A fireside gathering

"Aww… I was expecting more of a challenge."

"I, for one, am forever grateful that the last one turned out to be a breeze." Yuu replied, a hint of exasperation in his voice, following a step behind her with his hands on the back of his head. "God knows I've had enough battle for one day."

"Cheer up, leader!" Xinyan, on the other hand, tried her best to comfort her, even if her protest was nothing more than something she said just for the sake of it. "Just think of what we'll get now that all three towers have been completed."

"Yeah, Lumine! Don't sweat the small stuff, just focus on our reward!" Paimon, the lovely little fairy, seems more excited than anyone else as to what they might get after passing all three trials.

"I guess."

The final trial, if you could even call it that, turns out to be nothing more than a matter of reaching the top floor as fast as possible.

Granted, given how the wooden platform connected to the towering pillars, one of the only means of traversing upwards, have practically decayed, it would've taken them a long time.

Of course, that's under the condition that someone within the group couldn't just outright fly towards the top. Or in this case, create an invisible platform that serves as an elevator towards the top.

For a trial placed in the tallest tower, she was honestly expecting something a bit more. But that's just how things are, she supposed.

As they walked down the stone steps, she glanced up at skies, noting the increasing patches of gray compared to before. With that realization, she walked just a bit faster towards the monument at the center. She'd rather avoid the rain if she could help it.

And once they reached the bottom, just like before, the last third of the circular markings on the pedestal in which the monument stood has now been lit up after completing the final trial.

"What now?"

"Try touching it, Paimon."

"Huh? Why should Paimon do it?"

"I mean, if it ends up being a trap, surely they wouldn't account for someone of your size to be the one to trigger it."

"Hmph, and you can just fly away if it ends up being a trap, so why don't you do it?"

As much as she would love to watch the two continue their bickering, it's only a matter of time before rain falls. And so, she decided to be the bigger person and step forward towards the ancient mechanism and hold her hand against it.

The moment she did so, the sounds of whirring came about, causing the stone on top of the mechanism to slowly rotate before letting out a beam of white light towards the skies.

"See, Paimon? Nothing to worry about."

"Uh huh. If there's nothing to worry about, then why didn't you just–"

Suddenly, as was the case back in the southern tower, puffs of smoke started to appear in three different directions, surprising everyone and cutting Paimon's word short.

Pulling out her sword, she jumps back towards the group, her back towards Paimon as she prepares herself for battle. With a glance, she noticed that the other two did the same, with Xinyan already with her guitar in hand, while a gust of wind could be felt coming from Yuu's hands, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

Once the smoke cleared up, however, they were not met with the monsters brandishing weapons at them. Instead, a chest was present in place of the smoke, giving off a metallic sheen as it reflected what little sunlight was left as it pierced through the gray skies.

With a metallic silver color, the chest is lined up with gold coating and adorned with a beautiful lock that was now unlatched, giving off a luxurious feeling as it stood there inviting anyone that laid their eyes on it to see what's behind its closed lid.

"False alarm, everyone." She said as she sheathed her sword.

Hearing her words, the gust of wind coming from her left suddenly vanished, while the faint heat the rockstar's weapon emitted disappeared as Xinyan dropped her guitar to the ground.

Paimon, who was cowering in the middle of the group, slowly raised her head at her words. As the white fairy examined her surroundings and caught the sight of the three luxurious chests, however, any sign of trepidation she may have had vanished instantly as she flew straight towards the one in front of her, barely able to contain her excitement as she once again struggled against the heavy lid.

"And here I thought I was the one crazy about Mora."

"Who knows, Yuu, she might've picked that up from you."

"I doubt it." He replied, as he walked towards the other untended chest. "Just look at her. You think something like that can be fostered in the short time we've been together?"

"A child can be very impressionable, you know?"

"You of all people calling her a child is very funny to me."

While Yuu busies himself with the content of the chest, Lumine walks over towards Xinyan, who was standing next to the open chest as she held onto a purple crystal.

"Something caught your attention?"

Jolted out of her thoughts, Xinyan looks over to her with a fanged grin. "Yep. Never seen this many enhancement ores in one place before, so I was a bit surprised."

"Is that so?" She remembers storing some of those in her inventory, but hasn't had the chance of asking Yuu about it. "What's it for, anyway?"

"This, leader," giving a swing of her guitar, she stabbed her weapon into the ground, leaving a small cut through the hard stone, "is the reason this creation of mine doubles as a weapon."

"Really now? How does that work?"

"Alchemy." Xinyan replied, as she kicked her guitar up and sheathed it into her back. "I don't really understand how it works though, I just hired someone to do it. Can't be bothered to learn all those mumbo jumbo myself."

"Sounds amazing."

"It's convenient. Can be very expensive though."

By the sounds of it, crystals like these are hard to come by. As for the expensive part, whether that's the raw material or the alchemical process involved, she'd like to think both played a part in it.

Demand for something like that would always be at an all time high, given how prolific the adventurer profession is. As for alchemy, that sounds like something Yuu would pick up, given his combat style.

'He's probably too lazy to learn though.'

"You're welcome to use it if you need to."

"You sure, leader?"

"Mhm. My sword is… unique, to say the least, so those crystals would be useless to me. And Yuu doesn't really use a weapon, so…."

"I see. In that case, thank you for your generosity."

"Ahaha, none of that, Xinyan."

Waving away her gratitude, she reached her hand into the chest and stored everything inside into her inventory, before moving towards the other chests and doing the same thing, though it took a bit of coaxing to get Paimon to leave the pile of Mora.

"Now, let's have something to remember this by." Pulling out the Kamera, she handed it over to Yuu. "Would you kindly do the honors?"

Humming in response, Yuu proceeded to set the Kamera up before floating the device towards their front.

"Alright, take your positions, everyone!"

Standing in the middle of the group, she wrapped her arms around both Yuu and Xinyan while Paimon rode her shoulders as she held on to the top of her head, somehow already taking Yuu's hat from him just like last time.

"3…2…1… smile!"

Click!

As the Kamera floated towards them, she grabbed the device and waited for the picture to be printed out.

Unfortunately, before she could do so, she felt a sudden wetness dropping onto her head.

Looking up, she saw that the patch of gray has now covered the entirety of the skies. Slowly, drops of rain started to fall, making a pitter patter sound as it made contact with the lake in front of them.

"Let's get inside for now."

Before she could move though, she was held back by the arm. Turning towards the culprit, she saw Yuu holding onto her as he pointed towards the side.

Towards the tied bunch of unconscious bodies that she forgot.

"Oh. Right." At the reminder of what they're supposed to be doing, she couldn't help but sigh. "Here, Xinyan, take this and go with Paimon to the north tower. We'll be right back."

"Sure thing." Taking the Kamera from her hands, Xinyan held on to Paimon with her other hand. "Don't stay too long out there, you two!"

As the rockstar sprinted north, she grabbed Yuu's hand and walked together towards the treasure hoarders.

"You don't seem too excited about this, princess."

Feeling a gentle squeeze coming from the usually sharp-tongued otherwolder, she reciprocates the gesture as she lets out another sigh. "I'll be honest, I kind of forgot about this whole treasure hoarders thing."

Her words were met with a scoff. "You're the one that came up with this, you know? I'm just along for the ride."

"I know, I know." She said, as she observed the numerous unconscious bodies floated along with them as they stepped into an invisible platform he created. "Can you blame me though? I was having fun back there."

"I'm sure you did. Especially the first tower, I imagine."

"You bet."

As the rain started to pick up, a wind barrier surrounded the two, sheltering them from the rain as they continued towards the Millelith outpost over the horizon with the criminals in tow.

A sight that would've bewildered anyone lucky enough to catch sight of it.

___________________________________

Sitting on an armchair by the side of their makeshift fireplace, Lumine focuses her attention on the notebook in front of her, with her quill in hand as she occasionally writes down the answer to the questions Paimon cooked up.

"Okay… how about this one?"

"Uh… 'A rock performance… would be held by the docks at… uh nine? Yeah, nine tonight, starring the most… amazing rockstar in the whole entire Teyvat… Xinyan.'" As Yuu finished reading the sentence, he couldn't help but grumble in response. "Really, Xinyan? Tooting your own horn like that?"

"Come on, what's the harm?" Xinyan, sitting on the arms of Yuu's chair, said as she let out a laugh. "If we narrow down the scope to just Liyue though, I am the best rockstar!"

"Yeah, well, you're the only one that plays rock in the harbor, so you'll just win by default."

"Exactly!" Slapping his shoulders, Xinyan turned the page of her notebook towards the next one. "Now, how about this one?"

After handing the bandits over to the Milleliths, much to their surprise and gratitude, she and Yuu returned as fast as possible towards the ruin. And once they entered the northern tower, she immediately lowered the iron gate before warming herself up in front of the congregation of fire.

Staying by Xinyan side certainly made it a lot easier to scare the cold away.

With the rain having turned into a storm, for the time being, their group would have to spend some time in the stone tower, waiting for the weather to let up.

Since that's the case, she decided to make things a lot more comfortable for them.

Pulling out all kinds of furniture that she 'borrowed' from some rich bastard, the previously barren room now seems a lot more habitable.

Xinyan, despite having seen what she's capable of, certainly did not expect for her to basically store an entire house worth of stuff inside. Not that she's complaining, of course.

Sofas, dining table, a set of chairs, small tables; you name it, she had it.

Taking advantage of this moment of respite, she proceeded to serve all the foods she and Yuu had purchased from Good Hunter in Mondstadt, much to Paimon's delight.

Though she would've preferred to cook something up for once, she'd rather not flood the entire room with smoke. Something to look forward to another day, she supposed.

Once lunch was over, Paimon took the stage, deciding to continue their previous lecture as she pulled out a small pair of glasses from her own space, making her seem like an erudite scholar, if one didn't already know the kind of person she is.

And currently, while she is finishing up the last of her exercise, the increase in difficulty seems to be a lot more challenging for the other otherwolder than it is for her.

'Well, I am smart after all.'

Xinyan, not wanting to be left behind, decided to take part in their lecture, writing up sentences for Yuu to read out loud, most of which are about her, her performances, or something of that sort.

It was an amusing sight to see, if she's being honest.

Finally, after several more attempts at Paimon's questions, the little fairy gave Yuu the thumbs to which he gave a tired sigh. Instead of walking back towards his chair, he lumbered towards the sofa in front of the fireplace, practically collapsing into it.

"Fucking finally." Placing his hat to the side, the bluenette took off his sandals as he crossed his legs on top of the sofa. "I did not miss studying at all."

"Well, until Paimon's sure that you're fluent in reading, this will continue for as long as it needs to. Isn't that right, Paimon?"

"You got it!" She exclaimed, as she graded Yuu's paper from the small table she's sitting on. "Even with all that complaining, you're doing great, white mask!"

Grumbling in response to Paimon's praise, Yuu turned towards Xinyan, who was walking over to the sofa he's sitting on. "Grace us with a tune please, my dear rockstar."

"Ahahaha, sure thing." She replied as she sat on the other end. "Does the listener have any request?"

"Hmm… something relaxing, please. I know that's not the rock 'n' roll you're so fond of, but–"

"I get it, I get it." Waving his worries away, Xinyan placed her guitar on her lap, careful not to let the blade tear at the sofa. "Don't worry, rock 'n' roll isn't the only music I can play!"

"I didn't expect the rock 'n' roll nut to say something like that."

"Hey!" Giving a playful shove in response, Yuu gave her a laugh. "I'll have you know that I have some knowledge of other genres, not just rock!"

"Why bother?"

"It serves as an inspiration for me." Picking the strings of her guitar, she carefully tuned her instrument as she continued. "Makes for a nice practice too, once in a while. Helps me wind down after a nice jamming session."

"Is that so?"

Having listened to their conversation, she closed her notebook and proceeded to store her things back to her inventory. Standing from her seat, she walks towards Paimon, who seems to have finished doing her thing as well.

"Tired?"

"Yeah." Paimon's answer was cut by the sudden yawn coming from her mouth as she stretched her tiny body. "Sorry. Yeah, Paimon can use some shut eye right about now."

"~♪"

And just in time, Xinyan started strumming her guitar, a slow and relaxing tune started to play. The melody, combined with the warmth of the fireplace as well as the sound of the storm in the background, serves as the perfect lullaby.

"Come on," cradling the sleepy fairy in her arms, she walks over towards her traveling companions, "someplace warm will do you good."

Seeing her approaching figure, the two on the sofa scooted over, leaving some room for her to sit on in the middle.

By the time she takes her place on the sofa, Paimon is already out like a light, snoring lightly as her head hangs loose.

"Finished with your notes, princess?"

"Yeah." Carefully raising Paimon, she turned her attention towards Yuu. "This one too, if you can't already tell."

"Mhm. Looks like someone here is a massive fan of your song, Xinyan." Yuu whispers, careful not to wake Paimon.

"Shut up." Xinyan said, her tune interrupted by the grumbling coming from the rockstar. "Smack his head for me, leader."

"Sure thing." Though she said so, it ended up being nothing more than a light slap, much to Xinyan's protest.

Leaning herself to the sofa, she corrects Paimon's sloppy posture and snaked an arm around her waist to prevent her from falling to the floor.

"~♪"

Suddenly she felt a weight pressing down on her sides from both sides.

To her left, Yuu leans his head on her shoulder as he stares into the congregation of flames in front of him.

To her right, Xinyan had her back pressed onto her, raising her legs over the edge of the sofa as she continued her music and singing, giving a quick glance towards the blonde as she cheekily wink her eyes.

'Sigh. These two….'

As the music continues in the background, she slowly closes her eyes as she enjoys the feeling of being snug in between two of her companions.

"~♪"

Despite the stormy weather beyond the iron gate, the atmosphere inside couldn't have been any more pleasant.

'If only you're here, brother.'

With that final melancholic thought, she could feel her consciousness slipping away as she slowly drifted off towards the land of dreams.