Sai went towards one of the trees with a wry smile. After he reached it, he noticed that the apples on the ground were all rotten/eaten, and so he would need to pick from the ones in the branches.
He jumped here and there to catch an apple, but despite his first attempt, he wasn't successful. Nonetheless, Lisa didn't even look at him.
'Chomp!'
'It's good! Really good! This apple tastes amazing!'
Sai hadn't hesitated to eat. He was very hungry, after all.
As he ate, he tried to think about what happened again. He soon came to the realisation that they hadn't met any monsters during their fifteen-minute walk.
'How unusual… And wait. Fifteen minutes? Has it really been that long? And does it really take that long to get to Mondstadt? Maybe the whole world was stretched…'
"Hey, Lisa." She looked at him. She had her arms crossed and a hand on her chin.
Sai continued after another bite.
"How long will it take until Mondstadt?"
"Two hours from Starfell Lake to Mondstadt." Her answer was immediate.
"And how long is left until there?"
This time, Lisa took her time.
"About two hours."
Sai sighed in his mind:
'Sigh… so she really was going in circles…'
"How come we haven't—"
"Boy, you mentioned you fought a Lawachurl, yes?" She cut him.
"…" Sai decided not to answer her anymore.
Lisa waited without a reaction, but when she didn't get an answer, she looked at him with a smile.
"I'm sorry. I asked if you fought a Lawachurl…" Sai felt the hairs on his body stand straight and a numbness go across him.
"Y—yes."
"Who fought it, exactly?"
"W—well, Noelle fought him…"
"But you said she later retreated. And Amber took her place. And then Kaeya. Did none of them manage to kill it?"
"N—no…" Sai didn't like where this was going.
"And they didn't fight together? Only separately?"
"Yes."
"What about me?"
"W—what do you mean?"
"Did I lose as well?"
"Erm… you…didn't get to fight much." Sai carefully spoke.
"It seems you know why."
'Greedy woman!'
"They decided to retreat before you were harmed."
For the first time, she had a look of utter shock in her face. Sai imagined it was because he said 'they', but he was wrong.
"Retreated because they were afraid to harm me? Leaving aside the fact that a normal Lawachurl wouldn't be able to harm me… They didn't want to see me harmed? How do you know this?"
Sai realized that she knew more than he thought she would. He resumed eating his apple and answering her questions.
"T—the boy… I heard the boy say something like that."
"You mean the Traveler." She assented.
"Traveler?"
Lisa pondered whether he was faking it, and decided to answer while still thinking about other things.
"He is known in Mondstadt by that name. Although I've heard from Jean that his real name was especially weird… He doesn't mind being called that at all either…" She was looking down in deep thought.
"So this Traveler is one of you? Is he the one controlling us?"
"Now you are asking the real questions… But you said 'controlling'? As in a subsequent thing? Is this not your first time?"
"E—" Sai noticed he must put a lot of extra care when speaking to the witch.
"Ahem. It's not my first time."
"Hmm."
Sai decided to stay quiet as well. He analysed her words and their significance, all the while eating the apple in his hands. Once he finished it, he looked around in search of another one.
"Now that you are done eating, let's resume our journey." She said while taking the lead. She went in a different direction this time.
"But—" Sai wanted to eat more, but decided to not say anything else.
They soon emerged in a small road leading deeper into the forest.
'Uhum… this must be the road that led from the lake to the city.' Before he forgot, he asked Lisa:
"Hm… Lisa? How come there are no monsters around?" Sai thought that she would understand his meaning if he put it like that.
"…" Nothing came. She just kept walking.
"…"
'This woman…'
Unbeknownst to Sai, his question would soon be answered.