"Yo-ho, so the little pudding wants to give me a nickname now?"
Jiang Bai grabbed the little cape on the back of Paimon's clothes—just like a cat being picked up by the scruff. The moment he did, Paimon's flight power vanished; gravity kicked in, and all her weight dangled from the cape.
"Let me go, you flier-hander-outer! Put me down!"
Paimon flailed, trying to break free, even going so far as to try to bite him—but her arms and legs were just too short to reach Jiang Bai.
"Come on, come on—go ahead and bite me~" Jiang Bai twisted his wrist a little, making Paimon swing even more wildly. She started spinning in circles.
Getting dizzy, Paimon yelled for help. "Aether! Help me!"
Aether could only sigh. "Jiang Bai, quit teasing her. Let her down already."
"Okay, okay." Jiang Bai loosened his fingers, and Paimon floated back into the air.
But she hadn't learned her lesson at all. Still riled up and refusing to admit defeat, she puffed herself up and tried to lunge at Jiang Bai again.
"You're such a jerk! I'm going to teach you a lesson!"
Jiang Bai raised his finger and made a pinching motion—Paimon immediately darted behind Aether.
"Didn't you say you were going to teach me a lesson? Why are you running away now~?"
"Hmph! I'm too magnanimous to bother with you!" Paimon huffed, trying to regain a bit of dignity.
Amber couldn't hold back a laugh. "Paimon's so cute."
"All right, enough messing around—let's get back to business."
Jiang Bai turned his attention to Amber. "You guys finished up too?"
"Yeah." Amber nodded. "The ley lines haven't fully stabilized, so I want to check if Jean's finished on her end. What about you?"
"We were just heading back to Mondstadt to meet up with you."
As soon as Jiang Bai finished speaking, the gloom hanging over Mondstadt lifted and the ley lines finally settled down.
Amber let out a long breath of relief. "Looks like Jean took care of things too."
"In that case, let's head straight to the Knights' headquarters and wait for them there."
On the way, Jiang Bai chatted with Aether.
"So, where'd you come to Mondstadt from?"
"A long way away."
"How far?"
"I don't actually know."
"You don't know? How can you not know?" Jiang Bai was baffled.
Unless he just appeared out of thin air—how could anyone not know where they came from?
Aether didn't trust anyone here enough yet to reveal the truth about his origins.
He was still unfamiliar with this world. What if people here were hostile toward outsiders? Best to keep a little caution while traveling.
Seeing Aether dodge the question, Jiang Bai changed the subject. "Do you have a Vision?"
He really was full of curiosity about this person who'd driven off Stormterror and wandered around with such a strange little companion.
"No." Aether shook his head, glancing at the Vision hanging at Jiang Bai's waist.
He'd learned from exploring the temples with Amber that people here needed something called a Vision to wield elemental powers.
But he himself didn't need one.
"So you can still use Anemo?" Jiang Bai pressed further.
Aether looked at him, feeling like Jiang Bai was maybe a bit too interested.
But he didn't hide anything—it was impossible to keep this sort of thing a secret anyway.
"I can."
He conjured a little swirl of wind in his palm. He hadn't fully mastered combat techniques yet, but it was unmistakably Anemo.
Watching Aether play with the wind, Jiang Bai rested his chin in his hand, lost in thought.
From what Albedo had told him, he knew he wasn't the only outsider in this world.
And according to Mr. Zhongli, outsiders have "higher authority" than Teyvat natives—meaning they could bypass Visions and use elements directly, maybe even wield multiple elements at once.
The guy in front of him fit all the criteria for an "outsider."
His unusual clothes, his vague backstory, his unfamiliarity with this world—all of it added up.
But Aether seemed to have no idea who Jiang Bai was. So even if both of them were "outsiders," they clearly weren't from the same place—or the same era.
There must be many other worlds outside Teyvat…
"What's wrong?" Noticing Jiang Bai's thoughtful look, Aether frowned.
Jiang Bai let his hand drop. "You're not the only person I know who can use elemental power without a Vision…"
He was thinking of himself, though he wouldn't say so—not to a stranger he'd just met. It had taken a long time to tell Hu Tao, after all.
Aether's pupils shrank as his thoughts jumped to his sister.
If he could use elemental powers without a Vision, then surely his sister could too…
Seeing Aether's face fall, Jiang Bai hurried to add, "Don't get the wrong idea—it's a guy, not your sister."
Aether sighed, disappointed. Finding his sister was turning out to be much harder than he'd hoped.
Meanwhile, Paimon, seeing that Aether was busy chatting with Jiang Bai, deliberately floated a little further back—just out of Jiang Bai's reach.
Klee, watching the floating Paimon with bright, curious eyes, caught Paimon's gaze. Paimon's eyes darted, and she zipped over to whisper.
"Your name's Klee, right?"
"Yep! Little Paimon, I know your name too!"
"Little Klee, what's your relationship with Jiang Bai?"
"We're good friends!" Klee replied, not hesitating for a second.
"Good friends?!" Paimon was shocked.
How did that flier-pushing weirdo become friends with a kid?
"Mhm! I wrote to Big Brother Jiang Bai to come play with me!"
Paimon had hoped to get some inside dirt on Jiang Bai from Klee, but clearly, that wasn't going to happen. Defeated, she floated back to Aether's side, looking sulky.
Meanwhile, Jean was a much faster walker than the rest of them. After finishing up at the temple, she'd split from Lisa and hurried back to Mondstadt.
Now, she was standing outside the Goth Grand Hotel, deep in conversation with a diplomat from Snezhnaya.
Snezhnaya—one of Teyvat's Seven Nations, ruled by the Tsaritsa, the Cryo Archon. Their soldiers, the Fatui, roamed all over Teyvat. Not that their reputation was anything to brag about.
Finding Mondstadt's usual lodgings unsatisfactory, the Fatui had simply booked out the entire Goth Grand Hotel—Mondstadt's largest—as their long-term base for living and working.
"…If you can't eliminate the rampaging dragon, perhaps Mondstadt should hand over city defense to the Fatui."
The Snezhnayan woman spoke with the air of someone used to command, her words sharp and pressing. As a diplomat from the most powerful of the Seven Nations, arrogance seemed almost her right.
"Mondstadt's dragon disaster is under control. All we need is to put down that wild beast—"
"Wild beast?!" Jean cut her off, repeating the words with clear displeasure.
"Oh? Acting Grand Master, what do you mean by that?" the diplomat replied, feigning ignorance.