𝚂𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙰𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 [𝚐.𝚒 𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚡 𝚐𝚗!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]

XXXVII

In the back room of a shop for dream examination, sat a beautiful Jiu Feng in her human form. Her pin straight, auburn hair fell like a shining curtain down her back. She sat back on her ankles, a deep breath of sandalwood filling her lungs as she attempted to calm her mind. Her hands were placed on her lap, fingers twitchy with eagerness that she had to consciously put a stop to.

Circulating her breathing, she shut out the rest of the world, retreating into the deep recesses of her mind till it felt like she was floating. Her body felt light, unimportant, as she drifted through her thoughts, expanding to the best of her ability to search outwards.

It was always difficult to tap back into her precognitive abilities after not having done so in so long. The meditation, the expansion, it was always so hard to focus on, especially when she was nervous.

As she drifted, she reached into the void to grasp at the wisps of the future, twining the silver strands through her long, delicate fingers. She brought them closer to her, these wisps invisible to those on the outside, and pressed them to her forehead, driving them into her mind.

Images flashed behind her eyes, quick motions and colors that were hard to discern. Foresight was not a completely reliable practice, and those who know it, know that the farther into the future you go, the more susceptible it is to change.

It just so happens that to see her friend she must go far enough that those colors begin to muddle. See, when she had picked the wisp with the most direct future, it was black, so she went further, and it was still back. It wasn't until she could finally see flashes of green, only green, a forest perhaps, that she stopped, a curl in her stomach and a downward tilt to her lips.

When she came back to herself, the room was heavy with the scent of sandalwood, her incense stick nearly done burning. She noticed her hands curled in a loose claw, done twitching with now exterminated eagerness.

The Jiu Feng huffed and stood, brushing invisible dirt from her qipao to give her hands something to do.

"What magicks are keeping me from seeing your future, [Y/n]?"

-

"We should probably head back to Mondstadt if we want to find any clues!" Paimon chirped, enthusiastically eating her breakfast as Aether poked around.

"Why Mondstadt?" Aether looks to Paimon, not acknowledging the slap on his wrist he knew was from Ariel encouraging him to eat.

"Weeeeeellll doesn't Diluc have his 'connections' and doesn't he keep a close eye on the Abyss? Maybe he's heard of something!" Paimon sticks a chopstick full of rice in her mouth. "And Venti can hear the wind! He might've heard something too!"

Aether paused in his poking. "That's... actually not a bad idea."

"Hey! Paimon can have good ideas too ya know!" Paimon angrily pointed her tiny finger at him, a grain of rice falling from her mouth.

"Not often enough." Aether teased.

"Hey!!"

Now filled with something akin to excitement, Aether pushed away the bowl of something (he hadn't really checked before ordering) and stood. "Let's go pack up. We have nothing to do in Liyue right now, it's early morning, the faster we can get to Mondstadt the better."

"But Paimon's not finished with her breakfast yet!"

-

The road from Liyue to Mondstadt had never felt longer than at this moment. The dusty, dirt path seemed to stretch beyond his sight, fading into the horizon. The wind blew through his undone hair, causing some strands to fly into his eyes, but he found he couldn't care all that much.