"Uh... that's quite the life story." Furina stared at Scaramouche in silence for a moment before giving him a thumbs-up. "Kunikuzushi... that was tragic, confusing, and strangely impressive."
Scaramouche silently stared back at her.
He knew she was Fontaine's Hydro Archon. As a former Fatui Harbinger, he had seen portraits of every member of The Seven whose face had ever been made public.
Given everything he had heard recently, he also understood very clearly just how much Lora treasured Furina. There were some things he had better keep to himself, or Lora would beat him up again.
Once everyone had taken their seats, Lora refused to let the topic die and turned back to Makoto and Ei.
"Guess who made dinner tonight."
"Am I a child? Why do I have to guess?" Makoto asked helplessly.
Smiling, Lora introduced Apep to them. "This is Lady Apep, the first-generation Dendro Dragon Sovereign from Sumeru. And beside her is her assistant, Zhongyue."
"Heh." Zhongyue waved to Makoto and the others. "Actually, I cooked most of it."
"That's because Lady Apep's cooking is on par with Ei's," Lora said.
The moment the words left her mouth, she reconsidered.
"Wait, no. Lady Apep is slightly better than Ei. At least the food she makes is edible."
"Egeria, do you realize you insulted two people with a single sentence?" Apep asked sternly.
Lora spread her hands, leaned back, and gave her a shameless look. "What are you going to do about it? Surely the great first-generation Dendro Dragon Sovereign wouldn't hold a grudge against a poor little god who spent thousands of years suffering under the Heavenly Principles?"
Makoto burst out laughing at Lora's brazen expression. Then she turned toward Apep with a smile.
"So you're the Dendro Dragon Sovereign. I've heard a great deal about you. I'm Raiden Makoto. I believe this is our first meeting."
"Mm."
Apep's brief response counted as a greeting.
Xianyun remained silent throughout the exchange.
At a time like this, she absolutely could not make a sound and draw attention to herself.
Absolutely not!
Lora looked at Makoto. "What made all of you decide to spend Lantern Rite in Liyue?"
Makoto took out the invitation Venti had sent her and held it out. "Here. Take a look."
Lora accepted the invitation and opened it. As she read its unusually formal wording, she could not help frowning in confusion.
"Venti hasn't shown his face in ages, yet he went out of his way to send all of you an invitation?"
"What exactly happened to him?" Makoto asked curiously.
"He provoked Zhongli, got launched by him, and hasn't been seen since," Lora explained.
Makoto fell silent for a moment before commenting, "Hmm... how should I put this? When something like that happens to him, I'm not surprised in the slightest. But why did Zhongli hit him?"
"Does everyone who hears this story ask that?" Lora sighed.
Furina answered for her. "He spread a rumor that Mom had eloped with Mr. Zhongli."
"Pfft..."
Makoto could not hold back her laughter.
"What are you laughing at?" Lora asked helplessly.
"I just thought of something happy," Makoto replied.
"What happy thing?"
"I left Miko behind in Inazuma to work."
Lora immediately lost control and started laughing too.
The two looked at each other before declaring in unison, "Same here!"
"You gods are insane..." Apep muttered.
"Mm. We are indeed gods." Ei nodded and looked at Apep. "You're right."
"...That was not the part I meant as a compliment," Apep explained slowly after a moment of silence.
"It makes no difference. You wouldn't compliment us in the first place." Makoto waved dismissively, unconcerned with whether Apep had been praising or mocking them.
The relationship between gods and a first-generation Dragon Sovereign like Apep had never been particularly good to begin with.
The fact that they could sit together at the same table and share a meal was already an exceptionally rare and bizarre sight.
Lora turned toward Xianyun. "Why haven't you said a word? This is your house."
"Huh?"
Xianyun froze. She looked at Lora, then at Makoto and Ei, who were both smiling at her. After her initial uncertainty passed, she shook her head.
"No... I'm not sure this can still be called my house..."
Her house?
Please.
The place was practically turning into a den of gods.
Seeing her reaction, Lora tried to reassure her. "Oh, don't be so nervous. We've known each other for ages. Stop treating us like gods and just think of us as friends!"
The corner of Xianyun's mouth twitched.
Friends?
They certainly were friends, but their status as deities would not simply disappear because Lora said so. A god remained a god, along with all the authority and standing that came with it. Within the world of Teyvat, Lora and the others naturally existed on a higher level of life.
Lora decided not to tease Xianyun any further.
There would be plenty of opportunities for that in the future.
After dinner, Xianyun volunteered to wash the dishes, greatly surprising Zhongyue.
"Why are you suddenly volunteering to wash them? Didn't you invent some kind of automatic dishwashing machine so you wouldn't have to do it by hand?"
"I simply feel that machinery cannot clean them thoroughly enough. It would be best if I inspected them personally!" Xianyun replied with complete seriousness.
She then turned to everyone else. "Please continue your conversation. There is no need to concern yourselves with me."
With that, Xianyun fled as quickly as she could.
Once she was gone, Makoto finally brought up Venti's invitation.
"Lora, do you know why Venti invited us here?" she asked.
Lora frowned in thought, then shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure. Knowing him, if he sent out invitations in such a serious tone, it probably isn't anything trivial."
The idea that he was only afraid she and Zhongli were still angry, and wanted someone to intercede for him, was clearly nonsense.
All those years ago, when Zhongli had knocked him out of Liyue, Venti had never asked anyone to plead on his behalf. At most, he had asked Lora to find out whether Zhongli was still angry.
Venti feared practically nothing. If someone told him to challenge the Heavenly Principles, he might genuinely fly up there and slap them twice across the face.
As Lora continued thinking, she suddenly remembered her earlier conversation with the Failsafe.
"Could it be because of that?" she muttered with a frown.
Makoto looked at her in confusion. "Because of what?"
Lora shook her head. "I'm not sure whether my guess is correct. Makoto, before you came to Liyue, did you notice anything unusual happening to the Ley Lines in Inazuma?"