Chapter Text
Ayato is not entirely sure how he found himself here, at a table of Albedo, Rubedo, Klee, Kazuha, Xingqiu, Venti, Itto, Thoma, Ayaka, Aether, Paimon, Yae, Gorou, and even Sangonomiya Kokomi as well as the Raiden Shogun; a table within a teapot charmed with Liyuen adeptal arts so as to create an entire subspace for Aether to reshape as he pleases.
Perhaps that is inaccurate. He can trace the events that led up to here; part of him simply reels at the near-absurdity of the coming together of this particular crowd.
Perhaps it starts at the end of the unveiling ceremony, Aether pulling him aside and explaining about the Serenitea Pot, handing him an invitation slip with a smile on his face. Perhaps it starts when Aether asks for a hug and Ayato doesn't refuse, and Ayato sees Albedo and Kazuha both watching him carefully.
Perhaps it starts when Xingqiu finds him the next day, light with joy. Joy that Aether finally came to him and told him about his nature and invited him to the teapot, noting that he just invited Ayato as well. Xingqiu explained that he asked Aether for a tour, to which Aether agreed—and mused that perhaps he should ask Ayato if he wanted one as well, and Xingqiu decided that he'd find Ayato himself and ask.
Regardless of where and when it started, it proceeds as thus: Ayato returns home to the estate to Ayaka and Thoma excitedly bringing them to Aether's room, where there is a golden teapot laid upon the table. Aether smiles and takes Ayato's hand; Ayaka takes Ayato's other hand, and Thoma lays a hand on Aether's shoulder. They enter the teapot with a vertigo-inducing shift in reality, and Ayato finds himself in a realm reminiscent of Inazuma—a series of islands surrounded by a surreal sea. Though much of the architecture here is reminiscent of Inazuma, he sees structures reminiscent of Liyue and Mondstadt as well.
Xingqiu, Aether notes, is yet to arrive—he is likely speaking with Albedo, who will lead him here. Ayaka and Thoma part from them and go to the Inazuman mansion surrounded by crystalflies of numerous sorts, while Aether takes Ayato to sit at a table on a floating rock in the sky, which Aether had the forethought to include a teleport waypoint on.
From there, he can see a little grove of vibrantly red maples where Kazuha and Albedo are talking… but, no, Aether had said Albedo was with Xingqiu, so it must be Rubedo.
They sit and wait, and then Albedo and Xingqiu arrive. Aether then brings Ayato and Xingqiu through a grand tour of the place. When they pass through the grove of maples, only Kazuha is present, playing a tune on a leaf. He gives them a nod of acknowledgement, and they go on their way.
When they circle back to the mansion, Ayato hears the boisterous laugh before he sees the source: Itto, talking with, to his surprise, Gorou. Though Ayato was aware Gorou and Sangonomiya Kokomi had recently arrived at the festival, he is surprised that both of them are privy to Aether's secrets.
Itto lifts up Ayato in a rather undignified hug, Ayato's feet leaving the ground in the motion, though Ayato merely sighs in amusement and pats Itto on the back while Gorou looks some combination of shocked, scandalized, and amused. (Itto was, apparently, wondering where everyone had gone before a certain bard tipped him off to check the teapot.)
They enter the mansion to find Ayaka and Thoma proposing an idea in discussion with Sangonomiya, of all people. They propose, since all of them are here, a dinner party—to celebrate getting through the major hurdles of the Irodori Festival, finding the truth about past events, and making new friends.
Venti, for some reason, appears out of nowhere carrying a bottle of what Ayato recognizes as what must be very expensive sake, and proclaims that it would be a great idea.
The mansion thus becomes a bustle of activity as many flit around to help prepare. Aether clears them out of one of the rooms so that he can set up a suitably large dining area, and then proceeds to flit about the place while freely shifting forms. It is both uncanny and fascinating to watch; to fluidly shift from one form to another seems to come naturally to him, and he seems at ease in a way he never quite is in Teyvat. Rubedo appears at some point, though it takes some time for Xingqiu to realize something is not quite right when there would be two of someone else in addition to two of Albedo. Xingqiu is clearly confused by his presence, but no one questions and no one asks and Xingqiu does not either. Rubedo expertly dodges any sustained interaction with anyone besides Klee, who he seems to be watching over while Albedo helps with preparations.
Ayato finds himself at a bit of a loss of what to do, after an attempt at cooking leaves him with what Ayaka immediately and mercilessly declares, quite loudly, to be "suspicious steak."
(He can cook. He can cook very specific dishes that require following multiple steps to the letter. He is simply unused to this equipment, and that dish. That, and he may have, perhaps, been a little too experimental with his technique here. Still, he wonders if he can get Thoma to try it…)
It is in his wanderings of the mansion that he runs into the Raiden Shogun in one of the rooms, sitting quietly and looking out the window alongside one Yae Miko. Before Ayato can step back, Yae's ears twitch and her eyes land on him. "Oh, why hello, Ayato," she says, a slight smile on her lips.
The Shogun suddenly has her gaze upon him as well. "Kamisato Ayato," she says.
"Your Excellency," Ayato responds.
Yae stands suddenly. "I'll leave you two to it, then," she says, standing up and making her way towards the door. "I suppose I'll bother Kokomi instead." She pats Ayato's shoulder as she exits the room. "You'll do great," she says, a smile that seems a little too much on the side of devious to be comforting. Ayato finds he can only nod, though he wants to ask, at what exactly?
The Shogun frowns slightly, watching Yae leave before she shifts her attention to Ayato. "Come here," she says, voice commanding, only to pause and shake her head. "I mean to say—may I speak to you?"
Ayato feels thrown by this change in demeanor. His god, his Shogun, asking him? Still, he says, "Of course, your Excellency," entering and sitting down.
The Shogun frowns again, and sighs. "Enough of that. Here, you may refer to me as Raiden. In Aether's eyes, in his realm, we are all equal."
"Ah," Ayato says. This feels very odd. "Very well… Raiden."
The Shogun—Raiden continues to frown at him, a troubled look in her eyes. After several seconds, she speaks. "As the Raiden Shogun, I hold supreme authority over you, a subject of my rule. That which I decide cannot be disobeyed. I cannot be wrong, for I decide what is right. That is what I believed for a long time, and what many of the people continue to believe as well," she says. She closes her eyes. "However, that is not the full picture of my role. That is not the full picture of who I am, who we are."
We, she says. To whom does she refer? The nation of Inazuma, or…?
"The Raiden Shogun shall not ask for the forgiveness of the Yashiro Commissioner," Raiden says. "But… from Raiden Ei to you, Kamisato Ayato, you have my apologies for any distress I have caused you as related to more personal matters."
Raiden Ei. That is her name. A name that has never appeared in all of the history of Inazuma Ayato knows.
Ayato bows his head for a moment. "Then I, Kamisato Ayato, accept your apologies, Raiden Ei."
Raiden relaxes slightly. "Thank you," she says.
Ayato wonders what Aether said to her, to make her so repentant. He wonders, too, what Yae might have said to her—if she spoke in favor of Ayato despite whatever opinions she holds about him.
And then—perhaps this setting has made him even bolder, perhaps the assessment that he could be equal to his god while in Aether's hands gives him the impetus to say, "I met Raiden Makoto as a form of Aether. Why does she remain a secret to Inazuma? Why do we know neither her name nor yours, the names of our own gods?"
Raiden jolts, eyes wide, before quickly recovering and composing herself. She does not answer for a long moment. "I believe that the best answer I have is that I was grieving," she says, eventually. "Perhaps I could not accept the loss of her. We were always one, together, complementing one another."
"And why should we not be allowed to grieve with you, Raiden?" Ayato asks. "What does the secret matter now?"
Raiden closes her eyes. "Admittedly, it did not occur to me that her death or existence should be conveyed to the people of Inazuma when we had always been known as one: the Raiden Shogun. Thinking about it now, perhaps it would be demoralizing to know that the Almighty Shogun is not so almighty, that one half of us was felled five hundred years ago."
Ayato hums. "Yet there is Mondstadt, with its absentee god. And Liyue, continuing to prosper after the loss of their own. Perhaps you do not need to shoulder the entirety of Inazuma on your shoulders—we, too, the people, may be stronger than you think."
"I have no desire to take after those two fools," Raiden says, and Ayato raises his eyebrows at the response. "Still, I'll take your words into consideration."
"Raaaiiiiidennnn," comes a voice, and once again, out of nowhere, a Venti appears and slings an arm over Raiden's shoulders. The bottle he holds is noticeably less full than where it started. "How could you say something so mean about me?"
Raiden glances at Ayato, who can only blink at the display of the two Archons. It is hard to believe two gods sit before him… and he wonders if Venti knew Ayato knew, or if he purposely intended to reveal himself here. Ayato feels as though he understands now—what Aether said about the people of Mondstadt living in denial that Venti could be their god.
Raiden simply closes her eyes and says, "Unhand me at once, or both you and that bottle of yours shall know the taste of lightning."
Venti gasps and backs off, cradling the bottle to his chest. "How could you! This was a gift from the lovely Yae Miko. You wouldn't want to hurt her feelings, would you?"
Raiden's eyebrow twitches, and Ayato now also understands the part about pestering. Hoping he won't regret it, Ayato decides to step in. "Perhaps we should head downstairs to see how the others are doing?"
Venti looks at him and grins. "Ayayo! Did you and Beelzebul make up and make friends and get along now?"
Goodness gracious, this bard… "Please. Call me Ayato, if you must. And we talked, at the very least. A gathering that includes both of us would likely not be as strained as it might have been otherwise."
Venti grins, eyes bright, and Ayato wonders if he is more sober than his behavior originally suggested. "Alrighty," he says. "Let's head down, then!"
So, yes. Ayato can trace the events that led him here, as bizarre as the series of occurrences were, as bizarre as the situation is now. Despite everything, he feels welcome, and though there are pockets of unease that remain, he is, for the most part, comfortable—and if not that, deeply amused at some of the interactions between those present. Though he is not particularly one for large gatherings, the fragmenting of conversations into nearest neighbors makes it quite tolerable.
He is here, with Ayaka and Thoma and Aether and Itto, and he is content.