Title that I forgot to put in: Oh, the secrets you could tell me
The morning three days before the Rite of Descension is a chaotic one at Dawn Winery. As nearly every prominent businessperson in Teyvat does, he’s spending a night in Liyue to hear Rex Lapis’s predictions for the coming year. And of course, he can’t leave without half a dozen staff asking last-minute questions about what to do in his absence. And Kaeya, for some reason - he claims it’s to help, Diluc suspects it’s simply to annoy him.
As a child, he took this journey annually with Crepus - the yearly trip was always an exciting journey, although he remembers the disappointment when he learned that Rex Lapis wasn’t the type of dragon that could breathe fire. He hadn’t been in years - he’d been too busy trying to hunt Harbingers, there was no time left for anything business-related. He’d returned just under a year ago, which was just in time to miss the last one.
Diluc is about to leave on the two-day journey when a voice stops him. “Spare a ride for a god?”
Diluc halts the carriage, sighing, He’s already leaving an hour later than he’d wanted, but he can’t exactly ignore Venti. “You’re a god. Can’t you take yourself there?” he asks, annoyed.
“If only,” Venti laughs. “But the Rite of Descension is important enough that Morax blocks all other flights. And as the god of wind, flight is my chosen method of travel.” He proceeds to demonstrate this by flying into the passenger seat of the carriage.
“So much for asking,” Diluc grumbles. “You can come. But it’s just me going, so don’t expect any free wine. Or any wine, for that matter.”
“What kind of drunkard do you take me for?” Venti protests as the carriage starts moving.
“Based on how you act in my tavern every night, a crazy one,” Diluc answers.
“Oh, when I’m drunk, of course. But I’m not always drunk. Do you know how much it costs to get drunk on a god’s alcohol resistance?”
“I’ve been giving you free drinks for months now. I know how expensive it is.”
“Why is that?” Venti asks. He’d never questioned the abundance of free alcohol before - he hadn’t cared, for that matter, but now he’s curious.
“The Church talked me into it. I thought it would be worth it to avoid paying their taxes. I was wrong.”
“The Church collects taxes in my name!?” Venti exclaims indignantly. “I thought they were just useless!”
“Not in your name,” Diluc reassures him, somewhat amused. Of course the god of freedom would take exception to his church being used for tax purposes. “The Knights got them to do it because they know who everyone is.”
“Oh, all right,” Venti grumbles.
“You should be grateful they’re doing it,” Diluc continues. “It counts as you exerting control over Mondstadt, which is what gives you your power.”
“There is a reason I don’t use that power,” Venti grumbles. Then once his brain catches up to what Diluc said, he asks suspiciously “How do you know where we get our powers?”
“You spend four years hunting the Fatui, you learn a fair bit about divine power,” Diluc answers.
“What exactly were you doing in those four years? I still haven’t gotten a straight answer out of you.”
Diluc sighs. “Some parts I won’t tell you, some parts I can’t tell you, and you know everything else. Here’s your straight answer: no.”
“Fine,” Venti huffs.
The trip into Liyue is almost entirely uneventful. The most interesting part of the journey is when Venti meets the Vigilant Yaksha at Wangshu Inn. He claims they’re old friends.
They arrive in Liyue proper on the morning of the Rite. Diluc abandons Venti to find his unusually expensive reserved seat. (He’d had to stand once before, presumably in a bad business year, and would rather not repeat the experience. The predictions were always longer than he expected.) He’s wondering where Venti plans to watch from - he wouldn’t be able to afford a seat - when he sees the dragon circling overhead. Then he lands, and to the surprise of the crowd, transforms into a mostly-human form. (He keeps the fangs, the claws, and a greatly reduced tail.)
Rex Lapis mutters to himself “I was not expecting that,” too quietly for anyone to hear. Then he raises his voice and begins his predictions, eyes turning milky white as he does so.
The predictions are, in general, an average year for business, if chaotic. One of note is “Taverns, brothels, and other places where men go to lose themselves will find an increase in services needed.” While hopeful for Diluc’s business, it is still rather foreboding.
Of course, it’s overshadowed by the next one - “Visions, Delusions, Gnoses, and other implements of the divine will either greatly increase in power or simply stop working.” Which is fairly terrifying to anyone who knows what that means - and judging from the crowd’s response, that is very few. And it’s not even good for business.
Once the predictions are done, the square empties, and Diluc wanders around the city, enjoying his rare day off. He finds himself sitting in a tea shop of all places - he doesn’t know what drew him there, but he figured “why not.”
A few minutes after his tea arrived, he nearly chokes as Venti walks into the shop talking to the human incarnation of Rex Lapis. (This one’s more human, having dropped the claws and tail.)
“Whatever possessed you to take human form for the predictions?” Venti asks, gesticulating wildly.
“Instinct,” Rex Lapis answers. “For some reason, it was vitally important that someone in this year’s audience knows this form.
“You’re saying that your predictions told you that?” Venti asks.
“Exactly,” is Rex Lapis’s only response. Then to the shopkeeper, he says “A pot of herbal spice, if you please.”
“Of course, Mr. Zhongli,” he replies, completely ignoring the contents of the god’s conversation.
“I suppose he’s another old friend?” Diluc asks, moving over to their table once they sat down.
“And who might this be?” Rex Lapis asks Venti at the same time Venti asks “Is it so strange to visit friends when passing through?”
Rex Lapis and Venti look at each other, then Venti speaks. “Zhongli, this is Diluc, current owner of the Dawn Winery, and far more importantly, my source of free drinks and rides. Diluc, this is Zhongli. Just Zhongli if you know what’s good for you. And yes, he’s an old friend as well.” He then leans forwards and whispers “He can’t shield conversations involving a mortal.”
“Or involving more than two people,” Rex Lapis - Zhongli continues. No one is surprised that he can hear Venti’s whispers. “And that is the limit. If you could see us in the first place somehow, I can shield you.”
The shopkeep comes over with Zhongli’s pot of tea, then notices Venti. “Haven’t seen you in what, twenty years?” he comments, then moves on to the next table.
“Why could I see through your shield?” Diluc asks.
“Likely something to do with a Delusion and a Vision combined,”
Zhongli says. “I don’t know the details, but the concentration of divine energy probably has something to do with it.”
“I left my Delusion behind a year ago,” Diluc says, looking around to see if anyone’s listening. “And if you can’t shield us, shouldn’t we be having this conversation somewhere else?”
“The people of Liyue hear enough that unless they’re deliberately listening, they won’t care. And there’s no one that would want to listen that’s any threat. As to your Delusion, both Delusions and Visions leave their trace on humans.”
Diluc takes a second to process, then nods. “Of course that thing would have weird effects.”
“It shouldn’t have too much of an effect on you once you stop using it,” Zhongli states.
“That’s some good, at least,” Diluc grumbles. “I hope to never use it again.”
“Why do you still have it, then?” asks Venti.
“What do you suggest I do with it?” asks Diluc. “I refuse to return it to the Fatui, and it’s too corrupting to just throw it into the ocean.”
“You never thought of asking your god that you obviously have some sort of relation with to destroy it?” asks Zhongli.
“I can do that?”
“He can do that?”
Diluc and Venti ask over each other, nearly in unison.
Zhongli chuckles at the response. “You’re more powerful than you give yourself credit for - despite your best efforts. And anyways, it’s divine energy. Manipulating it is your entire job.”
Diluc laughs at the look on Venti’s face. “Well, that’s one way of doing things.”
“As long as I don’t keep the power,” Venti grumbles.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” says Zhongli. “It’s easy enough to dissipate harmlessly. For a god, anyways.”
“On the topic of destroying Delusions, can you tell why your predictions will happen?” asks Diluc.
“That is a somewhat complicated answer,” Zhongli answers. “Anything directly related to my domains - Mora, which includes business, the movement of the Earth, and so on - I can accurately predict. Anything outside of that gets increasingly fuzzy. I can’t tell you why there will be a sudden influx of Naku Weed next year, just that it will cause a decrease in the price of wine. As to your specific question, I don’t know why divine power will decline or increase. I suspect the answer is the domain of Celestia, and as such, far beyond my information.”
Diluc nods. “Not very helpful, but at least I know there’s something coming. Although there’s nothing that I can do about it.”
“As useless as a mortal in the face of Fate,” Zhongli says. Seeing Diluc’s confusion, he clarifies: “It’s a somewhat infamous saying among the adepti.”
“Well, I can’t exactly argue with it,” Diluc grumbles.
“I know better than to try,” mutters Venti, to Diluc’s amusement. “I’ve given it up as a lost cause.”
“It’s a long story,” says Zhongli to Diluc. “One that I’m not getting into now.”
“I suppose you have all sorts of history together,” Diluc says.
“Ask him why Liyue’s a no-fly zone for the Rite,” Venti says cheekily.
“That’s a story I’d like to hear,” Diluc answers, looking at Zhongli. “He got his pet dragon to dive-bomb you as you were speaking?”
“What? No, I’m far more creative than that,” Venti objects.
“He didn’t try to interrupt the Rite,” Zhongli says. “He knows better than that. No, I just closed the air as revenge four hundred years ago… for what, I can’t remember.” He absolutely does remember, but it’s not exactly something he can tell Diluc. “And I’ve left the rule up ever since simply because it’s amusing watching him find alternate ways to get to the Rite when he wants.”
“And I’m the latest in your series of amusements,” says Diluc, somewhat amused himself.
“Indeed,” Zhongli replies.
“Well, as interesting as this meeting has been, I do need to return to Mondstadt,” Diluc states, getting up from the table. “Will you be coming, Barbatos, or is the no-fly order over after the Rite?”
“The no-fly is a week on either end of the Rite,” Zhongli answers before Venti can. “Unless he’s suddenly learned to walk, he’ll be returning with you. But you’re not staying the night?”
“I came here on business,” Diluc answers. “I spent four years away from home. Now that I’m back, I don’t intend to spend any more time away than I have to.”
“What were you doing for the last four years?” Zhongli asks.
“Mostly hunting Fatui,” Diluc replies.
“And something else he won’t tell me about,” Venti states. “Yet.”
“I thought you seemed familiar,” Zhongli says. “I’ve heard stories about the Delusion Thief.”
Diluc shakes his head. “The whole point of that name was to keep me covert.”
“I can assure you that it worked,” Zhongli states. “And I will keep your secret. Although there is someone I know who would quite enjoy a rematch.”
“I’m not fighting Tartaglia again,” Diluc states. “Three times was enough.”
Zhongli raises an eyebrow. “You beat him three times? Most impressive.”
“I managed to hold him off long enough to run away three times,” Diluc corrects him. "If I'd beaten him, he'd be dead. And he never used his Foul Legacy - if he did, I'd be dead."
“You may have been captured,” says Zhongli. “They had enough interest in you to not want to kill you. I expect that’s why Childe never used his Foul Legacy.”
Diluc grimaces. “Don’t remind me. I was captured once and managed to escape. Not an experience I’d want to repeat. And I really do need to get going.”
“Very well then. I hope to meet again.”
Diluc and Venti leave the tea shop, returning to their camp from last night.
When Diluc returns home, he finds a note waiting for him.
“If you would be willing to host, I would very much like to visit Mondstadt once more.” - Rex Lapis.