The days settled into a comfortable, if slightly constrained, routine. Ren was healing, his strength slowly but surely returning under the watchful, loving eyes of his guardians. He had accepted his temporary life as a cherished city treasure, his adventures confined to the safe, familiar streets of the Harbor.
One quiet, overcast afternoon, a visitor arrived at the house on Feiyun Slope. It was not one of their usual friends. Ganyu answered the door to find the woman who looked exactly like the Katheryne from the Adventurers' Guild, but who was dressed in the impeccable, dark uniform of a Snezhnayan maid. It was the same automaton who had caught Ren from the sky.
Ganyu's friendly, welcoming demeanor instantly turned wary, her hand moving subtly closer to her Cryo Vision. "Can I help you?" she asked, her voice polite but cool.
The maid-automaton gave a perfect, slight bow, her movements devoid of any wasted motion. "My apologies for the intrusion. I have come with a delivery for the young master, Ren."
From a large, waterproof satchel at her side, she carefully, gently, produced a familiar object. It was Ren's hoverboard.
Or what was left of it.
It was a battered, tragic sight. The sleek, dark grey frame was scratched and dented, scarred from its uncontrolled tumble from the heavens. Several of the propeller casings were cracked, and the whole device was dripping with saltwater, trailing small puddles on their pristine entryway. It was broken, waterlogged, and utterly ruined.
"We have been searching for it in the sea off the coast of Guyun Stone Forest for several days," the maid stated, her voice the same pleasant, neutral tone as the Guild receptionist, which made her words all the more unsettling. "The currents were strong, and it was carried quite a distance."
She held the ruined device out to Ren, who had come to the door, his eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and sorrow at the sight of his broken creation.
"My mistress, Lady Sandrone, sends her regards," the maid continued, her expression unchanging. "She was most concerned that you had lost your favorite toy. She expresses her sincerest hopes that you will be able to repair it, and that you will be able to play with it again soon."
The message, delivered with a perfect, polite cheerfulness, was layered with a dozen unspoken, chilling meanings. It was a flex of power, a demonstration of the sheer resources the Fatui possessed, that they could dedicate a team for days to recovering a single, small object from the depths of the sea. It was a reminder of her presence, a quiet, undeniable statement that she was still watching him. And it was, in its own strange, twisted way, a gesture of genuine, proprietary care. She had returned his "toy."
Ren took the heavy, broken hoverboard, its familiar weight now a sad, dead thing in his hands. He looked at the maid, then at the open doorway, a silent question in his eyes.
"That is all," the maid said with another perfect bow. "Please, have a pleasant day."
And with that, she turned and walked away, her footsteps silent, disappearing into the bustling crowds of Liyue as if she had never been there at all.
Ren stood there, holding the wreckage of his first taste of true freedom, a gift returned from the hands of one of the most dangerous and enigmatic people in the world.