Amemokume Uji's death left Reisen Riou in a funk for weeks. He'd lost others before, but Uji was close, always hovering nearby with his gruff charm.
"Ei, you gonna snap him out of it?" Raiden Makoto asked, eyeing Reisen's gloomy aura.
"Sister, he needs to work through it himself," Raiden Ei said gravely. "Long-lived beings all face this wear. He's prepared for it."
She was right. Reisen's gloom faded after a few weeks, his quirky brilliance and steady reliability as Archivist returning. That night, basking in Ei's lap-pillow, he learned about wear.
"Resolve, courage, love, hatred, even matter and emotions—all warp in time's flow," Ei explained, her voice soft. "Wear is everywhere, but cultivation resists it with the heart's strength. Even natural-born Archons, without a strong heart, succumb. Even I struggle, only holding it at bay. A friend's death carves deeper scars of wear."
Reisen, nestled comfortably, stroked his chin. "I don't know if my love will warp, but right now, I love you."
Ei froze at the sudden confession, then smiled. "Me too. I'll never be your wear."
She shared techniques to resist wear. "Heartforce is a power I stumbled on while honing my martial arts—it counters wear. But pure Heartforce is rare; most mortals never touch it. It easily degrades into lesser forms—like a swordmaster's Swordheart or your Bowheart. These resist wear, though not as strongly."
"All hearts stem from the primal heart," she continued, "but a dominant heart can reshape the source. Like your Bowheart."
"Like me now?" Reisen asked, intrigued.
"Yes," Ei nodded. "Your Bowheart's reshaping your core, yet it remains pure. I call it One Mind—as potent as primal Heartforce against wear. Anko's different—her heart stayed purely primal, even as a youkai. I expected it to degrade to a Martialheart, but it's pristine. Even I only have One Mind, like you."
Reisen's lip twitched. Anko's pure heart sounded like the fabled childlike innocence—missing a screw, in a good way. "So my Bowheart's not why I'm stuck at LV7 swordsmanship? Is it the Law?"
"It's related, but not the core issue," Ei said, pondering. "Your Bowheart's in a reshaping phase, blocking other hearts' insights. As for the Law—it's separate. You thought it was tied?"
Reisen clicked his tongue. His Bowheart was consolidating, purging stray thoughts to form One Mind, but he was chasing a Swordheart, clashing with his instincts. No wonder he couldn't break through. Once One Mind solidified, the LV7 barrier would vanish. The Law? A misjudgment from his old knowledge.
"Guess I need to focus on my Bowheart training," he mused. He'd been shoring up weaknesses, neglecting archery practice.
Ei shared more anti-wear methods: blade-zen meditation, Liyue's Serenitea Pot retreats, Mondstadt's Anemo Archon sleep avatars. Reisen cut her off, grinning. "Ei, time for work."
She'd talked all night. He prepped Tricolor Dango and sweets for her, fried tofu for Yae Miko, and they left the Serenitea Pot for Tenshukaku.
"Here—dango and sweets for you, tofu for Miko," he said. "I'm off to work."
"Find Miko first," Ei replied, heading off.
"Back to normal?" Makoto asked, eyeing him.
"Thanks for the concern, Big Sis," Reisen grinned.
"You get used to it," Makoto chuckled, handing over documents. "You're into Khaenri'ah stuff, right? Here's their nonsense letter."
Reisen scanned it—a Khaenri'ahn demand for explanations, refusing Araumi reparations, claiming Inazuma owed them for losses and captives. The polite tone barely hid their arrogance.
"They're drunk on their own power," Reisen snorted. "Barely touching forbidden knowledge and acting like this? Who gave them the guts?"
Makoto, a Teyvat native, was baffled, but Reisen, an otherworlder, saw it clearly. He couldn't punish a nation, but teaching Khaenri'ah a lesson? That, he could manage.
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