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“Did you hear about the festival coming up in Liyue?” Nahida asked Wanderer. He looked up from his books, reading at a little desk Nahida had put in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
“Hm, I suppose it is that time of year, isn’t it?” Wanderer sighed. “I suppose you want to go there with me? Don’t you have a country to run?”
“Well, yes, I do,” Nahida chuckled. “But Alhaitham and the other sages were saying I needed a vacation, apparently. I’m only taking a few days, so I wouldn’t be there for the whole festival, but I think it would be exciting! Plus, I heard that Tighnari, Cyno, and Collei are all going, too, so I think it would be a fun little outing with all of us.” Nahida smiled at Wanderer, who sighed with faux defeat.
“You are using my friendships against me to force me to go have fun, how cunning.” Wanderer closed his books and moved some papers around. “Well, I’ll have you know that Collei already invited me, so you didn’t even have to be sneaky about it. I was already planning to go, and we already booked the hotel and everything. If you weren’t going to willingly come, we were going to kidnap you.” Nahida made a little joking gasp, holding a hand over her heart.
“The betrayal, Ali!” Both of them laughed for a minute before Nahida took a deep breath. “Well, I am very glad to see you are making good friends with Collei. How is her writing getting?”
“She is learning very well,” Wanderer said, pulling out the latest letters. “This is the one where she invited me to come with her to the lantern rite festival, it’s pretty good. She is learning a lot faster now, and she said she only needed a little help from Tighnari for this letter.”
“Aw, she is doing so well!” Nahida gushed. “I can’t wait to chat with her on the way to Liyue to see all she has learned!”
“Do I have to give you a piggyback ride there, too?” Wanderer laughed, but stopped when Nahida started pouting. “I’m just joking, you know I wouldn’t make you walk all that way, Nahida. Anyway, go get your stuff packed, we actually need to be ready by early morning to get to Liyue in time for the start of the festival.”
“I can’t wait,” Nahida said. “This is going to be so exciting. Go get some rest, sweet dreams!”
“Sweet dreams are a guarantee with you around, Nahida.” Ali said before heading off to bed. Like eating, he technically didn’t need sleep, but Nahida had helped him learn that it does actually benefit his daily functioning and his mental health. So he and Nahida had set up a bedroom for him off to the side, where he sat his hat on the bedpost before plopping down on his bed to rest.
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The two woke before dawn and grabbed their backpacks before Nahida hopped on Wanderer’s shoulders and they set out for Gandharva Ville. They made it there relatively quickly, meeting Tighnari, Cyno, and Collei as they were setting up a small breakfast.
“Hi, Ali! Hi, Nahida!” shouted Collei. “Come eat some food, we won’t want to travel on an empty stomach! Here, there is some pita bread, some jam, and some eggs, and Master Tighnari is almost finished making tea.”
“Thanks, Collei,” said Ali, picking up a pita and scooping some eggs into it. “You guys all ready to head out?”
“We have our bags packed and our route planned out,” said Cyno. “While we are going to cut through the Chasm, it should be pretty safe considering we all have visions and can keep ourselves safe.”
“Ah yes, like having visions has perfectly protected us before,” Tighnari snipped, bringing tea over to the table and handing everyone cups. “Though I am sure we will be fine, we shouldn’t just rely on our visions alone for protection.”
“You really could do without the sar-Chasm, Nari,” Cyno joked, earning a groan from everyone. “Oh come on, that one was great.”
“Sure, Cyno,” said Nahida, sipping her tea. Everyone chatted a bit more before wrapping up their breakfast and grabbing their bags to head out on the road.
“Do you have your crutches, Collei?” asked Tighnari. Collei nodded before popping a pair of forearm crutches seemingly out of nowhere, showing them off.
“Oh, those are interesting!” said Nahida. “Where did you get those? I love the color, that green almost matches your hair!”
“Thank you,” giggled Collei. “Some of the Kshahrewar students and Mr. Kaveh helped design them for me. They can retract to be smaller and are kind of like arm bands when small, that way when I don’t need them much I don’t have to struggle to lug them around. They are great for when my joints are bugging me, even though my Elezar is gone.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Wanderer said while helping Nahida onto his back. “I think I’ve seen that Kaveh guy around, he seems pretty nice from what I’ve heard around.”
“Nice to the point that he refused payment for creating the crutches,” Cyno groaned. “We ended up secretly paying the amount we would have given him to Dori to offset some of his debt, and he still hasn’t found out about it.”
“Alright, are we ready to set off?” Tighnari asked. “We really should head out soon, we do want to get through the Chasm by midday.” Everyone nodded and started their journey to Liyue.
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They made it to the Chasm quite quickly, only encountering a few small fungi on the way, who decided not to attack the group upon seeing Nahida with them. Once in the chasm, the group started making their way around the edges of the area rather than cutting straight through, making it to the other side quite quickly. When they had to climb, Tighnari and Cyno climbed up themselves, while Wanderer picked up Collei and used his vision to float the three of them up the cliffs.
“I’m actually surprised we haven’t run into any workers, or worse, treasure hoarders,” Ali said. “Usually there is a good amount of people working around here.”
“They probably are taking the holiday off,” Nahida said, giggling to herself. “Treasure hoarders and Chasm workers want to go home and have fun on holidays, too.”
The group finally made it to the main entrance of the Chasm, then quickly realized there were groups of Hilichurls right outside the entrance.
“There are a couple of Mitachurls, and I don’t really want to deal with that right now, to be honest,” Cyno said. He then quickly lifted Collei up and hoisted her over his shoulder, then turned to Tighnari and Ali before saying “Get ready to book it.” The group rushed past the Hilichurls with Collei and Nahida squealing as they went, but by the time the Hilichurls took enough notice, the group was far away from them.
“I think you can put me down now, Cyno,” Collei said, extending her crutches as she stood upright. “Thank you for getting us through that, though.” The group continued following the path to Liyue without any more encounters, but eventually, they started to get a bit tired.
“I think it is best we take a lunch break,” Tighnari said. “We have been walking for over five hours now, and I can feel my ears drooping.”
“Looks like there is a small temple over there!” Nahida said, hopping off of Wanderer’s shoulders. “Let’s go see if we can sit outside and eat some lunch there.” The group approached the temple and they were met with a man inside.
“Oh, hello there!” said the man. “My name is Wang Ping’an, and this is the temple of the Adeptus Pervases.”
“Hello, there!” Nahida chimed. “We are travelers from Sumeru on our way to the Lantern Rite, and we saw this temple and thought we should visit on our way.”
“Well feel free to hang around and pay respects as you please,” Wang Ping’an said. “Pervases very much loved human culture, so there isn’t much that you could do that would be disrespectful besides, well, outright disrespect the temple.” The group set up for lunch, passing around pita pockets and even giving one to Wang Ping’an and setting another as an offering. They all sat outside enjoying their lunch with stories of the Adepti and Yaksha being told, and only Nahida seemed to notice the eyes of the statue in the temple softly glow, flickering a bit when she waved at it.
Everyone finished their lunch and said their goodbyes as they continued their trek to Liyue Harbor, with Collei getting a piggyback from Wanderer and Nahida hopping along.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you, Nahida?” Ali asked, tilting his head. “There is still a ways to go until we reach Liyue, and you will definitely get tired.”
“I can always carry you too, Lord Kusanali,” Cyno offered. “I admire your tenacity, but you still aren’t as physically strong as you would like to believe.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine, don’t fret,” Nahida said, before promptly tripping on a rock and nearly face-planting onto the path. Fortunately, Cyno caught her and scooped her up, setting Nahida on his shoulder with a chuckle. Nahida pouted a bit but patted Cyno on his head as they continued on their way.
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The rest of the trip to Liyue Harbor was uneventful, with the group reaching the city in the late afternoon. Collei and Ali walked side by side, in awe of the insane amount of lanterns decorating the city.
“We can wander for a little while, but we do have to go get dinner at some point, so we should stay conscious of the time,” Cyno said, setting down Nahida so she could wander on her own. “Do you think you’ll be alright walking, my Lord?”
“No need to be so formal, Cyno, we are on vacation now,” Nahida giggled. “I should be fine now, these paths are smoother, and I think I got my clumsiness out of my system. Now let’s go explore!” The group meandered around the harbor, seeing many shops and stalls with fun festival memorabilia and delicious snacks, but they held back on buying anything for the time being. There were many days left of the Lantern Rite, so they had some time to explore. Eventually, the time came for them to get dinner, and Cyno and Tighnari herded everyone to Wanmin Restaurant to get something to eat.
“The spices here are definitely different than in Sumeru,” Collei noted, digging into her Jueyen chili chicken. “Definitely still delicious, though.” Tighnari and Cyno nodded in agreement, sharing a large bowl of the restaurant’s signature perch stew.
“I think I’ll end up with something more spicy later,” Nahida said, munching on her rice buns. “I’ll stick with these right now, they have good vegetables in them.”
“You’re just trying to hide the fact that you haven’t built up a spice tolerance yet,” Wanderer laughed, ducking from Nahida’s slaps as she gasped at him. “You’re not going to ever get a spice tolerance at this rate if you only eat blander vegetables and sweets.” Just to prove his point, Ali dumped a large amount of Jueyen chili hot sauce into his dragon beard noodles before offering the bottle to Nahida, who stuck her tongue out at him. Once everyone finished their dinner, Tighnari ordered dessert for everyone, and they were brought plates of apple pie.
“I don’t think I have actually had apple pie before,” Collei said, eyeing her plate. “I have barely eaten apples in the first place, now that I think about it.”
“I don’t usually go for sweets, so if I don’t like this, you can have it, Nahida,” Wanderer said, poking the pie with a fork.
“Oh, come on now, it’s a delicious apple treat,” the chef laughed at them. Ali noted that the girl looked a little young to be running a restaurant, but he had seen weirder things. “Besides, you know the saying, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!”
Collei and Ali froze, looking at each other for a moment. While the chef’s phrase was surely harmless, it definitely made the pair a bit nervous. They both hesitantly took a bite of the food and were pleasantly surprised that they liked it. Wanderer noted that despite being sweet, there was a good amount of cinnamon in the pie, and the sugar didn’t really stick to his mouth too much. Both looked back at each other, grinning, before quickly finishing their pies and thanking the chef.
“I think that is the first time I’ve ever seen you eat something sweet, Ali,” Nahida said, smiling as she climbed onto his shoulders.
“It actually balanced out with the cinnamon and bread, so it wasn’t the worst experience,” Ali said, lifting his hat onto Nahida’s head before walking behind Collei and her dads.
The group found a spot on the harbor to watch a small fireworks show before heading to their hotel to check in for the night. Tighnari and Cyno got them checked in at the desk before everyone was led up to a large room with four beds for them. Cyno and Tighnari immediately plopped down onto their bed, while Collei worked to put her crutches away and Ali set Nahida onto her bed. The group all washed up for the night before turning in to get rest for the next day of festivities.
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Everyone woke early the next morning, partially due to the commotion out in the city for the festival. They quickly got themselves ready for the day before heading to the lobby of the hotel, where Nahida turned to the group.
“The Traveler and Paimon requested me to meet them today, so I’m afraid I will have to split off from the group today.” She reached into her pockets and handed coin purses to Ali and Collei. “I also got you guys a little bit of souvenir money, so go have fun today.” Collei tried to refuse the money, but Nahida kept pushing it back to her until Collei stopped her futile battle.
“We were actually planning on going to a Genius Invocation tournament today,” Cyno said, with Tighnari sighing next to him. “I need to see how Liyue differs from Sumeru, and maybe pick up a rare card or two.”
“Well, guess we’re on our own then,” Wanderer sighed. “You ready, Collei? Let’s go see what we can find today.” Collei smiled, got her crutches ready, and followed after him.
The pair wandered around dozens of shops, seeing cute souvenirs and delicious food everywhere. Collei was entranced by pretty much anything shaped like an animal, to the point that Ali was practically dragging her away from stalls with too many cat plushies. He wasn’t able to stop her from buying a very cute plush that was similar to a Rishboland Tiger, only with green fur instead of orange. Collei grinned at him while hugging the plush, and Ali found it hard to remain mad.
“It kind of reminds me of how Amber has her Baron Bunnies,” Collei giggled. “Though definitely with less… explosions.”
“I would sure hope it would be with less explosions!” Wanderer joked, poking Collei in the shoulder. The pair laughed as they continued wandering, before coming across a fruit stand.
“Come get some fresh fruit for the festival!” the vendor shouted. “Sunsettias, Lavender Melons, and don’t forget your apples! Remember, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!”
Ali and Collei stopped and looked at each other. That was the second time they had heard that phrase in Liyue, and it was definitely a phrase that made them bristle. They knew it was harmless, really, but they couldn’t help that their gut reaction to the phrase was caused by trauma from a certain Doctor. Still, the pair did like apples.
“Well…” Wanderer said. “We do like apple pie, and fresh apples are a bit harder to come by in Sumeru. It’s all Zaytun Peaches instead.” The pair went to the vendor to inquire about his stock, and the next thing they knew they had several bags of apples over their shoulders. “We can drop some of these off at the hotel, but let’s hold on to a few to eat throughout the day. We can put them in my backpack.”
After dropping off several dozen apples at their hotel room, Ali and Collei wandered the harbor, snacking on a few apples that they had brought along. The pair eventually found themselves on the roof of a building, gazing at all of the decorations around the city. Collei seemed to be looking higher, however, before taking a big crunch of her apple and pointing up into the sky.
“That’s the Jade Chamber, right?” Collei asked with her mouth full.
“I mean, duh,” Wanderer replied. “It’s kind of obvious, considering it's the one giant floating building in Liyue.” Munching on his apple, he turned to look at Collei before nearly choking when he saw the huge grin on her face.
“Do you think you could fly us up there?” Collei asked, looking so excited she was nearly vibrating. Ali turned back to look up at the Jade Chamber, examining all of the hills and areas around it before responding.
“I mean, shit, probably,” he said, finishing his apple and managing to throw the core into a trash can below him. “What do you think, worth a shot?”
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The pair eventually found themselves on a hill above the harbor, staring at the Jade Chamber above them. It was still a good ways above them, and Ali could tell that he would be able to float them up there pretty easily.
“Alright, I’ve gotta make sure I get a good hold of you,” Ali said, grabbing Collei securely under her arms. “Pretty sure your dads would kill me if I dropped you, plus that would just suck in general.”
“Oh my gods, shut up and just fly us up there before I change my mind,” Collei said, smacking Ali’s arm a bit.
“Alright, then, hold on,” he said, before activating his vision and beginning to float up towards the Chamber. They flew up smoothly for a while, and they slowly approached the Jade Chamber from below. However, as they got closer, Ali’s Vision strained to keep him flying. “Shit, something’s wrong.” They were right below the Jade Chamber, and he had to make it up there.
“What?!” Collei yelled, holding on for her life. “What’s going on?”
“I think something is messing with my Vis-” Before he could finish his sentence, his Vision gave out, suspending them for a second before they began to freefall. Ali quickly grabbed Collei around her waist and flipped himself below her.
“What are you doing!?!” Collei screamed, still holding onto Ali for dear life. Ali didn’t respond, as he was desperately trying to restart his Vision to get them floating again, but he couldn’t manage in his panic. He knew they were definitely approaching the ground, and he became terrified when Collei shifted in his grasp too much.
“I’m sorry, please hold on!” He yelled, before feeling a gust of air above him, slowing their fall ever so slightly. Collei had managed to deploy her wing glider, and seconds later he felt himself crash into the ground before blacking out.
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When Ali came to, everything hurt. But he was alive, so he figured that counted for something. He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes, and upon seeing Collei alive and worrying over him, he exhaled without having realized he had held in the breath. Thank gods.
“Oh thank Archons, you’re awake,” Collei cried, hugging her friend tightly until he groaned from the pain. “Shit, sorry, you probably hurt like hell right now.” She helped Ali sit up and get his bearings before the pair heard a commotion and people rushing toward them.
“Collei, Ali, are you okay?!?” Tighnari yelled, rushing to their sides and taking notes of all of their injuries. Ali saw he was followed by Cyno and Nahida, as well as the Traveler and Paimon and some others he didn’t recognize. Even if he wanted to know who they were, his head was pounding and he didn’t think his condition was very conducive to making new acquaintances.
“I only got a few scrapes, I’m okay,” Collei said, reassuring everyone. “Ali took the brunt of the fall, he was out for a bit.” Tighnari quickly began checking Ali, cleaning and bandaging what he could with supplies from a first-aid kit. Of course, the forest ranger carries one of those, Ali thought to himself, before groaning a bit from the pain in his back.
“Here, let’s get your backpack off,” Cyno said, helping remove the bag from his shoulders carefully.
“Wait, what’s all that liquid?” Paimon asked nervously. “He isn’t bleeding that badly, is he?”
“No, it isn’t blood, his blood is purple,” Nahida said, soothing a hand over Wanderer’s back carefully. “I don’t think you cracked too badly, Ali, you should heal relatively quickly with a bit of rest and bandages.”
“Wait, the liquid is from inside the bag,” Cyno said, opening the bag cautiously. “Uhm… I think you got a bit of homemade applesauce now, huh?”
“Shit, the apples,” Ali groaned before getting admonished for his language by Tighnari and Nahida. “I guess it’s good we left most of them at the hotel, then.”
“You guys bought more apples than this?” Traveler questioned. “This bag is, or was, basically full. How many did you buy?”
“Um, a few bags worth,” Collei answered nervously. “I mean, so many people in Liyue have been saying that ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’, and we thought it was a little bit ironic, plus we wanted to make apple pie.” The whole group stared at the pair who chuckled tiredly before some of the people Ali didn’t recognize spoke up.
“It is very fortunate that you weren’t harmed too much,” said a younger lady with purple hair. “I suppose that you wouldn’t have known about the properties of the Jade Chamber that keep it afloat. The Sunset Vermillionite has a very strong elemental energy that can sometimes interfere with the energy of Vision users, especially in as big of quantities that are used to lift the chamber.”
“Hence, while you probably would have normally been able to fly up there using your Vision, the ores ended up affecting your power and causing you to fall,” A taller lady spoke up behind the first. “Of course, you aren’t in any trouble with us, and we are in fact happy that you are at least safe after this incident.”
“I will be sure to keep an eye on these two for the rest of our trip, Lady Ningguang,” said Nahida, resting her hand on Wanderer’s shoulder as Tighnari continued patching him up. Shit, Lady Ningguang, as in the Tianquang? Man, I’m lucky I’m not going to jail today. Ali thought to himself, looking up at the leader of the Qixing apologetically.
“I’m sure you will, Lord Kusanali,” Ningguang said. “Though I am sure that after this experience, they will be a bit more hesitant to put themselves in more danger.” Ali and Collei looked at each other before giggling a bit.
“Well, for this trip, sure,” Ali laughed. “But in general? No promises.” He and Collei exchanged a fist bump, earning sighs from the rest of their group.
After a bit more patching up, Wanderer was helped to his feet by Cyno and Tighnari while Collei got her crutches out and followed after with Nahida and the Traveler. The group made their way back to the hotel, where Collei and Ali crashed hard and slept for the rest of the day.
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The pair awoke to everyone else gone, but there were boxes of takeout food left for them, alongside a note from Nahida.
“We went to dinner with the Traveler while you slept and brought you back some food, and we are going out to go see the fireworks show tonight. Eat up and rest, and you should be able to see the fireworks from the hotel. <3”
“Oh hell yea, she brought us more apple pie,” Collei said, opening up one of the boxes of food. “Ooh, and some noodles and grilled fish, nice.”
“Want to go sit on the roof to eat and watch the fireworks?” Ali asked, picking up some of the food boxes.
“Sure,” Collei said, grabbing more boxes and following him. “You think we would be over heights today, but we really aren’t, huh?”
“Never,” Ali laughed, leading the way to the hotel roof. They found a nice spot to sit and enjoy their food, and partway through their dinner the firework show started.
“Hey Ali,” Collei started, digging into her apple pie. “Thank you for saving me today. For breaking the fall and all.”
“I could say the same to you,” Ali replied, finishing off his noodles. “I actually had forgotten you have a wind glider, so I guess it was fortunate that you did.”
“I can’t believe you,” Collei said, and Ali noticed she was near sobbing. “You were willing to risk your life to protect me, thinking you were probably going to die.”
“Collei, hey, look at me,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m okay. We’re both okay. I know that it was dumb of me to risk that, but it turned out okay. And even if it hadn’t, you’re basically my little sister, and it would have been worth it to save you.” Collei smiled a bit and wiped her tears before hugging Ali tightly.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “And thank you for being my big brother, Ali.” The pair hugged a while longer before wiping their tears and finishing their desserts, enjoying the fireworks show a while longer before heading off to bed. When the others of their group returned to the hotel, they ended up with a few good pictures of the pair napping together before they too went to bed at last.