"Interesting."
"Please don't tell anyone about this."
"What?" Tilting her head, Xinyan seems to realize what Lumine was thinking. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that kinda stuff, I ain't no snitch, leader. Besides, I'll be with the three of you for a while, so why would I do something like that?"
"Just to be safe, Xinyan." Deciding that I had enough of watching Lumine squirm her way out of this one, I inserted myself into the conversation. "I'm sure you understand how useful that kind of ability is. And while we're capable of protecting ourselves just fine, being hounded by every interested party in the entirety of Teyvat isn't really something we're looking forward to."
"I get it." Sitting on the lower branch of the tree, Xinyan crosses her legs. "I love enthusiastic fans as much as the next guy, but get a bunch of them in front of the stage, and you have yourself a hell of a bad time.'
"I wouldn't exactly equate them to 'fans' but that's pretty much the gist of it."
As I continued digging deeper, I turned my attention towards the now sulking blonde. "And you, please, for the love of god, be more careful."
"Look who's talking." Taking out a particularly large amount of dirt, she throws them away with a huff towards the pile behind her before glaring at me. "Don't think I didn't see the surprise on your face, even with that stupid mask on."
"Well, I'm not the one with the convenient ability to store loads of things into some nonexistent place, now do I?"
"In case you forgot, Yuu, our entire Mora is inside of this 'place' which only I can access, so be careful of what you say to me."
"'Our?' That's rich coming from someone who didn't even bother to ask for a monetary reward from saving an entire city from a rampaging dragon."
"I had other priorities."
"And asking for Mora on top of that wouldn't have been too much to ask for them."
Clink!
"Alright you two, quit yammering, I got something over here!"
Throwing her shovel immediately, Lumine practically sprints toward Xinyan and Paimon.
"Sigh. What a mess."
Gathering all the dirt with anemo, I threw it back down towards the hole we dug out before smoothing them as best as I could. Once everything looks as it was before, as close as it possibly can anyway, I joined the trio right as Lumine pulls out a metallic chest out of the ground.
"This one looks better than the last one, Lumine!" Paimon exclaimed, as she impatiently waited as Lumine struck the lock with her sword. "Hopefully the content is just as good!"
Before Paimon could open it though, Lumine whispered something to the little fairy, to which she nodded, albeit with a slight disappointment on her face.
As the two of them walked to the side, Lumine turned her attention towards the rockstar. "Go on then, Xinyan, it's all yours."
"You sure?" Xinyan asked, looking a bit skeptical, despite the clear permission Lumien gave her.
"Of course! You're one of us now! We don't want you to feel left out!" Paimon said, both hands crossed together as she excitedly urged Xinyan to open the chest, her previous sullen demeanor nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know, leader…."
"Just do it, Xinyan." I said as I patted her shoulder in encouragement. "We'll be together for at least a week, probably longer. Might as well get used to how our dear leader works."
Moving closer towards her ear, I whispered the rest of my words. "Besides, it's not everyday you see Lumine being this nice."
"I don't know what you're whispering, but I know you're talking shit about me!"
"See? That's how she usually is. With me, anyway, but you get the idea."
Staring directly into my eyes for a while, or rather, the blue slit of my mask, Xinyan then turned towards Lumine and Paimon, closely looking at the former's miffed expression before moving on to the latter's barely contained excitement.
It wasn't long before a smile came to her face, albeit a small one, a bit more reserved, yet genuine all the same.
"Aw, thanks a bunch. You folks really know how to make a girl feel welcomed."
"Don't mention it. Besides, Lumine seems a lot more cheerful compared to before, so thanks for that."
Nodding her head shyly, Xinyan began walking towards the two waiting for her, still a bit of reluctance apparent by her footsteps, but the closer she got, it slowly disappeared before she's no different than the first time we met her.
'Hmm, I can't remember much about her, but I think she had some problem with the way some people perceive her?'
Opening the chest, though I can't see what's inside from all the way here, by the joyful shout of Paimon and with how Lumine is practically jumping, it's safe to say that whatever it is, it's a lot better than the ones we've gotten before.
'Then again, having dressed in such a striking manner, she's bound to tick off more than a few of the more conservative ones. Not girly enough, not being prim and proper, or something like that.'
Now that the cat's out of the bag, Lumine has no hesitation storing everything in front of Xinyan, leaving the metallic chest open in front of the bonsai-like tree, no doubt bound to attract adventurer's that see it from afar.
'Oh well. I'm the last person that anyone should entrust emotional problems with, so hopefully Lumine can do something about it. Though looking at that smile on our resident rockstar, maybe there's no need for her to do anything.'
"Ah, as expected, letting you join us is the right decision!" Lumine said as she lunged and hugged Xinyan from behind, much to her surprise. "You're going to be our lucky charm, Xinyan, I just know it!"
"Please don't demote our new party member to a mere charm, princess." Surrounding the back of her wing-like cape with anemo, I pried our self-proclaimed party leader from Xinyan, leaving her hanging in the air. "She might take it the wrong way."
"Hmph, that's just you and your bottomless negativity speaking, Yuu. I'm sure Xinyan understands what I mean just fine. Right, Xinyan?"
"Whether or not she understands is not the issue here."
"Stop being such a downer, Yuu." From the moment she was hung in the air, she hasn't stopped trying to escape my hold, even resorting to using anemo herself. Too bad she's not as experienced in manipulating the element as I am. "Live a little, would you? And for god's sake, let me down already!"
"I don't know, you're looking mighty comfortable up there, princess."
"I swear, the next time we're alone, I'm going to–"
Before Lumine could continue, however, a sudden laughter coming from Xinyan caught both of our attention.
Holding onto the bewildered Paimon on her chest, Xinyan nearly fell over forward with how hard she's laughing.
As her laughter died down and she started wiping the tears away from her face, I heard a thud close by. Turning my head towards the source, I saw Lumine, just as bewildered, standing on both feet on the ground.
It seems I unconsciously let her down in the middle of all that.
"Ahahaha, you two sure are a riot, aren'tcha?" Xinyan said, stifling her dying laughter as she released Paimon before walking closer towards us.
Before we could react, she suddenly grabbed both of us by the neck and pulled both of us closer to a side hug, knocking over my hat in the process.
"Now come on you two, stop bickering like a married couple and let's go! We've got someplace else to be, ain't that right, Paimon?"
"Huh? Oh!" With the sound of paper fluttering against the wind, Paimon hurriedly flew closer before stopping right in front of us. "That's right, you two! What if those bandits decided to run away with their loot if you two kept flirting all day?!"
"Well said, Paimon!" With one final squeeze, Xinyan let go of us before crouching down, dusting my hat as she gave it to me. "Here you go."
"...thanks."
Giving me a toothy grin in response, Xinyan moved over towards Lumine. "Don't just stand there, party leader, come on!"
"Uh… right." Having regained her bearings, the blonde's bewildered expression was quick to turn chipper at Xinyan's words. "You're right! We still have lots of ground to cover!"
Suddenly, Lumine turned around and grabbed both Xinyan and my hand.
"Lead the way, Paimon!"
"Finally! Paimon thought you'll never ask!"
With Paimon leading the way, Lumine followed not far behind, dragging me and Xinyan by hand.
Glancing towards the rockstar next to me, I briefly examined her expression.
'All smiles and no signs of hesitation in sight. Phew, she should be fine with us now, right?'
I must've stared at her for a bit too long, but she suddenly turned her head towards me. Before I could look away though, Xinyan smiled and winked at me before looking away as she tried to catch up with Lumine.
'I think that's a yes.'
Saving that thought for later, I eventually caught up with the other three, keeping pace in silence as Xinyan started to tell all kinds of stories about herself.
'Yeah, she'll be just fine.'
The laughter of the two girls as they conversed filled the background as we walked towards the narrow passage ahead, making our way towards our next destination.
___________________________________
Following the trail of water towards the south, we walked past the relatively small opening and into a different area, with a small ruin on its center surrounded by a thin mist, a byproduct of the cold being emitted by the frozen flowers spreading cryo energy intermittently.
After activating the nearby waypoint, much to Xinyan's surprise, the four of us continued walking until we were met with a branching pathway, one leading downwards towards a much larger ruin, and the other leading down towards a cave, going down half-destroyed stairs and unused stone lanterns and all sorts of abandoned architecture consumed by mother nature.
Without hesitation, Paimon flew towards the right, following the stairs while the rest of us followed her, with Xinyan and Lumine still chatting the day away.
"A friend from the opera house?"
"Yeah, and she's the director, too. Honestly, the first time she visited one of my performances I thought I was dreaming!"
"I thought people of her background would normally hate your music."
"You'd think so, right? But unlike those old fogies, she actually enjoys rock 'n' roll. Comes to watch me three times a week no matter how packed her schedule is."
"Really?"
"Yep. Oh, and don't tell anyone about this, but she often comes to my house to play. Or maybe, to get away is more like it."
"Why? Is there something wrong with things back at her house?"
"Things became too much to handle, she said." As Xinyan said so, the sound of stifled laughter came out of her. "I wish you could see her yapping away about all kinds of restrictions the elders had on her. Without all kinds of eyes paying attention to her, she's like a different person compared to how she usually acts in public."
"Is the opera house a family business?"
"Yes, it is. Why?"
"Then it's not hard to imagine the kind of training she went through to continue the business, no? Whether it be as a performer herself or eventually becoming the director, I imagine her predecessor must be quite harsh on her."
"Yeah, she complains about them from time to time, her mother especially. But it's not that she hates her or anything."
"I've heard of that one before."
Feeling myself being watched, I turn towards the source, only to see Lumine giving me a side glance before immediately looking away.
'That's just how an asian family works, dear princess. If not both, then it's one or the other. Though it's not always the case, some of us are just not fortunate enough to not be the exception.'
'But man, Yun Jin likes rock 'n' roll, huh? That's news to me.'
As we descended deeper into the cave, I suddenly felt a small rumbling coming from the ground, as well as a faint noise of what seems to be snoring deeper inside.
'Oh right. It's that, isn't it? That giant geovishap thingy.'
Noticing the change in the atmosphere, Lumine held Paimon back before taking the lead herself, sword in hand. Following her lead, Xinyan unsheathed her axe-guitar as well.
Following the broken path deeper into the large cave, we found ourselves standing at the edge of a half-buried wall, looking over the sleeping figure of a giant rock.
If not for the noise it's making and the occasional rising coming from its rhythmic breathing, it's easy for a normal person to mistake it for a giant boulder.
Looking at the giant geovishap in front of her, Lumine chose to ignore it and continued our passage through the cave towards the other side.
"Let's go." She whispered. "We're better off not waking that thing."
As the other two nodded in response, I couldn't help but be surprised.
'I honestly thought she'd choose to fight it just because. Maybe I can finally rest easy–'
"If we're going to fight that thing, we're better off coming prepared next time around, just in case."
'Oh. Guess I was hoping for too much.'
I suppose if we actually ended up doing it, it'll be good to actually know what comes after. Would they drop anything? Would a ley line blossom appear? Or would we be left with a giant corpse, not knowing what to do about it?
'At least she's thinking of being prepared, so that's an improvement.'
"Is she being serious?"
Having been lost in my own thoughts, I didn't realize Xinyan had moved herself next to me.
"About what?"
"Y'know, fighting that thing down there."
"Oh she's serious alright. She loves the thrill of a good fight, so I was actually quite surprised she didn't just jump down there immediately."
"She'd do that?"
"I'm pretty sure she would, if my experience with her in Mondstadt is anything to go by."
"Ah, you mean what happened at the cathedral?"
"Yes."
Looking at the rather steep drop in front of us, I decided to do something that I've thought of for quite some time during my journey towards Liyue.
Picturing a square platform in my mind, I gathered the anemo energies towards our front and manipulated them accordingly.
Once it's done, I tried manipulating it and it seems to be able to move around just fine.
"Get on."
"Is it safe?"
"No idea. We'll find out soon enough."
Stepping into the barely visible platform, I offered my hand towards Xinyan, who gingerly took it and followed my lead. Once we're on, I manipulate the platform to carefully move forward, slowly catching up to Lumine who is ahead of us by quite a bit.
As the two of us passed her by, I grabbed her and Paimon on the way and put her down next to us, much to Lumine's surprise. Paimon, on the other hand, was too busy burying her head on the map to notice.
"Huh, I didn't know you could do this."
"Never needed to. But since I'm banned from flying for the foreseeable future, I thought I'd try it. And as you can see, it works just fine."
"You probably could've gotten us down from that cliff, huh?"
"Yes. While I would like nothing more than to blame your sudden impulsive need to jump off a cliff, I'll graciously admit that I didn't manage to think about doing this at the time."
"Hmph. Am I supposed to feel glad?"
"That'll be nice, though I know that's asking too much of you."
"This masked bastard–"
"Oh, would you look at that, we've made it to the other side." Before we could even make it far from the exit, we heard voices coming from just outside of the cave. "And please keep your voice down, princess, we've got company."
Though she seems particularly miffed this time around, even she realizes the importance of not exposing one's position in times like these.
"Go on then, dear leader, would you be so kind as to lead the rest of us?" I said in a whisper.
"Gladly." She replied, rather harshly.
As Lumine signals to Paimon, to which the little fairy immediately retreated slightly into the cave before disappearing in a burst of light, the rest of us quietly approach the edge of the ledge, listening in to the conversation below us.
"Hey, is the boss coming back anytime soon yet?"
"No idea."
Surrounding a single campfire were several tents pitched alongside tens of treasure hoarders scattered not far around the center, each of them busy doing their own thing.
A group of five, however, are currently busy chopping vegetables and stirring the pot as they continue their conversation about this 'boss' of theirs.
"We have our orders." A man said, as he chopped the radish in his hand into pieces with a worn out knife. "She said to leave some clues, wait for some inquisitive idiots to solve the puzzles for us, and all we have to do after that is simple."
"How long is that going to take, huh? We've been here for weeks, man, I'm bored as hell."
"If you're so bored, then why don't you swim across and have a nice chat with those Millelith fucks, huh?" Another treasure hoarder quips, scratching the exposed belly of his as he lies down on the stone floor. "Don't worry, bro, we'll be cheering you on from here."
"Fuck right off. I may be bored, but I ain't itching for prison time just yet."
"Suit yourself."
After that, the group continued their conversation, but since there's nothing worth noting, I tuned their voices out.
'Is that why there's a giant circle in this place on the map?'
A ruin with their mechanism still intact. It's no wonder that the treasure hoarders would keep an eye on a place like this. Just thinking of what sort of treasure lies behind all of that would be enough motivation for them to stay here for weeks on end.
'But since they can't solve it on their own, they're just waiting for someone to solve it for them, huh?'
Where there's a puzzle, there's always a treasure waiting about.
And it seems that Lumine has come to the same conclusion.
"Yuu, stay up here and provide cover; Xinyan, you're with me."
In response to her order, both of us nodded in response.
"Good. Let's go."
Without wasting any more time, both girls jumped down right towards the center of their group, startling the treasure hoarders with their sudden appearance.
Not giving them any chance to prepare, the accessory on Lumine's clothing turned yellow as she stomps her foot on the ground, causing numerous spikes coated in amber to suddenly appear, separating the group in front of her in two, as she immediately dash towards the ones in front.
Xinyan on the other hand, swung her axe-guitar at the two in front of her, hitting them hard on their face, with the pyro element she infused into her weapon leaving a slight singe on their skin. Suddenly, a ring of fire surrounded her body, pulsing occasionally as it let out a heat hot enough to dissuade others from getting close to her.
'There's no need to worry, dear criminals. We'll gladly help you lot with this little puzzle problem of yours. And all we ask in return is for you to come nicely and give us one hundred percent of the cut.
'Quite the steal, wouldn't you agree?'