Kairo and Lumine were mid-banter when Paimon suddenly yelped.
"Huh?" Lumine blinked, then followed Paimon's stare down to the lower gallery.
Two very familiar figures were hurrying across the wooden boards toward Wangshu Inn's entrance. Lumine's expression froze, surprise flashing in her eyes.
"Barbara? ...And Fischl?!"
Her voice was steadier than Paimon's, but no less startled.
Downstairs, a blonde girl in Church of Favonius attire all but glowed with excitement, golden hair flutter skirting in the night breeze, swaying like an eager sprite. Beside her strode another girl in a black gothic dress, gold-violet hair gleaming; triumph curved her lips, like someone stepping squarely into a foretold reunion.
Lumine stared, thoughts racing. How did those two get here so fast? Even with Kairo's help, she'd needed two hard-driving days to reach the inn. Fischl, sure—an Adventurers' Guild investigator—but Liyue work should be handled by Liyue's branch. Barbara, though… a deaconess of Mondstadt's church rarely left the city, much less the nation.
"...That's really Barbara and Fischl, right? Why are they here ? Weren't they still in Mondstadt?" Paimon scratched her head, baffled.
Kairo, too, was quietly surprised. So fast—and she even brought Barbara. He waved the innkeep over, asked for two rooms, and to bring the girls up at once. The innkeep bowed and bustled downstairs.
Lanterns swayed softly in the night wind; warm light pooled along the railings.
"—Heh-heh-heh!" Fischl swept through the door with theatrical relish. Her eyes glittered, voice dipping into that familiar, solemn cadence as she lifted a hand in ritual flourish toward the inn's depths, as if the stage curtains were about to part.
"Thy fate cannot escape my guiding hand! Kairo—across mountains and seas have we come, to meet at last at this predestined hour!"
Barbara paused to smooth wind-tossed hair, cheeks pinking as she glanced up toward the second floor. We'll see him in a moment. I hope he isn't resting…
They hadn't noticed Kairo and Lumine watching from the fourth-floor gallery. The innkeep reached them first, smiling wide. "You're expected upstairs. Rooms are prepared."
"Really?" Barbara's eyes brightened—so Kairo had seen them arrive.
Chin lifted, Fischl let a spark of satisfaction show. At last.
Guided up the stairs, her heartbeat quickened at the sight of a familiar silhouette. For an instant she imagined launching herself straight at him—only to spot Lumine and Paimon at his side and clamp the impulse down. A Prinzessin does not lose her composure.
Head high, voice perfectly "in character," she declared, "Hmph, Kairo, I descend once more into the orbit of thy destiny! Through star-strewn gulfs and the rivers of time have we voyaged to reach this place. Yet—" A beat; then an almost hopeful shift. "Yet our crusade has been most fatiguing. See us provisioned at once with a feast worthy of fate's favorites!"
Translation: she was starving.
Kairo couldn't help the laugh. Still the same Fischl—thrilled, pretending not to be. "Already ordered. Dinner's on the way."
Paimon, meanwhile, had fixed on Barbara. "How did you get to Liyue so fast? That's a long way!"
Lumine wondered the same. She'd planned to visit Barbara next time they swung through Mondstadt—now the deaconess had arrived on their doorstep.
Barbara's gaze flicked to Kairo; her cheeks warmed. Fingers worrying her skirt hem, she murmured, "Um... because of a kind of... special ticket."
"A ticket ?" Paimon's eyes went round. "What ticket?"
"Fischl said she had a powerful pass and needed my help to charge it. She wanted to come to Liyue to find Kairo, so I… helped. Then we used it and—well—we were suddenly in Liyue." She spread her hands, still a little dazed. "The Millelith us pointed toward Wangshu Inn."
"No way! A ticket that teleports you?" Paimon slapped her cheeks in disbelief.
Barbara nodded. "I didn't think it would work either. But it did…"
"Heh. Fate arranges all," Fischl said loftily, flipping her hair, pride leaking through the act.
Dishes arrived in a fragrant procession. Barbara ate neatly, deaconess-polite, while Fischl demolished plates with zero image control, punctuating each bite with "behold, destiny's bounty!" until Paimon could only roll her eyes.
Afterward they admired the night view from the second-floor terrace and agreed to explore the marsh and pick up information in the morning.
"We've had a long day," Barbara stretched, smiling. "Let's turn in. Tomorrow—Liyue!"
"Night-night!" Paimon yawned and waved. Everyone drifted to their rooms.
Barbara closed her door, exhaled, latched the window, then freshened up. A hot cloth brought her back to herself; she checked her reflection, smoothed her dress, and, satisfied, headed to crack the window for air—
—and froze.
A furtive shadow crept along the outer wall. Through the paper lattice she caught the silhouette: light, practiced, almost catlike .
A thief? Here?
Frowning, Barbara edged the sash open a finger's width and peeked out. The banner ropes creaked. The shadow resolved—
Fischl?!
Barbara's eyes flew wide as Fischl ghosted past her window and toward the next room.
Kairo's room.
"...You can't be serious."
She held her breath as Fischl, with frankly alarming familiarity, reached Kairo's sill
—and slipped inside.
"…"
Barbara's mind blanked. She knelt by the frame, face burning crimson , heart thundering. Fischl knows his room? And just… goes in? This was Wangshu Inn , not their usual haunts. How was she this … skilled ?
Curiosity beat embarrassment. On tiptoe, Barbara eased into the corridor, crept toward Kairo's window—
A faint voice carried through the wood.
Barbara's face went up in flames. She clapped both hands over her mouth, squatted on instinct, and then fled, cheeks fever-hot, practically diving back into her room. Door shut, she pressed her back to it, gulping air.
"F-Fischl, you… you…!" she whispered, half scandalized, half… something she refused to name.
Elsewhere, outside Liyue Harbor, two figures stood watching the city lights.
"I understand," said Keqing, voice cool as moonlight. "I'll keep tabs on the traveler. Have the Millelith invite them to meet the moment they enter the city.
"As for Mondstadt's dragon crisis being resolved, I'll inform Ningguang and have her send word to confirm—and to ask about this 'Honorary Knight.' Two days is enough to verify."
She lowered her gaze to the photo Yelan had provided—the Everwinter Shade in all its ice-blue menace—and frowned. "You're certain that… thing isn't a monster?"
"Mhm." Yelan nodded. "They call it a guardian. I asked around—the story holds."
"Then we'll speak again once they reach the harbor," Keqing said with a small nod.
Back at Wangshu Inn—
Kairo, mid "burst" with a very enthusiastic Fischer-brand visit, suddenly stiffened. A familiar pane of virtual text flashed into being before his eyes.
His eyelid twitched.
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