❤️A fox's Journals - Genshin Impact fanfiction❤️

🏮Chapter 11 - Nika's First Lantern Rite 🏮

Nika continued to admire all the decorations around the harbor but she was uneasy as she felt them being followed, she didn't know if she was just being paranoid and didn't want to make a big deal out of it. She continued to follow Rei and stayed close to her as they walked around the harbor together. Rei took notice of her behavior and asked her if she was alright and why was all paranoid.

"We're being followed," Nika whispered to her. Rei glanced around acting like she was admiring the decorations and that's when she noticed a few Fatui soldiers lurking around. " Just act normal, don't let them realize we've noticed them." Rei had an idea as to why they could be here, she wasn't in the mood for a fight at the moment. Nika was surprised when Rei started leading them away from the harbor, she wasn't sure what Rei had planned but she decided to trust her. As they left the city Rei asked Nika to revert to her fox form when she gave her the signal. They managed to get out of the city halfway before they were ambushed, Rei gave Nika the signal and she reverted into her fox form. Rei grabbed Nika and tossed her high up in the air causing her companion to scream in fear. "Rei!" Nika didn't want to know how high she had thrown her so she kept her eyes closed before curiosity got the better of her. She was met with a view of the sky and mountains but when she looked down she closed her eyes again, afraid at how high up she was above ground. She felt herself falling and she panicked even more only for her to land slowly in Rei's arms. "Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you up so high but I had to get you out of harms way." Nika calmed down after the rush she had experienced. "At least warn me next time!" she huffed annoyed.

Nika reverted back to normal and looked at all the fatui soldiers knocked down unconscious on the ground."What happened? Are they after you?"

Rei huffed annoyed, " Honestly, i see hes trying to make me return by force. He's not going to give up is he?"

Nika noticed how angry Rei was and wasn't sure if she could say anything to make her feel better, she was aware about the harbinger that had been trying to get her to come back. It seemed like Rei wasn't planning on returning to him at all, she wondered what horrible thing he had done to get her to react this way.

"Are you ok? You're not hurt anywhere are you?" Nika inspected her companion but it seemed like she didn't have any noticeable injuries.

"I'm fine, just annoyed. Let's head back into the city."

Nika followed closely behind her as they made their way back.

A few hours after walking around they ran into Qiqi who was looking for Rei, she was carrying a few lanterns with her and Rei went over to help her. Qiqi handed one to Rei and one to Nika who was incredibly excited. She wanted to know when they could release the lanterns and Rei told her that they would have to wait until tomorrow night. Qiqi also told them that Zhongli was looking for them and to meet him at the funeral parlor. Of course, Nika took off and Rei tried calling out to her to slow down. She followed after her along with Qiqi who wanted to spend more time with them.

When they arrived, Zhongli was waiting for them, fortunately for Qiqi and Rei, Hu Tao wasn't with him. Zhongli greeted them and asked them how they're travelers were and Rei told him everything. Nika also chimed in a few times until she asked why he was looking for them. He wanted to let them know about something that had been left for them, according to him Childe stopped by briefly. Childe couldn't stay but he dropped off something for Nika that he wanted her to have and something for Rei that he had been asked to deliver to her. Nika was disappointed that he couldn't stay longer but she was curious about what he had left for them.

Nika was the first to run off once Zhongli told them where their gifts were and opened the box to find more jewelry, a fancy new dress and a letter. While Nika read the letter, Rei went to see what was in the gift box that was left for her. She wasn't surprised when she found a fancy new hanfu dress along with a response from the letter she had written. She put the letter aside and picked up the dress. Nika came over and was amazed at her dress. "Wow, that dress is so pretty!" "I guess we're both being spoiled today, yours is pretty too. If you want I can help you put it on tomorrow."