The morning after the ceremony was a quiet, heavy one at the Grand Narukami Shrine. The events of the previous day had sent shockwaves through the entire nation, and a tense, uncertain silence had fallen over the usually serene mountain.
Ren was sitting on the steps of a small, secluded shrine, trying to process the raw, desperate plea from his sister, when a familiar, graceful figure was escorted up the main path by a shrine maiden. It was Kamisato Ayaka.
She saw him, and the perfect, noble composure she always wore, the mask of the Shirasagi Himegimi, completely, utterly, and spectacularly shattered.
The deep, terrifying worry she had been suppressing for the past day—for Thoma, for Lumine, and most acutely, for the small, precious boy she had come to adore—erupted in a single, overwhelming wave of emotion. All her hesitation, all her self-control, vanished.
"Ren!" she cried, her voice a mixture of a sob and a gasp of pure, unadulterated relief.
She didn't walk; she ran. She closed the distance between them in a rustle of fine silk and, in a move that would have scandalized the entirety of Inazuma's nobility, she glomped him.
She practically threw herself at him, her arms wrapping around his small form in a desperate, suffocating hug. She pulled him from the steps and into her embrace, burying her face in the crook of his neck, her entire, elegant body trembling with the force of her relief.
"Oof!" Ren squeaked, his breath forcefully expelled from his lungs for the second time in as many days by a powerful, emotional, and very beautiful older sister figure. He was completely enveloped in the scent of sakura blossoms and the feel of expensive, soft silk.
It was Yae Miko, appearing with her usual, perfect timing, who saved him from death by affectionate asphyxiation.
"My, my, Ayaka," Miko's teasing voice purred. "As heartwarming as this display is, I do believe our little hero requires the ability to breathe. Do be a dear and release him before he turns blue."
Ayaka, her cheeks flushing a brilliant, mortified crimson, immediately loosened her grip, though she did not let him go completely. She simply held him, her heart still pounding a frantic rhythm.
They retired to a private room, the three of them, where Ayaka, her composure slowly but surely reasserting itself, was able to give them a report.
"Thoma is safe," she said, her voice still a little shaky. "He is in hiding. The Tenryou Commission is tearing the city apart looking for him, but he is well-hidden. For now."
Her expression then turned grim. "And Lumine… she is now a wanted fugitive. With Thoma's help, she was able to escape the city during the chaos. She is on her way to Watatsumi Island. The resistance is her only option now."
Ayaka had, of course, told Lumine about the resistance before, but the Traveler had been busy with her own, smaller errands, trying to navigate the complex web of Inazuma's society. Now, that path was closed to her. She was an enemy of the state, and her only allies were the rebels who had openly defied the Shogun's will.
Ayaka looked at Ren, a deep, sincere gratitude in her eyes. "Lumine and Paimon were so worried about you," she said softly. "They wanted to come here themselves, but it's too dangerous for them to be seen. I promised them I would come personally and check on you, and then send them a message."
She shuddered, a barely perceptible tremor. She thought of the cold, terrifying fear that had gripped her when she had heard the news of what had happened at the ceremony. She had been terrified for Thoma, her loyal retainer and dear friend. But the news of Ren, of the small, quiet boy who had stood alone before the Shogun's wrath… that had sent a shard of pure, icy terror through her heart that was somehow even more excruciating. She mentally blushed with a fresh wave of mortification, remembering how it had taken her brother, Ayato, several hours of calm, logical reasoning to talk her down from a state of near-hysterical panic. She would, of course, never mention that part.
She simply looked at Ren, her heart full of a feeling so powerful and so protective it was almost overwhelming. He was more than just a friend, more than just a political asset. He was a precious, wonderful, and impossibly brave little treasure, and the entire, complicated, and increasingly dangerous world of Inazuma now seemed to revolve around his safety.