After this battle, Raiden Shogun abolished the Vision Hunt Decree. Though Kazuha didn't know what the Traveler had experienced after being pulled into the Plane of Euthymia, at least the ending was a good one.
Having finished everything, Kazuha went alone to the stream, caught eight fish, and made his way to Elliot's grave.
"Elliot, I'm back."
He slowly built a fire in front of Elliot's grave.
Elliot sat beside the flames, watching as Kazuha cleaned the fish, threaded them onto branches, and set them over the fire to roast. After arranging the fish, he took out a jug filled with water and hung it directly above the fire.
"A Traveler from Liyue helped us overturn Raiden Shogun's Vision Hunt Decree."
Watching the sparks dance, Kazuha murmured to himself.
"Thinking back after all these years… you were right."
"Wishes really aren't small at all…"
He sat cross-legged, as if he were speaking to Elliot.
After wandering for so long, Kazuha could finally rest for a while.
"I don't know why, but I always feel like you never left. I think I can hear your voice—it's always there, yet always slipping away, faint and unclear. Maybe it's just my imagination."
"By the way, my leaf whistle skills have gotten much better. At first, I could only call in a single lonely seagull. Later on, I could summon whole flocks."
"Oh, and something still bothers me. You clearly had a sword—why did you tell me you didn't? Were you afraid you'd hurt me with it?"
"And you were so strong, yet you deliberately held back and let me win. What was that about?"
"I'm telling you, I've gotten really strong myself. I even took Raiden Shogun's Musou no Hitotachi. Although… although I did borrow a bit of your strength, most of it was still mine."
Kazuha sat beforeElliot's grave, recounting everything she had been through over the years and all the little interesting things she had encountered.
After a long while, the fish were almost ready, and Kazuha finally stopped talking.
She placed five grilled fish before Elliot's grave and kept three for herself.
Elliot looked at the five fish and slowly reached out to take one. But what he picked up was only an illusory image of grilled fish. He took a light bite, feeling nothing, yet an actual bite mark appeared on the fish in his hand.
Formless, colorless, tasteless.
Not exactly like chewing wax—more like chewing emptiness.
In short, like eating loneliness.
"I remember it should have tasted pretty good." Elliot tried to recall the flavor of the fish Kazuha once grilled for him, hoping imagination alone could give the void-fish a familiar taste.
"I remember you said that next time we met, we'd drink tea together."
"I brought it today."
Kazuha took down the kettle from the fire and brought out a tea set.
Elliot smiled. "Didn't expect you to remember."
"I even went out of my way to learn proper tea brewing for this."
"Don't get too smug about it."
As he spoke, he rinsed the tea set with boiling water.
After cleaning each piece, he took out one of the Six Gentlemen of Tea—the tea tongs. With careful precision, he picked up an elegant cup and placed it before Elliot's grave.
It was the very cup Elliot had once lent him for drinking wine. Now, it had found its way back to its original owner.
"These tea leaves are the best I've found in all my years of traveling," he said.
"Much more expensive than the wine you bought me back then."
"You'd better savor it properly."
He used a tea scoop to measure out the leaves, then brushed them into the pot with the tea spoon. He poured boiling water in, waited three seconds, then emptied the pot—washing the tea.
Seeing how skilled Kazuha had become with the tea set, Elliot gave a small smile. He truly hadn't expected Kazuha to study the tea ceremony.
Kazuha poured boiling water again, filling Elliot's cup two-thirds of the way.
Elliot tapped lightly with his index and middle fingers three times—a gesture of respect among equals.
Kazuha poured himself a cup and took a slow sip.
"Tea has one advantage," he said with a self-mocking tone, recalling old times. "You don't have to worry about drinking too much. You can keep drinking and nothing happens."
"You can get tea-drunk too," Elliot replied. "That feeling isn't any better than being drunk on wine."
"If I hadn't gotten drunk back then," Kazuha asked, "what do you think things would be like now?"
"You'd still be letting me lead you around."
They drank tea, ate grilled fish, and chatted happily.
And even though only Elliot responded to Kazuha, it was unmistakable—they were truly talking.
Several seagulls flew over at the same time.
"It's getting late. I should be heading out."
Only at dusk did Kazuha slowly rise. She left an exquisite teacup and an empty Vision shell at the grave. After packing everything else, she turned away.
"I'll come again next year."
Her words drifted down like scarlet maple leaves falling from the branches.