✧.* 𝒀𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒊 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒂𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒂 ᵍᵉⁿˢʰⁱⁿ

iv. hospitality breeds hospitality.

"You're making something new."

You looked up, smiling in greetings to the newly arrived adeptus. "Well, I'll be going back and forth between here and the harbor while I'm looking for someone," you said. "So it'd be good for me to have a bag to travel with."

"You're making a bag of yarn," Xiao said, his eyes narrowing as he watched you work.

"Well, if I do it right, it'll turn out fine."

Xiao hummed before disappearing, leaving you to work in silence. He reappears a few hours later, when you're just about halfway finished. He watches for a moment before he speaks—which is odd enough, he hardly initiates proper conversation.

"You haven't met the traveler and his companion."

You snickered at his tone. Even when he should've phrased things as a question, he always spoke so sure of himself, as if everything he said was an undeniable statement. "The who?" You asked.

"You haven't heard of him."

"I haven't, do enlighten me."

"Not too long ago, he assisted Liyue in a… crisis of sorts. He is tolerable."

You nodded, having not a clue what he was on about. "So, why do you bring this up now?"

"I have received word that he'll be coming to visit. I wanted to warn you ahead of time."

That was phrased oddly, you thought as he disappeared again. Xiao seemed to be coming and going more often than usual, it almost made you feel unproductive. You sighed, picking up your incomplete work to continue.

༺♡༻

"Is anyone here…?"

You heard a high pitched voice behind you, followed by a lower, "theres no need to call for him."

You turned just enough to see who had entered the balcony. There stood a boy, taller than Xiao, with blonde hair braided down his back. He wore clothes that looked anything but familiar to you in its browns and golds. He was accompanied by a small, floating being with white hair.

"Are you looking for someone?" You asked, standing upright and stretching. The two newcomers snapped towards you, as if they hadn't realized you'd been there yet. They looked between each other before the flying person spoke.

"Um—yeah! We're looking for Xiao, the adeptus. Is he here?"

You shook your head as realization dawned upon you. You cleared your throat. "Are you, by any chance, that traveler that helped out Liyue?" The floating person nodded, arms crossed with a smug look on her face. The boy just sighed, his face reddening at the recognition.

"Ah—yeah, that's us…" he said, sheepishly. "But please, just call me Aether. And this is Paimon. You are…?"

"My name is Y/N, hi."

"Hi Y/N! You weren't here the last time we came by, were you?" Paimon asked, floating over to you. You shook your head.

"I recently came from Inazuma, so I haven't been staying for very long."

Aether and Paimon glanced at each other, a seemingly unspoken message being sent between the two. You furrowed your brows, your eyes darting between one and the other. Finally, Paimon spoke up again.

"Hey, we're supposed to go to Inazuma next. How do we get there?"

You blinked, deadpan. "I'm sorry, you want to *go* to Inazuma?"

"Ah—well, yeah! We're traveling across all of the seven nations, and Inazuma is our next stop."

You shook your head in astonishment. "Don't—you don't want to go there. Besides, it's incredibly dangerous to even get in."