A lost friend's journey

Chapter 12

They had taken him away.

Barbatos had been taken away.

He was gone, once more.

It seemed to Rukkhadevata like she was in a never ending loop. They had been so close, yet so far...  

The deity had taken Barbatos out of the room, to who knew where, while they were stuck to the thrones, unable to reach out to their elemental powers, forced to patiently wait for whatever would happen to them. Rukkhadevata could make a vague guess that it hadn't been long since they woke up in this room, and she wondered just for how much longer would they have to wait for something to happen.

Something else was also unsettling. When she was in the presence of the other archons, there would always be someone talking, or someone trying to lighten up the gloomy mood. Someone trying to cheer everyone up when they felt like abandoning. But now, no one was talking. All six of them were too busy replaying the last events in their head.

Who would have guessed... Who would have guessed that Barbatos was hiding between his people as an ordinary bard? Who would have guessed the Anemo vision they had seen hanging from his belt wasn't an authentic one? She felt stupid. As the God of Wisdom, she should have known that Barbatos wouldn't let them freely wander in his nation upon noticing their presence. She should have known that Barbatos would want to keep an eye on them. 

And now that she thought about it, he did have an uncanny resemblance to the statue built in his honor, in the heart of the city. She had been oblivious to facts she clearly should have noticed. Why hadn't she been able to see the obvious when it had been glaring at her from the very start? What a joke...

But now that Rukkhadevata thought about it, she wondered how Venti - or Barbatos - saw them. What he thought of them. If things had been different... If they had just cared enough, if they had paid more attention, if they hadn't simply discarded Barbatos' feelings...

If they had tried to understand him, how would it have all turned out?

Certainly not here. Or at least, they would have been in the known of what he was planning, what he wanted to do.

Suddenly, Rukkhadevata startled. Here it was again! The sound! She had heard a sound! So she hadn't been going completely mad when the deity had been here...

She scanned her surroundings, looking at every corner, carefully analyzing each shadow. Nothing moved, nothing seemed out of the ordinary in this room. Her eyes kept dancing around. She knew she had heard something, twice even! If she could just identify where the sound had come from...

There! She heard it again! Rukkhadevata turned her eyes in the direction the sound had come from, on her left, carefully looking at the shadows there, wondering if something would emerge. If yes, what would it be? Would it be one of the three shades? Their path had crossed only once, but it had been enough for Rukkhadevata to know that they weren't any different from the deity that governed over them all. Cold, cruel, avid for power. 

Those are the governors of Teyvat, those who rules over both mortals and archons, bending everything to their will, following the Heavenly Principles.

And Rukkhadevata had no intention of being taken by surprise by one of those beings. If anything, she would follow their every move until they made themselves known - no, until they exited the room. 

She wasn't sure if the others had heard the sounds, noticed the faint movements in the shadows, but she preferred to stay silent, lest she pushed the one hiding to show themselves. If she could avoid the person coming to light, then she would take it. Although, it made her wonder. Why would one of the three Shades hide in the shadows and not let themselves known? They had no reason to hide in their own realm, did they?