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

Chapter 10 - Plans and Preparations

21st Day, 8th Month

"And thus, this one announces the commencement of our meeting." Cloud Retainer sits atop a small perch, Mountain Shaper on an identical one to her left and Moon Carver on a bed of straw to her right. Xiao and Childe have kindly been provided with chairs, filling out their circle on the cobblestones paving the abode's courtyard.

"Moon Carver," she continues, "please provide your report of our progress thus far, and the actions to be covered thereafter."

"Certainly." Moon Carver stands and glows a deep green, a holographic projection of the Memory's Folly flickers into existence at the centre of the group.

Childe's skin prickles at the sight of it; there would be nothing better than taking the real thing and smashing it against the ground and watching it shatter into a thousand pieces in front of him.

How he'll gladly do that... once they get the damn thing back.

Shaking the loose straw from his fur, Moon Carver stands and walks to the centre. "The Memory's Folly, an artifact believed to have been lost to the ages, has resurfaced in our Lord Rex Lapis' possession. It has begun to forcibly remove his memories, rendering them unable to be retrieved unless—" He glows again, and the image changes to the altar "—we are able to utilise the Arbiter of Memories, a device created after the loss of the Memory's Folly, so we might have the means to remove its treachery from the world if it were to be rediscovered.

"Once the Arbiter of Memories has been primed for use, the Memory's Folly can be placed within it. If functioning as predicted, it should eliminate the Memory's Folly and return our Lord's memories." He glows a final time and the image disappears. "Before this one continues, is there anyone in our company who might require clarification on any aspects discussed thus far?"

'If functioning as predicted' is the phrase raising a thousand questions in Childe's mind, 'Has this thing not been tested?' being one of them, but the rest remain silent, and Childe is not going to be the one looking clueless here, so he shakes his head.

"Splendid," continues Moon Carver. "This one shall now progress to the order of affairs going forward. There are thusly two tasks our number must complete. The first is to prepare the Arbiter of Memories. The second is to retrieve the Memory's Folly from our lord." He looks to Cloud Retainer. "Would you do us the favour of fetching Ganyu from her station in Liyue?"

"This one would do so gladly," says Cloud Retainer.

"And what of Yanfei?" asks Mountain Shaper.

"This is no task for Yanfei; it would be optimal if the Adeptal power operating the Arbiter of Memories is purely that of the adepti. There is no way of predicting the result of adding human blood to the process."

"And the girl's father?"

"Has made it clear he is no longer interested in matters concerning us."

"Indeed, it is as you say." Cloud Retainer extends her wings. "Then this one shall depart immediately. Madame Ping should also be attendance; one shall confer the message to her also." She takes to the sky, her wing beats sending a gust of wind sweeping through the meeting area. As it hits him, Childe holds his mask tight to his head, the wind pulling up his jacket and shirt to expose him far more than he should like the adepti to bear witness to.

As Cloud Retainer dips over the mountain edge, Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper continue to converse, accompanied by a few understanding nods and words of interjection from Xiao, leaving Childe lingering unnoticed in the background.

It's not often that he feels completely useless, but there's no other way to describe his position here, a mortal caught up in things that can't be fixed with the sharp end of his blade. Tipping onto the back legs of his chair, he attempts to follow the flow of the conversation, but the terms are so obscure and unnecessarily lengthy that it's impossible to tell if they're still speaking the modern tongue.