"Why do you keep checking your watch?" Wriothesley eyed his wife suspiciously over the rim of his teacup.

"No reason in particular, my dear." She hummed, dropping her arm to pick up her own cup of bubbly to take a drink from.

"Right," he drawled. "And is that also why you keep looking over towards the door? Expecting someone, dear?"

"Ha ha. Why don't you just keep drinking your tea, Wriothesley."

"Oh, so we're back to first names now?"

The gentle soul hushed her husband. She patted his thigh underneath the table, a silent way to announce that the conversation was finished for now.

"Lady Duchess! Your Grace!" The married couple looked up to see Aether and Paimon walking towards them. An extra bounce was in the little fairy's floating and an extra rosy hue seemed to halo the Outlander, something the Duchess has a sneaking suspicion has something to do with the blonde alchemist watching him from a low table in the center of the party. But the Duchess held her tongue. This time, at least.

"Ah, if it isn't one half of the two of the hour," Wriothesley greeted them, raising his teacup as well.

"It's shocking to see you two here," Paimon said, "Paimon didn't expect for you two to come."

"Of course I'd come. How could I miss the birthday of my two favorite starlings? Though, Neuvillette sends his best wishes as."

"Speaking of starlight, aren't there supposed to be two of you?"

"Ah. Lumine's over there." The sunny traveler pointed back towards the party. Through the crowd, the four could see Lumine sitting at a table in conversation with the cavalry captain of the Knight of Favonius, the owner of the very tavern they were in, and the librarian of the Knights of Favonius who graduated from Sumeru's Akademiya. The conversation seemed high at the table, especially between the bickering boys. The Traveler was laughing, but they could all tell the joy didn't reach her whole person. There was a golden glow missing from the star child.

"She looks tired," the Duke expressed his concern.

"Yeah. She's been like that since we left for Sumeru," Aether answered.

"Sumeru? I thought you two were stopping by Liyue on your way to Mondstadt." Lumine had been so excited to go that the Duchess couldn't have forgotten their planned route.

"We were," Aether answered. "But on our way to Liyue, we got a letter that something had happened in Sumeru that needed our assistance. After we resolved that, we were called back here in a hurry and had to use a waypoint."

"So she's overwhelmed." Wriothelsy concluded.

"And overworked," the Duchess added.

"She's also been acting really weird, too." Paimon added. "Whenever we would have little, bitty breaks, Paimon would find Lumine just staring out into space. Paimon would call and call her name, but she couldn't hear Paimon."

"And wistful, too." The Duchess checked her watch again.

"I think I'm starting to see where you're going with this, Mrs. Matchmaker." Wriothesley muttered the nickname under his breath low enough that the Traveler and Paimon wouldn't be able to hear him. His wife merely patted his thigh, but a small smile slipped out. The small smile grew wider when she saw the door to the tavern open from her periphery.

The Duchess discreetly watched as the newcomer made his way over to Lumine's table. The squabbling and communication at the table seemed to stop mid-conversation as they noticed the newcomer coming closer towards them. Lumine noticed the energy spike last, though she froze. She seemed to recognize the strange energy. She turned around quickly.

"Xiao!"

Lumine almost knocked over her chair in her hurry to get up and jump into the adeptus' open arms. All eyes were on the two when the luminary pulled him into a searing kiss that stunned the brains and stung the hearts of almost all who were watching.

"Huh! How did Xiao get here?!" The little fairy exclaimed, while Aether's jaw was on the ground. "And when did that happen?!"

"Oh, I say give or take a few months ago," the Duchess nonchalantly answered as she watched the sweet exchange between the reunited couple.

The Duchess had found out about the adeptus and the little star during one of the Travelers visits. She had noticed the female star was looking rather melancholy during their visit, so she called the starling aside to join her for tea while Aether went to go find Wriothesley. Once she got her alone, it didn't take her long to get her to open up about what was wrong - rather, it didn't take long for the Duchess to get it out of her- and to her delight; it was about a lover.

As for getting him here, well, that was only a matter of knowing the right people.

"A long time coming in my opinion."

Lumine fretted over the adeptus for a while, no doubt how and why he was here. It took a moment, but Lumine finally looked over at their table and saw the Duchess. The realization kicked in bright and clear.

The Duchess smiled and only mouthed back: "Happy Birthday, starlight."