Chapter 9 - The Tree of Farewells

He didn't bleed.

At least Aether thought so. During these aeons of traveling with his sister, red liquid had never poured out of him. A form of golden energy seeped out of his wounds, and that only happened when a god was strong enough to land a scratch on his celestial body. To him, blood was a sign of weakness, of an organism whose strength was far beneath godhood, and the sight of blood was too often heralding death. Death should not matter to a god, and much less to an unfathomable world-hopper.

In this form, Aether was weak. Most of the rules applying to mortals affected him as well.

If that was true, then he was probably dead.

In a plane of pure silence and darkness, where he couldn't sense that god's murderous intent directed at him anymore, where the precious light emitted by all life was nowhere to be seen. Where feeling and emotion didn't exist, where he felt out of place. His non-corporeal body floated in the midst of nothing, going in no direction yet constantly in motion. His thoughts were left to rage around in his head, with no mouth to speak or ears to hear. After death, the void.

He had to admit: Death was disappointing.

No pantheon of the gods welcoming him with open arms, no endless sea of flowers and swirling constellations, no gateway to his wishes being fulfilled, no second shot at life in another world, not even the smiles of his loved ones who'd left the worlds before him.

Not a single memory for everything he'd left behind.

Death was a waste. A complete lie that even gods believed in. Worthless limbs of emptiness where-

He felt himself suddenly accelerate across the planes.

Like a machine being put in motion, or a horse beginning to race in the fields. Shards of existence flowed past him at an unimaginable speed. Souls. Beliefs. Knowledge. Memories. Feelings.

Sins. Realities. Stars.

Stars?

A faint mote of light flared into existence somewhere. Followed by another one. And another one. Stretching out into thin rays of light as he sped past them. This blinding light converged at a single point ahead, a pool of radiance that consumed him. Aether was scorched and drenched in life, pushed into an expanse that he felt was the opposite of death. It was busy, crammed with energy, and it crushed him.

He was not dying.

Like a newborn coming into the world, he let out a single scream.

Slowly, his eyes opened, taking in a cloudless azure sky. Aether felt his chest heaving with each breath he took, air filling his very much alive body. His heart felt at peace, like returning home after a journey that had lasted for way too long. Beneath him was a pool of still water, supporting him like solid ground, but rippling under his steps. This calm plane went on as far as his eyes could see, and the horizon where the meeting of water and air was blurred by a thin streak of light.

His breathing slowly returned to normal as he took in the sight, forgetting all about death, duels, and the ideals of gods. In this unperturbed space, where nothing could trouble or hurt him, he hoped to find solace for just a moment.

"I'm sorry."

He knew this sakura tree wasn't there when he first looked. Standing tall and powerful, but out of place in his realm. A single petal flew past him, then two, three, before a pink swarm engulfed him. It swirled, fluttered like a flock of birds, and coalesced into an orb at the tree's roots. Then it weaved, into the sky and out of his line of sight, leaving behind a frail woman sitting beneath the rain of petals. There was something different about her. The wise and elegant look she usually had in her eyes was replaced by a deep sadness, and perhaps a hint of fear. Raiden Makoto sat before him.

"I'm sorry." she repeated. Her voice was blank, and so was her face. Her hair and eyes seemed to have dulled, and that spark of mischief he only recognized in a cunning immortal had now completely died out. In this moment, the Traveler understood that he was looking at a mere husk, that any aspect of vitality she could've kept up before would never come back.

Aether looked at her and said nothing. A moment of unperceivable length passed, and not a single ripple happened at his feet. She looked up at him, and her lips pursed before parting.

"I... We have a complicated relationship. You've probably guessed already, but the real me is long gone." A slow, rythmical pulse originating from her reflected in the water. "Five hundred years ago, I had to entrust everything to her after... the Cataclysm. I couldn't prepare anything, give a proper goodbye, or even try to speak. It all happened so suddenly, the gods of the seven nations were forced to react upon their orders, and I couldn't-" She was cut off by her own pained gasp. Makoto's eyes shut, transparent tears slowly falling onto her pink garb. "This small shard of my consciousness has been waiting for an opening for so long, just one chance to reach out to her. And when you were cursed, when she deemed you a threat, I thought it was worth trying."

The pulse died just before reaching his feet. "And that's why I could never remember who you were – because you only exist in the realm of consciousness." He omitted how he'd mistaken the true god of Eternity for her, and the melancholy he'd caused during their fight. A moment passed by. "I should have known. What else haven't you told me?"

She looked down. "Ei is my sister, and successor as Electro Archon. This position was forced onto her by my own foolishness, and I could never impart to her a proper grasp on eternity and what it means for mortals. Her vision of it was obfuscated by my passing, her anger, and the troubled state of the world after the destruction of Khaenri'ah. No one should have to shoulder so much responsibility in such a short time."

A powerful gust of wind emanated from him, and two large ripples spread into the plane as she spoke. He regarded her with two fiery eyes, yet he didn't take a step forward. Aether slowly reached for his neck, and was only met with his skin and the muscles underneath — smooth, like a baby's. Not a trace of powerful branding, or of a curse on his body. Like he had never made the mistake of touching that statue in Ritou.

"And just saying it would have been so difficult." he said dryly. "Just being honest with someone when you needed their help wasn't something you could just do, right? "

"I was afraid you wouldn't... I thought things wouldn't work out if the previous Electro Archon just begged for your help with fixing this mess. After what you had seen and experienced, I figured you would just hate anyone loosely affiliated with her. So I-"

"Deceived me." he finished. The Traveler gritted his teeth. "And you don't know how I hate or choose people. When I was trying to help with the Vision Hunt Decree and the people's wishes, I looked everywhere for an ally. Meanwhile, you were merely searching for a tool you could use to reach out to your sister. There's a fine line between the two, don't you think?"

The petals falling from the sakura tree began to drop with more intensity, as she shook her head. "My intention was never to deceive you, Aether. I would have explained everything in due time, with the operation being fully set in motion, and your support to free my sister. But just because it didn't go as planned doesn't mean we share no common goal!"

"I was almost killed by your sister, and for what, Makoto?" he scowled. "Do you know why I leaped in front of that blade? Because I wanted to protect two humans who were honest with me. They saw me as an ally, and I took a big risk so they could carry out their plan. I saw you as an ally, and we both failed. Because you, in spite of everything I have done for the both of us, thought I wouldn't cooperate had I known the full story?!" A spark ignited in his eyes, but she failed to give an answer. Because she had none. He looked away bitterly.

"Aether, you may hate me."

But her voice still stopped him, and he had no other choice but to look at her. A familiar sight - a god who'd lost everything and was willing to sacrifice anything for their sibling. He hated how similar they were, but Lumine would have done the same for him in her place. As for himself... yes, he would hurt, lie and only trust himself. Because no one else could understand the pain of slowly losing your only family.

She was fully on her knees. Forehead pressed against the mirroring floor, what remained of an Archon was groveling in front of him. She didn't look up, yet he could tell from the slight jerks of her body that she was still sobbing quietly. A ripple reached him beneath their feet. "It is a fact that I have deceived you, and I deserve no compassion for it. But I beg of you, please do not hate my sister." Her fist clenched. "Ei has done horrible things to her people, her nation, and even herself. I condone none of these actions, and I will not deny that she took some of the worst decisions in the history of the Shogunate. But even so..."

"..."

"Even so, I know my sister's heart must be aching as much as yours. And even after five centuries, she still feels the weight of my passing. I am the one who should have been there for her, and all of this is indirectly my fault."

She looked up at him, and he felt fickle lightning disturb his plane. In tears, in grief, and in regret, Raiden Makoto was still a god. Even after her body had long left this world, he was reminded not to underestimate the roar of thunder. She had a sad, forlorn gaze in her eyes, but the sakura petals and arcs of lightning dancing around her bolstered her aura of divinity.

"Traveler, I stand here at your mercy to ask for your forgiveness in my sister's stead." Her tone was no longer breaking into tears, but regal, like Inazuma's old ruler. "You may remember her various grievances, but I only beg that you rescue her from herself and what she could cause to this nation. All of Inazuma will be in your debt, and then you will be free to demand satisfaction."

The Traveler walked up to her. The water under his feet rippled, but rather than the repelling pulses from before, it emitted gentle light as the sunlight bounced on the pool and reflected around him. He crouched down to her level, his expression a mix of sadness and compassion.

"Satisfaction from who? I'm not interested in that kind of recognition, Makoto. There, you just learned something about me." He offered her a wistful smile. "I'm an outsider, and I'm not concerned with any of this. Trying to butt my way into this nation's affairs will only lead to me getting manipulated and used by someone I barely know."

"..."

"Am I wrong?"

She slowly shook her head. Aether looked down, and the still water showed him an image of his face, blurry and shimmering. He breathed out.

"She misses you, more than you can imagine. She freaked out pretty hard when I mistook you for her too."

"Ei is..."

"Now, I know a thing or two about not being able to see your sibling. Mostly that it really hurts, and that you feel like a part of you is constantly missing." He frictioned his own neck. "She did beat me to a pulp and try to take my life, but I can tell when someone's suffered in the same way that I have."

He could tell that she was holding back another wave of tears. Fragments of Makoto's consciousness were given form like petals, that shed one by one from her body and amassed at her knees. She was slowly coming apart, and he understood that this shard of the previous Electro Archon had remained by his side for too long. Outside a realm of complete stillness, he couldn't sustain her presence forever.

Forever, huh?

"Maybe trusting you was a mistake, Makoto, especially if you're really a traitor to Teyvat. But now, I know I can only fight for what you would have desired." He poked at a shard of her consciousness as it floated past him, and it shimmered with golden light. "Accept my help this time, before I learn from my previous mistakes and change my mind. If your sister and I keep you in our memories, you shall never die. You'll have endured eternity."

"I can't possibly deny you the right to remember me after what I've done, can I?" she weakly chuckled. "So be it. Reminiscing is good, even when it's about the sadder things. Because we treasure the memories that sting, they enrich our own story." A part of her face began to fade away, along with her tears. "I believe it's time to say farewell. Make good on our promise for me, will you?"

He went to wipe a few stray tears from her face, but she took hold of his wrist first. Weakly smiling, Makoto pushed his fingers to ball them into a fist, as she closed her own hand. Her motion was slightly clumsy, but she managed to force their hands to meet. One closed fist colliding with another, and then pulling back.

"It's a way humans have of showing their trust and complicity to one another, but it's also a form of greeting or farewell."

She did know one more thing about him.

He laughed, for a single second, remembering how awkward their first fist bump was. When his eyes opened again, Makoto was gone, only a few dots of pink being carried away on the wind. He wasn't surprised. Aether turned his closed hand upwards and opened it. A light pink, fragile petal nestled in his palm, and he made sure not to crush it when he closed his hand again. He remained like this, one knee on the ground, the water shifting between deep shades of purple and a warm yellow. The hand that held the precious item was tightly pressed against his forehead as he breathed.

"One day, I'll be able to tell of the chapter you wrote in my story. It will be the most entertaining story you've ever read or heard, that's for sure."

After her departure, he expected the sakura tree to wilt and wither away. But it remained here, standing still and strong in his realm of consciousness.

Where it belonged.

The tingling scent of sakura never quite left his nose. This was the first sense this new location triggered when he regained consciousness. Then came the wooden ceiling, and the flat surface that creaked under him as he tried to move. A spacious room, illuminated by the yellow glow of four lanterns projected on the white and crimson walls at each corner. Ropes stretched out from one side of the room to the other well above him, from which hung little paper slips that bordered on light pink. Several layers of heavy blankets weighed him down, wrapping him in a makeshift bed on the floor.

Aether tried to sit up, but a spike of excruciating pain convinced him to lay back down. He perceived vague voices coming from the same room, but they were out of his line of sight. Mostly women, talking by what was probably a door, but he had trouble understanding what exactly they were saying. Footsteps came and went, a general sense of agitation setting in in response to him suddenly waking up.

"Is the physician still here or did he go back to the city?"

"We don't know if he's stabilized yet."

"Someone go fetch Lady Guuji. We aren't allowed inside unless she says so."

Guuji — that was a word he'd heard before. But the pounding headache that split his skull in two made it especially hard to focus on recollections of recent events. The last trace he'd left on the physical plane was when the Raiden Shogun passed judgment on him in the imperial palace of Tenshukaku. After that... he couldn't tell how he'd made it here. His physical body still bore the scars of his battle against the Electro Archon, and though no wounds had reopened at present, staying down for a moment couldn't be an unwise idea. Light tingles of electricity still coursed through him occasionally, and he feared that drawing too much power at once would result in something bad.

His senses alerted him that a powerful presence was approaching.

If someone wanted to finish him off, now was probably the best time. Aether couldn't tell if there was evil intent in the air, but he remained on his guard. Well, as much as his current state allowed. A child armed with nothing but pebbles could still kill a fearsome beast, if the latter was badly wounded and hanging on by a thread. Luckily for him, the blurry silhouette that approached him was not that of a child, but of a tall woman with pink hair. A shade he found oddly familiar, just barely unable to grasp it. The figure leaned over his bed, long hair cascading and stopping right above his nose. He breathed.

Sakura tree, ritual incense, and the faintest hint of alcohol.

"Good morning, Traveler." a honeyed voice rang in his ears. "Can you tell me your name?"

He blinked for several long seconds. His eyes slowly made out the pair of pink ears poking downward and out of her hair, the smug lips, and deep purple orbits that remained glued to him.

"I am-" He suddenly paused, shocked at how hoarse his voice sounded. Just how much energy had that god of Eternity taken out of him?

"Don't be surprised at your current state. She really did a number on you back there, to the point where even I thought you wouldn't make it out alive." she shrugged. "Well, I suppose I was right to bet on someone who clings to life so adamantly. Speaking of, how are you feeling?"

He blinked twice, not wanting to point out the obvious. The casts and bandages binding his entire body spoke for themselves anyway.

Yae Miko kept the conversation with herself going. "Not great, I assume. Even for you, it will take a while before you regain full control of your body. That being said, you're quite lucky – any normal person would've died on the spot." She paused briefly, before her face lit up as she remembered an important detail. Her pleasing tone vanished on the spot, replaced by a command he felt he should take seriously. "I'm going to need you to at least pretend to feel a little better. Someone important is coming to visit you, and I can't have you putting another damper on her mood. It's been a lot of work to get this girl to even smile since the Vision Hunt Ceremony, you know?"

"This girl..." He tried to sit up again, wincing through the pain that shot up his arms and waist. The Guuji half-smiled, sighing as she placed a hand to support his back and tilted his torso into a more comfortable position. Aether leaned against the wall behind him with her help, throwing a quizzical look at the pink-haired woman. "Sorry if I sound rude, but why is she here? I honestly thought the Kamisato Clan would be on thin ice after what happened at Tenshukaku." He briefly recalled the Commissioner's words about their peculiar standing in the imperial court. "They can't be publicly associated with me when I've committed some serious crimes against the Shogunate and their god."

To his surprise, she didn't dwell much on it. "In spite of the danger they expose themselves to, some people still have their reasons. Not always the smartest or most sensible, but they make for quite the interesting tales. As for this one, why don't you ask its author directly? I guarantee you, she put a lot of effort into it."

He followed her gaze to the door, where stood Kamisato Ayaka. She seemed... different. Tired, but still resolute. She had done away with her opulent clothes for a more anonymous garb of light blue and brown, tied at her waist by a thin white belt. Her elegance still shone through the commoner's dress as she stepped forward, slightly avoiding the blond's gaze.

She knelt by his side, looking ahead rather than directly at him. He noticed an attempt at concealing the circles around her eyes, born of either sleep deprivation or dried tears. She seemed hesitant about what to say next, torn between expressions of genuine concern and words befitting her status. Finally, Ayaka breathed out a deep sigh, a hand resting on her chest.

"You have no idea how relieved I am to see you conscious. It took so long to stabilize you, and even then we weren't sure you would ever wake up." A pair of glimmering blue-gray orbits looked on fondly. "You scared me, Traveler. I'm confident you won't do it again, at least for my sake."

He looked down, still feeling a slight weakness. "I know. Everything went out of control, and I take full responsibility for it. My crazy gambit could have worked, but at the same time you and your brother would've been robbed of a valuable asset in me." The blond sheepishly rubbed his neck, a light chuckle escaping his lips. "Not my brightest moment, I'll admit. In any case, I'm indebted to the both of you for bringing me here safely."

The Shirasagi Himegimi shared a puzzled look with the kitsune, and for the first time the latter looked genuinely confused. They both seemed to concur, and they looked back at him. The Guuji was about to speak up, but Ayaka raised a hand first. She awaited permission to speak from Yae Miko, who placidly gave the go-ahead.

"Since the events of the Vision Hunt Ceremony, the entire nation has believed you to be dead." she began. "Brother has been dealing with the aftermath ever since, and making sure our collaboration couldn't be found out. I was lending him my assistance in that regard." She paused for a moment, her lips pursed. "Like everyone else, I truly thought Her Excellency had executed you back then. I didn't believe it at first when Lady Yae contacted me in secret and revealed that you had been found at the shrine."

Found?

He turned to Yae Miko, who in turn sighed. "So it is more complicated than I, well, than we all thought. You see, little one, a trusted shrine maiden of mine coincidentally stumbled upon a young man lying unconscious under the Sacred Sakura a few days after the ceremony. You have been in my care ever since, and the shrine has been closed to visitors for a while now." She crossed her arms, and nonchalantly shook her head. "Ah, shame. If even you don't know what happened when she struck you, I'm afraid we cannot make any real progress."

He shared a glance with her, and the depth of her gaze withheld much more than what she was willing to say here. And in truth, he was hiding a lot as well. The Guuji knew – of course she did, but she didn't dare prod any further into his mind with a mortal in the room.
She suddenly cleared her throat, turning to her noble guest. "Oh my, I completely forgot how taxing it must be for our friend to hold a conversation in this state." She swiftly pressed a hand against his forehead, and feigned surprise when she felt nothing unusual. "Well, I'm afraid we're going to have to leave him alone for some time. My maidens have yet to run some tests and determine whether he will remain conscious."

The Shirasagi Himegimi's eyes suddenly filled with sorrow. "Oh... Guuji Yae, is he still not stabilized? It's just that I..." She searched for answers in Aether's eyes, but quickly steeled herself. "Miss Paimon seemed quite worried about him – not that I wasn't hoping for his betterment myself, but both she and I still have much to say to him..."

"Dear, I wholly understand. You wished for some more time with your esteemed Traveler, yes?" Her hand went up to stifle a laugh, but expertly moved under her chin in an expression of pity. "But of course. I wouldn't want to deny a moment of tenderness to the Shirasagi Himegimi while she is visiting my shrine."

Kamisato 'Yuki' Ayaka dominated her emotions for a brief moment as she gently squeezed the blond's hand. "No, I-I just wanted to thank you. For giving me hope. Actually, thank you for the help you've offered to the Commission as a whole." She shot up before he could reply, and straightened her skirt with all the diligence expected from her bloodline. "Lady Guuji, I leave the Traveler in your care. For the sake of all in Inazuma, make sure to treat him well." She directed a very strained smile mostly at Aether, and bowed at the two. She spun on her heel, exiting the room before either of them could say a word.

The pink-haired woman looked on as the wooden panel slid shut behind her. "I'm really liking this new side of the Yashiro Commission girl. So mature, so fierce, and so much more entertaining than her old self. Nothing short of a main protagonist." The kitsune turned to the blond, who was already beginning to question her morals. All of a sudden, the tension from before Ayaka's arrival befell him once more. "But there is only so much we can discuss while she's here, right? Why don't we get back to why you're here, or more precisely, who sent you here?"

Aether felt an odd presence creep up on him. The Guuji was cunning, that he could tell, but what he couldn't discern was how and why she seemed to acquire so much information about what she wanted to know. If he could tell her the whole truth, what would she do with that knowledge? That the previous Electro Archon had reached out to him through her dead consciousness? That the god she was a religious leader for had a pocket dimension where she could execute enemies of the Shogunate by separating their soul and body? Or that he was a god capable of stealing elemental power to restore his own, and that he had been cursed by the Raiden Shogun for that precise reason?

"Starting with the execution..." Yae Miko poked his forehead, snapping him out of his contemplation. "When she materialized her tachi and slashed you, she did drag you into the Plane of Euthymia, yes? And if I had to guess, you had a duel against the true Electro Archon in there. What I can't quite figure out is how and why she let you escape her grasp."

He slowly nodded, still figuring out how many cards he'd rather keep close to his chest. "It was more of an execution than a duel, but that's pretty much what happened. Her power was unlike anything else I have experienced in this world, needless to say I didn't stand a chance." Subconsciously, his fingers trailed around the scar across his chest. "But she was different inside that plane, the way she fought and talked felt more... human? Even though she was focused on the execution, there were brief windows of opportunity I didn't notice from the outside. Maybe I troubled her."

He couldn't keep his thoughts straight for very long, as an amused laugh rang in his ears. "Sorry, I just imagined Ei chasing you around the plane with her sword like you were some sort of insect. But I'm sure she wouldn't have bothered with you had that been the case, hm?" she mused. "You are in her way. That was her reason for the curse, and also the very personal execution."

She relished the glimpse of an expression that appeared on his face upon mentioning what had happened at the Statue of the Seven. Even while withholding information, he was giving her what she wanted, and he couldn't tell what it was. "Furthermore, her attunement to Electro surpasses that of Vision bearers or even yourself. She is probably aware that the one who wields it without her consent is still out there, and won't let her guard down so easily after the events of the Vision Hunt ceremony."

The blond could nearly hear a set of metaphorical gears clicking behind the inscrutable mind. Yae Miko materialized a writing kit on her lap, and neatly dipped her quill into the ink. The scratching of paper rose and subsided periodically, as if she were figuring out the proper wording on the fly, but she still held the same impassible look of self-satisfaction in her eyes.

"So," he finally asked, taking advantage of not being under her inquisitive stare. "How do you know about everything I've been up to ever since I boarded Ritou? Are you or someone else keeping track of all my actions here?"

She paused to look up at him, and scoffed.

"Hah, wouldn't you like to know." She kept weaving the quill with her elegant handwriting. "It's better if you believe that I am watching your every move, because it's partially true: your actions have consequences, so it's only natural that I keep tabs on a wildcard like yourself, hm?"

"And yet I doubt you're doing it out of the kindness of your heart, Lady Guuji. You have your own interests aside from Inazuma's preservation, don't you?"

Her gaze narrowed, but she still refused to bite, focusing on her letter instead. "You know," she offhandedly noted, "There's nothing wrong with keeping a few secrets – or even many, as far as I'm concerned. For example, I didn't ask you how you knew of Ei's true name. Or how you got rid of a curse placed upon you with an Archon's authority."

Aether's mouth suddenly went dry. He didn't even try to conceal it, she would have seen right through him anyway. He could come up with a thousand different excuses, but he had no need for them if the kitsune refused to pry any further.

"A-Anyway, leaving this place won't be easy if the Shogunate is already breathing down my neck." He glanced around. "I won't have enough time to fully recover before they come looking for me, right?"

The Guuji moved with surprising speed, her quill poking him beneath the chin like the commanding tip of a blade. "Firstly, this is a safe place. Neither the Shogunate nor the Tri-Commission have any say over the goings-ons at my shrine, and no armed man can come looking for a fugitive without my permission. Secondly, she wants you alive. Trying to move in your current state would just be offering yourself to the Shogunate, and Ei would sooner relinquish her throne than make the mistake of letting you escape a second time." She pushed it slightly upward, narrowing her gleaming eyes to make it clear that she was not asking. "You are not going anywhere – not yet at least. Once you have recovered and trained sufficiently to go on your own, I shall decide whether you leave the shrine or not. Try to slip away without being instructed to, and you can kiss any hope of your condition subsiding goodbye."

He slowly pushed the quill away, though unable to hide his own interest. "Are you saying that once I'm better, you'll teach me how to fight like her?"

"No."

Once again, that mocking laughter. Yae Miko twirled the quill betwixt her fingers, regarding him with pure confidence behind her two purple orbits.

"Up until now, you weren't much more than a nuisance in her eyes. But the next time you two meet, she'll be forced to regard you as an actual threat to her eternity."

I might be going on a bit of a hiatus, now that I've completed the first part of this fic. I'll take my time, the resistance arc is a part of this story I might need multiple tries to be satisfied with it, but it makes sense considering the many things Aether has to do now. I'm sure the result will be an enjoyable read. Until then, later.