Going outside was a mistake

'What a day it has been.'

After our exhausting emotional roller coaster ride, the two of us ended up laying down on the floor as we embraced one another. Eventually though, as the chill started to seep in from the floor, the two of us moved towards the sofa. Or at least, I did at first. Lumine joined me not long after once she grabbed yet another glass from the kitchen.

Thankfully, unlike her previous rowdy, intoxicated self, she seems a lot calmer, choosing to simply relax her body on the sofa. And while she slowly took a sip of Mondstadt's famous dandelion wine, I sat next to her, grabbing the half opened book close to me before drowning myself in words once again as I continued from where I left off, all while serving as a pillow for the blonde to rest her head on.

'Everything went surprisingly well, all things considered.'

Using my finger as a makeshift bookmark, I looked up from the book in my hand before glancing towards the wooden box embedded in the wall above. Currently, two of its hands are pointing towards the number six and twelve, indicating the start of a brand new day for the inhabitants of the harbor.

'Now, I just have to make sure something like that will never happen again.'

"Mmmrrgh…."

Suddenly, a groan coming from my lap broke the morning's tranquil atmosphere.

Looking down towards the source, I saw the sleeping figure of Lumine, laying her head on its side as her previously peaceful sleep suddenly turned restless as she started to toss and turn all over the place. Her groan, which was steadily getting more frequent, suddenly turned into a whimper as a stray tear began to fall.

'A nightmare, huh… I wonder how long that's been going on?'

Stamping down the guilt that's threatening to rear its ugly head again, I reached a hand towards her face and began to slowly wipe the tears while the other made its way towards her head, slowly running my fingers through her disheveled hair while occasionally massaging her scalp.

Feeling the sudden contact, Lumine visibly calms down, her struggle against the invisible slowly stops. Her scrunched up face that was colored with fear began to relax as she unconsciously leaned into my touch before grabbing the hand and holding it close against her, all while letting out a faint contented sound not unlike a cat's purr.

It reminded me of the cat I used to have. He would jump into my lap whenever I sat down and began kneading my legs before eventually claiming his spot on his proverbial throne as he stared at me with his blue eyes, silently ordering me to groom his pure white fur.

Though Lumine is not wearing her usual white dress, the parallel was close enough to warrant a comparison.

'Guess I'm not going anywhere for a while.'

And so, with the sound of wind chime coming from the nearby house along with the faint ticking sound coming from the wall, I lifted the book with anemo as I continued my reading while both of my hands continued their ministrations, the thought of stopping being the furthest thing on my mind.

Eventually, as the clock pointed towards eight in the morning, I could hear a yawn coming from the hallway.

Pushing through the half opened door, Paimon casually flew inside, not looking quite awake just yet. Though as she came closer towards my direction, she was finally aware enough to notice the two bodies lying unconscious against the floor.

"Whoa! What happened?!" She exclaimed, jumping up slightly in surprise as the last bit of sleep in her disappeared. Looking around the room, her eyes moved between the two girls hugging each other on the floor and the slight burn marks littered across the floors and walls before finally stopping on me. "White mask!"

"Don't be so loud, Paimon." Looking up, I made a shushing gesture towards the fairy, though I couldn't help but wonder whether it's even necessary in the first place. "Then again, it's not like they'll wake up anytime soon even if you do scream your head out."

Making her way closer, Paimon flew lower towards the sleeping Lumine, putting her ear near her head. Once she heard the blonde's slow rhythmic breathing, Paimon let out a sigh of relief before turning her attention towards me. "What happened last night?"

"Long story short, everything went as well as it could and the girls wanted to celebrate. Then, they started drinking, and not long after, that idiot over there," pointing towards the sleeping Xinyan, the memory of the chaotic concert last night came back to me, "pulls out her guitar, stood on that table over there, and held an impromptu concert."

"So the black marks around the room is because–"

"Because she's too drunk to realize that using pyrotechnics indoors is a bad idea."

Looking towards Xinyan, Paimon couldn't help but wince. "Yikes."

"Yikes indeed, Paimon."

After that, Paimon fell silent, one of her small hands supporting her chin as she lowered her head in thought.

"Does that mean no one's going to be cooking breakfast?"

And in true Paimon fashion, the thing she's concerned about would be about the food that would enter her stomach first thing in the morning.

"Nope."

"Oh." Though she visibly deflated at my answer, Paimon was quick to recover. "Then let's go, white mask! Xiangling's place should be open right about now!"

Hearing Paimon's suggestion, I couldn't help but mentally groan. Honestly, I would've preferred to get some shut eye.

I did think about getting some sleep after the whole debacle, but knowing that my brain would just wake me up again anyway, I chose to simply spend my time reading until five in the morning. Unfortunately, that didn't exactly pan out because I ended up getting way too into the book to the point that the fatigue seems to have disappeared.

Now though? Without anything engaging to keep the fatigue at bay, I could feel my eyelids growing heavier as a yawn suddenly escapes me.

Although, thinking of eating the delicious food from Wanmin does alleviate this somewhat heavy eyelid of mine.

"Eh, why not?"

In the end, after mulling over it for a bit, food won over sleep.

"Yes!" Raising both hands in joy, Paimon flew closer towards me and began draggin me by the shoulder. Or at least, she tried to. "Come on, come on! Let's go!"

"Stop pulling, you'll ruin my clothes."

___________________________________

After taking the sleeping traveler back to our room and changing my clothes, I walked back downstairs, grabbed the spare key Xinyan lent us, carried the other two girls to the sofa, before finally leaving the house together with Paimon.

As per usual, the streets were crowded with people from all over Teyvat. Though this time around, there's a certain festive atmosphere hanging in the air, something you wouldn't expect considering how important the rite is to the future of Liyue.

After all, the God of Contracts himself is descending to the mortal plane in order to guide Liyue's future for the coming year. If you put it like that, it's normal to expect some semblance of solemnity before the rite even begins.

But seeing all the stalls put up by numerous merchants, each one of which heavily themed around their god, perhaps that's just the common sense of the old world speaking.

"Come one, come all!"

From one of those stalls, one merchant shouted with vigor, catching the attention of the numerous passersby. Dressed in something that resembles a scholar's robe, the man smiled at their attention as he began to hold out a statue on both of his hands.

"For today only, we're offering you this exquisite statue of our beloved archon Rex Lapis!" Hearing the murmur coming from the crowd suddenly becoming heated, the man continues. "Made by the number one sculptor of Liyue Harbor, it is also embedded with the finest jewelry you can possibly find!" He boasted, turning the statue to show off the glimmer of the dragon's eyes. "And, in collaboration with Jade Mystery, inside the compartment of one of these statues, is a precious jade dating back to several hundred years ago!

"For the low low price of one million Mora, you can have this beautiful statue decorating your home." Suddenly, the man leans forward, speaking in a lower tone as if to emphasize his next words. "Not only that, it's been said that Rex Lapis would grant his blessing for those who contributed to the harbor's prosperity, if you know what I mean."

At his words, some of the people surrounding the large stall – particularly the rich looking ones – immediately began to swarm towards the merchant, each of them begin to shout at him and the other attendants with their respective orders.

"One million Mora?!" Paimon shouted indignantly from next to me, her expression looking like the stall owner had personally offended her. "Are these people stupid or something?! It's just a statue!"

"Yeah well, people are eating it up regardless, Paimon. " Seeing all those people forking out Mora like it's nothing, I couldn't help but sigh. "Must be nice to be able to waste millions like it's nothing."

"Ugh, just imagine all the food you can buy with all that Mora."

"Unfortunately for you, I don't have a lot on me right now." Before the white fairy could explode again, I held her tiny hand and began dragging her away from the crowd. "So please keep that in mind when you order something, hmm? We have three other mouths to feed back home."

Paimon replied with a disappointed grumble, but otherwise nodded her head in agreement.

By the time we reached the crowded restaurant, Paimon had calmed down significantly, her attention now taken by the savory smell emanating from the kitchen at the back.

As we stepped inside the building, Xiangling, who was walking by as she dropped off a customer's order, waved her hand as she greeted us.

"Morning Yuu, Paimon!" Full of energy, Xiangling happily greeted us after putting down the tray in her hand. "Will it just be you two today?"

"Yup. Any empty seats?"

"There's an empty one over there. It's the last one too, so you're in luck." She said, pointing towards a table close to the wall by the cashier before turning towards us. "Where are the other two? You guys usually went out together."

"They're still asleep."

"Really?" She tilted her head at my answer. "Did they stay up late?"

"Mhm. Had a little bit too much fun, let's just say."

Technically not a lie, but it's not the whole truth either. I'm not really familiar with how these things go, so it's better for other people to not find out about what actually happened.

"That's a shame, but oh well." Though visibly disappointed, she was quick to turn the frown upside down. "Come on, I would hate to leave customers like you two hanging."

With that, Xiangling led us to our table. After taking our orders directly, she was about to leave towards the kitchen before suddenly stopping, suddenly snapping her fingers as if remembering something.

"By the way, since today's going to be far more crowded than usual, would you mind if someone sat on that empty seat?"

"I'm fine with it. What about you, Paimon?"

"As long as they don't bother Paimon while she eats, Paimon doesn't mind."

"You heard the girl."

"Of course." Letting out a giggle at Paimon's cute answer, Xiangling began to walk away.

As the young chef made her way towards her station, Guoba, who was sitting patiently on a stool nearby, stood up and trotted towards Xiangling before immediately spewing fire straight towards the pile of firewood.

Seeing this sight, I couldn't help but wonder if Paimon would ever be as useful as he is, though that's not exactly a fair thought considering I've been kind of replacing her role as a guide even without me consciously trying to.

'Eh, I'm sure she'll have her moment to shine. Especially later on.'

"Are you excited, white mask?"

"Hmm?" Snapped out of my musings, I turned towards Paimon. "About what?"

"You know, seeing Rex Lapis in person!" She said, raising both hands in excitement. "It's not everyday you get to see a god with your own eyes, you know?"

"Eh… I mean, we kinda already get to do that back in Mondstadt, you know?"

"Well yes, but… Venti doesn't exactly have the… uhm… what's the word?"

"Presence?"

"Right, presence!" She said, slamming the table with her tiny hand. "I mean, just look at him! Walking around the city, playing music and spending the night away drinking; he doesn't look nor act like a ruler of a nation at all!"

"That's kind of his philosophy though, being the God of Freedom and all that. He left everything to his people and tried his best to not interfere in anything they do."

"Hmph, and look where that got him."

"Can't argue about that."

Thinking of the problems that crop up because of his 'neglect', namely the aristocracy's overbearing rule and Dvalin's rampage, there's really nothing I can say in Barbatos' defense.

'He did help in the end, but the fact that it happened in the first place at all is kind of the issue. But who am I to complain, when I've practically made millions off of the people's problem because of his choice of governance?'

Please, by all means, have some more of those. I'd be sure to deal with it as fast as I could. For a price, of course.

"When does it start anyway? The ceremony."

"In the evening. We still have plenty of time before it starts." As she said that, she gave me a knowing glance. "Which means you, white mask, can still get some sleep."

"Nice. I'm pretty much ready to clock out after this." Holding back a yawn, I reached over across the table and pinched Paimon's cheek. "Look at you, being observant and considerate. It honestly almost brings a tear to my eyes."

"Haha, very funny."

Seeing her struggle to get my hand off of her face, I gave her one last pinch before letting go. Before Paimon could voice her dissatisfaction, Xiangling approached our table with a tray in each hand.

"Here you go."

"Thanks Xiangling."

As she lowered the trays onto the table and began placing the plates and utensils in an orderly manner, I noticed she set down two other plates on the empty seat, one filled with a standard chicken dish, though the smell of chili was very noticeable even from where I was seated. The other, however, is even more bizarre as it's filled to the brim with just chili.

"Ah, is someone joining us soon?"

"Yep." Xiangling nodded. "She gave me her order before leaving for a bit. Apparently she left something behind and went to go get it first."

"She?"

'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?'

"That would be me."

Suddenly, a familiar voice answered from right behind me.

Even without turning around, I could tell just by her voice alone who that person was.

"Thank you, Xiangling, for putting up with such a strange order."

"Don't mention it! It's not everyday I get to serve someone that can handle their spice!"

"What can I say? I love the thrill of it."

Turning towards the person that would be sitting next to us, I confirmed for myself that she was indeed who I thought she was.

A dark blue, nearly black hair that gradually turns lighter as it gets closer to the tip, a white furred coat attached to her back, the bracelet on her right hand that's giving off a light blue glow… who else could it be other than the last person I wanted to see today?

"Well, I hope you enjoy it, Miss Yelan! You too, Paimon, Yuu." Xiangling replied with a smile before addressing us one last time as she picked the tray back up and turned back towards the kitchen.

Meanwhile, the ministry agent's green eyes turned towards me, her gaze looking like she could look past what's hidden behind the mask.

"It's a bit late, but do you mind if I sit here?" She asked, the smile on her face only further exacerbated the growing irritation I have of these chance encounters I keep getting.

Seriously, just that one time with Signora is more than enough.

"By all means."

'Yes, I do. Very much, actually. Please take the hint.'

"Thank you."

'Of course not.'

As she sat down, with that same business-like smile, I felt the fatigue threatening to put me to sleep disappear as I brace myself for whatever's coming.