Chapter Text
THE REALIZATION OF HUMANITY, AN UNIMPORTANT SMALLNESS INSIDE AN OTHERWISE OCEAN OF HISTORY. YOU CAN NEITHER CREATE RIPPLES OR WAVES. NO ONE WILL REMEMBER YOU.
Amber shoots another arrow into the ruin guard’s face-hole thing, causing it to shut down without unleashing the barrage of missiles it was preparing to Swiss cheese Amber with if she missed.
“Thank fuck,” she wheezes, because Barbatos’s name is too long for the three molecules of air she has left in her lungs. “Someone else finish it, please and thanks.”
Someone else referring to either Aether or their two other companions, a regal-looking old dude named Zhongli and a battle-weirdo named Childe. Childe and her have been switching off on hitting the ruin guard’s weak spots for a bit now, with Aether gladly playing baron-bunny and luring it around in between attacks.
“Ah,” says Zhongli, who was too busy nerding out about the surrounding ruins to be of any fucking help at all this whole time. “I suppose it’s my turn?”
Amber and Aether both glare at him in a way that implies YES AND RIGHT THIS SECOND PLEASE . Childe, on the other hand, starts sprinting towards the guard at the prospect of someone else taking violence that could be his. Weirdo. Amber’s got no fucking clue where Aether found this guy and has no aspirations to ask.
Before Childe can connect—
“I will have order!”
— a fucking meteor comes crashing down from the sky onto the knocked out ruin guard, destroying it instantly.
Amber’s jaw drops to the floor at a velocity that hurts when it lands. What the fuck?
“Aw, come on mister Zhongli!” Childe whines. “That was my kill!”
“As much as I regret stealing your joy, I do feel that if I am to be a good traveling companion it is necessary that I do my part in our battles.” Zhongli, true to character, even apologizes in run-on sentences. Amber, still stuck on the fucking meteor, doesn’t have the time to find that funny. “Though I was under the impression that since you are constantly begging to fight me, it would appease you to see what I could do rather than subject yourself to a hopeless battle. My mistake.”
“I could so catch that meteor. You just haven’t let me try.” And the conversation continues like that, with Childe begging Zhongli for a fight and Amber watching in abject horror because and still there is a man in front of her that can at will and at leisure summon meteors from the sky.
Aether shrugs at Amber, holding up the loot from the thoroughly ruined ruin guard. Really, it’s a wonder Aether got anything at all, considering the still-smoking crater Zhongli left behind. “I’m pretty sure we got everything, so that’s like, what? Fifty primos? Forty?— Amber are you okay?”
“I— primos?” Seriously, money? When the weird nerd guy just did that?
“Yeah..?” Aether squints, leaning in close to Amber’s face. “You know what? Let’s just go to the cathedral so Barbara can take a look at you, okay?”
Zhongli perks up. “Ah, is Amber- xiaojie in need of healing? I can—“
“Barbara would be great, thank you!” No healing from meteor man, meteor man might make Amber go kaplat . No fixing that fuck up.
“It’s probably best we take the waypoint, in that case,” Aether reasons, receiving Zhongli’s solemn nod.
Amber squints. “The what?”
“ Oh,” Childe chuckles— bad sign, that. “Wait till you see this one, kid.”
It’s only after this that Amber figures out that Childe must have been commiserating as a fellow human, however far removed he acts, because Amber knows the statues that these “waypoints” actually are. She knows them as everyone knows them— relics of a time when the gods were aplenty and traveled throughout the land like any random tourist. They are untouchable by city-planners and terraformers alike, with the Church protecting them on the political end and superstition on the personal. They’re of no use but a nuisance, but it’s said that to try and remove them is to see yourself shortly dead by some freak weather event courtesy of Celestia on high. Amber herself has only ever touched the one in Mondstadt square, once, on a triple dog dare.
Aether grabs Amber’s hand, nods what Amber realizes after is a goodbye to Zhongli and Childe, and then they’re on top of Favonius headquarters.
“I— fuck shit fuck—“ Amber almost falls off the building, stumbling back and away from the waypoint. Aether acts quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist such that she’s bent in a waltz-like dip off the edge.
“ Woah there,” Aether’s got the gall to look surprised as well, as if Amber falling is more significant than teleporting. They’ve the grace to pull her up though, which only puts her closer to their chest. “You good?”
It’s not that Amber’s got a crush on Aether— Aether really isn’t in Amber’s list of romantic prospects, what with them being 1. way out of her league, 2. way too busy traveling to different countries, and 3. way too mysterious about their background— but Aether is attractive, and Amber has a hard time with thinking coherent thoughts while being within kissing distance of a hot person.
“I— teleport. You. We just?”
“You haven’t done it before?” Aether seems genuinely puzzled, which brings the club of What The Fuck Is Going On Here to two members— welcome Traveller, happy to have you. “How did you get to the commission then?”
“I walked? Like a normal person? These… waypoint-thingys… they’re supposed to be for archons, Aether. Like, not human people.”
“Ah.” Aether proclaims. They are not nearly as shocked as Amber would like. “I guess that makes sense.”
“ Makes sense?” Amber screeches. “Dude, did you not hear me? How are you able to use these?”
“Amber…” Aether breathes deeply, the proximity making it so Amber can fully assess their well fucking oiled diaphragm, no problems there. “Next time we do a mission like this, I’ll pick you up. You shouldn’t be walking that far just to help me with comms.”
Amber knows deflection when she hears it, her best friend is a hydro-wielder, and compared to Barbara’s ability Aether doesn’t rate. “You’re my friend, Aether. Of course I would walk however long I needed to, but friends also tell each other things, and I’m really fucking confused right now.”
Aether grimaces, but shakes their head. “You’re my friend too, but I don’t want to involve you in my problems more than I have to. You understand?”
“No, I don’t understand anything that happened in the last ten minutes! That Zhongli dude just summoned a meteor from the sky, and you just used a method of travel I’ve only heard of Archons using—“
Amber stops, the pieces coming together in her head. Aether backs away slowly, allowing Amber to stand on her own, but she barely realizes because—
Zhongli is a Liyuese man with a geo vision, but doesn’t it look a little off? He’s got a weird obsession with history, a weird way of acting older than everyone he interacts with, and the ability to pull meteors out of the sky. Zhongli is Rex Lapis, which then makes the next point make a little bit of sense: Aether doesn’t have a vision, but he can use multiple elements. Aether is friends with everyone, but he’s also friends with Archons, meaning Aether himself must be a similar type of being to use the waypoints gifted only to the divine.
Amber’s been unwittingly interacting on a personal level with Celestia and her servants for months. Unwittingly doing the one thing she’s been avoiding her whole life. Every mission with Aether’s stupidly overpowered friends, not just the ones she was just with. Who else? Who else could she have possibly exposed herself to? And on that note, who did she expose herself to, in Aether? What are they?
Aether is visibly braced for Amber’s realization, face turned slightly away and eyes averted to avoid the full brunt of her possible outburst.
It’s unexpectedly quiet when it comes, even to her: “You’re… not human.”
“No.”
“I… Huh. I don’t… Aether, what am I supposed to say here? You said you didn’t want to bring me into your problems, but you literally invited me to fight alongside a god without telling me. And whatever Childe is, I doubt he’s normal either. What’s going on here? Why me?”
Aether rubs the back of their neck, smiling in a way that says they still expect to be hurt. Amber does kind of want to hurt them— she’s panicking on so many different levels, Aether’s put her in so much danger and they don’t even know — but that’s the thing. They don’t know. No one does. So she lets them explain, because she’s Amber and she’s friends with everyone and she’s got nothing to hide from the Archons or Celestia or anyone else.
“Well… you were the first person in Teyvat to ever help me, ‘sides Paimon, that is. I’ve been friends with you the longest, and I know I would never have gotten this far without meeting you. I don’t want to just leave you behind.”
Amber wants to jump at that, say PLEASE!!! LEAVE ME BEHIND!! I’M BEGGING!! But that’s another thing that would raise questions, so instead: “You don’t owe me anything for that, though. I did that for you, and we’re friends now , but I would have helped anyone. That’s my job.”
“Helping people is loads of people’s jobs, that doesn’t make them actually do it,” Aether says. “Besides, I’m glad it was you, and not anyone else. I like you— and, honestly? I’m glad you know now, even if I did try to hide it. I didn’t like lying to you, even by omission. Like you said, we’re friends. If you want that to change, that’s fine, but if not I’ll totally make up for this. I’ll tell you everything from now on, promise .”
Amber wants to know nothing. Amber wants to un-know this whole conversation, actually. But that’s suspicious too, and she does like having Aether as a friend, so—
Amber shakes her head, and comes out grinning, hang outstretched. “Okay, that’s cool. Total honesty from here on out, yeah?”
“Totally honesty,” Aether agrees, taking her hand and shaking it. It’s funny, because one of them is still lying.
Aether glides off to collect their reward from Katherine after some brief goodbyes and assurances that Amber will go see Barbara, and she will, just not in the church.
It’s six in the afternoon on a Wednesday in Mond, there’s only one place to find anyone— the bar.
YOU ARE IN EXTREME DANGER. YOU ARE AT A TIPPING POINT IN YOUR LIFE. THIS WILL GO ONE OF TWO WAYS. TREAD VERY CAREFULLY, BEFORE YOU ARE NOTICED. YOU WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO NEVER BE IMPORTANT.
The legal drinking age in Mondstadt is always, since birth, and go right ahead. Some factions of the Church of Barbatos and also the Knights of Favonius have lobbied for raising it to “at least fourteen” but being that the Ragvindr family is a huge part of the city council, the economy, and both of those organizations’ patrons that train is always derailed and switched tracks straight off a cliff.
All the older Knights Amber knows drink at the Ragvindr’s tavern. It’s like… the cool kids club of Mond. One time Donna, in an attempt to see her one true love, had mistakenly walked through only to be stared at until she left. It’s a reasonably polite unwelcome, at least. Fatui get physically thrown.
All the older Knights Amber knows think that she’s like, seven. They’re also all dicks and Ragvindr, despite no longer being a knight, is the biggest dick of them all. Amber drinks at the Cat’s Tail. So does Barbara.
Barbara heals her up with that fun little light show of hers that doubles as public entertainment, and doesn’t ask questions. Amber wasn’t too badly off, physically anyway. No doubt Barbara can tell that Amber’s dealing with something mentally, but she can also probably tell that Amber’s got full intentions to tell her what that thing is once they’re in private. Barbara is the one person in Teyvat that Amber can trust, and she does well not to abuse that position.
The Cat’s Tail is basically the kiddie table of Mond, complete with their own child bartender mascot, Diona. Lesser-ranked knights, normal ass citizens, and teenagers make this the least classy bar in town. It also means none of them have the kind of street cred to stare an unwanted guest out of their cozy little hangout. Amber usually likes it this. Usually.
The doors blast open, and through it comes that stupid tiny elf man. “I heard this bar would be the Angel’s foe, so I have come to know, for I ken the taste of—“
“I hate that guy,” Barbara hisses, cutely. Barbara is the least expressive person Amber knows in that she’s always got that perpetual adorable glow of a newborn kitten and, shielded by that, it’s hard to tell the depths of her emotions.
Always eager to get gossip, especially from the mouth of the girl who holds licensed confessionals and thus knows everything, Amber leans forwards across the table. “Really? The higher ranking knights seem to like him, Aether too, actually—“
“Fuck Aether too,” Barbara curses, sweetly. She takes another draw from her (mostly empty) third beer.
“You don’t like Aether? Everyone likes Aether. Barbara . ” Amber’s genuinely fucking floored. Also delighted. What with her own recently complicated feelings about Aether, this is shaping up to be the best shit talking session they’ve had in months.
“Aether and that dickhead stole and desecrated the holy lyre. Oh, the Knights came by after like “oh yeah! It’s okay!” but that just shows their further disrespect of the Church!”
Oh, okay, this rant. When (Regent) Grandmaster Jean Gunnhildr received her vision, she was already betrothed to the son of the Lawrences, one of the only other noble families in Mond that could compare to the Gunnhildrs. A vision would turn any potential wife into a potential Knight instead, and thus make her unsuitable, but an Anemo vision? Jean, blessed by the Archon of freedom, is forbidden by tradition to marry at all. That left Barbara to be shuttled into the empty space as the nobleman’s bride.
Barbara knew her sister would never on her life save her. And if Jean knew Barbara at all, maybe that would mean something. Barbara seemed to enjoy womanly duties, and was wifely in a way Jean had never been. The Lawrence son liked Barbara better, too, despite the age gap, and so it seemed like the best outcome for everyone. Jean cheerfully kissed her sister goodbye and moved into Lisa’s apartment before anyone could let out a word of protest.
Barbara likes womanly duties because doing those means she’s never around men . The night of her supposed engagement, she swore instead her oaths to Barbatos.
That made Barbara very unpopular in Mond, for all of two months. Then she became a pop idol and national treasure, consolidating power in her reputation and in the Church, which she became a figurehead of. Any clergyman that thinks themselves at all important is kidding themselves. Barbara’s hydro vision, gifted sometime after her holy vows, is only expected at this point: water takes any shape it needs to, especially under pressure.
There are two branches of governmental importance in Mond. The Ordo Favonius, ruled by one sister, and the Church of Barbatos, ruled by the other. These two branches fucking hate each other and make Mond politics a right shitshow. It’s just that the Ordo Favonius hasn’t quite figured out that the Church is controlled by abatánate yet, making Amber the smartest person in the Knights, and the best person in Mondstadt hands down.
Barbara could have anyone. If she chose Amber to be her best friend and only confidante (much like Amber has chosen her in return), it must because Amber is the best. She’s eagerly and openly let this go to her ego.
Amber sighs around her bottle. Because she’s not a pussy, it’s Diona’s newest blend. Because it’s Diona’s newest blend, it tastes like shit. “So it’s another show of power, huh? I don’t even really understand why we have political bodies to wave their dicks at each other. We’re a country without a King, yeah, but that’s so we don’t have any ruling figure at all, not so they can just slot any government body into that space because it’s not the letter of the scripture.”
Amber also went to nun training, at the same time as Barbara did, too! Barbara had already taken her oaths and was in remedial lessons to make up for her emergency situation, and Amber was there as a last ditch effort by her Grandpa to deter her from having fun— “Amber, if you keep sneaking off, you’re going to end up dead—” and they were being taught by Sister Rosaria, who held no fucking respect for the Church outside of the fact that it let her have autonomy. That being said, they both learned a lot.
“Oh? Interesting point, Outrider Amber!” Says the motherfucking lyre thief himself, sliding onto the bench-seat next to her. “What would you suggest?”
Being Outrider Amber is a bit like being Sister Barbara sometimes. Sister Barbara is kind to everyone and thus beloved by everyone, and thus untouchable. Outrider Amber endears herself to everyone and thus is friends with everyone, thus is protected by the debts and secrets she is owed. That means she must be friends with lyre-stealing-assholes too, because otherwise she is not Outrider Amber. Which means she is not anyone at all. Which means that anyone could question her and she would have no debts and loyalties to protect her.
Maybe it’s not just that Amber is the best person in Mondstadt that makes her Barbara’s only friend. Maybe there was just no other way.
“Oh, me? Nah, I could never suggest anything— that’s for people who actually study politics, which is boring.” Unlike chemistry and physics and religion and geography and toxicology and all the restricted books Lisa and Kaeya and Jean think Amber hasn’t broken into yet, pshaw . “That’s why I’m an outrider. Having fun is my right by Barbatos, I think.”
Lyre-thief laughs. “That’s right! But it’s also your Barbatos-given right to have an opinion. I think it’s worth it to hear.”
“That was all of it, Mr. Bard!” Amber enthuses, because she must. “I think politics are boring and stupid and don’t see much a point for them! If anyone could come up with a system that works, it’s gotta be Miss Lisa. She’s so smart.”
Appropriate gushing over her superiors is also required to be Outrider Amber. She’s their adorable little greenie knight, so people forget she’s been an Outrider for years even before she reached official knighthood at sixteen. Amber just leaves out any gushing about Jean when Barbara’s around.
Unfortunately, Lyre-thief doesn’t seem fooled. Like, at all. Amber might have to start referring to him by his name in her head, which means that she might have to consider him respectable. Which means that Barbara might have to start charming him, because bards fall into her faction and he’s way too close to the upper echelon of the Knights for her comfort. Ugh. That part was true: Amber hates politics.
“That’s the kind of passion I’d expect from a pyro-vision holder!” Venti cheers, but follows it with a much lower tone of voice: “You do a good act, Outrider Amber, have you ever tried being a Bard? I think we could put on a good performance, you and I.”
“What do you mean by that?” Barbara asks, voice equally low and newly simmering. It’s good that Barbara is trying to intimidate at all, because Amber is sat there frozen.
Venti’s eyes are bright, dangerous, and supernatural— it’s scary, in a way nothing else has been her entire life. “I mean that Amber does a good job of emulating one blessed by Celestia, for not being a vision holder.”
Fuck.