Young Writers Society

Viktor nodded.

"It's on the way," Viktor confirmed. "We won't have time to stop there and eat before we go to the Acting Grand Master's office, but we can stop there afterwards."

"Acting Grand Master?" the youngest of the group questioned. "Where's the actual one?"

Maybe Viktor needed to stop relying on Klee for his knowledge on how observant children were. Klee wasn't exactly a normal child, either, ignoring the frequent bombing she did. Her lifespan was different than most people's.

"He's out on an expedition," Viktor said. "You won't see him while you're here."

Lin nodded along. Acting Grand Master. That sounded like a political title and Lin and politicians did not mix. It had very little to do with the titles and more with how much their bearers wanted Lin dead. Oh to be back in the forest where his biggest worry was whether or not he was going to manage to get home before sundown. He could go his entire life without fretting about if he was about to walk into a death trap.

But he couldn’t explain that to the people guiding him without revealing what he was. And that was the main problem. So, he would just keep nodding and agreeing and hopefully no one would notice him.

Viktor led the group past the Good Hunter, up past the teleport waypoint by the Goth Grand Hotel and the two fatui members that always seemed to be by it, and up the steps to the Knights of Favonius headquarters.

When they reached the steps and Viktor opened the door, Evie was already inside. Unsurprisingly, she was chatting with one of the guards. To anyone who didn't know her physical strength and endurance, they might have been surprised that she managed to beat the group there—especially when the group hadn't said they were planning on going there.

"You ran into Kaeya," Viktor guessed.

Evie gave a grin and a nod as she stepped away from the guard. "I did. He told me as soon as he saw me leaving the house."

She turned to the rest of group. Viktor noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that the youngest of the group was far more attentive than her brother, who was currently staring at the room they were in with wonder clearly written on his face.

"It shouldn't take long to meet with Jean," Evie reassured them. With that, she spun on her heels and went to the door to the acting grand master's office. Viktor followed and held it open for everyone.

The leader of the knights was currently in the middle of reading papers spread across her desk. When Viktor glanced at them from his spot in the doorway, he couldn't clearly make much out. Whatever it was, it was consuming all of her attention. She didn't look up until Evie cleared her throat.

"Oh," Jean said, blinking. "I'm sorry. I was in the middle of reading some reports from the knights."

"It's alright," Evie reassured her. "We only just got here. We just wanted to let you know about some new arrivals in Mondstadt—we think they might be like Lumine."

"Oh," Jean said again, this time a little softer as she got to her feet. She gave everyone a smile as Viktor closed the door. "It's nice to meet you, then. I'm sorry you didn't mean to come to Mondstadt."

Ray stepped forward, returning the smile. This one seemed responsible enough and potentially useful. Or very good at faking both of these things. Ray learnt that one the hard way fighting those enchanted cactuses.

"Nice to meet you," said Ray, echoing the sentiment. He didn't make a move to say anything else quite yet, just in case he said the wrong thing in this unfamiliar land. That was thankfully a lesson he hadn't needed to learn the hard way.

Jean gave Ray a smile for a little longer, then turned to Viktor and Evie. Her gaze landed on Evie the longest. Evie, after all, was the one who had regularly interacted with her before Viktor came to Mondstadt.

"How much are they like Lumine?" she asked, concern in her voice.

"They're from another world," Evie said, "but they're not looking for anyone. They just want to find a way back."

Jean mulled this over.

"Do you know where Lumine and Paimon are?" Jean asked. Evie and Viktor shook their heads. "They might be able to help."

She sent an apologetic glance everyone else's way.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "but there's only one other person I know that's been from another world. She might know a way back to your worlds, but just hasn't left yet because she's looking for someone here."

The white-haired boy perked up at that, and his sister stood a little straighter, too.

Lin listened carefully, his eyes trailing from speaker to speaker. Artemis was always the listener of their friendship. She had the ears of the wolf, where she could listen to someone for two minutes and tell you their entire life story.

He internally shook his head. Artemis wasn’t here. Thinking about what she could do wouldn’t help. He refocused on this Jean. “It’s quite alright. That’s certainly not a personal fault.” He kept his head angled down. Everyone would probably question him having a scarf around his face indoors. It was best just to stay calm and act natural.

“Is there anyone we can request and audience with this person?” He smiled pleasantly without teeth, trying to be as polite as possible. He felt like he was somehow acting suspicious, that anxiety making him want to growl until everyone left him alone.

The acting grand master looked deeply amused by the question.

"Well," she said, "you could technically ask her friend Paimon, but it might just be easier to just find Lumine and ask her directly. "

Evie nodded in agreement.

"Paimon's ego would be too large then," Evie wisely agreed.

Viktor scoffed. "More like Paimon would be offended that someone thought the travel-Lumine ranked higher than her."

Kirux tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"There's a ranking?" he signed, bewildered.

Winnie shook her head, reading what her brother was signing.

"There's not," Winnie said, guessing what was being implied by the conversation.

"When Amber came into my office earlier, she mentioned hearing Lumine saying they were taking a commission by the Thousand Winds Temple," the acting grand master said. Winnie clung to her every word, both wary and fascinated at the same time. "You should be able to catch Lumine there."

Michael mulled the names over in his mind. Lumine, Paimon... They were nice names. And the Thousand Winds Temple... that sounded interesting. Were there actually a thousand winds whirling around that temple?

Suddenly, his stomach rumbled, reminding him of their promised meal. "That sounds good. After food, though, right?" He tried his best puppy eyes on Jean.

Ray jumped to confirm that. That was something they would need. "Some food would be great I believe. For all of us."

One trip to the Good Hunter later, and the group was heading back out through the teleport waypoint that sat outside of Mondstadt's walled city. Winnie kept close to her brother as they walked, but it was difficult. Kirux had much longer legs than her, and had a tendency to speed-walk when he was excited.

The large group split up like last time. Kirux and Winnie went with Evie, while Michael, Ray, and Lin went with Viktor. Kirux gripped Winnie's hand tight as they all went through.

The group appeared by a teleport waypoint. Winnie looked around, and immediately got the feeling that something was wrong. Everything was so dark. They were in some kind of dark, dark cavern, on some kind of natural platform that was led down into a more open part of the cave. There were planks of woods near the teleport waypoint, as well as stone ruins.

Kirux suddenly pulled Winnie close to his legs. He was signing and mouthing something, but Winnie couldn't see because her back was to him. She looked up, tried to see what he was saying, and caught the word missing from what she could make out of his lip movements.

Winnie glanced around again.

One, two, and three people. Two more if she counted Kirux and her, for a total of five. But there was supposed to be seven.

Winnie counted again, desperate.

"...Where's Evie and Viktor?" she asked.