Aether, Ayaka and Nilou walked across the desert with Dehya and Cyno. Their investigation in the last few days reveal that an Eremite group was indeed behind the missing Village Keepers.

"Where's the maid?" Cyno asked.

"There's a reason why we're not bringing her." Dehya replied, before handing over the wanted poster that she kept all this time to Cyno.

Cyno raised his brows, and told them.

"Leaving her alone at the village might be a bad idea. The Eremites have eyes and ears everywhere."

Dehya then widened her eyes.

"It's too late to tell them, damn it! And the time of the exchange is in just a bit!"

"What is it, Dehya? Is there something wrong?" Nilou asked.

"It's nothing, Nilou! Let's just--"

"Let me guess, do you think that it is a mistake that we left Noelle back in the village?"

"How did you--"

"It's alright, Dehya. She's better than you'd expected."

Back in the village, Noelle sweeps the dust off her hands after taking care of the mess she just got into. Behind her, are 3 men named Zaki, Delavar, and Engur who had already tried to stop Aether and the others from investigating into the matters of the missing village keepers. Now they try to kidnap Noelle to sell her out to the Fatui, but how little did they know.

"Even after what happened with you ambushing the Traveler's party, you still want to cause trouble, Zaki?" Candace asked the beaten up man in front of her.

"W-we thought we could get a hand on... 50 million mora, never expected her to be..."

"If her bounty is indeed that high, then it was for a reason." Candace shook her head

Back in the soaring desert, Dehya scratched the back of her head while chuckling in embarrassment.

"Now that you mentioned it, it really isn't that easy!"

"Eyes up, everyone. I saw movement." Ayaka said, notifying the group.

In front of the group is a band of Eremites led by a bulky man by the name of Rahman, who is an acquaintance of Dehya.

"You brought a few people than I imagined." Alhaitham noted.

"And you seem to have not brought a certain prize with you." Rahman replied.

"What are you talking about?" Dehya asked.

"The Maid-Knight. I know she was with your group, where is she?"

Aether widened his eyes. Could they have been watching Noelle with them this whole time?

"If no-one's speaking, then let me do the honors."

Out of the blue, Rahman throws a dagger towards Aether, who manages to deflect it effortlessly with his sword.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Lure her out. If you are in danger, she is bound to appear, or so I heard."

"You're going to have to pass us if you want to!" Ayaka, Nilou and Dehya quickly readied their blades.

One of the mercenaries quickly puts a blade over an old man's throat. The old man is a "Grandpa" to a boy named Isak, who is following the group to the exchange as well.

"One more move, then this old man is over."

"Say that again?" Nilou's voice is heard behind the mercenary.

The mercenary quickly released Isak's grandpa and turned around to see Nilou's body completely reforming after becoming water.

However, the exchange was then cut short when the ground rumbles, and a quicksand devours the group, save for Ayaka and Nilou who managed to get out of the area quickly using their powers. However, Aether was also among the ones who got swept into the quicksand.

"Aether! Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine, Ayaka! You might wanna come down to see this as well!"

---------------------

A day later, Aether, Ayaka and Nilou came back to the village after exploring what was beneath the hole the quicksand had made. Noelle ran to Aether and hugged him.

"What happened? Did something hurt you along the way?"

"It's nothing big. We just got into an old ruin and these both helped me against most of it."

"Don't cut yourself short, Aether! You destroyed those machines like they were paper!" Nilou shouted.

"Oh, about that... Hehe~!" Aether scratches the back of his head.

The group shared some laughter afterwards. They then went into the chief's house to discuss their next plan.

"And so, with Rahman on our side we can plan more to free Nahida from her prison." Paimon finished.

"We get it too, Aether. I'll send my clone in to distract as well, while me and Miss Ayaka will try to find the Balladeer to buy time."

"And Noelle, you're with me. We don't want the risk of Alhaitham getting out of the equation during our confrontation with Azar." Aether said

Noelle nods at Aether's instructions, and after another day, the plan starts to go into motion. The plan starts by pretending to arrest Rahman and his group with Cyno. The next part is to look for another segment of Dottore who was seen wandering around the rainforest area of Sumeru. After falling into a bait in Port Ormos, Aether quickly returned to Pardis Dhyai to find Tighnari fighting a group of Fatui agents.

"You're not putting another finger on him!" Aether shouted, before he summons the power of dendro.

He uses dendro to cover the entire group with said element, before he then focuses his power to his sword, which is then imbued with electro.

"Raikiri(Lightning Blade)!"

And with one strike, Aether cuts through the agents and when he swings his sword to remove the electro effect, the agents were then sliced in half. A wave of more agents then arrive, and Aether quickly jumped into the air, and with the power of anemo he summons a huge tornado which swept the group upwards. He then utilized Geo to summon a starfell sword to use as a foothold, and he jumped from the boulder the sword made to make one powerful slash, which is combined with the strength of the vigorous tornado, which slices the Fatui agents into pieces.

"I sure hope that the girls aren't waiting for too long..."

Meanwhile with the girls, they are slacking off in the Grand Bazaar playing Genius Invocation TCG waiting for Aether.

"Are you sure the plan is going to work? I'm overwhelmed with worry, and here we are playing TCG out of all the other things we should be doing!" Ayaka asked.

It then took an entire day for them to wait for Aether to arrive, which is Jnagarbha Day. Noelle wakes the other two up, and they went towards him.

"It's time. Tighnari won't be able to help us, though."

"Why? What happened?"

"He got struck by lightning. But we can still execute the plan, you know what to do, girls." Aether explained.

Nilou then summons a body of water from her vision, and reshaped it so that it resembles herself wearing the Akasha terminal. The clone then went to talk to Zubayr about the plan, while the real one went with Ayaka.

"Brace yourself, homewrecker." Ayaka begrudgingly said, as she taps into her transcended form, and flew Nilou discreetly to the Sanctuary of Surasthana.

As for Aether, Paimon and Noelle, they meet Alhaitham at the entrance to the Akademiya and entered the facility in search of Azar's office until they were spotted by Azar himself who then escorted the group to his office, surrounded with Akademiya guards. 

Azar then speaks out his motives to Aether and the others on how he and the Fatui will create a new god, and that Kusanali is worthless to them as she can't fend off sandstorms or any other disasters, or anything an archon would do to protect the nation.

Alhaitham was brought away after he pretended that he was under the insanity-inducing influence of forbidden knowledge.

The guards then prepared to bring Aether and Paimon to a confined room where Aether would execute part of the plan to communicate with Kusanali, also known as Nahida. However to his surprise, Noelle was stopped by the guards.

"What is the meaning of this!?"

"Oh, and as for the lovely girl you brought here, I am sure the Fatui will be grateful for me to bring her head alive. She is going into solitary confinement until a special Fatui personnel will come to retrieve her for Snezhnaya."

"You don't understand, don't do it!" Aether shouted.

"She won't feel a thing. Guards, if you may."

Noelle is then hit in the back of her neck by a chop, rendering her unconscious.

"Oh, no... You do realize what you did, right!?" Aether's eyes widened even more.

"What can she do? Walk around like a Liyue Jiangshi? Don't make me laugh, Traveler."

"Please don't separate her from me, if she wakes up and finds out that I am not with her, then she won't be her anymore!" Aether is now practically begging, as beads of cold sweat pours down from his face.

"She won't be her anymore?" Paimon asked, confused.

"What a load of nonsense, bring him in."

"You're making a mistake, Azar! Lock her up with me inside--"

The doors are closed before Aether can finish. Noelle was then brought all the way back down to the Corps of Thirty's headquarters where she is then locked behind a small room with a heavy metal door.

Aether kept on banging on the door, frantically.

"What is wrong with Noelle anyways, Aether?"

"Paimon, don't tell me you forget what happened back in Tenshukaku? If she gets angry, who knows what she will do!"

Memories then struck Paimon like a crashing wave. Aether then quickly finds a way to communicate with Nahida.

"Hurry up, Aether, before Noelle turns Sumeru into the next Jueyun Karst for all Paimon knows!"

After some time passed, a familiar ginger haired harbinger arrives at the Corps of Thirty's HQ with another segment of Dottore.

"So, who're we bringing home today?"

"You'll be surprised, considering you acted cowardly back in our talks."

Meanwhile, inside the prison, a guard walks by Noelle's cell and saw light protruding from underneath. He approaches the door, and slid open the viewing slot to see glowing eyes at the other end.

Not even a moment later, the door bursts open, knocking the guard to the ground as more guards with crossbows surrounded the cell.

There stood Noelle, her eyes glowing in a golden light. Her hair grew longer, and her outfit has changed drastically. She is now wearing a golden chest plate with black linings instead of the silver with gold lines, and a translucent cape out of geo flowed down her back. All of her silver colored attire has changed into gold.

The guards then rained fire on Noelle with their bolts, which fly off when they came into contact with her. They then walked backwards in fear as Noelle then walks towards the exit. Childe was about to open the door when he was met with her appearance.

"Y...You!?"

Noelle paid no attention to Childe, but she then locked eyes with Dottore, and from her lips, she said

"Where is Aether?"