Ji An didn't know what Rosalyne had endured over these five hundred years to turn an innocent girl into what she was now.
But he could feel clearly that this situation was very bad.
Having lived through the pangolin's life, he had witnessed the era of the Archon War, seen those impossibly powerful beings whose mere gestures could shatter mountains and raise towering walls of water. A kind of power ordinary people couldn't even begin to imagine.
And the Seven Archons, who had ultimately won that war and secured their divinely appointed thrones, were not people anyone should treat lightly.
Ji An only knew two of the Seven Archons well enough to speak about with any confidence.
First, the Anemo Archon Barbatos, also known as Venti. Three thousand years ago he had emerged from the chaos of old Mondstadt's battlefields, used the divine wind to blow away ice and snow, and built the new Mondstadt from nothing. A true god.
Although Ji An still didn't understand why Venti had become so diminished that Rosalyne had been able to beat him up like that.
Something about the whole incident felt off to him. Based on his time spent around Venti and his read of the man's character, he genuinely suspected Venti had thrown the fight deliberately.
But he couldn't work out why Venti would simply allow Rosalyne to take his Gnosis.
Was the man a masochist? Or had he truly let his divine power atrophy that badly, just as Rosalyne had claimed?
Then there was the Geo Archon of Liyue.
That god was a genuine deity of war. During the Archon War, he had led his followers and conquered what amounted to an absurdly difficult battlefield over and over. An absolute force of nature.
Rosalyne's power was formidable by mortal standards. Against a god, however, it simply wasn't enough.
Listening to her talk about burning the old world for the Tsaritsa, about making the gods pay, without even a trace of irony, genuinely made Ji An break into a cold sweat on her behalf.
Had this girl been deceived? If she actually provoked the gods into action, was she certain her Tsaritsa would be able to protect her?
No. No matter what, he had to change her thinking.
If it were a stranger seeking their own destruction, that was their business. But he couldn't simply abandon Rosalyne to this path.
Even if only for the time they had shared in the simulated life, he couldn't watch her walk into disaster.
---
Ji An let out a slow, heavy sigh.
His eyes behind the mask settled on Rosalyne, and he gave a faint shake of his head.
The disappointment in that look was unmistakable.
Her beloved's reaction made Rosalyne's whole body tense.
"Rostam... wh-what's wrong..."
This woman who was alluring and striking to look at spoke carefully, like a child who knew she had done something wrong.
"Rosalyne, I feel like I barely recognize you anymore. Why have you become like this?"
Ji An gazed at the sky, his voice soft and tinged with sadness.
The color drained from Rosalyne's face.
"Ro... Rostam, please don't say that..."
She looked at him, her blue eyes filling, and said in a small voice:
"I'm sorry. Tell me what I did wrong and I'll change. Just please don't look at me like that."
As she spoke, her emotions began to build. Centuries of buried pain and memory stirred beneath the surface.
Her expression moved between grief and something rawer.
"No. I should have known. No one could ever truly like me."
"I'm a monster people despise. The Crimson Witch of Flames who brings nothing but misfortune."
"And now even you don't want me anymore."
"I have... I have nothing left."
Her power began to slip. Frost spread silently across the ground beneath her feet. Crimson flames flickered at the edges of her figure. The surrounding air turned sharp and dangerous.
I overdid it. Is she about to lose control?
Ji An felt the immense elemental pressure and his eyes went a little wide.
He stepped forward without hesitating.
He pulled Rosalyne into his arms. She struggled hard at first, but his next words stopped her.
"Be good, Rosalyne."
The tension went out of her body. She pressed her face against his chest.
"It's alright. Don't cry."
Ji An rested his hand on her head and stroked her hair slowly.
"A monster? You are clearly a beautiful woman. Whoever was blind enough to call you a monster, I'll break their head personally."
"So what if you're a witch? Witches are perfectly lovely. Actually, wait. When did you become a witch?"
He paused. "Never mind. That's not what matters right now. You can tell me about it whenever you're ready."
Rosalyne wrapped her arms around his waist and cried quietly against his chest.
"Rostam, do you really... not hate me?"
"How could I hate you? You are the person I care about most."
He let that settle for a moment, then cleared his throat. "But there is something I need you to promise me."
Time to get to the point.
"Mm?"
"You seem to be the leader of the Fatui now? They all answer to you."
"I am a Harbinger. The Eighth, codenamed Signora."
"A Harbinger. Do you know someone called Tartaglia?"
"He is the Eleventh Harbinger, codenamed Childe." Rosalyne looked up, her tear-reddened eyes holding faint puzzlement. "Rostam, how do you know him?"
"He caused me trouble. If you ever have the opportunity, give him a good beating."
"If I catch him off guard, I am approximately ninety percent confident I could kill him. Would you prefer him frozen solid or burned to ash? Though doing that would cause me problems. Her Majesty the Tsaritsa would not be pleased."
"No, no, no. That was not a serious request."
Ji An cut in quickly. "Rosalyne, listen to yourself. Always talking about killing. Can you please be less reckless about things?"
He said, more seriously: "This is exactly what I need you to promise me. I don't know what pain you've carried over these centuries that has changed you so much."
He raised his hand and gently wiped the tears from her face.
"I still remember the Rosalyne from before. Sharp-tongued, yes. But kind at her core. You have duties, and I won't demand you abandon them. But if you can, I hope you'll hold onto some degree of care and restraint when you deal with people."
That recklessness of hers worried him most. If she never encountered anyone capable of stopping her, perhaps she would be fine. But if she genuinely provoked the wrong god into action, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Hatred and fury had given her power. They had let her light the fire that kept her going.
But that wasn't a dawn, dear Rosalyne. That was a sea of flames that would eventually consume everything, including her.
Rosalyne hesitated for a moment, then gave a small nod. "But I still have to serve Her Majesty the Tsaritsa..."
"Leave her out of this. She is the one sending you around to different nations causing trouble and stealing Gnoses from gods, isn't she?"
Ji An snorted quietly. "If I ever get the chance, I'll give her a firm smack on the backside. Honestly, what kind of superior sends their own people to seek death like that."
Sp... spank Her Majesty the Tsaritsa on... the backside?
Rosalyne went still.
If anyone else in the world had spoken about Her Majesty with such casual disrespect, she would have scattered their remains already. But this was Rostam. She decided she had not heard it.
Even so, an image surfaced involuntarily in her mind: him placing Her Majesty the Tsaritsa over his knee and delivering a firm, repeated...
No. I cannot entertain such blasphemy against Her Majesty.
Rosalyne shook her head hard.
Rostam was joking. He had to be joking.
Her Majesty the Tsaritsa's divine power was as vast and deep as an ocean. However much she loved and trusted Rostam, she didn't believe for one moment that he could stand before that power and come out intact.
But still.
Rosalyne looked up at the eyes behind his mask, her gaze helplessly soft.
She really did love it when he talked like that.
The arms around Ji An's waist tightened without her quite meaning them to.
Ji An felt the increase in pressure and kept his expression neutral through an act of discipline.
The mood was what it was. He couldn't simply push her away.
He forced his thoughts elsewhere as a distraction.
Something was not adding up, he reflected. He remembered Rosalyne from the simulation being quite flat. Whatever she had been eating over the past five centuries, the results were difficult to ignore.
Hmm. If there was some kind of secret to it, he wondered whether it was something Hu Tao could benefit from.
---
While Ji An's mind was wandering elsewhere, a faint blush appeared on Rosalyne's composed face.
"Rostam, you... you're poking me."
Ji An stared.
I am absolutely not.
He startled, then understood. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Fisherman's Toast.
"Ah. Breakfast I bought earlier. I forgot to eat it."
Rosalyne looked at the bread in his hand with a quietly reminiscing expression.
"Rostam, you always loved bread."
Her voice softened further. "Back then, whenever we went out, you always brought two portions. I told you I would learn to make something delicious for you one day, and you said you were looking forward to it."
She paused.
"I never did keep that promise."
Her voice caught.
Ji An sighed and stroked her golden hair slowly.
They stayed like that for a long while.
Rosalyne was still lost in the warmth of it, still holding on to this moment, when Ji An gently eased her back.
"I have to go."
Her expression shifted immediately to something anxious: "Rostam, where are you going?"
"Where I need to be. I have things I must do."
He turned away, and his voice took on a note of quiet weight: "Please don't follow me."
His words made Rosalyne stop where she stood and stay there by force of will.
She remembered the curse he had mentioned. If he was leaving, he must have no choice. If she followed, she might somehow make it worse.
She told herself this. She told herself to be rational.
The tears fell anyway.
Having been apart so long. Finding each other again, only to separate again so quickly. How could that not hurt?
"Rostam... will we see each other again?" The words came out barely above a whisper.
"Yes. I promise."
Ji An said, in a tone that managed to be both sincere and frustratingly vague: "Rosalyne, fate has a way of guiding people back to each other."
He walked away into the distance.
Rosalyne stayed where she was, as he had asked, and watched his back until the light swallowed it.
---
Mondstadt City. Angel's Share.
Lumine and Paimon, Venti, Grand Master Jean, and Diluc were all gathered at the tavern.
Ji An pushed open the door. "Sorry, sorry. Something urgent came up and I had to leave the city for a bit."
He put on a suitably shocked expression. "I heard something serious happened? The Fatui actually carried out an attack in broad daylight, outside the Cathedral?"
Jean rose, her expression carrying the marks of a difficult few hours, and nodded: "What you heard is correct, Mr. Ji An. Their timing was carefully planned. The Knights of Favonius were unable to catch them in the act."
Ji An walked over and pressed his palm to the table: "Unbelievable. Those despicable Fatui. Is there no law? Is there no justice in Mondstadt?"
Jean and Paimon, moved by his evident outrage, nodded along vigorously.
The reactions of the others in the room were somewhat different.
Diluc's expression was level. His arms were crossed. His fingers tapped slowly against his elbow.
Lumine wore a look of cool scrutiny, her gaze passing over Ji An the way someone might examine a cat who had just knocked something off a shelf and was now pretending to be innocent.
And Venti was staring at him with an expression that suggested profound philosophical confusion.
Ji An felt a mild prickle of guilt. "Is something wrong?"
He hoped he hadn't been seen through.
He had been fairly confident in the disguise. When leaving the cathedral, he had slipped out at a moment when no one was watching. His battle robe was specifically designed to alter his silhouette. He had deliberately changed his voice while speaking from the roof.
Logically, there was no way anyone had recognized him.
Whatever. Even if they suspect something, I am absolutely not admitting anything.
He had done a good thing. He had intervened when Lumine and Venti were in danger. Even if he had been somewhat creative about how he got there, his conscience was clear.
Lumine put her hands on her hips: "Hmph."
Diluc said nothing.
Venti smiled and turned to Jean: "Grand Master Jean, please don't trouble yourself over it. Everyone is fine, and there's no need to sour Mondstadt's relations with Snezhnaya over something that has already passed."
Jean said with evident guilt: "Lord Barbatos, it is because we failed in our duties that you were put in danger at all. Thank goodness the Traveler was there at the critical moment."
Ji An processed this.
So the version Jean and Venti were presenting left out the part where the Gnosis had been taken. That made sense. If that information came to light, even Mondstadt's most measured diplomacy would likely collapse into open conflict with Snezhnaya overnight.
Which raised the question of whether Venti had managed to retrieve it afterward, once Rosalyne had been drawn away from the scene.
He glanced at Venti.
Venti gave him a small wink.
Then Venti looked at Diluc with an expression of charming hope: "Master Diluc, the Traveler and I just had a rather narrow escape. Surely a man of your generosity wouldn't send us away without opening a few bottles of Dandelion Wine to mark the occasion."
"Lord Barbatos flatters me." Diluc shook his head. "If you wish to drink, say the word. A few bottles of Dandelion Wine is nothing."
Paimon lit up: "Paimon wants to drink too!"
Ji An said: "Children don't drink."
Paimon stomped her feet: "Paimon is NOT a child! Ji An, you make me so angry!"
Diluc said without inflection: "We do have juice, for younger guests."
Paimon: "Diluc, not you too! Paimon is not younger! Busker, you say something!"
Venti laughed. Jean smiled. Everyone joined in, and the tavern filled with warmth and noise.
---
After they had all done justice to Diluc's wine, the color in everyone's cheeks had risen, more or less.
Paimon's had not, on account of the juice.
Jean looked at Venti: "Lord Barbatos, how should we proceed with the matter of Stormterror?"
Venti smiled: "I believe we will need to visit Stormterror's Lair."
Stormterror's Lair.
Ji An straightened slightly at those words.
He hadn't forgotten his original purpose in coming to Mondstadt. He had been considering whether to ask Venti directly about the wind barrier. He hadn't expected Venti to bring it up on his own.
Mona, you did well. That divination was actually spot on.
Congratulations to the lewd master. Today and today only, you have Ji An's sincere approval.
---
"Achoo!"
In a cramped rented room stacked with books and astrology equipment, a girl in black stockings and a high-cut leotard suddenly sneezed.
"Who is talking about me?"
A flash of irritation crossed her face. She raised her palm and summoned an azure water surface in the air.
A moment later, Mona lowered her hand. The irritation was gone, replaced by a rather smug smile.
"Hmph. Who else would it be, you idiot."
---
Venti explained the situation at Stormterror's Lair to everyone.
"After Dvalin awoke, it has been using those ruins as its nest. The Skyward Lyre has been destroyed. If we want to find Dvalin, that is the most likely place to look."
Diluc and Jean both nodded: "If you are going, we will help."
Ji An and Lumine had no objection.
"When do we leave?"
Venti rubbed the back of his head with a slightly sheepish look: "Three days from now. I used rather a lot of power earlier. I need time to recover."
Jean nodded: "Then please rest well, Lord Barbatos."
She assumed he meant the power spent at Starsnatch Cliff.
Ji An and Lumine both understood he meant something else.
With the plan settled, everyone went their separate ways.
Ji An returned to his lodging and fell into bed.
He slept until dawn, when a knock at the door pulled him out of it.
"Who is it?"
He shuffled over, sleepy-eyed and not particularly gracious about it, and opened the door.
"Fancy going for a drink?"
The person standing outside was not someone he had expected to see.
The dark-skinned young man with the eyepatch smiled at him and gave an easy wave.
Ji An blinked: "Captain Kaeya?"
The last time they had spoken, Mona had told him this man had a fate line similar to Heroccia's. If that meant anything, Kaeya was almost certainly connected to fallen Khaenri'ah somehow.
Curiosity won out, and he agreed.
They walked together, exchanging small talk along the way. Ji An turned over quietly what Kaeya might actually want.
They arrived at Angel's Share. Kaeya pushed the door open and walked directly to a particular table.
Ji An followed and looked.
Seated at the table was a blond man, also wearing an eyepatch like Kaeya, drinking quietly on his own.
-------
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