Night passed without incident.
Morning light slid over Mondstadt's walls, slipped between the rooftops, and broke into patches across the stone-paved streets. A soft breeze carried the smell of flowers in from Windrise, making the City of Freedom look the way it always should have — bright, slow, peaceful.
Only, the people weren't peaceful.
What happened last night had already run through every tavern and fruit stall.
"Did you hear? The Fatui actually laid hands on the Anemo Archon's treasure!"
"The Holy Lyre der Himmel, right? Are they crazy?"
"I heard Acting Grand Master Jean has a lead already."
"Good. If the Knights said so, it'll come back… but Mondstadt's really not calm lately."
Vendors were opening up, hauling crates, setting out bread — and all at the same time talking about that. Knights of Favonius patrols were thicker than usual. Everyone knew: someone had tried to steal a piece of the Wind God. That wasn't small.
At the Adventurers' Guild door, a certain girl was even less calm.
Fischl stood before the notice board, arms folded, one boot tapping. Her emerald eyes swept the square once, twice… the impatience on her face got clearer.
"Tch…"
She tilted her head, little frown lines forming. "Where is that negligent retainer…"
By the "covenant" she'd unilaterally written in her head, Kairo should've been here long ago.
But she had waited. And waited. And not even the shadow of him had shown up.
Fischl puffed her cheeks, half-resentful: "Could it be that because this Prinzessin did not grace the Guild yesterday, he dares not appear today?"
A black raven flapped beside her, voice calm and gentlemanly. "My lady, it is also possible that Master Kairo simply overslept. Or that the Knights have detained him for questioning over last night's affair."
"Hmph. How dare a mortal make the sovereign of the Immernachtreich wait? Such disrespect is not part of our pact."
Fischl hugged herself tighter, eyes shining with total confidence in her own script. "Clearly, Kairo has been ensnared by a dream-demon and has yet to awaken. Therefore, I shall rouse him."
Oz blinked. "My lady… if you go to his residence at this hour, would that not be… impolite?"
"How can a visitation born of destiny be called 'impolite'?" Fischl lifted her chin. "If the author of fate descends in person to summon her retainer, that only proves the depth of our bond."
Saying that, she very naturally took out… a key.
Kairo's key.
It flashed once in the morning light.
Oz stared. "My lady… may I be so bold as to ask why you are in possession of Master Kairo's house key?"
"Hmph. Our alliance was forged long ago. A mere key is naught but a token." Her cloak swished. "Come. We shall awaken the slumbering warrior."
And off she went — light steps, full of confidence, as if breaking into someone's home first thing in the morning was the most reasonable thing in Teyvat.
Oz opened his beak, then only sighed and followed after. "May the Anemo Archon watch over you, Master Kairo… do not be too startled."
Very soon, Fischl was standing at Kairo's door.
Her golden-amber eyes sparkled with mischief.
She did not knock.
Instead she glanced up at the eaves. "Oz, stand guard outside. Should the Knights patrol by, you shall raise the alarm. I have devised a most exquisite stratagem."
"As you wish, my lady." Oz beat his wings and rose to the roof to watch the street.
Fischl slipped the key into the lock.
Click.
The door yielded.
She slipped inside on tiptoe, closed it quietly, and followed the familiar corridor toward the bedroom like a practiced infiltrator from the shadowed court of the Immernachtreich.
Inside, it was still.
Kairo lay on his side, breathing evenly, hair falling over his forehead. In the soft wash of sunlight, he looked relaxed — and, to Fischl, very much like someone who deserved to be punished for making her wait.
Fischl's lips curved.
"You have made the Prinzessin wait far too long… prepare for judgment."
She crept to the bedside and — very un-royally — pinched his nose.
"...mm?"
Kairo frowned in his sleep, trying to brush away whatever was blocking his breathing.
Then a faint, very familiar fragrance — clean, with a hint of flower and leather — reached him.
He opened his eyes.
And saw Fischl. Squatting by the bed. Grinning like she'd just completed an espionage mission.
"Ha! This is the royal punishment of the Immernachtrei—"
She didn't finish.
Kairo's eyes narrowed. He reached out, caught her wrist, and — yanked.
"Eh—?!"
Fischl hadn't expected resistance at all. With a short yelp she toppled forward onto the bed.
Whump.
Before she could roll away, Kairo flipped the quilt over her and — wrap.
Perfect cocoon.
Fischl: "???"
She wriggled once. Twice. The cocoon only hugged tighter.
"R-release me! You dare bind the Prinzessin der Verurteilung—!"
Kairo looked down at this very round, very noisy bundle and let out the most helpless sigh of the morning.
"You broke into my house at daybreak… just to pinch my nose?"
Fischl angled her face away, cheeks faintly pink. "Hmph! The Prinzessin waited for half the morn and thou didst not appear. Such breach of covenant must be redressed!"
"So you came to 'wake' me."
"Indeed."
"So your method of 'waking' me… was to suffocate me with your fingers."
Fischl froze for half a heartbeat.
"…It was the swiftest method of rousing a slumbering warrior," she said, completely straight-faced. "You should be grateful."
Kairo almost laughed. "Grateful. Right."
He loosened the quilt a little.
Fischl propped herself up, almost seated —
— and he pressed the quilt down again.
"?! Kairo!"
He sat beside the bed, looking at her steadily. "You do realize Mondstadt's on alert, yes? The Fatui stole the Holy Lyre der Himmel, the Knights are moving, the city is talking… and you are out here doing stealth entries?"
Fischl paused.
Then she coughed delicately and slid right back into her chuuni register. "Ahem. Precisely because the darkness has begun to stir in Mondstadt did I come to summon thee. Today is destined to be a day of grand adventure."
From outside the window, Oz called down carefully, "My lady, the Knights' patrols are indeed thicker this morning. It would be safer if—"
Fischl raised her voice to cover him: "—and the mortal who makes the Prinzessin wait shall at the very least accompany her!"
Kairo pinched the bridge of his nose. "So the real reason is: you waited, I didn't come, you got mad."
"...No," she whispered.
"Fischl."
She puffed her cheeks. "...Fine. A little."
Kairo looked at her — the girl who had actually taken his key, snuck in, and pinched his nose just to drag him to the Guild — and finally chuckled.
"Alright, alright. I'm up."
Fischl's eyes lit up at once. "Hmph. Then remember this, mortal — do not make the Prinzessin wait in vain again."
Kairo glanced toward the window. "Oz, please don't shout to the whole of Mondstadt that she has my key."
On the roof, Oz gave the avian version of a cough. "That… shall be redacted from the record."
Fischl tossed her hair, cloak swishing, smug all over again. "Then let us proceed to the Adventurers' Guild and claim today's glorious commission!"
"Breakfast first," Kairo said as he finally got off the bed.
Fischl froze for half a second.
"…Alright."
She said it very, very softly.
Outside, on the street below, two Knights of Favonius walked by, talking in low voices about searching the Snezhnayan Embassy again. Mondstadt's morning was lively, but not calm.
Kairo glanced toward the window.
Looked like today really wasn't going to be a quiet day.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/ZeusOp