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It wasn't often Zhongli had to go away on long business trips and adventures that lasted longer than a few days. But when he did, Thothina found herself feeling exceptionally more lonely. She found herself traveling further and further from the harbour and at the top of higher and higher mountains, later and later in the day. She found great peace in jumping off the mountains and letting the wind carry her wherever it felt to bring her as the sun dipped below the clouds. The area above Luhua Pool was one of her favourite places to glide away from her troubles. She was used to looking down and seeing the water, the mountains, even seeing the occasional bird fly beneath her. What she was not used to seeing was another wind glider. Let alone another wind glider malfunctioning.
Without a blink of hesitation, she folder her wind glider against her and dove towards them. She looked like a bird of prey diving in for the kill. The ground sped towards her, but the man falling was faster. As she approached, she reached out her arms. The instant she made contact, she opened her wings to slow their descent. The force of her wings almost yanked her arms open, making her nearly drop the one she'd just saved. The speed of her rescue hadn't come across the victim's mind yet as his wind glider was smacking against her face.
"Close! You glider!" she shouted over the wind as they continued to fall, albeit slower. The man must've heard her because she was able to see. Her focus was solely ahead of them as they glided with remarkable speed to the ground. A quick but drastic turn and she was bringing them towards the water so they'd land close to shore. Her rescuee had other ideas as he began to squirm in her grasp and make her sway. Regardless of the struggle, she felt his feet start to drag in the water. The increased resistance pulled him from her grasp. As the two rolled onto the shore, Thothina crashed into a rock while her companion continued with his momentum into a pile of rocks. The wall came crumbling down around him revealing a cave.
"Are you okay?" She directed to the person she was now stranded with.
"Yeah I'm-" He laid eyes on his saviour and felt it wrong to complete his thought. He was not fine. He was stuck with her. Thothina attempted to stand up but buckled under her own weight.
"You're kidding me...Alhaitham?" She spat his name up at him from the safety of the damp sand.
"You should've just let me fall to my death."
"If I had known it was you, I would have." Thothina attempted to stand up again, only to have her attempt interrupted by Alhaitham. The second she reluctantly put any weight on his shoulder, he dropped and recoiled in pain himself. She rolled her eyes and began to crawl towards the mouth of the cave, followed shortly by Alhaitham. In the cave, they sat in silence checking out their conditions.
"There's sand and water in my shoes." Alhaitham muttered as he took them off and emptied them out.
"That's a really weird wa of saying 'thanks for saving me from turning into a gross stain on the mountainside'."
"I had it under control."
"Oh so the flailing was a new gliding technique from Sumeru."
"My wind glider broke, but it was a controlled fall."
"Controlled by me after I swooped down and saved you." Thothina gestured to hand over his wind glider. "Lemme see what you did to it."
"I didn't do anything. It was sabotage."
"Alhaitham, if anyone was going to sabotage your wind glider, it'd be me. And since it wasn't, I can only assume you broke it. So let me see and maybe I can fix it."
"I'll just bring it to an engineer when I get back to Sumeru. If I let you see it, it will end up sabotaged."
"You sure you won't find yourself falling off another cliff before then?"
"As long as I stay away from you, I think I'll survive the trip here."
"What a shame. You're failing on both counts."
The sun dipped below the mountain peak, bathing the two of them in shadows. The sounds of the day stilled while something seemed to be getting closer. Grunts and cheers in a language no known to either of them drew towards the mouth of the cave. A band of hillichurls stopped their festivities when they saw their cave wasn't as unoccupied as they left it. Thothina made to stand and run before crumpling to the ground once again. Alhaitham on the other hand, launched himself at the monstera with incredible speed as he manifested his sword. He lunged the sword with fierce determination at nothing in particular. As the hillichurls were laughing at the accuracy of their foe's strikes, they didn't realize the green pattern being drawn in the air above them. Multiple green crystals descended and shot dendro energy between them, dispatching the creatures unfortunate enough to be caught in the trap. Those that survived were at the mercy of Alhaitham's sword. The one who seemed to be their leader attempted to flee, only to have Alhaitham kick a sword into its back.
"You have a grudge against the air?" Thothina made mention to the accuracy of his initial strike. "I suppose it did try to kill you mere hours ago."
"That's a really weird way of saying 'thanks for killing the monsters that probably would've skinned me alive and cooked me over a fire'." Alhaitham put his sword away and rotated his shoulder.
"Your shoulder was dislocated, wasn't it." Thothina ripped a piece of her dress off at the bottom and tied it around Alhaitham as he sat down next to her.
"Isn't this supposed to go around my shoulder, not my throat?"
"Oops. I forgot this wasn't one of my fantasies."
"You fantasize about me?"
"I fantasize about killing you."
"I know you had a crush on me when we first met,"
"Shut up Alhaitham." Thothina rolled her eyes.
"But I didn't know it was like that."
"Shut up."
"Isn't that what you told Cyno? You thought I was hot until I opened my mouth?"
"Shut. Up!"
"Is that why you want me to stop talking? So you can go back to fantasizing about me?"
"For the love of Barbatos shut up Alhaitham! Is it too late to let you fall to your death?"
"You just couldn't let me fall, could you?"
"I'm going to sleep." Thothina fell to her side and shut her eyes.
"Have sweet dreams about me." Alhaitham was met with a kick to the side from Thothina which earned a small chuckle from him.
As night fully descended, the cool mountain air infiltrated the cave and wrapped itself around the still-damp clothes of Thothina and Alhaitham. If either of them had actually been asleep, they wouldn't be any longer.
"We need a fire." Alhaitham was the first to break the silence.
"Why couldn't you have a pyro vision?" Thothina sat up and brought out her wind glider again. She looked at it dismayed at the tragic state it sat in her lap in.
"You weren't complaining when I saved you from a group of hillichurls."
"I wouldn't be complaining about the cold if you had a pyro vision either." She sighed and snapped off a piece of her glider.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making a fire." She snapped off more pieces and arranged them between the two of them. She started rubbing pieces together, letting the delicate material of the wings be the first things to catch flames. Once the fire was adequately built, Thothina pulled her dress up to look at her leg. She continued to break down her glider for both kindling, and a splint.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Aside from being stuck with you? My leg hurts a bit. It's not broken but I shouldn't walk too far."
"Is the harbour far?" Thothina answered Alhaitham's question by pointing to a mountain across the water.
"The other side of that mountain." Her hand moved to the shore just to the right of the cave. "There's a path here we can follow that'll take us straight over the mountain and to the harbour." She continued to look off in the distance and smiled. "There's also some ruins on top of a hill there. They run deep into the mountains, but there's a ruin guard in the way."
"Is that what you do with Akademiya money? Just go jumping into danger?"
"Isn't that what you do?"
"No, I decide whether you get your money in the first place. Your livelihood is in my hands constantly."
"But would you go out of your way to cancel my income?"
"Nah. It's too much work." Alhaitham waved his hand dismissively.
"I thought so." Thothina laid back down, curving her body to circle the fire. "We should leave when the sun comes up." Alhaitham threw another piece of wind glider on the fire before following Thothina's actions.
Zhongli could hear the arguing before he even entered his house.
"How can your favourite hobby be jumping off things and you've never once fallen to your death?"
"Because I actually know how to pilot a wind glider and not 'get sabotaged'. And now because of you I need to go get a new one."
"There's wind glider mechanics here in Liyue, why do you need to come back to Sumeru?" Zhongli exited the entry hallway and entered the room where Thothina and Alhaitham were bickering.
"Zhongli! Welcome home!" Thothina ran to embrace him and give him a welcome back kiss. "How was your trip?"
"It was fine. It seems I missed something here."
"You missed me saving Alhaitham from certain death."
"And who fought off the hillichurls?"
"Who made the fire so we didn't die in the cave?"
"Who made safe passage to the harbour even though I could barely move my arm?"
"Who navigated us throught the wilderness?"
"You almost brought us to those ruins! There was a ruin guard!"
"I thought you could fight big scary monsters..."
"We were both in no state to be fighting or exploring anything and you know it. You were just trying to get me killed."
"And if you died, then you died. Not my fault." Thothina shrugged and dusted her hands of the responsibility of Alhaitham's life. Zhongli laughed and interrupted them.
"I can't wait to hear all about what happened."
"You'll get to on the trip to Sumeru!" Thothina grabbed Zhongli's arm with both of hers and held his hand. "You're gonna come wth me to Sumeru, right?"
"Yes I'll come with you." He used his free hand to bring her head to his shoulder before placing a kiss on top. "Just give me a few days to unwind from my trip."
"Since you're coming to Sumeru, I can talk to you then." Alhaitham stood up from the couch he had made himself comfortable on the past few days. "See you in a few days, Zhongli."
"See you soon Alhaitham!" Thothina called to him as he left her house.
"If I never see you again, it'll be too soon."