The first lesson

A purple-haired girl was face to face with a black-haired man who was sitting on the ground with a curious look in his grey eyes.

"You shouldn't be in such a suspicious place by yourself" insisted Keith.

"I'm not here because I want" argued Elea, losing all fear for this unknown man who didn't seem to care an iota about her. "I lost the meal my grandma made me, there is no way I would leave without eating it."

"Ah, I can feel your frustration then" nodded Keith, who appreciated how important eating was.

He had seen Kafka enjoying her food, even if the purple-haired woman probably exaggerated how good it was just to piss him off.

"So" continued Keith. "Where are we?"

"How should I know?" asked back Elea. "I told you I didn't want to come here, why do you think I know?"

"Even if you didn't want to come here, you might have a clue" said Keith with a shrug. "You know, this could be a secret realm only members of your clan can access, and you are such a talented person who will in the future defy the heavens that you get unwillingly called here, because the old ancestor of your family that arrived at this world after getting betrayed by his allies in a higher world wants to pin all his/her hopes on you to get revenge."

"...." Elea looked at the man with a deadpan expression. "Do you read those things?"

"Oh, looks like you know what I'm talking about" said the surprised Keith. "We might even be from the same world."

"World?" asked the confused Elea.

"Yup" nodded Keith. "What are your coordinates? We can even do an IRL meeting. Ah, but with your parents present of course, wouldn't want to get arrested. I swear there are so many ill people in the universe."

"Coordinates?" repeated Elea, frowning in thought. "I don't know what you are talking about, but my world is called Teyvat."

"Haven't heard of it" confessed Keith with a pondering expression. "Do you know what an Aeon is?"

"No, but why are you talking about all this?" asked Elea with a frown. "We just appeared in the middle of this place, and all you want to talk about is weird things about worlds."

"Well, we need to understand what we are working with" admitted Keith. "And if you don't know what an Aeon is, that means that your world hasn't travelled to space, nor has received visitors in the know."

"...you mean that there are other worlds?" asked the shocked Elea. Even if she could deduce it from the man's previous words, she was getting it directly now.

"Almost an infinite number of them" nodded Keith, understanding the girl's surprise. "But I think you have a point. I'm Keith, a soul inhabiting the body of a puppet, but in the process of hopefully getting one made of flesh."

Keith stood up and offered his hand to Elea, who looked at him with a suspicious look.

'I don't sense any ill intentions from him' mused Elea, thanking for the first time the existence of her ability.

She had never found herself in this situation, alone with a strange man in an even stranger place, but she trusted her ability which told her that the man in front of her was only curious.

"My name is Elea" replied the girl, holding the man's hand with hers. "A girl from a world called Teyvat."

"Hmm, that's a nice name" nodded Keith. "You should be grateful to your parents, there are some very weird names out there."

"My mother chose it" said Elea, who indeed, liked her name a lot.

"And your father?" asked Keith. "He had no voice in choosing it? Ah, let me guess. Your mother is way stronger than him and quite strong-headed, so his opinion was dismissed for one reason or another, maybe because he chose some stupid name like Paiponoshuring-"

"He died before choosing a name" replied Elea with a scowl.

"....sorry, I guess" said Keith with an apologetic smile.

"..it's fine" said Elea, focusing her ability and sensing the man's regret at speaking out of turn. "But you had a point, my mother is strong-headed, unless at certain times when she is a lot more sensible."

"Lucky you" scoffed Keith. "At least she has some of those times."

"Is your mother not sensible?" asked Elea, who immediately shook her head. "Wait, why am I asking that?"

"There is nothing to do here" shrugged Keith, looking around. "Whatever place we are in has nothing to do with us and we just need to wait. We should at least understand each other, as this might be a recurrent happening in the future. And to answer your question, I have no mother."

"How can you have no mother?" asked Elea, thinking that indeed, there was nothing else to do here, might as well try to understand this man and where he came from, maybe she could get some clues about this place or this tree that way. "I can understand if she died, but if you had no mother where did you come from?"

"You know, I'm what you could call an alien, I could just have appeared by mitosis" explained Keith, making Elea's eyes open in realization. "I said I have no mother because when my friend found me, I was just a ball of gas floating in space. And no, I'm not talking about a star, but a floating soul without a body."

"I guess you are truly an alien" admitted Elea. "Is that why you want a body?"

"Yup, I had none" replied Keith with a nod. "My friend bought me a pretty expensive mechanical body of sorts, but it was hell. I can't eat, can't move without losing a leg, can't sleep, can't go to the bathroom, can't sense anything with my touch, my eyes and ears are just complex circuits and I lost little Keith."

"...." Elea fell silent, trying to understand the life this man had to live. "So you can't eat dangos, what a pitiful existence."

"Who cares about dangos? I want to eat a fat and greasy hamburger" said Keith with a scoff.

"Alas, another pitiful soul who can't understand the greatness of life" Elea felt NOW how pitiful this man was.

How could one live without enjoying that delicious present of Celestia to the world?

The worst part was that this man knew what they were, and still chose not to partake in such a feast.

"They are pretty bland" replied Keith with a shrug. "Don't know how evolved is the cuisine industry in your world, but there are a lot of spices and animals that make sugar pale in comparison to their rich flavour."

"...." Elea scowled, because she had no grounds to refute him.

'Think before speaking, know before arguing'

That was what Yae had told her, to avoid her ignorance from controlling her, and right now, as she hadn't tasted those spices the man had talked about, she couldn't argue.

Keith looked at the fuming girl with surprise, because he understood what she was thinking. She wanted nothing more than to argue, but she knew she had no grounds to do so.

'Whoever taught her made a damn good job' he admitted, as he expected the child to throw a tantrum. 'Good children deserve a reward.'

"Tell you what" Elea looked at the smiling Keith. "Why don't I memorize a few recipes of the best dangos out there so you can make them in your world? I don't think I can bring material things here, and I don't know if all the materials will be available in your world, but you can probably find some substitutes."

"Really?!" asked the excited Elea. If there was something more delicious than dangos, it could only be otherworldly ones.

"Of course!" said Keith, who following an impulse patted Elea's head. "I will tell you a lot of recipes you can try. But! You must also try another few things. I will go out of my way to eat those bland dangos, it's only fair you eat a few things I like, right?"

"...don't make them bitter" muttered Elea, accepting the deal. "I don't like bitter things."

"Who does?" shrugged Keith. "I like spicy things, leave the bitter food to the bitter people."

Elea shook her head, trying to drive thoughts of spicy food away.

She was faced with the chance to eat dangos from another world, there was no way she would miss it.

"So, little girl named Elea" continued Keith. "Tell me something interesting about your world. I already talked about my body, it's your turn."

"Hmm, I don't have anything like that" confessed Elea, thinking that living inside a puppet was quite impressive. "My life is pretty common."

"And why would a common life be boring?" asked Keith with a raised eyebrow. "Not everything needs to be battles, exciting adventures and life-threatening moments. There is beauty in a peaceful life."

"..." Elea looked at Keith in shock, not expecting those exact words to leave his mouth. "Yae said the exact same thing."

"Oh?" said Keith with a curious expression. "Why don't you start there? This Yae person sounds like someone I could relate with."

"Yae is a Shrine Miko and my teacher" explained Elea.

"One of those with a hakama or whatever it is called?" asked Keith with a pondering expression. "Religion is something only not overly advanced planets have, and even then mikos are quite rare."

"Honestly, I don't think she is part of a religion" mused Elea, thinking about this for the first time. Who did Yae pray to? The God of Inazuma was her mother, and was friends with Yae. Did that me-.

"Why don't you explain it to me?" asked Keith, interrupting Elea's thoughts. "Instead of pondering about it by yourself, it might be better to lay it out."

Elea thought for a bit, but nodded, thinking that it might be interesting as a topic of conversation.

"We live in a world where there are a few gods, or Archons" explained Elea, and receiving Keith's nod, she continued. "There are 7 nations in the world and every nation has a god. The god in my nation is my mother, and she controls lightning."

"So your mother is venerated, and as her child you are too?" asked Keith, knowing that these 'gods' were probably just overpowered people in comparison to the rest.

He had seen those kinds of beings before, who were considered almighty deities by the citizens of those worlds, but fell after listening to a single word from Kafka.

The universe was a vast place, and the only ones who didn't have anyone above them were Aeons.

At least up to where he knew.

"No, not that much" revealed Elea. "People are very respectful to her, and sometimes people pray to her, but she is just the ruler of the nation."

"So she is like your Queen, and people respect her as such" nodded Keith. "Even if there are some people who add a little of faith to that."

"Exactly" nodded Elea, thankful that this man was smart and she didn't need to waste time explaining the subtleties of her mother's position. "And my teacher, Yae, is the Head Miko of the Great Narukami Shrine, the only shrine in Inazuma, my country."

"So your teacher is your mother's trusted person, as she chose this miko to teach you" said Keith, receiving a nod.

"But they are friends" spoke Elea with a hesitant look. "But I already told you that even if a lot of people pray to my mother, she is not the leader of any religion, why does the shrine exist then?"

"How old is your mother?" asked Keith, getting an idea.

"I don't know" responded Elea. "But in the history books I needed to read, she was around 2000 years ago."

"That's quite something" admitted Keith, realizing that he might need to give some credit to these 'gods'. "And how long has the Shrine been around?"

"Probably as long as my mother" replied Elea after thinking for a while. "You want to say that the purpose of the shrine might have changed with time?"

"Yes" nodded Keith. "Nothing can resist the passage of time, and the importance your mother had as a God might have changed in those 2000 years. What was blind devotion now might be respect and admiration. But of course, there are a lot of possibilities. The Shrine could have been created as a way to honour fallen people, or to uphold some traditions, or just to give people solace."

"I should ask Yae" muttered Elea, feeling a bit vexed at not having thought of all this before by herself.

"Why don't you try thinking about it for yourself?" asked Keith, making Elea look at him. "It's easy to get an answer, but the vast majority of times, you will grow when you ask yourself things. Maybe you will find something interesting in the process. But what I can now tell you is that the answer you will arrive at is different than the one your teacher has for you, after all, everyone is their own person and their train of thought is different. You might arrive at a completely different conclusion than the reason why the shrine was created, but your conclusion is just as valid as the answer your mother might have for you, because it's yours. You can then compare your answer with your teachers, and think. Why did I think this? What made me think that?"

"...." Elea fell silent, thinking about it, before finally nodding. "I will do it, I will try to think about it for myself."

"Good" replied Keith, satisfied with the girl's conclusion. "Now, you were talking about your teacher. Is she pretty?"

And all respect Elea might have evaporated.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, it was a joke" said hurriedly Keith, noting the disgust inside the girl growing. "I don't even have a body of flesh, I can assure you that having a romantic relationship is out of my possibilities now."

Elea looked at Keith with a frown for a while longer, before sensing his honesty.

"She is very pretty" nodded Elea. "But everyone is afraid of her position, she is the second most important woman after all."

"The first one being your mother I suppose" commented Keith, receiving a nod.

"Yes, so only a few people talk with Yae" explained Elea. "And she isn't interested in a relationship."

"Oh, is there a reason for that?" asked Keith seeing Elea's confident expression.

"She was in a relationship with my father" confessed Elea, missing Keith's widened eyes.

She had grown up knowing it, so there was no shame in saying it.

"...what the hell" said Keith with a dark face. "Your father, the same one you came from. With a miko under your mother, at the same time as your mother."

"...yes" said Elea, not understanding the reason behind Keith's hostility, but frowning a little sensing something weird in the phrasing.

"So while I can't even fa-...go to the toilet" Keith remembered that the girl in front of him, as mature as she might be, was only a child. "Your father had 2 women interested in him at the same time, and was in a relationship with both of them at the same time?"

"Yes" nodded the innocent Elea. "But there were more than 2."

".....what?" asked Keith, now questioning the unfairness of the universe. "Please, little girl, tell me how many, that way can understand how far is the universe going with its bullshit."

"5" said Elea, who had lost Keith for a while. "Shenhe, Sara, Yae, Jean and my mother. But I think there is another person, I sometimes caught my mother speaking with Yae about someone called Alechino or something like that, but it wasn't nice."

"5, possibly 6" repeated Keith. "Okay, I got it. Now I understand how far the universe is willing to go to mock me. Anyway, tell me about something else, because I don't want to talk about it."

"About Yae?" asked Elea after a bit of thought, not knowing what else to talk about without making Keith angry.

"Might as well" nodded Keith. "So this Yae is your mother's friend, the head miko in the shrine, and your teacher."

"Yes" nodded Elea. "She is a youkai, which means that is from a different race from humans, but she can adopt the form of one. Still, she has fox ears in her head, even if she tries to hide them."

"Okay, I'm done" said Keith, turning back to the tree. "Don't want to hear anything more, such unfairness is making me angry. Please, whoever brought me here!! Take me out!!"

"What are you doing?" asked the shocked Elea, seeing how Keith started banging his head against the tree.

"You wouldn't understand" replied Keith, realizing that this Yae woman was the fabled kemonomimi. There were some in his universe, but they belonged to the Xianzhou, a country he might never be able to visit because guess what? They followed Lan, the Aeon of the Hunt.

And he belonged to a group of crimina- wait a minute.

Keith stopped banging his head against the tree, trying to think.

'Nobody knows my identity' he realized. 'I can probably escape for a while to witness the Xianzhou and its inhabitants by myself.'

And Keith, looking up, saw something.

"Hey little girl, what is that?" he asked, pointing at a purple-ish fruit dangling from a lower branch of the tree.

"Don't know" replied Elea, happy that Keith turned into a sentient being once again. "It was there the previous time I came."

"You came here before?" asked curiously Keith, still looking at the fruit.

There was something in that fruit calling him, but the feeling inside him of him was too faint for him to understand what was it about.

"Yes, but it was just like this time" explained Elea, approaching the 'fruit' that seemed to be intangible. "I felt dizzy and I arrived here. But there was a purple leaf last time."

It had been a while ago, so Elea started to think she had imagined it, but she felt something inside her to refuse treating the 'promise' as a mere dream.

"A purple leaf..." pondered Keith, looking at the completely dried-up tree.

"But this purple thing seems to be bigger than last time" said Elea, noticing the difference in size. "Maybe it's growing."

But Keith was too lost looking at it.

It was a purple colour, constantly changing shape, but he was able to see the centre of it. It was a deep purple with...something of a different colour in its centre. A purple that made his very being twist, with emotions he wasn't able to understand.

"I think...I'm going to leave soon" Elea's words made Keith look at her, breaking him out of his reverie. "I feel faint again."

"Hmm, I do too" muttered Keith, but smiled at the smart and sensible child. "The next time we meet, I will have a lot of recipes for you."

"Great!" shouted Elea with a bright smile. "I will bring some things too!"

And with that, they both left this world.

But something deep within Keith had started moving, even if he didn't realize it.

All because of the little purple soul floating next to the tree.