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There’s a commotion in Liyue Harbour. Xiao normally tries to stay away from mortals, but word keeps passing around about something happening in the harbour. In the end, he can no longer ignore it and decides to check the issue himself.
A crowd has formed in the distance. There’s a lot of people gathered at the harbour, but it isn’t a problem for him to move. Not when everyone quickly moves away the moment they see him. He can hear people mostly whispering “it’s Adeptus Xiao” and “it’s one of Rex Lapis’ adepti” as he makes his way to the source of everyone’s attention. He frowns at the pile of white feathers on the ground.
He’s grateful that no one bothers him while he investigates. He crouches down and picks up one of the feathers. It’s big—a little too big to be coming from a regular bird. This can only belong to an adeptus or—whatever animal that has feathers as huge as this.
He looks to the side, and he notices the trail of feathers leading deeper into the harbour. If it’s a monster or a threat, he has to deal with it. Before anyone can ask him anything, he teleports to the direction of the trail. There seems to be elemental magic on the feathers, but it’s faint.
The more he follows the trail, the fewer the people are there. It seems that people are more interested in the pile of feathers instead of actually following the trail—unless they’re aware that it’s a potential threat. If they were, they made a wise choice to leave it to him to deal with it.
The elemental magic is getting stronger. He clutches his spear and leaps over the roof of houses. Even though the trail is hard to follow now that the feathers are scattered in almost random places, he can still follow it with the traces of elemental magic that’s left behind.
The trail leads him to an alleyway, and he notices a figure dressed in white shaking in the dark. He immediately recognises the figure thanks to the glowing tattoos over his body, and his eyes widen at the sight.
“Lord Barbatos?” he calls.
Barbatos lets out a squeak, before he tries to hide his body deeper inside the corner. “Don’t look at me!”
Of course, Xiao had looked at him the moment he arrived. It turns out that the feathers actually came from Barbatos’ wings. And his wings look a little... less feathery now?
“What happened?” he decides to ask, taking a step forward. He’s careful to not startle the archon lest he suddenly unleashes his power in panic.
“I’m…” Barbatos sniffs, and he slowly turns his body to face him. His eyes are watery with tears as he hugs his legs closer. “I’m moulting!”
Oh. That explains the excessive shedding of his feathers. He’s surprised that the archon seems very unhappy with the process, as if it’s his first time experiencing it.
Wait.
“Lord Barbatos, if I may ask, when was the last time you shed?” Xiao questions.
“I’ve never— This has never happened to me before,” Barbatos answers, averting his gaze. Whatever is left of his wings droop behind him. “When I was a wisp, none of this seemed to happen…”
“I see.” Xiao tries his best not to make it obvious that he’s staring at Barbatos’ wings. The Anemo Archon catches his gaze anyway and shifts uncomfortably. “Were your feathers damaged?”
Barbatos shakes his head. His braids sway with the motion. “I promise I took care of my wings.”
Then he must be moulting to replace all the worn feathers. Xiao had experienced this first hand back when he still had his wings. He probably faced it every few hundred years? He has to admit, it’s a tough process to go through when the season comes, but at least it gets him some brand new feathers.
“How long have you been in this form?” Xiao suddenly asks, curious to know when Barbatos will moult.
“Two hundred years, I think,” Barbatos says, and he looks up at him. “Why?”
“You will moult every two hundred years then—if your feathers aren’t damaged before the time comes,” Xiao says, turning around. Now that he knows it’s just an archon facing some moulting crisis, he can inform Rex Lapis to reassure the concerns of people. “Give your wings some time. You’ll be fine.”
“Wait!” Barbatos runs over to him and grabs his arm. More feathers fall with the sudden movement. “Please help me. I don’t want my wings to be bald.”
“Your wings won’t be bald,” Xiao says, giving the archon a reassuring look. “You will grow new feathers. The old ones are falling off because they’re worn out.”
“Oh... okay.” Barbatos looks down and slowly releases his hold. He fidgets awkwardly, his hands idly touching the remaining feathers of his wings.
Since there’s nothing else left for him to do, Xiao turns around to leave. He’s about to teleport, when he catches Barbatos speaking again.
“How am I supposed to walk around like this?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper. There’s a heavy layer of grief in his words. It sounds like he’s on the verge of having a mental breakdown.
Xiao halts in his tracks. A part of him tells him to just resume his job and keep trouble away from Liyue—besides, it’s not his responsibility to care for an archon from another nation—but another part of him is yelling at him to do something. Slowly, he moves his body so that he’s facing Barbatos, and he can’t help but sympathise a little when the archon looks like a lost little fledgling.
He sighs. Maybe he should just help him. He should know the feeling more than anyone. “Stay here. I’ll get you something.”
He disappears into thin air, leaving traces of anemo. He returns a few minutes after, a giant white cloth in his hand. This should be big enough to cover Barbatos’ wings. The archon mostly looks self-conscious, so maybe it’ll help if people are not seeing him shed his feathers.
“What’s that for?” Barbatos asks, twitching.
“To cover your wings,” Xiao explains. He steps forward and lifts the cloth with his hands. “Let me help you.”
Barbatos sends him a sceptical look, but he complies. He allows his wings to droop, and Xiao carefully wraps his body with the white cloth, hiding his wings with it. He grimaces when some of the feathers drop to the ground despite the light friction, but he’s thankful that Barbatos doesn’t seem to notice it. Once he has finished covering the archon’s entire body, he ties the end of the cloth into a knot to keep it in place.
“Is this okay?” Xiao asks, glancing at where Barbatos’ wings are supposed to be. He’s slightly worried that he may have tied the cloth a little too tightly. He doesn’t want to end up hurting the archon’s wings. “Does it hurt?”
Barbatos turns his body around. Xiao can see small movements under the cloth with his wings. The archon beams and shakes his head. “Nope! I feel much better.” He spins around again—happily this time—and Xiao is surprised when he suddenly holds both of his hands. “Now people won’t know I’m growing bald. Thank you, Xiao!”
Xiao doesn’t know why, but he feels his cheeks turning warm at the gesture. He nods stiffly. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Barbatos slips his hand into the cloth and pulls out a piece of paper. He shows it to Xiao. “I need to meet Morax at this location. Do you know where it is?”
Xiao blinks, before his eyes widen. Barbatos has a meeting with Rex Lapis? Why hasn’t he said anything sooner?!
“The place is nearby,” Xiao says. He grabs Barbatos’ arm and starts dragging him. They have a few minutes left before the time of agreement. “We have to hurry. We should not keep Rex Lapis waiting.”
Barbatos nods his head vigorously. “I agree! I think Morax has taught me... punctual—punctuality? I need to be on time when I’m doing my archon duties.”
Xiao fights back the urge to palm his face. If only Barbatos has said that earlier, he wouldn’t have wasted any time.
➳
“You look a little... different today, Barbatos,” Rex Lapis says, staring at the Anemo Archon with a brow raised.
Xiao can just tell that Barbatos is flapping his wings cheekily, because he can see movement from under the cloth, before more feathers drop onto the floor. Barbatos hasn’t realised that he has been shedding all this time though. As long as he’s wearing the cloth, it’s as if all of his problems have been solved—even when he’s still actually moulting.
Rex Lapis sends Xiao a knowing look, and with a tired sigh, Xiao bends down to pick up the feathers on the floor.
A sack full of white feathers sits hidden in the corner, away from Barbatos’ view.