A Mother's Duality.

"Who are you?" asked Elea, looking at the strange man in front of her.

She thought this place was one in which only she and the other man with grey eyes could enter, but maybe she had jumped to the conclusion.

"Did too many sweets cause you brainrot?" asked the man in front of her with a deadpan stare.

"..." and now Elea knew that this man was the same that had shown her a way to think.

"Oh, I see now" said the man, hitting his palm with a fist in a gesture of understanding. "It's the first time you see me in my new body."

"New body?" Elea relaxed a bit now that the man was not a complete stranger, but she found that sentence a bit weird. "Can aliens swap bodies?"

"Probably some of them can" shrugged Keith. "But I got a new one."

Sensing Elea's confusion, Keith promptly elaborated.

"Don't you remember that the previous time we talked, I was in the process of getting a new one?" asked Keith, and continued upon seeing the light of understanding shine in Elea's eyes. "Well, ta-da!" This is the one I got."

"Good for you, I guess" nodded Elea, looking at Keith once again. "So you are not in a puppet's body anymore?"

"Nope" replied Keith with a bright smile. "And let me tell you, this body is amazing."

"And I'm willing to hear it" said Elea, remembering something else. "But only after you fulfil your part of the deal."

"Deal? What deal?" asked a confused Keith.

"You..." muttered a dark-faced Elea, who had been denied what she felt was owed to her.

She had memorized the whole first book of the Radiant Knight because she wanted to give this man something in exchange, but now he was saying he forgot about it?

"Just kidding" said Keith with a smirk, seeing Elea's dark expression. "I memorized the recipes of the best dangos in the whole universe just for you, short-stack."

Elea felt like sending her mother after this man so he would learn a lesson on not messing with dangos, but that could wait.

Everything could when dangos were involved.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uhn, I got it" nodded Elea, committing to memory every single sound coming from this man's mouth.

"You know, I don't know how to feel about this" muttered Keith. "I gave you pretty good advice last time, but the only thing you want from me are a few recipes. How about some thanks? Speaking of that, how did the thing with the Shrine go?"

Elea instantly blushed, as she realized she had not exactly been what you could call polite as her obsession for dangos took control of her, but quickly spoke.

"It went very well," replied Elea with a smile, remembering the feelings of pride and happiness she sensed from her mother, Sara and Yae. "I surprised my teacher with my answer. In the end, it was similar to what you thought, the Shrine was a place for people to connect with the past in which the ones they lost were still there, and a place in which they put their hopes for a better future."

"....are you really a kid?" asked Keith, who despite being happy for Elea's growth, couldn't help but think those words were a bit out of place coming from a child's mouth. "Are you one of those races who look eternally like a child?"

"I'm 7" replied Elea with a smug look.

"Well, good for you anyways, you have a promising future if you could take all that from my suggestion" Keith admitted that Elea's future would be interesting to say the least if she was that mature at her tender age. "So, what did you bring me in exchange for my tribute?"

"My favourite book" replied a proud Elea. "I memorized it only to tell it to you."

"You must like it a lot to memorize it" mused Keith, looking at Elea who pointed at the tree.

"My father wrote it" explained Elea, walking towards the tree. "Wait a minute, isn't the tree a bit different?"

Keith, who hadn't looked at the tree whose dried-up appearance made something inside him twist in sorrow, looked up.

Only to see that in some of the lower branches, some small leaves had started to grow.

Elea looked away from the tree, only to see the taller man frozen in place, looking at the scant leaves with an absent look.

So Elea, wanting to know what this mysterious man was thinking about, focused on her ability.

Confusion, joy, sorrow, uncertainty...

A maelstrom of emotions Elea was already used to, as every single person always had conflicting emotions inside them, but the predominant one was... nostalgia, maybe.

There were some emotions easier to identify than others after all.

"Well, weren't you going to tell me a tale?" asked Keith, trying to change the topic.

The tree's appearance was making something inside him twitch.

The exact same thing he always felt when waking up after one of those confusing dreams that made him wake up exhausted.

"Sure" Elea noticed Keith's intentions, but went along with it.

So both the girl and the man sat with their backs on the tree's trunk, but before Elea could start the tale, Keith noticed something else.

"Are those bruises?" asked Keith, seeing the state Elea's hands were in, bruises he recognized. He had the same ones before they disappeared due to his pretty unfair body. "You train with a sword?"

"You can tell?" asked back a surprised Elea, who didn't expect this man who just got a working body to be able to tell about the meaning behind the state her hands were in.

"Of course, how could I not?" nodded a smiling Keith. "I had the same after all, before my body erased those marks of weakness and hard work."

"So you also know how to use a sword..." mused Elea, looking critically at Keith.

She was receiving lessons from her mother, not only about using it, but what taking up a sword meant, so her standards were pretty high.

"Something to say?" asked Keith, sensing the girl's appraising gaze.

"What does a sword mean to you?" asked Elea with a solemn voice, repeating the first question she had received from her mother when she started training.

"Hmm" Keith, not wanting to give a fast and imprecise answer thought for a while, receiving a nod of approval from Elea, who when faced with the same question had thoughtlessly replied. "For me, the sword is a way to protect myself, as well as a way to take my mind off some things."

"That's wrong" declared Elea, shaking her head.

"How can my answer be wrong?" argued Keith, making Elea fall silent. "It can't be incorrect, because it is the one I gave you after thinking about it carefully. You might have a more complete answer, or some information I lack about it, but it can't be wrong."

"..." Elea fell silent, thinking about Keith's words, and lowered her head a bit.

"Don't apologize" said Keith with a small smile, sensing Elea's intention. "Why don't you show me what my answer lacked instead? That way I can give you a better answer."

"Alright" nodded Elea, thinking about her rashness at discrediting Keith's answer, and realizing that she needed to think a bit more. "My mother told me-"

"But I don't want to hear what your millennia-old mother told you" interrupted Keith. "I want to hear your answer, not hers. What does a sword mean to you?"

Elea fell silent, surprised by Keith's outburst, but thought deeply about it.

She had received lessons from her mother, but she still couldn't understand a lot of things, so she couldn't reply to Keith's answer with those.

Because ultimately, those things she didn't understand couldn't be her answer.

"For me, a sword is learning" replied Elea after thinking for a few minutes. "When I'm training with my mother, I learn more than just merely swinging my sword, I also learn how to face problems in my daily life. If attacking from the front doesn't have any future, you need to make a feint or go around the problem you need to tackle. If you see an opening, you need to move forward and use it, which in the real world might be using the chances you are given without fear."

"That's...interesting" mused Keith, but Elea's answer hadn't ended yet.

"And the sword is also a way to help my mother" continued Elea, who then fell silent with an unsure expression.

"Something to share?" asked Keith, feeling Elea's doubts.

"...yes" Elea made a decision.

She had followed Keith's advice, and she had gained a lot from it, so maybe...asking for his opinion on this matter would also help her.

"Go on then, I'm listening" said Keith, who leaned back trying to show a relaxed attitude Elea might appreciate.

"It's my mother" confessed Elea. "I can feel people's feelings, so-"

"Wait, you can do that?" asked a shocked Keith, who received a nod in response. "Curious..."

Because he might have found the reason why both of them were here.

"Sorry, please continue" Keith apologized, as he knew it was a difficult topic for Elea to speak about.

"I can sense some emotions" continued Elea, taking over from where she had been stopped. "But the emotions I feel from her are too different. I feel like there are 2 people inside her."

"And that scares you, because it's your mother in the end" said Keith, making Elea fall silent. "Your mother has something going on, and the results of what might come from that are scaring you."

"..." Elea opened her mouth, but no sounds came out.

Was that true?

Was her restlessness about this topic just fear?

She hadn't realized it until now, but hearing how the word 'scared' came out from Keith's mouth, she felt how it fit perfectly in the situation she was in.

"The first thing to solve a problem is always to identify it" said Keith with a soft smile, understanding that even if Elea was a bright child, introspection is always a hard thing to do for anyone. "In this case, you need to realize how you are feeling, and put a name to it. Only once you know how you feel, you can move forward to solve those feelings."

"I see..." muttered Elea. "So I was scared..."

"Now, tell me a bit more" said Keith, making the child look at him with her beautiful light purple eyes. "Maybe I can help."

"I don't know anything more" confessed Elea. "I was about to talk with my mother about it when I arrived here."

"Hmm, not much we can work with then" Keith sighed, but looked at the hopeful child. "I live in a wider universe, so I have a lot of knowledge you simply lack. It's impossible for me to know what the deal with your mother is, but I can share what I know with you."

"Please" said Elea, wanting to hear what this man who always made her realize things about herself had to say.

"First, your mother might not be 'human', as you understand it" said Keith, making Elea widen her eyes. "There are a few races that have, let's call it like this, 2 personalities. They both share the same body, but their attitudes, behavior, and thoughts can be different. But they are ultimately the same person, you could compare it with 2 sides of the same coin."

"I don't think my mother is like that" said Elea, shaking her head. "I would have known if it was like that."

"How could you know?" asked Keith with a raised eyebrow. "Unless you have something else I don't know about."

"I do" replied Elea, who realized she hadn't told Keith everything she knew. "There is this weird place I usually train with my mother, it's called Plane of Euthymia. I think it's a place inside her or something like that, it's a bit confusing, but when I'm inside, I feel something completely different coming from my mother than when I'm outside."

"Then what I told you is not the case" Keith nodded, understanding now why Elea had dismissed that possibility. "This race doesn't differentiate between their personalities, so they constantly interchange with each other without even noticing. But if there is a clear distinction in what you feel based on the place you are in, 'inside' or 'outside', it's clearly not the case. We can eliminate a few other possibilities then."

"Do you know anything else?" asked a hopeful Elea, thinking that this man knew quite a bit of the circumstances she was in."

"Let me remind you that I can't give you an answer, only a guess" warned Keith, who knew that Elea was still a child who might take at face value what he said. "But...hmmm. It would be a great help to know what this Plane of Euthymia is, but based on what you said...maybe what you feel is her inner thoughts?"

"Inner thoughts?" asked Elea, who fell into thought.

"You know, what we show on the 'outside' is different from what we feel inside" explained Keith. "Maybe when you are 'inside', you are feeling what she really feels."

"I hope not" Elea didn't want to think that what her mother truly felt was that hole inside her. "Her mannerisms also change a lot, and even her body does."

"How so?" asked an intrigued Keith.

"I saw her trip a few times 'outside', but when she is 'inside' she is too agile and coordinated even in the middle of a fight to trip" explained Elea, who suddenly started to notice a lot of differences. "The way they walk is similar, but when she is 'inside', her centre of gravity is a bit lower. When she is outside, she usually has elegant and a bit flowery gestures, but when she is 'inside' she is a lot more direct without that kind of elegance. How they react to things they don't like is a bit different, when she is 'inside' she frowns, but when she is 'outside' she has that scary smile."

"Okay, I got it, so calm down" interrupted Keith, who saw how Elea was going downhill. "Then I can only think they are 2 people sharing the same body, but if they don't belong to this race I talked to you about, the only thing that comes to mind is that it's somehow 'artificial'. But it doesn't matter."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?!" asked an anxious Elea, who couldn't believe she had missed all of these details.

Doubts were growing inside her, as she realized that her mother... might not be a single person.

Who was she calling mother then?

Who was her true mother?

"It doesn't matter" replied Keith calmly, seeing how anxious Elea was getting. "Because it's your mother."

"But-"

"Do they love you?" asked Keith, making Elea swallow the words about to escape her mouth, words that she might have regretted at some point. "Do they care about you? Did they give you any reasons for doubting them? Have they seen you grow? Have they shown happiness with your growth? Don't they want to be a part of your life? Don't they think about what can make you happy? And lastly... don't you love them?"

And Elea understood.

Because indeed, she loved them both.

The respectful, elegant and sometimes playful mother who took care of the country, usually gave her dangos to eat, always had a smile on her face and loved Inazuma along with everyone inside it.

And the solemn and taciturn person, always sitting alone with a stony face, with a deep hole of pure sadness inside her. The person whose emotions turned into happy and prideful ones when she saw Elea enter the Plane of Euthymia, the one who despite being very demanding and strict in Elea's training always felt protective about her daughter, and the one who felt the most proud seeing Elea always stand up after falling down while training.

Elea realized that indeed, she loved them both, just as they loved her.

And with that realization came the relief, as the anxiousness she herself didn't know about flew straight out of her mind.

Tears slowly fell down her cheeks, but she looked up when she felt a hand softly patting her head.

"It will be alright" said Keith with a soft smile. "You love your mother, and they love you too. As long as that doesn't change and you know it, everything will be alright."

But even Keith was surprised when Elea, in the middle of a distressing situation, hugged his waist, weeping.

But tears that carried with them pure relief.