you woke up not much later, but in a completely different place. groaning while you sat up, you raised your hand up to hold your forehead as you felt a headache coming up.
then you opened your eyes, you saw you were laying on a couch and heard some distant voices. looking around you saw a table with three chairs on each side, a big window behind it.
there was also a desk with some papers on it, indicating that someone was still working at this hour. on the other side of the room was a big bookshelf filled with books of all colors.
your fatui instinct kicked in and you analyzed the situation, 'i cant leave now, it would only bring more suspicion if i do so.' you started thinking.
after thinking for a long time, you came to the final conclusion, 'i should behave like a normal traveler.' you thought. right at that moment you heard a clicking sound.
turning your head to look where the sound came from, you saw a door which was being opened. as the door was fully opened, you saw the same two people that just kidnapped you.
now sitting up properly, you leaned your back on the armrest of the couch as your body still felt stiff and sore. you spoke up immediately before lisa and kaeya had the chance to do so.
"what was that for?" you said while raising your voice slightly, trying to sound as innocent as possible. you narrowed your eyes at kaeya and lisa and you saw the woman giving you a wary smile.
kaeya wanted to speak up but someone else beat him to it, you heard a new voice, a feminine voice. "y/n, was it?" she immediately questioned if she knew your name.
the woman then walked through the door and came fully in your view, she was as tall as lisa and had her blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail, some strands of hair framing her face nicely in the form of bangs.
she walked over to the desk which you assumed was hers and spoke up, "yes, that is me." you said while following her every movement.
the new woman grabbed a few papers in her hand and inspected it upon closer look by bringing it closer to her face. her other hand made its way to her chin and she looked questioning to the paper in front of her.
you wondered what she was doing and spoke up, "why am i kidnapped at three in the morning." you asked the obvious while still looking at her.
the blonde haired woman then shifted her eyes from the paper to you, her blue eyes piercing through you.
she placed the documents down on a neat stack of other papers and opened her mouth to speak up, "you see, y/n." she started with and you felt like you would get lectured.
"you have been here in mondstadt for not even one day, and we have already three people reporting you." she said and folded her arms in front of her chest, her blue-white cape slightly flowing behind her as she took a few steps towards you.
the woman then continued, "and as the acting grand master, i can not let that slide." she said and never looked away from you, inspecting your reactions.
you were shocked at the news but wouldnt show it, cursing yourself as youre close to messing this mission up. you were supposed to stay away from the knights of favonius, not get closer to them.
'a normal traveler would be confused, not shocked.' you thought to yourself and acted as if you were confused.
"reported for what?" you asked the woman who was standing in front of you now, she looked down on you as you were still sitting.
as if it wasnt enough, another person entered the room. apperantly this matter was rather serious. "oh cut that out." you heard a male voice speak up. he saw right through your lies and you didnt like it.
just like the acting grand master, he entered the room and stood besides lisa. he had long red hair, tied up in a low ponytail. his eyes matched his hair color perfectly, both being the same shade of red.
he was rather tall, had a black trench coat over his broken white shirt, a black belt wrapped around his black trousers. the new man raised his hand up to brush a few strands of his hair in place.
kaeya spoke up soon after his arrival, "fancy seeing you here, diluc." he said and gave a closed eyed smile to the so called diluc.
but he just sighed, you could feel the tension between them as if became thicker. diluc then cleared his throat to get rid of the awkwardness in the room, speaking up in the process, "we know why youre in mondstadt." he said sternly while looking at you.
you decided to answer honestly this time, "to explore, of course." you said and looked from diluc to jean to catch their responses.
but neither of them said anything for a second, that was untill jean continued and took the lead of the conversation. "i heard you came from liyue, is that correct?" she asked you.
"yes." you replied back with confidence. jean let her arms fall to her side and looked besides you, she was thinking hard, "that is rather strange." she said.
you narrowed your eyes at her and waited for her to continue, "we have someone from liyue here and they dont seem to know you." jean spoke and you mentally slapped yourself as you heard that.
'i shouldve picked another nation.' was all you thought about. you tried to get defensive, you could still safe your mission, "that is just one person. i have many in liyue who know about me." you retorted.
"ningguang didnt recall anyone with the name y/n living in liyue as well." lisa spoke up from besides jean. and that was when you realized you had fucked up.
no one told you that mondstadt and liyue had contact with each other, there had been a miscalculation. you were lost in your mind as you looked at lisa in disbelief.
your eyes had slightly widened while you stared at her, not believing that the tsarista could have overlooked such a fatal mistake.
"cat got your tongue?" you heard kaeya say in a playful tone when you didnt react after you heard that jean had connections with ningguang.
you wanted to speak up, you opened your mouth but heard someone else already talking, "stop it, kaeya." you heard the red haired male say and you looked at him, wondering if he was taking your side.
"she said people in liyue know her." he said while looking at kaeya with furrowed brows. he continued, his arms still folded in front of his chest, "lets find that out then." he said and turned his head at you.
this was getting messed up, you knew absolutely no one in liyue, you only went there once in your life and it was only to visit the northland bank. you were about to panic untill you got an amazing idea.
you knew at least one person there actually, 'childe is there.' was the only thought on your mind. suddenly you felt like you could pull this whole idea off.
the mission failed, that was for sure. if you were to ask around about the anemo archon now, it would bring way too much attention. your top priority now would be to protect your identity.
kaeya sighed at dilucs comment, he opened his mouth to speak, "and how are you going to prove that?" he asked diluc.
suddenly kaeyas personality did a full 180 and he was not playful anymore, he was extremely calm and serious. "youre just going to send her alone to liyue to verify her identity?"
jean looked downwards to the floor and had her brows furrowed, she was thinking about something. and then she spoke up, "if i remember correctly." she started.
her gaze shifted from the floor up to lisa, "i recall aether saying he would participate in the rite of descension in four weeks?" she questioned and lisa nodded her head at jean.
the woman confirmed that she was right and spoke up, taking the words right out of jeans head, "its perfect. many people will be there so there is a bigger chance they know y/n." lisa spoke up.
"maybe y/n here could join him?" she continued and curled the tips of her mouth slightly upwards.
the red haired man coughed up in disapproval, "i dont think aether is able to supervise her alone." he said sternly and took a glance at kaeya and jean, hoping they would agree.
but they both didnt agree with diluc, so he continued to reason, "we have no idea what she is doing here. it could be more dangerous than we think." he said and you opened your mouth to speak up.
"im just traveling, calm down." you said and glared at diluc. he didnt seem to take any of your lies and it would be extremely hard to convince him.
just as the male in front of you was about to argue back, kaeya interrupted him once again. "well, diluc." he started off and placed one of his hands on his hip.
"if you think she needs extra supervision, then why dont you tag along?" he asked diluc while giving his a small smile.