Misty Days In The Yashiro Commission

Mondstadt Doesnt Have Rainy Days

It was raining that day.

Thoma happened to like the rain.

The feeling of the little droplets hitting his skin, the way his vision steamed up and let off a fresh blanket of smoke on the ground, the way that rain made everything smell... fresh. New. Clean. Whatever.

Ayato did not like the rain.

It got him soaked, it got in the way of plans, and it constricted your movement under a damn funny looking umbrella.

He knew that he should probably like rain a little more. Most people with hydro visions found the rain to be rejuvenating. They felt a sense of completion when they were getting soaked; he thought.

Ayaka used to tease him about not liking rain, how he had a hydro vision and was scared of water.

He wasn't scared of water, not at all. He was fine with swimming, it was a controlled way to get himself into the water without getting his clothes wet. He just didn't like to be splashed with his clothes and everything still on. It was messy.

When he looked out his window overlooking the courtyard, he was upset that it was raining, but it was really light, and he had a lot of work to do that day. So it worked out, he supposed.

Thoma was cleaning some of the courtyard that day. He had to take the laundry down before the rain started, of course, which he did.

Now, all that was left to do was sweeping around the overhang, plus other such work around the house. Just daily chores.

Much later, if he was done, he wanted to go back out in the rain and get a little wet.

Kamisato Ayato watched his housekeeper with languid interest. He didn't understand how a person could be so happy outside.

He certainly was not. He preferred to be inside, playing chess or watching one of his complicated plans come into fruition. When he was outside- especially when it was raining- he felt out of place.

And when it wasn't raining, people gawked at him. Is that the Yashiro commissioner? They would say, as they kept their eyes on him. Thoma was normal, however. So he could enjoy the sun.

Inazuma didn't have many days where you could see the sun. At least, not before the Shogun released the Sakuko decree.

So when Thoma told him about how when he lived in Mondstadt, there was always a breeze blowing, the sun shining, the smell of apples and alcohol carrying on the wind...

He took pleasure knowing there was such a place. Now that he could leave Inazuma...

Well...

Most people could leave Inazuma.

Ayato, however, was held to the island with invisible chains. Chains that were put on him at a young age, chains that only tightened with time. Perhaps Thoma could leave to visit his homeland. Or Ayaka could leave, to see the glittering cliffs and such of Liyue or Fontaine.

But he?

He was held to the Islands Of Thunder And Eternity forever. He would be eternally bound in duty to his clan and the Inazuman public. But his needs came after the clans, and after Ayaka's.

It didn't matter.

Thoma splashed in the puddles of the courtyard like a child, not noticing Ayato's eyes on him.

This is wildly improper. The housekeeper thought. I'm glad nobody can see me, or else I might get made fun of even more.

Thoma was, undoubtedly, from Mondstadt. As he wasn't an Inazuma native, he often found himself comparing the islands to the City of Wind and Freedom. First difference?