Sorry about the delay guys. It's been a very hectic two weeks for me, but I'm hopefully back on track.

"Three Weeks!"

Verr Goldet winced, rubbing her ear before calmly crossing her hands in front of her. Next to her, she could feel her husband stiffen but remain quiet non the less. Sighing she raised her hand.

"Please I know it's not what you want to here Ms. Amber," The innkeeper started calmly before lowering her hand. "The whopperflower variant, commonly called the vampire flower, is a well-known menace around here. Not only does the venom it secretes cause anticoagulation it also causes necrosis and delayed wound healing at the puncture site. We provided you with anti-venom to stop the first half of the venom's effects but unfortunately, you will need additional time to heal."

Across the room, Amber seemed to deflate in front of Verr Goldet's eyes. If it had been different circumstances the older woman would have even felt a little bad for the poor thing. Casting a glance over the window Verr Goldet eyed up the smaller woman's travel companion. Childe, as he had introduced himself, seemed completely disinterested in the ongoing conversation, choosing instead to watch the clouds go by outside the window. It seemed odd that he had decided to be quiet now of all times. Less than twenty-four hours ago he had been threatening to lay waste to Verr Goldet's lobby as he held a half-dead girl in his arms

Verr Goldet frowned. She still had bloodstains on the stairs she needed to get Huai'an to clean. The guests had nearly all gone into a panic and it had taken her most of the evening to get everyone to calm back down. Still, Verr Goldet couldn't shake the sight of Childe holding Amber's limp form from her mind-the look of panic on his face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout." Amber lowered her head, shaking Verr Goldet out of her thoughts. "It's just isn't there any way to make the wound heal faster?"

Verr Goldet sighed. "There's an ointment made by the Babu pharmacy in Liyue Harbor that shortens the healing time to just five days, but with the festival, right around the corner even our normal order of medicine for the Inn has been delayed, by the time I set an order and had someone bring the ointment it could be very much a week at least before we even receive any of it."

Amber's face fell looking even more stricken than she had to start with. "I'm sorry, it's just I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"I assure you, your life is much more important than anything else at the moment." Verr Goldet waved a hand in front of her herself. "Plus I and my husband will be happy to let you stay here as you recover."

"There's no need for that."

Finally seeming to be interested in the conversation, Childe turned away from the window shooting Verr Goldet a blinding smile. "I'll be escorting the young lady here to Liyue Harbor myself."

Verr Goldet frowned. "I must say I very much-"

Childe raised his hands cutting her off. "I understand your worries are all biased on good intentions, but I also have a time-sensitive matter that I must attend to in Liyue Harbor and since Babu Pharmacy is also in the Harbor it only makes sense that I and my partner go there as soon as possible."

"What business could be more important than your wife's health?" Huai'an crossed his arms over his chest giving the other man a stern look.

Verr Goldet felt like slapping her face into her palm. Huai'an was always so oblivious to these types of things. Poor Amber's face had turned just as bright as her headband and Childe's face had gone as still as stone.

"We are not married."

The sound of them saying it at the same time almost made Verr Goldet laugh. The younger two jumped looking at each other before quickly finding something else to look at. Ah, being young was so nice sometimes. Verr Goldet remembered being in a very similar situation when she was much younger, in a much different setting. A lot had changed since then. Huai'an's ability to read a room on the other hand…

"What my husband means," Verr Goldet started, casting a glare at her husband behind her. "Is that surely you can place your urgent business on hold if it is for the good of your travel companion."

"No, unfortunately, I can't." Childe's tone was flat and final, even if he kept his nonchalant appearance. "I appreciate your concerns but I'm very capable of getting my friend here to Liyue Harbor in one piece."

Ver Goldet felt her mouth form a thin line, but before she could retort Amber was already shaking her head.

"I appreciate your concern Verr Goldet and I don't want to disrespect you in any way after all you've done for me, but I need to get Liyue Harbor." The younger woman sat up a little straighter trying to make herself look more in charge. "And I assure you I am prepared to do what it takes."

The way Amber's eyes seemed to shine, Ver Goldet knew her words would simply fall on deaf ears. Sighing she simply bowed before standing back up.

"Well at least let me have the chef prepare a meal for you before you leave." Ver Goldet smiled tilting her head to the side. "Can't have you travel on the empty stomach now can I?"

Amber seemed to light up at the mention of food before eagerly shaking her head. "Oh, that sounds wonderful."

Ver Goldet cast a look to the girl's traveling companion, but Childe seemed to have found the window more interesting then her already. Sighing the innkeeper turned and left the room feeling her husband right on her heels.

"That Childe fellow is quite…" Huai'an trailed off following his wife as she descended the staircase back down to the main floor.

"Suspicious?" Verr Goldet paused looking at her husband over her shoulder. "The Amber girl seems innocent enough as well as the little boy. Him, though, I don't trust."

"I assume you've already reported this to her." Huai'an crossed his arms over his chest looking back up at the guest rooms. "Still if that boy has any ill intentions toward the young lady I would prefer to just deal with him here."

Ver Goldet snorted. "You saw the way he acted when he brought her in here. As I do recall I remember a certain mercenary acting the same way on my behalf many years ago."

Huai'an's whole face went red as he quickly looked away rubbing the back of his head. "That was a completely different set of circumstances, and besides you ended up marrying that mercenary."

"Exactly."

:.

"Does it hurt? Do you want more soup? More water? I'll get you more—"

"Teucer I'm fine really." Amber laughed reaching over and rubbing the boy's head. "Besides if I eat another bite I might explode."

The younger boy's eyes went as wide as saucer plates. "I don't want big sister to explode! Big Brother! Big sister can't explode we got—"

Childe's hand grabbed the edge of Teucer's hat pulling it down over his eyes. "He who worries to much about how long a frozen fish needs to cook is either going to eat it raw or charred flesh."

Teucer frowned before shoving his hat back up and glaring at his older brother. "Fine." He mumbled. "But I'm still going to get Big Sister some more water."

Before Amber could even retort the boy was out of the room abandoning his plate of half-eaten food. Groaning Amber rubbed her temples before leaning back in her chair. The motion made her wince. Verr Goldet had lent her some clean clothes. Old things from a time long forgotten the older woman had said as she handed them over with a smile. Amber looked down taking in her new outfit. The pants fitted well but the shirt left her mid-drift exposed showing a layer of bandages that wrapped her torso. Frowning Amber could help to think what Jean and others would say if they saw her now. Amber shook her head trying to clear it of the thought.

"Something on your mind." Childe paused lowering the soup from his mouth. He was still wearing the same white shirt the first few buttons under his chin left undone. Amber had caught herself staring at his collar bone more the once already.

"Nothing," the Outrider muttered shoving another spoon full of soup into her mouth. The pain from her wound must have been clouding her mind. Ever since she had woken up Childe had seemed different. He was softer towards her, words not so buttered up or sharp. The image of him on his knees at her bedside, blue eyes burning in her soul floated to the surface of Amber's mind. Coughing she choked on her soup feeling her whole face flush.

"Hey, easy there."

To add insult to injury Amber felt Childe's hand slide over her fingers pulling the soup spoon away. His hand was way too soft and Amber felt her face burn. She must still be suffering from all the blood she had lost. Yes, that was it, Amber thought taking a deep breath. The Outrider had just had a near-death encounter and it had left her brain a little fried. Now she just need to pull herself back together.

Looking over at Childe Amber took in the curve her his nose and angle of his cheekbones. It wasn't like the guy wasn't attractive. Amber couldn't lie about that part, but she assured herself that in no way was she the least bit attracted to him. Staring Amber watched Childe dip his spoon in his bowl and raise it to his lips before pausing, blue eyes snapping up to lock with hers.

"Is there something on my face?"

Amber nearly jumped out of her skin. "No! I mean yes! I mean-I-I-we should talk about what the plan is!"

Childe frowned tilting his head at her. "Plan?"

"Yeah," Amber shook her head turning her face away to trying to hide how red it had gotten. "You swore you'd help me find my grandfather! So we should start discussing a plan! I was thinking along the lines of missing person posters."

"Posters?" Childe's frown deepened. "Don't you think that is a mute point now? How long has your grandfather been missing anyways?"

Amber opened her mouth then closed it again, before casting her eyes down and staring at her cup of tea. Picking it up she took a sip before quickly putting it back down.

"Four years," Amber muttered the words under her breath feeling the familiar stab of loneliness in her gut.

"Did he leave any clue at where he went?" Childe had put his soup spoon down leaning his face in his hand as he rested his elbow on the tabletop.

Amber shook her head. "No. Just one day I walked into his office and he was just gone."

"So what makes you think he's in Liyue?"

For a while, the Outrider didn't' say anything simple staring down at her empty bowl of soup. It was hard talking about her grandfather in front of other people. She had kept her feelings bottled down for so long it seemed otherworldly to be opening up about it suddenly. Especially given her current company, still, Amber looked up making sure to stare directly into Childe's eyes.

"You swore you'd help me right?"

Childe didn't even blink. "I swore a blood oath. I'd die before I would break it."

Taking a deep breath Amber stood up. Wincing she reached into her bag and pulled out her map. Luckily it had survived her attack unscathed. Unrolling it Amber turned and handed it to Childe.

"That's my grandfather's handwriting. I'd know it anywhere."

Childe held the map with two hands inspecting the scribbled half-burnt scrape glued over Liyue Harbor. His face was far from impressed.

"That's not a lot to go on," Childe said handing the map back. "Where did you find it anyways?"

"The Mondstadt library. Someone hid it there, I know it." Frowning Amber ran her figure over the hastily written numbers before rolling the map back up. "I just don't know why."

"My guess to keep for safekeeping." Childe leaned back in his chair turning his chin up to the ceiling. "Hard to say why all the secrets though. Was your grandfather into some shady business or something?"

Amber bristled. "My grandfather was the leader and founder of the Outrider sect of the Knight of Favonious. He was revered by the people around him and for your information-"

"Hey, easy there fire bunny." Childe slipped a finger over Amber's lips making her stop mid-sentence. "No need to get all worked up I'm just throwing out ideas that's all."

Amber could feel the blood run to her face. Childe's skin felt soft against her lips and Amber jerked back sending him a glare.

"Well I would prefer if you didn't insult my grandfather's legacy," she snapped. "Besides the main reason he probably left was me. I wasn't exactly a gold star kid growing up."

Saying it out loud only made Amber want to cry. The fear she had held onto for so long was now out in the open. Amber knew that growing up she had been more of a problem child than anything else but, she never had stopped to consider how much pressure it put on her grandfather. Plus Amber's grandfather would always come and bail her out if she got in too deep, even after she had joined the outrider group. Maybe one day it had all be just too much for him. Maybe she had been too much for him.

Childe snorted. "Doubtful," he opened his eyes leveling Amber with a flat look. "Family doesn't abandon family. I can tell you this if your old gramps loved you as much as you love him he didn't just leave because you were a handful, so do yourself a favor and stop blaming yourself."

Later Amber would blame it on the fact she was still tired from her ordeal, but she couldn't stop the tears sliding down her face. She felt her face scrunch up feeling the weight of four years of guilt come crashing down around her ears. Amber didn't even realize she needed to hear those words till they were out of Childe's mouth and right now she wasn't sure she could comprehend what she was feeling.

Choking Amber raised her hand to her mouth as the tears picked up volume Childe's face turning into one of complete panic.

"Hey," he started raising his hands. "Hey, why are you crying? Get ahold of yourself there's nothing to cry about. Uh, please don't cry. I'm really not good with ugly crying."

Amber could help but laugh feeling herself let go of something she had buried so it was hard to even describe it any more. "Idiot." She whispered under her breath before rubbing her eyes clear of her tears and slapping her face with both of her open palms.

Childe was right this was no time for crying.

"So, what did your parents say after your Grandfather disappeared?"

Childe's next question caught the Outrider off guard.

"My parents died when I was nine." Amber blurted out before really thinking about her words.

"Oh," Childe was quiet for a while staring at her with a new look Amber hadn't seen on his face before. "Sorry about that."

"I," Amber swallowed suddenly feeling the need to look anywhere but Childe's eyes. "It's not a big deal. I don't really remember them well. They were both adventures and they left on this big mission when I was six to explore this ruin across the ocean, but…they were supposed to come back in three years, and then one day my Grandfather got a letter. Their ship had disappeared in a storm with no survivors."

Amber could see the memory of the tears in her Grandfather's eyes as he held her close as he sobbed. She had been little back then, even younger when her parents had left of their journey never to return. When Amber had gotten older and realized the weight of her situation she had tried her hardest to remember what her parents had looked like, but all she could summon up were foggy memories of hugs and kisses to her forehead. Many of the older knights had told Amber as she had grown up she was the spitting image of her mother, though Varka would always chime in that Amber's eye were her grandmothers, but the comments had always made Amber feel awkward. Both women were strangers to her. Her grandmother had died before she was even born. The only blood family Amber had ever truly known had been her Grandfather.

Across the room, Childe was quiet. Amber didn't have it in her to look at his face. She didn't want to see pity. Especially coming from Childe. There were plenty of orphans in this world, many that had been handed a harder hand than Amber ever had. The thought made Amber remember her old friend, Collei. Compared to her Amber had no room to complain.

"So what do you think the numbers mean?" Childe asked breaking the silence reaching over and grabbing his cup of tea.

Amber shook her head turning back to look at him. "I don't know. I think it's a time but when or why I don't have any idea. I know it's not a lot to go on but it's the only lead I have and I'm not about to just let it go."

Childe smiled at her the corners of his lips pulling all the way up as he showed white teeth. To Amber, he almost looked mischievous, if not excited. She had seen that look on him before. It had been in the clearing right before he had come down on her in their fight.

"Lucky for you Amber," Childe said. "I'm always up for a challenge."

:.

Ningguang sat in her office reading the same report for about the sixth time in a row. The words never changed no matter how many times she read it, but what she was reading, she was still having a hard time registering in her brain. Especially when her red eyes scanned over the words "possibly romantically involved," for what felt like the hundredth time.

It just wasn't possible. The Tianquan stared at the offending piece of paper before sitting it back down and crossing her arms over her chest glaring down at the coded message. Maybe Verr Goldet was going soft in her as she got older. Maybe her intuition wasn't as sharp as it used to be when Ningguang had struck deal with the older women years ago. Still…

Standing up Ningguang walked over to her window. Her Jade Chamber was gone but she had specifically purchased the highest room in Liuli Pavillion so she could still look out over the harbor as she mused. One day she would soar above the people of this land again, but for now, Ningguang was happy to use this place till that time came.

If for some off chance Verr Goldet had hit the nail on the head and this mystery Mondstadt knight had caught the Harbinger's eye, befriending her would give Ningguang a large strategic foothold over the Fatui that she had been struggling with since the death of Rex Lapis. The Knights of Favonius were renowned for their order and upholding of their Archon's belief in freedom for all, and Verr Goldet description of the girl screamed naïve gentleness.

Ningguang cupped her chin tilting her head up to the moon. Smiling she tapped a jeweled gloved nail against her lips feeling a smile forming.

Things were about to become very interesting.

:.

He was floating.

Childe opened his eyes to see the water swirling around him. It was dark and he couldn't feel any bottom touching his feet. He vaguely thought he needed to breathe soon but opened his mouth and found that he was fine. He didn't air.

Suddenly Childe felt fingers touch his arm, thin fingers clutching his shirt, forcing him to look down.

Amber started back up at him, golden eye boring into his. She looked small and petite next to him floating in the bizarre bubble of water. Were they in the ocean perhaps? The thought swam around Childe's mind before he realized Amber shouldn't be here. She was still hurt. She shouldn't be swimming next to him.

Reaching out Childe grabbed her waist about ready to yell at her before realizing how soft she felt. How big his hands looked on her slim curve of her waistline. What was he just about to say. Childe's mind seemed fuzzy like he was thinking a thousand thoughts at once. He needed to get them to the surface before Amber hurt herself, but he watched as Amber moved closure leaning up till their noses were touching her lips ghosting over his.

Whatever Childe had been thinking seemed to suddenly abandon him. All he could see was Amber eyes staring at him half-lidded as she leaned in closure whispering into his ear.

"Take me."

With a jerk, Childe nearly fell out of his chair as he startled awake. He could feel a sheen of sweat all over his body. Groaning he rubbed a hand down his face. It had been a dream, he thought, just a dream.

"Childe?"

Hearing Amber's voice didn't make Childe feel any better. Opening an eye he looked over to see Amber laying on her side propping herself up rubbing her eyes. Childe must have woken her open as she blinked at him in a sleepy haze before yawning.

"You shouldn't sleep in the chair." The Outrider mumbled punctuated by another yawn.

Childe only hummed suddenly realizing his pants felt extremely tight at the given moment he was extremely thankful for the dark lighting the room had. Shifting he leaned forward giving Amber a small smile.

"I'm fine," he said thankful his voice didn't sound forced. "Go back to sleep."

Yawning again Amber just nodded before laying a backdown and rolling back over to her back. Not even a minute had passed and Childe could hear her breathing even before she started to snore.

Staring at her Childe took in Amber's face in the moonlight. Her skin looked soft and pale, with high cheekbones and wide deep-set eyes. The image of from his dream flashed through his mind. Her golden eyes staring up at him the feeling of her body pushing up against his.

Childe slapped a hand over his mouth and stood up, before quickly taking a few steps back. He must have been losing his mind, he thought before turned toward the door. He needed to get out of this room and get some fresh air because right now his face felt like it was on fire.