After dinner, Paimon and Kurumi chatted on the sofa downstairs, while Sora and Xiao cornered Wendy against the wall on the second floor.
"What are you doing?" Wendy was startled. Sora took a bottle of liquor out of his backpack and handed it to Wendy, saying, "Nashida said you're under a lot of pressure. I think you might need this to relieve some stress." "Huh? For me?" Wendy was taken aback and blurted out, "How do you have liquor?" "Oh, Ayato-nii gave it to me." Sora made up a reason on the spot.
"Achoo~" Ayato Kamisato, who was handling official business at Kamisato House, sneezed. He looked at his clothes with some confusion. He didn't need to go out today, so he was wearing his most comfortable home clothes. He looked out the window. The weather in Inazuma was not cold today. The sun was shining. Why did he sneeze?
Wendy clearly didn't believe him, but he didn't want to delve into it. After all, there was wine, and it might be the last bottle of wine for this phase, so he solemnly accepted it. "This is for you." Xiao held a feather in his hand. Wendy looked at Xiao in confusion, and Xiao's face suddenly turned bright red. Sora left with a mischievous grin.
"This is a feather, the most beautiful feather on my body, so... so I'll consider it a token of our love." After saying this shyly, Xiao's expression turned very serious. "Wendy, don't be so serious, okay?" Wendy hadn't expected Xiao to give her a token of their love.
Holding the feather in her palm, Wendy felt as if it weighed a ton. Taking a deep breath, she pinned the feather to the pendant below her Eye of God. The contrast between the cyan and light blue feathers didn't feel jarring at all; on the contrary, the cyan feather seemed like the perfect finishing touch, making it quite beautiful.
Then, Wendy embraced Xiao, greedily inhaling his calming scent, her heart finally settling down. "I will bring you all out of this national crisis safely." Wendy's eyes became utterly serene. After a long while, a howling wind arose, and Wendy donned her divine armor. Pushing Xiao away, Wendy placed her hands on Xiao's shoulders, her eyes filled with solemnity.
“If I can’t go back, tell the old man that there’s still a lot of good wine hidden beneath the Windrise Land. Let him drink it if he wants.” Wendy’s eyes were remarkably calm as she said this, causing Xiao to be momentarily taken aback. “The ruler’s power is no less than yours or mine. If it were just ordinary abilities, it would be fine, but words can become law. We probably won’t die because of his words, but the little girl Zhongli is taking care of might be different.” Wendy looked down, as if looking through the floor at Hu Tao. “She will really die.”
“So,” Wendy stared intently into Xiao’s eyes, her gaze unwavering, “take care of yourself, and take care of that little girl.”
......
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
"Don't make it sound so obvious!" Xiao suddenly roared. Venti was startled. Xiao's golden eyes were bloodshot, his face contorted in a ferocious grimace, as if his karmic burdens were about to burst forth. "It's not time for that yet! Don't make it sound so dramatic! If anyone's going to die, it'll be me in your place. The Yaksha are brave and skilled warriors, but we know nothing but slaughter. You can play music and sing, you can fly freely, while I..." Xiao calmed down after his initial outburst, "And I, I only have the Emperor left, and now, there's you, and Vanan... and the millions of people of Liyue Harbor. If I die, there's still Vanan, so..."
"You shouldn't stop here. You must fly higher into the sky. Mondstadt cannot be without Barbatos. You shouldn't stop here." After saying this, Xiao let go of Wendy's hand and left without looking back.
"Xiao?" Wendy was taken aback. Xiao paused for a moment, then left.
The argument between the two even alerted Sora, Walnut, and Paimon downstairs. When the three of them went upstairs to investigate, they found Wendy standing there alone. Her clothes had returned to normal, but Wendy had her head down, and her expression was not visible.
"My dear friend, why are you looking so downcast?" Hu Tao suddenly appeared beside Wendy, patted her on the shoulder, and Wendy looked up. The calmness in her eyes startled Hu Tao. "It's nothing, I'm fine." Wendy smiled, still looking sunny, but Kong keenly noticed that Wendy seemed to have changed.
And considering the argument we just had...
"Paimon, go and find out where Xiao is. You can fly, so he shouldn't be in any serious trouble," Sora said to Paimon. Paimon also sensed that something was amiss, but without complaining, he flew out the window to look for Xiao.
Hu Tao also noticed that Wendy seemed a little off, but she couldn't figure it out. Then Kong patted Hu Tao on the shoulder. Hu Tao turned around in confusion, and Kong shook his head at her. Hu Tao seemed to understand immediately.
"Wendy, my good friend, the road ahead may be difficult, but don't forget to be happy!" Hu Tao gave Wendy a bright smile, then skipped downstairs.
Wendy nodded. After Hu Tao left, Kong walked up to her and asked, "Are you alright, Wendy?" "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking, am I being too pessimistic? It seems like freedom is restricted here, and that's making Xiao unhappy," Wendy said. This seemed to be their first argument, and it left both of them unhappy.
With a sigh, he brought out the almond tofu and said, "You went too far this time. Xiao didn't want you to sacrifice yourself either. The best way is for everyone to go back. I overheard most of it downstairs. This ruler will have a tough time. Well, we'll be careful, so don't be too pessimistic."
Wendy nodded. He knew he had gone a bit too far. He was only thinking about how to get everyone back safely, but he forgot that everyone also wanted him to get back safely.
"I understand." Wendy took a deep breath, and the ethereal wind returned to her side. When she opened her eyes, Wendy smiled, a genuine smile.
Nodding to the air, Wendy jumped out of the window, transforming into a wisp of breeze, and searched for Xiao.
Kong shook his head, went back downstairs, and continued chatting with Hu Tao.
I just hope everything is alright. Lost in thought, I thought of my younger sister again.
It seems that there has been no movement from the Abyss for a long time.
"Brother." Ying sat among a group of old men, with an empty screen in front of her. Ying then looked at the panel next to her, where Su Bai was expressionlessly fiddling with something.
“Your Highness…” Apostle Lei Shenyuan floated over, bowed, and Ying nodded, focusing her attention on the meeting in front of her.
————
Hey~ Happy summer vacation~
Requesting gifts and book recommendations~
The neighboring site, Seti, is about to recommend something, so I hope everyone will support them. I'll be leading the way in shipping these pairings!
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