Why was he the one that had to draw the short end of the stick?

The Fatui guard tried his hardest not to bounce from foot to foot as he stared at the man across the desk, but his inner sense of self preservation was screaming in the back of his head. The door was only three feet behind him but right now it felt a mile away.

Lord Childe, the eleventh Harbinger, was sitting at a large solid desk made of Liyue's finest dark wood, his feet propped up on top, black boots crossed over one another. When the guard had entered Childe hadn't even bothered a glance up staring down at a report he had, a look of sheer boredom marring his features. The guard stood at attention waiting for some form of acknowledgment that said it was okay for him to speak. It felt like a millennia had gone by before Childe finally said something.

"What?" The Harbinger's word was dry and short. He sounded annoyed and it made the hair on the back of the guard's neck stand up.

The Fatui guard raised his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. He suddenly felt extremely parched.

"We have received word for Snezhnaya." The guard finally was able to blurt out.

The look of utter boredom didn't even waver on Childe's face.

"And?"

Licking his lips the guard took a deep breath cursing his luck one last time. "It was an urgent letter from your mother Lord Childe"

That got the Harbinger's attention. Childe's eyes shot up from his paperwork and he pulled his legs down from the desk and onto the floor. He was half-standing when his volley of questions came one after another.

"What about? Is everything alright? Are my siblings alright? Did the old man finally kick the bucket?"

Childe placed his hands against the wood of the desk and fixed the guard with a glare. "Well?" the younger man snapped. "Out with it."

The guard couldn't help but sallow. His palms were starting to sweat. The Harbinger glare was like having a mountain placed on your head.

"It seems your younger brother decided to smuggle away on a ship again."

The guard saw Childe's shoulders stiffen then relax before sighing and placing his head in the palm of his hand. "Teucer." Childe pinched the bridge of his nose and looked up at the guard "Well where is he then, has he landed in the harbor yet?"

The Fatui guard coughed into his hand again trying to calculate how fast he could make a run for the door. "Well, there's been a…unfortunate development."

"What?" Childe's glare deepened making the guard almost piss his pants. "What do you mean 'unfortunate development'?"

"The ship…ummm." The guard coughed again and almost jumped out of his skin as Childe's fist came down on the desk his voice vibrating the room.

"Spit it out! Where is Teucer!"

"There was a storm." The guard's voice was nothing more than a rushed squeak. "The ship never made it to dock and its current location is unknown!"

Silence.

Across the room, Childe had gone rock still eyes wide as he stared down the other man. The Harbinger face twisted angry and furious, his vision flared and the air in the room suddenly became stifling and humid.

"Bring me Liyue's dock master." Childe's words were short, curt daggers. "Now!"

Amber looked up at the sun shining down through the trees with a hot heat that burned her skin. She was already developing a solid tan for the season, but today it was bordering unbearable. Just a few more hours she told herself as she made her way along Mondstat's eastern cliffs, and she would call it a day. So far it had been a pretty uneventful patrol.

She pictured sitting down to a plate of hard-earned sticky honey roast and felt drool form in her mouth. Her stomach gave an extra loud rumble as if in a sign of approval. She started to steer away from the cliff's edge making her way towards the tall rows of shady trees.

"Help!"

The sound of someone's voice made Amber spin around. She had heard that right? She strained trying to hear over the sound of waves crashing down on the rocks below her feet over the cliff.

"Someone help me!"

No someone was definitely in trouble. Feeling her outrider instincts go into overdrive Amber sprinted back to the edge of the cliff.

At first she couldn't see anything, just foam, and rocks. She squinted against the harsh sun before her eyes honed in on a lone little sand dune with a tall rock jutting up not far from the cliff's edge. Clinging to the side of the rock was a small boy desperately holding onto the slick edge as the tide surged up to around him.

"Hold on!" Amber yelled down taking a few steps back. "I'm coming to save you!"

Running forward Amber leaped into the air engaging her gliding gear. The updraft lifted her briefly before she folded her glider wings back and took a sharp descent down. She had to hurry, the tide was rising up fast the boy looked like his hold was depleting.

The boy must have heard her because he looked up big blue eyes taking in her form as she blocked out the sun one hand coming off the rock to reach up to her.

"No!" Amber yelled but it was too late. With a yell of shock, the boy slipped losing his hold and his head disappeared under the waves.

Amber dropped hitting the water, just as the tide pulled back. She fumbled before feeling a small hand grab her arm and she hauled the young boy back above the water. He spurted and coughed and clung he her she pushed him up onto the rock climbing up behind him. She had to think fast. The tide was already starting to come crashing back toward the cliff. She only had a few seconds before it knocks them off their small piece of rock and crushed them against the cliff wall.

Fumbling through her belt Amber grabbed the small vile to slime concentrate that she may or may not have been hiding and smashed it under her foot. She grabbed the boy tucking him into her chest as she engaged her glider gear just as the slime concentrate activated creating a sudden updraft. Together they shot upward the wave crash down under their feet. Tilting her gear Amber slowly let them drift to the shoreline well above the water before touching down and feeling the solid weight of ground under her feet.

"There you go." Amber let go of the boy and leaned down to look into his face. "Told you I'd save you."

The boy in question sniffled big blue eyes welling up with tears before throwing his arms around Amber's shoulders and bursting into sobs.

.

Through mouthfuls of honey sticky roast and the sound of utensils scraping along his plate, Amber learned quite a bit about her new companion.

His name was Teucer. He was from Snezhnaya. He had an older brother that was working in Liyue Harbor. He was one of seven siblings but his older brother was the most famous toymaker in the world. Said bother had missed his 10th birthday because he was too busy with work so Teucer decided he was going to come to see him. So he found a boat heading to Liyue, but he wasn't supposed to leave home without telling his parents. So he hid in a crate until the ship was out a sea, and apparently, he had experience with this technique in the past. Except for this time there was a very bad storm. His hide-away crate had been thrown from the deck and he nearly drowned. Somehow he had survived but by the time the storm past his ship was gone and he was stuck floating in the ocean.

"And then big sister saved me!" Teucer grinned ear from ear little cheeks bulging with food. "She whooshed down from a really high cliff and whooshed me back up! Big sister is the best glider Teucer's ever met!"

"Well I am the best in Mondstat," Amber said matter of factly, before hearing Jean clear her throat next to her.

"It was still a very dangerous situation." The acting grand master stated. "Both of you could have been killed. And," Jean cast Amber a small but pointed look. "The use of Aero slime concentrate is illegal in Mondstat, but, given the circumstance, I will let it slide for now."

Amber's face was a dark shade of red before ducking her head down whispering an apology under her breath. Kaeya's wispy laughter from across the table didn't make anything better.

"My, my." He said addressing the ten-year-old. "You have had quite an adventure. Does your brother know you were coming to visit him? Pray to tell what was the name of his factory aga-?"

Jean's heal slamming down onto Kaeya's foot under the table stopped his line of questioning. "He's ten." Amber heard her hiss at the other man under her breath.

On the other end of the table, Teucer was none the wiser, rubbing his belly after finishing off his plate. "That was delicious! Hey big sister can we go flying later? I've never been to Mondstat but I've read about it in books! Do you really have over a hundred windmills in the city?"

Amber laughed. "Maybe not a hundred, but we really should see if we can contact your bother Teucer. He must be worried sick."

The little boy seemed to deflate. "Yeah." He mumbled slouching down further in his chair. "But my sister always writes the letters for big bother so I don't know the address. I just know it's in Liyue Harbor. I went there once with a nice man but I don't know how to get there from here."

Jean sighed pushing her fingers to her temple. "We will have to find an available knight to accompany you to Liyue then, maybe we can even see if the adventures guild can give us a ha-."

"I'll do it!"

The words were out of Amber's mouth faster than she had intended and louder. Half the people in the tavern were staring at her now. Jean looked a little startled blinking at her in confusion.

"Amber you've never even been to Liyue." The acting grand master pointed out. "I would be better-"

"I've studied maps." The words blurted out of her lips before her mind was even done forming the sentences. "It's only a few days journey. As an outrider I've trained to be mobile and if I go we don't need to ask the adventures guild and besides it, uh…I'm always ready to expand my horizons!"

Jean's face was a cross between worry and confusion. Even Kayea was raising an eyebrow at her. Maybe she had come off too eager. Or desperate.

"Amber," Jean started.

"I want to go with big sister!" Teucer jumped up waving his hands above his head. "Big sister will be able to protect me from all the meany baddies!"

"I," Jean frowned pressing her lips together. She shot a look to Kayea but the other man just shrugged.

"It would be the most convenient way to solve the problem." The older knight pointed out. "Besides it's just a simple escort. Not much can go wrong."

Jean still didn't look pleased.

"Please miss awesome grand knight lady?" Teucer clasped his hands together looking up at Jean with big blue eyes. "Pretty please?"

Jean's mouth twisted before finally giving way into a sigh. "Fine." She relented before turning her attention back to Amber. "I will allow you to company Teucer to Liyue harbor to find his bother, then, return back to Mondstat. No side tours."

Amber's heart leaped into her throat. "Yes ma'am!" She saluted. "No side tours."

In her pocket, Amber could almost feel the hidden piece of paper she had found a few weeks before burning into her thigh. Soon, she thought to herself as Teucer hugged her leg. Soon she might find the answers she's been looking for. Everything lay in Liyue

.

Jean's frown hadn't left her face even as Amber lead Teucer away to explore the city. "I don't like this." She stated flatly to the man sitting beside her. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Kayea sighed. "You can't shield her forever." He replied. "She's a big girl now she'll be fine."

"But…" Jean's voice trailed off. "You don't think she knows do you?"

For a minute Kayea was quiet. "No. Her grandfather was extra careful to cover up his tracks."

"But still." Jean finally turned to look at him her face twisted in worry. "It would crush her."

"It would." Kayea couldn't lie to the other knight. "But that is only if she finds out the truth. Which she won't."

.