turn down for soup

[oncedriven]

"Traveler! Paimon! There you are!"

The familiar voice calling out across Fontaine's streets brings only the slightest hesitation in your step. You stop walking and turn, Paimon turning on a dime at your side, and give a smile to the man out of place on Fontaine's technological streets.

Kaveh sticks out, his obviously Sumeri clothing all flowing shapes and loose where Fontainers wear their clothing tight. He looks out of breath as he sprints up to you, coming to a stop to put his hands on his knees and catch his breath. "There you are," he says, huffing.

"Is everything okay?" Paimon says, fluttering closer to his face. "You look like you need to take a minute..."

"I'm fine," Kaveh says, cracking a weak smile. "I was lucky enough to find you quickly, after all. It would have been a lot harder if you were out of the city. Lord Kusanali asked me to find you."

That's... alarming. Both that Nahida needed you for some reason, and that she didn't make contact with you through dreams instead. Though you suppose that the latter might have been more difficult for her, now that you're in Fontaine instead of Sumeru.

(After all, you don't have a connection to Irminsul that she could use to easily find her way to you.)

"That's not exactly reassuring..." Paimon says. She bobs back over to you long enough to pull a handkerchief free of your pack and brings it over to Kaveh so he can wipe the sweat from his face. He takes it and starts to do so, pushing back his hair.

"I'm one of the only people truly familiar with Fontaine, since my mother lives here," he says. "So when she came to ask Alhaitham, I volunteered."

"Start at the beginning," you say, and then pause, glancing around. It's no secret that the Fatui are active in Fontaine, and while you don't see anyone that you know for sure is affiliated with them, your familiarity with their operations only extends as far as Lyney's troupe, really. "But maybe we should get off the street, first."

"Right, right," Kaveh agrees, standing up to his full height and rubbing his forehead with the handkerchief again. "I know a pretty good place around here, actually. Let's go this way..."

You let him lead you in the direction of a coffeeshop you haven't been to - one of what feels like half a dozen on this block alone. Fontaine really loves its little cafes.

The only other customer is a woman in a white suit, seated at the far end of the cafe's small indoor area, sipping tea and looking out the window. Something about her aura tickles on the edge of your senses, but Kaveh is ushering you to the far end of the cafe anyway. He talks about ordering something, but Paimon sternly tells him that he needs to rest after travelling all the way here from Sumeru, and she'll take the orders up to the counter.

Kaveh is smart enough not to argue with Paimon when she gets like this, and instead takes a seat at the little round table with a sigh.

"So what happened?" you ask, as Paimon bobs back from the counter and hovers in the empty space next to your chair.

"I'm not entirely sure," Kaveh says. "Lord Kusanali appeared at the door to our home a week ago, and asked if we could find you, while she went with Cyno to the Chasm."

"That's weird!" Paimon says. "I mean, there's no rule saying she can't, but she's never left the rainforest before, right?"

Kaveh nods. "She has gone to the border of the desert a few times in the last few weeks," he says. "To see how the border is doing and to make certain that the Wall holds. Cyno always goes with her as a guide and protector, which I suppose is why she took him with her to the Chasm."

"And she'd like us to come there to meet them?" Paimon says, and Kaveh nods.

"She said it wasn't a rush, but that you should come as soon as you're free," he says.

"Did she say anything else?" you ask.

"Yes, but I don't understand it," Kaveh says. "She said to tell you that someone else who doesn't appear in Irminsul has arrived in Teyvat."

It's a good thing that your tea hasn't arrived yet, because if it had, you would have choked on it. Paimon squeaks. Kaveh takes in your expressions, and says, "Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know," you say. "It depends on who this person is."

"But it explains why Nahida wanted us to get over there as quickly as possible," Paimon says. "It could be very bad. But it could also be very good! Or it could be nothing at all."

"Well, she seemed only a little concerned, if that reassures you," Kaveh says. And it does, a little. If Nahida doesn't think this person is a threat she has to worry about, then she's probably right, even if - by definition - she doesn't have any knowledge of them in Irminsul to rely on.

So you have enough time to drink your tea and eat through a few pastries before you abandon Kaveh for the Chasm. You try to keep the conversation light, asking for updates on your friends in Sumeru to tide you over until you have to leave. Kaveh, in turn, pinches his nose at word of the trouble you've already gotten yourself into in Fontaine.

Childe's Vision weighs heavy in your pocket. You're not sure what the consequences of taking it so far from its wielder will be, but it's not like you have a choice. You can't very well leave it here; there's no one you can trust to both keep it safe and not raise far too many questions about where you got it. You'll just have to make this trip as quick as you can.

While you're eating, the woman in the white suit calls for her bill, pays it, and takes her leave.