4 out of 7

"Elea, did you finish your homework?" asked Makoto to the reading child.

"A long while ago" replied Elea without looking away from her book, the first volume of the Radiant Knight series.

"Why are you reading that book again?" Makoto loved seeing Elea enjoy the books Kenshin had written, but her daughter had been reading the same book for a week straight.

"I...wanted to" replied Elea evasively.

"..." Makoto frowned, clearly sensing that Elea was hiding something, but gave up.

Elea was only reading the same book for a long time; there was nothing to be worried about.

That, and there was always a member of the Shuumatsuban with her, ready to protect the child.

"I will leave to Liyue for a while" said Makoto, finally making Elea look at her with surprise.

"You never leave Inazuma" commented Elea with confusion. "Has something else happened?"

"I need to go to see Ken's father and Venti" revealed Makoto with an amusing smile, sensing Elea's nervousness at the mention of the stern-looking man.

She knew her daughter could sense some emotions, and Rex Lapis' was a mess of them.

He had recovered to a point everyone thought was miraculous thanks to his family and his long-time friend Azdaha returning, but there was still some damage that confused Elea.

"Can I go?!" asked Elea, her book forgotten. "I want to see Venti again!"

"No, not this time" replied Makoto, knowing that Elea enjoyed being in the company of the bard, who always had some interesting stories for her. "It's an important meeting."

"Okay" said the disappointed Elea.

"But I heard that you impressed Yae the other day" said Makoto with a proud smile, making Elea look at her. "You gave her quite a surprise when you suddenly told her your thoughts about the shrine. She liked it a lot."

"Of course she did" said proudly Elea with a smile. "I thought of it myself."

Elea had followed Keith's plan and thought long and deep about the shrine.

She first read about its origins, the festivals, and the role it played, which told her that in the past her mother had been revered as a god a lot more than she is now. But the next part had been a lot more difficult; she wanted to know the role the shrine had today.

She had watched closely what the mikos did and what the people who went to the shrine wanted, and she even had asked people in the town what they thought of the shrine.

And she got the result.

The shrine was a place to pay their respect for the other people's sacrifice, either those warriors who died to keep Inazuma safe or her mother, who had tirelessly watched over the country alone.

It was, just as Keith had told her, a place of solace where people could talk with his dead friends, family members, or lovers. A part of their life, a place that gave them calm and reassurance that they would always count on Yae and the Electro Archon.

That was the place the shrine had in the people's hearts.

So she followed Keith's proposal and asked Yae the meaning of the shrine.

And much to her happiness, the answers were quite similar.

She had arrived at the correct answer by herself, with her own two feet, and after making an effort to get to know about it.

That made her happy and proud of herself.

True, it had been Keith who had proposed the plan she had followed, but she was proud of it nonetheless.

Only after all that did she understand what Keith meant; she felt that she had grown a bit.

She now understood why people went to the shrine, and she felt a bit closer to the hearts of the people who shared her country with her.

Now, she didn't see people who came to the shrine for some obscure reason; she now understood the reason behind it, and she could empathise with their thoughts.

Where she saw a woman crying in the shrine for her dead people, she didn't see a grieving person anymore, at least not only that.

She now knew that the shrine was the place where people could grieve and connect with those who departed.

They didn't come to the shrine to cry; they cried because they were in the shrine, because it was the place they felt closer to the people they missed so much.

So she told what she thought to Yae, and feeling the pride and joy her teacher had for her made her happy too.

With this, Elea understood the fact that sometimes you needed to see beyond what your eyes told you.

She liked a lot the new vision she had of the shrine, and she would have missed it had it not been for Keith.

And with this realisation came a question.

What else was she missing?

What about what people thought of her mother?

What about what people thought of the Shogunate?

What about...what she herself thought of the world around her?

With these questions, Elea realised the meaning behind Keith's words.

One could only move forward when she made questions to herself, and it was in the process of looking for answers when she would grow, because she would understand herself and the world she lived in a while better.

And with this, Elea's path started.

And Yae, as well as Makoto and Ei, realised it.

They realised the change in Elea's eyes and attitude, and they couldn't be more proud and melancholic.

Because it was the exact same attitude Kenshin had shown.

"I can ask Venti to come here for a while after our meeting" proposed Makoto, looking proudly at her daughter's eyes shining with eagerness. "And of course, I will also ask him to bring some dangos from that store in Mondstadt; I know they are your favourites."

"Thank you, mom!" shouted Elea, hugging Makoto's legs.

"Now, I need to go" continued Makoto, patting the child's head with a fond smile. "Remember to obey Sara and Yae."

"Okay" said Elea with a smile, returning to the book.

She needed to remember all the important points of it to the smallest of details.

After all, she had promised the man with black hair and grey eyes to share something she liked.

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"Welcome" Rex Lapis stood on the deck of the harbour, wearing a smile that wouldn't have been possible 10 years ago, with Guizhong and Ken by his side.

He was wearing an outfit similar to the one he had been using as Zhongli, but with lighter colours.

Maybe the influence of his wife's tastes.

"You didn't need to come here" replied Makoto with a grateful smile, stepping down the ship she travelled to Liyue. "I would have gone visit you."

"We were about to depart anyway" said Guizhong, with her hands on Ken's shoulders. "We were about to visit Inazuma for a while."

"Oh, I'm sure Elea would appreciate some company" commented Makoto, greeting Ken, who replied with a polite bow she knew he had learnt from his father. "She doesn't have many friends, and those are normally older than her."

"She says people our age are too childish and uninteresting" revealed Ken, making Makoto wryly smile.

"Well, hopefully that doesn't stay that way for long" muttered Makoto, worried about her daughter being alone at her age.

"Don't worry about it" said Guizhong with a nostalgic look. "Kenshin was the same, and she will have Ken by her side; give her some time to grow. Ken, get into the ship. Do you mind Makoto?"

"No, feel free to use it" replied Makoto with a grateful smile, gesturing to the ship she had arrived in.

Makoto and Rex Lapis saw the ship slowly leave, and their smiling faces turned into ones of seriousness.

"Are we leaving now?" asked Ei with a cold expression, who came out after Makoto opted to let her control the body.

"Yes" replied Rex Lapis with an equally grave expression. "There is some trouble."

"Yahalloooo!"

An extremely energetic voice broke all seriousness the conversation might have, and a boy wearing green clothes appeared between them with a big smile.

"Your favourite bard is here!" said Venti, ignoring the serious atmosphere.

"..." Ei looked at Venti and sighed in exasperation.

"I brought some dangos for Elea!" commented Venti, showing Ei a white package.

And all of Ei's exasperation instantly disappeared.

She was an easily bribed mother after all.

"I will give them to Elea in a moment; I will be back!" said Venti before disappearing.

And the bard earned Ei's goodwill instantly, because she knew her daughter would be sporting a happy smile in a minute.

Rex Lapis watched all this with a wry smile.

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"The meeting is in Fontaine, right?" asked Venti, walking beside the 2 archons leaving the harbour.

"Yes" nodded Rex Lapis. "But we will be meeting only with Focalors; Rukkadevata is not willing to come, and Murata is busy."

And no one wanted to even mention the Tsaritsa.

"Haahh, this is a mess" muttered Venti. "This is not something we should be worried about; this is Celestia's job."

"And the Heavenly Principles" added Rex Lapis with a small frown. "We were forced to act as Archons in Kaenri'ah; I expected the Heavenly Principles to do the same when their turn arrived."

"Never mind, we will do what we think is the best path forward" said Ei in a curt tone. "We can't depend on anyone else to keep our countries safe, because at the end of the day we are the only ones who are about them."

"You have a point" nodded Venti. "There are no people around; we should start running now."

And with a nod, the 3 Archons travelled to Fontaine faster than any human could ever imagine.

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"This country has changed too much" muttered Venti, looking around in astonishment. "To think they could build robots like these."

"I am more intrigued by the energy they are using" pondered Rex Lapis, looking at the white and blue crystals on top of some robots. "I heard a merchant from Fontaine saying that they get the energy from delivering judgements; I wonder how they do it."

"Probably the Gnosis" added Ei. "There is nothing else able to interact with the world in such a way."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" countered Venti. "The world is too big, and we haven't scratched the surface of it even with our power and positions."

"Hmm" Rex Lapis nodded in agreement before noticing a person glancing at them while trying to appear she was talking with another boy.

A girl with grey hair and a cat's tail, whom Rex Lapis knew was blatantly spying on them.

'Fatui' quickly realised Rex Lapis.

This girl was too talented to belong to a small gang, but Rex Lapis wasn't going to mention it.

He didn't want the Shogun from Inazuma to go on a rampage here.

So with a warning glare in which his eyes slightly shone, the girl's expression paled, making the boy with a black hat in front of her worriedly crouch in front of her.

'Did I overdo it?' thought Rex Lapis, looking at the panicking girl, who was sweating with an extremely pale face. 'Oh'.

And Rex Lapis realised he hadn't overdone it; it was just that Ei had also noticed them.

And she didn't mind 'overdoing it'.

With a withering glare, the aura of pure power around Ei was pressing the girl and the boy, making them realise how close to death they were.

"Hey, calm down" said Venti with a cheerful voice. "We came here for a reason, right?"

"...." Ei glared at the 2 boys for a bit longer but finally kept walking towards the Palais Mermonia, where the meeting between the 4 Archons would take place.

People looked at them curiously, but this was Fontaine; not a single person was wearing a non-conspicuous outfit, so they reached the Palais Mermonia without more trouble and entered it.

Enormous shelves filled with books, reports, and studies about Fontaine greeted them, but they weren't here for that.

Their gazes travelled to the short girl wearing a nervous smile in front of them, with white hair with some blue strands, heterochromatic eyes, and a light blue dress.

"W-Welcome!" she said with a theatrical bow, trying to hide her nervousness. "Welcome to Fontaine!"

"You know" said Venti, looking curiously at the girl in front of them. "That would have made a lot more sense should you have said it at the entrance of Fontaine, not here."

"W-What can I do?" asked the girl with a disappointed expression. "I didn't know when you would arrive; you only said 'we will be there during the week'."

"It doesn't matter; we should go to the heart of the matter" spoke Ei with her usual calm voice. "My daughter is waiting for me to come back."

"O-oh, yes" replied the girl, remembering that this scary-looking woman had a daughter, thinking that maybe she should invite the father to Fontaine.

After all, getting into that kind of relationship with the Shogun of Inazuma required some serious guts that would probably make him an extremely talented actor.

Then she remembered he died and scrapped that idea.

The girl guided them to a small room to the right, in which a tall man with a cane, long silver hair, and a deep blue gown was sitting behind a desk.

"Shall we start then?" asked Neuvillette, the Iudex of Fontaine, the leader of the Marechaussee Phantom and the Hydro Dragon.

"Sure!" replied Venti with a cheerful smile, sitting on one of the sofas in the room and looking at all the pastries in front of him. "Hmm, this all looks delicious."

"Of course!" said the white-haired girl with a proud smile. "They are the most delicious pastries in all Fontaine!"

"I will buy all of them" said Ei, also sitting and planning to buy as many as she could.

Maybe Elea would like them after all.

Rex Lapis kept eye contact with Neuvillette for a while longer before nodding and sitting next to Venti.

"Focalors, sit down so we can start" said Neuvillette, looking at the girl who was too lost in the deliciousness of the pastries.

"U-Uh, sure" nodded the girl with a blush at having forgotten where she was.

Ei and Focalors sat on one sofa, Venti and Rex Lapis on the other, with Neuvillette presiding over the meeting.

"I will act as the mediator should it be needed." Neuvillette was the first to speak, making the 4 Archons, the former Archons, look at him. "As well as directing the conversation so it doesn't stray beyond the boundaries previously set."

"Sure" said Venti, paying more attention to the sweets.

"The topic of today is" said Neuvillette, looking at the four people in front of him. "The eroding of the Laws of Teyvat."

"Hmm, can someone explain to me what it means?" asked Focalors, slowly raising her hand with a blush. "Please?"

Rex Lapis nodded, understanding that she was the only one of the 4 of them who hadn't been chosen as one of the original Archons.

"Teyvat has its own laws" he spoke, making Focalors look gratefully at him. "But they are being eroded, and I think you as well know the reason."

"Was it that hole in the sky?" asked trembling Focalors, feeling her body shiver. "That was scary; I felt how my own existence could end in a moment."

"Well, that is because it was."

Focalors looked at the purple-haired woman who spoke with a tense expression but was devoid of the coldness her presence had previously emitted.

Makoto, knowing that Ei would lock herself when the mention of that horrible day appeared, chose to take control of the body.

"We won't go into detail about the nature of that hole" continued Makoto with a strained expression, as it was also not easy for her to talk about it. "But you will need to understand that it was something far greater than the Laws of Teyvat."

"Something foreign to Teyvat appeared here" continued Rex Lapis, taking over Makoto. "And as such a clash appeared. Teyvat's rules tried to press down this new appearance, as it was the natural thing to happen. There had been existences from outside Teyvat appearing here, which we call Descenders, but every one of them has been in one way or another subjected to Teyvat's Laws."

"What is that clash you are talking about?" asked the confused Focalors, who couldn't understand such abstract concepts and what they meant.

But Neuvillette, someone with the inherited memories, albeit fragmented, of the previous Hydro Dragon, understood it.

"A clash between Teyvat rules and this being" he said with a pensive expression and a hand on his chin in a pondering gesture.

"Indeed" continued Rex Lapis. "But the Laws lost, and as such, they failed to imprison this existence. It wasn't even a clash; if we could compare it, it's like throwing a pebble against Celestia with a human's strength and hope for the world to explode. The Laws collided with this existence and were sent back recoiling, which damaged them."

"And like a tapestry with a loose thread" added Makoto. "Every single rule is getting unwoven from the net of laws we know as Teyvat's rules. I am sure you have noticed some of these effects."

"Yes, we did" nodded Neuvillette with a frown, realising the consequences of such a disaster happening. "The Visions are going haywire, sometimes deactivating themselves, and a lot more of Vision bearers are appearing."

"Yup" nodded Venti, with some traces of the pastries he had so greedily consumed all over his mouth. "And the pace is increasing. Slowly, but without pause. It will be a matter of time before every single person has a vision."

"Why is that a problem?" asked Focalors with a confused expression.

"The Vision System is something created by Celestia, but it's not prepared for this" explained patiently Makoto. "You can eat 1, 2, or 3 pastries, but if you are forced to eat a million, you will collapse."

"What will be the consequence of the vision system collapsing?" asked Neuvillette with a calm expression that hid his trepidation.

"We don't know" revealed Makoto with a sigh of impotence. "My husband might have known something more about it, but you need to understand that we had no role in the establishment of such a system; we don't even know its purpose. My husband knew that visions are just a fragment of the bearer's soul 'touched' by Celestia and encapsulated into the vessel we know as visions. Souls are a taboo topic in Teyvat, so we have no clue."

"Is there something I can do?" asked Focalors, a bit scared thinking about the possibility of such a system with souls involved collapsing. "People might lose a part of their souls if we don't do anything."

"There is little we can do about it" replied Rex Lapis. "This meeting was to inform the rest of the archons about what we knew and to tell them to be ready because some factions will start to move."

"Such as?" enquired Neuvillette, having an idea.

"The Abyss Order" responded Makoto. "We still don't know about their goal, but we think that anything that affects the order of the world is going to work to their benefit."

"And the Fatuis" continued Rex Lapis, making Makoto press her lips together. "It is a fact that Celestia is the nexus between Teyvat's laws and the world, and it is being altered. We know Snezhnaya is preparing a war against the divine, so they will move when their enemy is at their lowest."

"Which brings us to the next point" said Venti with a solemn expression, looking at Focalors. "We expected you, who still has her Gnosis, to realise such big changes appearing. It's not only the rate at which visions are appearing, but Istaroth's legacy is also getting affected."

"Well, you see" Focalors stuttered, not knowing how to explain her 'great plan' that required her Gnosis to stay under the judgement palace.

"Istaroth's Legacy..." mused Neuvillette, a faint spark appearing in his brain. "Is it time?"

"Yes" nodded Rex Lapis. "With the faint remnant of energy the Gnosis left within Barbatos and me, we detected the flow to time being altered for those who had been touched by Celestia, the nexus between the world and the Laws."

"Simply put" said Venti with a grave expression. "Vision Bearers are ageing slower."

"Which is not good at all" added Makoto, seeing how Focalors was going to speak. "Coupled with the fact that Vision Bearers are appearing at a faster pace, we might find ourselves with the vast majority of the population not dying of old age. Even if I would be happy keeping everyone around me safe from death, this is definitely not a situation we can sustain in the long term."

"The space available in Teyvat is limited, as are the food and basic supplies" continued Rex Lapis. "No more people will die of old age, but people will be born, which will lead to an unsustainable future. But what is worse is that the existence that caused the laws to erode might appear again."

"We need something more than that" said Neuvillette with an imperturbable expression.

"Just tell him" said Venti with a shrug. "It doesn't matter; they can't interact with it."

"That existence" started Makoto. "Is the origin of souls. When someone dies, their soul will go there, and that's where the souls of unborn infants come from; that is a fact my late husband proved. We don't know anything besides what my husband told us, so everything from here on is a pure hypothesis. We fear that if no one dies, no more souls will be sent to this existence, but more and more souls will be drawn from it."

"You fear this existence, taking note of it, and focus in Teyvat" concluded Neuvillette. "And if such a being who even the Laws of Teyvat lost against appears here again, it might lead to even more dire consequences."

"Yes" nodded Makoto with a solemn expression. "We might be worried for nothing; as I said, we can only hypothesise about it, but it is something that could very well happen."

"Which brings us to the last point of concern" said Rex Lapis with a frown. "The Heavenly Principles, who we think are out of Teyvat or asleep, will act to maintain order; that is its nature."

"The Usurper" muttered Neuvillette, a flash of emotion even he himself was uncertain of passing through his blue eyes. "She will try to make Laws stable again, but more importantly, keep that existence away from Teyvat, because even she can't win. And the best way to do it is to send souls its way."

"Wait, wait, wait!" shouted Focalors with a pale expression. "What are you saying, Neuvillette?!"

"We don't expect things to arrive at that point; the Heavenly Principles probably have some hidden cards even Archons don't know about" reassured Rex Lapis. "But the Heavenly Principles is such an existence, whose only purpose is to keep the Laws in place. No matter the method they use, their actions will always be directed towards that place."

"Just be ready should something happen" said Venti with a shrug.

And he picked another pastry.

They were delicious.