Tignhari ran through the Avidia forest, listening and looking closely for any traces of the trainee he'd been tasked with protecting. Collei had run off again, despite his repeated orders to stay at the base. She would have never done something like this before, for all her energy and eagerness she was reasonable and obedient whenever it came to his requests, even if it frustrated her. That was before though before the events of the last few weeks had sent her spiraling into a physical and mental state of decay.
"Collei!" He called out. She'd been seen running into this part of the forest not too long ago. It was an area known for having a high number of monster patrols. Slimes, hilicurls, and fungi would periodically be seen in this area.
Finally, he found traces of her presence. The bodies of hilichurls and fungi are filled with arrows carrying dendro energy. She was out here looking for revenge against an unknown, likely nonexistent enemy. He'd tried his hardest ever since they found her after the accident to convince her Aethers's death wasn't her fault. It didn't work. Day in and day out she fell apart internally and outwardly as if a crushing weight had started to slowly break her. She would barely eat, barely sleep, and still demand that she be allowed to patrol the surrounding woods where the explosion occurred. Tignhari was too worried about her condition to truly think about it but the number of enemies she'd seemingly taken down was impressive by trainee standards. He'd counted 5 dead hilichurls and a handful of vanquished small slimes so far as he ran a great distance.
The forest ranger's ears twitched when he heard a furious scream come from just a few hundred yards away, followed shortly after by a mitachurls roar.
"No!"He yelled as he bolted through the brush with panicked speed. The sounds of intense combat resounded loudly in his animalistic ears. He needed to get there fast, and he did just that. Finally arriving at a clearing in the densely wooded area he saw what he was expecting, Collei was standing on shaky legs, covered from head to toe in filth, standing directly in front of an axe-wielding mitachurl. The angry beast had arrows sticking out of its mask, arms, and chest, and it was ready to finish off the pest responsible for its current condition.
Collei by the look of it had finally run out of her adrenaline-fueled rage and could only look up at the contemptible beast. She couldn't even move out of the way in preparation for the electro-energized strike it was about to dish out with its massive axe.
"Collei duck!"
She turned her head to see a swarm of dendro arrows approaching quickly. Falling to the ground from both reflex and exhaustion she dodged the attack and heard the volley make contact with the hulking beast's flesh. It roared in agony, the shock from being hit causing it to let its electro-charged axe go, unfortunately for the beast, the weapon landed directly on its dendro-covered wounds. The resulting reaction made quick work of the monster, and with a thud, its limp body hit the ground.
Collei propped herself up on her knees to look at the fallen beast, she stared at its body with disdain and disgust. Seeing it dead brought her no peace. She didn't have enough time to wallow in these emotions before her master reached her side.
"Collei! Are you okay? Do you have any open wounds?" He asked as he examined her. "Looks like nothing too severe, you're also VERY exhausted. It's a miracle that you even made it out this far," He said with a sigh.
"I-I'm fine master…I just-"
"YOU ARE NOT FINE!" He yelled so loud that his own ears recoiled from the echo. "Collei, I gave you specific orders to stay in your hut and rest. You have not slept well for far too long and your body is nearing the point of collapse. You were just recovering from your condition!" He said after taking a brief moment to collect himself. Collei was silent for several seconds after his rant.
"I need to find them," She said in a low and shaky tone. "The ones that set that trap, need to pay."
"Collei there is no 'them', it was just a bunch of mindless monsters. Even if there was a culprit you wouldn't find them by going out and killing every hilichurl in sight."
"There has to be! If there isn't someone that set that trap for him…then…then he died because-"
"None of that. This is not your fault, no one blames you, Collei," he whispered as he picked up the young girl in his arms. "The traveler himself wouldn't blame you, he wouldn't want you to live like this, Collei. He was so happy to see you recover. Don't you think that he would want you to live your life free of this guilt?" He asked as he started the walk back to base.
Collei stayed silent for a few seconds, blankly staring upwards, before responding.
"She mentioned him a lot in her letters…." She said with a voice crack.
"Hmm?"
"She told me about their adventures, and how amazing he was during the storm terror incident." She continued.
"Oh. You mean the Outrider." Tignhari said in realization. His trainee spoke about this particular Knight a lot when they first met. As he understood it the traveler was familiar with her as well, perhaps Aether was closer to that knight than he thought.
"Yeah. She hasn't written to me since he…" She couldn't finish her sentence without burying her face into her master's chest to hold back tears.
"Collei, she's probably grieving. The traveler was close to a lot of people, and all of them are likely going through the same thing. You AND her need some time right now to think and come to terms with it all," He said as he felt her breathing steady and her crying quiet down. Exhaustion had taken its toll on her, and it was probably for the best, she was finally asleep.
It was a slow night in the tavern of Angels share, the patriots of the establishment were uncharacteristically silent with their chatter. Things had been this way for a while now, not just in this tavern but the atmosphere in all of Mondstat had gotten progressively gloomier as time went on. This change hadn't gone unnoticed by the man currently working the tavern's bar.
Diluc wasn't the merry-making type, he was all business almost all the time and everyone knew it. However, he was also more than capable of reading a room and tonight was no exception.
"Another slow night, barkeep?"
Diluc sighed as he looked over to the source of the question. Captain Kayea, Calvary Captain of the Knights of Favonius, and his adoptive brother. Normally when the captain would get his attention it would be accompanied by a smirk that told the wine tycoon the captain would be the source of his next headache. Tonight though that wasn't the case, there was no shit eating grin accompanying the question so Diluc knew this wouldn't be one of their normal conversations.
"That's right, and I suspect it will be sometime before things go back to how they were," was Dilucs reply
"I think you're right. I also think you can guess the reason for this sudden shift in the atmosphere," the captain said, giving the redhead a sideways glance.
"Of course, I can. I can also understand why it's affecting Mondstat so much, but I do wonder how the word has spread so fast. I thought only a few were notified of this outside the Knights of Favonius," Diluc pondered.
"You'd be right, there hasn't been an official announcement of his passing as yet. Not from us at least, but the traveler was popular and held a pretty high status in other nations. Doubtless that these other nations have been informed one way or another of his passing," Kayea said.
"So it's likely that news has traveled from them to the average person, and from the average person to around all Teyvat."
"Bingo, although for now it's probably being treated like a rumor by most people." The Captain said before taking another sip from his drink. "I can only imagine how the public will take it when it becomes official news."
"That reminds me. How are the other Knights taking it?" Diluc asked, leaning against the wooden bar.
"Suddenly concerned for your former comrades?" The Captain asked with a small smirk. Diluc grunted to show that just because he was receptive tonight didn't mean he had all the patience in the world. "Everyone is dealing with it differently, Jean has buried herself in even more work if you can imagine that, Lisa doesn't leave her library, Eula has stopped speaking almost entirely outside of what is necessary and Amber…" he trailed off.
"I see…"Diluc said as he wiped down a wine glass. "What about you?"
"I've lost a comrade and a friend. These days it's harder and harder to come by those," Kayeas replied. "I can tell that's a sentiment you share. Isn't it Master Diluc?" he said, shifting his position to look right at the redhead.
Diluc could only nod solemnly. He was good at hiding his emotions so although one may have mistaken his silence for cold indifference, in truth the wine tycoon needed some time to himself after receiving that news.
"Yes, for once we are of one mind."
Shortly after Diluc finished speaking the Captain raised a glass into the air and gestured towards his estranged brother.
"A toast, to Aether."
This caught Diluc off guard briefly, but he regained his composure as he poured himself a glass of grape juice, he normally wouldn't do something like this on the job but made an exception this time. He raised the cup to his brothers and spoke in a low tone.
"To Aether."
" !" an employee called out as the stoic consultant of the Wangsheng funeral parlor returned from a stroll through the harbor he once reigned over.
"Yes? Is there something you need help with?" He asked as he turned to face another one of the parlors employees. Zhongli recognized him as the new hire that the parlor had taken on not too long ago.
"I just wanted to let you know that Director Hu Tao is back, she's locked herself in her office again though so if you wanted to speak with her you may not get to," He said to his superior.
"I see, thank you."
"Uh sir, if it's not too personal may I ask why the director has been this way lately? When I started here she seemed pretty excitable, eccentric even. Now She's like a totally different person," the observant young man asked.
Zhongli didn't answer immediately but hummed as a sign to let the employee know he understood what he was asking.
"The Director has experienced a personal loss as of late. She isn't taking it well, don't worry too much, she always bounces back," was the older man's reply.
"Does it have something to do with the coffin the Qixing ordered? Coffins like that are normally reserved for high-ranking members of government but no official reports have come out claiming that there was a death among them."
"We've been asked to keep the reasons for that order confidential," He said. "As for if that is the cause for the directors' current disposition I couldn't say exactly."
"Oh, I ask because well...I'm sure you've heard the rumors by now. The traveler died in Sumeru, and Liyue has yet to make an announcement. People are wondering if its cause the report from Sumeru is fake, and seeing the director like this, a few of us heard about how close she was to the guy so…were the traveler and the director-"
"Is any of what you've said, official? Or confirmed?" Zhongli said, cutting the young man off.
"Oh well no," He replied. "Like I said it's all rumors right now."
"I appreciate curiosity in youth, but for now I would advise you to wait for official news to break regarding anyone's death. Thank you for informing me of her return, I will speak to her shortly," Zhongli said in a manner that conveyed he was moving on from their conversation.
"Yes sir, thank you," the employee said as Zhongli took his leave. This wasn't the first time someone had approached him to ask about the Director. Over the past couple of weeks as her disposition changed people took notice, and assumptions were made almost immediately after the rumor of Aether's death reached the streets of Liyue. Rumors that the director and the traveler were more than friends, or at least that the director had a crush on him given how extra cheerful she became at the mention of him.
In truth the former archon could see without a doubt there was a mutual attraction between them, but he never confirmed that the two had taken their relationship much further than that. To be fair he never intended to pry on that, young love was a beautiful but unpredictable thing.
Zhongli walked up to the directors working quarters and knocked.
"Director, are you in there? I wanted to check in on you," He spoke in his usual rumbly tone. He didn't get an immediate response but just before he could speak again the faint sound of voice reached him.
"Enter."
With permission given he entered the room and looked around. The Director sat at her desk, her signature hat off to the side while the director herself leaned forward in her chair, hands holding her chin and covering her mouth.
"You were still unable to find him," Zhongli stated.
She nodded.
"Seems you also haven't made much progress on funeral arrangements-"
"I need to find him. He deserves to rest just as much if not more than anyone else."
Zhongli remained silent for a moment.
"If his soul still wonders these lands I have no doubt you will find it. However, that doesn't mean we can ignore the preparation for his departure. The Qixing will want an update soon on how things are going. I'm frankly surprised the yuheng herself hasn't come down here to monitor things personally. She was on amicable terms with the traveler." Zhongli replied.
"We spoke briefly the other day," replied the downtrodden girl. "We aren't the only ones moving slowly regarding preparation. Seems the Qixing are in less of a rush than we initially thought," She said in a low tone.
"Why would that be?" Zhongli asked. "It's out of character for them to be inefficient…" he trailed off. A light went off in Zhongli's head. "I see.." It was clear now 'They've launched their own investigation into the traveler's demise, that's why no official announcement has been made and why they're so slow to finish preparations for his funeral. They want to be certain themselves that the traveler's death is true, and if it is, that it didn't involve foul play. Interesting.' The old god said internally.
"Is something the matter Mr. Zhongli?"
"No. If Qixing is in no rush to complete the preparations then there's no need for us to rush either. Carry on, and do take care of yourself, director." The elder said as he walked away.
As the Zhongli walked he began to contemplate the revelation he'd just had to more deeply. However, he was not considering the idea of foul play but the possibility that the traveler was the architect of his own staged demise.
"Could it be.." He said quietly. "Did you follow my lead traveler? Had you finally grown weary of your journey and ended it so you could pursue it in silence?" He hummed as the idea bounced around his mind. "If that's the case then…I won't interrupt. I know what it's like to desire a new start. I wonder though, will a person like you be able to withstand the consequences of this action?"
"Pardon the intrusion again Mr. Zhongli," came the voice of the same employee he spoke to earlier. "While you were with the director someone came by and asked if you were available. I told him that you were in a meeting but he asked me to deliver the message that he was in town and he'd like to meet with you sometime soon," The young man said.
"Oh? Thank you for taking the message," Zhongli said in appreciation. "Who was it that asked for me?"
"He said his name was Tartaglia."
"Paimon! Paimon!" A feminine voice yelled to the beaches of Mondstat. The winds were strong today, they'd been growing stronger for some time now and were showing no sign of dying down.
"You said this was where they'd met?" Another voice asked.
"This is where they said it was," came the reply. "I can't imagine where else she'd be. We need to…WAIT! LOOK!" The owner of the voice pointed further down the beach, they'd spotted a little lump of white propped up on a rock next to the water.
"PAIMON PAIMON!"
"H-huh…? Who's there?" The weak voice of the traveler's companion asked.
"We found you! Why'd you just leave Aethers Teapot like that! We were so worried about you!"
"A-amber…? Nahida?" Paimon said as she rubbed her red irritated eyes. "Paimon…wanted to be close to him. It's scary, Paimon doesn't want to forget…him…came here to remember him,"
"No one is going to forget him, Paimon," Nahida said. "Please come with us, it's not safe to be out here on your own. Amber if you please."
"Right" The brunette confirmed as she gently picked the floating fairy in her arms. "Paimon come back with me to the teapot, I miss him too," Amber asked as she began to walk with the small girl.
"Okay…wait...Nahida, what are you doing all the way in Mondstat?" Paimon asked the young archon.
"I had some news I wanted to share with you. Upon my arrival, I encountered this fine young lady in the Teapot having just arrived herself. We searched for you because you should have been among the first to know about what I discovered," The girl explained.
"What did you find?" Paimon asked.
"There's a possibility that Aether might yet live."