Chapter Text
It’s been a couple of days since the fireworks show, the lantern rite is coming to an end and the hype is slowly dissipating.
After her many performances in all corners of Liyue, Yun Jin invited the traveler to tea, saying that all of her group members are resting with their families, and most of her friends are busy with their own jobs.
Lumine sips her wine, watching the children of Qingce village run around with sparklers. Yun Jin sits across from her, the Geo wielder soaking in the festiveness.
Her ears detect slow, but firm footsteps approaching them. Granny Ruoxin walks towards them with a soft smile on her face, bringing a tray of tea to their table.
The two of them know neither ordered more tea. Just as Yun Jin is about to deny her, Granny Ruoxin pats her shoulder and shakes her head, “This is a thank you for Miss Yun. There aren’t a lot of performers who would perform out here. Ever since Mr Fuzhu left, no other storyteller would visit us.” The elderly sigh. One of the children calls out to Granny Ruoxin, the woman smiles at the two before leaving to take care of the children's needs.
Yun Jin mumbles the name quietly, staring absentmindedly at her cup of tea, the other two turn to the opera performer, who just looks back sheepishly, “Ah, did I say that out loud?”
“You know this Fuzhu guy, Yun Jin?” Paimon asks, tilting her head to the side cutely. Yun Jin fights the urge to pat her head. The opera singer sighs and takes out a notebook, with some pictures slipped between the pages. A number of them are sketches of scenery and costumes used in opera. She takes out a picture from the pile and shows it to the traveler.
The picture shows Yun Jin wearing a dragon themed costume, but the headdress is worn by Beidou, who has an arm slung over Yun Jin’s shoulder and cheering with an alcohol jar raised up high. There are other people in the picture, an excited Xinyan, an annoyed Ninguang, and a man with a Cryo vision. His long hair is as red as blood, cascading down his shoulders with snowy tips, like Childe’s favourite snowy bloodshed scenery. His eyes are kind yet piercing maroon, and his physical features look handsome but fragile. He wears a distinctive mask that covers half of his face, and an eccentric cloak with wing patterns.
“Mr Fuzhu was indeed an excellent storyteller, most people knew him for his melancholic inspirational stories. We have worked together in weaving stories often in the past.”
Lumine has never heard of the name. Was he really that famous. If he was that great of a story teller, she could see the other storytellers desperately trying to steal his spotlight the moment he's gone from the stage.
“He left for Mondstat a couple of years ago, he said he wanted to broaden his horizon, so he learned the art of the lyre and travelled away as a bard. Last I heard, he was recruited into the knights of favonius and got promoted as vanguard captain.”
He’s in the knights?
Lumine’s mind rolls back to the acting grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius, Jean won’t assign someone unfit for a job, that means she considers him very powerful.
“Oh, Lumine, I think you should have this.”
Yun Jin takes out a small bag and opens it on the table. Inside it are pieces of a golden plate and a glass ball.
"After Mr Fuzhu left, i took a peek of his apartment out of curiosity and found this. I'd keep it, but I'm not sure what it is, or what it's for."
Lumine took the pieces and puzzles them together. Her otherworldly powers reacted and the cracks melded together. The true form of the broken pieces is this glass ball device. Yun Jin picks it up and studies it, “What is this?”
Suddenly, the ball lights up. Yun Jin almost dropped it, if it weren’t for Paimon holding it from below. She places the glass ball on the table and the three watches as a face appears. A young adult with blonde hair. The man seemed happy at first, but then it turned to shock.
The man asked something, but they couldn't understand his language. But they noticed a name among the gibberish he said. Kayle Honey lettuce? No, Cale Henitusk? Cale Henituse!
“What is this guy talking about?” Paimon asked.
The man must’ve heard Paimon, because he too realized that he can’t understand them. The face disappears and the ball stops glowing.
Fuzhu… Who is he?
After Yun Jin leaves, leaving the glass ball to her, Lumine plans out how to find the storyteller. He is another potential lead to find her brother, she can not allow this opportunity to slip from her fingers. Paimon, too, understands her thoughts. At a perfect moment, one of the children runs past them, Paimon takes the initiative and calls her over, “Hey kid! Can we ask you something?”
The little kid turns around and approaches them, bouncing on her toes, “Ah, blonde aunty! What is it?”
‘Aunty…’ Lumine shakes the thought out of her head, “Do you know about a guy named Fuzhu?” Lumine asks, burying the pain of the unintentional insult to her old age.
The kid scratches her head before a lightbulb lights up, “Yeah! Red uncle! Red uncle made the best stories!”
Yun Jin wasn’t lying when she said his stories are good.
“And Red uncle beats up monsters! He’s like, ICE WOSH WOSH KAPOSH!”
The little kid makes crazy imitations of a catalyst fighter launching ice as projectiles. Jumping around and swinging her arms like a madman.
“And then there’s his friend!”
The little girl puts her fingers together in front of her and twirls around, “White aunty was like ICE IN-CAR-NET WOSH SHING WOSH KAPING!”
Ice in-car-net?
Incarnate?
Shenhe?
“White aunty sounds like Shenhe! Let’s go find her!” Paimon suggested, as if reading the traveler’s mind. The two said their goodbyes with the little kid before departing for Mount Aochang.