I wake to humming, a song I recognize as Isabella's Lullaby. My brother would hum it to freak me out as a child.
Opening my eyes I see Venti above me, which calms me more than I would like to admit. He smiles, brushing the hair out of my face.
"Good morning, Songbird. How did you sleep?" He asks, brushing his hand through my hair.
"Better than I have in weeks." I say honestly. Reaching up to hold his cheek. He smiles again, but something seems off.
"What's wrong Wind Sprite?" Are you ok?" I ask, moving to sit up with him.
"A lot of different things happened yesterday. I'm just processing." He doesn't move from looking at his lap, where I was just laying.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" It takes him a minute to look at me, but when he does there's tears in his eyes.
His lip trembling, he gives a small smile, as if he's trying to say that he's fine. But before he can say anything, flood gates open and he's sobbing in my arms.
"Woah, Venti! What happened, did I say something wrong?" He shakes his head, still sobbing.
He doesn't answer at first, clinging on to me for dear life. Sobs racking through his body.
Minuets go by and the only thing I can do is rub his back and whisper that it's going to be ok. I don't know what else to do.
"I broke my lyre, and my bow, and I can't get those things back!" He cries after awhile.
"Broke them how?" He leans back, scooting away from me and I wonder if I've said the wrong thing.
He sits for a moment, sniffling, before summoning his bow and something in a large handkerchief.
The bow is cracked through the middle, going from the top to the bottom. The blue paint of the swirls chipped.
Venti looks at it for a moment before taking out pieces of wood from the handkerchief. It's his lyre, broken in pieces, the strings curled towards what used to be the top of the lyre.
"Oh, Venti," I say, taking him in my arms again. "I'm so sorry."
He starts sobbing again, clutching on to my shirt, the fabric wrinkling under his fingers.
I hold him like this until someone starts calling his name down on the floor.
He's still crying when I push him off of me to see whose downstairs.
I don't bother getting dressed, but my pants and my shirt are wrinkly. It's clear that I've been sleeping.
Walking down to the first floor of the tavern, I see Traveler. "Diluc! Have you seen Venti?" They ask.
I think for a moment, trying to decide what to tell Traveler.
"He's upstairs, why?" Traveler and I are friends, but I'm still wary. Especially with Venti crying the way he is.
"Is he ok? After commissions yesterday, he disappeared and we haven't seen him sense." Traveler says, motioning to themselves and Paimon.
"He's upset." Is all I say, seeing how much Traveler knows.
"That makes sense, his bow and lyre broke yesterday. That's why we're so worried, Venti told Paimon that lyre was from a friend." Paimon floats close to Traveler, pulling at their clothes.
"A friend?" I ask, confused.
"Um, I don't know how much of this we can tell you, but this wasn't his original form." Traveler starts, pausing to look at me.
"I know, he was a wind sprite, right?" I ask, knowing the answer. For a moment I'm worried that I'm wrong, and that Venti lied to me. But Traveler nods.
"He took the form of a friend. That was his friends lyre. He's used it for centuries." Paimon says.
"I though he used the Holy Lyre De Himmel?" I ask, not hearing the shuffling behind me.
"I got that one for becoming an Archon." I hear from behind me. I whip around, seeing Venti come down the stairs.
His eyes are red and his cheeks are swollen and puffy. He looks a mess.
"Venti," Paimon, Traveler and I all say.
He looks like he wants to reach for me, but he doesn't. I almost do, but the way he glances from me to Traveler stops me.
Venti's not comfortable with PDA, I realize. I don't enjoy it much myself, but this is Traveler.
I digress, moving to let Venti walk into the rest of the room.
Venti wipes at his face, turning to Traveler. "My favorite being," He starts and Traveler smiles. "I need you to do something for me."
"Anything." They say, moving to hold Ventis hands.
He doesn't like PDA with me...
"I need you to go to Liyue." He starts but I interrupt him.
"Venti no, I don't need you or Traveler defending me." I say, standing a little taller.
"Someone is going to do something." Is all he says, looking at Traveler intently.
I simply shake my head and sigh.
"Traveler doesn't have to go, I can." He declares. The three of us stare at him shocked.
"But you told Paimon that you couldn't leave Mondstadt!?" Paimon screeches. "And Paimon doesn't even know why you need to go?"
Venti looks back at me with a determined look, he's not going to back down.
"Traveler can go. There is no need for you to go to Liyue." I say, trying to sound stern. But it falls short when Venti laughs.
"No you're right, you don't need Traveler defending you. I however, am defending myself. This can be handled for a god by a god." He says the word 'god' with distaste.
"But you said you can't? Did you lie to us?" Traveler asks.
"I didn't lie. And I'm not going to Liyue."
"You're being cryptic, Venti." I say while he steps back from Traveler. "And what about your lyre and bow?"
He shrugs, looking a little sad, before disappearing in a blue-white light.
"Well that's that, I guess." Traveler says.
I sigh, think about Ventis belongings. I think they're still upstairs.
Traveler looks at me for what to do, and I just nod at them. Turning around to lead them upstairs. I don't look to see if Paimon follows.
