “You want to spar with me?” She asked, making sure that she heard her friend correctly.

“I do,” Aether said resolutely.

The Electro Archon stood from her seat, using her power to dissolve the electro constructs that the pair were sitting on previously. “Are you sure?” She double-checked before cheekily adding, “You’ve never won”.

“I don’t care about winning or losing. I just want a few minutes where I’m not thinking of Nod-Krai, or the Abyss, or sisters”, he groaned, drawing his sword and assuming his defensive stance.

Ei’s eyes widened. ‘His Sister!’ She chastised herself, “I should know this feeling better than anyone’. The Archon felt guilty for not coming to that conclusion sooner, and with this realisation, a lot of the puzzle pieces started fitting together. His reluctance to speak about Nod-Krai, his focus on happy moments with Natlan and his desire for Ei to keep talking about HER life. Something happened with his sister in Nod-Krai. 

She locked eyes with the Traveler again, his stony gaze mirroring an Ei of ages past. Not cold, not warm, not angry. Just there. She cleared her throat and drew her polearm, shifting into a defensive stance with a deliberate opening. 

“Very well, Traveler”, she beckoned him. “Make your move”.

Like a flash of lightning riding the storm, Aether shot forward, using both the power of Anemo and the strength in his legs to propel him through the air towards the Electro Archon. Said Archon swiftly dodged, using her polearm to counter the blow and knock the Traveler off course.

Ei closed the distance, attacking with swift strikes intended to probe Aether’s usually rigid defences for weakness. This was a method that Ei preferred to use in most of her spars and battles. There was nary a creature, human or god, who could protect themselves against the speed of Ei’s lightning and bladework. The Traveler was no exception, although his ability to resist her barrage of strikes was stronger than most.

Aether’s feet remained firmly planted in the ground, his eyes watching Ei’s rapid strikes and waiting for a chance to retaliate. Usually, when Ei began her probing of his defences, he’d prefer to wait it out, trying to counter was a risk that was too large when facing a woman whose attacks were often faster than regular humans could even comprehend.

It was on this occasion that Aether decided to deviate from his usual pattern of defence. In between Ei’s quick strikes, she extended her arm slightly further back than usual. It was a distance that those who are inexperienced with the martial arts wouldn’t consider significant at all, the purpose of the arm extension being to strike harder at Aether’s defence to test their strength, however to a being as old and experienced as Aether, it was enough for him to make his decision.

Keeping his sword raised to not alert Ei to what he was planning, he leaned back slightly to make her reach further. The Archon did exactly as he predicted, and Aether launched a straight kick towards the stomach of the Archon, connecting and sending her flying backwards.

Although the kick did catch Ei off guard, she quickly corrected herself in the air and responded with a flying kick of her own, forcing Aether to the ground as he struggled to react to both the force and speed of the kick. On his back on the sands of Euthymia, Aether swept his leg out, hoping to catch Ei in a leg sweep. The Archon jumped over the leg sweep, giving Aether enough time to flip back to his feet and away from immediate danger.

The two opponents circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Ei took note of how Aether was fighting. Usually, he was a much more defensive fighter, focusing on parrying attacks, watching for gaps in attacks and exploiting elemental weaknesses. This time, Aether looked to be a much more aggressive opponent.

As she devised a quick plan in her head to go on the offensive, she narrowly avoided a Geo pillar rising from the ground beneath her feet. The Geo within the pillar reacted with the Electro crackling around the Archon, giving Aether an Electro shield that he could use to weather the storm that was the Electro Archon. 

Ei and Aether once again charged towards each other, Aether’s Geo resonance and shield bolstering his defences enough to effectively parry Ei’s attack. Thinking quickly, the Traveler decided to press his momentary advantage, sending strike after strike towards Ei, who was now on the backfoot. 

Aether’s advantage wouldn’t last long, however, as Ei decided to teleport behind Aether and hit him with an overhead slash. To Ei’s surprise, Aether didn’t decide to evade her attack, instead choosing to block it using his sword behind his head. The Archon’s eyes narrowed, more than a little surprised and confused at the choice he had made. Recognising the advantageous position she was in, Ei used her considerable upper body strength to push down further on the blocking sword, attempting to break Aether’s already precarious block with sheer strength.

Ei leaned down low, utilising a considerable amount of strength to break the block. Through his peripherals, Aether noticed a few of the strands of Ei’s hair hanging beside his head. Useless on their own, but it told him that her head was hanging not too far from his. He threw his head back and headbutted her in the nose, forcing her to pull back and give him some space.

Attempting to make the most of the small space he had bought himself, Aether swung his sword in a diagonal motion, hoping to either maintain the space he had created or catch Ei off-guard with a quick strike.

Unfortunately for Aether, neither option would come to fruition. Ei parried the attack at breakneck speed, forcing the sword from the Traveler’s hands and leaving it embedded point-first into the sands of Euthymia. 

The Electro Archon marked the end of her duel the same way she does with any opponent, with a respectful bow and the sheathing of her polearm. 

“Looks like I win again, Traveler”, she boasted cheekily. She didn’t have many people to whom she could boast about her martial prowess without it feeling either insincere or overly arrogant. The only two people she spoke to on a semi-regular basis who she felt she could allow her more playful nature to engage with, aside from the Traveler, were Kujou Sara and Yae Miko. However, Miko wasn’t the sparring sort and boasting towards Kujou Sara would likely only further widen the perceived gap between the two.

Suddenly, Ei remembered Aether’s sloppy form during the fight. She didn’t have the timekeeping abilities that the Shogun had, but it was obvious to the Archon that this sparring session had come to a conclusion much quicker than usual. Taking note of the troubled look in Aether’s eyes, she began to grow concerned about what may be troubling him.

“Is everything alright?” Ei asked, offering a hand to help the Traveler back to his feet. The Traveler glanced at Ei’s outstretched hand, electing instead to stand up without the Archon’s assistance.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me”, he says, brushing off her concerns with a wave of the hand. He walked back over to his sword and pulled it from the sand, giving it another experimental swing before settling back into a defensive stance. “Let’s go again”.

Ei raised an eyebrow at this. Sure, when sparring, they’d often go multiple rounds. Within these rounds, Aether would slowly learn what does and doesn’t work and experiment with new tactics, especially with his elemental powers. Whilst never able to win, there had been a few times where his analytical mind had been enough to push Ei into using more of her strength than she intended to use.

This time, she was slightly concerned for the Traveler. He lost very quickly this time, much quicker than usual, and didn’t seem in the right headspace for a second round to prove beneficial for either of them. “I’m not sure if we should”, Ei began, “You don’t seem to be fully inv-”, she didn’t get to fully finish her sentence as the outworlder enveloped himself in the warm aura of Natlan’s Nightsoul and sent off a few blades of Pyro towards her.

Pushing her concerns for Aether out of her mind, she focused instead on fending off his latest attacks. This time, Aether decided to focus more on his elemental abilities, swapping freely between them with more skill than she had previously seen during their duels. Although the current circumstances were concerning, she couldn’t stop the small swell of pride that spread in her chest watching the Traveler use the elements of Teyvat with such proficiency.

Ei ducked and weaved between the Pyro energy, slashing through the ones she couldn’t dodge in time as she quickly closed the gap between the two. Aether channelled Electro energy, using the element to zip out of the way of the Archon. 

With some distance between the two, the Traveler channeled the power of Dendro and fired off some energy towards Ei. Ei moved to avoid; the Traveler had predicted where she would dodge and ensured that the energy would cover that area too. Ei felt the Dendro energy moving over her body, and Aether again swapped to Pyro, hoping to ignite the Dendro upon the Archon.

This time, Ei was ready for what Aether tried to do, and deflected the Pyro blades back towards him, immediately following that up with Electro to trigger an Overload reaction. Aether attempted to dodge, but was narrowly caught by the explosion, which sent him flying across the plane of Euthymia. 

He landed on his feet, switching over to Hydro as he fired off some Hydro bullets in Ei’s general direction. They both knew that as an Archon of Electro, one of Ei’s weaknesses was Hydro. If Aether managed to land enough Hydro upon her, he could bog her down in a mire of Electro-Charged reactions, leaving her open to further attacks.

Because of this, Ei spent much more time dodging the incoming Hydro assault rather than taking any risks with deflections and counters. Under the storm of the tightly-pressured hydro blasts, Aether had created a narrow corridor for Ei to follow, one which ended right in front of him. 

He switched to Dendro again and leapt into the air, channelling the energy into his blade and aiming for the open area where Ei was supposed to dodge in three…two…one…

CLANG!!!

The sound of Aether’s sword hitting Ei’s polearm rang out through Euthymia. Ei had managed to block the Traveler’s attack by a matter of milliseconds. Aether had recognised this and threw out a series of quick but firm strikes, which Ei had to put all of her focus on blocking. 

Soon enough, Ei had regained her bearings and began to parry the Traveler’s attacks with practised ease, forcing him backwards. Aether quickly summoned another Geo rock behind Ei, ensuring she couldn’t avoid his next move. He slammed his sword into the floor, the waves of Geo pulsing through the plane of Euthymia, forcing the Archon to simply take the hits of Geo whilst she focused on defending against Aether’s next move.

A next move which would prove to be decidedly sloppy. Aether dived behind Raiden, switching his element to catch Ei off guard, a move he had done to countless other opponents before. But Ei wasn’t just another opponent; she was the Electro Archon. Such a thought didn’t cross the mind of the Traveler as he hit the Archon with a heavily charged lightning attack.

Ei felt the warm glow of her element wash over her, before turning to the stunned Traveler who had now realised the mistake he made. Forgoing her polearm, Ei hit the Traveler with a palm strike, which would almost certainly leave a bruise when he woke up tomorrow. The strike sent him face down into the sands of Euthymia, and for a moment, Ei wondered if she had used a little too much force.

Her anxieties were quickly dissipated when the still face down Traveler’s hands clenched, and he got to his knees. Spotting his sword a few metres away from him, he made to go after it to continue the battle, however, Ei had other plans.

She threw her polearm into the ground beside Aether’s hands, channelling the lightning through it with a loud crash of thunder, which she intended to get her point across. “ENOUGH”, she shouted, her voice ringing through the plane in a manner that Aether hadn’t seen since the pair battled the Shogun puppet. Ei’s actions worked, however, as Aether had stopped dead in his tracks.

“In all of the times we have sparred together, not once have I seen you fight with such a lack of focus and attention”, she began before realising that starting with a critique of his abilities is not how she wants to set the tone of this conversation. Her face softened, glancing down at her friend who remained on his knees in defeat. “I may not be the emotionally intelligent Archon that Makoto once was, yet even I can tell that something is weighing upon your mind”.

Aether scowled, shaking his head as he sat on the sand and stared off into the distance. “Nothing is wrong… It’s just a bad day. There’s no need to worry about it”, he said calmly. Ei wasn’t convinced. She’d like to think that she has gotten better at understanding those close to her recently, and she knew the difference between a bad day and something deeper.

She sighed in exasperation, the side of her that worries about pushing too far being soundly beaten by the side that was concerned for her friend. “This isn’t just a bad day, Aether”, she rebuked his deflection. “I’ve seen your bad days before. They’re nothing that tea with friends and a good spar can’t fix”. Ei keeps her eyes trained on the Traveler, hoping for any reaction or expression which may give away what is eating away at him.

“Did something happen at the resort?” She asked, watching as he shook his head, “Or was it Nod-Krai?” Aether paused before shaking his head again, but Ei had caught the hesitation in his action. “What happened in Nod-Krai, Aether?”

The Traveler looked away from Ei, seemingly fascinated by the sand slipping through his right hand. Ei was getting desperate and she dropped to her knees next to the Traveler, taking his hands in hers. “Please…” she pleaded, “Talk to me. What happened in Nod-Krai?”

Aether looked up into Ei’s eyes before jumping back up to his feet and turning his back to the Archon, preferring instead the warm expanse of Euthymia. “Nod-Krai hasn’t…” he started, but stopped himself. After a brief moment, he continued with a sigh, “Nod-Krai hasn’t been the easiest place to be”.

Ei climbed to her feet too, still keeping the distance that Aether had put between the two. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself for the moment, unwilling to break Aether out of his thoughts now that he seemed to be willing to share them. Instead, she used her power and control over the realm to summon a small chair for the Traveler to sit on.

Aether looked at the chair for a moment before flopping back down onto the sands of Euthymia, staring upwards into the shifting blues and purples of the realm. “Do you know how my sister and I arrived in Teyvat?” He asked, and Ei searched through her memory to try to remember. Although she knew her mind was slowly eroding, she was confident that she wouldn’t forget such an important detail, especially after only hearing about it during the last few years. She shook her head. 

“We arrived in our spaceship from our home planet,” Aether said. This was news to Ei. Although she never knew how the twins arrived in Teyvat, she had always imagined that the pair flew here through the cosmos - his fighting style reflected somebody who didn’t have wings, yet spent eons fighting with them. 

Ei’s curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you leave your home planet?” Aether looked at her for a second, surprise evident in his eyes. He clearly never expected her to ask such a question.

Aether let out a small laugh, although there was no humour behind it. “You know, you’re only the third person to ask me that, and one of them is Paimon”. Ei briefly wondered who the other person was, but she didn’t have very long to ponder before Aether started speaking again. 

“There was simply nothing left. Home was always where we were together, but we’ve spent so long looking for somewhere where we can put our roots down again… where we can return after a long journey and feel that warm sense of belonging that we’ve been missing for so long.”

Ei could empathise. Although Inazuma had been her home for as long as she could remember, and she held a deep love for her nation, the truth was that she would have found her home to be any of the seven nations of Teyvat as long as she had Makoto with her. 

“I see… and what are your thoughts on Teyvat?” Ei prodded curiously. She was unsure of how attached the Traveler had grown to Teyvat; he’d travelled across an untold number of worlds and likely had interactions with an even larger number of people.

“I… I don’t know,” Aether admitted. Ei wasn’t too surprised. However, she also wasn’t finished. She knew that there was more to this story than Nod-Krai simply being the place where he and his sister landed.

“So what else did you discover whilst you were in Nod-Krai?” She asked, failing to notice the way that the muscles in his body tensed for a small moment. 

He took a deep breath, almost as if he was preparing himself for battle or to impart some devastating news upon a family member. “I met Lumine again”. Ei just waited for him to continue. “She asked me to help her in retrieving the moon marrow from the Frostmoon Scions”.

The Archon raised an eyebrow at that. She wasn’t entirely sure what a Moon Marrow was, only that it was related to the moons of Teyvat and, as such, extremely powerful. She also knew that Aether’s sister was the Princess of the Abyss Order, and whatever reasons she had for wanting the moon marrow couldn’t have been good news for anyone. Ei decided it would be best if she kept those thoughts to herself for now.

However, as if he could read her mind, Aether spoke up again, “I know Lumine is the leader of the Abyss Order, and another moon corrupted by the Abyss would likely be a catastrophe that Teyvat doesn’t deserve but I-” and he paused to take a breath before speaking quietly, recognising how selfish his desire was, “I just wanted to be with her again. To live like we used to live… even if it was just for a moment.”

Ei’s heart ached for her celestial travelling friend. There had been a time in her life when she would have given up anything and everything to have Makoto back with her one more time. Even now, she still feels the pain in her heart and soul when she sees a new book in the Yae Publishing House or hears a funny joke and thinks about how her sister would like to hear about it, before reality hits again and she’s left with nothing but memories and a deep longing in her soul.

Aether’s face suddenly grew dark. “Only I found out that the time spent with my sister wasn’t with my sister at all… but one of the five sinners of Khaenri’ah. Rerir… the Racher of Solnari or whatever name Dain gave that bastard. Do you know him?” Aether looked at Ei, who remained silent. “Of course…”

The spiteful part of Aether that he tried to keep to himself really hated how secretive his Archon friends were. Aside from Furina, who was never a true Archon to begin with, Nahida had been the only person to provide him with any useful information. Venti was mysterious, Zhongli had a contract, Ei didn’t know anything, and Mavuika was preparing to die. 

There were a few times when he debated asking Neuvillette the various questions he had about Teyvat and its history. But the much larger part of him that loved and cared for his friends told him that they would surely tell him if nothing was stopping them. He didn’t want to go behind their backs or put them in a dangerous position, so he kept his questions to himself.

A tear rolled down Aether’s cheek as he continued. “The time I spent with Lumine, even if it was just Rerir in disguise, just made me miss her even more”. He wiped the tear from his cheek with his hand before another one trailed along his sorrowful face. “Paimon is my best friend in Teyvat. I love her, and if anything happened to her, it would break me. But… Lumine is irreplaceable.” 

Ei understood what he meant. Ei wasn’t sure who her parents were, or if she even had any. The only family she knew had been dead for five hundred years. Miko was now the closest thing she had to a family, but the love she felt for Miko could never eclipse the love she had for her sister, or fill the Makoto-shaped hole that was torn from her heart.

Aether’s breathing sped up a little, his mind quickly beginning to spiral. “And now… I have so many more questions than answers. Every time I think I’m finally close to the truth, something comes up that just messes it all up. Is Lumine from Teyvat? Is she even my sister? I-I don’t know.”

The Traveler was now breathing at a worrying pace. Ei wasn’t sure why he thought that Lumine wasn’t his sister or that she came from Teyvat, but that didn’t matter at the moment. She recognised the signs of an incoming panic attack. She’d seen them break down even the strongest soldiers of Inazuma in the time following the cataclysm. Even Makoto, gentle soul she was, had suffered from panic attacks upon seeing the various remains of the Gods that Ei had cut down to secure the throne of the Electro Archon for Makoto.

She kneeled back down in front of Aether, holding his hand in an effort to ground him. “May I hug you?” She asked, awaiting his reaction. His breathing remained hurried, but Ei noted that it was no longer speeding up. He nodded weakly, and the strong arms of the Electro Archon wrapped around the Traveler. Aether simply let his head fall into her shoulder, and the floodgates opened.

Ei had never heard Aether cry before. It was a cry that Aether desperately needed, building from small sniffles to an anguished wail, years of pressure, anger and sadness leaving the Traveler through tears and noises that Ei couldn’t begin to describe, even in her native Inazuman tongue, which Aether had once joked had “a word for everything”.

Ei held Aether through his sobs, the shoulder on her kimono becoming heavy as the material trapped the moisture of his tears. But still she remained, a bulwark amongst the storm of grief and longing that raged within his mind, a lighthouse shining brightly, slowly guiding him back to calmer waters.

It took a long while for Ei to understand that grief wasn’t just something that beings felt for those who had passed away. Instead, it was the lament of the loss of anything that once held comfort for another. Children grieved their old stuffed toys, adults grieved their carefree childhood years and Aether grieved the life he used to live with his sister.

“One day, you’ll reach the end of your journey. Lumine will be there waiting for you, and you’ll look back on these times and share a laugh together”. Although she wasn’t sure how true that might be, she wholeheartedly wanted to believe it. Aether had done so much for herself, Inazuma and Teyvat as a whole. He deserved nothing less.

“Remember, you saved me. You helped me to see the errors of the Vision Hunt Decree… you likely saved Inazuma from suffering for Eternity at my hands”, she shamefully muttered that last part. “You deserve to be reunited with your sister… and I think that one day, your efforts and good deeds will be rewarded”.

She gently used her hands to stroke his hair, right hand both securing his head onto her shoulder whilst her fingers ran along his scalp. “It feels like grief takes an age to finally get easier… but one day, you’ll wake up and feel like the chains on your heart are slightly more slack than the day before”. She thought back to her own grief. Nearly five hundred years isolated in the Plane of Euthymia had only frozen her grief in time. Sometimes, Ei felt the cruel sting of irony when she realised that her Eternity only ever managed to preserve her grief. The world marched on without her, but her grief latched onto her side, burrowing deep and refusing to budge.

“You’re surrounded by people who together can help you shoulder this immense weight you’ve placed on your shoulders. Please, don’t make the same mistakes I did. Talk to those around you. I know that Paimon will listen to you whenever you ask… and so would I.”

Aether’s sobs had been reduced to sniffles by now, Ei’s comforting touch and gentle words working wonders in calming the Traveler’s mind. Ei was glad, but a part of her doubted whether she had the ability to calm someone down and show them the care that they would need. Unfortunately for Ei, she was too distracted by her own thoughts to feel too happy about Aether being cheered up. Her words to Aether had been borne of her own mistakes and experiences, experiences which Ei was now reflecting on and glumly berating herself for.

“Such a fool”, Ei muttered, and Aether lifted his head from Ei’s shoulder in confusion. He saw the beginnings of tears balancing precariously on the eyelashes of the Electro Archon, and it was here that he realised that his own grief may have just unearthed Ei’s own turbulent relationship with grief and her own mistakes.

Swallowing down his lingering sadness and clearing his throat, Aether aimed to be there for his friend the way she was for him. He made to open his mouth to reassure Ei that she wasn’t a fool, but she beat him to it. 

“I kept myself locked up for so long,” she started, her tone thrumming with a scorn that he had seldom heard from Ei herself. A scorn, he realised, was directed at herself. “I thought I could preserve Inazuma, just as Makoto had left it. That way, no matter what, she’d still be with me”, Ei croaked out, her voice cracking at the end.

Aether resumed the hug, giving Ei the chance to finally get her worries off her chest as she sobbed softly into his hair. “I miss her every single day”, she lamented, lifting her head to look into the eyes of her travelling friend, “I wish you could have met her. She was smart, funny, beautiful - everything I’m not. She loved the world and everything in it.”

“I wish I could have missed her too, Ei”, Aether admitted, “She sounds lovely”. He grabbed her shoulders and fixed her with a look that communicated both how hurt he was that she viewed herself so negatively, but with an understanding that only those who experience their particular kind of grief could understand, “But don’t ever speak of yourself so poorly”, he said with a conviction that made Ei want to believe him.

Letting go of her shoulder and taking her hands in his, he disregarded all of the usual honeyed words and platitudes that were floating through his mind, instead electing to speak from his heart. “You’ve built tw- a puppet that’s indistinguishable from a regular person. It has a heartbeat, its own thoughts and personality. It’s incredible, Ei!”

Feeling the usual restrictions on his heart crumble away, he continued his praise of the Electro Archon. “You make me laugh every time we’re together, even if sometimes it’s because you don’t understand the joke”, he let out a small chuckle at the almost offended look in Ei’s watery eyes. 

Perhaps it was the proximity. Maybe it was because he was already showering her with compliments and was feeling brave. Or maybe he was just simply fed up with hiding what he thought. Either way, if anybody later asked Aether why he said what he said next, he wouldn’t be sure if he could explain it. 

“And Ei… since the destruction of my planet, and even before, I have travelled across so many worlds. I have seen statues built of women whose beauty was considered mythical. I have seen Kings go to war over people of unparalleled beauty, and Goddesses whose admirers travelled far and wide just to get a glimpse of their form”, The Traveler took a steadying breath, “And yet through all of this, not a single living being across the cosmos has a radiant exquisiteness that so perfectly reflects the beauty of the soul within as you do.”

The blush that spread across Ei’s face burned like a wildfire. She buried her face in Aether’s hair again, too embarrassed to face him. Aether himself sported a bright pink blush, his mind finally catching up to his mouth. Aether understood Ei’s plight, at least as an outsider. Ei had many worshippers as the Electro Archon, no shortage of people who would loudly proclaim the Electro Archon to be the strongest, the fastest, the smartest, the best in all the land. Yet Aether doubted she had heard it from someone close to her, other than Miko. 

He moved his head back to look Ei in the eyes again, purple orbs meeting golden ones. “And you claim that you can’t care for the people of Inazuma the same way that Makoto did, yet I’ve seen the sorrow in your eyes when you saw the damage done from the civil war. I heard the breath hitching in your voice when you volunteered to speak to the families of those who would never return home. And on top of that, I’ve seen how much you’re trying to make things right”, a soft smile spread across Aether’s face, one filled with warmth and… something else that Ei wasn’t quite sure of, “I think you’ve spent so long apologising for your mistakes, and trying to fix them, that you’ve internalised all of the pain from the war and placed it upon your own shoulders”.

He giggled to himself as he remembered Ei’s earlier words, “Take your own advice sometime, Ei. Confide in your friends. Whether that be Miko, Sara, Mizuki, or even the Shogun Puppet. They can all share the load and lighten your burden together. And don’t forget, you’ll always have me too”.

Ei’s sadness had mostly subsided at this point, and she laughed wetly as she finally took in Aether’s now messy hair and the wet patch on her shoulder. “I was supposed to be the one comforting you,” she said, using her sleeve to dry her eyes. Aether laughed at that, doing his best to try and tidy his hair back up to a presentable state.

As the two tidied themselves up from their impromptu crying session, Aether had an idea. A way for them to both tackle their grief together, leaning on each other.

“Can you… tell me more about Makoto?” Aether asked. Ei’s eyes shifted from her sleeve to the Traveler and that earnest expression on her face. A feeling of admiration and… something more profound spread from Ei’s heart throughout her body. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of Aether’s head.

“As long as you promise to tell me more about Lumine?” She said, looking down at the now furiously blushing Aether with a shy smile.

Aether simply nodded, his own happiness making no effort to hide itself on his face. 

“I would love that”.