To the unknown Future

Chapter 15:

After a long day of traveling and stressing over taking care of Uriel, Venti has fallen asleep till it was nighttime.

When he woke up, Xingqui also just arrived and was getting ready to meet him.

The two of them meet in his study room. And the two sat face to face with each other.

"Hello again, Sir Venti, what brings you back to Liyue? Ah, that reminds me, How's Uriel doing?" Xingqui asked with a smile.

"I do have news about her, but you must prepare your heart before you hear it," Venti said before telling Xingqui about the same tale that he said to the others in Mondstadt.

"What?! Tell me where is she? Show her to me!" Xingqui snapped and slammed his palms on the table. Venti stood up and Xingqui followed him back to the guestroom and found Uriel's teapot sitting there on the bedside table.

"Please wait here, I'll escort her out," Venti said and Xingqui watched him go inside the Serenitea pot anxiously.

When Venti came back, Uriel was with her, and just like from his words, Uriel was like a doll with broken strings, unresponsive to the outside world.

"Uriel jiejie!" Xingqui immediately went to her side and held her hand while worriedly looking at her current state. Uriel didn't respond to his calls and there was no movement from her.

Xingqui felt frustrated and angry, how could someone lay their hands on his older sister?! His hands were trembling and his face was twisted in anguish. He looked back to Venti and started questioning him.

"Why?! WHY IS SHE LIKE THIS?! Wasn't she always with you, Sir Venti?! HOW COULD YOU LET HER FALL TO HER OWN DEMISE?!" Xingqui shouted aggrieved. Venti frowned at this and defended himself from Xingqui's accusations.

"Xingqui, it's true that she came with me to Mondstadt but there's something wrong with your wording. I never took a job or even an escort for Uriel for the duration of her stay there in Mondstadt. Where she does and what I do are two different things," Venti frowned and sighed.

"We are just friends and it's not me who should be looking out for her safety, it's supposed to be her family. Please don't accuse me, I did nothing to wrong her," Venti explained and Xingqui became quiet.

"I know you're angry, but I didn't harm your sister, nor did I invade her space. I asked a female friend to look out for her while she's in this state." Venti said and Xingqui looked at him one more time.

"I see, I lost my head earlier from anger, I apologize. I will compensate you for the trouble you had taking care of my older sister," Xingqui said and called Xu to give Venti a bag of mora.

"Wait no, that's not what I was implying, it simply-"

"You can stop there, Sir Venti, as you said, Her family should take care of her when she's in trouble, this is my way of repaying gratitude, as well as escorting my older sister back to Liyue Harbor unscathed," Xingqui said and turned around to face Uriel.

"You can go now, Sir Venti. I will take care of her from here on," Xingqui said and have Xu escorted Venti out of the establishment.

Venti has a sense of loss after exiting the Feiyun Commerce guild but he did the right thing. Uriel needs to have her family beside her so that they can help focus on taking care of her and pulling her back to her cheerful self.

"Since I'm here, might as well look for Zhongli before leaving," Venti said and went towards Zhongli's location. He also didn't hide anything from his friend and told him Uriel's past identity while they were chatting in private.

"An angel? What kind of species are those?" Zhongli was surprised from hearing this for the first time and was deeply interested.

"Well, She looks just like me in my Archon form, except that her wings were white and transparent, while mine was more solid and bigger," Venti said and took some pen and paper, drawing the wings that he saw before.

"It was majestic and lovely, her wings, although they look like fragile glass, the way it moved filled with vitality and gracefully moved behind her... but now..." Venti paused from drawing when he remembered something, and the ink made a blot on the paper, messing up the middle of the wings. Zhongli sighed in vain, before putting his focus back on his friend.

"She had a brief interaction with her past "god" and then her wings shattered into nothingness, and then she went into that state, her mortal body must've been injured because of what happened, but the Statue of the Seven seems to only cure the external injuries, That's why it been a month since that incident happened," Venti said and put down the brush back to its holder and looked down to the ruined drawing.

"I suppose I could lend a hand and help the Feiyun Commerce Guild with their research while Uriel is in Liyue, yes?" Zhongli asked and Venti nodded at him,

"I'll have some adventurers from Mondstadt to send you a copy of our research and let you carry on with them about the rest," Venti said and after that, the two of them parted ways. When Venti went back to Mondstadt, he was swamped with work helping with Lisa and Albedo for the Windblume festival.

The work and the things happening around Venti helped him focus on himself in the present and not think about someone else. Although it was true that he did think about her when he was resting, Venti chose to prioritize the festival over her, He knows that she's in capable hands so there's no need for his unnecessary worry.

And just like that, the day of the Festival has arrived, there are people from all over teyvat that went to Mondstadt to witness and join this famous festival.

Will the week pass by peacefully or will there be something bad to happen?