"There were no gods there—only us humans."
"We fought for all kinds of reasons. We schemed, we turned on each other, we slaughtered each other… and in the end we dragged everyone into ruin…"
"I watched it die at our own hands, powerless to stop it. I became a wanderer, drifting through the sea of stars…"
At some point, the clouds above had dispersed. Starlight spilled down in faint, scattered points.
Jiang Bai stared at Baiyuan in his hand, his expression painfully tangled. "Baiyuan came from my planet. It's the crystallization of that planet's highest technology. And it wasn't the only thing—there were many others. They were all created to survive the sea of stars…"
The past was far too tangled to unpack. Jiang Bai had only been a negligible speck caught up in the conflict—he'd simply been lucky enough to live.
The mark on his left arm and Baiyuan… those were his only remaining ties to home.
"I'm sorry," Albedo said, a note of guilt in his voice. "I shouldn't have made you think of something so painful."
"It's fine." Jiang Bai gave a careless smile. "Sometimes I'm pretty cold-blooded. Maybe I was disappointed to the bone. 'Home Planet'—aside from regret, it doesn't make me feel anything anymore."
He looked off toward where Wangsheng Funeral Parlor lay, and a faint smile surfaced.
"I actually like it here. There are gods here, and the gods love humanity. With gods watching over things, at least it won't follow in my planet's footsteps."
And besides—he'd found his second home.
Someone with a home didn't need to wander anymore.
And he… was no longer just a passerby.
Albedo didn't speak. He hadn't lived Jiang Bai's past; he had no standing to judge it.
And Jiang Bai didn't need comfort.
He answered the original question instead. "Baiyuan was built to adapt to the sea of stars. There are many kinds of energy out there—Baiyuan can absorb usable energy on its own and store it. It just can't store elemental power…"
That couldn't be helped. Baiyuan had been designed specifically for the sea of stars, not for any single fixed planet.
Jiang Bai willed Baiyuan into its bracer form. A light-screen flickered into existence over his arm, glitching like a broken signal—covering only his forearm.
"Originally, Baiyuan's shield could protect my whole body. But later it broke…"
In Teyvat, he had a Geo shield. Baiyuan's shield didn't matter much here. But before he came to Teyvat, that shield had saved him from more than a few life-and-death moments.
Still, a shield had limits. After several consecutive overloads, it finally failed…
"But it's fine. Baiyuan was made when the world was already on the brink of destruction, so it was built with a self-repair function. The repair time is long, but… if you don't have a home, all you can do is rely on self-repair…"
Jiang Bai lightly stroked the bracer. In the past, talking about this would inevitably have made him bitter. Now, the faint coolness of the metal steadied his heart into an unexpected calm.
Albedo added more wood to the fire, feeding it until it burned brighter.
"Speaking of home…" he said softly. "Before I came to Mondstadt, the place where my teacher was… that was home to me."
"Fair enough." Jiang Bai nodded as if it were profound, letting the conversation drift wherever it pleased. "For someone born from alchemy, your creator is your mother. Wherever your mother is—that's home."
Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he asked, "So how long have you been… alive?"
Albedo thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I'm not sure. A few hundred years, probably. Life underground has no seasons to mark it. I was immersed in research—I couldn't feel time passing at all…"
"A few hundred…" Jiang Bai murmured, then suddenly thought of Aether.
He had a strong hunch Aether's true age wasn't anything like what he looked.
Maybe, like Albedo, his time had been fixed in place.
"I wonder how old Aether really is. He looks underage, but maybe he's already a few thousand years old…"
"Speaking of him…" Albedo looked over at Jiang Bai, whose age was just as unreadable. "What about you?"
Whether it was Jiang Bai or Aether, Albedo couldn't determine their age from their bodies—no condition, no bone age, nothing.
"Me?" Jiang Bai said at once, utterly unwavering. "I'm obviously still young!"
Albedo only smiled, making no attempt to argue.
"By the way," Jiang Bai continued, "what kind of person is your creator, Rhinedottir?"
A trace of nostalgia surfaced in Albedo's eyes. "My creator… she…"
...
Sometime during their talk, snow began drifting in slow, scattered flakes outside the cave.
That night, Jiang Bai and Albedo spoke at length, their conversation wandering without bounds.
About their pasts. About the present. About the future.
The past was already past. The future could never be pinned down. The only thing they could do was live the present well.
The fire crackled—snap, pop, hiss—its dancing light reflected on two faces that were anything but calm.
Secrets buried deep, never spoken aloud, found their way into the open—like finally finding someone willing to listen.
Albedo stared out into the blizzard that had risen again outside the cave, as if through the wind and snow he could see the dragon buried beneath Dragonspine.
"If one day I lose control… and I destroy Mondstadt—destroy everything…" His voice was quiet. "I hope you'll come and stop me…"
"That's bad luck." Jiang Bai clicked his tongue. "You don't say things like that. Don't jinx it."
He pulled out a flask and handed it over. In the firelight, his expression was unusually serious.
"Even if you do lose control, I'll do everything I can to bring you back to your senses. That's a promise—from a friend."
Albedo's features softened; his eyes curved slightly.
"Come," he said. "Drink."
"Mm."
The harsh liquor burned its way down their throats. Two people who couldn't truly get drunk still found themselves a little tipsy in the wind and snow.
...
The next day, the three of them officially set out for the cave where the Hilichurls were.
Jiang Bai remembered that the first time he'd climbed up here, he'd stumbled into the mountain's interior by accident—and only then had he run into Xiao Shi.
"That place is inside Starglow Cavern," Jiang Bai said, map in hand as he looked to Albedo. "Do you know a quicker way in?"
Even though he'd been on Dragonspine before, he was still unfamiliar with its routes.
"Mm. Follow me."
Albedo pulled Klee's hat down snugly, then lifted her onto his shoulders.
The blizzard outside was fierce, but for Vision-bearers like them, it wasn't much of an obstacle.
Jiang Bai followed Albedo forward through the wind and snow until they reached an area littered with Vindagnyr ruins. Between the gaps of toppled stone pillars, there was a passage leading into a cave in the mountain.
Once inside, Jiang Bai moved with practiced ease.
He kept an eye out for the icicles that occasionally dropped from above as he descended.
At last, at the very bottom of the cavern—after rounding several bends—the familiar path he'd taken before came into view.
Jiang Bai said to Albedo and Klee, "Wait here for a bit."
Those Hilichurls only recognized him. To keep them from attacking Albedo and Klee, it was better for him to go in first and give them a heads-up.
---
T/N: i forgot what the names of the hilichurls were