Break over! I'm feeling a lot better! We can't all let a little sadness keep us down, can we? I came back from one of my patrols earlier, and found Jean waiting for me! She had a lot to talk about, mainly about some suspicious business at the Stone Gate Pass! Let's go!

The pass to Stone Gate is still so fun to explore! I had a few run-ins with some slimes and hilichurls, but it's nothing to the best Outrider in the Knights of Favonius! I think I've found it! There's a small blimp with what seems like an anemo slime in it. Those hilichurls getting more and more clever every day! I snuck up real close, almost in range to smell one of its guards, and I readied my bow. I focused, concentrating my vision's power into my arrow, and as I got ready to fire, a very loud explosion rang out.

I ducked my head before a shower of icicles exploded from above me and from my hiding spot I even got cut up a little bit. I raised my head to give a piece of mind to whoever just did that before I saw a familiar face and immediately went back down. That Traveller! I've been trying to avoid him lately, but he's been getting better at finding me! I hadn't fired yet, so they couldn't tell I'd been here yet. Looking at the Traveller, he was with Zhongli, a light blue-haired girl with a bow, and Bennett. They'd destroyed the slime powered device, so I assumed they'd be gone soon.

"Jean told us Amber would be at this mission… Maybe we should wait for her?" The traveller said. Of course Jean set me up!

"Amber isn't one to be late to a mission," Bennett commented, scratching his head.

"Perhaps we shouldn't have destroyed the balloon?" the can haired girl offered.

"We can always wait. She'll show up eventually if she hasn't already," Zhongli said.

And with that, they set up camp, staking me out. I've been in this spot for a few hours now, and my legs are getting sore. I swear that Zhongli met eyes with me at least three times, but maybe he was just seeing things. If I gave it a little more time, I could make a run for it. A few more agonizing hours passed before Zhongli gave the traveller a push.

"Perhaps you could use your elemental vision to see traces of her. I doubt she would be this late if what Bennett said is to be believed. Vision users leave residue behind if they stay in place too long. You may find if she's been here off of that," Zhongli said. The traveller activated his elemental sight and instantly spotted me. I quickly made a run for it.

"Amber! Wait!" the traveller called. As much as I wanted to, I ran as fast as I could. I didn't want to talk to him. My feet carried me far, but looking back, they hadn't carried me far enough. The traveller and his party were right behind me. I was almost at the stone gate, where I could lose them at the pressure plate with a wind current.

"Ganyu!" the traveller yelled. Suddenly, the bridge below my feet froze over, rooting me in place. I turned around, seeing them gaining on me. I tried to melt the ice with my vision, but before I could, the traveller erected a massive wall behind me, trapping me. "Let's talk!"

"Ehe… I guess you caught me," I said, trying to edge away. The Traveller caught on pretty quickly and held me by the shoulders. I looked away, but his face was directly in mine. It was so embarrassing!

"Why are you avoiding me!" he asked. He stared into my soul, and I felt all the repulsion and sadness I was hiding spill out.

"Don't you hate me? I'm so useless aren't I? You can't wait to replace me?! Did I ever mean anything to you!?" I yelled at him while my voice raised a few octaves because I got too personal. He seemed stunned, while the other party members looked at him very inquisitively. He tried to stutter something out but didn't realize that the wall he put up had disappeared, giving me another opportunity to run, which I took.

I looked back and saw him reaching out but being held back by Zhongli. I guess I had escaped for now.

XXXXX

Something tells me Jean and the others caught on to what happened between the traveller and me. Jean came by and offered some coffee she made to help me feel better, but I insisted I was fine. Jean seemed a bit irritated but told me to take the week off while she went off to deal with business. I had the week to myself, so I took off around town, enjoying the wind currents. That may have been a mistake though. That one drunken bard was sitting on one of the roofs and caught me. The wind suddenly messed up and I was forced to land right next to him.

"What's up?" the bard asked.

"Nothing," I replied.

"Your journal disagrees with you," the bard said playfully. I frantically checked, and of course, it was gone from my back pocket and in his hand.

"Hey!" I asked, reaching for it. He ducked away and started reading from it very loudly with his lire. I was dying of embarrassment, and as I tried to get it, he seemed to just float away.

"Traveller is a jerk~ He is so mean~," he said. I think he started to see tears in my eyes, so he stopped. He sat down again and let me snatch the journal back.

"Want to talk?" the bard asked me. I had nothing better to do, so I took a seat next to him again. He saw me holding the journal tight and insulted me! Who was this bard and why was he so annoying and funny?

I asked him if I was useless, but then he just came back and said 'to who?' I thought he was just messing with me again, but he hit me with another bomb. 'Does it matter if the Traveler uses you?' he said. I thought long and hard and said yes.

'Then you want to mean something to him?'

Before I even understood what he was telling me, he smiled at me flushing. I yelled all sorts of things at him before I calmed down, but in the end, it wouldn't matter how I felt. He believed I was bad, and he didn't want me around. The bard seemed to be reading my mind, smiling playfully. He pointed at the missing person posters I put up.

'You're the only one who's helped him without asking. I'm rooting for you!' he said, jumping down from the roof and disappearing into the streets. I was really flustered and yelled some things at him that I really shouldn't have, and all I heard in response was an 'ehe.'