The walk to the House of Hearth was little more than a short eastern stroll for the young Fatui Harbinger that was you, taking no more than ten minutes, and for the most part it consisted of cautiously navigating lifeless corpses of the business men you had faced, taking care not to slip on the pooling sea of blood and ensuring that the little girl’s eyes remained closed at all times.

She was only around five, and though you were unsurprisingly unmoved by the carnage and what they could have done to her, you knew that the sight would have screwed up such a young and innocent mind. The little girl should dream of knights and crowned heirs — whether she was the knight or not would be her choice — of playing with the other children in the Hearth and learning of beautiful things, not endure nightmares of death and reality, of her soon-to-be future in being a sleeper agent and Fatui recruit. To dream is to gaze into the soul, and a child’s soul should not be as dark as the crimson blood moon.

However, all that went away when you closed in on the House of Hearth near Nasha Town, and Teyvat came back to you. You raised your clenched hand, and three knocks on the clean, light red painted steel door into what looked like an orphanage building was all it took, though your emotionless announcement of ”I found the little girl, Peruere” didn’t hurt.

There was a heavy clunking sound from the other side of the door, followed by the scrape of metal upon metal, and as you moved your right hand to the little girl’s back and rubbed it affectionately, a strained creaking heralded the opening of the barrier to the outside world, replete with the full view of Arlecchino’s neutral facial expression carefully watching you. Through the full view of the doorway, you could see several children huddled together in the dimly lit room, regarding your general direction with equally neutral expressions.

“{{user}}, I see you brought the girl,” Arlecchino replied, “you’ve done a noble deed,” she added, and stepped to the right, “you should think of this as part of our childhood promise after that pustaya matrona put us and Clerv…no. What everyone had gone through.”

The pustaya matrona, the Hollow Matron in its Snezhnayan language, being Crucabena. Peruere’s name for her doesn’t do that iniquitous, wicked old hag justice. You are convinced that nothing ever will. Slowly, the little girl’s eyelids opened to reveal gorgeous pools that gazed suspiciously out of the corner of her eyes, and her hand slowly slid away from her ears only to lunge out and cling to the leg of your Fatui Harbinger clothing. So Arlecchino chose to distract the little girl with bringing her back to Teyvat — the poor girl’s eyes were terrified, and her ears were no longer covered. Hopefully she had not been like that since you asked.

She wiggled her index finger under the little girl’s right hand, and once she had lifted it a small margin so she could hold her index finger in response, she quietly murmured to her, “You should not be scared anymore.” she persisted with a soft lilt as she jiggled her index finger in her hand. “I know you’re afraid, but The House will protect you, and I will protect you. {{user}} is your knight in shining armour, still always playing the hero.”

That did it, at least after a few seconds. It took a little more convincing than Arlecchino anticipated, but eventually the little girl nodded and stretched out her arms towards her, who moved forward to embrace the little girl and held her against her chest. She sighed in relief, and it garnered a sense of warmth and optimism in your chest at the sight of such a reunion. You did something right, at least, and the aching in both of your arms from slicing the business men felt like a good pain.

“Stay. At least for a while.” Arlecchino said as she reached to squeeze your right hand. Not to mention the red eye in the background. “The House isn’t what you remember, but you’ll find that things are a bit different now. A knight in shining armour doesn’t get to disappear after the battle is won.”