"There must be something more about this information, thank you for your hard work."
"Please be wary of them, General Mahamatra. Even though we can't get some evidence and pinpoint their location, I got a bad feeling about this.".
"Lesser Lord Kusanali urged me to solve this kind of problem with top priority, I'll see it to the end— " The General Mahamatra walked past the man wearing a robe in front of him, then he stopped and turned his head around.
"—I'm not planning to be defeated easily, consider this my secret mission. Don't let a word leak out of this room.". The general once again warned him.
A pure confidence in his abilities or...
A famous last word?
A start of warm summer that feels like nothing would go wrong. People of Sumeru are passing each other as the sun rises up, the hustle and bustle of every corner of Sumeru, from Sumeru City to Port Ormos, from the scorching desert to the breezing forest, whether it's Eremites or Forest Rangers, everyone starts their day as usual.
In the heart of the vast forest, where the green canopy meets the urban sprawl, lies a city alive with the rhythm of summer's awakening. The streets pulse with the energy of bustling crowds, weaving through the towering trees that stand as silent sentinels. Sunlight filters through the verdant foliage, casting dappled patterns on the bustling sidewalks below.
Amidst the towering skyscrapers, the city hums with activity, echoing the vibrant life force of the forest surrounding it. The air is alive with the scent of freshly blooming flowers and the distant call of wildlife, blending harmoniously with the bustling chatter.
As the season shifts, the city prepares to embrace the warmth of summer, its inhabitants eager to shed the layers of winter and embrace the long, sun-drenched days ahead.
A certain person is seen to be already setting up for some kind of event in the Grand Bazaar, her radiant smile beaming for everyone to witness as she greets everyone. A colleague of hers came approaching with some kind of box in hand, she said.
"The items needed are all set, Nilou. Are you going to do a rehearsal first?"
"Thank you for your hard work. Yes, I am planning to do a rehearsal after this, there's not much time, though."
"Then you better hurry then, wouldn't want the show to be delayed, would you?"
"Ahahaha… Yes, you're right, then please excuse me, Syaikh Zubayr!"
"Alright, be careful carrying all of that, Nilou."
Then goes the dancer to the backstage. Apparently, she was in a hurry as she ran her way off all the way from the front of the stage.
If we look at the surroundings. The Grand Bazaar is much more crowded than usual, at the corner of it, there is a blond traveler with a flying companion. With snacks in their hands, they stroll along the bazaar, stopping whenever something catches their attention. Be it accessories, snacks, or some unknown item they have never seen before.
"Aether! Look at that! What is it? I've never seen that item before!" the flying companion said as she swiftly made her way to the stall that caught her attention.
"Slow down, will you? And finish your snack first, Paimon," said the blond traveler as he tried to squeeze through the crowd.
"Hehe, it's just that item really caught my attention! That kind of item is not usually here, right? Seems like it's an item from the ruin in the desert."
"Now that I take a good look at it, it's true. But why is that kind of item here? Or maybe it's just a decoration?"
"Ah, if it's not our hero! Yes, yes, this is a decoration item that I've purchased from some merchant back when I traveled through the desert," the owner of the stall called out to Aether as he noticed him.
"Is it really a decoration though? Feels like it was too fancy to be a mere decoration."
"Paimon thinks so too! This thing really stands out if compared to the other item we got here."
"I doubted it too at first, but when I asked the merchant who sold it to me, he said that 'For you folks, this is but a mere fancy decoration. And for me? Not more than something we want to dispose of in exchange for some mora. It's better off this way'. I figured that they might be struggling a little for some mora, that's why they would sell everything that might fetch a good amount of mora."
"Any chance that this was made by some famous ancient artisan? If so, you might as well try to take it to an auction."
"No lead about its origin, might as well just treat it as a fancy decoration produced by the sand people, right? There are no elemental traces too, so I think it's all checked out."
"Yeah, you're ri— "
"Everyone! The show is about to begin! Gather up for you who want to witness the dance of our zubayr theater's superstar, Nilou!"
As the announcer announces it out loud, interrupting Aether's conversation, everyone's eyes are drawn to the stage. Not even one of them is going to let this pass and their feet march to the front of the theater where the audience belongs.
The lighting got dimmed, the audience went quiet, and Aether made his way through the crowd so he could get a better view of the performance that was about to begin. In the corner of his eyes, there is a familiar figure that wears his hat wherever he goes, standing not far from the first row of the audience. 'Might as well greet him,' Aether thought.
"Hey there, seems like you got some love for art, huh?"
"I'm not a tasteless person… How rare for you to be there."
"I'll be staying on Sumeru for some time. How is Nahida doing?"
"Tch, fine enough to make me do some boring errands."
"Good to hear it then."
"Which one are you referring to? About her well-being or about the fact that I must run some errands?"
"Both, I guess, some things are better off never changing."
"How about we get out and have a duel instead?"
"Not in the mood. Wouldn't you be scolded by her if we did that?"
"…like I care."
Soon after some banter between the former foes, the curtain dropped, and a dancer with the flower crown made of padisarah came out. The lights focused on her, and it ceased all the noise made by the audience waiting for the dance. She throws around the padisarah held in her hands off to the stage before making her way to the center of the stage. Then she started to dance without uttering a single word before she moved.
"Sabzerus dance? For what occasion?" Aether seems to recognize the dance and asks the question.
"Maybe a practice for her upcoming birthday," the hat guy muttered the answer.
"Now that you mention it, Nahida's birthday is coming soon, right?"
"If 2 months from now is 'soon' for you, then yes."
Both of them fell silent as Nilou kept dancing through the song played. For the rest of the dance, everyone keeps their mouth shut while witnessing the ethereal dance played by Nilou. As the dance stopped, everyone began to clap their hands as they shouted some words of admiration to the dancer above the stage.
"A dance originated from the Goddess of Flower, huh? That's quite an effort to collect all the padisarah used for this dance alone."
"Wanderer, do you know about the dance's origin?"
"Not much, I do read it in some literature. And now that I think about it…"
"What?"
"Nah, I think I've heard Lesser Lord Kusanali mention it to that Mahamatra the day before yesterday, I wonder what they discussed, as she also mentions King Deshret as well."
"Might be something she wants Cyno to investigate? But that is rather peculiar knowing both of those names mentioned."
"I don't care that much, my role here is as her guardian. She only said that she might need me to help that Mahamatra in the future."
"That's rare for Cyno to need some help, is it something dire?"
"You can ask her that rather than asking me, you know? I don't meddle in the things I'm not told to."
"Fair point."
As they finished their conversation, Wanderer noticed that the crowd had already dispersed and Nilou was walking towards them. He decided to lower his hat and leave the area. "I'll take my leave," he said to Aether, which he returned with a nod.
"Aether! I never thought to see you here. Are you about to stay at Sumeru for a while?"
"Yes, I'd like to greet some familiar faces, that's why I decided to visit the bazaar."
"Oh! Then have you already met anyone besides me?"
"Other than Wanderer? Not yet, I thought that I'd greet Cyno or Tighnari after this. Or maybe Collei and Faruzan if I got lucky."
"Ah, it's a shame that I can't go with you, I need to do some cleanup after my performance. Maybe we will catch up later with everyone."
"Sure, maybe I'll invite everyone for a dinner sometime."
"That sounds good! Also send Cyno my regards if you meet him, he is always there when I perform, and it doesn't seem that he is here right now because of his duty."
"He always comes? I'm surprised that he manages to do that despite being a General Mahamatra."
"Yeah, when I ask him about it, he just says that he loves to see the performance if he doesn't have anything to do, so I figured that he might be busy right now."
"Then I'll find the other first, I guess, maybe I'll visit Nahida first."
"By the way, where is Paimon? I don't see her with you."
"She must be busy eating some snacks before and decided it was better to watch from afar… Ah, there she is."
"Nilou! Long time no see! Are you doing well?"
"Hello there, Paimon, I'm doing well, of course!"
"Your dance is so good, if you perform that dance before Nahida, I think that she will like it!"
"Ahahaha, I have to rehearse first before I perform it at Lesser Lord Kusanali's birthday, it's already 2 months from now."
"Speaking of Nahida, I think that we must pay her a visit, don't you think? Aether?"
"Yeah, then until next time, Nilou, good luck on your next performance."
"Alright, you two, stay safe out there!"
And with that, both of them goes out into the town and makes their way to the sanctuary.
As hot wind carries sand in their flow, a fortified village at the foot of a tall wall that blocks the sandstorms with many stalls in the corner of the desert keeps on going as usual. Eremites trading with each other and travelers from Dharma Forest bargaining for an escort to their respective destinations. Some people of sand also do their transit here before entering the forest. Among all the hustle and bustle, walk alone some traveler with a robe covering his body, carrying a rather peculiar staff as he walks through the Caravan Ribat. His eyes and movement indicated that he is here looking for a specific someone, but the fact that he is still yet to approach or to be approached by anyone makes it most likely that the one he is looking for is not here, he might have just his luck to guide him in finding the person he needs with a limited amount of time. But who knows if it's enough for him this time?
"The desert is scorching hot as it should be, huh?" He said as he stopped by a tree.
'I really hope that I lucked out this time. I want to use her help, as she might be more knowledgeable than I am, he thought to himself.
'Lesser Lord Kusanali told me to go easy on this investigation, but who knows how much information I can take even if I go all out, after all, is it just a mere rumor…'
'…But if Lesser Lord Kusanali thinks that it was worth investigating, then this might be bigger than I thought? I move based on that assumption, my colleagues at Matra also warn me about their own findings too. And just after he finished thinking to himself, he heard a voice from a distance.
"Cyno? What are you doing here?" An Eremite with battle armor predominantly black with gold and red accents that used armored gauntlets came approaching him.
"Perfect," said the "traveler" named Cyno as he greeted the other party.
A/n: And…now I finished it. Just letting everyone know, this fanfic is a draft I abandoned back when I still played Genshin. Now I actually prefer to play some other games. But suddenly I remembered this and thought that I might as well finish the draft. Should I continue this tho? I'm not that confident that I can remember the lore well enough hahaha.
Also, English is not my first language, so excuse any grammar errors or some fluency issues. I'll try to make it better for you to read it. Then, until next time..