Kaeya's Ascent

6: Magic and Mayhem

  "I can't remember the last time I went out for a drink," Lisa chuckled as she sat down with Rosaria. "I'm more of a tea person, really."

  The nun nodded, "I know, many of Mondstadt's citizens are terrified of disturbing your teatime."

  Lisa smiled, "as they should be."

  Rosaria poured one of her better bottles of wine into two of her gothest glasses. "But that's off topic. I want to know why you never seem to be at your 'full power' anymore."

  Lisa heaved a quiet sigh, "you know how I used to study at the Akademiya..."

  "Yeah that one guy kept sending you letters to get you to come back. Why did you decide to leave? Wasn't that a better place for you, considering your abilities?"

  Lisa shook her head, "maybe it could have been a better place... but it can't now. I made my choices, and now I'm managing with the consequences."

  "You obviously didn't get kicked out, so what happened?" Rosaria swished her glass.

  She shook her head, "I was young and naive... I pursued any kind of knowledge I could get my hands on. I even went so far as to claim forbidden knowledge as my own." Lisa pressed her fingers against her electro vision, "this is one of the few reasons I'm still alive at all... I can use my vision instead of my own magic most of the time..."

  "Are ya gonna explain what happened or not?" Rosaria gave her a skeptical look.

  "It's not exactly easy to talk about," Lisa sighed. "The price I had to pay for the knowledge I wanted was half my life. So now I'm only going to live half as many years as I would have..."

  "And those purple marks? Is that the physical manifestation of your curse?"

  The librarian nodded, "I was curious as to how much longer I had to live back when it only covered my fingers... Then, the first time I healed Albedo, it went a lot farther... and then there was the second time... and when he destroyed Mond... and then the fight before he died..."

  Rosaria nodded to herself, "I see... and your curse is keeping you from using the full extent of your magic?"

  She lifted her glass to her lips with a subtle nod, "I guess you really can't run from fate forever..."

  Rosaria slowly set her own glass down, "what about Kaeya? Do you think he has a chance?"

  Lisa smiled forlornly, "oh, Rosaria... If I can't run from fate, I'm afraid there is no living being in this world that can."

  It was quiet in Rosaria's kitchen for a very long moment.

  "But that doesn't mean he can't try," Lisa set her glass down. "I'm not losing anyone else. I'm going to do whatever I can to help him out of this. The Abyss Order isn't an enemy that can be taken lightly."

  "Should we call for the Traveler? He seems to have the best luck with these sorts of things," Rosaria suggested.

  Lisa shook her head, "not if his sister is involved with the Abyss. That would break his heart. I want to get this done and fixed with the least amount of problems."

  Rosaria nodded, "so what's the plan here?"

  "I'm going back to the Akademiya. There are some scholars who might know of weaknesses or other useful information on the Abyss." Lisa stood.

  "Wait, I thought you hated scholars? Because they blindly pursued knowledge and stuff?"

  "I only hate them because they're how I used to be," Lisa smiled, "maybe I can save a few more souls while I'm there. I've got to go let Jean know before she kills me."