"Amazing!" Columbina smiled softly as she looked at the table laden with food. "Is this the key to how you kept my flowers from wilting?"
"Yes. I call it the Shadow Domain." Tang Wang nodded. "Neither time nor space flows within it, which is why it has such power."
"Hmm, it's a little like the moon's power." She nodded. "Well then... shall I dig in?"
Then, under the deliberate and incidental gazes of several people, the graceful, elegant-looking girl began eating at an astonishing speed.
Diluc and the others, who had originally wondered why Tang Wang had prepared so much food, understood once a third stack of plates had been piled up beside her.
"Can she really... eat that much?" Linaya looked surprised, too.
"If I wanted to, I think I could eat a lot too, couldn't I?" Ronava thought for a moment. "Speaking of which, Lili, how come I haven't seen Lumi lately?"
"Yah-hoo!" At her words, Lumi, who had been asleep in the schoolbag for who knew how long, suddenly sprang out.
Its roar was so loud that the whole of Angel's Share seemed to freeze for a second.
"Huh? Are those Lili and Ronava?" Tang Wang looked up and glanced over. "So you're here too."
"Lili? Ronava?" After swallowing the towering pile of food, Columbina tilted her head and asked, "Are they your family too?"
"You could say that." Tang Wang nodded. "After all, friends are the family you choose for yourself."
"All right." She pointed at the food on the table. "Then come eat with us."
Hearing that, Ronava instinctively glanced at Linaya.
Linaya cleared her throat a few times, then pulled Ronava over to the table.
"Hello, Miss Columbina!" She waved. "My name is Linaya. You've probably heard my name."
"Yes, Tang Wang mentions you often." She nodded.
"And this is Ronava." She pointed to the white-haired girl beside her.
"Hello, Ronava." She put down her food and waved at Ronava with her free hand. "You must be his new friend?"
"I suppose so." Ronava, who happened to be sitting opposite her, nodded gently.
"He's always making lots of new friends." With that, Columbina resumed eating at breakneck speed.
It was then that the two of them noticed that the girl had never moved away from Tang Wang's side.
"This is... why?" Ronava's pupils suddenly contracted. "Tang Wang, why are you doing this..."
"Doing what?" Tang Wang looked utterly bewildered. "Oh, you mean her?"
"Please allow me to explain why." Tang Wang glanced sideways at Columbina, and after confirming that she had no objection, briefly described the situation she was facing.
She was currently being rejected by Teyvat, so she had to stay close to Tang Wang.
"I see..." Ronava's expression immediately filled with pity. "So you're unfortunate too, Miss Columbina?"
"Unfortunate?" Columbina tilted her head. "I don't know."
"She's also a little inexperienced with the world," Tang Wang said with a smile. "So please be patient with her."
"It's all right. Being inexperienced with the world isn't a problem." Linaya smiled. "As long as she isn't bad at heart, I believe she'll learn how to get along with everyone sooner or later."
"Then what happens to people who are bad at heart?" Columbina suddenly asked curiously.
"People who are bad at heart always find ways to cause trouble after joining a group, and they'll stop at nothing to satisfy their own selfish desires." Linaya spoke in the cautionary tone one might use with a child.
"So in the end, everyone will inevitably distance themselves from them. That's what they deserve."
"Like Zandik?" Columbina suddenly remembered something. "But Pantalone seems to get along really well with him."
"Because they're birds of a feather." Tang Wang smiled. "Clearly, Lili overlooked one possibility: when two people are about equally beastly, they can form a new group of their own."
"It's hard to say how that group will eventually disappear, though. I've seen them stab each other in the back, and I've seen them torn apart by life and death. The former is rotten through and through; the latter is rotten people with genuine feelings."
"Oh, I see." Columbina nodded gently. "But Tang Wang, why did you call her Lili just now?"
"Don't you think it's a cute name?" Tang Wang smiled.
"That's right." Linaya nodded too. "So now I call Ronava Nana."
"What do you think, Ronava..." Tang Wang glanced at her.
"I don't mind." She gently shook her head.
"It really is cute." A rare smile appeared on Columbina's face. "In that case, let me think..."
"As my friends, you can call me Yaya."
"Okay, Yaya!" Linaya smiled and held out her hand to her.
The moment Columbina accepted the nickname, an anchor belonging solely to her took root in Teyvat with the help of Logic Above Logic.
"...She's the third of the Fatui Harbingers, Damselette." Meanwhile, Diluc had finally worked out her identity.
"So this is why Tang Wang asked me for information? To get on good terms with her?" Sensing the terrifying fluctuations of Kuuvahki coming from the girl, Diluc couldn't help shivering.
"Albedo," Diluc said only after silently walking out of Angel's Share and raising the alchemical device in his hand. "How are things on your end?"
"Not good." The blond youth's voice was unusually grave. "The Electro Abyss Lector is nowhere to be found, and we don't have a single lead."
"The only good news is that after we destroyed those bases, the Abyss Order's activities really did stop... So, Mr. Diluc, have you met the helper Tang Wang invited?"
"I have." Diluc recalled the girl's face. "She's a dangerous one," he said, giving his assessment.
It couldn't be helped. Columbina looked far too harmless, while the power she possessed was far too terrifying. Someone who knew nothing about her would probably find her unfathomable.
Yet once someone gained a partial understanding of her, that sense of her being unfathomable would immediately turn into humanity's most instinctive fear of the unknown.
That fear could only be dispelled by getting to know her more deeply. Unfortunately, most people lacked the inclination and courage to do so.
Incidentally, the best example of this was actually the fourth Fatui Harbinger, the Knave. A game of "hide-and-seek" with Damselette had left her drenched in sweat from fright.
"Thank you, Tang Wang." At last, after eating most of Mondstadt's dishes, Columbina rubbed her belly in satisfaction.
"No need to thank me for that." He smiled. "I've prepared some desserts for you too."
"Oh? Really?" The girl's voice immediately grew excited. "But I really can't eat another bite right now..."
"That's all right. Whenever you want some, I can make the desserts appear in your hands."