"Odd maid, You know this guy?" Navia asked Noelle.

"We had a bit of a spar every now and then, Lady Navia."

"S-spar!? You narrow-minded maid, I did not intend to train--"

"And I do believe we're all in this together in this current predicament, is that correct?" Noelle asked, her eyes giving off an ominous glow to The Balladeer's own eyes.

He is shaken, and is quickly reminded of their previous battle. The Balladeer then calmed down, before everyone waited for Aether to regain his consciousness.

During the wait, Ayaka gave a quiet glance at Noelle, her gaze toward the maid-knight as cold as her own heart as of current.

In her vision, she immediately sees a flash of the 'Noelle' she saw during that one nightmare.

"Eliminate all life... Eliminate all time..."

Ayaka slanted her eyes, to which Lynette notices, and begin to feel curious.

"What is it, Madame Kamisato?"

"The airheaded maid, I believe that she might be a thorn on our side the longer we keep her with us."

"The Maid-Knight? But why? She protected us, and she was, after all, Aether's first companion to leave their nation to join in his journey."

"I had a nightmare many nights ago. I saw her, under a stormy sky, wanting to extinguish all life on Teyvat."

"T-that's only a dream, right?"

"Her personality changes dramatically the longer we continue on. Back then she was too naive and soft. But as time went on, she went as far as to destroy an entire Eremite tribe just because they tried to kill and capture Aether."

Lynette's expression paled. She then took a glance at Noelle, still speaking to the Balladeer, who kept on insisting that his title as the "Hero of Simulanka" as idiotic.

"You really are getting on my nerves, Maid-Knight."

"You were given this role for a reason, Mister Balladeer. You shall find it later on, like I am currently finding mine, in all of this journey that I undertook with Aether."

"Yours are too easy. You fight for his love and to protect him."

"That may be the case, but if I only fight for Aether, that meant I am not fighting for others as well."

"You truly are a puzzling individual..." The Balladeer sighed.

After Aether awakened, he was hugged by the girls, except for Noelle who watched on, as The Balladeer shook his head slowly.

"Do you have any clue on where shall we go next?"

"I was given this scale of a dragon. The miners here told me that it was last seen behind that waterfall."

Noelle looked to the waterfall that The Balladeer pointed at.

"I see."

"However, to reduce any risk of losing anybody, we are not going in altogether. Go to your group, and draw straws."

"...But, where is Miss Nilou's straw reed?"

"Considering she is one of the visitors with a role here, she is a compulsory teammate on this part."

Noelle then looked at the straw reeds that The Balladeer gave her. The one that got the shortest straw shall go with the so-called hero's party. 

A moment later, the straws were drawn.

"C-curses!" Ayaka muttered, as she got the longest one.

"Tch, better luck next time." Keqing got the second longest.

"..." Lynette stayed silent as her eyes gazed on her straw reed, which is the third longest.

"Alright, Maid. Open your hand." Furina demanded.

Both her and Noelle opened their hands, and much to Furina's surprise and disappointment...

"Keep Aether safe, will you, Maid?"

"That is the reason why I joined his journey to begin with, Lady Furina."

The two did a high-five, and Noelle sets out to follow Aether into the waterfall. Within, they did see the dragon's impact on the people, causing terror. A purple mist surrounds it.

"The black mist... It's like the Abyss portals that the lectors used." Noelle noted, as she recalled the day when she first met Lumine after helping Aether kill one of the Abyss Lectors.

She noticed the entire group spacing out, and they told her that they can hear the dragon's thoughts.

The group chased the dragon until they reached a spot where it begins it's assault on them, by launching huge boulders made out of Simulankan blocks.

"Everyone, behind me!"

Noelle then summoned a geo dome, which shields the group from the impeding gigantic boulders that the dragon launches at them.

Noelle dispelled the dome after the boulders stopped coming, and the rest of the group tried to counterattack the dragon, with none of their attacks working, not even Nilou's.

"It looks like only materials of this world can harm him..." Nilou theorized.

"Mister Balladeer, your sword!"

"W-what? F-forget about it, I will never use such thing!" The Balladeer shouted, his face beet red from embarrassment.

Noelle gave him a disappointed expression, as the dragon suddenly smashed the platform that the group is standing on. Everyone, except for Aether and Noelle failed to get to safety in time, and both fell into the black mist below.

---

Nilou watched as The Balladeer quickly saved both Aether and Noelle, and brought the two of them back to the platform. As he waited for Aether to wake up, Nilou's eyes glanced toward Noelle. Her eyes widen when she sees the black mist seemingly entering Noelle's body.

Noelle regained consciousness, and asked Nilou, "What happened?"

"Y-you fell. That's what happened." Nilou replied, hiding the occurrence that she saw just now.

"A-Aether, is he safe!?" Noelle asked frantically.

"He's still unconscious... But he'll wake up soon... well, maybe. Hat Guy saved him again."

"You're still calling him that, Miss Nilou?"

"It's funnier than calling him Mister Balladeer the entire time."

"You two airheads... I heard that!"

Noelle bobbed her head in apology while Nilou stifled a laughter. Not long afterwards Aether woke up, and told them that he saw a flashback of what seems to be the dragon's point of view in the past. The dragon's name is nearly mentioned, but the flashback cuts to how it got feared across Simulanka.

"Partner. We need to talk about the Odd Maid after this is all over, in private."

"Mm?" Noelle rose a brow in curiosity.

"Don't worry, Noelle. Hopefully it's nothing bad."

The group then continued on to pursue the dragon, finally cornering it on another platform near a town deep within the caverns. They were able to defeat it by using the bombs the Simulankan gophers gave them, whilst Noelle helped with the defense to keep everyone's damages minimal.

The dragon is reeling, before it covered The Balladeer with a black mist. However, Noelle tried to save him to no avail, and was covered in the mist as well. The Balladeer opened his eyes to see Noelle unconscious on the ground, and in front of him are some furniture and books.

He heard the voices of multiple women talking, about a book which is the storybook that Simulanka really is, as well as the truth behind the dragon's past. It turns out, this "M" lady put the dragon into Simulanka before her departure. He knew this feeling well, as he was cast out, "betrayed" by his creator, the Raiden Shogun.

During this entire ordeal, he learnt of the dragon's true name, Durin. The same name as the dragon that is now the reason why Dragonspine is perpetually covered in frigid weather due to it's remains. Durin, The Balladeer and Noelle were then brought back to where the others are on the platform, which begins to break.

Durin's giant form falls into the abyss, and so does Noelle's body.

"NOELLE!"

"Aether, no! You'll fall!" Nilou catches Aether, pulling him back before he tried to leap into the abyss below.

"H-hey, save her!" Aether told The Balladeer.

"P-partner..."

However, a parcel with cat ears, eyes and tail then jumped forward, and turned into a long haired maiden who caught Noelle in her arms, and launched the two of them to the platform.

"T-Thank goodness I caught her, meow!" It was Kirara.

"Nice job, Kirara!" Nilou raised a thumb up, as Aether sighed in relief before going limp due to the adrenaline rush from before withdrawing away.

"This is the second time Paimon has ever seen Aether acting like that..." Paimon said, recalling the events that lead to the Fatui operation a failure in Sumeru City.

A short moment later, The Balladeer flew back up, and saw Noelle already safe within the group. He told the group of the dragon's name, Durin, which of course caused Aether to recall ever hearing of that name back in Mondstadt. Durin's blood was used to corrupt Dvalin so long ago, causing the entire Stormterror incident.

Knowing that Durin needs to be appeased, they leapt down into the abyss, with the Balladeer's help they landed safely, and Kirara puts Noelle's body down, as she joined with Navia, Nilou, The Balladeer and Aether in purifying Durin, and gave him a new body. A rather cute, petite dragon that became surprised upon seeing it's claws for the first time.

"I thank all of you becoming my friends... I really appreciate it--" Durin then widened it's eyes upon seeing Noelle.

It saw the black mist that it had created when it was giant-sized, entering her body. However, Noelle regained consciousness, and stood up normally, as if nothing happened.

"I passed out again... Just, what happened?"

"I-It's nothing!" Nilou was the one who replied.

"Is that... The Dragon? Why is it different?"

"We gave it a new body. Now come on, greet him, Noelle!" Paimon nudges Noelle's shoulder.

"It is nice to be meeting you, umm..."

"Durin." Aether told Noelle.

"Durin." Noelle continued.

"I-It is nice meeting you as well..."

The group went back to the surface to the exterior of the waterfall, where they are greeted by a speaking lamp. From the voice, Aether recognized it as Alice's, the mother of Klee, and a famous adventurer. She had a hearty conversation with the new Durin which she dubbed, "Mini-Durin" and later on told the group the way to leave Simulanka. It is via a small boat at the broken sea, or touching the giant bookmark at the Cliff of Prophecy.

Aether told the girls, except Nilou to go home first. However, Noelle then stayed when...

"Oh, and you must be that Silver Knight's daughter! How long is it since I have seen you back in the lab!"

Noelle widened her eyes.

"L-lab!? L-lady Alice, what are you talking about?"

"Uh-oh, it looks like I let out a slip of the tongue!"

"W-what do you know of me in the past, Lady Alice?"

"You are The Strongest Creation, Noelle."