“So, do you think you can teach me?” Ei asked, putting down the quill she was using to explain under the lantern’s light, and picking up her tea cup. She took a sip while sitting in seiza, awaiting the response.
Yae looked at the book, and scrolls opened in front of her, parchments with flow charts describing energy flows and complex laws of nature in Ei’s bold and confident strokes.
”Hmm.” Yae answered simply.
“Have you any prior experience?”
“I have lived among Yokai, each more crafty and masterful than the next. You are as familiar with the tales as I am. What you ask is no big thing for me to teach and for you to learn,” Yae said, looking at Ei’s serene countenance as she took another sip, eyes closed. She continued on.
“So, my worry is not about the body and details but the mind and reasoning of this endeavor. Is this necessary?”
“It is a necessary step towards the path of eternity, my promise to them.”
“Inazumans don't need your promises they need their god. This nation loves and respects you; your color; your thunder; remnants of your battles—your very essence is Inazuma. It is your name that is on their tongue when they utter their battle cries, ready to live and die in your name.”
Stolen novel; please report.
We need you
Ei put her cup down, gulping the last sip, and leaving the dregs floating at the bottom.
“The Shogun will be a part of me; I do not intend to place Inazuma in any hands other than mine. It will be my avatar; Inazumans will have their god. A god that will protect them till the end of time, for eternity.”
A better warrior than me.
“They already have you. They have us.” Yae said, looking earnestly at her.
I could do nothing but watch as darkness consumed my nation, hollowing it out. All my power and might, for what good, if it could not be of use to those precious to me? I, who could not even protect my sister, who with my own blade spilled my friend’s-
“Your people do not need this dream of stillness,” Yae continued, having received no answer.
“Humans, in barely a lifespan of a hundred years, do not understand the nature of reality. As their god who has seen it all, it is upon me to guide them.”
“The arrogance behind that statement. And what good would a reality where they aren't allowed to bloom like flowers, left to wither in your Euthymia, be to them? If you want to turn Inazuma into a lifeless still-scape, maybe I should do it for you.”
Were these words, threatening her nation, spoken by someone else in a different setting, they would perhaps have met with the wrath of her thunder, her unmatched martial prowess, and tasted fear that froze their soul before lightning incinerated their flesh.
But they were spoken by someone dear to the god, and were met with a small huff as she got up.
Ei picked up the reading material, stockpiling it on the low table, and putting the scrolls back in the box, a silent indication for the meeting's adjournment.
Why do I feel that you did not listen to a word I uttered tonight, in hopes of assuaging your worries?
Yae followed Ei out in the night.