History repeats itself (a Genshin Impact OC insert)

Chapter 10 - the 8th of the eleven Fatui Harbingers

The exact moment Kaeya is out of sight, Amber joins the group. "one minute I see Kaeya, the next he's slipped away! Clear sign of a guilty conscience...", the outrider complains.

Lyra sighs. "we are here to eat, remember? Let's just forget about him for now. Let's order." Amber nods and goes to the counter of good hunters. "hi Sara! One sticky honey roast, please..." after ordering, the group sits down at a table.

"So, now the Stormterror threat is behind us, what are your plans for the next step?", Amber inquires.

"Paimon thinks it's time to leave Mondstadt and keep looking through the seven nations until we find clues about Aether's sister." Lyra scoffs. "give me a break. We have been here for what? A week now? And we just fought Dvalin yesterday! I know our main objective is to find out about your sister's whereabouts, Aether, but I am a traveller who just started travelling! There is still a lot in Mondstadt left to be discovered. Plus, I still have a few people I want to spend time with before we head to the next nation."

Lyra goes silent for a moment. "... I apologise if this is selfish... if you wish to continue without me, that is fine. I can always just catch up to you once I am done here..." silence comes over the group. "Paimon apologises too. Paimon overlooked your plans, and we are a travelling team. So, if you are not yet ready to leave Mondstadt, then we won't just yet."

Aether nods. "and as you said, there is still a lot here left to be discovered. We can continue to search for clues here. Mondstadt is big after all. Perhaps we can continue to help with cleaning up the aftermath as well." – "hey Lyra, don't feel down! You all will always be a friend of the knights of Favonius and our honorary knights. Wherever you may go, and wherever the wind may blow." – "may the wind lead.", Lyra says.

Amber smiles. "That's the spirit! Remember, you are always welcome to come back if you feel like you have unfinished business here." They start eating. Once they are done, Amber is the first one to stand up. "sorry, knightly duties call. But! Jean is waiting for you at the Cathedral. It's something to do with the holy lyre der Himmel... you'd better head there right now."

~•~•~

The trio is inside the cathedral with Jean, Venti and another girl. "this is Barbara, the deaconess of the church. She is here to retrieve the holy lyre der Himmel." Said girl, Barbara nods at Jean's statement. "may the anemo archon protect you. I'm not really in a position to speak compared to our acting grand master, but I still want to thank you all on behalf of all of Mondstadt for your assistance! Fortunately, everything was resolved peacefully... I can't imagine how an all-out war between the military and the dragon would have ended..."

"now the fatui have no choice but to keep their mouths shut. They must be annoyed that things didn't turn out as planned for them. This time, they even lost their best excuse to pressure the knights of Favonius. Diplomatically speaking, they gained nothing, and on the contrary simply proved how vexatious they can be.", Jean states.

Lyra shifts her eyes to the side. 'I may not like getting into the business of the fatui anymore, but I don't really like it when they are put down to such extent either. Though, can I blame her? I am fairly certain that they gave her a sure hell lot of problems.'

Barbara laughs lightly. "Sounds like quite the story. So, did you bring the holy lyre with you? We cannot ask you to keep defending the lyre forever. The seneschal has been pressing me for a while now." Venti, Jean, Paimon and Aether look at Lyra.

She chuckles as this. She takes out the holy lyre, which is fully unscathed. "oh, wonderful! The holy lyre is in one piece and safe! Now, if you'd excuse me, I will bring this to its rightful place." Barbara takes the lyre from Lyra, turns from the group and goes down to the basement.

'why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?', Lyra asks herself. Without the others noticing, she already left to go outside. "welp, that was it.", she hers Venti shout from inside. Venti starts running for a side door. "Hey! That tone-deaf bard!"

~•~•

Lyra hides her presence and hides behind a pillar. She then sees Venti run out of the cathedral only to be ambushed by some fatui agents. Just as she was about to go out of her hiding place, Aether saves Venti from being captured.

Lyra stays hidden and even makes herself invisible just in case. Aether goes to fight the fatui agents, but they just disappear. Then, behind them appears a woman. She snaps her fingers and ice comes upon the three.

Paimon gets flown away, while Aether gets held down by the fatui agents and Venti's legs are engulfed in ice. The woman laughs. "at last, Mondstadt's rodent ruler in the flesh."

It was La Signora, also known as the fair lady. She is the eighth of the eleven fatui harbingers. "scurrying through the streets, looking for leftovers... Mondstadt calls this a god?", Signora belittles as she holds Venti by the chin.

As much as Lyra wants to jump her and get her off Venti, she knows that the cicin mages behind Signora would take her, once she makes herself seen. Then, Venti speaks up. "resident rodent... beasts invasive vermin-", he starts before Signora slaps him.

"don't you dare speak back to me, insolent bard." Venti casts wind around him, and it breaks the ice around his feet. "Absentee archon of Mondstadt... how impotent you have become." – "that smirk you wear looks out of place; did you steal it from you masters face?"

'now is not the time for rhymes nor for making fun of someone! He will only make it worse for himself!', Lyra screams in her thoughts.

Signora gets mad and casts the bard back. "should have held your tongue." She takes her hand and puts it through his chest. Venti falls down powerless as Signora holds up something that looks like a chess piece. It is shaped like the queen's piece.

"so, this is a gnosis? Wouldn't be caught dead wearing this ugly thing in public."

This is the breaking point of Lyra. She snatches the gnosis out of Signora's hand. 'copy' "sorry, but I don't think this belongs to you." Lyra holds up the gnosis while holding it firmly. "you..." Signora sends an attack at Lyra who jumps up to avoid it.

She jumps over her, materialises a dark blue spear and throws it at Signora, who manages to barely dodge it. The two cicin mages appear behind Lyra and knock her down, making her let go of the gnosis.

Signora quickly takes it, turns away and kicks Venti in the stomach. "Venti! Lyra!" Aether gets hold down more firmly by the fatui agents while the cicin mages hold down Lyra.

"well, we have what we came here for. Come. Before our dear Favonius friends arrive. Leave nothing for them to find." The underlings then proceed to knock out both Aether and Lyra.

~•~•~

"ah! Honorary knights, you're both awake!", Barbara exclaims. Aether and Lyra wake up in the infirmary of the cathedral. Lyra then proceeds to look around frantically. "Venti! Is he alright??", she asks.

"um... I wouldn't say he's 'alright'. I found you unconscious outside the cathedral and used my elemental powers to heal you... that bard awakened first, but strangely, my healing powers had almost no effect on him... this is the first time I've encountered such a patient. But he just said, 'it's completely normal', and then got up and left the cathedral.", Barbara relays the situation.

"he left? Already? Where'd he go?", Paimon, who is also there, asks. "let me guess. The symbol of Mondstadt's hero?", Lyra asks.

"yes, that's what he said. I wanted to stop him but Jean- I mean master Jean said to let him leave. How strange.", Barbara confirms. "ah... don't worry about it. We will go check up on him. Are we free to go?", Aether diverts. "yes. You may leave now."

~•~•~