May the Anemo Archon Protect You!

Jean was shaken by the sight of the boy falling.

She had found no record of him in the Gunnhildr family archives. Perhaps the Sky Screen was right: time had erased every trace of his existence.

Perhaps, apart from Lord Barbatos, only the god who watched over Irminsul in Sumeru knew.

On the top floor of the Teyvat Merchants' Guild, Venti sat by the window, gently brushing the strings of his lyre.

"My dear friend, please accept this gentle breeze of a thousand years. Accept the longing for happiness and the dream of freedom."

"Please don't grieve for me. As long as the wind still blows, people can sing of tomorrow's hope, just as I did."

Venti's soft voice seemed to resonate with the Sky Screen.

The scene continued. Decarabian had fallen, and the boy had carried away his final words on the Wind of Time, but the danger had not passed.

Old Mondstadt had always lived under threat from the snowstorms. Decarabian's gales had sheltered the city.

With Decarabian dead, the gales guarding the city dispersed, and the snowstorms became a deadly threat once more.

Watching this, Su Yun couldn't help recalling a suspicion he had long held.

Then he remembered they were on Douluo Continent. He couldn't be bothered to keep up the act, so he spoke as he walked:

"Decarabian sheltered Old Mondstadt with his howling storms, protecting its people from the snow and ice."

"In the same way, the Heavenly Principles wrapped the world in the False Sky to shield it from the Abyss's corruption."

"Decarabian's gales demanded only songs of praise, while he ignored his people's wish for freedom."

"Likewise, the Heavenly Principles rejoiced as long as people were happy. But turn that around, and it also meant... the Heavenly Principles allowed people to voice nothing but happiness."

"Every wish would be snuffed out, just as the Heavenly Principles used the Divine Plan to anchor the fate of every living being across Teyvat!"

Su Yun thought of another equally extreme example: The Emperor in Warhammer.

He himself was being tortured, and his subjects weren't faring much better.

"Decarabian was the Tyrant of the Winds. He believed his love sheltered the people from the snowstorms."

Su Yun recalled the last promotional video he had watched before crossing over, and the Ice God's words.

"Death is not the enemy of love, but a blessing bestowed by a god who never asked what anyone wanted..."

At those words, Zhongli, who had been drinking tea, froze. He hadn't expected Su Yun to end with a quote from the Ice God.

Even Venti turned to look at Su Yun.

The air seemed to freeze. Columbina gripped Su Yun's hand tightly, as though afraid a nail might fall from the sky.

After a long while, everyone suddenly came back to their senses.

They had already found a new place to live. All they needed to do was bring over those still suffering in Teyvat.

Zhongli was silent for a moment. The teacup in his hand tilted slightly, sending a ripple across the amber tea.

"The Ice God's words truly strike at the heart of it."

He slowly set down his cup and looked at Su Yun.

"But young friend Su, do you know that Decarabian and the Heavenly Principles are different in the end?"

"Though we are no longer in the same world, I have a contract with that one, so I cannot say more."

Venti brushed the strings of his lyre, coaxing out a skipping run of notes, as if several invisible birds had burst fluttering from its body.

"Ehe, don't be so gloomy."

He tilted his head, his green eyes curving into crescents. The braid at the end of his hair swayed gently with the movement.

"When a page of Teyvat's poem turns, there's always a new page waiting. No matter how sad the old story was, it has to make room for a new one, or we bards will be out of work."

His fingers swept across the strings, drawing out a rising note. It seemed to hook up the weight of Zhongli's solemn words and toss it out the window.

"Besides—"

Venti's voice suddenly softened, light as a wisp of wind slipping between fingers.

He looked toward the tiny figure trudging across the snowy plain on the Sky Screen. The smile in his eyes remained, but something soft and indistinct lay beneath it now.

"Look at that child. Snow struck his face, and wind poured down his collar, but he still reached for the light in the sky. Isn't that what we've always wanted to see?"

He turned and took a step toward Su Yun. The wind swirled around his feet.

The fingertips of the hand Venti held out still carried the lingering tremor of the lyre strings.

"The sky here isn't for dropping nails, and the wind here shouldn't be used to pen anyone in."

"So—"

His voice leapt up again, like a feather lifted by the wind, so buoyant it was almost irreverent. Yet every word landed firm and sure.

"A new poem needs a new tune. You, me, everyone—and those who are still suffering, waiting for us."

He tilted his head and winked at Su Yun.

"How about we write a song no one's ever heard before?"

Su Yun took his hand.

Anemo wound gently around them, brushing over his knuckles and circling his wrist, like the wordless embrace of an old friend reunited.

For a moment, he seemed to return to the first time he had touched an Anemo Archon Statue. Beneath the cool stone, wind had pulsed softly, like a heart that would never stop beating.

Venti's hand was warm, but the wind was light.

"Promise, okay?" he said with a smile, tapping Su Yun's palm with a fingertip as though pressing an invisible key. "No running off halfway through this time. After all—"

He let go and stepped back. Daylight flowed beyond the window and shone in his green eyes, while his smile was as bright as a dandelion scattered by the wind.

"—a poem of freedom can't afford to leave anyone out."

On the Sky Screen, the boy seemed finally to have reached his destination. He gently plucked the strings of his lyre.

The wind carried his song, sweeping away the snow and ice and cleaving the snowy mountains...

It turned Old Mondstadt, once impossible to live in, into a city-state lush with green grass.

The scene ended there, leaving only a passage of text.

Though the Anemo Archon could have stood far above them all, he remembered the name of every person in Mondstadt...

The scene changed again. There was even a little bonus scene at the end.

Whenever a baby was born in Mondstadt, the name its parents gave it would drift on the breeze to Venti's ears.

And there on the screen sat Venti, beneath the great tree at Windrise, gently brushing the strings of his lyre.

"Oh? So that's your name? Welcome to Mondstadt. May the Anemo Archon protect you."

[So that's why even a dog on the streets of Mondstadt says, "May the Anemo Archon protect you."]

Venti, still by the window, nearly fell off the sill. Why did they have to show this part too?!

Su Yun couldn't help laughing. Even Zhongli wore a rare smile.

"So those pigeons at the Windblume Festival really were telling the truth!"

Columbina said to Venti with a perfectly straight face:

"May the Anemo Archon protect you!"

Columbina's solemn expression left Venti sputtering. He nearly did tumble off the windowsill.

"Hey—wait, wait, wait! That's not how you use that!"