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Ei had never been this frustrated in the entirety of her eternal existence.
Her hands were clenched into fists, knuckles whitening as her nails dug into the skin of her palm. They were almost ready to draw blood if she added just the tiniest bit of pressure. Her eyebrows were furrowed, teeth clenched together so hard that they were starting to ache as she breathed heavily through them to try and get a grip of her nerves once more.
At the root of all of this seething rage? It all boiled down to the cooking pot sitting before her. Or, rather, the inedible contents inside of it.
Really, Ei had tried her best, but cooking was apparently not as easy as it looked. She forced herself through the shame to look down at the charcoal mess sticking to the bottom off the pan. It was a failure if she ever saw one. With a deep breath, Ei picked up one of the wooden spatulas from the countertop and began to slowly scrape the burnt remnants of her attempted meal out of the pot.
Much to her dismay, the ashen mess seemed only to want to stick stubbornly to the bottom of the pan more, but at this point Ei was feeling more hopeless than angry. She let go of the spatula, letting it loudly fall down into the pot with a clatter, before taking a few steps back.
Since when was cooking this hard? To be fair to herself, Ei had never really had the need to cook. There was no real need to eat, sleep, or do anything of the sort in the Plane of Euthymia. If she really wanted a taste of flavour for pleasure, she could just conjure the feeling up in her mind.
Still, on the few occasions she had watched her catering staff work since leaving her inner world, they had all made it look so easy. Being the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma had its perks, including a plethora of chefs at her service, but those perks became a little bit useless in situations like these. After all, it wasn’t like she could call on her chefs for help right now. No, because then they would wonder why she had even tried to cook a meal for herself in the first place, and then perhaps they would start to question why she had laid out two plates instead of one. Not to mention that they would undoubtedly silently judge her for the mess she had already made in the cooking pot - she was the Electro Archon and she couldn’t even cook a meal!
Although she knew not a single one of her followers would dare to risk a bad word in her direction, Ei didn’t want them to start gossiping to each other about this either. She was still mulling over her loss to that one Traveler, and having more compromising situations to deal with was the last thing Ei needed. So, no, she couldn’t go and seek help from her staff, even if that’s what they were there for.
Maybe, though, that was why Miko was so important to Ei. Where the rest of her servants would quietly clean up after her and act like this mess was of no shame whatsoever, Ei knew that Miko would subject her to an endless amount of teasing if she walked in on this scene. Miko was unafraid to talk back to Ei, even talk down to her if she really had to. Unlike everyone else, Miko put herself on the same level as Ei. Miko was an equal; a friend, rather than a follower. And while her followers were still of the utmost importance… it would be a lie to say Ei didn’t enjoy the feeling of having her companion with her again. Even with all the teasing and poking fun. It was all in good nature.
Unfortunately, as good as it felt, that appreciation for Miko was what had gotten Ei into this situation in the first place. Trying to cook a shared meal with her own two hands as a token of her gratitude had felt like a good idea at first. She had been so certain, with her cookbook at her side, sealed up in one of Tenshukaku’s private kitchens, her guards with orders to let no one else up to see her so she could concentrate. But now all she felt was regret, because now she had to clean up this mess, sneak away and act like it had never even happened.
She sighed as she returned from her daydream and gazed down into the cooking pot once more. How best could she scrape these molten ingredients out? What about the cookbook she had been using, which pages were now a blotchy blur of smudged ink after she had spilled boiling water all over them? That wasn’t even taking account for the counter top itself, which had fallen victim to a decent number of spills all on its own.
God, Ei had so much work to do, and no idea where to even start. Maybe she could just skip all the strenuous mortal labour and disintegrate all the cooking utensils with one single bolt of lightning, then it would be like nothing ever happened. Yeah, that would be a quick and simple solution to the-
“Are you in here?”
An all too familiar voice interrupted Ei’s thought process, causing her to spin around to greet none other than Yae Miko, strolling in as if it were nothing.
“Hello.” Ei greeted with a plastered smile on her face. Maybe if she just kept eye contact, Miko would ignore the absolute mess that was the kitchen.
“What in Teyvat have you been getting up to in here?” Miko asked, her voice slightly amused as she glanced around. Of course she wouldn’t just brush past it. In fact, Ei was fairly certain that she was already piecing it all together in her head.
Still, she could persevere in a deflection from the truth. It was worth a shot.
“Me? Well, I had just happened to find the place like this.”
“Were you trying to cook?”
Busted. Ei looked down at the burnt mess stuck to the bottom of the cooking point, and then back up at Miko’s teasing gaze. She felt the heat rush to her cheeks already.
“…One might be correct in saying that the culinary arts are one of the few skills I have yet to master.”
“That would be an understatement. Wouldn’t you agree?” Miko’s chuckle cut through Ei like a knife through butter, the fox envoy approaching the pot to look inside. “What were you attempting to make, anyway?”
“Sweet madame.”
“Where is the fowl?”
“That was the fowl.” Ei gestured in a small motion to the blackened bottom of the pot.
“ Oh. ”
“I have no idea how it became… like that. I simply took my eyes away for only a minute, and then it had turned into ashes!”
Ei shook her head with exasperation, causing Miko to look away from the fragmented remains of the fowl and quickly take both of her hands. She ran her thumbs across the surface of Ei’s skin soothingly, which had a quick effect in calming her down.
“You have no need to stress about it, dear. Cooking is harder than it looks. Let’s just clean up in here, okay? I’ll help you.”
With Ei’s nod of approval, Miko retracted her hands and got to work with the kitchen. Thankfully, Ei had at least already prepared the water and soaps to clean up with afterward, so she didn’t have to leave to go and get them. In a few quick motions, Miko was swiping away the used utensils and dropping them into clean water to rinse over, grabbing a rag to wipe down the countertop. For a few moments Ei just watched, before helping by grabbing her recipe book and briefly leaving to return it to its shelf.
While she was gone, Miko breezed through the rest of the clean up with ease. There was a slight grin on her face as she filled the cooking pot with fresh water, saturating the stuck ingredients to loosen them up. Despite her reassurances before, she couldn’t help but ponder to herself how one person could possibly cause this much of a mess, and imagining what Ei had been up to certainly made it hard to contain herself.
Nonetheless, she succeeded in holding herself together. In perfect timing, actually, because Ei returned shortly afterwards.
“Oh. You have finished cleaning it already, near enough.”
“See, it wasn’t a big mess.” Miko reassured, wiping her hands dry before turning back to Ei.
“That makes me feel better.” She definitely sounded relieved, but that quickly shifted to an air of confusion as she suddenly realised something. “Hang on. How did you get up here?”
“I was wondering when you were going to ask that question.” Miko laughed again, and Ei felt her heart flutter at the sound as she walked closer to her once more. “At first, your guards wouldn’t let me. But I knew you wouldn’t mind if I came to visit, and it appears so did they. I wouldn’t be here otherwise, no?”
“You are right.” Ei quickly agreed, her breath hitching now at the tone of Miko’s voice. “I would not mind, whenever you wanted to visit. Actually…”
“Hm?”
“This was intended for you.” She said, and then quickly went on to explain. “The actual meal before the failure, I mean. Not the clean up we are doing now.”
“Oh, for me?” A playful smirk found its way onto Miko’s lips, and she took another step closer to Ei. “You’re too thoughtful.”
Ei could feel her heart hammering against her ribs as Miko approached, the gap between them slowly closing. It was moments like these where she would lose her sense of authority; when she and Miko were alone, and Miko would look at her with those eyes and talk to her with that husk in her voice. It just made Ei hers for the taking.
“Well, it was the least I could do.” Ei explained, choosing to ignore the heat in her face and the butterflies dancing around the pit of her stomach. “At first, I had intended to cook for you as a token of my appreciation. But, a few days ago, while talking with the Traveller, I was also informed that in this age it is a very popular romantic custom for a couple to sit down and dine together, especially if the meal is homemade. I had intended to light candles too, to complete this custom, but as you can see I did not get that far…”
A shyness infiltrated Ei’s voice as she trailed off, and Miko’s swift and sly advances halted. For someone with such a hard set and cold reputation across the whole of Teyvat, being able to see— no, cause — these bashful moods in Ei wasn’t something Miko took for granted. No, she found it adorable, cupping the archon’s cheeks in her gentle palms and sighing contently; lovingly. Miko gazed across at Ei, a rosy expression on her face, wordless. Simply appreciating the moment for what it was, and Ei for who she was.
There was another feeling hiding among the affection within Miko - satisfaction. After all, this was a big step in the motion of the relationship they shared. Long before the Vision Hunt Decree, before Ei had stepped into the Plane of Euthymia, there were sparks between them. Together, they had something special, something that had survived through all of their losses, something that had been put on hold centuries long but now something that they were rekindling. Up until now, Miko had been taking the biggest leaps, but right here was Ei, who wanted to take a grand gesture into her own hands. Even if it had gone wrong, there was intention. And that was all Miko needed to confirm what she already knew; that she and Ei were on the right path, and their little something was more than just something special.
They had something so, so much more.
“My Ei,” she spoke softly, “Whether or not I walked into a candlelit dinner as you had hoped for, or the kitchen I did today, my love for you will never waver or diminish. But I cannot promise it will not change.”
“Miko…”
“It will only grow, with each day, hour and minute. For with each hurdle this existence throws, whether we spend centuries apart or are together by the hip, you and I will always find our way back. This bond that we share will always be our very own, at the end of every day there will always be just the two of us. Together, unmatched.”
“Miko. I cannot… my love for you transcends words I could say. But please know that I— whatever this existence brings for us next— I am eternally yours.”
“As am I for you; loving you for all eternity.”
No more words were needed. There was just understanding. In the end, if eternity had wiped out all else beyond reparation, as long as they had each other, they would be content. With those thoughts floating around her mind, Miko’s next actions were all on a whim, but all natural.
She slowly leant forward, capturing Ei’s lips in a kiss that was soft and gentle, yet backed up by all the passion she had. Her hands drifted from cupping Ei’s face, their fingers finding their way to each other and delicately interlocking in their embrace. For those few seconds, they were the only two in the world who existed - a fleeting moment within something much bigger.
Something eternal.