Holowin special - Act I - Mysterious Constellation – Started!
The sky was clear without a single cloud on this cold fall evening. The sun had set a few hours ago already which, for astrologer Mona Megistus, meant it was time to pack her material and head outside to observe the sky. She packed her portable telescope, a few of the maps she always refered to when she needed a confirmation on somehting she felt less confident about with observations, as well as a small snack to eat during her favorite part of the late evening. While adding said snack to her small travel bag, she stoped a second to thank once more, in her head of course, Sara from Good Hunter restaurant who generously provided her with a few snacks to thank her for her help earlier in the day. Despite being an astrologer, and a good one at that, saving money had never been an easy thing for that young woman...
Once confident she had packed every single thing she might need, which comprised of way more things than she usually carried for her routine celestial observation session, Mona left her small apartment and headed towards Mondstadt's main gate. Her plan was to head to Windrise for the evening, which was offering plenty of open space to observe the sky while being close to the city. On her way there, as she was almosst at the city gates, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. She turned around for a moment and recognised Diona who caught up with her : "Good evening, Mona!
-Good evening Diona, how are you tonight?
-It's good to be enjoying an evening off tonight, answered the young bartender. I've been wondering if, maybe, I could join the great astrologer Mona on her evening expedition to observe the sky. I don't know much in that field of science, but I've been looking for that chance for a while...
-I'd be glad to have you tag along, and we might find something new tonight, we never know!
-I'll be as discreet as possible to not interfere with your observations, and I'm curious to learn more about what the sky can tell us!"
Now part of a small party, Mona shared part of her luggage with Diona who, even though she was still young and unable to carry as much as Mona, insisted to help her carry her equipment. Marching slowly and observing their surroundings, the two young women made their way to Windrise without any unexpected encounters. There were a few squirrels running around, and even a butterfly, brave enough to face the cold of the season, that was being followed around by a curious hilichurl, but no other sign of activity in their surroundings, proving the location choice to be excellent for the evening. Mona and Diona stopped a bit away from the massive tree, in an open spot where nothing would cloud their view of the sky, and sat down fot a moment making small talk about this and that while Mona was setting up the basic astrology equipment she brought for the trip.
One of the first things Mona did was to show Diona a few of the constellations easy to observe at this period of the year, comparing them in the sky with their accurate representation on her study maps. She took a few minutes to create a new sky map highlighting those constellations and their relative positions to each other and offered it to Diona as a gift. She also answered her questions about the meaning of the stars and what astrology can teach people while trying to explain it in words as simple as possible to make sure her young one-evening apprentice would understand. When came the question of her recent advancements in the field of astrology, Mona seemed a bit more uneasy but still admitted to having made almost no new readings or findings for the last two if not three months... to which Diona answered by taking two bottles of soft drinks from her bag and offering one to her teacher. Doing so, she insisted on the good evening she was spending and on the importance of enjoying astrology despite the lack of recent interesting results. Both ladies then took a short break and enjoyed the combined snackish meal they were able to create by sharing their snacks and drinks. Mona resumed the dialog between them after a moment of silence : "You were telling me earlier than you've been waiting for this moment for a while, right?
-Saying no would be lying, admitted Diona with a low voice.
-That's nothing to be ashamed of, replied Mona with a laugh. What made you interested in astrology?
-It's not exactly astrology itself, explained Diona. As I'm spending plenty of time in Springvale, I often end up spending some time simply staring at all those lights in the sky. When I happened to cross your path earlier, I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to learn more about the stars from the view of an astrologer.
-Every reason is good to observe the sky. Many astrologers find out their passion that way. Observing the sky when they get the chance, sometimes identifying constellations or other celestial bodies of interest. Some will even end up making accurate predictions based on their observations.
-I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near that level of analysis, but I'm glad I learned about a few constellations I can observe from now on. Thank you for taking your time to explain what astrology means to you and to show me how I can observe the sky better.
-How about I put you in charge of tonight's observations? I'll let you decide what we are looking at and answer your questions, offered Mona."
Surprised by that opportunity, maybe in part because people tend to identify Mona as a serious person who doesn't lack social skills but often talks of herself in high-ish manner, Diona smiled at Mona and accepted her offer. She looked around the sky, identified a few groups of stars she thought might have special meaning and, despite being right on only one of them, she had an amazing evening fulfilling her child desires to a great extent. Even though she was starting to feel tired, Diona fought her tiredness hard to enjoy the evening as much as she could. After a bit of time, she decided to try using the portable telescope Mona brought for the trip and tried to idenfity a few of the things she learned during the evening. After some time, she pointed to a bright orange star half hidden between a few otber bright white stars. Mona took a second to observe the star and its surroundings, looked for a brief moment at her astrology maps, then back at the sky. That circle repeated for a few time without a single word. Mona took out a pen, made a few circles and lines on her maps under the attentive eyes of Diona who was watching the scene with her bright child eyes. Slowly, a few shapes were taking form on the maps until Mona stopped for a second to talk to Diona : You found something interesting, we have to tell Jean right away. I don't remember seeing those stars before. Have a look again, you'll see a few more orange stars more or less around the one you showed me. They seem to be forming a box.
As soon as Diona confirmed Mona's observations, the astrologer got up to pack her equipment and head back to Mondstadt. Noticing how tired her temporary assistant was getting, Mona told Diona she should go back home to get some rest. After a short conversation, the young bartender thanked her mentor for her time and teachings and went back home for the night, filled with good energy and the excitement of a potential new discovery. Even though she had more equipment than usual to carry back to the city, Mona made the trip back in a record time. She adressed a quick head nod to the two guards standing at the city gate and headed straight to her small apartment where she dropped her equipment at once. She made the bare minimum cleaning of her equipment and got a hold of her maps on which she made drawings before storming out again.
Unlike what would be common sense to most people, she didn't head towards Jean's personal house but towards the Knights of Favonius headquarters. Jean, the acting grand master of the Knights of Favonius, had a bit of an unhealthy habit of falling asleep in her work office while trying to do more and more work despite feeling tired. That was bringing recognition to her, but also sometimes placing her under some criticism... No matter what side was right to side on concerning Jean's current location, Mona guessed right as she could see some lights through Jean's office window. She exchanged quick salutations with the knights standing guard and quickly entered the Knights of Favonius headquarters. She then went straight to Jean's office which she entered by slowly pushing the door to avoid waking up Jean by knocking on the door. Much to her surprise, she got an immediate answer from that same lady she was there to see : "Good morn... night, Mona. What brings you here at such an earl... late hour?
-Have you been up all night? asked Mona with a worried voice. Even though you're passionate about your work, you have to stop at some point!
-I got some sleep earlier and woke up a few minutes ago... I swear this job is getting the best of me sometimes. How may I assist you? Visiting that late surely means there's something going on.
-I went on celestial observation with Diona tonight and... [Mona explains the whole observation situation and shows her maps to Jean]. Through observations and calculations, I've been able to pinpoint a location where the stars are guiding us. What is being shown to us, even though I can't precisely identify what it is, is located past Dawn winery, at the border with Liyue.
-That group of stars you showed me through the drawings, they look like a box of some sorts. Can it give us some clues as to what it might mean?
-Unfortunately, I can't make any quick assumption as to their meaning, but I think we should send an investigation party as soon as possible. There's a message given to us through that unusual orange constellation. I know this time of the
year is usually busy, but can we send an exploration party?
-It might be possible for one, maybe two people to go, but the city is busy with the celebrations coming up for Halloween. I'll wait until people wake up and try to organize a small expedition to investigate. Sadness that Lumine is currently in Inazuma... it would have been a perfect assignment for our traveler friend... You should get some rest, I know your nights are sometimes short, but you need to recharge your batteries too..."
Following that conversation with Jean, Mona got permission to spend the night in one of the Knights of Favonius guest rooms even though her apartement was close to the headquarters. That way, she would already be available to describe her observations as soon as activity would resume at the HQ... and that moment arrived fast. As soon as she woke up and left the guest room she spent the night in, she was told to head to the meeting room as soon as she would be ready, which she did immediately. The following hour or so was spent on a special meeting, discussing the observations of the previous night as well as their potential implications. After some debate between council members as to where the priorities were to be placed considering the upcoming fall celebrations in the making, a consensus was reached : a group of two people would be sent to investigate the location identified by Mona. The first member of the expedition would be the Captain of the Knights of Favonius Reconnaissance Company, Eula, whose usual tasks often included similar assignments. The second member of the expedition party, however, came out as a bit more of a surprise, especially considering said member volunteered to join the adventure; Lisa would be accompanying Eula towards the border with Liyue. Other adventurers were considered for the expedition, including Bennett, but he was already on an adventure with Razor and Fischl and was thus unavailable to dispatch the expedition in time.
While the Knights of Favonius council finished their metting on the expedition situation, Lisa left the metting room early to go back to her personal office to complete her preparations for the adventure. She agreed to meet Eula in an hour, in front of the HQ, and left the meeting room with a smile on her face. As soon as she got back into her office, she dived into a few of her study books, seemingly looking for something specific. She took one book, then two, then actually a small pile that she went through quickly until she finally identified the one she was looking for. She read a few pages, twice and with great care, and made a few notes on a piece of parchment which she then rolled carefully and placed in her adventure bag. She then gathered her adventuing equipment including the Eye of Perception, her catalyst of choice for the occasion, as well as her battle robes which didn't see action in a while thanks to her usual librarian tasks.
Once sure she had everything she might need during the adventure, Lisa left her office and exchanged a few words with Jean to make sure everything was under control. As Jean saw her friend leave her office, she noticed a smile of pure excitement and expectation on her face that she hadn't seen in literally years, strongly hinting there was something already she was not aware of brewing in the librarian's. She thought for a second and wished safe travels to her friend. After seeing the door closing behind Lisa, Jean thought for a second that it was rather unusual for Lisa to volunteer herself for an adventure... or maybe was it simply her imagination playing tricks on her? Either way, she was fully confident in her friend's ability to succeed in her adventure and happy to see her leaving the four walls of her office for once.
A few minutes later, Eula arrived in front of the Knights HQ with her traveling equipment. Wearing her usual light armor that allowed her ample and easy movement, she was holding the Wolf's Gravestone, her main battle weapon since she hadn't been lucky enough to get the Song of Broken Pines on the gacha... tough is the life of the people of Teyvat. Nevertheless, her weapon was still providing her very reliable services for which she was thankful. A few moments only after her own arrival at the meeting spot, Eula saw the main doors of the Knights HQ open and a wide-smile Lisa exiting the building. Both reunited, exchanged a few words, and headed directly to the Dawn Winery where they intended to share a quick meal before jumping straight into investigation around the location pinpointed thanks to Mona's study of the stars. As for Mona herself, she would stay in Mondstadt to keep reading the stars during the coming nights and try to learn more about the meaning of the mysterious constellation she discovered.
Holowin special - Act I - Mysterious Constellation – Completed!
To be continued...