The group started to make their way back to Yilong Wharf, the sun too, continued its track across the false sky of Teyvat.
After about an hour of walking the group had to stop to rest.
As Carman sat down, the girl who the group had rescued fell onto her rear next to him, exhausted.
"We never got around to introductions did we?" he said as he glanced towards the kid, a sheepish look on his face that it had slipped his mind until that moment.
"Yeah…" she replied, uncertain on how to proceed.
"Since I am the one who forgot to do so before we rescued you, I'll go first. My name is Carman Lepaute, and my friends and I are from Fontaine." he said.
"The name's Sylvain, nice to meet'cha kid" said Sylvain/Clervie with a wink and two fingered salute she had seen Carman do on occasion.
"You may refer to me as Ryuzu," said Ryuzu with a polite incline of her head.
The rescued girl hesitated, clasping her hands in her lap before finally murmuring, "Fúzhī Líng… I am Fúzhī Líng." (福织 绫)
"It is nice to meet you, Young Miss Fúzhī," Said Ryuzu as she inclined her head, "I feel it is prudent to ask, how are you feeling? It has been an eventful day for you young miss, and I am sure that all of this hiking is wearing down on you. Sylvain or I could carry you if need, Yilong Wharf is still a distance away, and your father is very worried about your safety."
Líng took a second to consider, her legs were getting very tired, even traveling with her father, today had been the most physical exercise she had been through in a long time, she knew the reasonable choice was to let herself be carried, she was the shortest and least endurance of the group.
However, when she thought of letting go of the boy, Carman's shirt, her heart clenched, and she had to try hard not to think of the sight of his "clone" exploding into a shower of water in front of her.
Carman, noticing her darkening look, quickly made an absurd face by pinching both of his cheeks and wiggling his tongue in his mouth, a trick he used to pull when babysitting.
Líng continued to stare at him for a moment, her face changing from sadness, to a blank confusion, then into a hastily stifled snorting laugh as she noticed his face.
"Feeling better?" he asked when her giggles died down.
Líng nodded, "yes, thank you." she said as she gave Carman another, more relaxed hug.
Carman sighed, "You're just going to keep clinging onto me aren't you?"
Líng simply giggled again and nodded.
Carman sighed, and after a while, the group rose once more to continue their trek back to civilization.
Having calmed down, Líng allowed Ryuzu to carry her as the group started to increase their traveling speed, hoping to get to the settlement before nightfall
[ 2 hours later ]
The group managed to arrive at the wharf by early evening, the streets were nearly empty, most of the vendors having closed their stalls and gone home for the day. There were still people wandering about here and there, mostly night patrons of the various tea houses and restaurants.
[Elsewhere]
To the western edge of the settlement, a group was congregating, a man surrounded by a group of caravans was talking to his fellow merchants urgently, a look of angry resolve on his face. The look darkened with each denial and excuse he was given, nobody was willing to deploy their own security to help secure his daughter.
As the sun started to fall beyond the horizon, painting the sky in hues of brilliant reds, oranges, blues, and violets, the color drained from the man's face. He had talked to every person in the various groups visiting the harbor, none of them wanted to get involved, even if they were acquainted, they still insisted this was the job for the Millileth, or to make a commission for the adventurer's guild.
The man knew there was no time, the Millileth had already informed him they would not be able to assist due to their own task in securing the border, and it would take days for the commission to be certified by the adventurer's guild, much less be picked up by some random adventurer.
He had already started the process of the latter, having dropped a slip of paper with the details of the request off at the guild post stationed in the settlement, but by the time he met an adventurer willing to take up the task, what horrible things could have happened to his daughter?
As the hope was starting to fade from his eyes, suddenly a small piece of paper folded into a strange shape glided through the air and slowly fell into his lap.
Picking it up, the man saw markings in the corner and unfolded the strange piece of paper,
Inside there was a short written message.
"We recovered your Daughter from the Treasure Hoarders, meet us on the east side of the wharf."
-to be continued
//
Hey everyone, Blas here,
sorry for the prolonged absence been busy with various things IRL, and have been having serious writer's block on this part of the story. I kept changing Ling's name as nothing seemed to fit quite right and on top of that I can't figure out to make the dialogue for this an the next chapter feel more natural, but I felt that you all have been waiting too long for an update, so I'll come back to this chapter when I have time.
Until then, any comments on where to fix the rough patches would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get back to more regular updates but whenever I try to commit it feels like life just chucks a volley of crud onto my plate, thanks for sticking with the story so fat despite that, the support y'all have been giving helped keep me motivated.
//