The rain stopped before dawn.
A cold gust woke Lin En. At some point, the wooden cabin's door had blown half open, letting the damp sea breeze in through the gap and carrying away the last warmth from the fire.
He rubbed his arms and looked across at the spot where Ronava had been. It was empty, with only a flattened patch of hay beside the fire.
Lumine and Paimon were still fast asleep. Paimon was curled up in Lumine's arms, her mouth slightly open as she snored softly. Lumine had one hand resting on her back, her breathing steady.
Lin En braced himself against the wall and stood up. The pain in his left arm had eased a little more since yesterday. It seemed Ronava's black energy really did work.
He slipped quietly out of the cabin. The air outside was bitterly cold, and a thin layer of morning mist floated over the sea.
Ronava stood at the edge of the beach with her back to him, her silver hair drifting gently in the morning breeze. Her gaze rested on the distant sea, though he couldn't tell what she was looking at.
Lin En walked over, stood beside her, and asked,
"When did you wake up?"
"Not long ago."
"When did the rain stop?"
"During the second half of the night."
Lin En nodded and asked no more.
They stood side by side, watching the morning light gradually tint the mist over the sea a pale gold. In the distance, the outline of Inazuma's main island appeared and vanished in the haze.
"Ronava."
"Hmm?"
"About last night-I'm going to take that as you telling me how you feel!"
Lin En reached out and took the hand hanging at her side. Ronava's fingers drew back slightly, then relaxed, letting him hold her hand. It was still cool, but there was a little warmth in her palm.
Ronava turned her head and glanced at him, her gaze calm.
"As you like."
"You were clearly the one who made the first move, so why are you acting so cold now?"
"I didn't make a move."
"But you clearly..."
"I kissed you because you talked too much."
Ronava cut him off, her tone calm.
"It was my way of making you shut up."
"Then you can use that way to shut me up more often from now on."
Ronava's fingers tightened briefly in his palm. Lin En knew that meant she wanted him to stop talking. The tips of her ears turned slightly red in the morning light.
He didn't press her further. He simply held her hand and watched the sky gradually brighten.
By the time the sun had fully risen, Lumine came out of the cabin carrying Paimon.
Paimon was still half-asleep, rubbing her eyes and mumbling something. Lumine glanced at the backs of the two on the beach, then turned expressionlessly and headed toward the Waverider.
"Let's go."
She called out from a distance.
Ronava pulled her hand away and turned toward the Waverider. Lin En followed behind her, her warmth still lingering in his right hand. He looked at it, and it all seemed a little unreal.
The two boats left the island one behind the other. The sea was calm, and sunlight spread across the entire expanse of water. It was like a different world from the storm of the previous night.
It was almost noon by the time they returned to Inazuma's main island.
Lumine had to report to Katheryne about a commission, so she parted ways with the two at the dock. Paimon floated beside Lumine and made a face at Lin En before Lumine took her away.
"Yae Miko is at the Grand Narukami Shrine. Let's go straight to her."
The two climbed the mountain path. The Grand Narukami Shrine's red torii stood out amid the greenery. The cherry trees on either side of the stone steps had shed all their blossoms, leaving only bare branches.
When they reached the shrine entrance, a girl in shrine maiden attire came to greet them. After learning why they had come, she led them to the inner hall.
Yae Miko was drinking tea in the inner hall.
She sat by the window, with a plate of fried tofu and a pot of plain tea before her. She looked a little surprised to see them enter.
"Oh, you're back."
She looked them both up and down, her gaze pausing for a moment on Lin En's bandaged left arm.
"Looks like you went through quite a bit."
"The matter on Tsurumi Island has been dealt with."
Ronava got straight to the point.
"The three groups of missing people are dead. Their bodies were found near the altar. A large monster was also cleared out. The purple haze is dissipating, and things should return to normal in a few days."
After hearing her out, Yae Miko's smile faded a little.
"What was the cause of death?"
"Someone used a nail as the source for an array on Tsurumi Island, drawing power from the Ley Lines and sending it elsewhere. I've destroyed the core of the array, but there are still six transmission lines across Teyvat."
Yae Miko fell silent for a few breaths, then picked up her teacup and took a sip.
"I see. I'll report this to the Shogun."
She stood, walked to a hidden compartment deep within the inner hall, and opened its mechanism. She took out a small brocade box and offered it to Ronava.
"It's in here. As agreed, it's yours."
Ronava took the brocade box and opened it for a look. It was lined with dark silk, with a small, exquisite dark-gold bell set in the center. Extremely fine runes were carved into its surface, giving off the faintest sheen in the light.
The moment Lin En saw the bell, he froze.
He recognized it.
It was the very bell the little white-haired girl had handed him in the illusion on Dragonspine. But when Istaroth appeared, she had taken the bell from his arms. How could it be here now?
"What's wrong?"
Ronava noticed something was off and asked.
"This bell..."
Lin En reached into the box, picked up the bell, and turned it over and over in his hands.
"I saw it on the snowy mountain."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
Lin En put the bell back in the brocade box and briefly recounted what had happened in the snowy mountain illusion, including the little white-haired girl and Istaroth appearing at the end to take the bell away.
Yae Miko's foxlike eyes narrowed.
"How interesting."
She propped her cheek on one hand.
"Phanes gave this thing to Ei, and it's been sealed away deep inside Tenshukaku all this time. Yet you saw it in an illusion on the snowy mountain, and Istaroth even took it away."
"Istaroth governs time,"
Ronava said.
"She can move things from one point in time to another."
"So she might have brought this bell back from the future?"
Lin En's head was spinning a little, with all this talk of the future and the past.
Ronava closed the brocade box and put it away.
"In any case, at least the item is genuine, and it really is connected to Phanes."
Yae Miko clapped her hands.
"All right, all right. You have the item, and the matter on Tsurumi Island has been cleared up. You can take your time figuring out the rest yourselves."
She sat back down by the window, picked up her teacup, and waved the two of them away.
"Off you go. I still have plenty of official business to attend to."
The two left the Grand Narukami Shrine.
On the way down the mountain, Lin En kept thinking about the bell, the little white-haired girl in the illusion, the gentle woman, and himself, the one they had called "Dad."
Istaroth had said that the bell belonged neither to this time and space nor to him. After she took it away, its whereabouts were unknown.
"Ronava, what do you think Istaroth is trying to do?"
Ronava thought for a while.
"She can see the past and the future, but she can't intervene directly. She put this bell in our hands, which means it'll be useful on the road ahead."
"What for?"
"I don't know."
The two descended the mountain and found an inn in Inazuma City to rest. Ronava asked for one room. Lin En had intended to ask for another, but after a glance from Ronava, he silently closed his mouth.
Once inside the room, Lin En bathed and changed clothes, then had fresh medicine applied to the wound on his left arm.
Ronava sat by the window, took the bell out of its brocade box, and placed it on the table. She lightly flicked it with a finger, and it gave an extremely soft chime, like wind blowing through a distant place.
On the street below, a tall figure was shouting at the top of his lungs, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers and several impatient Shogunate Army soldiers.
"I'm going to hold an unprecedented Onikabuto tournament! Everyone can come, whether you have a beetle or not! The location is..."
Hearing that voice, Lin En knew Arataki Itto was up to something again.
The Shogunate Army soldiers finally ran out of patience and hauled the shouting oni youth out of the crowd. But before he was dragged away, he still managed to shout one last line at the top of his lungs.
"Konda Village, noon the day after tomorrow! Anyone who doesn't come is a puppy!"
Lin En watched Arataki Itto being dragged away, then looked at Ronava, who was watching the show from the window.
It might be nice to take Ronava to see it when the time comes.