Aspen didn't fully realize until now that Gia probably was tired
due to her encounter with the fatui. It didn't help that the trek
might take a while if they were to leave exhausted. He winced at
the oversight. "Or..." he was struggling to put his thoughts into
words. "...would you rather take a break? We can't stay for too
long, the night can get pretty dangerous, but if it can help
then...well we can stay for a bit." While night make it hard to see
enemies, the cover of dark may also help them if they go off the
path. He didn't know the area enough to stray from it until they
got close to Mount Snowpeak though, and it may cause them more
trouble than staying on the path.
"I'll figure it out as I go," he murmured under his breath. He
slightly shook his head. It bothered him that he wasn't able to
make a concrete decision.
Xin Sui nods. She snaps her fingers and a young blue haired women
appears. "Xin, I told you not to do that!" she complains. "Hush
Lacrimae. We have... guests." the young woman nods and rushes off.
Xin Sui turns back to ZhongYun and Jelkyine. "Are you from Liyue?"
she asks quietly.
Well wasn't that a complicated question. Technically, ZhongYun was
a half, with their mother being from Liyue and their father from
Fontaine, while Jekllyine had pure Fontaine blood in her veins. The
pair had indeed escaped from Liyue so it wouldn't be wrong to say
that they had come from Liyue. In the end, ZhongYun only nodded
cautiously, eyes tracking Lacrimae as she ran off.
Xin Sui narrows her eyes. She senses he isn't telling the whole
truth, but doesn't push it. "Come, we have much do discuss." she
says, turning and starting deeper into the camp, motioning for them
to follow her. They pass several tents, several small fires,
lanturns, tables and weapon racks.
As they walked through the camp, ZhongYun occasionally looked back
to check on the now conscious Jekylline. "How are you
feeling?" They murmured, native Fontaine rolling off their
tongue easily. "Any discomfort? How's your head? Do you need any
immediate medical attention?" THere was almost a frantic edge
to their whispering, making sure to keep their voice down.
Rolling her eyes, Jekylline stuck out her tongue and twisted
ZhongYun's head back to face forward. "don't worry about me, I'm
fine." she grumbled, pouting as ZhongYun seemed to hesitate for
a moment before picking up the pace to follow Xin Sui through the
camp. Really, ZhongYun worried too much about her for their own
good
Xin Sui smiled a bit and laughed quietly. It was quick funny how
often people underestimated various abilities of hers. Hurry up
now she murmured in Fontaine, mostly to herself. The one thing
Xin Sui could be quite prideful about, was the fact that she spoke
every native language in Teyvat, several hilichurl languages and
several dead languages. Her one specialty, Akane always joked.
By this time, they were late. "Hurry up
Kaien! We're going to be late! Pick up the pace you lazy
bum!""Why is your sword so
heavy ;-;" Kaien said panting. "I see it in the distance, it shouldn't take too
long""good, hold my hand, I'm
going to propel us into the air, you can land right?""Yup, here's your sword" Shizai
took the sheath and drew her sword. Then a burst of wind propelled
them straight into the air. "You're
actually growing stronger, that's good, only thing is if we stick
the landing"
Stiffening at the sound of the familiar language coming from
someone they couldn't yet trust, ZhongYun's walls hardened more
wary than ever. They had grown soft during their stay in Liyue, too
reliant on the assumption that no one would be able to understand
their native tongue. But at this stage, they couldn't exactly back
down, not when their concern for Jekylline's wellbeing outweighed
everything else. But they held a faint bit of comfort in knowing
that the odds of Xin Sui knowing their mother's native tongue, a
dying branch of Liyue that was rarely spoken, was most likely not
in that women's repritoire. The only downside was that Jekylline
didn't know it either so they wouldn't be able to communicate in
secret. Unfortunate, but it was a backup plan nonetheless.
Hopefully they wouldn't ever have to use it but in the meantime,
they simply scowled and did as they were told, walking faster to
keep pace
Akane climbed a tree and placed her head in her hands. "I'm so
stupid." she mutters. She picks at a piece of loose bark on the
tree branch. She pulls it free and presses it to her nose. "Pine."
she murmurs, calmed for a moment. The scent of Windwheel Aster
floats towards her on the wind. "Mondstadt." she sighs.
Xin Sui smiles sadly. "This is the place." she sits down at a
table. She gestures for them to join her. Her purple eyes gaze
lands upon the siblings and the sadness becomes visible for just a
second before disappearing. "As you most likely can tell at this
point. This is not a Fatui camp. This is the home of vision
holders." she gestures with her hand to the many people around
them. Lacrimae waves from where she's sitting, her hydro vision
shining a brilliant blue.
Lacrimae waves to the siblings. "They look lost." she thinks sadly.
"Then again, when are any of us not lost here?" she thinks. She
jumps down from the wall she was sitting on and goes for walk.
Thankfully, she wasn't far from camp but was a good enough distance
away to mess around a bit. "What is that-" she says, peering up in
the sky. "By the archons hand-" she pauses, grinning. She had used
one of Xin Sui's many 'sayings.' "That looks like people!" she
finishes.
"I don't mean to impose..." ZhongYun mumbled, eyes flickering down.
If this was a vision holder camp, then at least Jekylline would be
safe but ZhongYun themself would have to leave eventually, their
cracked vision labelling them as an outcast among the brightly
glowing gifts from the archons. "But My Lady is in dire need of
medical attention. She's injured with extensive blood loss and
malnourished, so I'm begging you to help her. Please. I'll do
whatever you need me to, but please help her." They begged and
bowed their head down low, nearly folding themself in half in their
prostration. It was embarrassing, asking for help from a stranger
to do something that they couldn't. They still had their pride but
at this moment, ZhongYun knew that their pride had to be put aside
in order to help Jekylline.
For her part, Jekylline looked like she was about to argue, mouth
opening before it snapped back shut, exhaustion written all over
her face. If she had any more energy, she would have fought tooth
to nail for ZhongYun to also think about himself for once, but the
rolling lethargy sapped her words away
"Umm..." Gia downed her eyes to the ground, she, looking back up to
see Aspen's worried look, snapped her fingers and said, "I have
something!" she stepped a bit into the dark, summoned her vision
from her pocket, and opened it towards the eternal blackness.
The small, green-dyed glass shard opened itself up and revealed a
Mist Flower Corolla. She frowned faintly and walked back towards
Aspen, "Nevermind," She dragged.
I may seem like a bunch of useless text, but I LIVE HERE and I
don't welcome visitors >:(
"This is bad, we're are hurdling towards
that tree and I cant steer because I already wasted a lot of
stamina by running, I guess this might be a crash land into
it""I think I see something in
that tree, wait no, someone""Get
out of the way!" Shizai yelled.
Aspen flashed a sympathetic look, and started to walk down the path
to the camp. "We'll be there before you know it," he assured Gia.
He kept his focus on the sounds around them, trying to filter out
the dying chorus of birds as it got dark. He might have been
assuring himself too, as his steps were slow and shaky.
While walking down the path, he started to recall why he had been
here, he almost forgot after his encounter with Gia and her
companion. He had heard a rumor in the camp of a ruins that Aspen
thought might have had clues as to where his family could have
been. Unfortunately he had found nothing, so all he still had of
his family was a sword and his name. Finding another vision holder
made the trip worth it though.
"Not anywhere like a camp or settlement, but I'm familiar with the
area of Dragonspine. I've never dared to go far into the mountain,
but if need be...it's an option. " Aspen paused, but shortly
continued. "I used to live near there," he clarified. "And I'd used
to explore the outskirts of the mountain before...this." That was a
sort of half truth, as he started wandering due to dissappearancr
of his parents. They said they were going back to visit family, but
it's been almost a year since they left before he decided to go
find them. It was a good choice too, as when he came back to his
old house the first time he found it burned and ransacked.
"Wow," Gia sighed, "is this why everybody calls me simple?" She
questioned. Her footsteps echoed through walking on the path and
she kept her gaze toward the dirt.
I may seem like a bunch of useless text, but I LIVE HERE and I
don't welcome visitors >:(
"If everyone is unique, then the 'simple' one is probably the most
unique out of all them." he laughed. "My mother would say that
sometimes." A nostalgic smile spread across his face. "And hey, you
have a vision, that makes you unique, even if it may bring
unfortunate consequences." Their steady progress had made them
reach Dragonspine, the chilly wind being familiar company to the
boy. "Do you want to go through, or around?" he asked.
Eva ran from tree to tree, using her wind vision to help her cross
the larger gaps. She was surprised she wasn't dropping her polearm
from all this. Suddenly she heard people and ducked down, using the
trees for cover
Gia smiled from Aspen's words only lasted for so long. She was
staring upward toward the humongous mountain, Gia almost had
dropped Pyonor down to the ground and fainted. "Tha-t, th-at's a
really, really, really, really big mou-ntain." She shivered. Gia
hooked her head and looked down, "Around. Let's go around." She
said, firm and certain.
I may seem like a bunch of useless text, but I LIVE HERE and I
don't welcome visitors >:(