Guardian Of The Doll

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That evening her duty was to guard the surroundings of the Shogun's chambers until the next relief in the early hours of the morning. It had never been a problem for her to remain at the Archon's side, for she found honour in every minute at her side. But Sara was attentive, she knew her well enough to be able to tell that there was something different about her and in light of recent events related to The Vision Hunt Decree and the Shogunate she could not help but associate her behaviour with progress, her excellence had never possessed a desire to focus on the populace and observe their advances, in Sara's view only room for her ambitions related to eternity, everything else was irrelevant, or at least it had been until then.

The doors opened behind her without warning, the sound of wood being dragged sideways was what made her stand upright in her position. At the sight of the Electro Goddess exiting, Sara immediately bowed.

"Good afternoon, almighty Shogun." She greeted firmly. "You are not scheduled for any activity today, is there anything you require?"

The Archon watched her for a few seconds in silence, Sara could see that her lilac eyes had a particular glow that only appeared on certain occasions, those when the Shogun was behaving as her new self. The sound of her wooden getas accompanied her short steps until she reached a position closer to Sara.

"You." Her voice also sounded different than usual, just as calm but softer.

Her yellowish eyes flickered with some bewilderment. She couldn't quite place what she was referring to, so before jumping to conclusions she would ask her first. At least that was her intention before the other went on.

"You're my personal guard, aren't you? I want you to accompany me to the Narukami Grand Shrine."

Of course, of course that was what he meant all along, Sara didn't know exactly what it was that had caused her to hesitate. Raiden was right, she should go with her if she wanted to even if it wasn't planned beforehand, the last word was always hers. The place she suggested was a particularly far distance away, but she would accompany her all the way if she suggested it. She indicated with her left arm to start walking, she would follow behind. She told one of the guards that they would be leaving the location and that she did not know the time of return.

"As you wish, will you visit Yae Miko?" She questioned.

Her lilac eyes searched hers again as they made their way to their destination. She stopped her steps so she did the same, however, the goddess backed up until she was positioned at the same height as her. She found herself a little tense at the archon's sudden closeness, but did her best to conceal the nerves it irremediably caused her along with other feelings Sara had pigeonholed as admiration long ago.

"No, Yae isn't there right now. Besides, I've mentioned it before, right? I want you right now, that is your precious time. Walk beside me until we get there." She demanded. She offered her hand shortly after they had finished their talk.

Sara watched her right hand hesitantly. Walking like an equal, holding hands with the almighty was not something just anyone could do, but she was not one to disobey orders, even if it was an unusual request like that. Spending leisure time with Raiden Shogun... No, she would still be on duty. She would be accompanying her to the shrine because the rules dictated it, there was no other way around it. She decided to finally take her hand, the fingers that greeted her were much warmer since the last time they had met.

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The ride was productive to say the least, the Archon took it upon herself to ask her about numerous items that caught her attention, as if she had remained completely disinterested in mortals and now they were worthy of her curiosity. Sara had no trouble resolving each and every one of her queries until she was satisfied, only to inquire about the Kujou halfway through when she ran out of resources within sight. She had always considered herself someone destined to listen, especially if it was someone like Raiden, but she slowly shed the armour that reduced her to being her right hand to find comfort within the words they shared, always speaking to her with respect, but calmer than at the gates of her chambers. She was still convinced that it was as if she were a new person, but not yet detached from the essence of who she was in the beginning.