5.1

"That went well."

Exhaling, Cyno pinched his brow, levelling Candace with a glare.

"Problem, Cyno?" Candace smiled, eyes glittering with amusement. "Would you like some tea to calm your nerves?"

"No," Cyno lowered his gaze, "Thank you for offering."

"Of course, I'll offer every time."

Snorting, Cyno shook his head. "Your resolve is impressive."

"It's more of a way to calm myself, at this point."

The two shared a short laugh.

"Am I missing something here?"

The two startled, turning to Dehya, who was standing nearby, hands on her hips.

"Need me to leave you two in private." Dehya drawled, raising a brow.

"No, there's no need for that, Dehya, I apologise." Candace smiled at her. "We appear to have gotten caught up in our own conversation."

"A conversation that started out of nowhere like that?" Dehya narrowed her gaze, before waving a dismissive hand. "It's fine, just messing. Glad to see you two getting along."

"Naturally." Cyno slouched, a long sigh escaping him, full of eternal suffering.

"Come now, Cyno., don't act like that." Patting his shoulder, Candace shot Dehya a smile that was on the verge of a grimace. "Cyno means… well…" Her smile fell as she dropped her head into her hands with her own long suffering sigh, "We've had plenty of time."

Dehya stared.

"What."

5.2

"You had no reason to rush here." Candace murmured, a small smile playing at her lips as Cyno approached Aaru village, a month early.

"I... wanted to be sure." Cyno looked back the way he'd come from, frowning. "I woke up on route out of the Akademiya, about to go into my exile. I wasn't certain if you'd still be here, if it was over."

"I'm still here, Cyno." Candace rested a hand on his arm, faintly guiding him into the village. "It appears this time, we are simply further back than usual. While unexpected, this wasn't an impossibility. We don't know everything."

Nodding, Cyno sighed. "I suppose then, now that I'm here, would you allow me to stay?"
"Of course, Cyno. You will always be an honoured guest of the village."

5.3

"Hello there, General, gifts from afar?" Candace chuckled as Cyno escorted Khalil back into the village.

"May as well skip the hassle this time," Cyno lightly pushed the village keeper towards his grandson. "I'm not in the mood this time, we have more important matters."

"You could say that." Candace sighed. "Think we'll make progress?"

"No." Cyno looked out towards where the Traveler and Alhaitham were talking with Dehya. "Not this time. Eventually, we will."

"A shame." Candace led the way back to the centre of Aaru village. "How about we take a nice, calming stroll through the desert tonight? This repeat, rather than searching for new information, we can think on what we do know."

"How infuriating."

5.4

"What are you two doing?" Dehya stared incredulously at Candace and Cyno who were... trying to make an electro charged wall of water...?

"Calm down, Dehya, it's a simple test." Candace waved a hand as Cyno leapt over the new barrier, leaving the village. "For our potential protection?"
"What." Dehya raised her gaze to the nearby hill where Cyno appeared with... a treasure hoarder? Where'd he'd find the guy?

"Ready?" Candace called up to him, spear summoned and at the ready.

Dehya watched as Cyno gave a nod and... he chucked the treasure hoarder... into the electro charged wall.

"It works." Cyno tapped the treasure hoarder with his staff, who remained twitching on the ground. "If I up the charge, it could kill."

"What-!" Dehya looked between the two rapidly, disbelieving.

"Perfect, that solves our problem." Candace smile, looping her arm with Cyno's, who didn't seem too opposed. "Thank you for your aid, Cyno."
"Of course, it was a worthy cause."

The two dispelled the wall, and smiling, Candace turned to Dehya, who stood shock still, gaping at the two.

"Dehya, we should gather everyone to retreat into their homes, a storm will be here soon, as will some new guests."

Dehya listlessly nodded, slowly walking away from the two.

...What is wrong with them?

5.5

"Ohoho, General Ma-ha-Ma-traaa~"

Cyno turned, grimacing at the merchant, Dori, who was waving at him, rather rapidly.

"Over heeerrre!"

"Your hand will fall off if you keep doing that." Walking over, Cyno levelled the merchant with a mild glare. "What do you want."

"No need to act so standoffish, General." Dori leaned back. "I've got some lovely information for you, it'll help with your peace of mind…"

"What shall help with my peace of mind, is knowing how you're here."

Dori did a long slow look around Aaru village, before turning back to him with a small grin. "Whatever are you on about, darling General?"

At his stare, Dori frowned.

"I'll tell you for a price."

"No." Cyno crossed his arms. "Extortion. I can and will arrest you."

"No need to do that." Dori waved her arms around, sweating. "You've already proved that , I'd really rather not go back there. Say, for 5 million mora, I'll get a designer to upgrade your nasty looking cells, a discounted price just for you!"

"I haven't arrested you before."

"Ugh," Dori slouched against a wooden fence. "That's not my fault, how am I supposed to keep track of when you do that? I haven't had long enough to figure out the exact timings of this expansion, and with you in the loop now too, all my hard effort was for naught."

"You're repeating time." Cyno frowned, internally sighing for his never-ending pain.

He was completely fine with Candace looping alongside him, she was a fine companion, and they got along well. Most evenings were spent quietly drinking tea under the dark skies of the desert, staring out at the Wall and the Mausoleum, a brief moment of respite that was sorely needed.

But Dori? Absolutely not.

Why couldn't Tighnari have shown up instead? Oh, well, he didn't know if Tighnari would even be aware, and he couldn't go into the desert, but still… Cyno couldn't exactly leave.

Not while Candace was here, Cyno refused to leave her and Aaru village alone. The situation was too precarious to endanger people who should not be punished any more.

"Much longer than you, buster." Dori levelled him with a look. "You're a bit behind on things, and there's no way you were looping before me. So, how many loops you been through?"

"Six, this is the seventh."

"Hehe, way lower than expected." Dori snorted into her hand, looking up at Cyno with a near pitying gaze. "Tell ya what, since you're new to this whole thing, I'll help you out, tell you all you need to know. How about… ten million mora, as a deposit."

"You do deposits?" Cyno raised a brow.

"Well, no. Sometimes for exclusive clients, but that's been rescinded given the circumstances." Dori scratched her head, "I'm repurposing it into a looping exclusive benefit. Haven't worked out the details just yet, your arrival was… unexpected, to say the least."

Cyno pulled a small amount of power from his vision, before withdrawing, and repeating the process.

They hadn't made much progress on their own, unfortunately. What with the odd timings of the loop repeats, and Candaces reluctance to leave Aaru village, the only way to gather information was if it came to them.

Which it had. Unfortunately.

"Give me the full scope of this exchange."

"Ten million mora each loop for the next one hundred loops."

Cyno narrowed his eyes, taking in Doris's expression. Dori seemed fully expectant that he'd be able to reach that absurd amount, and one hundred... It implied at least a general idea of the amount of loops Dori has experienced so far.

"This cost also," Dori spun some shiny mora in-between her fingers, looking up at Cyno through half-lidded eyes. "covers your looping companion... Ill share all I can with the both of you."

"Now now, what to share, what to share." Dori rubbed her hands together, eyes darting eagerly around the chieftain's house.

"Explain what's going on, would you?" Candace queried, serving them all tea. "May we ensure this is quick? Alhaitham and the Traveler should return by the end of the day."

"Dehya?" Cyno stared across the table at Dori, unwilling to take his eyes off her.

"She should be with Isak," Candace smiled. "She won't be back for a while."

"Okkaayyy, if you're both done, can we get to the interesting stuff?" Dori leaned on her elbows, "What do you two know so far."

The two exchanged a look before Cyno spoke.

"We are in a time loop, that either begins upon the Traveler and Alhaitham's arrival to Aaru village, or a month sooner."

"We can access almost anything we leave in our visions in the next repeat." Candace spoke up, "We've tested some things that simply won't remain."

"Like Divine knowledge?" Dori snickered at their looks. "Come now, you think I haven't done the same? I've been at this for a while, I've stolen that old thing so many times, it's a great source of mora, and a nice way to screw over that Scribe."

Candace nodded, "How many times for you?"

"Aha, sorry, but that one's a secret." Dori held up a finger to her lips. "I'm not going to confirm anything relating to myself, though there are others that can probably guess the right amount."

"Others." Cynos gaze sharpened. "There are others looping, who?"

"Nothing confirmed, I haven't exactly made myself known to them, but my guess is three. The only one I'm one hundred percent certain of, is a dancer from the Grand Bazaar, Nilou."

"How so?" Candace sipped her tea, "You haven't approached her, is it the same way you identified us?"

"Kinda." Dori traced the outside of her own cup. "Let's see, you two don't personally know her, so you wouldn't be able to tell, but from what I've observed, she's been acting incredibly odd. Nilou's a secluded girl, grew up in Sumeru City, never left. In the loops? She goes to Caravan Ribat, Gandharva Ville, helps with withering zones, and the Sabzeruz Festival is differently nearly every time."

"I see." Candace nodded again, looking much more thoughtful. "As for us?"

"Well, I mostly picked up on you two thanks to him." She jutted her head in Cynos direction. "The loops that begin a month ahead of time? They start when the Traveler arrives in Sumeru, and General man over here tends to just be leaving Sumeru around that time. Pretty interesting that he suddenly stops taking his usual route and instead goes on a spree of apprehending canned knowledge dealers on his way, right?"

"I told you I'd aid you with that." Candace sighed, looking over at Cyno.

"It was on the way here, there was no need." Cyno crossed his arms. "Dori, continue."

"Right, well, I've got suspicions on a girl named Collei, shes a forest ranger from Gandharva Ville, spends a lot of time with Nilou."

Cyno held his breath. The last time he'd seen Collei had been a couple weeks before his exile begun. She only went into Sumeru City to purchase herbs, and Nilou never left Sumeru City. She'd never mentioned her, so the chances of them being so close without the influence of the loop was miniscule...

"Third ones tricky, its two people, but I can't tell which is looping." Dori clicked her tongue, frustrated. "Watchleader Tighnari, from Gandharva Ville, and a girl who's name I still don't know, but I'm fairly certain she's someone influential from the Akademiya.. I'd never seen that girl in my life, but the moment these loops started up, she's everywhere , and Tighnaris not far from her when she shows up. Its hard to pinpoint which is looping, cause sometimes they act like they're not, and I can't really use some of Tighnari's odd actions as proof considering Collei could be the one influencing that."

"She's not like that." Cyno turned his head away from them, pondering. "I know them both, but I need to see them myself to determine this."

"Right, well, best proof I've got on Tighnari is this one variant loop where he showed up at Gandharva Ville looking real mad and... insulted? Might've been cause I basically stole his job, maybe. Like, it wasn't on purpose, I'd never offend such an important client and potential business partner.."

"Ah, excuse me." Candace raised a hand, calling attention to herself. "I am thankful for this knowledge, but we should use our time wisely and discuss the more pertinent details, you mentioned a 'variant' did you not?"

"Wow, no variants, lucky." Dori straightened her back, adopting a serious manner. "The loops aren't just repeats, they can also be wildly different. Examples being," She held up three fingers. "replacement, role swap, or general changes that may or may not be plausible, think that's one's going to be coined as just a variant."

"Replacement?" Cyno furrowed his brow.

"Mhm, had one just before the expansion. Replacement seems to be where we can replace anyone in Teyvat, and no non-looper can tell the difference. The one that happened recently was I became the Tianquan of Liyue, Ningguang. Loop memories gave me all her memories, and while people called me my own name and saw me, in their eyes, I was also Ningguang."

A brief pause before Dori continued, struggling the smallest bit with her words.

"Role swap is different, its like replacement, in that you take another's role, but more plausible. For example, Tighnari never comes to Gandharva Ville, and remains in the Akademiya." Dori raised a hand as Cyno opened his mouth to comment. "Listen, General, everything's possible. It's happened multiple times now."

Cyno grimaced, he knew all too well it was something that could happen, but considering the recent activities of the Sages, he reserved the right to feel highly offended on Tighnari's behalf for something that he would never allow to happen willingly.

"What I described is more like a variant, where something that could've happened does happen, but it's a role swap because in that loop, while it was plausible changes, they all changed just enough that each role was fulfilled. No extra people anywhere, it all slotted just perfectly. That Collei wasn't in Gandharva Ville that role swap either, but instead, someone named Faruzan replaced her role, while i slotted into Tighnari's place. Nilou became a student replacing Layla, so Layla became the Grand Sage, and the Grand sage ended up in the role of Miss Faruzan, and so on. Some roles rotated, others swapped. That's how that one's a role swap."

"Each slot perfectly filled…" Candace murmured, a dazed look to her eyes. "That's extraordinary. What is 'The Expansion'?"

"Hah, I took that line from a kids game," Dori snorted, finally drinking some of her tea in a quick manner. "See, here's the thing, this whole mess with you two, the Scribe, and the other two? That didn't exist fifteen loops ago. Thus, I've coined it an expansion! Rather than the loop ending after the Sabzeruz Festival, which is normally two to three weeks, now there's another week where the Traveler is does mora knows what, and then they go back to Sumeru city. Following that, eh…"

"You don't know?" Cyno narrowed his gaze. "You said fifteen, what do you mean by that?"

"Calm down, calm down, I'm getting to it. What I mean is the Traveler goes to Sumeru City again, then they're a bit all over the place. I can't figure out the exact details, it's way too dangerous for me to go anywhere near that mess!"

"What-" Candace took a breath, calming herself. "Is that why you've revealed yourself?"

"Pretty much." Dori shrugged, lips twisted into a frown. "Like, figured I'd meet you two before going to check out the others, easy mora to make up for the lack of over the past loops."

"Right, continue your previous point, please." Candace waved a hand, which she later moved to rub her forehead, a long sigh passing through her lips.

"This is tricky, I'll admit." Dori fiddled with some mora. "After a day the Traveler makes their way to Caravan Ribat, then goes into the desert. I'm a bit out of the loop for what goes on after, you two probably know the most. But my guess is an expansion is just the loop ending later, and ain't got no control over it. Whatever we would've done in our original timeline, is what's gonna happen, no knew knowledge or moras gonna change that. It's been fifteen loops since the expansion, you two started looping halfway through, before that, you were probably just repeating your original timeline with a couple small changes here and there."

"I see…"

The room trailed off into silence for a short while as the two digested the information given.

They'd had the vaguest of ideas on what had been happening, and not even Dori knew it all, though she was a big help in giving them the scope of it all.

It was a relief for Candace to hear it wasn't anything that could directly harm Aaru village. She'd been worrying tirelessly on how to proceed in her actions, withstanding from making major changes, she only altered minor trade deals to the villages benefit, and nothing more. It pained her to see sweet Jeht come into the village crying each morn, but Candace did not know how to aid the girl. Having a clear view of the path the desert sands would blow in their future, Candace was determined to aid Aaru village in a substantial way, to help the people be happy, to be safe, and along the way, she'll help others without uncertainty or fear.

5.6

"I'll be back soon, I swear it."

"There's no need to rush, Cyno. Take your time, this is important to you."

Cyno's footsteps were light as he made his way into Gandharva Ville, his body hidden in the shadows of the dark.

In the distance, where Collei's hut was, he could faintly hear breathless laughter and a whispered conversation.

Pausing, Cyno turned towards it, contemplating, before he shook his head, a faint sound made from the motion, and continued his way to Tighnari's hut, where he paused again.

The door was close, easily accessible. It was dark out, everyone but the two at Collei's hut would be asleep, the lamp by Tighnari's door extinguished, making it easy for him to access the hut while remaining in the shadows.

With a decisive nod, Cyno made his decision, and turned right back around.

He'd go through the window.

Candace's smile had been comforting, a hand on his shoulder as she guided him to the edge of the village.

"If they are apart of this repeat, do still remember to visit sometime? You'll always be welcome here in Aaru, Cyno, as will they, as honoured guests."

Steeling his resolve, Cyno grasped the top of the window and quietly moved inside the hut, where he remained attached to the wall as he took in the room.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'."

Tighnari stood before him, hands on his hips, a deadpan look on his face.

Cyno had that familiar sight.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure-"

"Get off the wall, you'll knock over the desk."

"Right." Gingerly, Cyno manoeuvred himself past the desk and onto the ground. "I wasn't sure you'd be here or if you'd be asleep."

"You made too much noise this time for that to happen." Tighnari drawled, leaning in towards Cyno. "Any comments on that, Cyno? You took a while getting up here, so noisy, I'm sure you've caused my ears pain."

Giving Tighnari a small smile, Cyno leaned against the wall. "Who's with Collei."

"A friend." Tighnari rolled his eyes, a fond smile lighting up his features. "Those two, they spend nearly every night they're both here sitting outside her home talking. Who knows what they have so much to talk about."

"Dance." Cyno suggested, carefully watching Tighnari's expressions. "Her friend is successful in it, it makes sense for a topic."

"Hah, right." Tighnari narrowed his eyes before shutting off the entryway of his home. "Say, where did you hear that from? You've been away for a long time, though I'm not surprised you'd have your ways of keeping up to date with some matters, this isn't one I'd class as quite the right material."

"I heard it from Dori, the Merchant." Cyno hesitated the smallest amount before letting his next words slip, a flickering flame of hope protected by the spirit. "While her methods are detestable, at times, she was very informative on looping. It helped, seeing as in the desert such information was scarce to come by."

"Oh." Tighnari turned to him, eyes widening. "Oh... So you're… ah, you're looping..?"

"Tenth loop, now." Cyno's eyes softened, and he let a slightly wider smile form as Tighnari raced forward and embraced him. "I've missed you, Tighnari."

Tighnari held onto him tight, feeling as though he were floating.

Nahida had said it was possible, and with the expansion he'd hoped. It'd been so long since he'd seen Cyno, and with the loops, he saw him rarely. The last time had been a year ago, but now…

"Don't leave us again, Cyno."

5.1 It's sometimes hard to remember not everyone knows what you're on about.
5.2 The loop doesn't always start at the expansion
5.3 A time to regroup, how about a walk to visit the local treasure hoarders?
5.4 It worked... kind of. They hadn't exactly accounted for the rifthounds tearing through reality to get past their wall. Oh well, still better than the Wall of Samiel.
5.5 Introducing Da-Da Da... Dori! Bit of a stealth looper who can't exactly go it alone anymore, at least she got a sweet deal for the hassle of revealing herself.
5.6 A long-awaited reunion.

Hello! We've officially reached the end of the 3.0 exclusive chapters, and now are onto 3.1, with a new cast of characters joining!
Thank you all so much for the support.

I'd like to give my thanks to the guest that notified me of the updated character tags. Without them I likely would have never realised, so thank you!

Due to the limit, I have decided to tag the four mains of the story so far, even though it pained me to tag Collei. The misspeling of her name on this site infuriates me to no end, I swear.

Please post any suggestions you may have, over the next week I will now be going back to edit any mistakes I can find from the 3.0 exclusive chapters, and will add a note to a future chapter to notify of when this is completed.
When done, I will not go back to those chapters any more for editing purposes.
Once again, thank you all for the support, and lets all enjoy 3.2!