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For some reason, long after the stains of Signora’s blood are washed out of Tenshukaku, Lumine keeps visiting Ei. The Raiden Shogun doesn’t particularly care — she was not built to care — but Ei can always feel Lumine’s presence, as foreign as a fallen star, push up against the Plane of Euthymia.
“Open up,” Lumine says this time. There is no preamble, no pretense, to her words, and when Ei doesn’t reply fast enough, she starts tapping her foot against the ground. The sound echoes in the empty throne room, and it’s enough to get Ei to open the entrance to the plane.
The world unravels slightly around the presence of the traveler, like it always does. The plane doesn’t know how to treat someone like Lumine, and the sand unfurls before solidifying into cool quartz under Lumine’s feet. Each step she makes towards Ei mars the usual stillness and appearance of the Plane of Euthymia. It drives Ei mad, but she remains silent about the change.
Instead, she says, “What brings you back?”
“Same reason as usual,” Lumine sighs. “Everyone is oddly worried about you. Get out of the plane for once.” She rolls her eyes and continues, “Paimon will keep sending me back here if you don’t.”
“Why do you listen to the peculiar floating thing?” Ei asks. “Surely you have enough power to override her when she asks for something. She could always come by herself too.”
Lumine’s eyes narrow. The traveler has never had much patience for Ei or the Raiden Shogun. Ei should’ve known from the minute Lumine started breaking every possible rule in Inazuma, from the Sakoku Decree to the Vision Hunt. Lumine folds her arms and says flatly, “The last time Paimon was in Tenshukaku, you killed Signora, promised us that you wouldn’t kill us, and then immediately tried to kill us with the Musou no Hitotachi the minute we stepped outside. It makes sense why she would be too afraid to come back.”
“But you’re here,” Ei counters.
Lumine raises a brow and says, “Yes, I am. Now, I’m going to ask you again, are you going to come out and see Inazuma for yourself?”
Ei shakes her head. “You do not understand eternity in the way that I do, traveler,” she says. “You would not understand the deliberations I must make for my nation.”
“No, I don’t,” Lumine concedes. “But you’re certainly going about it the wrong way.” She laughs a little bit, but it is cold and thin. “Surprisingly, there are people outside the plane that genuinely think you can change. I’m not one of them. Perhaps you’ll prove me wrong, but for now, I think you’re behaving exactly the way I thought you would.”
Ei bristles, and she almost challenges Lumine to a duel right then and there. And this time, Ei is sure that she could win against the traveler. She does not have the floating thing by her side, and Miko is not there to pull another one of her devious tricks. But before Ei can say a word, the traveler merely turns her back and steps out of the plane. Ei stands there, seething, and it takes a while for her to return to her meditative state. The quartz does not fade.
“Wake up,” Lumine’s voice says. It’s bruque and loud, and Ei cracks open an eye to see that somehow, Lumine has already wormed her way into the Plane of Euthymia.
“How impolite,” Ei murmurs. “One typically asks for permission before entering one’s home.”
Lumine holds up the pass permit and replies, “Already have it. I’m here to ask the same thing again. Get out of the Plane of Euthymia.”
Miko… Of course it was her doing. Honestly, Ei is more surprised that Lumine hasn’t resorted to more illegal methods of getting into Tenshukaku every time. It just seems more likely that Lumine just evades the guards and makes her way in. After all, that’s what she supposedly did in Ritou. It’s surprising to hear that even the infamous Traveler can obey the laws of Inazuma every once in a while. Ei clears her throat and says, “I believe you already know my answer.”
“What? You need to ponder over the meaning of eternity once more?” Lumine says dryly. “Haven’t you had enough time to think about it? Don’t you need to see proof of the changing world itself before you make a final decision?”
Ei’s shoulders stiffen and thunder begins to roll in the vestiges of the Plane of Euthymia. For the first time, a small breeze kicks up some of the sand, disturbing the inscribed circles. The breeze sends a shiver down Ei’s spine, and she snaps, “I am the god of eternity. I am meant to stand unchanging before the world.”
This is a truth that Ei knows down to her very core. She is the god of eternity, the noblest and most eminent of all in this world, and she promised her people a dream of a never-changing eternity. This is what she and Makoto agreed on: happiness for their people. Even if Ei herself does not believe in Celestia any longer, she still has a duty to that dream she promised, both to Inazuma and to Makoto.
Lumine doesn’t miss a beat when she retorts, “Eternity doesn’t mean unyielding.” She advances towards Ei, and again, the sand morphs into clear crystal under her feet and locks the ground into a different formation. It’s too foreign, too odd.
“Who are you to know, traveler?” Ei says. She gestures towards the quartz, newly formed above the sand, and says, “You move constantly, changing your path with too much ease. You could not know of the eternity I speak of.”
To Ei’s unending surprise, Lumine laughs at that. It’s genuine too: none of the sharpness that Lumine saves especially for her. “I have lived for thousands of years, and that much has taught me something,” Lumine tells her.
“Thousands?”
Lumine stretches out a hand and lets a pure ball of energy roil in the palm of her hand. It’s not quite electro, not quite geo, and not quite anemo either. It is utterly foreign, just like Lumine herself. “My twin brother and I were born from two halves of the same falling star,” she says. “We’re not from this world. In Teyvat’s version of time, we are older than the gods, but at the same time, we…” Lumine clenches her fist and the energy solidifies into familiar electro, roiling and turning with unsparked lightning. “Well, I am newer to the world. So it evens out in the end, I suppose,” she finishes.
Ei blinks. She didn’t know that Lumine was also a twin. Frankly, she knows nothing about Lumine other than her prowess in battle. It makes sense for the traveler to be that old; Ei can’t recall the last time she was bested in battle. She, the creator of all the sword arts in Inazuma, could not have been bested by a mortal child, years below her reckoning. But she did not know that Lumine had a sibling, much less a twin.
It makes her heart pang, and for a second, when Ei looks at Lumine, all she sees is Makoto. The passing centuries do not make the grief any easier. In fact, as a god of eternity, Ei could very well claim that the grief was as same as the day she bore it.
Lumine lets out a short, sharp sigh and says, “Enough about me. What’s your answer going to be today?”
Ei shuts her eyes once more and does not reply. She has much to consider.
“Tell me about your twin, and in return, I will leave the Plane of Euthymia.”
Lumine stares at her in absolute bewilderment and asks, “Why?”
Ei shrugs. “Why not?” she returns.
Lumine folds her arms, and her face creases into a familiar frown. “What use does any knowledge about my brother give you?” she challenges.
“Nothing,” Ei says, and for once, she is completely honest and open with the traveler. “Just pure curiosity. I was once a twin too.”
“Once?”
Ei takes a deep breath before saying, “Perhaps Miko has already told you this, but I used to rule Inazuma alongside my twin, Makoto. We both ruled under the same name, the same face, but I was Makoto’s shadow, doing whatever that she could not.” Her lips curl up in a wry smile, and she says, “But I am the only one who remains, so the world continues to know me as Baal, the electro archon. The people have never noticed the change, and I am alright with that.”
Lumine taps her foot, and with each tap, the quartz blooms and spreads across the sand. “I don’t believe you,” she says testily.
Ei frowns. “I keep my word,” she says. “Duty and honor are some of the most valuable things to me.”
Lumine actually snorts at that as she replies, “Like I said a few times before, you told us that you wouldn’t touch us while we were in Tenshukaku, and then the minute we stepped off the property, you attacked us.”
“I did keep my word,” Ei insists. When Lumine’s frown does not abate, Ei tacks on, “Technically.”
Irritation now spikes in Lumine’s voice as she asks, “What makes you think I’m going to believe the word of a god who stole her own people’s ambitions?”
Ei winces at that. It’s true. In her deep slumber, Ei didn’t notice how the Fatui and other clans had begun to fool the Raiden Shogun. The puppet was not designed for subterfuge, and that is a design flaw whose fault is solely Ei’s.
Lumine doesn’t stop, and now, she steps forward until she and her anger are directly in front of Ei. “You cut off your country from the rest of the world, forced your people into isolation, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, you went and stole their Visions,” she says. Each word is biting and sharp, and rather than a blazing fury, Lumine holds her rage tightly on a leash. “Have you seen what that does to people?” she asks. “It leaves them hollow and vacant. That was never yours to take, even if you do call yourself a god.”
If Lumine’s anger is quiet and cold, Ei’s anger is quick to flash and quick to devastate. And right now, the Plane of Euthymia begins to simmer with thunder. The smell of ozone grows sharp and metallic in the air as Ei snarls, “How dare you.”
“Yes, I dare,” Lumine spits back. She pays no heed to the lightning that begins to crash down around them. “I dare because I went through the journey that you refuse to take. You refuse to look at the prison you have made for your people in order to stay inside the prison you made for yourself.” She stops to take a breath, and together, they are suspended in a moment of silent fury. The lightning approaches closer and closer, and by this point, the sand has completely turned to clear quartz. Lumine presses a hand to her temples and mutters, “Archons. I promised Paimon and Miko. I’m… I’m done for today. I’m leaving.”
Lumine turns her back and leaves the plane. Lightning continues to flash above her, and Ei finds that she cannot return to her meditation any more. Every time she shuts her eyes and attempts to return to euthymia, she thinks of splintered quartz and furious, golden eyes.
Instead of the usual animosity that Lumine shows up with, Lumine says with utter exhaustion, “If I tell you about Aether, will you leave the Plane of Euthymia?”
Ei does not move from her meditative position, but she replies, “Yes.”
“I’m…” Lumine trails off. She kicks the sand a little bit with her heel, sending it crashing to the ground in crystals of quartz. “Well, Pamon said I should apologize for what I said the last time,” she admits.
Now, that intrigues Ei enough to uncurl her legs from their position and make her way towards the traveler. “And are you sorry?” she asks.
Lumine barks out a bitter laugh before she says, “Not quite.” The two of them lapse into silence before Lumine finally relents and says, “Listen, I know you must have gone through terrible things, but I personally believe that is no excuse to make others suffer. You weren’t there to see the aftermath of the Vision Hunt, but this is your chance now. I’ll tell you about my brother, and then, we’ll go see Inazuma as it currently is now.”
It’s hard to think about Inazuma any other way than the way Ei left it. She still has a hard time believing Lumine and Miko about the results of the Sakoku Decree and the Vision Hunt. Yes, there is an obvious issue with foreign emissaries and the Kujou clan deceiving the Raiden Shogun, but that is an issue precisely because it interferes with Ei’s original vision of eternity. Yet, Lumine and, by extent, Miko, seem to be proposing a different kind of eternity that Ei has a hard time envisioning. But for now, she wants to know more about this peculiar, foreign-born traveler that manages to disturb her precious euthymia. So, Ei inclines her head and says, “I will abide by the original offer. Tell me about your brother, and in return, I will leave the Plane of Euthymia to see this supposedly changed Inazuma.”
“Very well,” Lumine says. Her hands curl into fists before slowly, finger by finger, she lets them fall limply by her side. “Aether was always the one to help people first, almost unconditionally, and he’s kind. He’d get along with Paimon well. I almost think that Aether should’ve been the one traveling this journey right now. He’s also impulsive and passionate, a little bit hot-headed, almost to the point where you can’t reason with him. Definitely stubborn.”
“He sounds like you,” Ei comments. Certainly in the stubborn aspect.
Lumine scowls at Ei and snaps, “Are you going to let me finish?” When Ei stays silent, she exhales out a deep breath and says, almost wistfully, “I”m not quite like Aether. He’s got his heart on his sleeve, and I envy that sometimes. But at the end of the day, home is wherever we are together, and I miss that.”
“I see,” Ei says slowly. The more she looks at Lumine, the more she can see of herself, like a mirror, darkly reflecting. There’s a bitterness to Lumine’s words that Ei can echo, much like the shape of Ei’s own grief. Lumine’s eyes glisten in the dim light of the plane, and although Lumine does not stutter nor stumble in her words, there is still that brief flash of something irrevocable in those eyes.
“He sounds like my sister,” Ei offers. “Makoto was kind, almost to a fault. She rarely drew her sword, so I became Makoto’s blade, dealing with whatever affair required more force than she wanted to apply. But I lost her in that calamity, 500 years ago…” Ei’s voice catches in her throat, and she finds that she cannot speak any longer.
She still wonders what would have happened if she took Makoto’s place in Khaenri’ah. Ei knows that her skill at the blade exceeded her sister’s; perhaps she could’ve taken the blows that Makoto could not. But Makoto has always shielded Ei from disasters, even when Ei willingly accepted them as her own. Ei remembers when she gave up her body at the end of the Archon Wars so that Makoto could reign as part of the Seven. However, Makoto refused to let that act pass her by, and she painstakingly put Ei’s body back together, piece by piece.
“How do you continue on without him?” Ei finally asks.
Lumine’s eyes are half-lidded, and she stares past Ei, towards the unending borders of the plane. “I don’t,” she tells Ei. “But just because he’s not with me doesn’t mean I can’t do anything. I think about him whenever I see something he would’ve liked, taste something new he would’ve enjoyed, but I keep moving forward.” She refocuses on Ei and offers her a wan smile. “After all, that’s what he would’ve wanted for me. If our positions were reversed, I’d be upset if he spent his days constantly grieving and never moving. Moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting him. It’s the very opposite, in fact.”
That’s a new thought. Makoto and Ei both represented the same divine ideal of eternity, but Ei can’t tell what Makoto would’ve done in her position. Makoto always liked the notion of how eternity stretched time into infinity, making each and every moment within it more precious, and that’s something profound that Ei has never fully grasped. Ei understands eternity as stasis, as euthymia, and it’s hard to conceive of anything else without Makoto by her side. But there is some truth in what Lumine says, and for the second time in a very long time, Ei finds reason to change.
“I… I will leave the Plane of Euthymia now,” Ei finally says. After all, she cannot return to her usual rest now, and by now, half of the sand has been subsumed by the crystal quartz.
“Very well,” Lumine says.
Together, they leave the plane, letting it unravel and bleed into reality. Ei’s first step out of the plane is shaky — she hasn’t touched Tenshukaku ever since she built the Raiden Shogun — and Lumine offers a hand to steady her. Ei stares at the hand for a moment that seems to stretch into eternity, and then, she finally takes Lumine’s hand.
And they move forward.