We find ourselves outside of Mondstadt at 11:00 pm. The air is cold and the night is dark; the moon is obscured by a curtain of dark, silent clouds.
Walking out onto the bridge, I turn back once more only to see Jean smiling sadly, watching us go. Her expression is difficult to describe in words—distraught, sadness, anger, helplessness, relief, clarity, resignation—each more prominent than the last. I move slowly, making sure to keep pace with my mom. In ten minutes, we step off the bridge.
My face twists in anger, resignation, and debate. I wonder if we should stop by Springvale, but all things considered, it is likely that a knight on horseback will make it there faster than we can leave.
We will most likely be temporarily safe after we leave Mondstadt's borders. Considering my knowledge of the game and the general direction of things, I decide that I will pass by Springvale only to ask for directions toward Dawn Winery so that I can orient myself from there. Unlike before, I don't have the obvious landmarks that can be seen over the horizon to guide me, nor the time and speed to search for a way toward Liyue's borders.
My mom… she seems tired. And well… more than that.
I clench my fists in anger, and before I even notice, my hands bleed—and we are being ambushed by a few hilichurls.
"Cifera."
It takes one word, and the group of three hilichurls waiting beside the road disappears into the night. Not a scream is heard. The leaves don't move. The wind doesn't blow. The water seems to stop flowing.
Seconds later, everything returns to splatters of blood, mere stains in the dirt under my feet. Cifera doesn't even get a drop of blood on her. Strange… was she always this fast?
Looking at Cifera as she stretches and cleans her fur—her soft gray fur, fluffy to the point that even the word "fluffy" is an understatement of the century—I glance around and see that my mom is now standing, looking over the lake at Mondstadt, likely saddened at having to leave when we just started to integrate.
It seems that the transformation in appearance only caused more harm.
sigh "Mom, how about you get on Cifera? That way we'll move faster."
I don't mean to discredit her, but compared to my current physical state, she is fairly far behind. If only for self-defense, it might be prudent to have her get better with archery on the road. Mom was able to summon that green bow after all.
I might not recall what it was, but I am in great doubt that it is ordinary.
Cifera POV:
…It looks like instead of my breakthrough just breaking the limitations on me, it instead created some kind of reflux. I run faster, my illusions are greater, and my perception—the thing that held back my abilities the most—has improved.
I am almost jittery with excitement to test this out.
…I should help Sane out first, though. I'll carry Arye to better keep her safe and hopefully permit a faster speed than this slow walk.
Sane POV:
Not even a moment later, I see Cifera start to shrink while turning around and moving behind Mom. A bit confused, I am about to ask what she's doing until she goes under her legs and returns to the panther-like size she was before.
"Waaa!" a small shout comes from my mom at the unexpected sequence of events, but in the end she is now riding Cifera's back.
"Well, that's one way to go about it," I say, chuckling as Mom is still trying to find her balance.
"Yikes, that surprised me, Cifera! Don't do that! You scared me there!" Arye says, startled.
From the side, I notice a glint in Cifera's eyes, and this makes me smile at the mischievous cat.
"What are you smiling at?! You ordered this?" my mom asks, visibly annoyed but trying to hide a smile.
"I did not order this. It was merely a suggestion that Cifera seemed to like as well," I say, trying to sound placating while failing to hide my smile.
"Right. Well, we should probably get moving…" Arye says, still slightly reluctant.
Nodding, I just start walking, unwilling to delay any longer.
"So, while I was training, what have you been doing most of the time?"
"Well, the first few days I just went sightseeing, taking photos and videos." Arye pauses, then continues, "I visited the Mondstadt Cathedral. It was similar in size to Barcelona's Sagrada Família. Venti's statue in the front was also quite large, but it didn't really resemble him."
"Hah, so true. Though I wonder if instead of it being Venti's statue, it's actually Istaroth's."
"Istaroth?"
"Yeah, one of the Four Shades and the ruler of time," I summarize. I am unsure how much of this I can explain without being struck down by a heavenly nail.
I raise my hand and shake my head. "I don't know how much of this I can say. I do know that some have been killed for explaining such things."
"Then why did you say it?!" Mom gasps, now worried and exasperated.
"You asked." I stare at her, the "duh" expression obvious even under just the moonlight.
"Don't make that face at me!"
I smile, nod, and turn back to the road.
"So what did you do after that?"
"I mostly focused on searching for some kind of job to get the initial capital for the restaurant idea."
"Right! That was something we thought of doing." I pause, then continue, "Well, I hope it can be achieved in Liyue at least."
"Yeah, that would be nice."
I notice she stops speaking, and when I look at her, I see that she is watching Springvale as we pass by it.
Looking at the village—now more like a town, far bigger than what was seen in-game—is truly curious. As the silence continues even after we leave, I notice that Mom has fallen asleep on Cifera. I can't blame her. I probably would have done the same.
Walking beside the giant fluff ball, I barely stop myself from hugging her and instead simply pat her head, scratching behind her ears, which she likes a lot.
Time passes quickly. By now we start to see Dawn Winery over the tops of the hills. I take a look at my wristwatch, which shows 6:48 am.
Sighing, I look around and spot an area on top of a cliff that seems to have a good vantage point. I think that will be the best place for a camp, at least for now. I wonder how much sleep I will be able to get.
…
Now that I think about it, I don't notice any tiredness. I feel almost brimming with energy, actually.
What in Teyvat did I drink that made me feel perfectly fine until now?
Coming up to the spot, I first jump up and open the wind glider that I "scammed" off Amber to look around the position.
insert flashback
It is one of my only solo training days, and I debate what I should do. While I am thinking, I notice a shadow pass overhead, and looking up, I spot the only outrider left—Amber.
"Well, that decides it."
I increase my speed, catch up to the flying girl, and call out, "Wow, nice wind glider. Where can I get one of my own?"
Startled, Amber jumps, as she hadn't noticed me following her from below.
"Eep!"
This makes me chuckle. "As an outrider, shouldn't you be a bit more aware of your surroundings?"
She puffs up her cheeks and retorts, "I am on my day off and in the city! It doesn't count!"
"That attitude is what gets people killed."
Annoyed, she ignores my previous comment and asks, "What do you want anyway?"
"A glider."
"No. You don't have a license, do you?"
"Can you get me one?"
"I don't want to, and I couldn't even if I did. You first need to pass the test."
"Can you administer the test?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I don't want to."
"Please."
"No."
"Troublesome woman."
Hearing this, Amber storms off. Unhappy, I decide to go over to the Knights' Headquarters to check when I could sign up for an exam, and apparently there was an open time slot in an hour.
An hour later, I arrive at the given location only to find Amber there, grumbling that it was meant to be her day off.
Showing her the paper that I was the examinee, she almost rips it to shreds.
The exam goes surprisingly smoothly. I only need one retry (three allowed), but I use all three even after passing.
The main reason this is allowed is because there are levels to the license, and only the highest allows you to glide in Mondstadt itself.
I manage to achieve the highest score on either my first or second try, but I do all four attempts, which makes the entire day go to waste.
By the end, Amber is so mad she is about to throw a Baron Bunny at me while in the Knights' Headquarters, with only Jean's and Varka's presence preventing her (they needed to sign off on the license).
Also, due to getting the highest score, the examiner is the one to provide the glider, although the Knights are the ones to pay for it.
End Flashback
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A/N: Hi, sorry for the late upload, been busy and had a bit of motivation lag. Then there was also on how I wanted to pace this.... ya well bunch of reasons but in summary chapter got delayed and I am sorry.
If you care to leave a comment and gimme a powerstone.
Reviews on the fic are my current goal, but for now have a good Day/Night!