~•~•~
"Let me officially introduce the city of wind, dandelions and freedom – Travellers under the protection of the knights of Favonius – Welcome to Mondstadt!", Amber announces.
Paimon stretches. "Finally, no more having to camp outdoors! But... the city folk don't look too cheery." Lyra sighs. "I believe it is because of the dragon who terrorises Mondstadt, correct?" – "Yeah. Everyone's been put out of place by Stormterror recently. But everything will turn out fine as long as Jean's with us!" Amber cheers softly.
"Jean?" – "Acting grand master of the knights of Favonius – Jean, Defender of Mondstadt. With Jean on our side, surely even the vicious Stormterror will be no match for us.", Amber explains to Aether.
Then Amber starts walking through the city. "Before I take you guys to the knights of Favonius HQ, I have a present for you, Lyra and Aether. It's a reward for helping me clear out that hillichurl camp."
To that, Paimon speaks up. "He-hey! Why doesn't Paimon get a reward?" – "Because this reward is useless to you, Paimon. But I'll treat you to a traditional Mondstadt delicacy – Sticky Honey Roast" Paimon drools over the mention of food.
Lyra just laughs about the antics of Paimon. "Come with me, we'll head to the city's ahh... high ground." The group starts heading up the stairs and reach the big statue of Barbatos.
'Barbatos... I wonder how you are doing. I didn't see you in my past lives ever since the calamity...', Lyra thinks to herself as she looks up at the statue.
"So, the present I want to give you is... a wind glider! Outriders use them to ride the wind and the people of Mondstadt love using them too. I brought you here to give it to you so you can experience it right away!", Amber says, pulling Lyra out of her thoughts. Paimon looks at Amber blankly.
"Oh, you're really excited about these wind gliders, huh?" – "Well, that's because the wind is the heart and soul of Mondstadt! Alrighty then, enough talk! Let's give it a whirl! It's easy to use, but you still need to pay attention to my instructions. It is simple..."
~•~•~
Both Lyra and Aether make it back to the plaza with the wind gliders easily. "you are experts! That was amazing!", Amber cheers.
Suddenly, the wind starts picking up and the sky gets darker. "the sky...", Amber says distraught. They hear a loud roar, and they see Stormterror in the sky.
The people start running as Stormterror creates 3 tornadoes in the walls of Mondstadt. "Run!", amber shouts and takes Paimon.
Aether gets sucked up by one of the tornadoes and Lyra shouts out as she sees this: "Aether!" without a second thought, she jumps after him.
Both of them find themselves above the clouds with their wind gliders open. "Oh, thank the archons you are okay!", Lyra exclaims.
Suddenly, Stormterror appears, and they avoid quickly him. "wait... how are we staying afloat like this with just a wind glider?", Aether asks.
Suddenly, they hear the mysterious voice of a boy. "I'm preventing your fall with the power of a thousand winds." 'Wisp? Barbatos?', Lyra asks herself.
The Voice continues, "now, concentrate. See yourself grasping the wind. Harness it's energy." Aether and Lyra start shooting anemo to the dragon.
"it seems to work, Lyra! Wait- who said that?!" the mysterious voice does not answer. After shooting at the dragon some more, Stormterror screeches and flies high into the sky.
Both Aether and Lyra glide down carefully. They reach the plaza with the statue of Barbatos. There, they see Amber and Paimon running towards where they landed.
"A-are you hurt?", Amber asks worryingly. "No, we are both fine.", Lyra assures her. Then they hear clapping.
They turn to see a tanned man with blue hair. Lyra's eyes slightly widen. 'those eyes... is he from Khaenri'ah?' "You've actually got the power to go up against the dragon... are you a new ally... or a new storm?"
"Stormterror... is attacking Mondstadt itself! Kaeya, travellers, you've come at the right time. We must-" – "Hold on, Amber. Are you perhaps forgetting to introduce us?" Amber looks at the bluenette.
"Oh... right. This is Kaeya, our cavalry captain. Lyra is a traveller from Fontaine and these two are travellers from afar, Aether and Paimon.", Amber introduces them to another.
Kaeya thinks to himself. 'from afar? Is that all we know of them?' "Let me explain..." Amber then proceeds to tell Kaeya the whole story.
"I see. Welcome to Mondstadt – though you haven't arrived at the best of times, I'm afraid. I understand the anguish of being separated from your family. I'm not really sure why you're looking for the Anemo God, but everyone has their secrets, right?"
Kaeya chuckles to himself. "Haha, relax! I won't press you for more. First and foremost, on behalf of the knights of Favonius, I would like to extend our thanks to you for your help just now."
Aether smiles. "Well, we couldn't just leave the situation to fester." Lyra nods her head in agreement.
"Your fight to defend the city against the dragon just now was witnessed by no small number of citizens. The acting grand master of the knights of Favonius is also very interested in meeting you and formally invites you three to our HQ."
~•~•~
The trio and the two knights enter the HQ and Kaeya leads the travelling trio to the acting grand master's office. In the office is a blonde woman and a brunette.
"... and once it was over, I brought them straight here.", Kaeya explains. The blonde girl nods and stands up.
"Mondstadt welcomes you, wind-borne travellers. I am Jean, acting grand master of the Knights of Favonius. This is Lisa, our resident Librarian.", she introduces herself.
Lisa gasps. "Oh! Are you sweeties here to help us out? You three are so adorable!" she sighs. "sadly, the timing is regrettable... Stormterror has caused quite a ruckus in the region since its recent resurgence. Simply put, Mondstadt's elemental sphere and ley lines are now akin to a yarn ball in the paws of a kitten. For a mage, it couldn't get much worse. My skin is one elemental particle away from a full-blown breakout."
Jean sighs as well. "If it weren't for this interference, the knights of Favonius would have better way to help you than just putting up missing person posters. We simple ask that you repose in Mondstadt while we help you seek out your sister."
Lyra and Aether look at each other and nod. "We really should help out as well." Paimon nods. "Paimon will help too!" – "Good. In that case, we need a plan.", Kaeya says.
"With Stormterror now directly attacking Mondstadt, we may have an opportunity to cut this problem off at the source. Lisa has revealed the sources of Stormterror's power with her detection magic.", Jean relays.
Kaeya looks at Lisa. "Is that so?" she nods. "They're located in the abandoned four winds' temples. Stormterror's ability to whip up these kinds of storms can be attributed to it drawing power from the temples."
Jean looks at the round. "Our objective is to deal with three of the four temples. I trust everyone understands why we are only dealing with three." The knights nod, while Lyra looks away and Aether and Paimon look at her confused.
"Paimon doesn't." – "Perhaps a local thing...", Aether mutters. "Knights of Favonius, the time is against us. The storm is rampant. There is no point in maintaining a defensive position. Alright. We need to take initiative and act before the situation escalates."
Lyra thinks for a moment. "I say we split up. There are three temples. This will spare us some time." Jean nods.
"Well then, I will send out Amber to the temple of the Falcon. I want you, Aether, to accompany her. Kaeya and Lyra, you will go to the temple of the wolf. Once Aether and Lyra are done, they will meet Lisa at the temple of the lion. Both Kaeya and Amber are to report back once done. I will stay here in case of another attack." They nod and get on their way to the temples.
~•~•~