Ceres P.O.V - Dawn Winery

Diluc and I got to the winery, but I don't see Jean and Barbatos or Aether and Paimon

"I guess we're the first ones here" I said

"Looks like it. How about we have something to eat? I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten breakfast or lunch" Diluc said and my stomach let out a loud growl, my cheeks turned red from embarrassment. Diluc chuckled "I believe that answers my question. Shall we head inside my manor? I'll ask my butler to prepare something"

Then we walked inside the manor, and I was in awe when I saw the inside of interior

"Welcome home, Master Diluc" The maid greeted and she noticed me "May I know who the young lady is?"

"This is Ceres. She's the Priestess of the Seven Archons" Diluc introduced me

"It's a pleasure to meet you" I said as I bowed

"The pleasure is all mine, your grace" The maid bowed

"Tell the butler to prepare some lunch for me and Ceres" Diluc said and the maid bowed as she left "While we wait, how about I take you to my study? I have books about the history of Teyvat and the nations"

"I would love to" I said and Diluc led me to his study

Once we got to his study, I saw so many books and my eyes widen in amazement

"I never seen this many books..." I said as I looked at the bookshelf

"Doesn't the temple hold books as well?" Diluc asked as he took a seat behind his desk

"Not really. The books I've read are scriptures about the Archons and Celestia. We never had books that holds fun stories and such" I said as I pulled out a book from the shelf

"I see. Guess it's a good opportunity for you to read something different then" Diluc said

"Yeah. I'll read one of those books when I'm done reading about the history of Teyvat and the nations" I said

"Are you curious on how the other nations have been doing?" Diluc asked as he started doing some paperwork, probably for the tavern or something

"Yeah. Before my long slumber, I used to visit each nation with my master when I was young, except I never interacted with anyone before" I said

"Why?"

"It's rule at the temple. We're not allowed to interact with anyone outside of the temple unless it's for business" I said

"Sounds strict. Were your parents okay with that?" Diluc asked

"I wouldn't know. I don't have parents" I said and Diluc froze when I said that

"What happened to them?"

"I was abandoned. They left me at the foot of the temple, and for as long as I can remember, the temple was my only home" I said as I started reading the book

Diluc and I didn't say anything. The room was dead silent

'Did I make him feel uncomfortable?' I couldn't help but feel worried

"...What would you do if you met your parents?" Diluc asked, breaking the silence

"What would I do...? Hmmm... I guess asking them why they abandoned me or if they at least loved me" I answered truthfully and I put the book down "I'll even ask them about where they came from"

"Where they came from?" Diluc asked

"Yeah. Every child are always curious about where their parents came from or what they're like before they had me" I said

"Guess that's true" Diluc said, and we heard a knock on the door

"Master Diluc. Miss Ceres. Lunch is prepared"

"Thank you. We'll be out in a minute" Diluc said as he rose up from his seat "Shall we?"

"Sure" I said as I put the book back on the shelf and I followed him out of his study

We walked for a little bit and we entered the dining room. I felt my eyes widen again because the chandelier and including the decor of the room looked really fancy

"Care to take a seat?" I heard Diluc asking me, snapping me out of my trance and he pulled out the chair for me to sit

"Oh! Y-Yes. I apologize for spacing out like that" I said as I quickly sat down and Diluc carefully pushed the chair forward

A butler placed a bowl of cream stew and some bread

"Thank you, sir" I thanked the butler

"You're welcome, young miss" Then the butler stood next to the maid, and I picked the spoon and started eating the cream stew

"How is it? Is it to your liking?" Diluc asked as he started eating as well

"Yes it is. Very delicious" I said as I took another bite

"Try dipping a piece of bread into the stew" Diluc said as he tore a piece of the bread and dipped it into the stew. I did what he did and my mouth exploded with a new flavor

"That's really good" I said as I tore another piece of bread and dipping it into the stew again

After we finished eating, I picked up a napkin and wiped my mouth

"Thank you for the lunch, Diluc" I thanked him

"Of course. We can't work on a empty stomach" Diluc said and rose up from his seat the others should be back by now, let's head outside

When we got outside, we saw Aether, Paimon, Jean and Barbatos

"Woohoo! Dvalin Protection Squad! Assemble!" Paimon exclaimed

"Did everyone each find the crystal?" I asked and everyone nodded

"Let's put our crystals together" Venti said and we each pulled out the crystal "The color of these crystals looks... muddy. Dvalin... You're going through so much pain..." Then Venti looked at me "...Let's start purifying these crystals first. Please, Ceres..."

The three crystals floated towards me, I clasped my hands together and closed my eyes. I felt the crystals becoming purified, after a while, I opened my eyes and the three crystals were now purified

"Interesting. It's like filtering wine. The process is... refreshing" Diluc said who was in awe

"I think we should have enough tears now. So next we... Use the crystal on the Holy Lyre like last time" Venti said as he looked at me

"Okay. I'll give it a try" Venti brought the Holy Lyre and I concentrated using my power. Not so long, I felt the Holy Lyre changing once again. I opened my eyes and the Holy Lyre regained its lost Anemo power

"It worked!" Paimon exclaimed

"It seems completely different from before" Jean said

"The lyre's Anemo power seems fully restored. We should be able to use it now" Then Venti hugged me "It's thanks to you, Ceres"

"You're welcome" I said with a smile

"Now, where should we summon Stormterror? It must be away from the city, else there will be casualties should we fail. Perhaps here at the winery..." Jean said

"I don't think that'll work, Jean" I said

"I agree. If the winery was destroyed, it's not something I couldn't eventually fix, but... I'd still rather not go through the hassle" Diluc said

"It should somewhere where the wind blows at the sea or somewhere high that'll be able to carry any bards words..." I said while thinking

"Yeah. It's never going to work if the air is too dry or suffocating" Venti said

"Paimon understands. Sea or high places, right? Then the best location to play the lyre would be..." Then Paimon started to think

"What about a cliff?" Aether asked

"If you go east from Starfell Lake, there are mountains south of the beach" Diluc said and it looks like Paimon knows what place Diluc was talking about

"Oh! You mean that beach you were snoring away on, and Paimon had to wake you?" Paimon said and Aether looks away in embarrassment as I chuckled

"If you head to where the cliff juts out, that place is known as Starsnatch Cliff" Diluc said

"Oh! I know that cliff! It's my favorite spot" I said as I remembered my times at the cliff, where I practiced my dancing or star gaze

"What do you think, bard? Meets the requirements, no?" Diluc asked

"Lemme think... Starsnatch Cliff..." Venti started thinking whether its a good spot or not "Alright, let's do it there"

"Very well. Then let's meet at Starsnatch Cliff when we are ready. Please don't be late" Jean said

"Hee hee! Yes, Ma'am!" Paimon said

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to..." Jean apologized

"Don't worry about it, Jean. It's something you're used to saying since you're the Acting Grand Master" I said

"Thank you for understanding" Jean thanked me

"We'll see you guys at Starsnatch Cliff" I said as Aether, Paimon and I left

No One P.O.V

As Venti, Diluc and Jean watched trio left the winery, Jean was about to take her leave when she noticed both Venti and Diluc were still staring at Ceres as she started chatting with Aether and Paimon

"You two are staring at Ceres for a long while now" Jean said, making them both jump "You both like her, don't you?" Both Venti and Diluc didn't say a word, but Jean noticed their cheeks turning pink, she smiled and let out a small chuckle "I guess your facial expressions says enough. I suggest telling her at some point" Then she left

"She's right, you know. We should at least tell Ceres how we felt" Venti said

"...Maybe once the Stormterror situation is resolved" Diluc said as he returned inside of his manor and Venti went back to the city to prepare

While Aether, Paimon and Ceres left the winery, they walked through the woods close to Springvale, when suddenly,both Aether and Ceres were pulled down by someone, a young girl wearing clothes from Liyue

Aether was about to say something, but the girl shushed him and pointed in the direction, there they saw a horde of wild boars, and the girl started drooling. Ceres was about to speak, but the girl shushed her

"Shh! Keep it down, I'm hunting... I've always heard about the wide range of ingredients you can find in Mondstadt, and it looks like it's true!" The girl said with an excited look

"Excuse me, are you a hunter? Or an adventurer?" Ceres asked

"No-I'm a chef! A chef on a mission to find rare and exotic ingredients from all corners of the world! My name's Xiangling, I'm from Liyue Harbor. And you?" The girl named Xiangling asked

"I'm Aether"

"I'm Ceres"

"Hello, my name's Paimon!"

"Paimon!" Xiangling looked at Paimon with interest

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"What an exotic creature, is it edible?" Xiangling asked

"Sorry, but Paimon is not food" Ceres said with a sweatdrop

"Like Ceres said! Paimon is NOT EMERGENCY FOOD!" Paimon shouted

"You all seem like good friends. I have a good friend too, called Guoba" Xiangling said as she showed the group her accessory of her friend

"So cute" Ceres said

"Isn't that the name of a Liyue snack" Paimon asked

"Hee hee... Both the snack and my friend have special place in my heart. Anyway, can you do some hunting for me? There's lots of games around here that would be amazing to cook with. I can't catch anything to save my life and I don't want to miss out!" Xiangling said

"*Sigh* Sounds like a bit of an ordeal..." Paimon said

"Don't be like that... C'mon, I'll whip you up a tasty snack later!" Xiangling promised

"Ooh, you had me at tasty snack! Don't worry, we're the bestest hunters ever!" Paimon said

"But I never done hunting before though" Ceres said

"Just whose side are you even on, Paimon!?" Aether shouted

"Hee hee, don't worry about it, your friend has already given me a response. I don't care how it's done, so long as you bring me back some raw meat" Xiangling said and Aether let out a sigh

"Fine, we'll do it" Aether said

"Great, then I'll leave you to it!" Xiangling said

Aether, Ceres and Paimon were hiding in the bushes as they saw a group of wild boars

"So... how did you hunt?" Ceres asked

"We can try to attack them without them noticing us first" Aether suggested

"Okay... I'll use my catalyst" Ceres pulled out her book and fired a couple of wind arrows at the horde, some of the boars were down while the remaining ones ran away "Did I do it right?"

"Looks good to me. Now let's get some raw meat" Aether said as he approached the fallen boars and started cutting out the meat. Once he got enough, he, Ceres and Paimon started heading back to where Xiangling is. Once they returned, they showed Xiangling the raw meat

"Wowee! This is great! Some of it I'll shallow fry, some of it I'll deep fry with mushrooms... Ooh, and I wonder how well it goes with slime condensate..." Xiangling started talking about different ideas on how to cook the meat

"She's in her world now..." Ceres said with a sweatdrop

"I kinda want to try it with some of the slime condensate" Aether admitted

"Yay! Aether has finally come around to my food preferences" Paimon said cheerfully

"Uh sorry! I got all excited thinking about new recipes" Xiangling apologized

"It's fine. It just shows how passionate you are as a chef" Ceres said

"You're too sweet!" Xiangling said as she hugged Ceres "As promised, a tasty snack! Go on, try it! And tell me what you think" Xiangling handed Aether, Ceres and Paimon the snack she promised

"Are we your food testers now?" Paimon asked as she took a bite and her eyes widen "Oh gosh, this is... delicious!"

Then Ceres and Aether took a bite

"Wow! She's right, this is delicious!" Ceres said and Aether nodded in agreement

"Can you tell us how to make it?" Paimon asked

"Hee hee, sure! The only thing is I haven't written down the recipe yet, hmm... I got it! I'll make another one now, so you can watch. I'm sure you'll pick it up straight away" Xiangling said as she started to take some ingredients

"Um... That's gonna be hard if we don't have a frying pan or any of the condiments" Ceres said

"Come on, it's simple! We can fry on a slab of stone and cook using some boar fat. Build a stove from rocks, use dry grass for kindling, twigs for firewood... Sweet Flowers will do for sugar. As for salt, I found a load of rock salt in a cave the other day, there's still plenty left" Xiangling listed

"Seems like she's done this a million times before..." Aether said

"Hee hee, I just can't help myself when there's a chance to try something new. But I can't exactly bring my whole kitchen with me every time I leave the house either. Give me a second while I get everything ready" Xiangling said as she was about to get things ready, but a shout was heading towards them

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Running towards the group was a young man hunter "This is the boars' natural habitat, you can't hunt them here! You'll send all running" Ceres covered her mouth with a look of disbelief since she didn't know, but she's not the only one, Aether and Paimon didn't know either "We hunters know better than to kill the chicken to get at the egg"

"Oh! I get it. The freshest, best-quality meat comes from free-range boars that grow up in the environment nature intended for them! If they all ran off... It would be a major blow to gastronomy- no, to all mankind!" Xiangling said, making sweatdrop

"I guess that's uh... one way of understanding" Aether said

"I'm sorry, I got all excited and didn't think of the impact we'd have" Xiangling apologized and the hunter let out a sigh

"You should apologize to Draff. As our leader, he always stresses the importance of respecting the rules of the hunt. I'm afraid he is very upset right now"

"The hunter is right. We should apologize" Ceres said

"I made a mistake, and I should go and apologize" Xiangling said

"Let us come with you. We'll apologize together" Aether said

"Hee hee, thanks guys. I'll cook some more tasty snacks for you once this is over" Xiangling apologized

"Okay. Don't worry, Paimon'll remember even if you forget. Draff ought to be in Springvale. Let's go!" Paimon said and they started heading to Springvale

To be continued