away [ yae miko - raiden ei ]

I

it was a lovely evening. the shrine maidens were working well and efficiently, and the visitors at the Sakura blossom were praying quietly, offering their best prayers hoping the spirit of Narukami would bless them.

Yae Miko was resting in her room, after a long day of being the Guuji , fulfilling her duties as such.

usually, Yae took a lot of effort into her evening-routine, firstly undressing and folding carefully her personalized shrine priestess clothes, which included a muna-himo, sode kukuri and hakama, then bathing. afterwards she would brush her hair softly and finally tending to her body.

but today she didn't feel like doing all that.
she was feeling ... off.
tired, stressed.
every single little thing seemed like a nuisance to her : taking care of the shrine and giving orders to the maidens, sending blessings to the visitors, and even felt tired just thinking about her usual routine.

she was reminiscing.
normally, she wouldn't let old memories get to her, as those had the powerful effect of distraction on her, bringing her in another different dimension, the one-so-called memory inside her brain.

even though that was hard, since her duty was basically taking care of the biggest shrine in all of Inazuma, dedicated to the electro archon, the main source of her memories.

Yae isn't a human, she has never been. her true form is a kitsune, and she is the electro archon's servant.

or maybe, it's better to say she was.

the electro archon, after going through massive changes and losing all what was dearest to her, decided to close herself inside her own mind, a plane of euthymia, meditating and trying to reach a way to achieve an unchanging eternity, substituting herself with a puppet made by herself, Raiden Shogun : capable to command inazuma following the orders that were given directly by Raiden Ei herself.

that's her name, Raiden Ei.
simply Ei.

Yae was reminiscing the old times.

many years ago, she was like family to Ei : she always accompanied her everywhere, and Ei always brought her around.

they shared many memories together, they were like family.

when was it that it all started ? that it all started to change and decline ?

it was when ...

someone knocked at her door.

the kitsune suddenly reawakened from her trance-like state, raising her back from the bed and sitting on the edge of it letting out a long sigh, before granting the permission to enter the room to the person outside, her eyes staring at the nothingness on the wall in front of her.

« lady Yae, i feel truly sorry for this unscheduled visit, but something ... really outstanding just happened and there's a lot of commotion going on right now. if you could just ... »

Yae raised her hand and turned her face towards the shrine maiden, smiling at her. « i see, i'll be there. » the maiden bowed her head and left the room, closing the door behind her.

« what could have happened to be so extravagant ... » she murmured to herself.

she got up from her bed, walking slowly towards the door, going right inside fate's embrace.