LI

We traveled back to Kamore Teahouse. The warmth greets us as we walk through the door, surrounding us and bringing a bit of levity to our moods.

You listen carefully as Ayaka patiently explains each one of Aether's questions about the Raiden Shogun and the Vision Hunt Decree. When Ayaka issues the mission to retrieve the captured fake vision manufacturer, you turn to Aether with a sheepish smile.

"No. You're coming with me." Aether shakes his head. "I am not doing this on my own. I did the busy work in Liyue on my own, you're doing this with me."

"I did some of the busy work in Liyue!" You respond indignantly.

"But not all of it. You ditched me."

"I did do that." You nod in agreement. "But with this, I really won't be any help and I want to work on my meditation. Please?"

Aether frowns. "Fine. But this time, it's an IOU."

"Ah. Damn. Sure, whatever." You smile and wave as Aether grumpily walks out of Kamore Teahouse to go meet Yoimiya. You face Ayaka, trying not to laugh at her poorly hidden confusion. "Do you mind if I use Kamore Teahouse for a mediation session? The atmosphere is just so nice."

"Oh! No, of course not! You'll always be welcome to use Kamore Teahouse as repayment for your help." Ayaka claps her hands together, looking very much like a lady in charge. "Feel free to use any of the open rooms down that hallway, those are all for personal use, and Thoma will help you with anything you need."

"Thank you, Ayaka." Your gratitude is genuine. Even though Ayaka has been rubbing you the wrong way with how she's been getting Aether to help her with the problems in Inazuma, you know that she's genuinely a nice person that just wants to do what's right for the people of her country. "I appreciate it."

The two of you exchange short farewells and Ayaka leaves the Teahouse for other business while you walk down the hallway Ayaka directed to you moments ago. You pick a random room and step inside.

The room itself is not too big, the size of a small bedroom. It's fairly empty, no furniture lining any walls, the only pizazz being the art scrolls hanging, depicting beautiful watercolor paintings of cranes, lakes, and mountains. But it has the warm feel that permeates through the rest of the Teahouse and nice floors.

Ariel steps in beside you, also checking out the room and taking the opportunity to spread out his wings. "It isn't much."

"Well, I don't need much. Anyway, Ayaka said this was a personal room. Furniture probably moves in and out of her all the time." You shrug.

"You're right about that!" You jerk and swirl around to see Thoma leaning on the doorway, a mat in his arms. "Who were you talking to?"

"Just thinking out loud." You wave off and point to the mat. "What's that for?"

"It's for you." Thoma walks to the center of the room and spreads the mat out. It's blue and cushy. "I knew there wasn't much in any of the rooms and I thought I'd bring this in to make the process more comfortable."

"Thank you." This time, you tried to say it with a little more oomph to get the point across, as it looked like Thoma desperately needed something good to hear. His face was sallow and his eyes dull. You could've been imagining it, but his skin looked to have a tint of gray to it, as if the color was draining from his body. "Thoma, I don't mean to be insensitive, but may I ask a question?"

"About me losing my vision?" He asks with an exhausted sigh.

You wince. "Not if it's uncomfortable. I was just curious and- ya know what, I probably shouldn't have asked at all, that was rude-"

Thoma interrupts your rambles with a weak chuckle. "No, it's okay. I was only remembering all the questions I've been getting during doctor's appointments recently. It made me want to groan a little bit."

You laugh with him, though you don't feel any amusement. "So, may I ask, are you... forgetting things? Like others who have lost their vision?"

Thoma sighs and shakes his head. "I can't say I have, but that's not unusual. Memory loss is a common symptom of vision loss, but it's not the only one. We've seen amnesia, psychotic episodes, sudden sickness, and what I have, weakness. My body is slowly losing all strength. It's suspected that, if I don't get my vision back soon enough, I might wither into dust, and if I get it back too late, I might never be able to stand. My body wouldn't have the strength to walk."

It takes everything in you to keep the shock from your face. "But you're still able to do a lot. How much time do you think you have before it would be 'too late'?"

"I don't know." Thoma's eyes darted to the floor. "Lady Ayaka and Lord Ayato have both suggested that I cut back on my duties and rest to hold onto as much strength as possible for as long as I can."

"Has that helped?"

"No, so I figured I wouldn't bother and continue on with my duties for as long as I'm able."

"The Kamisato siblings are lucky to have someone so dedicated to them." I tease lightly.

It gets the corners of Thoma's lips to curl up and that's enough for me. "I try my best."

"Well, thank you, for the mat." You continue on awkwardly. "I'm going to meditate, but if you'd like to stay, that's fine. I actually meditate better when more people and noise and stuff are around."

Thoma stares at you strangely but nods and plops down onto the mat before you. Despite all his talk, Thoma looks relieved to be off his feet. He sits criss-cross, his back hunched over and his shoulders drooping.

You follow, laying in the center of the mat, and Ariel sits to the right of you and Thoma to your left. Your eyes flutter shut and you start to breathe the way you remember the book telling you to, the way you did that night on the boat with the waves rocking beneath you and the wind in the air. Ariel starts up some inane chatter, soft and something you weren't meant to respond to.

Slowly, it started to feel like you were falling. Not quite in the way that wakes you up from a dream, but that every one of your limbs was gradually being pulled downward through the floor, melting. It was strange, unlike the sleepy sensations from the boat.

When it felt like you were no longer moving, you allowed your eyes to open.The sight of the void greeted you, still unfamiliar and uncomfortable. The thin layer of water greeted you, lapping at your arms and legs now that you had disturbed its stillness.

You stood, adjusting faster to numbness that spread through you, hobbling through the water until you once again reached your mental wall. The purple shimmer was useless, lighting up nothing. You pressed your hand to the wall, enjoying the way it flexed around your touch.

"Last time I was here, I instinctively hardened it when I was attacked. If I learn how to do it voluntarily, I might be able to protect my mind even when I'm not in it." You took a seat at the wall as you thought out loud. "But does that mean I was here at the right time to defend myself by coincidence, or was that creature waiting for me to appear so it could attack me inside my mind? What would happen if it succeeded? Would I go braindead? Would I be trapped here forever?"

You slapped your cheeks and shook your head. "Focus on anything but your death. Okay." You huffed. "The wall hardened when I was afraid of dying. Maybe I just have to think about it?"

You stared at the wall, the purple sheen starting to aggravate your eyes. You thought, as hard as you could, about the wall turning to stone, about protection from danger, fear, adrenaline, whatever you could think of that would influence it.

To your shock, before your very eyes, the wall listened to your command. Now that you had the time to observe it, it was like the mesh was locking into place, spreading even farther than you could see. You reached out and dragged your fingertips along the surface. It felt exactly like stone, but it was still completely transparent.

In the midst of your celebration, something knocked against the wall. It was shining bright gold, like the five-star wish. It crashed against the barrier and when it couldn't phase through, it fell to the ground, clinking like a dropped marble. Its glow didn't diminish when you approached it, sparkling and glimmering so much it stung your eyes.

You mentally commanded the wall to soften and the texture in that one spot became flexible. You reached your hands through it, gently tearing the barrier and grabbing hold of the thing. It didn't burn your hands and was small enough that you could cup it in your palms. It seemed its glow was creating a lot more size than it had. You pulled it inside the wall and stared as the barrier mended itself and turned back to stone.

You gazed at the thing, unable to guess what it was, rolling it around in your hands. You groaned when nothing happened and let your head flop forward. In doing so, your forehead touched the giant marble and a swirling sensation knocked you off balance. You dropped the marble but it didn't seem to matter as your body didn't hit the floor.

-

You were lying on wooden floors.

It was hard to breathe.

Purple smoke slithered across the floor, surrounding you. Distantly you heard sounds of pain and shock. It took everything in you to move your head to the side. There was Aether, groaning. His fists were clenched and his face was screwed up tightly. Paimon fluttered around him, as she so often does, grasping at his clothes and screeching.

Footsteps were approaching you and someone kneeled at your side. They brushed your hair to the side, their hand gently caressing your cheek. With a sudden detachment, they swept one arm under your knees and the other around your back. They lifted you into their arms, your head lolling back.

"Another test subject. I guess the ones he has aren't good enough. Typical." The person scoffs, their voice rough and youthful.

Your mind moved like sludge but you could recognize that voice. Scaramouche was holding you, carrying you somewhere. And test subject? Was he talking about Dottore? About Dottore experimenting on you?

It was like you were two separate entities. There was the mind, the one who knew this was a vision and who was able to comprehend those words. Then there was the body, to whom the mind was only a passenger of. No amount of internal screaming could make the body move or feel even an ounce of fear.

-

You jolted to awareness and you were back in your mind, the endless abyss and comfort.

So it was a vision? You rolled the marble in your hands. Its glow was gone now, only leaving a glass ball behind. You clenched the ball tightly.

That must be how Celestia was sending you these visions. They've been traveling like the wishes from the game into your normally flexible mind wall, passing through, and sucking you into the vision whether you like it or not. Now that you have more control, you were able to choose to view it, to block it from even entering your mind wall.

Maybe now you could try and enter your mind as much as possible and be able to intercept any vision Celestia might send you. Maybe now you could leave your mind with the walls still like stone and come back months later to find several visions laying near the wall waiting to be seen.

You tossed the now normal glass ball to the side and closed your eyes. You thought hard about waking up, picturing everything you could about the room you had fallen asleep in. The art, the mat, where Thoma and Ariel had each been sitting.

When you opened your eyes, you were greeted by that room. Though Thoma was in the place you had left him, Ariel had moved to lay beside you, settling his head on your chest. You sat up, keeping an arm around Ariel to take him with you.

Thoma woke from whatever daydream he was in. "You were out for a long while. I heard the traveler just enter the Kamore Teahouse. Let's go meet him, yeah?"

"Yeah." You agreed, standing. Ariel finally separated from you, shaking out his delicate wings as if to remove any crinkles.

You, Thoma, and Ariel leave the private room, meeting Aether and Ayaka in the front.

-

"[Y/n], did you really put that in the hot pot?" Aether sounded exasperated, but a hint of mirth was present in his tone.

"I wanted to see if it would work!" You shrugged, not at all concerned that you had not only picked your own ingredient from the hot pot, but were now fishing out a dripping dandelion with chopsticks. Its stem and flower were soaked with the flavor from the hotpot, its blue petals dimmed. You stuffed it in your mouth and hummed. "It's actually pretty good. Gives it a hint of sweetness."

"You're ridiculous." You heard Aether murmur, but Thoma laughed.

"I wished I had gotten that! None of my ingredients seem to be working out." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I stuck, like, four of them in there. You'll get one."

The rest of the evening was filled with bright laughter and an easy mood. The warm food had everyone feeling content, the game keeping spirits raised.

Thoma ended up winning, the snacks that littered the table were but empty plates, the hot pot depleted.

You figured you'd tell Aether and Ariel what happened during your meditation at a later time. You didn't want to ruin the haze of contentment you were currently experiencing.