The pain of losing your meal

"Are you going to go to the town?" asked Yae looking at the excited Elea.

"Yes, now that I finished the class I want to visit grandma" said an eager Elea. "And after that, Mom will teach me again."

"You muscle heads" said Yae with an exaggerated shake of her head. "Where has the beauty of the pen gone for you to miss it?"

"I like moving around" replied Elea, who had her interests clear. "And staying behind a desk to write all day is boring, you do it enough for both of us."

"And yet, you will need to do it" rebuked Yae with an amused smirk. "For better or worse, you are the Shogun's daughter, you will need at some point to start socializing with important people, which means that you need to know the basics about literature."

"...maybe" said Elea with a low voice and averting her eyes.

Clearly, she didn't like that at all.

"Sigh" Yae sighed, knowing that if Elea asked, Ei would probably 'pardon' her from needing to mingle with those arrogant and pompous merchants from Liyue.

The woman who pressed Elea with steely determination and firmness turned to an extremely doting parent outside the training field, aka, Plane of Euthymia.

"Anyway, I'm going. If I leave now I will be able to arrive at grandma's house to have lunch there" said Elea, who didn't want to give Yae a chance to keep her here for longer.

"Say hello to Mio and Yahiko from my part" said Yae, patting Elea's purple hair with a fond smile.

"Sure" replied Elea taking her chance to run out of the Shrine in which she had her morning lessons.

Her life wasn't empty, she needed to train and learn a lot, but she didn't dislike it that much.

Morning lessons about history, calligraphy and her ability to sense other people's emotions with Yae and etiquette and battle training when she requested, which was every single day, with her mother.

She had a busy life, but a fulfilling one nonetheless.

Still, she would have preferred to do even more, mainly battle training, but Yae said that child not only deserved but needed a childhood, so she had some free days she spent going around Inazuma.

She met a lot of people, and she found herself well-liked from the start, even the grumpy guys from Watatsumi nodded in greeting when they saw her.

But she, like everyone else, had her favourites, which took the form of a blonde woman with red eyes always sparkling with contagious energy.

"Elea!" Yoimiya approached with a smile, and patted the small child's hair. "How did your lessons go?"

"Good, but they are too boring" replied Elea looking at Yoimiya's face with a smile.

"Hmm, but they are important you know" said Yoimiya with a nod.

"Did you take them when you were a child?" asked Elea with a smirk, knowing that the woman in front of her was too active to be able to take a single class from Yae.

"So, are you ready for the Festival next week?" asked Yoimiya changing the topic with a smile.

"Of course!" replied Elea with eagerness. "It has also been a long time since I saw Aunt Guizhong and Liyue."

After Inazuma opened up, and after years of fruitful collaboration, Liyue decided to buy all the fireworks from Inazuma, while the people in Liyue would be the ones to set fire to them, that way they could enjoy better fireworks while covering the same number of jobs.

This gave some renown to the Lantern Rite in Inazuma, who now could proudly say their (the Naganohara's) fireworks were so good even Liyue preferred them, which made a lot of people go to Liyue to enjoy them.

This gave a headache to Keqing who found herself needing to host a thousand extra people in the already cramped Harbor, and of course, to Ganyu, the eternal assistant.

"Yoimiya!!"

"I'm going!!" Yoimiya replied to the shout that came from the shop and looked apologetically at Elea. "Sorry, my tou-chan called me, need to go. But here, take it."

"Thank you" replied Elea with a sunny smile receiving the tightly bound package of fireworks Yoimiya always gave her.

"YOI-!"

"GOING!"

With that, Yoimiya left with a last smile towards the girl, who kept walking towards her destination with an extra package.

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"Grandpa!"

Yahiko, now with white hair products of sadness and age, smiled seeing the girl approaching while waving.

"Ohhh, if it isn't my favourite granddaughter!" said Yahiko with a smile, scooping Elea from the ground and raising her in the air.

"I'm your only granddaughter" replied the deadpanning Elea, but quickly smiled sensing her grandparent's happiness that couldn't be hidden

"And the only one I need" replied Yahiko without missing a beat, hugging the girl.

"Grandpa, you stink!" Elea scrunched up her nose, pushing the man away.

"Sorry, I needed to work in the field you see" Yahiko put her down, and looked at the small land, now carrying the seeds of what he would collect in a few months.

"Grandpa, why do you work so hard?" asked the curious Elea. "I don't think mom won't give you money if you ask for it, and you are old."

"And what would I do with money?" asked Yahiko with a sigh. "Working in this field is all I've done in my life, what else am I going to do in my free time?"

Elea looked at Yahiko, sensing the deep nostalgia that he was feeling.

Yahiko had always been a simple man who didn't ask for much in life.

A loving wife, a good family and a place he could work honestly, and he got all he had wanted and even more.

Mio had always been with him, Kenshin had grown up to be an amazing man, and Elea had come into the world. Even if Kenshin had left, Yahiko had more than enough reasons to feel grateful for his life, even if some nights it was impossible to sleep thinking of his now absent son.

But Yahiko shook his head to drive those thoughts away, as he knew Elea would sense them and he didn't want to tarnish the time he had with his precious granddaughter.

"So, you little gremlin came here to eat" he said with a teasing smirk that made the little girl blush. "Hahaha, don't worry, I get it. Mio's cooking is the best in the world."

"If only she learned to make dangos…" muttered Elea who didn't know how would taste her favourite dish made by the best cook in the world.

"Well, let's go in, I don't think your skinny body can wait a bit more without eating" said Yahiko with a knowing smile.

"I'm not skinny" grumbled Elea, but took Yahiko's hand and went inside the house. "I'm still growing and I train a lot with mom."

"I'm sure of that" replied Yahiko with a twitching smile.

Even if years had passed, and Elea acted as a centre around which everyone involved with Kenshin was pulled into, Yahiko and Mio still felt a certain sense of distance from Makoto and Ei, mainly Ei.

They had grown up believing in the almighty Raiden Shogun, and coupled with Ei's reserved personality, it made things a bit difficult for Yahiko and Mio.

But Makoto was open and understood the situation, and after a long talk with Kenshin's parents, they gradually closed the distance.

Makoto obviously knew what everyone involved thought, and took it upon herself to communicate to Ei what Yahiko and Mio wanted but didn't know how to say, that they also considered her a part of the family.

That quickly made Ei lose a bit of awkwardness around Kenshin's parents, even if some small distance would always remain.

"Oh, I didn't expect you now" said a surprised Mio with a big smile seeing her granddaughter.

Years also passed for the gentle woman, who now sported a lot of wrinkles and white hair, but Elea was still able to sense that she had more than enough energy to spare.

"Hello" said Elea, who quickly stepped ahead to hug the woman, who returned the hug and patted the girl's back.

"How did your lessons go?" asked Mio, pointing at the table.

"Boring" replied Elea for the second time today. "But good now that they ended. The only good lesson from Yae is the one you don't need to take."

"Don't let her hear that" said Yahiko, who once again felt that Elea was able to breach the distance Guuji-sama seemed to have with everyone else in a way only Kenshin had been able to.

"She knows" replied Elea with a shrug after she sat in the chair next to the table. "But she doesn't care as long as I remain focused on the lesson."

"How is your power going?" asked a worried Yahiko while setting the table.

Kenshin's ability carried a lot of risks, one of which had ended his life in the hands of a Harbinger, and the fact that Elea seemed to have inherited a part of it rattled both Yahiko and Mio.

"As always" replied Elea, sensing her grandparent's worry. "I can just sense what others are feeling, and sometimes detect half-lies."

"If that is all..." said an absent-minded Mio, stirring the pot she was cooking in.

"..." Elea didn't know how to ask the question on the tip of her tongue, but after inheriting Ei's directness, she chose to just speak openly. "Was my father able to do something more?"

""...""

Both Yahiko and Mio fell silent, before Mio sighed.

"Yes" she admitted. "He was able to see souls and 'touch' them in a way only Guuji-sama understands."

"That sounds powerful" said Elea, who grimaced sensing Yahiko and Mio's sadness. "B-But how was my father?"

Elea's try to quickly change the topic wasn't unnoticed, and Yahiko complied with teh unvoiced request.

"Why don't we tell you while we eat?" she said with a smile, knowing that Elea usually didn't speak of Kenshin as she was able to feel the sadness it provoked in them after they remembered their death.

'What a disgrace' thought Yahiko with anger directed towards himself. 'All goodness he did, and how kind he was, and my first feeling hearing his name is sadness. How wretched.'

"Sure" said Elea, with drool almost coming out of her mouth seeing the big pot now ready and smelling the tantalizing smell of Mio's food.

"Let's eat" said Mio with a knowing smile seeing Elea's ravenous expression. "You are too thin, you need to eat more."

"Why do you always say that?" asked Elea, but her attention was on the plate now getting closer to her. "I'm not thin."

"You will always be thin in my eyes" replied Mio, putting the food in front of the salivating Elea. "Worrying about your health is a grandmother's privilege."

"C-Can I start?" asked Elea, her eyes set on the surely delicious feast in front of her.

"Of course" replied Mio with a fond smile.

"Itadaki-"

And suddenly, Elea's face fell into the bowl.

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"....Mom says cursing is bad, but surely no one hears me here" said the livid Elea, who had been deprived of the chance to eat that scrumptious meal. "What the hell is this place anyway?"

She found herself in the same place she had once been in, the place where the tree with a single purple leave had been taken by her 2 years ago.

She had sensed a mayhem of emotions pass through all the women that had been around her at the time when she showed the purple leaf she had taken and had quickly scattered in the wind.

The next week, discussions were heard in her house, in which Yae, Jean, Sara and her mom had argued pretty wildly, but in the end, all she sensed was a feeling of resignation and disappointment emanating from all of them.

She didn't know what had the result of those conversations been, but she knew the conclusion they all had arrived at hadn't been a good one.

So coming again to this place that so much pain had caused everyone, she felt anger for this stupid tree and that stupid purple leaf.

And the fact that she had missed Mio's cooking hadn't done any favours.

But in a few seconds, the sad atmosphere of the environment made all anger disappear in favour of melancholy and maybe....sadness?

'Why am I sad looking at the tree?' wondered the confused Elea.

Looking around, she saw the same desolate surroundings she had once seen, without anyone in sight.

Or that's what she had been supposed to see, because in front of her with his back towards her eyes, a tall black-haired man was looking up at the tree absent-mindedly.

Elea didn't know what to do, she had always been warned that there were some bad guys in the world, and her father had died because one of them played dirty tricks on him, so finding someone suspicious in this desolate place without anyone by her side made her feel quite nervous.

"Here again."

Then she heard the man's deep voice, and he walked towards the tree, sitting in it with his eyes closed.

"Better wait to get up again" he said, surprising Elea.

'Is he the same as me?' she wondered, asking herself if this man knew something else about this place.

"Uh-Uhmm" Elea stuttered, the nervousness momentarily hindering her fluent speech.

The man opened his eyes in what Elea felt was surprise, and her purple eyes collided with the man's grey ones.

""....""

The man and the girl looked at each other, not knowing what to think.

"Where are your parents, short stack?" asked the man looking at Elea's short stature, making the girl scowl.

And thus, the first meeting between the dormant soul and the energetic girl took place.