Venti hummed a lively tune of an unknown melody.
The warm breeze lent Mondstadt's dusk its familiar languor. Winter was nearing its end, spring was approaching, and the steep shelves of ice were cracking bit by bit.
A few days earlier, several thunderstorms had rolled through. In distant Liyue, this time of year was called Jingzhe: once the thunder passed, the spring breeze ushered in the new season.
Spring was near, and people's spirits rose with it. The saying appeared to be true.
Venti felt very cheerful.
Perhaps it was because of the beautiful scenery before her:
Windwheel Asters ignited with life-like flowing red, adorned with Cecilia flowers in between, tinting the orange-red sea of flowers. The two color groups of white and red mixed together as the grand sunset hung at the end of the flower fields. The flowers were truly beautiful, and Mondstadt's spring was also very lovely.
Spring was coming soon, and today she reunited with an old friend again. This always brings joy.
Her friend's appearance had completely changed.
Venti still remembered the last time she had gone looking for Kiyono Fugin, four hundred years ago. He had ridden a tall horse in brilliant clothes, proud and imposing despite the dust and exhaustion of travel. Venti exchanged only a few words with him before leaving.
She actually really wanted to have a drink with her old friend.
Venti brought several bottles of good wine. She first went to Liyue to have a bottle with Rex Lapis. After receiving his "Are you just idle?" look, she left and then went to Inazuma.
She had heard the stories about the Pillar General. The young general was said to love his wine, so surely they could share a drink.
But Kiyono Fugin said he had to return to the court to report. He looked exhausted, but there was a spark in his eyes, as if others were waiting for him. So Venti waved goodbye to him.
Seeing him again was in the sky, in that bolt of lightning, fading at the end of the night.
Now reunited, he was no longer as majestic as before.
It's strange; his appearance had changed, but some things hadn't, especially when he smiled.
Reuniting with an old friend always brings joy.
Even if he has forgotten.
She finally caught up, helping him during the dragon disaster, not letting him die alone in the valley like five hundred years ago, nor letting him fall on the night closest to the blue sky like thousands of years ago. This also made her feel joyful.
She wasn't late.
This morning, Venti told him her name, and he told Venti his name. That counted as an acquaintance.
"Hello, Friend." she said to him.
Or should she say it's a reunion?
He didn't like drinking, which made Venti feel a bit regretful, but it didn't matter. Venti was confident she could corrupt him. She was very confident in her ability to lead someone astray.
Today, they went together to steal Holy Lyre der Himmel. This reminded Venti of the days when they used to steal eagle and falcon feathers at the top of the Cape Oath. She wanted to share these past events with her friend, but she knew it wasn't possible.
Time was so long; he had just been reborn, fresh like the spring wind.
And they had reunited. In the future, there would be plenty of years and memories—Miss Venti thought so.
This was her first mistake.
Holy Lyre der Himmel had been seized by the Fatui. Kiyono Fugin patted his chest, indicating he would go investigate the news.
Miss Venti looked at him. That confident manner was just like the girl from a thousand years ago, always able to put others at ease.
So Venti nodded.
——This was her second mistake.
"What flowers are you picking?"
Venti bent down slightly, her gradient-colored braids naturally falling. She swept her loose hair behind her ear, questioning the focused girl before her.
"Cecilia flowers."
Lumine replied,
She raised her head, slightly wary, watching this 'suspicious person.' "What's up?"
"Why are you picking flowers?"
"A wreath." Lumine lowered her head, searching among the daisies for a glimpse of pure white. "I'm making it for Kiyono, the Flower Girl."
Oh, Flower Girl.
Venti was startled. How did she know he had ever been a girl?
So she asked:
"Do you know he's a girl?"
"Yes." Lumine replied naturally. "He's still a 'Drowned Corpse'."
You know that too?
Venti thought this girl named Lumine was impressive.
The sky was slowly darkening. It was almost time for dinner. Lumine was still diligently searching. There were very few Cecilia flowers, making them hard to find.
"I'll help you." Venti said. "Let's make a wreath."
"I won't give you money." Lumine was very wary. "At most, I'll invite you to a meal."
"Eat?"
"Yes, Drowned Corpse said he went to buy ingredients. The grilled fish we had at noon wasn't satisfying enough. He wants another meal tonight!"
"I see. If you're inviting me to eat, then I'll have a drink."
So they picked flowers together. The dim sunlight cast long shadows over the sea of flowers. The two girls were wrapped in the shadows of the flowers, searching for blooms, then looking forward to dinner. Time slowly passed, and Lumine suddenly felt something and looked up from the flower bushes.
A small bundle, drooping its little head, wobbling and floating from afar like a kitten that lost a fight. Paimon was standing with her hands on her hips, looking very angry, her watery eyes pleading as if she was a child complaining to an adult.
She saw Lumine and said:
"Lumine, that guy said he won't play with us anymore!"
When Paimon said this, she pouted her lips, looking aggrieved like a child tattling to an adult.
"He won't play with us anymore?"
"He said... he's so mean." The more Paimon spoke, the more aggrieved she became. She stamped her foot, choking up halfway through. "He said, 'You're too weak. You'll only get in the way. I'm going alone'... He's so mean! So mean, so mean!"
"He's a liar!"
Going on a mission alone...
Lumine paused. She subconsciously lowered her head. Two bunches of pure white Cecilia flowers were still clenched in her hand, and her pockets were also full of flowers. The Teyvat Travel Guide was also in her pocket. The girl was stunned, "...But I sent him a wreath today."
"Didn't we agree? Send a wreath for a day, and you have to play with us for a day." Lumine said confusedly. "There are still so many places we haven't gone to play."
"He can't go back on his word."
Those translucent, goldfish-like eyes looked lost.
Venti listened to their conversation. For some reason, she suddenly felt an inexplicable palpitation.
An inexplicable palpitation.
Venti didn't know why she felt this way.
Something was wrong.
Could that guy bid farewell like this?
Could he say such things?
Why?
That feeling of excitement grew stronger. Her heart inexplicably began to waver.
Something was wrong. Something she had overlooked.
Impossible.
He had just been born.
He was a boy, not an old man. He should still have a long time ahead.
Kiyono Raimei had lived for five hundred years.
So it was impossible.
She obsessively applied past experiences to the present.
People often believed that what had happened once would happen again. Some called it the error of relying too much on experience; a poet put it differently: "How fortunate to find three cups of good wine, and better still, a fresh blossom. Let us laugh together while we may—who knows whether tomorrow will bring sun or rain?"
So why did he say such things to his companions?
Holy Lyre der Himmel was stolen. He said he was going to investigate the news. He was just going to investigate the news.
That's all.
After a long silence, Venti broke it. She looked at Lumine, slightly hopeful, and asked:
"Kiyono... that guy, has he had any abnormalities recently?"
"Abnormalities?" Paimon tilted her head.
"For example, sudden fainting, feeling very cold, or seeing illusions, suddenly zoning out, and the like." Venti said.
"Zoning out..." Lumine recalled the situation when they climbed the Cape Oath that day. She murmured, "He almost fell while zoning out during rock climbing."
"Fainting, whole body cold..." Lumine paused. "It was the other day."
——
Venti left Lumine and Paimon behind and hurried toward Angel's Share. Her fingers clenched without her noticing, crushing the delicate Cecilia petals in her hand.
[Erosion]
Those symptoms were signs of erosion.
Venti had lived for thousands of years. As a deity, she had also experienced much erosion. She was not unfamiliar with erosion.
But why?
His memories were clearly brand new.
He was the newborn wind.
Why was there erosion?
Was it her fault?
But she had clearly never shared past events with him.
Those blue skies, the white clouds, the poetry, the stories under the wind walls, the landscapes seen upon climbing the canyon, the birds and feathers, the dandelions and poems, the days they experienced together, the memories cherished by the wind spirit—she had never explained them to Kiyono, never shared them with him.
But why?
But why was he still suffering erosion?
This is unreasonable, and also unfair.
Is it impossible to reunite with an old friend?
Is it not allowed to say goodbye after just meeting? Saying "Hello, Friend" would hurt him?
She just wanted to have another drink with her friend. Is this too much to ask?
Venti didn't know.
She bit her lip.
"He went here."
Diluc, the boss, stared at the girl in front of him in surprise and asked, "Didn't he tell you guys?"
That bastard.
That bastard.
Why didn't he tell me earlier?
Venti followed Diluc's map, along the chilly path of Whispering Woods. The steep evening wind blew past her, with billions of leaves making a rustling sound, as if crying softly.
She saw the Fatui castle. The heavy climbing ivy and ultramarine moss clung to the cold walls. The main gate was open, eerily silent. The daylight had been worn away, leaving only scattered and mixed candlelight.
Many soldiers lay on the ground, bearing wounds from wind elements.
Venti felt relieved yet confused. There was no sign of Kiyono's blood, and the aura of the Holy Lyre der Himmel still lingered there.
He should have won. Although he was reckless and impulsive, he successfully snatched Holy Lyre der Himmel back from the Fatui.
But while Venti breathed a sigh of relief, she felt confused again.
Since he took Holy Lyre der Himmel, he should have already returned to Mondstadt.
Where is Kiyono now?
Venti couldn't find where Kiyono had gone.
She asked the wind; perhaps the wind would tell Venti some news.
Night was already deep.
Venti tiptoed, took off her hat, and exposed her ears. She listened carefully to the sound of the wind. The thousand winds were noisy and restless. The evening breeze of Whispering Woods carried many things, rustling, but Venti couldn't hear anything. She heard nothing.
The boy was not here.
Kiyono Fugin was very meticulous in his actions. He had deliberately erased his footprints, deliberately worn away his traces. Of course, the wind still recorded his scent, but it was all blurry.
She wandered aimlessly in the jungle, aimlessly listening to the traces of the wind.
Clearly, today was only their first reunion. Clearly, they had only reunited for a day. Compared to five hundred years, one day was so short.
Unfair.
Why just meet for the first time and then part?
Venti didn't like it.
Time slowly passed, the night began to fade, and the sky revealed a hint of dawn. The rosy light gradually appeared, and the light purple sky was painted layer by layer. Venti finally heard the wind.
It was a song.
The gentle spring breeze carried the boy's singing voice, the clear tone was light and pure. With that song, the entire day was awakened by the wind.
"A far-off breeze pulls at my heartstrings."
"And every rustling leaf sings of my longing."
...
A rainy night at Cider Lake.
Once, Venti had heard many times that a boy named Rostam had sung many times.
She followed the direction of the song, her speed increasing, but gradually, her footsteps slowed down, becoming slower and slower, until finally, almost coming to a halt.
But a song doesn't take long; a song's life is also short. Venti hadn't reached there when the song stopped, and that spring breeze ceased.
Only the silent mountains remained.
After the wind stopped.
Only silence remained.
Only silence.
The wind died. Spring was his funeral.
The boy lay in the place where the sunlight was the brightest. He leaned against a reef, gazing at the deep blue sea. A peaceful smile seemed to still grace his lips. Holy Lyre der Himmel was cradled in his arms, the strings gently vibrating, but no one would play it anymore.
The boy's chest was empty, but he was still smiling, as if he was just asleep.
Holy Lyre der Himmel, the boy had once promised, saying he would definitely help find it.
He indeed kept his promise. He found Holy Lyre der Himmel, but Venti was not happy.
The wind stopped.
"Why?"
Venti said.
She gazed at the boy under the sunlight and whispered, "This is unfair."
The sunlight was so beautiful. Not long ago, Venti was very happy because spring was coming, and the sea of flowers was in full bloom. But now, the sea of flowers was still in bloom, but the people who came to see them were gone. Spring hadn't arrived yet, and the wind had already stopped.
This is unfair.
Late again.
It seems like she was always late for everything.
Late thousands of years ago, late five hundred years ago, and now late again.
Venti hung her head.
She hadn't told him her real name. They had just reunited.
She didn't even have the right to mourn for him. To him, she was just a newly acquainted stranger, an insignificant existence, just a passerby in life. Even if he were to die, he wouldn't remember her, right?
Perhaps they should never have reunited. Perhaps she was the one who had killed him.
It was erosion that devoured him, and he knew his time was short. He had to go alone to retrieve Holy Lyre der Himmel.
[We meet again.]
That voice was familiar yet strange, echoing from the depths of her heart.
[He left you a letter]
"What?" Venti said.
[Before dying, he recalled everything]
[He remembered your past together]
[While singing that song, before dying, he wrote you a letter. Look at the beach in front of him]
[Mondstadt's Anemo Archon]
[That girl misses you very much.]
Venti followed the instructions of the Human Principles System, lowering her head.
The sand on Mondstadt's beach was soft and fluffy.
At Kiyono Fugin's feet, there was a broken branch. The boy must have used it to write the letter, sketching stroke by stroke on the sand. He wrote the letter while humming a song. The tinted morning light shone on his face as he gently smiled, seemingly recalling many interesting things.
This letter wasn't long, just as short as the song.
"Yoo-hoo, Wind!"
"It's been almost three thousand years."
"Hello!"
It was her tone.
She was always so lively, laughing every day, a gentle smile. When Venti first met her, she also had this cheerful tone, waving her hand at her, "Hey, friend!"
The city-state of Decarabian was oppressive and gloomy. The lead-colored sky blocked out the sunlight, but that girl always smiled like this, tiptoeing, her jade-colored eyes clean and translucent.
"Wow, you've actually become like me... so embarrassing... I said it was an accident!"
"Idiot," Venti said. She lowered her head, her voice faint, her shoulders trembling. "Idiot."
The orange sunlight covered her body. After a while, she slowly said:
"Because I'm afraid of forgetting you."
"Wind, hello."
"Thank you, Wind."
"I'm an unqualified friend, I forgot your name, I'm sorry."
"Sorry, I'm useless, sorry."
"Sorry."
"Thank you, even if I forgot you, you still found me."
"Thank you."
"Idiot," Venti whispered. She pressed her lips together, wanting to speak, but no words came. Her mind was blank; all she could do was murmur,
"Idiot."
"Thank you, Wind."
By the time he wrote this, the marks in the sand had grown faint and shallow. The song must already have been half over, and the boy was almost gone.
"You kept our promise. Mondstadt is really beautiful, the golden wheat waves, the ocean tinted by summer, the blue sky and white clouds, people are free and happy. The city-state you created is so beautiful. Thank you for letting me see such beautiful scenery. At that time, I was very scared. I was afraid my memories would be nothing. Thank you for realizing my dream."
"You really became a bird. You really flew up to the high sky. As your friend, I am deeply proud of you."
"I want to..." Venti's jade-green eyes filled with tears, her nails digging deep into her palms. "I want to see it with you."
"This is our dream," she said, her voice trembling.
"I want to protect this nation. This beautiful nation is worth me dying for."
The waves shattered the golden morning light. The languid windmills creaked, and smoke rose from the chimneys of a distant fishing village while people heading out to sea sang their fishing songs. This was the beautiful scene Kiyono Fugin had watched as he left.
"When Rostam died, he thought like this. Kiyono Fugin also thought like this. I've always thought like this."
"So, Wind, don't be troubled. I left happy and content."
"I once said that it did not matter where the wind went, whether it became a mountain breeze or a valley breeze. To have existed as wind at all was honor enough. Now I offer those words to you."
Venti lowered her head.
The handwriting on the beach became even more blurry.
"This song is about to finish. Did you just hear this song? If you can hear it, I will be very happy."
"Dvalin is here too. It's right beside me, watching me. Hahaha, old friend, long time no see, but don't go crazy again, okay."
This letter was coming to an end.
"Wind, goodbye."
"Thank you for finding me."
"Thank you for the gift you gave me."
"Thank you for letting me see Mondstadt three thousand years later. It's really beautiful."
——"I was trapped in a place without wind until I met you."
This letter ended.
She didn't do anything. She was late again.
Venti had heard the Human Principles System say that if the next body dies before it's fully matured, it's a "failure," and it's hard to be reborn.
Kiyono Fugin only lived for three months this time. He was definitely a failure.
"Hey."
Venti picked up Holy Lyre der Himmel from Kiyono's arms, not knowing whom she was talking to. "I want to help him... like last time, in the next life."
There was still a last glimmer of hope in her heart.
Perhaps, it was the only thing she could do.
[You can't do it]
The Human Principles System's voice was calm and cold, without any fluctuation.
Silence.
"Why?"
She said, "I am Barbatos. Holy Lyre der Himmel is also in my hands. Why can't I do it..."
"Rostam, that time Rostam, I did it too. I helped him."
Blankness, a piece of blankness.
Venti bit her teeth, her nails deeply digging into her palm.
The Human Principles System said,
[Because this time he failed on his own initiative]
[He was very tired, and he was also very satisfied]
[Last time you successfully kept his soul because he had an 'agreement' with you. It was that agreement that kept him]
[But now, that agreement has been fulfilled. He no longer lingers]
Venti felt dizzy.
The sun had completely risen. The rosy light faded. The pure white sky was transparent and bright. The sea breeze or spring wind gently brushed the coast, soft and light. Spring was truly coming.
Kiyono Fugin rested against the reef, facing the sea as spring warmed the air and flowers bloomed.
The wind blew up the sand, scattering the handwriting, blowing away the letter. Venti wanted to catch that wind, to keep that letter, but the wind couldn't be caught. It slowly slipped through her fingers, and the letter dispersed into the wind, with specks of sand glittering in the golden sunlight.
People can never catch the wind at their fingertips, just like they can never chase the lightning streaking across the sky.
Because time must pass, no one can keep it.
After the thunder dies, the wind leaves, and spring comes.