The warm, gentle atmosphere of the cathedral lingered with Ren as he finally took his leave from the effusive, cheerful Barbara. He stepped out into the bright afternoon sun of the plaza, a small smile on his face, feeling utterly content.
His peace, however, was short-lived.
"Hey! You!"
A sharp, grating voice cut through the air. Ren turned to see the man from the pillar, Albert, stomping towards him, his face contorted in a mask of petty, jealous rage. He got right in Ren's path, blocking his way.
"Just who do you think you are, huh?" Albert sneered, puffing out his chest in an attempt to look intimidating, which was largely ineffective against a ten-year-old. "Wandering in here, looking all cute and innocent, and stealing the attention of the magnificent Barbara! Her divine light is meant for her devoted followers, not for some... some foreign little brat!"
Ren stared, completely bewildered. He had never been on the receiving end of such a direct, nonsensical verbal attack. He blinked his glowing azure eyes, his mind struggling to formulate a response to the sheer, illogical absurdity of the situation. He had no idea what to say.
He didn't have to.
The moment Albert took two aggressive steps closer to Ren, a shadow seemed to fall over them.
"I do hope," a lazy, sultry voice purred from directly between them, "that you aren't planning on taking a third step, Albert."
Lisa had appeared as if from thin air, a book held loosely in one hand, her other hand on her hip. The playful, sleepy look was gone from her emerald eyes, replaced by a cold, sharp light that promised intellectual and elemental pain. "Because I can assure you," she continued, her voice a silken threat, "that the consequences would be... electrifyingly unpleasant."
Albert froze, his jaw dropping. Lisa Minci? The powerful Librarian? Here? Defending this child?
Before he could even process that, another figure appeared at Ren's side with a near-silent step, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. "Is there a problem here?" Keqing asked, her voice as crisp and cold as a winter morning. Her amethyst eyes were narrowed, boring into Albert with the focused intensity of a predator who has just spotted a particularly stupid piece of prey.
Albert's blood ran cold. The personal from Liyue? Her too? He began to sweat, his bravado evaporating like a puddle in the summer sun.
And then, the final nail was hammered into his coffin.
"Albert."
The voice came from directly behind him. It was calm, measured, and filled with a level of disappointment so profound it could curdle milk. Albert turned, his movements stiff and robotic, to see Jean, the Acting Grand Master, standing there, her arms crossed, her expression one of utter, weary displeasure.
"Explain yourself," she said, her voice quiet but carrying the absolute authority of her station.
Albert froze solid, his mind finally, belatedly, catching up to the catastrophic reality of his situation. He had, in a fit of jealous pique, accosted a small child. And in response, in the space of less than thirty seconds, he had been cornered by the most powerful librarian in Mondstadt, a visiting leader of the Liyue Qixing, and the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius herself.
He had not just picked a fight. He had, with spectacular incompetence, stumbled into the middle of a fortress. He had not just bitten off more than he could chew; he had tried to take a bite out of a mountain and broken all of his teeth.
He looked from Jean's disappointed face, to Keqing's lethally sharp glare, to Lisa's dangerously sparkling fingertips, and then to the small, beautiful, and utterly bewildered child at the center of it all. A single, dreadful realization dawned in his panicked mind.
This wasn't just some foreign little brat. This was, for reasons he could not possibly comprehend, the most well-protected and important child on the entire continent of Teyvat.
"I... uh... that is..." Albert stammered, his face pale, his mind a complete blank. He was, in every conceivable way, completely and utterly doomed.