Taking over the Abyss

78- Encore for an Old Dream

In the wake of the disaster, you were left with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. The Lightkeepers, spurred by your ability blow up a bunch of Wild Hunt monsters at once, really wanted to talk to you. For your sake Leiptr had set out to deal with them, negotiating a later time to discuss every with the help of Flins and Illuga. The two had seen how done you were and were able to successfully stop you from being swarmed.

"I found some stuff!" Durin came up to show you, hands full of shiny rocks and rounded pieces of sea glass. You had half a mind to tell him to be careful, but you were just glad he was doing okay. Not seeing the pink rock you both wanted, he frowned. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

"It was a remnant piece from the Wild Hunt, so one of the Lightkeepers took it." Your explanation drew a small gasp from Durin. The dark red flames he'd conjured were still fresh on your mind as you watched Durin stow away his new treasures to sort through later.

"I'm sure we can find another pink rock somewhere," he assured you. Sensing you were thinking about his fire, Durin averted his eyes to the ground, reluctant to talk about it. "I'm not really sure what happened. I just knew I had to protect you."

"You did good," you assured him. "We can find out more about your power together."

Durin stared down at his hands to silently contemplate his own potential. A sudden thought hit him. "Oh! Maybe it has something to do with that... key thing?"

"The administrator key?" Admittedly you wanted to know what was up with that. Durin nodded his head rapidly. "Maybe. Maybe we could find some information about it at the-"

"The Akademiya!" Durin lit up. His sudden exclamation had drawn several stares from the remaining people lingering around. They eyed him for a minute, mostly curious about he needed from the Akademiya before returning to what they were doing before. Despite the stares leaving him flustered, Durin's excitement outweighed his shy nature. "I really wanna know what the administrator key opens."

"Maybe a cache of weapons?" Lohen appeared suddenly behind Durin, startling him. He seemed delighted by how well his silent presence had worked. Unable to rule that out, you pondered how useful that would be.

You could only assume the 'administrator key' Ineffa referred to had something to do with technology from the name of it. Notably, she'd only looked to you and Durin, not Leiptr. So the scan probably wasn't set off by you being Khaenri'ahn (did Durin count as Khaenri'ahn, since he was first born in Khaenri'ah and his new body had your blood? You'd have to ask somebody.). Which meant it had something to do with you and Durin being recognized as draconic.

With you lost in sudden thought, Lohen cocked his head to the side. "Oh? Am I right?"

"Honestly, I have no clue what it is," you told him. At worst, it was some sort of key to the Teyvat equivalent of Windows 8.

Returning from a successful discussion from the Lightkeepers, Leiptr's face soured at the sight of Lohen. He already disliked the knight for more or less wrecking your dealing with Feilan, and seeing him talking to you as though he had any say in the administrator key business left Leiptr irritated. Lohen noticed his arrival at the same time as you and Durin.

The red slits of his pupils dilated from the cold intensity of Leiptr's glaring, still running on the adrenaline rush from being the one to finally get a hit on Feilan. Filled with an insurmountable confidence, Lohen boldly met Leiptr's eyes. "You're back. Are the Lightkeepers going to let you guys go?"

"They are," Leiptr said. He decided to ignore Lohen, understanding that it was best to ignore him until he'd calmed down. "Now then, my lady, shall we return immediately? I can acquire some of these krumkakes for you, if you so wish."