Raiden Ei:
Outside Mondstadt—
"This should be the place… but why did that child run the moment she saw me? Is there something strange about my outfit?"
A girl wearing a pointed witch's hat muttered to herself while checking her appearance.
Under the stares of passing townsfolk, she twirled once, tugged her cape, patted her stockings, and sighed.
She found nothing wrong.
Of course—
This girl was none other than the "strange big sister" who tried to challenge Klee earlier:
Astrologist Mona Megistus.
She'd come to Mondstadt to fulfill a promise between her teacher and Alice.
Finding Klee had taken effort.
Actually speaking to her had proved impossible.
"I finally find her, and she runs? Is this fate's joke?"
With a helpless sigh, Mona stepped closer to the lake city.
"Fine then. Let me see… where did the little girl go?"
Normally, Mona avoided using divination unless necessary.
Reading fate too often brought backlash, and the future was not something one should interfere with lightly.
But simply locating someone?
—That wouldn't hurt.
Under astonished gazes, Mona summoned elemental water.
Ripples converged into a glowing circular scrying mirror before her.
A water-blue disc formed.
Flowed.
Shifted.
Yet after a long moment
"…Nothing?"
Impossible.
Her hydromancy was unparalleled across Teyvat.
It used reflections of the false sky upon water's surface to peer into the true workings of destiny.
Her teacher's greatest invention.
So how
could she not find the child?
"Earlier I could sense her so clearly… unless—"
Mona froze.
Then gasped, horrified.
"Ahhh! So that's it!! That kid tricked me on purpose! The duel already started and I WALKED RIGHT INTO IT!"
She clutched her head.
"She's hiding somewhere, laughing at me right now… no, no, no! I can't lose! If I fail, Teacher will KILL me!"
To outside observers, she looked like a pretty but completely insane young woman muttering to herself.
They pitied her greatly.
Poor girl.
So young, already mad.
But Mona ignored them, pouring her full concentration into one last attempt to locate her "opponent."
Just when she felt she might faint—
"THERE!"
A vivid image appeared:
A large two-story manor near Windrise, elegant and tranquil.
"Finally found you…"
Her jaw clenched.
To be toyed with by a small child—utter humiliation!
She hurried toward Mondstadt.
But the moment she stepped inside the city, she stopped dead.
"…Which house was it again?"
Mondstadt had many manors.
Thousands of rooftops.
Thousands of windows.
Mona panicked.
After half a day, asking countless residents, and going to the wrong house seven times, she finally found the correct manor near the Wind God Plaza.
Her stomach growled violently.
"Ugh… I'm starving…"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out…
One last Mora.
"…"
Her heart broke.
If she spent this, she'd have nothing left.
But after three seconds of hesitation, her stomach made the decision for her.
One dry, hard bread later, she dragged herself toward the manor.
At the entrance, she froze again.
"…What do I say?"
Hydromancy had shown her the manor's image—
but not who lived inside.
So, with trembling knuckles, she knocked.
Knock knock.
A soft, mature voice answered:
"Coming."
The door opened—
And Mona's mind blanked.
A breathtakingly beautiful woman stood before her, long braid over her shoulder, an aura of serene dignity around her.
Raiden Ei blinked calmly.
"…Yes? Who might you be?"
Mona panicked.
"S-so beautiful… I mean— I—I'm here to look for…"
Her brain stalled.
What was the child's name again?
Then—
"Oh! Right!"
She straightened proudly.
"I'm here for Klee!"
"…Klee?"
Ei narrowed her eyes slightly.
She didn't recognize this girl—
but Klee certainly had many unusual acquaintances.
"Come in. We can talk inside."
Relief flooded Mona's face.
She followed excitedly, clutching her empty stomach.
But curiosity soon overtook hunger.
She stared at Ei's elegant figure.
"Um… excuse me… are you… Klee's mother? Alice?"
Silence.
Ei froze.
This random girl—
this stranger—
had just mistaken the Electro Archon, ruler of Inazuma, for Klee's mom.
Ei's expression:
"???"
She had absolutely no idea whether to laugh, cry, or eject the girl from the house with a lightning bolt.
(Though… she would like to have a daughter someday. Preferably cuter than Klee. Preferably Lory's…