"...I understand what happened now. Finch recently died and you attended his funeral.", the Traveler thoughtfully said after the small retelling, their expression soon turning a little concerned, "...But Venti, are you truly okay with this...? When Lisa died, you...", they slowly asked, before sadly sighing, "...You know that it wasn't their intention to "leave you", right...?"
They soon added, while looking him right in the eyes,
With the Traveler's words reminding Venti of his reaction back then...
...
"Lisa is dead. We recently had her funeral and now there's the Leichenschmaus...Funeral feast...
...T-they are starting to leave me again, Traveler. T-they are starting to die on me and I...I-I can't do anything to stop it...!"
...
-...I know that, Traveler. Lisa died because of a curse and Finch died of old age. -The Archon soon admitted, trying not to think too much about the situation. He knew it well, the reason why both of them died. He also knew that Lisa was going to return and that Finch died after living a full life...-...And it's time I accept it as part of life, no matter how bittersweet it makes me feel.
Just as he should have done ages ago...
*Even though it's really hard, especially when...
"Don't push yourself too hard, alright, Venti...?", the Traveler soon said, looking and sounding reassuring, as well as a little concerned, "Don't forget about all the people who care about you, okay...?"
-I will keep it in mind. -Venti answered almost right away, as he knew well what his friend meant. He knew it for a while now. -...Thanks for worrying about me, Traveler.
...
...
"Sorry again, Traveler.
Do you want to start with the retelling or would you let me do the honors...?"
"...You should start, Venti. I want to know if anything new happened in Mondstadt during this time.
...Besides, I have so much to tell that I think I need some time to put all those memories in order..."
...
Oh, right, they agreed on that.
*And yet, he got distracted again...
-I already told you about the "New developments" on my side, Traveler. So how about you tell me yours...? -He soon told the other, while trying to sound nonchalant and slightly failing, as was clearly noticed by his friend. Really, to think they would still worry about him so much. -...I am really alright, Traveler. A little sad, but otherwise okay. Besides, listening to your stories would surely help me feel better, no...?~
He added in both reassurance and some anticipation,
Eager to hear more about his friend's recent journey...
*Tales that could be easily made into exceptionally engaging ballads~
...
...
"Yes, I should really do that, don't I...?~", the Traveler finally answered, looking and sounding a little amused now, "And since you really seem to be feeling better now, do you remember our small discussion about Samir's meeting with Apep...?"
The meeting with...?
*Oh, yes, he did remember that...
...
"Those...Men. They are not staying in Sumeru city now, right...?
...Because they must smell so bad, the whole city is going to turn into a garbage dump!"
"...They live in Old Varanara now, Venti!
It's actually a really funny story! Want Paimon to tell you of it...?~"
After hearing news of the Sages' current..."Living Conditions",
The Traveler told him more about how this "Meeting with Apep" went...
*Or rather, his friend was yelling in shock about who exactly Apep was...
...
"Apep is one of the Primordial Dragons, the ancient Seven Sovereigns! She is the Primordial Dendro Dragon that ruled Sumeru before Celestia's...!
...Oh, right. You might not know about this, Venti. It should be okay to tell you this now, right...?"
...
The Traveler soon told him about what the Primordial Dragons were,
As well as some other information they read about in the "Before Sun and Moon" book.
*Apparently the book contained much more information than they shared,
But fearing Celestia's response, they decided to share only a small amount of info...
...
And Venti couldn't blame them for this decision,
As he knew quite well how those..."Guys" usually were...
*They cut Lisa's life in half for mistakenly reading a book...
...
...
"...I can't even blame Ista…"Kairos" for this, since SHE does still seem to be affected by corruption, even if much less now. And since it must be the "purest" form of it, coming right from the Depths of the Abyss…
...If SHE is like this, even after reverting most of its effects, then what is going on with the other 3 Shades…? I can't even imagine! But it does explain why Celestia is…"Like that", doesn't it…?"
...
...
Deeply corrupted or not, he couldn't forgive them for killing Lisa...
*If he had enough power to oppose them, he would have...!
...
...
"If I meet any other dragons, I am going to play them some music and see if they like it."
He should focus on the matter at hand...
*Those..."Guys in Celestia" could wait...
...
...
"Traveler, do you know if Apep loves music...?
...Sorry for asking this so suddenly. I should explain.
All the dragons I know love listening to music, so I can't help but wonder if..."
"...You could befriend Apep by playing music to her, right...?
I will ask Samir about this later."
...
-...Traveler, so does Apep love music...? -Venti couldn't help but soon ask, as he had a deep feeling of anticipation. -...She is just like Morax, Dvalin and Durin, right...? If I were to play a song to her...
"...She will like it, yes.", the Traveler ended for him, looking and sounding amused, as well as a little suspicious, "...It's quite interesting how easily you can befriend dragons, Venti. Using music, no less. Though since you are HER son, I suppose it's to be expected...?", they added in some thoughtfulness and confusion, soon becoming silent for a few seconds, "...I should continue my retelling now. With the situation in Sumeru having calmed down, I was able to work on my Genius Invokation TCG novel. Samir helped me with some of it's cultural aspects, so it was finished really fast and I already sent the script to Inazuma, together with some additional "side stories" Yae Miko asked me about~", they added in some amusement, before their eyes suddenly shone, "Speaking of things having calmed down, there was an impromptu festival recently for all the Sumerians, both from the Rainforest and the Desert. It was a celebration of Nahida's rescue, Azar's defeat, the future coexistence between the two groups of people and..."
They excitedly started, soon going on a whole tale about the festival.
*It was quite clear that the Traveler was glad to finally have a respite after all the chaos,
So no matter how much this retelling was going to take, Venti decided to attentively listen to their friend...
...
After helping with the seemingly-unending Sumeru Crisis,
The Traveler deserved to have this time of joy...
The whole retelling took the Traveler a few minutes,
And they looked to be out of breath by the end of it...
*Which was unsurprising, since they retold the events in the smallest details...
...
But this was also kind of a problem, wasn't it...?
...
"...It's my fault too, Venti. I shouldn't have shared all of this information with you.
...Even if sometimes, all these revelations that I "stumble on" just get too much for me...And I feel like talking to someone about them, sharing even a little bit of the information, or I will just explode from this "Salad" of knowledge..."
...
"...I have been to so many worlds with my Twin, so why is it that I seem to get so attached to Teyvat and its natives...?"
...
...
If the Traveler gets too attached to him, while their Twin is "missing",
Couldn't it turn into a big problem at some point in the future...?
*Especially since he is an Archon and the Twin is the Abyss Order Leader,
If something happens, it might be really hard for the Traveler to...
...
...
No, he shouldn't be thinking about it right now.
*Perhaps, things would turn out alright, after all...
...
...
But to think that this is the celebration that Collei was invited to and Amber also joined.
*He couldn't help but feel a tingle of jealousy, as it was a while since he visited Sumeru...
...
...
Maybe he should visit it during the next festival or celebration...?
*The Akademiya Extravaganza should be held sometime soon, right...?
...
...
"Thank you for listening to my retelling, Venti. I kind of...Got too enthusiastic and...", the Traveler soon said in both gratefulness and some embarrassment, their words trailing off for a few seconds, "I should continue the retelling now, right...?", they finally said, before there was a short pause once again, their eyes soon widening, "Oh, right. I don't remember seeing Shinjimouche at all recently. Seems like he will be staying in Inazuma for quite a while...?", they wondered in some surprise and confusion, their expression soon turning thoughtful, "...Speaking of Fatui Harbringers, we got news of Dottore's whereabouts. Apparently, one of his clones was in Fontaine recently, so that's Master Diluc's next destination. Kaeya decided to follow his brother and the two of them already left Sumeru.", they informed, their expression soon turning a little annoyed, "Since Dainsleif was "Banned" from (the) Khaenria'h (server), we can't really do anything to reach the Abyss and my Twin. So Dain said he will look for a way to reach that place and "if worst comes to worst" he is going to kidnap one of the higher Abyss Order members and make them "show him the way". And then he left, but not before leaving me a transmitter of sorts for communication."
They added upon "summoning" said "transmitter" and showing it to the other:
A card made from an unknown material with what looked like a dark sun etched on it...
...
-The Eclipse Dynasty. -Venti couldn't help but mumble, looking and sounding thoughtful, as he was feeling weird about the whole situation. Kaeya was part of this Dynasty, right...? He felt like there was something more to it...But what...? -...I am probably overthinking it again...-He soon said, trying to reassure himself. There was already too much going on at the moment to worry about this now. -...Right, Traveler, now that the crisis in Sumeru is over, what are you planning to do next...?
"I planned to resonate with the rest of the nations' statues of the seven in order to get my power back, but things didn't fully go according to plan.", the Traveler admitted, looking and sounding a little tired, "...I had Xiao help me teleport to the nearby statues, but the statues themselves...The statue in Fontaine was affected by corruption, so I had to purify it first. The statue in Natlan gave me its power, but the process was extremely slow for some inexplicable reason. And then there's the statue in Snezhnaya, which we couldn't even get to because of some weird storm barrier seemingly enveloping the whole nation. It was even worse than the one in Dragonspine!", they couldn't help but yell out in annoyance, a pout soon showing on their face, before their expression turned amused instead moments later, "...And then, while wondering what to do about this annoying situation, I met Lasagna!"
-...You met a dish entity...? -Venti blurted out in confusion, wondering what the Traveler was even talking about. Sure, Teyvat was quite weird sometimes, but to have a dish as an actual person...-...Traveler, what is his or her actual name...? It's not really "Lasagna", right...?
He soon asked the other, with the Traveler getting silent for a few seconds,
As they looked like they tried very hard to remember something, but couldn't...
"...Yeah, now that you mention it. He had a different name, similar to "Lasagna"...But I forgot what it was.", the Traveler admitted moments later, looking and sounding a little sheepish, "To my credit, he doesn't really have much of a presence...? But I do remember that he is part of the Lawrence clan side family and has a horrible sense of direction...", they sheepishly mumbled, looking more thoughtful now, "Oh, and he got a "Great Title" from the Sumerians: Sirahīna cikana (If I remember correctly). I have no idea what it means, by the way."
They soon admitted, looking and sounding a little confused now,
And this was when, out of nowhere, the Wind...Spirits suddenly started laughing...
"From what we heard from our kin in the other six nations, "Lasagna" is actually Kind-of-a-moron Lessig Lawrence, Spindrift Knight Eula's cousin from a side family who went on a journey around two years ago in order to restore the clan's honor. But he has such a horrible sense of direction, that he got lost numerous times, almost got eaten/killed by animals, monsters and wicked people and had to constantly be saved by Good Samaritans, who later showed him the way...Only for Moron Lasagna to get lost once again. After a while, Finally-realized-that-no-one-really-cares-what-happens-to-his-clan Lessig found himself in Snezhnaya, stuck behind the storm barrier and unable to leave the nation.
...To tell you the truth, Barbatos, we have no idea how the Clearly-survived-by-some-miracle Lasagna is still alive. And our Snezhnayan kin wouldn't tell us about it either, saying that they enjoy watching his sufferings..."
This was the explanation that the Wind...Spirits told him around two minutes later,
Which was as good an explanation as any...Though that last sentence...
"And our Snezhnayan kin wouldn't tell us about it either, saying that they enjoy watching his sufferings..."
...
...
Was this because Lasa...Lessig is part of the Lawrence Clan and kind of scatterbrained...?
*So he is similar to Shoes...But not really evil and really forgettable...?
...
And since he wasn't in Mondstadt for two long years, he was spared from the...Annihilation.
...
...
-The Winds told me about this "Lasagna", Traveler. -Venti soon said, looking and sounding thoughtful. -...He is really stuck behind that barrier, isn't he...?
"Stuck and crying about wanting to get out and return to Mondstadt, yes.", the Traveler answered right away, as they clearly tried to keep their voice serious, "...But since even Xiao can't teleport inside, there's not much I can do to help him. And out of all the Lawrences I met before, he feels like the family clown.", they admitted, a small smile soon appearing on their face, "...Though I am glad that he actually changed during his two-year adventure. Unlike Shoes and the rest of them..."
-...Yes, those..."People" were a lost cause. Even allying themselves with the Abyss Order! -The Archon soon agreed, looking and sounding annoyed and slightly mad, as he couldn't help but remember what those people did.
…
...
"It doesn't matter what they are planning, I am going to make them pay!
...I am going to make sure that those scumbags...! Shoes...?
...You actually allied yourself with THEM, didn't you...?! I heard some information about this, but to think that you will actually...?!"
...
...
Starting from helping those monsters take his people hostage!