Remember Me at Summer's End [ZhongChi/TartaLi]

Chapter 8 - A Helping Hand

20th Day, 8th Month

"I could ask you the same, Bird-Lady." Childe holds her gaze in defiance.

"Bird-Lady! The audacity!" The Bird-Lady flaps her wings indignantly. "This one's name is not 'Bird-Lady'; let it be known that the one you speak with is Cloud Retainer. It would do you well to remember such details, Orange-Boy."

Cloud Retainer. The 'Cloud' on the chair makes sense now; this must be the Cloud Retainer spoken of by the Traveler during his earlier escapades in Liyue.

"Orange-Boy? Hey, the name's Childe, and I'm here because your buddy Rex Lapis is in trouble. He sent me here to come find you, so I'd appreciate it if you let me out." He gives a demonstrative tug at his legs, the amber now reaching to his knees.

"Rex Lapis finds himself in trouble?" Cloud Retainer flies over to stand close to him, tilting her head to either side, examining him with each beady eye.

As her eye peers into his, her head inches from his face, it strikes Childe how disconcerting it is to have a giant bird staring into his soul. He clears his throat and gives her a little wave. "Uh, hi."

"Greetings, human. Although such pleasantries have already been established, one does not understand the necessity for such repeated salutations."

"That's not what I meant. Ugh, never mind. Can you help me help Zhongli, or not?"

Cloud Retainer steps back to a more socially acceptable distance. "One senses no deception within you. Then it is true; ill fate has befallen Rex Lapis?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Apologies, Childe. The previous time one was delivered ill news of Rex Lapis, it was later revealed that the situation was not as initially presented." She pauses, her head tilting back and forth once again. It's rather like the movements of the little sparrows Zhongli is so fond of sitting with in the mornings.

Perhaps the reminder of his old friends is the reason he enjoys them so.

"Orange. Troublesome. Young. Human," says Cloud Retainer suddenly. "You are Rex Lapis' Chosen Mortal, no?"

"Well, yeah, who else would I be? But c'mon, less with the 'orange'."

"This one shall bear it in mind, although one's orangeness cannot be long ignored." She clicks her tongue, looking to the sky. "A moment. There are others who should be present."

She spreads her wings and the wind picks up around them, leaves flying up from the ground to swirl around Childe's head in a dizzying blur of orange and gold. There's flashes — green, red and blue — a blinding shock of light.

Then, as fast as it started, it stops. Childe rubs his eyes attempting to clear his vision because now, instead of a single large bird in front of him, there are two. However, the second, while similar in height and form to Cloud Retainer, is far darker, decorated with inky feathers highlighted in oranges and golds.

This is not the only new arrival; to Cloud Retainer's right, a brown and green stag paws the ground, and to the left is a human-like creature, although a little on the short side. An actual human? No, humans don't appear in a flash of green light, and humans certainly do not have an ominous black aura pulsing around their hands.

The stag speaks first. "Cloud Retainer, to what does one owe the pleasure?"

"Moon Carver, it pains this one to inform you that, if the message this human brings is true, Rex Lapis may require our assistance," says Cloud Retainer.