The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 3

"Oh- you're back already?" Verr barely even noticed Xiao pass by.

He was eagerly trying to slink up the stairs to the top floor, no doubt to go sit in his same old spot up on the roof to look out at the same old view that he did every day. He'd stay there in silence for hours, keeping to himself, completely content with being alone.

"It was light-work." The dark-haired adeptus spoke nonchalantly, not even taking a moment to stop to continue the conversation as he headed straight out the opening to head up the stairs to the roof.

Verr simply sighed deeply, making a mental note that helping Xiao be a little more empathetic towards mortals may be much harder than she'd first thought.

At least the bandits were taken care of and she knew the roads would be safe for at least a little while.

Now all she needed was for that poor girl to recover so she could get her wish of getting to Liyue on time for the rite.

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"Diluc, you can't see her. Doctor's orders, he said we have to keep the room as sterile as possible. She has too many open wounds for any of us to keep running in and out." A light blue haired boy was near the staircase, trying to block it from the much taller red-haired man.

"None of us have seen her in almost 24 hours. You aren't worried?" The man called Diluc fought back, tossing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Chongyun, she's practically a sister to you and you're telling me you don't want to see her?" He continued, the anxious and worry clear in the tone of his voice.

"You know that I do, but I'd never forgive myself if she got more sick because of me. What if the doctor doesn't have the herbs to help her body fight off an infection? I'm not willing to risk that despite how badly I'd like to see her to know she's okay. We just have to trust him." Chongyun tried desperately to reason with the clearly worked up man, praying that reason and logic would prevail here.

Diluc let out an exhausted sigh as he lifted his hand to rest across his face, pinching the skin between the bridge of his nose in irritation.

He knew the younger boy was right, but having to accept that fact was beyond frustrating.

"So, they're all quite close."

Once again, Xiao practically appearing out of thin air caused Verr to nearly jump out of her skin yet again.

The quiet adeptus was leaned back against the wall a few feet away with his arms crossed against his chest, standing close to the entrance that led out to the roof.

Apparently he had been quietly eavesdropping over the ordeal as well.

"It seems so." Verr eyed Xiao for a few fleeting seconds before returning her attention back to the two boys who were now simply chatting and trying to comfort eachother about the past few days.

He seemed at least slightly interested. That's more than she'd seen him ever get close to 'caring' since she'd met him.

"Much more than your usual traveling companions. Seems like they were all actually friends. They've been worried sick about her since they arrived." Verr continued quietly, hoping no one else was noticing that they were eavesdropping.

"Explains all the racket lately." Xiao stood to his feet from leaning on the wall, uncrossing his arms as he turned to walk back out to his secluded little rooftop.

Verr simply huffed in response, not really being surprised by his unphased attitude.

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