The moment Ye Xi returned to the Serenitea Pot, he headed straight for Mondstadt.
That particular door opened directly into Grand Master Jean's office.
Acting Grand Master Jean nearly jumped out of her chair when Ye Xi appeared out of nowhere. Very few people knew about that portal, after all, and anyone who stumbled across it would probably have the same reaction.
She still knew nothing about what had happened to Klee. "Master Ye Xi," she asked, "is there something you need in Mondstadt?"
In a few short sentences, Ye Xi laid out everything about Klee.
"K-Klee was taken by the Fatui?"
The news hit Grand Master Jean like a physical blow. She heard nothing of what came after, only sagged back into her chair.
From the blank look on her face, her imagination had already run off with every terrible thing that might be happening to Klee. It was only when Ye Xi rested a hand against her forehead that she snapped back to herself.
These days Ye Xi rarely leaned on the effect of [Forced Calm]. Used on someone in a panic, though, the skill worked beautifully.
"Acting Grand Master Jean, Klee isn't in any danger. I'm fairly sure this is a misunderstanding."
"I'll set out right now. I'll go to Snezhnaya and bring her back."
"Wait!" With her head clear again, Acting Grand Master Jean had thought of something. "I should tell Klee's mother first. She's a very famous witch. She may have a way."
That made sense to Ye Xi. Alice was a witch of no small renown, with plenty of tricks up her sleeve — this was the woman who had turned the old city of Mondstadt into Stormterror's Lair, after all.
He nodded in agreement.
Jean called over the knight standing guard at the door and sent him to fetch Albedo.
Albedo belonged to the Knights of Favonius as well, serving as captain of the Investigation Team, so it took him no time at all to reach the office.
"Grand Master Jean, you asked for me?"
He had spent the past stretch of days up in the snowy mountains and had only just returned. He had been planning to go back and look into the situation at the summit again.
"Albedo, something has happened to Klee..."
Grand Master Jean explained the situation. Albedo took it with remarkable calm.
"Understood. I'll contact Auntie Alice."
As he spoke, Albedo drew a small red sphere from his pocket. It looked like a miniature Jumpy Dumpty.
But it certainly wasn't one of Klee's.
Ye Xi had spent enough days at Klee's side, watching her build bombs, to remember the details.
This little bomb looked far more finely crafted.
Albedo fiddled with it somehow, and a series of beeps came from inside the red sphere. A moment later, a mature, languid voice drifted out.
"Little Albedo? What's the sudden call for?"
Only then did Ye Xi understand — the little sphere was a telephone!
"Auntie Alice, Klee has been taken to Snezhnaya by a Fatui Harbinger."
"Oh?" Alice sounded startled, and her voice took on a graver edge. "Let me check where she is. Don't any of you worry. I'll bring her back!"
There was such conviction in those words that even Ye Xi felt his shoulders loosen.
Alice hadn't even asked how it had happened. She had gone straight to locating Klee. That kind of composure was something else.
And it also suggested something: Alice had some means of tracking her daughter's position.
Not long after — the space of a few breaths, really — her voice came through again.
"Found little Klee. She's in no danger at all. I'll have her back in Mondstadt before long. Rest easy, and leave it to me."
With that, the line went silent.
Albedo and Jean both let out a breath.
Once it was in Lady Alice's hands, there was nothing left to worry about.
"Auntie Alice will bring Klee back."
Seeing how completely the two of them trusted her, Ye Xi found his curiosity stirring.
Just how formidable was this Alice, to earn that kind of faith from everyone?
He was starting to want a look at this mysterious witch himself.
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