Chapter Text
Aether plunged downwards, eyes in pain from the harsh wind. The dragon’s body was getting closer, and he was aiming for a purple spike that looked poisoned. Perhaps it was poisoned. Calling the power of Cryo into his blade, the outlander hit the spike, causing a loud exploding sound, and the dragon to cry out in pain. He then switched to Anemo, and used a “Wind blade” on the dragon to spread the Cryo damage dealt.
Aether saw that the glowing light on his clothes changed with the elements he used. That would definitely cause some questions, especially from the very observant cavalry captain. But Kaeya was hiding something. He could sense it.
Dvalin shrieked and flapped his wings. After a few attempts, the dragon lifted itself up off the ground and soared off into the distance. As much as he wished it was never to be seen again, Aether knew that the dragon would be back, as did the people slowly coming back into the city, and various Vision holders walking towards him. They circled him, weapons drawn. One tall woman with blonde hair in a ponytail and a sword drawn was closer than the others.
“You have saved our city from Stormterror for now,” she started. “But we cannot trust you.” Aether was so fired.
“Put your sword away, Traveller, and come with us quietly.” If he resisted, he would be considered an enemy of Mondstadt, despite having just saved their city.
Looking around him, Aether saw Kaeya looking at him with a stern expression and his hand on his sword in its sheath, Amber readying an arrow at him, Venti, or Barbados, doing the same, some ash-haired guy with a diamond on his neck wearing a cool coat looked ready to perform some magic on him, a tall woman with a big purple hat with a spell book open, a green-haired girl with a vial of something in her hand, a teenager with white hair who stood ready to attack him with a sword, and a tall red-haired man with a giant sword. Aether was vastly outnumbered and would be overpowered easily. Barbados gave him a slow nod, and the traveller put his sword down, and hands behind his head.
Immediately, Kaeya grabbed his sword, and the ash-haired (and considerably shorter) man put his arms in cuffs behind his back.
“I’ll leave him in your capable hands,” said the blonde woman. Aether put together that she was probably the head of the Knights of Favonius, seeing Kaeya and Amber by her sides. He didn’t get to see much as he was pushed in the direction of a grand-looking building. Probably the Knights of Favonius headquarters. It was one of the few undamaged buildings, and residents of Mondstadt whose houses were destroyed would probably be living in there.
Once inside the headquarters, Aether was shoved into a very nice office, and forced into a chair. Various bookshelves lined the walls of the office, and two windows on connecting walls let in enough light.
Kaeya and the ash-haired man with the cool coat stood in front of him, arms crossed.
“Tell me, Traveller,” spoke the shorter of the two with a soft tenor voice, that is absolutely to die for. “Can you guess why specifically we are the ones interrogating you?”
Aether looked at the two. Did they have anything in common? Anything that stood out? The ash-haired man had a large, golden diamond printed on his neck. Didn’t Amber say something about that? Her friend Albedo had a symbol on his neck similar to the diamonds printed on his armour. What was that connection again? Oh, right. Khaenri’ah. Albedo was here because Amber probably told him of the symbols. What about Kaeya?
Aether inspected the tall, blue-haired man intensely. His skin was dark, which was odd in Mondstadt. Everyone was so pale. Kaeya was also an outlander, he concluded. But there must be more immigrants than just Kaeya. Maybe he and Albedo were just very close friends? But there had to be something else. Kaeya’s eyepatch also stood out. What was he hiding behind that? Aether then noticed something odd that should have been more obvious: Kaeya’s gloves had that same diamond shape. Eyes widened at the conclusion.
“Khaenri’ah,” he said slowly. “You two think I’m from Khaenri’ah.”