Chapter Text
“Is it time?”
“Yes. I’m leaving today.”
“In that case… I believe this might be of help to you.”
“Is that..?
“Indeed. It should be convincing enough for them.”
“…Thank you."
It was early morning, and the Wanderer stood on the docks of Port Ormos. He considered tagging along with the large ship of the Akademiya, but he had specifically chosen to dress civilian in order to not be recognised. In no world would he let the students catch him using crutches. His hat and regular clothes were carried in a backpack along with things for special situations. Thankfully, his current coat had a hood, so he didn’t have to be exceedingly uncomfortable.
He spotted a slightly sketchy-looking merchant crew loading their boat and immediately moved towards them.
“Excuse me!” he called once he was close enough, “Are you guys sailing to Inazuma?” He decided that it would be best to play innocent and sweet at first, at least until they had set sail.
The man he assumed was their leader turned to see who had called. He took one look at the Wanderer’s face and gave him a friendly smile.
“That we are. Do you need anything from us?”
The Wanderer made a conscious effort not to roll his eyes. His looks always made sketchy people more willing to help (and his crutches probably made him seem quite easy to ‘help’). Oh well, he was more than capable of defending himself on a boat, and if it came to it, he also knew how to steer it, should the crew mysteriously fall into the water.
“I was just wondering if I might be able to tag along? I couldn’t get a ticket for any of the tourist ships… Here, I have Mora.” He handed him a pouch with a couple thousand Mora in it.
If the merchant hadn’t seemed willing to help already, he certainly did now. He gestured for the Wanderer to join them by the boat.
The Wanderer gave him a sweet smile and hopped onto the boat. He waited for them to finish loading it, since letting them know that he could lift all their crates much faster on his own would create more trouble than it was worth.
Soon enough, the boat was loaded, the merchants had hopped on, and they sailed towards the ‘Land of Eternity’.
The Wanderer had tried to sit in the opposite end of the boat from the merchants, but they all seemed very interested in talking to him, so it proved difficult.
After a while, when they had sailed for too long to turn back and for anyone to leave, one of the merchants started moving closer to the Wanderer than was comfortable.
“So, you sailing back home from a trip or something?”
“Ah, no, I live in Sumeru, I’m just going to visit family back in Inazuma.” The Wanderer gave him a smile and slowly began moving away from the man. “I would appreciate it, though, if you would not sit so close to me. I’m not a very big fan of physical touch…” He tried to take the polite route, but the man just chuckled and moved to put a hand on his shoulder.
“Oh, don’t be like that! I just wanna chat—Ow!” As soon as he made contact, he pulled back his hand as if he had been burned. He hadn’t. It was electricity.
As the merchant was shaking his hand, he looked back at the Wanderer, confused, since static electricity usually did not hurt that much. The Wanderer had forgotten how practical it was to be able to do that. He calmly turned to look the merchant in the eye.
“I recommend that you learn to take no for an answer. We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.” He let his eyes glow purple, just in case he hadn’t been persuasive enough already.
Suddenly, the man seemed very willing to leave him alone. He quickly moved to the other end of the boat and whispered something to the others. Based on the nervous looks he received, the Wanderer could make a good guess about what he was telling them.
This might become a peaceful trip after all…
The Wanderer turned his eyes towards the archipelago on the horizon. He had been in Inazuma three times before, counting the time he was born. None of them had ended very well. He had lost everything he cared about the first time, taken revenge on
people who did not deserve it the second, and the third, he had received what would eventually cause him to lose everything once more. Previous experience certainly did not spark excitement.
And all that was without mentioning what he was coming back for. He was by no means looking forward to seeking out her, but it wasn’t like he had a choice at this point. He could not repay his debt to Lesser Lord Kusanali while wounded like this, and frankly, the state of his legs was starting to get on his nerves.
How was he supposed to do it? How was he supposed to get her attention, let alone convince her to help him? Perhaps he could get to her through her youkai familiar… Probably not. She never had been very helpful. Maybe he should just try to reach Tenshukaku first…
The boat arrived at Watatsumi Island late in the afternoon, and the Wanderer was the first to get out and onto shore, while the merchant crew nervously waited for him to leave. He would have preferred to sail directly to Ritou, but he would have to make do with taking the rest of the trip to Narukami on his own. He found a long cloak in his bag and put it on, since he did not wish to be recognised by the wrong people. (Even though very few knew of his existence.)
He decided to fly all the way in one go, ignoring the way he could practically hear both Tighnari and Lesser Lord Kusanali scolding him for it. With how damaged his legs were, the typically unnoticeable strain it took to fly caused him a rather noticeable pain.
He would have to endure that. This pain was nothing compared to walking on the beach of Kannazuka, so close to Tatarasuna. He would look the other way when he was to fly past the broken remains of his home.
…
Kujou Sara had just finished her report to Tenshukaku and was looking out over Inazuma City from the gate when the cloaked figure came. There was not supposed to be any wind that day, yet when they approached the gate of the palace, a breeze followed. It didn’t seem like they were putting much weight on their legs, as if they were carried by the wind. When they came closer, she saw that they also wore a mask covering their mouth and nose, making them impossible for her to profile. All she could see was a pair of sharp indigo eyes. There was something familiar about them. Familiar was often not a good thing. Especially when they were heading straight for the palace.
“Halt! Civilians are not allowed within Tenshukaku without permission from the Tenryou Commission or the Almighty Shogun. State your business here.”
The figure stopped and turned towards her, narrowing their eyes. “I require an audience with the Archon.” The voice was that of a young man. He sounded… tired.
How entitled. Sara straightened her posture. “The Almighty Shogun does not simply entertain every guest who seeks her out. Her excellency has far more important things to do. What exactly is it that you need? Surely whatever your issue is can be resolved by one of the commissions.”
“No, no one else can help me. It has to be her. Please, just let me in.”
“Many people wish to see her in person, but she is not to be disturbed. If you will not even tell me what your purpose is, then I suggest you leave, or we will have to be more forceful.” She might have sounded mean, but people were so entitled, thinking they’re the centre of the world, that they could simply walk up to the palace of a god and demand an audience. These conversations would become so long if she had to start out polite and patient every time.
The cloaked man kept eye contact for a while, looking quite irritated, but he eventually seemed to understand that he would not win this, and he turned away with a scoff.
Sara watched as he left, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important about him, something she was forgetting…
More important things to do… Not to be disturbed… Those were the exact same things he had heard the last time he tried to seek her aid, almost word for word. And people said that Inazuma was starting to change. Clearly not.
The Wanderer turned to the first alley he found from the streets of Inazuma City and flew away. He didn’t know where to go next, but he needed somewhere quiet.
In the end, he found himself by the ruins of Araumi, close to a waterfall. He knew that it was a bad idea to fight, so he kept his distance from the Ruin machines patrolling the area. He sat down on a rock and tried to figure out what to do next as he stared out into the horizon, where the sky was turning dark.
He had known that it would never be as easy as simply walking up to the palace and finding her. All the nations had always been vastly different in how they acted towards their god, and Inazuma had always been the most stiff. They were so blindly reverent and loyal towards her, no matter what she did, and trying to get close to her was seen as severe blasphemy.
Oh well, it would do him no good to keep thinking about it. Better to think about the next steps.
Since going directly to Tenshukaku failed, perhaps he could wait in Inazuma City? The Traveller had mentioned that she had started walking the streets. Still, there would be so many people. There was no way that he could get her attention without also attracting the attention of everyone else at the same time, and that was probably what he wanted least.
Then, there was only really one option left: he would have to go to the Grand Narukami Shrine. If he couldn’t seek her out directly, he had to try to find her through the Guuji, her familiar. The question was, should he go immediately or wait until the next day?
Evening was coming closer, and he had no idea what that fox’s schedule was. There would definitely be more people during the day, but the Guuji had no obligation to stay in the shrine if most people had already left… Would he really have to go there at the same time as everyone else? The Guuji herself was exhausting enough to be around on her own, as far as he remembered. He really did not want to be near both her and a bunch of religious people worshipping the person taking second place of all the people he hated…
He had no time to decide. He was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts by the growl of an approaching creature.
The Wanderer snapped his head towards the sound.
…Oh no.
He should be able to handle himself without a problem, but the state of his body made it hard to say for sure.
He didn’t understand why he kept getting lost in his own head so much lately. It always landed him in trouble.
Just like now.
Now, at least, he understood why he hadn’t heard them.
After all, their paws did not touch the ground.
A pack of them was closing in on him, teeth bared and dripping foul venom, claws out leaking impure elemental energy.
The Wanderer took off his backpack and set it down on the rock he had been sitting on.
He refused to become the prey of Riftwolves.