Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Venti was dreaming.

That was unusual.

Despite how much time he had spent in slumber over the years, Venti rarely actually dreamt.

Even more unusual, was the content of the dream.

The wind rushed past his head, jostling his braids, as he flew high, ever higher, above the clouds. His wings stretched out wide on either side of him, catching the air beneath them and holding him steady as he flew.

This was pleasant, true, but it was odd. This wasn’t how Venti’s dreams usually played out on the rare occasion that they appeared.

Usually, his dreams consisted of stitched together moments from time. Be they remnants of the past, or prophecies of what would be--all of Venti’s dreams had come to pass at one point or another.

This wasn’t like that though. Those memories felt different than this. They were often hazy and dim, as if they were being played on an old projector at a Fontainian film festival.

This felt, for lack of a better descriptor, sharp.

The sun was too bright, the wind was too loud, the sky was too vibrant, the air was too cold, the clouds were too pristine, his movements were too precise.

It was uncanny.

He adjusted his hood and closed his eyes. Trying to focus on all the sensations around him. He took a deep breath, letting the air fill his lungs.

He held it there, feeling it swirling behind his ribcage.

Then he let the air out slowly and opened his eyes.

For a moment, he thought that his eyes needed to readjust to sunshine, but the bright white around him was that of clouds, not of light.

The cool mist stuck to his skin, dampening it immediately, it was both a refreshing and slightly uncomfortable feeling.

He continued to glide forward, letting the clouds give him reprieve from the intense sun floating high above.

Venti glided on and on until he broke down through the bottom of the clouds, lingering beneath their fluffy forms. He didn’t recognize the land below, he was so high up that it could have been anything and anywhere.

He flapped his wings to gain some more height, to reenter the cool layer of clouds.

He didn’t break back through however. He just continued his slow descent downwards.

He tried again.

It didn’t work. He kept going down little by little.

He flapped his wings harder.

He just continued toward the ground.

He laughed a humorless laugh, though usually laughing didn’t cause his lungs this much pain. Perhaps that was because all the breath seemed to have left and it wasn’t coming back.

He was falling toward the earth. 

He wasn’t flying at all.

He never had been flying in the first place.

Venti blinked and the ground seemed a much closer. He spread his wings flat, trying to catch the air beneath them, but suddenly his descent seemed a whole lot faster.

Some sort of animalistic panic filled his mind as he flapped his wings as hard as possible.

The ground was rapidly approaching and there was nothing to stop it.

Absently and somewhat ironically, he recognized that it was Windrise that he was about to crash into.

He closed his eyes and unsuccessfully tried to take another deep breath.

Just a few seconds before he became one with the earth below.

The wind rushed past his head, it was deafeningly loud.

How unfortunate.

Chapter Text

Venti woke up with a jolt. Falling over himself on the thick tree branch as he tried to remember when, where, why, and what he was.

Right. He had just taken a long nap in Windrise, the large tree branches supporting his relaxed form.

From the roots below, a familiar voice spoke, but Venti only vaguely perceived it, his surroundings more or less escaping him as he tried to recover from that odd dream.

“Paimon.” The voice stage-whispered. “What is that?”

Everyone was safe, he was fine. He just had a bad dream.

“Hmm Paimon’s not sure. Do you have a net? Maybe we can ask Tubby.” A high pitched voice responded, equally unstealthy, though luckily for them, all noise had faded into the background.

Venti felt weird.

He yawned and stretched his wings. His beak made a clicking sound when it snapped shut.

Wait…

“What is going o-oomph-!” 

Without warning, Venti was hit by something weighty. He squawked in pain as he fell from his tree branch down to the ground below. He tried to slow his fall with anemo, but the net around him disrupted those plans, in the end the wind only slightly cushioned his fall.

“Oops…poor birdie… I hope you didn’t get hurt.” Paimon floated above Venti’s face as he struggled to try getting out of the net. She seemed to be very uncaring about his personal space.

Venti blinked up at her. “Birdie? I must say your nicknames are getting-” He cut himself off, for instead of words, Venti could feel chirps and formless notes coming out of his mouth.

Venti closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was not normal.

If I open my eyes and see that I still have feathers and a beak, I swear to-

“Huh. That’s…very odd.” The traveler walked closer, muttering under their breath.

Venti opened his eyes again.

He most definitely had feathers and a beak.

This was not normal.

He was about to attempt to turn back into a better form, but the Traveler swiftly picked up the net, interrupting the thought. He laid on the bottom of it helplessly in a mess of light green feathers and chirped; he was ignored. He needed at least a small amount of focus for his transformation, so he sighed and let himself be subject to observation.

This was humiliating. He was an Archon. A God of freedom! Yet, he was trapped in this uncomfortable net and couldn't get out. This should not have been happening to Venti of all people…

“Ehe you two, can’t you tell it’s me? This isn’t funny…” More chirping. Not normal. 

The two in front of Venti didn’t even send a glance in his direction.

“It’s not going into subspace, which normally means that I can’t bring this bird to the teapot but…”

“But…?” Paimon tilted her head and looked at the Traveler.

The Traveler narrowed their eyes at Venti, Venti narrowed them back. “But normally the net would have disappeared by now, so hypothetically that should mean it can go into the teapot, right?”

Paimon flew in closer to Venti. “Huh, that is odd. Should we ask Wakamurasaki about it?”

“I’m… a little apprehensive to try teleporting with this thing, it might mess up the subspace storage or…I dunno, something like that.”

“This thing ?” Venti’s protests came out more like a squawk than a chirp that time.

The Traveler raised an eyebrow at Venti. “And…I don’t think this bird would be very happy with that idea either.”

“What do we do now?” Paimon asked earnestly.

“Now you let me go.” Venti’s chirps and attempts at getting out of the net were once again ignored.

“We could ask around. Maybe someone could tell us more about this bird?”

Paimon floated around the Traveler in a circle. “Ooo good idea! Who here in Mondstadt would know about birds?” 

“Venti?”

“I’m right here!” Angry chirping made Paimon flinch slightly, but Venti was otherwise ignored.

“He would definitely be the best option, but he’s kinda hard to find even on a good day.”

“That’s really all you have to say about me?” He wriggled in the net.

“True…” The Traveler put a hand to their chin and tilted their head back. A few birds happened to fly by overhead, as was common around the Windrise tree. “Diluc might be able to tell us something.”

“Ooh! Good idea! He’s probably around the winery at this time of day.”

The Traveler nodded, and without any additional fanfare, they took an about face and started walking, holding Venti’s net in the same way that one holds a bag of groceries.

Since Venti was clearly going to be ignored, and he wasn’t able to break out of the net, he decided to close his eyes and focus. The Traveler had stopped talking and Paimon had disappeared to wherever it was she went when she wasn’t needed, so this was the best time to try turning back.

He focused on the sensation of the feathers on his skin and the odd angle of his wings within the net. He envisioned his form as a wind sprite and how the sensations around him would change as he did. He breathed in and out, feeling the Anemo energy from the air around him enter his body.

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

He opened his eyes.

Nothing changed.

Again.

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

He closed his eyes tighter.

He envisioned his desired form as hard as he possibly could.

He breathed in.

He opened his eyes.

Nothing changed.

Not normal and not good in the slightest.

Venti never had problems like this with changing his form; he’s never changed form in the middle of sleeping, he would never have trouble transforming like this unless he was injured, and he’s never had to try this hard to do what he can naturally.

Anemo was shapeless, it moved smoothly and without set structure. Venti was similar, he has been one with the wind since he first entered this world. Despite that, he couldn’t do the one simple thing that wind was meant to do.

Not normal.

This cycle of trying and failing to turn back continued all throughout the long walk to the Dawn Winery. The longer that it went on, the more panic rose in his mind, and the more helpless he felt. Nothing was working. If the Traveler noticed this panic, they likely just ignored it, as they made no sign nor statement to question Venti’s behavior.

There had to be something causing him to be unable to transform.

This wasn’t necessarily a shocking revelation when presented with the evidence, but it was certainly a concerning one.

Venti wasn’t even sure what could be significant enough to cause this to occur. He had thought these transformations of form were unrestrictable entirely as they were a natural part of his physiology. Though, it wasn’t like he really had much information to base that assumption off of, for all he knew this could all have some perfectly normal explanation and he just had never encountered it before.

Still, not good.

He wished he could go back to Windrise. It always helped him think better when he was surrounded by that divine energy that seemed to permeate the very roots of his favorite tree, a feeling that only became more soothing once he lost his gnosis.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get to daydream for much longer before the Traveler started knocking on the doors of the winery.

The head maid opened the door and Paimon (appearing once more) asked if Diluc was in for a ‘bird-related manner.’ Venti was then shaken around in his net in the way that one brandishes a bag of mora before a transaction in order to prove that this manner was, in fact, bird-related. The maid smiled and invited the three of them inside while she fetched Master Diluc.

As they waited, the Traveler immediately started snooping around, which usually Venti would be all for, but the net was really starting to get uncomfortable. He whistled sadly to try and communicate this idea, which caused the Traveler to look at him oddly, but unfortunately didn’t cause them to let him go.

Luckily, Diluc appeared incredibly quickly and rushed up to the Traveler. “I heard something about a bird?”

Paimon very quickly summarized what happened while the Traveler held out the net that Venti was in. He felt quite helpless. 

Diluc’s facial expression became more and more concerned as the short story went on. Venti noticed as his eyes flitted continuously between Venti’s unwillingly avian form and the Traveler holding the net like one holds a freshly caught fish.

“Any ideas?” Paimon finished off her speech, making a gesture to Diluc for his opinion.

He furrowed his brow and tilted his head. “Well …” Slowly, Diluc grabbed the bag from the Traveler and practically cradled Venti in his arms (which would have been nice, had it not been incredibly mortifying). “For one , you could release this poor bird before he gets hurt. He's already managed to tangle itself in the net.” There was an edge of judgment to his tone. “Honestly, you probably shouldn’t have thrown a net at him in the first place.”

For what it was worth, both the Traveler and Paimon looked remorseful at that, but all that Venti could focus on was the immense relief he felt when Master Diluc managed to somehow undo the top of the net.

“I am forever indebted in your favor.” Venti expressed his gratitude, but of course, none of them could understand it through the chirping.

“See? Look how grateful he is to be free.” Diluc softly adjusted Venti’s feathered body so that he was sitting on his arm. It was such an odd experience that Venti couldn’t help but allow it. Plus, this form was relatively large and he might fall if he shifted too much. The man then brushed a light hand through Venti’s head feathers.

He turned his head to the side to look in Master Diluc’s direction. “Woah. At least take me to dinner first.” Unfortunately, Venti’s incredibly hilarious joke fell on deaf ears.

“He?” Paimon floated closer to Venti. He resisted the urge to bite her nose. “How do you know it’s a guy?” 

Diluc scoffed as if it were obvious. “Only a male would have plumage as…exotic as this.” He tilted his head curiously at Venti.

“Exotic? It’s not like I chose to look like this!” Venti squawked. He tried to jump off of Master Diluc’s arm, but almost as if the man anticipated it, he simply put his free hand on Venti’s chest feathers to stop him from moving around too much.

Vaguely, after ceasing his objections and the initial annoyance of being unable to leave his current position, Venti realized that he didn’t actually know what he looked like beyond the blue-green mess of feathers that greeted him when he was in the net. However, his point still stood.

“Though…” Diluc continued. “I’ve never seen a bird like this before. You were right to be curious, Traveler.” Venti couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable as he was scrutinized so intently.

“So you can’t help us?” Paimon asked sadly.

“I never said that .” He sounded more prideful than was strictly necessary. “Follow me.”

With the arm that wasn’t currently holding Venti, Master Diluc made a beckoning gesture and started walking. The Traveler and Paimon obliged and Venti was brought along for the ride whether he wanted to or not.

The four of them ascended the stairs and ended up in some sort of a study. Master Diluc finally allowed Venti some freedom by way of putting him on a desk rather than trapping him on his arm. Though, it wasn’t truly freedom because when he moved more than two steps, the man sent a sharp look his way. Venti was now starting to understand why that falcon of his was so well behaved.

Next to where Venti sat, there was a large encyclopedia of bird species. Curiously, Venti looked down at it, noticing that it seemed well worn. He was aware that Master Diluc liked birds, but he had no idea the extent. Clearly the Traveler did though, as he was the second resort after Venti.

Diluc leaned down over the book and started flipping through the pages, the Traveler was peering over his shoulder and Paimon was floating nearby. If Venti felt scrutinized before, he felt as if he were being borderline dissected now. Master Diluc kept glancing between Venti and the book, muttering things about ‘unique tail feathers’ and ‘varied calls.’ A few times, as they flipped through the gigantic book, the Traveler would lean in and whisper something about ‘abnormal behaviors,’ which Venti would have taken offense to, but they did think he was supposed to be a normal bird, so he let it slide for now.

Eventually, after a long stretch of time, a quiet discussion, and page-turning that got increasingly more thoughtful, they finally landed on a page. As there were three people leaning over the book, Venti wasn’t actually able to see what they were looking at for the entirety of their little debate session. Luckily, all three of them took a step (or a short flight, in Paimon’s case) back as they all stared intensely at Venti. He glanced down at the image page and finally understood why there was so much confusion in their hushed conversation.

Lyrebirds, (an eerily fitting name, all things considered) were brown. Venti, from what he could glean by looking down at himself, was very much an unnatural green. He looked over at the trio who brought him here, all in identical poses with squinting eyes, a tilted head, a hand on chin, and a general air of puzzlement. Venti stared back at them just as, if not more, confused considering that he’d never heard of this creature before yet he was stuck in its form.

“So…” Paimon was the first to break the silence. “Why does it look like that?”

“ Rude. ”

“No clue.” Diluc’s eyes never left Venti, who was currently trying to lift his long tail up into the air in order to see his blue striped tail feathers. “There’s no mutation that would cause this coloration...At least not to this extent”

“Is there some kind of magic involved?” The Traveler asked

Diluc hummed. “It’s certainly possible.”

The trio spoke for a while longer, but since he couldn’t contribute to the conversation, Venti immediately stopped listening. He doubted that, even if they knew he was the weird bird currently sitting on top of Master Diluc’s desk, they would be able to help with his current predicament, so he opted in favor of reading over the page spread out in front of him. 

If he was going to be stuck like this for the unforeseeable future, then he might as well learn more about the bird he’s supposed to be.

He skipped the scientific information at the top of the page and started at the interesting part. 

“The Lyrebird is a ground-dwelling bird-” Not even a sentence in, Venti had to pause.

Ground-dwelling?

No. It couldn’t be.

He skipped a few sentences and read on, his worst suspicions being confirmed. “They are poor fliers and rarely fly except for periods of downhill gliding.”

Venti was essentially flightless?  

No.

No no.

That wasn’t going to pass.

Evolution would have to suck it. There were entire story books dedicated to Barbatos and his encouragement to his children to fly free. He had wind, he had courage, and he had wings gosh darn it. If he had to be stuck in this random, unfamiliar, feathery body, Venti was going to fly whether it was with anemo or sheer spite alone. There were no if, ands, or buts about it. 

And actually…

Venti eyed the trio of people standing across the room. They were still speaking to each other and all of them had conveniently stopped looking at Venti at one point or another in their conversation. Venti then eyed the door to the hallway that had been surreptitiously left open. 

As much as the Traveler, Paimon, and Diluc likely wanted to figure out what was going on with the weird bird that they found. Venti really didn’t want to stick around to figure out what they were planning to do to achieve that goal. Not that he didn’t trust them of course, but he wasn’t interested in being put in any cages or being prodded at and observed any time soon.

Taking one last glance to make sure that the others were distracted, Venti took a deep breath, stepped a few claw lengths back, and ran for the edge of the table. He jumped, spreading his wings out beside him, and with a flap of his wings and a small gust of wind, he gained the necessary altitude to make a mad dash (or flight) out the door.

It was at this point that Paimon exclaimed loudly. Making vague noises and pointing at Venti’s long tail disappearing out the door. Both Diluc and the Traveler jumped into action and chased after Venti who was gaining some considerable speed through the use of anemo.

Normally, Venti wasn’t exactly in a fully horizontal position as he flew, even in his archon form, so he wasn’t used to being quite so aerodynamic. That being said, he considered himself an expert flier, so it was easy to accommodate for the slightly too fast trajectory.

In the main foyer, Venti quickly realized a few flaws in his plan. The most glaring one was pointed out by Master Diluc as he rushed behind. 

He held out his arm to stop the Traveler and Paimon. “There shouldn’t be any open windows, so just wait for him to tire himself out.”

There indeed were no open windows in the manor, but that didn’t mean that Venti wasn’t going to try escaping anyway. He took a sharp turn midair to avoid crashing into the wall and perched high up on a chandelier. Down below, the Traveler was saying something to the others, but Venti couldn’t quite hear it. Whatever it was, it seemed to placate Master Diluc, as he nodded and relaxed his posture.

Venti scanned the room and ignored the intense staring coming from below. Obviously, none of the windows were open, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t open. If he was quick enough, he could swoop down, open a window and fly out before any of them could catch him. It was risky, but it was his best shot.

Preparing himself, Venti took a breath and jumped from his perch, the chandelier shaking slightly as he did so. He spread his wings and swooped down to the nearest window, too focused on escaping quickly to look behind him and see the trio of people observing him quietly.

With a bit of trouble, he unlocked the window and pushed it open, wasting no time in jumping out to freedom and taking to the skies with a gust of wind. He was finally free, and he wasn’t looking back. 

Now he could finally figure out why he was stuck in this avian form.

The Traveler walked up to the open window and watched the bird go with interest. They closed the window, noting the rather complex lock, and turned to look at the others.

Paimon held up a feather that the creature dropped up to the light and Master Diluc observed it curiously.

Just what was that?

Chapter Text

It had been quite some time since Venti last saw Mondstadt from so high up. It was nice. 

He flew through the air leisurely, getting used to his new form. Due to the use of anemo to keep him at a comfortable altitude, the wind under his wings was mostly artificial, but the feeling he got as he glided smoothly through the air was not.

He circled around gracefully, descending through the air to land on a branch of the Windrise tree. Beyond this being his favorite place to recharge and think, this was also where Venti was when he had that dream. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that he dreamt about falling through the air into Windrise before waking up as a flightless bird. Unfortunately though, after some thorough investigation, nothing was out of the ordinary.

The question was, what now?

He had his theories about how this all happened, but they were all vague, and if his hunch was right, there probably wasn’t going to be much evidence to find regarding this slight against him.

Obviously, his biggest problem that needed solving was figuring out how to get out of this form, but something like this seemed unprecedented. There weren’t exactly many cases of people being suddenly and inexplicably turned into birds.

He sighed, looking around as he further pondered. 

The city of Mondstadt bustled in the distance, so full of life. It had changed so much in its thousands of years of existence, yet it was still just as lively. It made Venti proud to think about. He looked at Decarabian’s dilapidated tower, barely visible in the distance. Back then, he never would have imagined how much would change in the future.

Hm.

Past Mondstadt…transformation…birds…

…

Venti wondered if Lady Vennessa was around anywhere.

He peered at the branches around him. She usually preferred to hang around Windrise so she couldn’t be too far. 

After failing to find her from his low branch, he used his wings to help him hop the short distance up to the higher branches. A falcon of her size should be rather easy to spot, so Venti deduced that she was elsewhere after not seeing her.

It was no matter however. He closed his eyes and sang a familiar melody, one that he usually preferred to play on his lyre but worked all the same with his voice. He trusted the wind to carry the melodic message to the proper recipient. Now all he needed to do was wait for her to arrive.

And arrive she did. 

Quickly diving down from wherever it was she had been flying, Lady Vennessa landed directly next to Venti on the branch with scarily accurate precision. The tree’s limb shook slightly under the sudden landing, but otherwise, her appearance did not cause any additional disturbances, not even to the crystal flies resting just a short distance away. Venti tilted his head and smiled at her arrival.

“Barbatos.” 

Venti nodded, internally he was really hoping this worked. “Lady Vennessa, long time no see.” 

“Indeed.” She replied, sending relief through his mind.

Vennessa responded easily to his words, even in this different form. That meant that at least some of Mondstat’s children would be able to understand him. 

“You’re probably wondering why I called you here right?” Lady Vennessa nodded, so he continued on. “As you may have noticed, I ah… I’m currently taking on the form of a bird.”

“I did think it quite unusual. I have never seen nor heard of this form before.”

“Yeeaah…well…I uh…I need advice...” Venti didn’t really consider this before he commenced this conversation, but it was a little embarrassing to admit what was happening to him. 

“What for?” Her eyes had narrowed ever so slightly, likely noticing that he seemed tentative in his request. “What problem could have possibly arisen that the Lord of this nation must consult me for.”

“Heh. Quite astute.” That was a valid question, but it wasn’t helping Venti’s sudden bashfulness. “So…as we both know, upon your ascension to the heavens, you assumed the form of a mighty falcon.” 

“Yes. Earning me the title of Falcon of the West. It was a rather memorable day.” She responded tersely as if to say ‘get to the point.’

“Ehe I’m just making sure we’re on the same page here...” Mostly, he was stalling, and it was a fact that was definitely evident to the falcon in front of him. “I suppose my question is, if something similar hypothetically happened to yours truly, how would I hypothetically go about finding a way to revert back to my original form?” Unable to drag it out for much longer, Venti resolved to ask the question.

Vennessa did not immediately respond to Venti’s inquiry. She simply sat quietly, slowly looking Venti up and down, from the top of his head feathers to the tip of his long blue tail. 

Eventually, she made direct eye contact with Venti. “Barbatos.”

“Yes?”

“You are a being of wind, correct?”

“Indeed I am.”

“You have taken on multiple forms over the centuries; just as the wind always changes, so too do you.”

“Yup.”

“Do not tell me that you are unable to change shape from the current form sitting in front of me.” Her eyes narrowed into slits.

Venti hesitated, and that was all Vennessa needed to sigh and look off across the landscape of Windrise. “How has this happened?”

“I’m unsure…One moment I fall asleep in these very branches, the next, I’ve awoken to find that I’ve taken a form I cannot manipulate.”

Vennessa shook her head slowly. “That is certainly troubling.” She sighed. “However, just because I happened to take on the shape of a bird, does not mean I can offer any valuable insight into your problem. Our situations are entirely different.”

Venti inclined his head at her. “Are they really though?”

That simple response gave Lady Vennessa some pause. She stared back at Lord Barbatos as he stared at her.

She closed her eyes and thought for a short moment. “…I presume you have not lost your other abilities on account of the fact that you have called me here and are currently conversing with no difficulty.”

“You’d be correct.” 

“And I still sense the same amount of anemo energy from you as I did the last time we spoke.” Vennessa’s eyes remained

“That’s certainly a relief to hear...” 

“Meaning that most common internal problems can be ruled out as the cause of your issue...” Lady Vennessa shifted on the branch. Slowly, her eyes opened and found their way back to Venti’s, shining with realization. “You’re not here because of my current avian form, you’re here because of who awarded it.”

Venti just smiled in response…or well, he smiled as much as a being with a beak could smile.

He was glad that she was so quick on the uptake, it was a quality she had kept sharp after her many years as the Lionfang Knight.

Vennessa shifted closer to Venti, her voice low. “Do you truly think that they had a part to play in this?” The falcon’s eyes looked up towards the sky.

Venti shrugged, his vibrant wings lifting with the motion. “Honestly? Not really, but I’m entertaining as many theories as I can.” He answered with a vague shrug. “Can’t hurt to consider it.”

Lady Vennessa nodded in deep understanding before scooting back to where she was. “If that is the true reason that you called me here for consultation, I can really only provide three pieces of advice pertaining to your plight.”

“That is more than I could ever hope for.” Venti said truthfully. He called her here on a whim, so to get any information at all was of great fortune.

“My first point is that Dvalin has experience with changing against one’s will. Should you look for more help, seek him out first.”

Venti hummed in acknowledgement. He hadn’t considered that.

“Second, my ascension was brought about because I fulfilled some secret, unknown criteria of divinity set by those above. Your return to a normal body may need to be elicited in a similar way—whatever that may be for one who is already a god.”

That was actually a really good point…though it unfortunately brought up more questions that didn’t have answers.

“The third thing I shall say is this: It may not be a coincidence that your transformation happened in the branches of this grand oak tree. Its connection between the heavens and the earth is undisputed.”

Venti nodded, he figured as much, but it was always nice to have another opinion with which to base his deductions upon.

“With that being said, it may be wise to leave at once.”

Venti tilted his head, but Lady Vennessa started to elaborate.

“As stated, a deep connection with the heavens is evident. For that reason, while your form is stuck in this fashion, staying here will either improve your speed of recovery, or impede it.” She once again lowered her voice to a whisper. “In fact, this very conversation could be actively making your plight worse…” She paused and looked at him meaningfully. “…or it may make you better, but do you really want to take those chances?”

A small chill ran down Venti’s spine. The both of them had been careful with what they did and did not say, but she raised a good point. “I understand.” He lifted his wings and prepared to take off from the branches of the tree.

“Barbatos.”

Venti paused and looked over to the great falcon beside him. 

“I hope for a swift resolution to your problems.”

“I am grateful for your well-wishes.” He said sincerely.

“May the wind bring you solace.” She bowed her head.

“Until we meet again my child.” With that, Venti pushed off from the branch beneath him and with a gust of wind, he was up in the sky.

He rarely got the chance to speak with Lady Vennessa, so despite the circumstances, he found himself whistling contentedly as he took to the skies. She was a very sharp individual who proved to surprise him every time they spoke.

Though he planned on flying straight to Old Mondstadt from Windrise, Venti flew over the lively city of current-day and couldn’t help but land on a tall building to watch the people living their lives down below.

A long line of people stood behind the counter at Good Hunter. A woman carrying her child laughed as she conversed with an old friend. A lovestruck teenager threw a coin into the fountain wishing for Lord Barbatos to give him a sign over his crush’s feelings. A gust of wind blew a bright red leaf into the water at the bottom of the fountain right where the boy sat.

(For the record, Venti had no jurisdiction over that type of knowledge. The young man could interpret that sign however he wanted and it would be as good a guess as Venti’s. However, he wished him luck in his romantic endeavors either way.)

A group of young children playing with a ball noticed Venti’s bright blue shape on top of the building and pointed up at him. Ever the performer, Venti got closer to the ledge and raised his long tail-feathers for the kids to see. They squealed in delight, drawing attention and thus drawing more eyes to Venti. He chirped and whistled a few times, trying his best to channel the tunes he usually plucks on his lyre into his voice for the people to hear. They ooh’ed and aw’ed so he hopped from side to side a few times and continued to sing an old lyre-song that he hadn’t played in ages, perhaps Venessa had put him in the mood for it.

He had amassed a surprisingly sizable crowd before he decided to jump from the edge and move on with a flap of his wings. After all, he’d be stuck here all day if he started putting on a show. The people who had listened to his singing watched him fly away with fascination, he whistled a short tune for them as he left on the wind.

After arriving in Old Mondstat from the city, Venti made a quick detour. Instead of heading straight to Decarabian’s tower to call Dvalin, he turned mid air and landed on a well-tended stretch of grass a little ways away. 

The dandelions were large and bright yellow surrounding the simple stone marker. He landed softly in the grass and looked up at the stone. With a small bit of wind, he brushed the dust away. The rock was so weathered that it almost blended in with all the rest nearby, but Venti would never forget its location.

“Hello my friend, it’s been a while hasn’t it?”

The wind blew softly through the grass, allowing some of the older dandelions to let loose their swirling seeds.

“I thought I’d stop by since I was in the area.”

The sun shone brightly on the two of them.

“As for why I’m here…well it’s kind of a funny story.”

He raked a clawed foot through the grass underneath him as he recounted his eventful day. It was serene and provided a welcome reprieve from the stress he faced prior. It also helped him get some of his thoughts in order.

“…Hah, so weird right? Anywho, I should probably talk with Dvalin soon.” 

He walked up to the stone and pressed his forehead against it. It was warm from the sunshine.

“I’ll speak with you soon, alright?” He backed up from the stone and smiled. “Till we meet again, old friend.”

He lifted off and headed toward the top of Decarabian’s tower. 

As he approached, avoiding the many anemo barriers that were in the way, it was clear that Dvalin wasn’t in currently, but he was even easier to call than Vanessa on account of their unique bond. He whistled a familiar tune as he flew, knowing the wind would carry the message.

Landing on the cold stone, Venti didn’t have to wait long for the anemo-blessed dragon to appear.

“Lord Barbatos.” The large dragon hovered next to the tower, looking down upon Venti’s comparatively small form. “It has been some time since you last visited me…I was afraid you had forgotten about me.”

“Dvalin! You know I could never forget about you!” Venti paced side to side as he spoke with the dragon, who followed him easily with his eyes. “Didn’t I visit you only a week or two ago?”

“Hm. Perhaps.”

Though Dvalin probably wouldn’t see it, Venti rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Maybe he had taught him to be a little clingy over the years…“Anyway, I’ve encountered a bit of a predicament and I could use some advice.”

Dvalin nodded sagely. “Yes, I was informed by Lady Vennessa by way of the wind. You are stuck in this…feathered form and are not nearly powerful enough to change back?” 

Venti’s eye twitched. “Well I- heh…well I wouldn’t have phrased it quite like... Did Vennessa really say it like that?” He made a noise in between a throat clear and a cough. He didn’t even know Dvalin and Vennessa talked with each other, let alone gossiped. And to think, he said such flattering things about her to his old friend a few minutes ago. “But that’s more or less correct.”

“I had thought that Lady Vennessa was misconstruing the truth. How sad it is that you have been weakened enough to have fallen to such a sorry ailment.”

Venti held back a sigh. “…yes, thank you Dvalin.” He knew for a fact that Dvalin was being incredibly genuine here which somehow made it worse. “Sooo…since you already know the short of it, you wouldn’t happen to have anything to share would you? You’ve definitely had your fair share of experience regarding changes.”

Dvalin stayed silent for a long moment, the air from his wing-beats made a whooshing sound to fill the quiet. Venti gazed up at him encouragingly as he waited for an answer.

“I do have experience with unwilling changes made under an outside force…” Dvalin started, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. “However, the circumstances are different and I’m afraid that I do not have nearly enough experience in this area. I apologize.”

Venti hummed in understanding. “That’s okay. Your honesty and willingness to help are still appreciated.” 

Venti really didn’t think there was much that any other being could do or say that would help him very much in the first place. He had expected this to happen. He smiled in reassurance at Dvalin, who seemed to enjoy the praise, his long tail twitching slightly.

Upon seeing Venti preparing to leave, Dvalin opened his mouth once more. “Ah. Barbatos?” 

Venti looked up at him with his full attention.

“Though I do not know how helpful it may be, a word of advice has appeared in my mind just now.”

“No matter how helpful it is believed to be, anything may come in handy eventually.” Venti replied, stretching his wings out to prepare for flight.

“Should you find yourself in trouble, do not hesitate to rely on those around you.” He made a contented hum. “It is why I can speak with you as I have today.” His tail twitched again in happiness.

With a gust of wind, Venti managed to lift off of the ground directly in front of Dvalin’s face. “I shall keep that in mind.” He winked. 

Dvalin’s eyes closed in his best attempt at a smile. “Safe travels Barbatos. My well wishes for a swift recovery shall follow you on the wind.”

“Thank you Dvalin.” He made a small circle in the air and started flying away. “Until next time.”

Venti flew slowly, contemplating the conversation he just had.

‘Relying on those around you,’ while ultimately simple sounding, was something that Venti really didn’t (and couldn’t) often do. Not for a lack of trust of course, but simply because he couldn’t burden the children of Mondstat to solve all his problems. This simple act of asking for advice was really as far as Venti could reasonably let himself go.

However, it was pertinent to note, that even if Dvalin only mentioned it offhandedly, Venti had been weakened. Though it happened ages ago by this point, perhaps his long-term loss of gnosis via the Fatui was causing side effects. 

On that topic, Venti landed softly on the grass next to the eastern outskirts of Wolvendom.

He’d consulted two of the Four Winds already, so he might as well get one more opinion while he was nearby.

Really though, he wasn’t sure how much help Andrius would be. He was always the most…feisty of the four.

Venti didn’t mind that though, so he started walking into the forest on foot, allowing the Wolf of the North to sense him long before he consulted him officially, thus giving him ample time to make Venti turn back if he didn’t want visitors. 

Plus, the grass was soft underfoot and hopefully the trek to Andrius’ arena wouldn’t take too long either way.

Quietly whistling a soft tune, Venti made his way toward the dark forest.

Chapter Text

The wind blew pleasantly through the grass around him, creating a tickling feeling with each movement. It was a nice sensation.

With a pep in his step, Venti appreciated the sights of the forest around him as he ventured through the trees. The berry bushes were full of unpicked fruit, the flowers on the ground bloomed cheerfully, and the trees stood proudly, reaching far up into the sky. He looked around some more and noticed that there was an odd shape lying amidst the green grass in the distance.

Curiously, Venti turned and made his way over to the unknown object. It shined under the sunlight and seemed manmade, however, due to the long grass and Venti’s small form, that was all that he could make out as he approached.

What could possibly…Ow-!

Focused so intently on the strange object lying on the ground, Venti failed to notice the large stone in his path. His clawed foot collided straight into the hard rock, causing Venti to cry out in all the pain that came with a stubbed toe.

Closing his eyes hard and hopping around on his unharmed foot, Venti unknowingly stumbled straight into the foreign object that he couldn’t quite identify. 

Adding insult to injury (or really just injury to injury), it closed around his leg with a loud snap, making Venti cry out even louder.

Hunting trap.

Oh Celestia. Hunting trap. It was a hunting trap. Venti stepped into a hunting trap. A very sharp and painful hunting trap. Ow ow ow ow. Gods, it really hurt. He fell over immediately as the pain spiked up his leg. Ow. Goodness gracious it was painful. Ouch.

Venti tried to breathe in deep and think clearly through the pain but it was a little hard with a large, deadly, metal-toothed device digging into his leg. What was he even supposed to do in this situation? He shut his eyes tight and continued breathing.

He needed to find the nearest statue of the seven. Without his gnosis, that or Windrise were really his only hope of healing quickly from injuries like these.

With his one free foot (that still was sore from being bashed into a rock), Venti attempted a step forward, trying his best not to jostle the trapped foot as he dragged it behind him. Despite his efforts, a loud crunch was heard and pain jolted through his leg, causing him to fall back down into the grass.

Celestia. This really wasn’t good.

Amidst his deep breathing and internal curses to all the higher powers he could name, Venti heard footsteps approaching quickly.

He pried a tightly shut eye open and felt relief flood through his body when he saw three people rushing toward him.

“Please free me! Please? I- ow I could really use some help right now!” Venti called out to them, and despite his words coming out as pained squawks and chirping, the trio seemed to pick up on his distress.

Swiftly, one of the men knelt down and started to undo the trap. “Who placed this trap here? We’re not supposed to be hunting this close to Wolvendom!” Vaguely, Venti registered the man’s voice as he talked, but he was mostly preoccupied with the metal piercing his leg, not really processing the words.

“I’m eternally in your debt. Thank you so-”

Abruptly, once the trap came undone, the person grabbed Venti by the legs and held him upside down. Turning to the man and woman who were with him, he gestured to Venti.

“Excuse me?! I’m very clearly injured, there's no need to be so rough! Let me g-ow!” He tried to wriggle out of the man’s grasp, only causing more pain in the process.

“I’ve never seen this species before,” The man holding Venti spoke up. This time Venti was able to focus enough to hear it. “Think it’s good to eat?”

…

Eat?

Trying his best to ignore the pain and blood, (as in, the blood running from his injury up his leg, alongside the blood that was currently rushing to his head in this position), Venti took the time to actually look at the three people who rescued him.

Hunters.

Of course. Who else would come rushing when they heard an animal struggling in a trap?

Just his luck.

“I dunno.” The woman shrugged. “It might not be native to Mondstadt.”

“N- not native to Mondstadt?! Of course I’m-!” Venti cut himself off when he realized that’s probably not the part of this situation he should be taking issue with. “Let me go! I’m not edible!”

“But I mean, look at it!” The hunter holding Venti shook him slightly, which, mixed with the blood loss and upside down position, made him feel queasy. “The colors are totally Mondstadtian, and it sure looks like a game bird.”

Both of the other hunters nodded at that. 

“How about we just don’t eat unknown animals and let me go!” The trio ignored Venti’s loud noises.

“What’s your stance on this?” The lady nudged the third member who hadn’t spoken up this whole time.

Said member put a hand to his chin and tilted his head. “Whether it’s edible or not, it doesn’t really matter. We should definitely let it go.”

“Thank you. Finally a voice of reason.”

“Why?” The one holding Venti lifted him up higher and scrutinized him. 

“Because according to rumors, that’s…” He pointed his finger directly at Venti’s upside down form. “…one of Lord Barbatos’ angels right there.”

“…”

”…”

“What.” Venti was focusing really hard on not fainting or throwing up, but that statement temporarily made him forget about all his other problems. “Come again?”

The other two members of the group also seemed to be confused at that, looking at the man as if he were crazy.

“You two haven’t heard? It’s the big talk of the town right now.” 

“This thing?” The hunter once again lightly shook Venti from side to side, the movement sending another strong wave of nausea to his head. “I haven’t heard anything about any angels.”

The second member of the trio nodded in agreement, she tilted her head at Venti”s upside down form. “And aren’t angels supposed to look less…bird-like?”

The man crossed his arms. “Angels can come in any form dummy!”

Venti shut his eyes tight when the hunter held his arms out to placate his two companions. “Let’s not get heated, you two.” He turned to the other man. “So um…why is this supposedly an angel sent by Barbatos?”

Venti would like to know that information too, but he was afraid that if he opened his beak to comment, he would either cough up blood or vomit…or maybe vomit up blood, he really wasn’t feeling well.

He made another gesture at Venti, though he didn’t see it because his eyes were still tightly shut. “This thing,” (Thing? Really?) “was seen in the city singing and putting on a show in the middle of Mond.”

“That happened an hour ago at most!” Venti thought to himself surprisedly.

“…That’s cool and all, but that…doesn’t really constitute divine power.” The woman commented.

“That’s what you’d think! But apparently, it looks like some sort of mimic bird from Natlan but instead of being brown and flightless, this bird is the color of the pure wind and flies like it’s nothing!”

“Mimic bird?”

“Mimic bird?” The man (whose hand definitely had a fair amount of blood on it at this point) voiced Venti’s thoughts exactly.

“I don’t think that’s what it’s called…it’s an L-something name…guess it’s some sort of bird that mimics what it hears. This one even sang old Mondstadtian folk tunes in the middle of the city, complete with the sound of a lyre.” 

Mimics what it hears?

That was…hm. That changed things.

The man shook Venti again and all thoughts in his mind stopped as he felt the dizziness taking over. Venti would have to ponder that revelation later.

“Are mimic birds edible?” The dizzying hunter asked.

“No!” Venti found it within him to object.

“We can’t!” The woman cried out.

“Maybe?” The other man replied.

The woman shook her head vigorously. “After all that you’ve said, we can’t kill this bird.”

“That’s true.” The other man nodded. “We don’t know the repercussions of eating an angel of Barbatos, or if it’s even possible.”

“Well…” The woman shook her head. “To be clear, I sincerely doubt this thing is an angel, but if what he's saying is true, the people of Mondstadt would be devastated if they found out we ate it,” She elaborated.

Had Venti not been hanging upside down and continuously losing blood from a large cut on his potentially broken leg, he would have laughed at the absurdity of this situation. He didn’t even have angels! Has the church been telling people that he has angels? Because he didn’t! The closest things he had were the four winds, but they were nowhere near angels! If they were angels, Dvalin and Vennessa wouldn’t gossip about him behind his back!

“Sooo, we’re just…letting this bird go?” Thankfully, the man did not shake Venti around this time. “We’re not going to nurse it to health or anything?”

“I guess so.” “We don’t have the resources.”  The two hunters replied in unison.

“Alright, hopefully it’ll be fine.”

The man then proceeded to gently set Venti down in the blood stained grass, further contributing to Venti’s head spinning.

“Maybe we’ll be blessed by Barbatos for saving one of his angels.” The trio started to walk away as if nothing happened and as if Venti didn’t have a broken leg that was still bleeding.

“You’d sooner be smitten down by my own hand!” Venti called after them, his yelling being translated into pained chirps. Heavy winds blew the grass every which way around him.

The hunters ignored him, but Venti didn’t care. He was free from their grasp and he needed a statue immediately, even more than he did before.

Venti’s head was swimming and he was immensely nauseous, but he needed to get out of here now. 

With a strong burst of wind, he managed to get himself off the ground, tucking his legs close to his body. His dizziness was definitely affecting his ability to fly in a straight line, but Venti didn’t care, an almost animalistic desire to relieve himself of this pain and confusion had pure adrenaline rushing through his veins. He wasn’t even looking where he was going.

Using pure elemental sense, Venti instinctively flew toward what he thought was the strongest point of elemental energy close by. In fact, at some point in his mad dash (flight?) Venti had shut his eyes entirely, trying to prevent the motion around him from making him even more nauseous.

In what felt like simultaneously one hour and one minute, Venti dove directly downwards at the sense of a statue below him. Right before he crashed into the hard stone though, he opened his eyes, spread his wings to either side, and landed softly on the ground. He bowed his head down and with a heaving chest, managed to pull some healing energy from the divine statue in front of him.

An itchy feeling enveloped his leg, other foot, and his head as the precious life-giving effect restored his health.

Though, oddly enough, it didn’t seem to make him less disoriented as it should’ve, it just healed his injuries.

Letting out a tired but relieved sigh, Venti looked up at the statue in front of him confusedly. Slowly, his eyes traced up the carved stone from the bottom of the base up to the tasteful depiction of…

…

That was not Barbatos.

Venti blinked a few times, his wide eyes staring up at the decidedly not tasteful depiction of an archon who was decidedly not Barbatos. 

He glanced around at his surroundings.

And this was decidedly not Mondstadt.

Mentally, in his mind, Venti imagined a very simple map of Mondstadt and Liyue.

If Venti took off from the east-most part of Wolvendom…

…and the closest statue from there was right next to the Dawn Winery…

How the hell did he end up in Dihua Marsh?! Was he really that dizzy when he flew over here?

…

Was this what it felt like when a mortal got blackout drunk? Venti’s alcohol tolerance combined with his status as a god didn’t let him experience drunkenness the same way.

…

That wasn’t important. Venti shook his head quickly as if to clear his thoughts. The most important thing for now was just getting back to Mondstadt. He spread his wings and used a burst of anemo to lift from the ground.

“Alright, time to-oof!” 

Before he could even start flapping his wings, Venti felt himself get snatched out of the air by an unknown assailant, and before he could even let out a confused squawk, he was placed into some sort of elemental cage.

“Not again!”

Infuriated at both his bad luck and the person who just had to catch him out of the air before he could fly away, Venti let out as piercing of a shriek as he could manage with his birdly vocal cords.

“Ugh! Quiet!” The person brought the cage up to their face to scold Venti and…

He wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry.

Adeptus Xiao lowered the cage back down. Venti managed to stick his head out and stare up at him incredulously.

“Xiao! What- Why-…I don’t even! It’s me! Venti!…Barbatos?!” He called out confusedly, but Xiao didn’t understand his words. It seemed that not even elemental beings could understand him if they weren’t part of the Four Winds. “The Anemo Archon! Who should not be in a cage right now!”

Xiao ignored his cries and closed his eyes. With a dizzying lurch, he, as well as Venti in his grasp, disappeared and reappeared on top of Wangshu Inn.

“A little warning next time?” Venti shook his head softly to clear the dark splotches from his vision.

Xiao balanced Venti’s cage on a nearby tree branch before staring at him intensely. He squinted a bit, so Venti returned the favor and squinted back. This staring contest lasted for some time, with Xiao scrutinizing Venti for an unknown reason, and Venti scrutinizing Xiao to try and figure out what that reason was. Eventually however, Xiao broke the tense moment by closing his eyes and disappearing.

“Wh- You can’t just leave me here!” Venti called out to the empty air. He would have moved around within his cage in protest, but he was balancing quite precariously on the branch below him, and he didn’t want to risk falling since he would not be able to catch himself while he was in the cage. 

On the topic of the cage, Venti wasn’t actually sure what it was made of exactly. He assumed it was some weird adeptal contraption, but he didn’t recognize the exact mechanism, so he couldn’t perform any grand escape acts. It did have a lock of sorts, but it looked nothing like Venti had seen before, and any attempts to tinker with it would probably jostle the cage and cause it to fall.

That was…unfortunate, to say the least.

If he couldn’t move much and he couldn’t mess with the cage at all, Venti started thinking about the one thing he still did have: his voice, as bird-like as it may be.

Earlier—though he was a little preoccupied at the time—Venti recalled that one of the hunters called him a “Mimic bird” (among other absurd titles). It could easily have been a case of mistaken identity, however, Venti had a feeling that this was another layer to the sick joke that was played upon Venti when he was forced to assume this form. There was no way it was a coincidence that he happened to not only be a Lyrebird, but also just coincidentally ended up as a species apparently known for mimicry of others.

But of course, that also raised an important question if any of this was to be believed.

Why hadn’t he been able to communicate verbally? If he was capable of making multitudes of noises, he should hypothetically be able to speak to someone right? Why have all his attempts come out as chirps and squawks instead of normal human speech?

He pondered this as he sat still in his cage.

…

Ah.

With a soft breeze running through his plumage, Venti realized what he’d been doing wrong all this time.

Reverting to the original shape of a wind sprite was not the same as trying to memorialize one’s friend through a physical form. Both required different intentions and levels of effort. They needed to be treated differently.

It was the same with speaking.

Instead of simply saying the words he wanted to say normally, he needed to imitate them.

That was probably why he could still make music and call the Four Winds with his voice, because he was mimicking something that he had heard many times before. It was why he was able to sing lyre-songs for the people of Mondstadt (which may have been a bit of a mistake on Venti’s part, knowing now how the citizens interpreted it.)

He took a deep breath. If he wanted to be heard, Venti needed to first mimic a voice that wasn’t necessarily his own, for it feels a lot more natural to mimic other people rather than oneself. Maybe he could try that later.

He thought back to the voices he heard most recently, hoping to find something to tell Adeptus Xiao.

“Honestly, you shouldn’t have thrown a net at it in the first place.”

The sound of Master Diluc’s voice came to mind immediately, being the most fitting for the situation that Venti was currently in (though technically, he was in a cage and not a net but those were unnecessary semantics.) Clearing his throat, Venti attempted to copy the words, focusing intently on how it sounded and how it would feel to mimic.

“Y-Shoul…t-ne-t.” Venti attempted. For a first try, Venti was quite proud of himself. He could hear Master Diluc’s voice in the fragments, a very positive sign; this meant that he would hopefully be understood by others.

With more practice, he was bound to get the words, and he assumed that he had quite a bit of time for it considering how Xiao kind of just left him stranded.

“YShould-n’t ha-…net.” He was slowly able to get more fragments of the sentence with more practice, slowly but surely it was coming to him. 

With more repetition, he was confident it would come to him eventually.

“Y’Shouldn’t ha- thr- net.” Venti had practiced quite a few times but still couldn’t quite get the sentence out. It was a little frustrating but Venti had a lot of patience, a virtue that came with his former job title he supposed.

All it took was practice and more practice. 

The sun had moved substantially in the sky by the time that Venti had fully figured out this one sentence. Though it was a similar principle, Venti found with his experimentation that mimicking noises in the form of a bird took different skills compared to mimicking noises in the form of a human. He supposed it was more akin to playing a song from a Fontainian radio instead of singing the same song yourself. Hopefully, he would be able to pick up words easier with this revelation.

By the time that Xiao had come back from whatever it was he was doing, Venti was prepared. The moment that he saw the dark particulates in the air that foretold the arrival of the Adeptus, Venti breathed in and out and clicked his beak a few times as he got ready. 

“You shouldn’t have thrown a net.” He said it loud and clear, borrowing Master Diluc’s voice just as Xiao was about to approach his cage. The Adeptus was clearly unprepared to hear human speech coming at him as he stopped in his tracks and stared at the bird. “You shouldn’t have thrown a net.” He repeated it again, just to really get the point across.

“I…” Xiao spoke quietly under his breath. “Hmph.” He approached the cage, finally lifting it up from its precarious position on the tree branch. “What are you?” The contents of the question sounded as if they were directed at Venti, but the tone made it seem as if it were just a rhetorical question spoken confusedly to the air.

Xiao stared at him intensely just as he did earlier in the day, squinting his eyes ever so slightly. It was at this expression that Venti finally realized the probable cause of Xiao’s confusion and subsequent reason he was captured

He was using elemental sight.

In Xiao’s perspective, an unknown, weirdly colored bird crash landed directly in front of a Rex Lapis statue, managed to somehow connect with the power within it, and upon further inspection, was full of immense anemo power. Anyone would find that a bit odd, and as the guardian of this land, Xiao probably wanted to study this potential threat further.

Now that he thought about it, the human speech may not be helping Venti’s case that he’s not some sort of dangerous unidentified creature.

“See? Look how grateful he is to be free.” Another phrase flashed through his mind.

“Gr-ate-ful…fr-ee.” He started slowly.

Xiao raised an eyebrow.

“Grateful free?” Venti said it louder and more clearly.

“Free…” Xiao rotated the cage slowly in his hands which Venti didn’t necessarily appreciate. 

“Free!” 

The adeptus turned the cage to once again make eye contact with Venti. He seemed conflicted, his eyes switching from Venti, the bars of the cage, the tree branch that Venti had previously been trapped on, and Liyue Harbor in the distance.

“…No?” He said hesitantly, shaking his head. 

“Free! Grateful! Net! Yo-”

“No.” Xiao set the cage back on its precarious tree branch and dissipated into a puff of black particles once more.

Venti sighed heavily.

It was worth a shot.

~~~~~

The night was going by excruciatingly slow. Venti had been sitting motionlessly in his cage for what felt like eternity but was probably only a few hours at most. 

He spent the time practicing ‘speaking’ as it might prove useful for whenever he escaped the cage he was trapped in. It was a little odd hearing another person’s voice coming from his own mouth (beak. Whatever.) Which is why he tried to imitate his own voice, something that became an odd exercise in introspection. Using both words that he had heard from others, as well as his own, he was able to create rudimentary sentences with fragments of different voices. It sounded very weird, especially hearing it come from himself, however, he would have to deal with it if he wanted to communicate.

Along with the words he already practiced before, simple words like ‘me, you, help, yes, no, go, and stop’ would suffice for most rudimentary forms of communication he may need, and more specific words like ‘Venti, Barbatos, and Mondstadt’ might help in explaining his problem to anyone who he may encounter in the future.

Once he more or less got a small vocabulary down, Venti turned his attention to another avenue that had potential for freedom: The lock on his cage. He had been staring at it for almost all his time trapped, and it infuriated him. He had previously thought that he had never seen it before, but the maddening part was that he had. It was just incredibly archaic and he couldn’t quite remember how to unlock it. If he had to guess, it was likely designed by either Cloud Retainer or Guizhong which was good because that meant this cage was well designed and had a deducible method of unlocking it, but it was bad because that meant this cage was well designed and couldn’t just be broken open through force.

Though, even if it could be broken open, with the way it was precariously perched, Venti would surely fall a long way if he tried.

He stared at it for a while longer, letting the pieces click into place, but he still was missing the most important one of how the cage was unlocked.

After that brief bout of deduction, Venti looked off into the night forlornly. Xiao hadn’t shown his face ever since the last time, and it seemed as if he would not be returning any time soon. Even outside of the whole ‘God of Freedom being a trapped and helpless bird’ thing, this cage was simply just kind of uncomfortable. It didn’t take a being such as Venti to be annoyed at the straightforward fact that being confined to a small uncomfortable box balanced precariously on a tree branch wasn’t exactly enjoyable.

And the symbolism of a bird cage being set upon a tree branch, subsequently making escape a lot more difficult, was not lost on him either.

This is partially why Venti spent the rest of the night singing. Despite all the practice he had just put into speaking, he sang a quiet, wordless tune. It was full of frustrations and maybe some sorrow at all that has recently happened. To an outsider, it would have sounded like a mix of birdsong, human humming, and lyre-notes swirling together beautifully in the air, but to Venti, it sounded like the sun setting on a turbulent day, the sky painted red and orange as the dark clouds parted to slowly reveal a starry blue sky. 

As he sang this sweet song, the wind blew warmly upon all, spreading the notes far and wide. The birds in the sky flew slowly and lazily, singing along quietly, the squirrels in the tree curled up warmly in their nests, and those sleeping in the inn below had pleasant dreams of wind, hope, and kinder days to come. In the far distance, another avian form listened peacefully, its own song full of somber emotion dying on its beak as it slowly drifted off into a much needed slumber.

Venti sang for as long as he felt he needed to. Mixing all that he could into his music in order to cope with all that had come. Eventually, he ended the song with a slow, quiet long note, thinking of all the wishes he had for better days. It was an ending full of dreams and soft breezes.

~~~~~

When Xiao reappeared the next morning, he seemed a lot more prepared to handle the weirdness of the situation. 

He must’ve had a good night's sleep.

Venti perked up upon seeing him. Though he had rested, the bard hadn’t been able to fall asleep last night. Luckily, he didn’t exactly need the sleep anyways.

“You.” Venti said simply, getting the other’s attention.

Xiao didn’t respond, but he did approach the cage.

“Me go Mondstadt.” The fragmented ‘baby talk’ normally would have been incredibly humiliating to Venti, who prided himself on his clever wordplay and powerful prose, but he really just wanted to leave this (literally) godforsaken cage.

“Mondstadt…” Xiao muttered and raised an eyebrow, still seemingly a little confused by the talking. His confusion was understandable since most powerful non-human creatures—ones that could communicate at least—spoke quite eloquently.

Venti, as it stood, did not. “Me go Mondstadt. Yes?” He asked impatiently.

Xiao stared intently, the cogs in his head turning at full speed. Venti wished he knew what he was thinking, but he had no mind-reading abilities like the Dendro Archon and Xiao was clearly above speaking aloud to a bird that wasn’t an illuminated beast like him. The only thing that he could catch was a mouthed “Barbatos…”

Venti felt his tail feathers perk up. “Yes. Barbatos! Me! Go Mondstadt!” 

For a second, Venti thought that maybe Xiao understood, however, his weary look towards Old Mondstat and back at Venti made him realize otherwise. 

Xiao opened his mouth as if to say something but before he could do that, a voice rang through the air.

“Adeptus Xiao! It’s Hu Tao! Are you up there? We’re here to visit!” A voice yelled from the balcony below.

Xiao’s head snapped in the direction of the noise. He sent one more look towards Venti out of the corner of his eye before disappearing in a cloud of dark smoke.

Of course, just as Venti thought he was making progress, another interruption just had to come. He liked Director Hu obviously but couldn’t she have like…waited an hour or two?

He could faintly hear their conversation on the wind, but Venti was only half-listening at most, too busy mourning yet another lost opportunity. Plus, the discussion didn’t really involve him in the first place and it didn’t seem interesting enough to eavesdrop on. 

He sighed and let their voices carry, sitting impatiently in his cage.

Over on the balcony, Hu Tao tapped her foot impatiently. “Aiya, it was only one simple task, he should be up here by now.”

Xiao perched on the edge of the roof and nodded once. “…I am sure that he has good reason to be delayed.” He said respectfully.

Hu Tao laughed knowingly. “I wish I could believe that.”

The two waited in silence, Xiao, because he wasn’t great at this whole ‘pleasant conversation’ thing and Hu Tao, because she was scanning the area around her very diligently.

Footsteps approached, and the new arrival bowed his head humbly. “I apologize for the delay. Miss Verr Goldet made a most interesting comment on the weather, and I found myself in a rather enriching conversation with her in regards to it.”

Venti’s head shot up and the feathers on his head stood up with it. He knew that voice anywhere…His eyes narrowed as he listened closer.

Xiao made a noise close to a cough and Hu Tao shook her head. “Mister Zhongli. We’ve talked about this. You must control your talking when you have places to be.” She tutted. “I should at least hope the food is still warm? We can’t be offering cold food to an Adeptus now, can we?”

“Why does he of all people have to be here?” Venti grumbled to himself. “I have enough to deal with already.”

“That would indeed be most unbecoming, which is why I have ensured that the food stayed a pleasant temperature.” Zhongli handed said food off to Hu Tao, who verified that the food was, in fact, still warm.

“There is no need to offer me food.” Xiao said humbly. 

Hu Tao waved her hand dismissively. “Ah nonsense nonsense! It’s tradition! And plus, it just gives me an excuse to get something for myself as well.” She held a plate of Almond Tofu up above her head in Xiao’s direction and jumped up and down. Somehow, none of it fell off the plate before Xiao could worriedly swoop down and scoop it out of her hands. Hu Tao then took her own food and leaned on the balcony railing to eat. Zhongli had a small dish for himself that he ate slowly as well.

“So…” Hu Tao started after swallowing a bite of her food. “A few minutes ago, you mentioned wanting advice?”

Xiao, sitting on the edge of the roof, looked behind himself, directly at Venti before looking back. “More or less...”

“No no please don’t do what I think you’re going to do.” Venti chirped quietly.

Hu Tao swallowed a bit of her food and smiled. “I’m not sure what we-” she motioned to herself and Zhongli with a chopstick, “-can do as mere mortals, but we’ll try our best.”

Xiao’s eyes once again flicked towards Venti’s cage behind him. “I'm sure that you and Mo-” He cleared his throat. “…Mister Zhongli will at least be able to suggest a solution.”

“Nonono please do not.” Venti once again chirped panickedly.

Zhongli hummed. “We shall try our best to help.”

Nodding, Xiao stood up and made his way towards Venti.

“Nope! Not doing this! Do not bring me to him.”

Xiao picked up the cage and walked over to the balcony where Hu Tao stood next to him.

Venti let out a loud shriek.

Chapter Text

“So to reiterate…you found a weird bird next to a statue and now you don’t know what to do with it?” Hu Tao tilted her head at Venti, who was doing everything in his power to not make eye contact with anyone while standing as still as can be.

Xiao made a noise that almost sounded offended. “I found a powerful elemental being and am unsure of its origin or purpose.” He shifted the cage slightly, which was balanced precariously on the railing of the balcony (why can’t it ever be placed on solid ground?)  “I am weary to let it go, but I am unsure if the capture is necessary.” He glanced toward Zhongli.

From Venti’s understanding, Xiao was mostly just asking Zhongli for help and Hu Tao was just a bystander who happened to be accompanying him. However, purely out of principle Venti did not need nor want help from that man, no matter the circumstances. Which is why he was very stubbornly avoiding even so much as looking in his direction.

The man in question stared intently at Venti, clearly intrigued. “I have not heard of a bird species such as this one.” 

At the very least, it looked as if he didn’t recognize Venti in this current form, which would save him a whole lot of embarrassment if nothing else.

Hu tao whistled a low note. “Something that Mister Zhongli doesn’t know about? Now that’s impressive.”

Venti didn’t want to be known by him anyways. And, for the record, it wasn’t that impressive of a feat, the dolt didn’t know lots of things, especially if it wasn’t something directly related to Liyue. 

(That's what happens when one is a no-fun hermit who doesn’t get out much.)

Hu Tao poked the cage gently and Venti resisted the urge to bite her finger. “Besides elemental energy, is there anything else interesting about it?”

“Obviously.” Venti rolled his eyes. “Have you seen me?”

“I believe it comes from Mondstadt.” Xiao looked off to the side.

Hu Tao tilted her head. “So why don’t we just…I dunno, put it back in Mondstadt then?”

“See? She gets it! I knew there was a reason I liked her.”

Zhongli cleared his throat. “It may be wise to return this bird only after we have deemed it not to be unsafe.”

“Wh- Unsafe? I’ll show you ‘unsafe!’ Let me out of this cage and I can show you just how ‘unsafe’ I can get, you over-cautious son of a-”

“Hm true.” Hu Tao conceded over the sound of angry bird noises. “Anything else we should know about?” She asked Xiao.

“It…” Xiao sounded as if he were debating whether or not he wanted to share. “speaks sometimes.”

“It speaks? Like a parrot?” Hu Tao looked incredibly interested. “Hello little birdie!” She addressed Venti directly.

“I’m not some toy for your entertainment.” He turned his beak up and closed his eyes. If he could’ve crossed his wings, he would’ve done that too.

“Hellooo?” She repeated. “Little birrrrdieee?”

The trio stared silently but Venti didn’t budge. The only people he was willing to entertain were the people of Mondstadt, something he would gladly be doing right now if it weren’t for this stupid cage and the stupid dragon who vehemently doesn’t want to let him out of the aforementioned stupid cage.

Said stupid dragon put a hand to his chin. “Perhaps it is not smart enough to respond to prompting.”

Venti’s eye cracked open immediately. “Excuse me!? I am not taking this from Mr. Rocks for brains! I’ll have you know that-”

Hu Tao turned to Zhongli who was observing the angered chirping silently. “I don’t think it liked that very much.”

“Evidently.” He said, never taking his curious eyes off the colorful bird. “Though, if it truly understands and is capable of replicating human speech, one would assume that it could simply just respond in kind.” He said completely earnestly.

That set Venti off once again. He was not going to let that buffoon insult him so baselessly, but he was also not about to entertain their conversation by speaking with them in a language they could understand. They didn’t deserve such niceties.

Xiao, watching this display unamusedly, interrupted Venti’s offended squawking. “From the little I have heard, its grasp of human speech is…rudimentary at best.”

“Rudimentary! The nerve of some people!”

“This leads me to believe it is quite young.” Xiao finished.

“I already face that confusion as a human, now I have to face it as a bird too?”

Hu Tao blinked a few times. “You…kidnapped a child?”

“I didn’t-!” Xiao quickly composed himself. “I did not kidnap a child as you put it.”

“It sounds like you kidnapped a child.”

Xiao huffed. “I only raised this information because I have to wonder if it is related to one of the Four Winds of Mondstadt in some manner.”

Venti wanted to scream. They were so close yet so far. In an attempt to not lose any more of his sanity, Venti tried to tune them out as the trio deduced the obvious in that, had that been the case, a very angry dragon/wolf/falcon would be making Venti the least of their problems right now.

As much as he hated to admit it, Venti missed when he was trapped with the Traveler, Paimon, and Master Diluc because at least they seemed more competent in their discussion. And they also gave him much more freedom to move around.

Speaking of freedom, Venti found himself once again examining the lock on his cage, as he had been doing periodically for the last however many hours he had been trapped. It looked so familiar but he just couldn’t place his finger on how it worked.

A pleasant breeze went through his feathers as he stared.

Wait…

Wind.

The lock required concentrated Anemo energy. That was the final piece of the puzzle. Of course. If this was a creation of Cloud Retainer’s, a strong concentration of anemo would be the perfect way to limit who could open the cage.

Venti eyed the three people discussing his fate. Not even Zhongli, who had been staring holes into his feathers earlier, was looking in his direction.

He resisted the giddy laugh that wanted to come from his chest when he realized what he was about to do. It was risky, but would undoubtedly catch the trio by surprise, thus giving him time to escape. Plus, he had done something like this once before already, so he already knew what to expect.

Taking a deep breath and feeling the anemo energy flowing through him, Venti focused on the lock confining him. He let the energy grow as much as possible without it being immediately detected. Then, before any of them could sense the change in the air, he let it burst.

With a click and a large gust of air, Venti’s cage fell backwards off the railing. A gasp was the last thing he heard before the wind rushed past his ears and he quickly descended.

He fell.

He fell.

And then he did what he had longed to do all this time,

He flew.

On top of a pillar of wind, he rose from the open cage door just before it could crash into the ground.

Xiao, with his quick reflexes, teleported the moment the cage tipped, but he just wasn’t fast enough. Venti zigzagged in midair to avoid his reaching hands, confident in his expert mid-air maneuvering. 

Continuing on his straight ascent up, he saw the upper balcony approaching quickly and took his chance to prepare a triumphant wink as he passed by.

Looking directly upon Zhongli and his boss, he made a joyous sound before turning his head up to the sky.

…If only he had noticed the resolve upon Morax’s face at that moment.

With a running start and a well-timed jump, Venti was yanked out of the air by the entirely too long feathers of his tail. He swung side to side in Zhongli’s grip, almost in shock from the abrupt and unexpected end to his freedom.

If all that happened to Venti before this was embarrassing, this moment was straight up mortifying.

As he hung upside down by his tail, Venti struggled with all his might to wiggle out of the death grip that held him like it was nothing.

“Ah- H- Help! Stop!” Without really thinking about it, Venti cried aloud panickedly, mimicking a voice that could actually be understood to outside ears.

With a hum that was far too nonchalant for the situation, Zhongli tilted his head. “Hm. It appears that he can talk after all.”

“I hope you die a slow painful death.” Venti did the closest approximation to a growl as he could muster, really channeling his inner Andrius.. “A real death this time. Not a fake one that you don’t tell anyone about.”

(Venti was still a little irked by that whole ordeal.)

“Wow Mister Zhongli! That was a rather impressive catch!” Hu Tao clapped her hands together. “Not even an adeptus such as Xiao was able to do what you did!”

Xiao appeared in a puff of smoke next to her. “Indeed. I am eternally grateful,” He said stiffly.

“I could’ve done that in my sleep if I were in his position.” He squawked, still wriggling upside down by his tail feathers. “Just saying.”

Zhongli cleared his throat. “There is no need to be so kind. I was simply helping out as anyone would.”

“Yes. You’re just sooo humble. Everybody clap for Mister Zhongli!”

The trio stood in silence staring at Venti’s upside down form.

“So…” Hu Tao tilted her head. “What’s the plan now?”

“I…do not have another cage with which to hold this creature.” Xiao started hesitantly. “If we are to keep it in Liyue, it would require constant surveillance until a suitable replacement is found.”

“Here’s a wild idea! Just let me go!”

Xiao continued on. “If I must, I completely willing to-”

Zhongli shook his head, causing Adeptus Xiao to pause. “There is no need. We would not force an Adeptus such as you to take on the lowly task of watching over a creature such as this.”

“Lowly task? That’s all I am to you?”

“I am sure that you have much better things to do,” Zhongli finished.

Venti glared at the man from his upside down position. “I have better things to do too, you know…”

As this conversation went on, Hu Tao slowly turned towards Zhongli, an awed look growing on her face. “Mister Zhongli! Do you mean to say that you’re adopting a pet for the parlor?”

At the same time that Zhongli shook his head good naturedly, Venti let out an audible “No!”

Raising an eyebrow at Venti as he spoke, Zhongli elaborated. “We will simply be keeping a close eye on this creature until a suitable containment device can be found.”

Venti could feel the dread flooding through his veins. This all had to be a big joke that the universe was playing on him. There was no other explanation. It was becoming absurd. Surely Venti was going to wake up from this nightmare soon enough, because there was no way this was actually happening right now.

He tried to wiggle out of the intense grip on his tail as the trio exchanged more words that Venti didn’t care to listen to anymore. He tried and tried to no avail, only really causing more frustration for himself in the process.

He shut his eyes tight and tried turning into literally anything but a bird with infuriatingly long tail feathers.

As expected, it didn’t work at all, and when Venti had opened his eyes, Hu Tao and her subordinate who shall remain spitefully unnamed had said their goodbyes to Xiao and started heading down to ground level to move on with their day.

“Might you want to hold the bird normally? People are looking at you oddly, Mister Zhongli.” Hu Tao said it sternly, but her smile betrayed her tone.

“Ah yes. That may be wise.”

Hearing this, Venti deemed this opportunity as his best chance of escape. The moment that Zhongli even so much as loosened his grip on his tail, Venti used anemo to wiggle the rest of the way out of his hand. 

A sense of accomplishment and freedom washed over him as he felt his wings unfurling in preparation to escape off into the sky.

Unfortunately however, the iron grip that quickly found itself around his neck stopped that escape from actually happening.

“Ghrk- This…is…animal…cruelty…” Venti choked out.

A short laugh came from Hu Tao’s mouth. “Ha! That bird’s a slippery little thing isn’t it?” Her face twisted into something close to pity. “Though…perhaps you should loosen your grip on its neck? I’m afraid you may be cutting off its oxygen, and we don’t have any bird-sized coffins to spare at the moment.”

“An elemental being full of anemo energy such as this, should not struggle with a light amount of pressure at its neck.” With Venti’s neck firmly in one hand, he tucked the rest of Venti’s body snugly under his arm. Only then did he loosen his grip on Venti’s throat, though unfortunately, with both Venti’s wings pinned to his sides, there was no chance of easily escaping. “However, if you are concerned, I shall loosen my hold.”

“‘Light pressure’ my foot.” Venti grumbled. At its most basic premise, Zhongli was (as much as Venti hated to say it) correct. Venti would technically have been fine if the hand stayed at his neck, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable. Unfortunately though, the man holding him like a sack of potatoes, clearly lacked basic empathy and couldn’t grasp that simple fact.

“You could’ve at least taken me to dinner first…” He couldn’t help but make the joke, even if he wouldn’t be understood.

The duo walked in silence for a while. Venti stewed angrily but remained silent as well. Of all the horrendous outcomes that could happen due to Venti’s current affliction, this was probably the worst. And the infuriating thing about it was that despite all of his prior complaints, now that Zhongli had loosened his grip, it was admittedly…rather comfortable being held like this. 

When was the last time Venti had willingly let someone get this physically close to him?

…

He couldn’t remember.

And unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to think on it before Director Hu spoke up.

“Ya’ know…if we’re going to keep a workplace pet, shouldn’t it have a name?”

Uh oh.

“I suppose you are right.” Zhongli replied simply.

A thoughtful expression came across Hu Tao’s face. “But what to call it…” She looked to Zhongli. “Any ideas?”

He shook his head. “I am afraid that I will likely not prove very useful here.”

“First agreeable statement you’ve made all day.” Venti grumbled.

Hearing the chirping, Hu Tao’s eyes snapped to Venti. “That’s right! Perhaps we can just ask the bird itself.” She walked backwards in front of Zhongli, leaning down to put her face closer to Venti’s. “Do you have a name little birdie?”

In any other situation, Venti would try to answer truthfully. However, with Hu Tao being the one to ask, it would spawn a lot of questions he couldn’t answer if he said either ‘Barbatos’ or ‘Venti.’ Both names were rather uncommon after all.

Plus, if Morax found out that the strange bird he was holding onto was actually Barbatos himself, he would never hear the end of it. 

So, instead of doing the smart thing and coming up with another suitable name, Venti lied, shaking his head ‘no.’

Hu Tao straightened up and turned around just before a tree branch in the path would have caused her to trip. “Well, have no worries! I’ll fix that soon enough!”

She then put a hand to her chin and walked noiselessly for a few blissful minutes. Venti could practically hear the gears in her head spinning wildly.

“Say…we’ll  be keeping this little guy at the parlor, right?” She asked slowly.

“Yes, that is correct.” Zhongli responded.

“Let’s stick with the theme then. How about…Guītiān?”

Venti couldn’t remember the exact translation for that specific Liyuen word, but given what he knew about the girl and the little that he did know, he thought it might have been something related to heaven. He made a dissatisfied noise to which Hu Tao hummed softly and turned to look at Venti.

“No good? How about Jiàn Shàngdì?” She proposed.

That one felt vaguely familiar, and it was no doubt an equally macabre thing to name an animal. Venti made another dissatisfied noise.

“Too morbid perhaps? How about something sweeter like…” She thought for a few moments. “Xùnqíng?”

“No!” Venti replied to this one audibly to really drive home the point that he would rather not be named after any words related to death.

Hu Tao shook her head. “Mister Zhongli, this bird’s no fun.”

“Perhaps you might choose something slightly more conventional?” The consultant suggested.

“Ah I see…” She trailed off before nodding. “How does ‘Hu chirps-a-lot’ sound?

“Bad!” He piped up. If Venti would be forced to have some sort of dumb name, he would rather it be more…normal at least. Normal normal that is, not Hu Tao normal.

She sighed. “Hm. Rather rude of you…We’re running out of options here.”

“Four names and you’re already running out? Really?”

Hu Tao made a clicking noise with her tongue as she stared at her feet and tried to come up with more unfortunate titles for Venti.

“I do believe that there are many generic names that may fit better for this purpose,” Zhongli chipped in.

“Hmm…Okay, I’ll rapid fire them.” She looked at Venti. “Ready?”

He nodded. A generic name would be much more preferable to anything death related.

“Tweety?”

“No.” 

“Chirpy?”

“No.”

“…Squawky?”

“No!” What was with the sudden obsession with bird noises?

“……Feathers?”

He shook his head. It was better than the others but not by much.

“You’re killing me here birdie.” She groaned. 

Hm. That…actually wasn’t a horrible name given all the others. Plus, he’d already been called that multiple times. “Yes!”

“Huh? I didn’t even-”

“B- B-” As hard as he was trying, he couldn’t quite form the word. It frustrated him to no end. “B-”

“Birdie.” It was Zhongli of all people who understood what Venti was trying to say. “I believe that is what this creature is referring to.”

“Oh! Is that true little bird?” She tilted her head toward him.

Venti nodded.

“Well, it’s settled then. From now on, you shall now be known as ‘Birdie’” She put a hand on her hip. “At least until we can find a better place for you to reside…”

Hopefully that would be sooner or later, he thought to himself.

…Preferably sooner though.

Chapter Text

When they arrived in the city that afternoon, a few things happened one after the other. 

Firstly, Hu Tao had broken off from the group after realizing they didn’t have any cages to keep Venti in, stating that she would find the ‘sturdiest, least escapable cage possibly made,’ for which Venti would love to see them even try keeping him contained. 

As for the other things that happened upon stepping into the city…

“Okay, I’ll see you later, ta ta!” With that, Hu Tao dashed off in the opposite direction of where they were headed.

Zhongli watched her retreating form for a few long moments before shaking his head fondly and starting to walk down the street. 

Admittedly by this point in time, Venti had resigned himself to the fate of being carried under the other man’s arm like some sort of object. So much so, that he had more or less gotten used to and then subsequently ignored the sensation of an arm wrapping around his body.

Of course, nothing lasts forever.

From the side of the street, Venti could hear a small gasp and frantic footsteps. “Is that a bird, Mister Zhongli?” 

A young boy ran up and pointed a finger directly into Venti’s face. He flinched back and made a small squawk at the sudden action.

“Ah yes. You would be correct.” The man sounded almost equally intrigued, as if he somehow forgot he was even carrying Venti in the first place. “I am helping watch over him.”

Without any warning, he then shifted Venti out from under his arm and held him toward the child with both hands wrapped firmly around his body. Venti yelped at the action despite the fact that his grip was not nearly intense enough to be painful.

“I don’t appreciate being cohorted around like some sort of-”

“Can I pet him?” The boy asked innocently, his eyes wide with curiosity.

It took no hesitation at all for Zhongli to answer, “Yes, you may.”

“Hey! I never-”

The boy reached out with a tentative hand and ran a finger down Venti’s head feathers. 

A shiver went down his spine as he chirped pleasedly.

Oh no.

The boy repeated the action again and it was just as pleasing of a sensation the second, third, and fourth times, and with all his effort to stay quiet, he still let out another low warble. He was lucky that he was only a child, or else Venti would have bitten him hard by now in order to make him stop…though it’s not like he was exactly suffering with the attention.

(Okay, so maybe he was little touched starved. Sue him.)

“He’s super soft.” The boy commented, still petting his head. “You’re really lucky”

“Hm. Perhaps I am.” Zhongli smiled kindly before finally bringing Venti up and away from the kid. “I must be off now.” He nodded and kept walking as the boy waved happily.

Since Venti was trying to fully erase that mortifying interaction from his head, he wasn’t paying attention to Zhongli, because assumedly, he would just tuck Venti back under his arm like before and be on his way. Plus, he couldn’t care less about what the oaf did because soon enough he would find a way to escape from this horrid place entirely.

However…

Still keeping a firm grip as to not let him go, Zhongli turned the bird around toward him and held him upright against his chest; one arm underneath his tail and one arm around his back in the same fashion that one might hold a baby.

Upon this shift in positioning, Venti rested his head on Zhongli’s shoulder without really thinking about it and sighed contentedly.

This was actually really nice.

…

…

“Gah! No!” It took all of two seconds for Venti to suddenly and very violently register what he was doing. His head shot straight up as if it were burned and out of some form of animalistic panic, he started kicking his legs at Zhongli’s chest and trying to flap his wings, even though they were slightly pinned under his arm. 

To all his credit, Zhongli handled this panic surprisingly well. With a “Calm yourself,” And an annoyed grunt, he held the bird away from his body, making sure not to hold his wings down. It took about half a minute for Venti to calm down enough to realize that he was perhaps overreacting just a touch, and once he did, he just hung his head in embarrassment.

A few passersby looked curiously at this display, but none stopped or said anything.

Zhongli sighed and went back to holding Venti to his chest as soon as he stopped flailing, but this time, Venti made extra sure to keep his head from touching the man’s shoulder. 

Venti didn’t know why he even did that in the first place, and he equally didn’t know why he reacted so intensely when he realized. It felt perfectly natural to rest his head like that, but something within him seemed panicked at the thought. As if merely touching Zhongli made his heart speed up and his stomach flip.

It embarrassed him to think that he could be so reactionary. Perhaps it was a side effect of his current form.

The rest of the walk went by incredibly fast, though that was probably due in part to the fact that Venti was trying his best to erase everything about this situation out of his mind.

They arrived at the funeral parlor, and as Zhongli brought him inside, Venti realized that he had never actually seen the interior of the building before. It admittedly looked a lot more normal than he expected. He had half-assumed that the entire place would be gloomy and depressing but it just looked like the lobby of any other business around Liyue.

Venti was then brought to what he assumed was an office room. When it was unlocked it looked similarly boring, matching Zhongli’s personality perfectly. 

Zhongli then sat down behind the desk and didn’t move for a few long moments, saying something aloud that Venti didn’t care to listen to. Then, without warning, he dumped Venti atop the wooden surface and observed him wordlessly.

For a few seconds, Venti didn’t even process that this happened. He sat dazedly until he realized that there were no arms wrapped around him anymore. As soon as he did, he briefly considered how odd this was considering the lengths Zhongli had taken to prevent his escape before this but he shook it off quickly, knowing to take an opportunity when he had one.

Taking off with a small burst of anemo, he looked quickly around the room to assess his easiest escape route.

The window looked promising at first but it didn’t look to open very wide, so he decided to beeline for the door.

Gripping the door knob from above, Venti put his full weight atop it, but instead of turning like it was supposed to, it made a dull clicking noise and stayed in place.

Zhongli had locked it behind him. With a key.

Why does an office in a funeral parlor need double-sided door locks? What kind of person does that?

Maybe he could try his luck with the window after all…

Jumping from the door knob, he aimed for the sill and unlatched it as soon as he landed. Quickly, he pushed it open with his head and carefully started to make his way through the admittedly very thin gap.

He got the front part of his body through with ease, but found that once he got further through, it became more difficult to push on, and it didn’t help that the window sill was rather smooth, causing his nails to slip along the smooth surface every time he tried to push.

Still, he pushed.

And slipped.

…And pushed.

And…slipped.

…And…pushed….

……And……slipped……..

And…

And…

And he surely couldn’t be stuck, right?

He tried to brace his feet on the lip at the bottom of the window and pull himself backwards rather than push forward.

He still didn’t budge.

It was at this point that Venti started to panic. Kicking his legs against the sill, he tried to move his body. Whether it was forward or back, it didn’t matter. He just needed to get out. He started cursing it very loudly, spouting any insults he could come up with.

“This stupid godforsaken window just had to be built like a slit in the wall huh? Who even designed such a horrible fu-grhck!”

He flinched harshly as a hand found its way onto his stomach, and another slid on top of his back. He started kicking his legs backwards, stretching them as far as they could reach in order to deter his assailant because he could unstick himself, thank you very much. He even started slowly moving the long feathers of his tail up and down to act as further deterrent. 

“Stop it!” He said it loud and clear, making sure that he could actually be understood for once.

Zhongli made an aggravated growl. “You stop your panicking. You are only making it worse.”

Venti didn’t listen, still continuing to wriggle and squawk.

“Don’t touch me, I got this I swear!”

The man behind him still clearly could not understand him as he not only continued to grab him, he also tightened his grip and began to gently pull.

“Stop it you dolt!”

“I am starting to believe you do not actually understand basic human speech.” He said exasperatedly as he still tried pulling him backwards despite Venti’s best efforts. “I am trying to help.”

Venti started shrieking, his avian voice really letting him hit the high notes. “You’re not helping. Just let go!”

Wincing but still continuing on, Zhongli huffed. “This is why I specifically said it was no use escaping before I set you free. Yet you clearly did not hear me-”

“Lalala I’m not listening! Remove your hands!”

“Stop. Moving.” He still kept trying to carefully maneuver Venti from his spot, but it proved difficult as the bird would not stop its wiggling and kicking.

Venti tried to stick out his tongue but since his head was on the other side of the window, it didn’t have the intended effect. “Step back first!”

This back and forth went on for an embarrassingly long amount of time, but eventually, Venti realized that if he didn’t just let Zhongli help him, he would probably be stuck forever. So as embarrassing as it was, he let himself go limp and tried not to focus on the pleasant pressure of firm hands around his body.

His head drooped down as Zhongli very gently managed to work him from out of the thin opening of the window. Once he was finally freed, Zhongli care turned him to look Venti straight in the eye. “Let this be a lesson.”

He walked back over to the desk and sat down. This time, he placed Venti in his lap and did not remove the heavy hand from his back, effectively pinning him down. “You are lucky that I decided to help you.” He scooted his chair closer to the desk, though not so close that Venti would be squashed under the edge. “Should you ignore my warnings again, you will not be quite so fortunate.”

Venti rolled his eyes. As if he’d ever listen to him.

Zhongli then started to work on paperwork of some kind. Venti’s neck wasn’t quite long enough to stretch and get a good look at what he was doing, and the hand on his back made sure that he couldn’t even shift to get a better position. All he could do was look around the room while listening to the shuffling of papers and the scratching of a pen. 

The noise was admittedly rather soothing. The steady strokes on top of the table had the same effect as rain on a roof above him.

And the hand on his back almost felt comforting. Like a weighted blanket that provided even pressure and some faint warmth on the feathers of his back.

He took a calming breath, feeling the lingering embarrassment and panic slowly draining out of himself as he listened to the scratching of paperwork.

At some point, though he didn’t know when, Venti could feel a thumb slowly stroking his feathers back and forth while the rest of the hand stayed stationary on his back.

It felt nice.

So nice in fact, that it almost made him feel a little sleepy after all the excitement and effort of the day.

He curled up his neck into a comfortable position and focused on the sound and sensation around him. Coming up with an escape plan could wait for just a few moments.

Perhaps he could just…

Rest his eyes for a short while…

———————

“…leeps rath…ard doesn…e?”

“…haps…omething…tired him out?”

“…that would make sense.”

Venti squeezed his eyes tighter as his consciousness gradually returned to him. He felt so well rested that it almost looped back around to making him still tired; he just wanted to go back to sleep. However, he figured he should probably wake himself up. He had things to do after all. Such as escaping his captors.

In order to keep conscious, he listened closer to the voices having a conversation around him, trying to work up the effort to actually open his eyes.

“Did anything happen while I was gone?” That was…Hu Tao’s voice if he wasn’t mistaken. “He seemed quite full of energy before I left you alone.”

“Hm yeah, and I’m no expert but…” This was a feminine voice that Venti couldn’t quite place. “I don’t think most birds sleep so…sprawled out.”

“I suppose there was an escape attempt of sorts.” Venti could identify Zhongli’s annoying voice anywhere. “Though it proved to be quite unsuccessful.”

The unknown voice spoke up once more. “How so?”

“He was too round to escape through the window, and got quite stuck in the process.”

Hu Tao snorted and started laughing and the other person started chuckling as well.

At that, Venti’s eyes shot open and he sat up from the hard surface that he was laying on. “You didn’t have to go and tell them…my…” Venti looked around and noticed that he was in the bottom of a large cage. “…secrets…” He finished lamely. 

“Oh look, he’s finally awake!” Hu Tao pointed a finger at Venti’s annoyed chirping.

“So he is.” Zhongli stared at him through the bars of the cage almost smugly.

He took this opportunity to look around at his surroundings. The cage itself was resting in the main entrance area of the funeral parlor; the trio of people stood around it like Venti was some sort of exhibition. He immediately scanned for a way out, only to see that the door near the top of the cage had a sliding lock, two ropes tying the top and bottom, and a heavy duty padlock. It seemed excessive, but if Venti simply bided his time, he was confident he could escape when they were distracted.

The third person whose voice he couldn’t  place bent down in front of the cage. She had pink hair and horns coming down from the side of her head. “I still can’t quite believe how vibrant he is. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen.”

“I know right?” Hu Tao bent down next to her. “We think he’s from Mondstadt.”

“Interesting…” The girl’s expression became very inquisitive. “And you said that it can talk and mimic sound earlier?”

Hu Tao picked up on the shift of her tone and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, why?”

She stood up straight and let out a humored noise from the back of her throat. “Well, if the rumors are correct, I think that you might’ve caught the Angel of Mondstadt.”

Venti hung his head and let out a warbling groan. It had been one day and somehow that weird rumor had already reached Liyue?

“The…what?” Hu Tao asked tentatively. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that before.”

“Neither have I.” Zhongli looked somewhere between vexed and amused. “To my knowledge, Barbatos does not have any angels to speak of. Where have you heard such a thing, Miss Yanfei?”

The girl, Yanfei apparently, looked off to the side in thought. “Well…I can’t speak on the validity of the claim, but I had some clients from Mondstadt talking about it this morning.” She pointed at Venti with her palm facing upward. “Allegedly, this bird was seen in the middle of Mondstadt City mimicking ancient tunes with the perfect clarity of a lyre.”

The trio then proceeded to stare in silence at Venti for a few moments as if they were expecting him to suddenly break out in song and dance or something.

“You people expect too much of me.” He rolled his eyes.

Zhongli had a hand on his chin. “I see…so it has earned this moniker through the simple act of mimicry.” He paused. “With a name like that, I would have assumed this creature would be more impressive than it actually is.”

“Do you find joy in slandering innocent animals? Is that it?”

Yanfei shrugged. “I think he also apparently brings good luck and romantic prospects, though I have no clue where that particular part of the myth comes from. It was only spotted twice after all.”

“Weird.” Hu Tao commented. “So…should we let him go? Since he’s a local legend and all…”

“I still do not think that is a good idea.” Zhongli shook his head.

Venti then proceeded to let loose a series of expletives that he just barely held back from translating into the human tongue. Even without speaking though, it was abundantly clear that Venti was not satisfied with this decision.

Yanfei raised an eyebrow. “Can he understand us?”

“No.” Venti was the first to reply, staring directly up at her from the bars of his cage. 

She put a hand over face to cover her smile, squatting down right in front of where Venti sat. “You’re a funny one, you know that?” She waved at him. ”Maybe I’ll see you later Birdie.”

“You’re leaving?” Hu Tao sounded disappointed.

She stood up smoothly and smiled softly at her. “I have things to do before it gets too late, and you know I like to wake up early.”

Hu Tao more or less pouted. 

“Don’t act as if you can’t see me tomorrow.” She started walking toward the front door, the other two followed. “I’m in the same place every day.”

Seeing the group move away and start to exchange goodbyes, Venti hopped up the side of the cage and immediately started to work on the ropes while they were distracted. Having a beak and claws somehow made it both easier and harder to undo the knots on the door. Next went the sliding door lock which was obviously easy, and then he directed his attention to the large padlock.

Trying to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible, he closed his eyes and used anemo energy to feel the inside of the lock and press the pins inside it. Then, with a claw, he pulled it open with a loud click.

He paused, looking over to see that none of them appeared to notice the noise. Not even Zhongli, who stood the closest, turned to look at him.

Perfect.

“Alright, buh-bye now. You know where to find me.” Yanfei kissed Hu Tao on the cheek and they lightly pressed their foreheads together for a short moment. Then, at the same time that Yanfei pushed the door to the parlor open, Venti jumped out of his cage and took flight seamlessly.

“So long suckers! You’ll never-Ow!”

Venti’s entire world flipped upside down as a painful pulling sensation came from his tail.

“These escape attempts get more pathetic with every failure.” Zhongli stood proudly with Venti’s long tail feathers bunched messily in his hand. “You couldn’t even make it to the door this time.”

“I wish you pain and despair every second of your life you stupid old man.” Venti started trying his hardest to swing like a pendulum and bite Zhongli with as much force as possible, but he was being held just out of reach.

Yanfei and Hu Tao still stood at the open door, both watching this display with varying levels of amusement.

“Have fun dealing with that.” Yanfei chuckled.

Hu Tao shook her head exasperatedly. “Oh I definitely will…Take care.”

Once her girlfriend left, Hu Tao approached the two with disappointment. They both were still embroiled in whatever weird back and forth was going on between them, with the bird swinging from side to side with a murderous expression as Zhongli held him as far away from himself as possible.

She stood in front of them silently for a few moments, wondering how long it would take either of the pair to notice her. The answer was ‘entirely too long’ so eventually she cleared her throat and held back a snort as they turned with matching expressions of surprise.

“Sooo…” She tilted her head in the bird’s direction. “I guess our cage didn’t really work like it was supposed to.”

Zhongli sighed. “No. It evidently did not.” He eyed the bird warily. “I cannot say I didn’t expect this unfortunately.”

The bird made some sort of squawking noise. From her perspective, Hu Tao could only assume it was grave disapproval of the situation, probably because he was being held upside down by the tail.

“Right...” She walked over and made a move to grab the bird in her arms.

Zhongli moved it away. “I do not think it is wise to-”

“Nonsense.” She bent down slightly and cradled the bird like a newborn, flipping it right side up. It wiggled for a few moments before sighing and resolving itself to its fate. “See? Isn’t he cute?” She tilted him so that Zhongli could see, and she could’ve sworn that the bird stuck its tongue out at him.

He raised an eyebrow. “…I suppose so…” 

“Liar.” The bird spoke quickly.

Hu Tao laughed and adjusted the bird in her arms. “Anyways, um…” She looked around the room. “How are we going to keep the little Birdie overnight? Because he’s kind of an escape artist…”

“Ah. Indeed.” Zhongli put a hand to his chin and thought for a few long moments, despite this display however, it seem as if he already made a decision before she asked. “I do not mind taking him home for tonight.”

“No!” The bird was very adamant in his protest. “No go!”

They both ignored it. “Are you sure?” Hu Tao tightened her hold on the bird slightly so that it couldn’t wiggle from her grasp. “We’ve both seen how mischievous this Birdie can be, and though I’m normally all for that, this may be a step too far…”

He kept squirming. “Stop! No go! Stay!”

Zhongli made a dismissive gesture. “I am confident in my ability to contain this creature.” He eyed the loudly protesting bundle of feathers in Hu Tao’s arms. “And in the event I cannot, there is little chance he will evade my capture.”

“No! Stop! Help! Please!” 

Hu Tao felt slightly bad handing the struggling bird over to Zhongli’s waiting arms, and she felt even worse when she couldn’t help but laugh loudly at the creature’s expression during the transaction. The bird immediately tried to bite Zhongli’s hand, only for his beak to be held closed with the same hand he tried to attack.

Still, that didn’t stop a muffled shrieking noise to work its way out of the bird’s closed mouth.

“Are you sure you can handle this?” Hu Tao raised an eyebrow.

“I am certain.” Zhongli spoke gravely, adjusting the bird’s body under his arm. “I shall take my leave now. Do send my best regards to the night crew if you see them.”

And with that, he left into the night carrying a very unwilling bird in his arms. Hu Tao finally allowed herself to roll her eyes at the absurdity of this entire situation.