Act 2, Scene 4

16th of the 2nd Cycle

"This is preposterous!" Mona stuffed another shrimp ball into her mouth, "The chances of my divination being wrong are utterly minuscule!"

They were eating at Third-Round Knockout, Mona having followed them into the city.

"How does divination work, exactly?" Aether asked her curiously.

She opened her mouth. "Well-"

"In one or two sentences, please."

She shot him a mildly irritated look.

"Every sentient being in Teyvat is born under a constellation," She explained, "these constellations are essentially the story books of their lives. Your fate, your destiny, everything has already been written for you."

"Divination is simply reading these constellations. For constellations the diviner is more familiar with, such as their own, they can learn exactly how their life is going to play out. For a more unfamiliar constellation, the diviner can only read a… summary, so to speak"

Well, that explained a lot. Furthermore, isn't this totally useful?

"How about my constellation?"

"You are an outsider, dipshit, you don't have a constellation."

Oh.

"So you saw that I would accompany you to Mondstadt?"

"That is the case. So I will follow you on your travels until you return to Mondstadt."

Aether stared at her. What is she on about?

Mona noticed, and sighed. "Listen, I am going to complete my master's mission, one way or another. But my constellation also tells me that I am going to complete it with you, which means I must follow you until you return."

"Why don't you just go to Mondstadt yourself?" Paimon piped up.

Mona looked pained, "Astrology is fickle, knowing your future is both a blessing and a curse. If you divert from the path your constellation made for you, you can no longer rely on said constellation anymore."

She continued, "When your body dies, your soul lives forever among the stars. But if you die not the way the stars tell you to, which stars are you going to live in?"-

Aether understood now, her destiny has been irrevocably shifted because of him. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to bring her along.

"You can't dead weight, though."

She scoffed, "Of course. You need not worry, not only am I one of the best astrologists of the age, I am also a magus of the Hexenzirkel. I am capable of spellcasting, runecraft, formalcraft and other methods of thaumaturgy."

Aether had no idea what half of that meant, but Paimon looked incredibly impressed so he decided to go along with it.

Then he noticed she had a vision as well, and asked her as such.

"Oh this thing? Yes, I suppose it has been quite helpful in my astrology. Indeed, I am also an Allogene - a Vision holder."

She didn't seem to think it was quite a big deal. How capable must she be without a Vision, to not think of it as a big deal?

"Well," Aether smiled at her, "welcome to the team."

"A pleasure to be working with you."

Act 2, Scene 5

16th of the 2nd Cycle

"Inazuma? Hah, you must be mad, boy. In case you haven't noticed, no captain here will bring you to Inazuma."

Aether did notice, this was the fifth captain they had asked.

"I suppose we'll have to get our own ship then, Mona should be back by now."

Indeed, he saw Mona heading towards them, dressed in more… normal clothing.

As he waved, she shook her head.

"Any ship large enough to brave Inazuma's Storm Walls are too expensive for you. Even if you sold everything in your wagon you will still be short of Mora."

That sucked. These Storm Walls are being a real pain, what is with Teyvat and storm walls, anyway?

They discussed their options on the way back to the inn.

"We should just hang around until an opportunity presents itself."

"What if that opportunity never comes?"

"We could try and gain the patronage of the Qixing."

"And pray tell, how are we going to do that?"

"You can tell futures in a sense, right? What if you charged a member of the Qixing for telling their future?"

"...It could work."

"The Rite of Descension is happening tomorrow, a member of the Qixing, the Tianquan I believe, will be officiating. We can get close to the Qixing there."

With a plan now in mind, they entered the inn, walked up the stairs, then entered the same room.

"...Why are we sharing a room?"

"Don't be a prude. Until we have a stable income, we must limit our expenditure."

Aether hated it when other people were right.

Act 2, Scene 6

17th of the 2nd Cycle

The Rite of Descension was taking place at noon, so they had some time to kill. Thus Aether was hammering Mona with questions about the nature of magic over breakfast.

What's the difference between Allogenes and magi?

"Allogenes command the Elements, capital E, for the purposes of their Ambition. Magi command the natural world using mana."

Why are the Allogenes so lauded if they can only use one Element?

"Anubas the Scholar once said - 'Magi are limited by the natural laws of the world, Allogenes are limited by only their imagination.'"

What's the difference between the Elements and elements?

"It is a common misconception that both are the same. Hydro is not water, Pyro is not fire, and so on. A pyromancer must have a source of fire to use their magic, a Pyro Allogene can form Pyro from thin air with sheer willpower alone."

What elements can you use?

"While I am most suited to water magic, I am classified as an Average One in magic circles. That means I have affinities with all four classical elements - fire, earth, water, and wind. Most magi only have affinities with one or two. Aren't I so great?"

Why do you wear such strange clothing?

"Wha- hey! I am a hydromancer, do you know how often I get water all over myself? I'd rather not walk around in soggy clothes!"

Aether was going to ask another question, but Mona interrupted him.

"The Rite is going to start in half an hour, we should get going."

Yujing Terrace was a huge courtyard carved from a mountain top. Crowds of people gathered around the centre, where a censer stood. Millelith stood guard everywhere, leaving no blind spots. This was the largest event in Liyue for the year, after all.

Aether and Mona pushed their way to the front of the crowd, Paimon disappeared off to wherever she goes when she isn't in the material world.

The Tianquan, Lady Ningguang, looked at the Sun, which has reached its zenith in the Sky.

"The hour is upon us."

A hush fell over them.

The Tianquan used her Vision to conjure Geo and inserted them into the censer. It lit up, and a great beam of light shot into the sky.

Clouds gathered, swirling into a vortex around the beam. Then they turned black, lightning struck and thunder roared. The sky darkened, and a heavenly Liyuese dragon fell from the Sky.

And hit the tiled ground with a resounding thud.

The Tianquan inspected the body.

"..."

"Rex Lapis has been killed. Millelith, seal the exits! Bring everyone in for questioning!"

Paimon materialised to voice her displeasure. She looked at the dragon corpse in distaste.

"Are you guys seeing this shit?"

Aether nodded gravely, "Yes, there are traces of Geo, but no signs of divinity, and more importantly, no Godhead."

Mona spoke up, "So then, that begs the question, why would the Geo Archon fake his own death?"

They pondered for a while.

But then Millelith soldier approached them, spear gripped tightly in his hand, "Pardon me sir, madams, but I'm required to bring you in for questioning."

Aether and Paimon offered no resistance, but Mona remained quiet. The Millelith soldier shot her a warning glance, "Miss…?"

Mona finally spoke up. Giving the soldier a haughty look.

"I'd like to speak with your manager."