Chapter Text
Aurelia was fucked. The stupid ruin guard had taken forever to kill. She was bleeding from two fingers but that wasn't the current problem. The problem was she was late. Running through the trees as fast as her legs would let her, she returned to Mondstadt just in time to see Klee and Diona climbing the steps to the main square.
"Hey!" Aurelia raced up the stairs and stopped in front of the two. "You're home!" She was quickly pulled into a bone-crushing hug by the girl clad in red.
"I missed you so much! You should have come to Sumeru with me, you would have loved it."
Aurelia grinned and went in for a hug with Diona too, but she put a hand on her chest to stop her. "Hug me when you're clean."
"Oh, fine… fine." Aurelia pouted before Diona begrudgingly patted her on the shoulder. Aurelia couldn't help but smile.
"So, tell us everything about the wedding. How did he propose?" Klee wrapped her arm around Aurelia as the three continued further into Mondstadt.
Sadly, Aurelia hadn't sprinted home to talk about her wedding. She glanced around at the few people awake, mostly bleary eyes shopkeepers heading to their stores. "We can talk about that later. I need to show you guys something."
Taking her friend's hands, she dragged them to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. "You're making us visit Jean already?" Klee moaned from behind her, "she's going to ask how my trip was and totally ride my ass."
"We're not here for Jean you half-wit," Diona hissed.
Aurelia ignored the whispered bickering that continued behind her as she dragged the pair to the library. "C'mon, we don't have much time until Lisa's going to be in."
"Are we even allowed in here?" Diona glanced around nervously, unused to the thought of being in trouble.
"Lisa's fine with it as long as I don't mess up the stacks and I check out the books I take."
"Then why are we sneaking around?" Klee picked up a book off a shelf and examined it before returning it.
"Come here and you'll find out!" Aurelia called up the stairs at the pair.
The two were downstairs faster than Aurelia could find the book, it was located in the World Religions selection. Where no one would check except maybe the nuns. The leather-bound diary found its way into Diona's hands. "What is this?"
Aurelia snatched it and opened it to the first page. There sat the same scrawling handwriting that had sat there the last several times she'd read and hidden it.
"Ari you didn't ."
She grinned "I did, come on."
September 29, first year in Teyvat
Katheryne finally decided to give me this thing. She called it an "adventurer's log". Apparently, this was supposed to be issued to me months ago with my handbook. At this point, it seems irrelevant. (Not to mention Katheryne is incapable of forgetting something so I don't even know how this was missed.)
I guess I can use it to track commissions or something, I shouldn't waste the paper.
Aurelia collapsed on the lakeside with Klee and Diona after yet another run-in with Lisa that was too close for comfort. Did she believe that Lisa knew about the journal? No, Aurelia knew her mom too well to say that Lisa did. But, Lisa would know the book wasn't from her library, and that would be suspicious.
"So? What's so important in it?" Diona asked after she caught her breath. "It just looked like a commissions log."
"Just listen! You'll figure it out soon enough." Aurelia opened up one of the several dog-eared pages.
Lumine sat at Wanmin, staring into her plate of Jueyun Chili Chicken. The Abyss Mages she'd had to defeat earlier had tired her out, she just wanted to find a nice patch of grass to camp out on and sleep. The noise around her was getting to be too much, and Archons knew Paimon would be complaining about camping out instead of staying in a hotel.
"Hey, you're the traveler right?" A voice said from beside her.
"Yeah, I am," she snapped, "what's that got to do with..." Lumine trailed off as she whipped her head around to see an unfairly attractive man. He had blond hair and green eyes that shined under the lights of Wanmin. There was a plate of cold noodles sitting in front of him.
He shot her a sheepish smile and looked away "sorry, I guess you probably get a lot of people bothering you. I'll leave you alone." He turned back to his food and continued eating in silence.
After a few minutes of the man and Lumine sitting awkwardly with nothing but the light sounds of chatter and chewing to accompany them, Lumine finally spoke up. "Hey, what's your name?"
The guy looked up at her and smiled sheepishly. "I'm Thoma, what's yours?"
"Lumine."
"It's nice to meet you."
"Where are you from Thoma?" Lumine tried his name on her tongue. It tasted good in her mouth, the way it rolled out nicely. "Definitely not from Liyue."
He laughed and shook his head. "No, I'm from Mondstadt, I moved to Inazuma a few months ago."
"Huh." Lumine looked away and then back again at Thoma. He was smiling, and not a delusion from her tired brain. He was actually there. And he seemed less interested in what she could do for him, than what she could say.
They continued their chat until Chef Mao knocked on the counter and cleared his throat. "Sorry to break up your riveting conversation, but we've been closed for an hour. Please for the love of Morax go home ."
Lumine glanced around and saw the streets were mostly empty. A few people were stumbling drunkenly, some with brown paper bags in their hands that were certainly empty, but everyone else seemed to have disappeared.
"Here, sorry about that." Lumine heard from beside her and whipped her head around just in time to see Thoma paying for both of their meals.
"Oh no you didn't have to, I can pay for myself."
"I wanted to, just repayment for the conversation," Thome said with a smile. Thoma never seemed to stop smiling. The corners always seemed to be slightly upturned. Lumine wondered vaguely if it was on purpose or not.
"Alright, if you're sure."
"Do you mind if I walk you home? I'd love to continue this conversation."
How was Lumine going to break it to him?
"You don't have a roof?" Thoma exclaimed when Lumine led him to a patch of grass near the entrance to Liyue Harbor. Paimon was now floating next to her, rubbing her eyes and looking up at Thoma blearily.
"I can't afford a hotel every night, you can go back to sleep Paimon," Lumine said. And with that, Paimon patted her on the shoulder and disappeared into... wherever she went.
Thoma shook his head and pulled out some mora, muttering under his breath as he counted. "Here, I'll get you a hotel room tonight. There's a nice one a little up the road."
While Lumine knew in the back of her head she should be worried about a man she just met offering to buy her hotel room, she also had a very shiny sword. Lumine could fight him off if she needed to, and the ground was looking less and less enticing the later it got.
The walk to the hotel was quiet, the soft swishing of grass under their feet accompanied the crickets chirping. Thoma held the door for Lumine, which was honestly pretty charming of him. He followed her into the room and walked up to the reception desk. "Excuse me, we'd like two rooms please."
The receptionist looked tiredly up from her book and slid her glasses up into her hair, snapping the book shut. She slid forward in her seat and picked up a pen. Lumine could hear her scribbling from across the room. "Sorry sir, we only have one room left available for the night," she said aggravatedly.
"Alright that's fine," Thoma turned back to look at Lumine. "You take it, I can spend a night outside."
"I spend every night outside you don't need to do that."
"Please, I insist."
"I can't take even more of your money-"
"How about," the receptionist cut into their argument, "you just share the room?"
"That sounds good." Thoma glanced at Lumine, green eyes twinkling in the low lantern light of the room. "Are you okay with that?"
Lumine just nodded.
They walked to the room and as the two began to get ready for bed, Lumine felt her eyes trailing over Thoma. He'd taken off his jacket, and his muscles rippled beneath his skin.
She met his eyes and he smiled sheepishly, "Traveler... Lumine, would it be okay if I kissed you?"
Lumine crossed the room and pulled him into a kiss, her fingers digging into the skin of his waist.
"You can't just trail off there! You know what they did!" Diona shouted crossly at Aurelia.
"That's it though, look you can see for yourself." Aurelia turned the book around so it was facing the two girls.
"That's all she wrote," Klee leaned back against a tree with a sigh after taking a peek at the book. "I guess that's not surprising, your mom is old after all. That's what old people do."
"So he's your dad?" Klee was sitting up straight again, staring expectantly at Aurelia.
Aurelia combed her fingers through her hair shyly, not meeting either of her friends’ eyes. “Well... it's not that simple."
"Not that simple? What do you mean not that simple? Your mom and this Thoma guy had sex, and you were born in May..." Diona griped, crossing her arms and huffing before finally realizing what Aurelia was implying. " No. "
" Yes ."
"There are more men? How many?"
"Three, at least in here." Aurelia tapped the front cover of the book. "And they’re all in the right time frame too.”
"Then how do you know which one is your dad?" Klee piped up, who was messing with the blades of grass swaying in the wind around them.
Silence.
"Aurelia, how are you going to figure out which one is your dad?" Diona asked in a warning tone.
"I um... well- I... you see-"
"Just spit it out already!"
"I invited them to my wedding! That's all, I figure when I see them... I'll know."
"I don't think that's how that works Ari." Klee leaned back against the tree, her arms supporting her head.
Aurelia knew Klee was wrong. She was going to figure out who her dad was, and this diary was going to help her. She just didn't quite know how yet.
Thoma waved to Beidou as he walked down the deck to meet her. Another shipment of ore had come and he was happy to meet up with his friend again for a drink. "Thoma! Good to see you, buddy!" Beidou grinned and pulled him into a strong hug.
"Hi, Beidou. How's Yue doing?"
"Great, working hard."
Glancing up, Thoma saw the tall boy climbing to the crow's nest while Juza barked at him to get down and help unload. Teenagers. He shook his head with a small smile, the change in pace was always nice when Beidou arrived. Her crew was always a flurry of life brought upon the sleepy Kamisato household.
"Oh, before I forget..." Beidou procured an envelope from one of her many hidden pockets in her qipao and handed it to him. "This is for you, Katheryne told me to hand deliver it because it was too important."
Thoma took it from her and looked it over. The Anemo symbol stamped into the wax seal made it rather obvious it was from Mondstadt. Maybe it was a letter from Diluc, an update on how everyone was doing. Jean and Kaeya and Varka. But those had never been hand delivered before. He had a bad feeling, the last time he'd gotten a letter delivered by a friend was... not good. Finally, he bit the bullet and opened it up. He sighed in relief, no one had died.
You're cordially invited to the wedding of Aurelia Viatrix and Sage Grünewald on September 18!
Semi-formal attire is required. The ceremony will take place in the Mondstadt Cathedral, and the reception will be held in the Main Square.
Thoma had no clue who Aurelia Viatrix or Sage Grünewald were, or why he was invited to their wedding, but it was still about a month away. Maybe one of them was the child of an old family friend, he’d be happy to go if he could figure it out. He pocketed it and looked back at Beidou, who was waiting expectantly. "Well? What is it?"
"A wedding invitation from Aurelia Viatrix and Sage Grünewald, but I don't recognize either of their names. Grünewald is definitely a Mondstadt last name though,”
"Oh is that an invitation to Aurelia's wedding? Yeah, she's Lumine's kid."
"Yeah, she um... she was the one with the floating kid wasn't she?" Thoma felt a sort of lump form in his throat. He knew Lumine all too well, and he feared seeing her again might go very very wrong, and also what it meant for him that she had a kid .
"Paimon! Ah, I miss her." Beidou glanced up at the sky with a smile on her face, but Thoma could see the slightest bit of sadness underneath.
"How about I show you to your rooms that you’ll be staying in for the next few days? Ayato and Ayaka had us get the nicest guest rooms ready for you."
"That would be great! Thanks!"
Lumine woke up beside with light filtering into the room through the only window. She was up too late the night before and now here she was paying the price. As she sat up, she felt a hand dig into her stomach. Looking down, she saw a hand clinging to her waist. Following it, she saw Thoma asleep beside her. Hair mussed and curled up in the sheets, still asleep. Shit.
Slowly as she could, Lumine wedged her way out from under his arm and dressed herself.
"Okay, so who's the next one? What's the next story?" Diona asked, reaching for the book.
Aurelia moved the book out of the short girl's reach and shook her head "you don't get to mess with my storytelling." Aurelia turned her attention back to the book and flipped a few pages ahead, looking for the familiar page. "Aha! Here it is."
"... Lumine... Lumine... LUMINE!" A small hand roughly tapped the girl's shoulder. Lumine stumbled backward as she ran into a man who felt as if he were rock solid.
His golden eyes looked down at her in surprise. "Oh, apologies, I should have been looking where I was going."
"No no, it's my fault." Lumine held up a commission letter. "I shouldn't be reading and walking at the same time. And maybe someone should have given me a better heads up," she said pointedly glancing at Paimon.
"Hey! Paimon tried, you were just so blinded by mora you couldn't hear her." The girl huffed and crossed her arms, turning away from Lumine purposefully.
"If you don't mind my asking, what's your task? I'd be more than happy to help as an apology."
"No offense, but I don't accept offers from strangers." Not entirely true, but something about this man seemed otherworldly… like he might not be quite normal. He talked like an old man, though he seemed no older than 25.
"Alright, then allow me to introduce myself. I am Zhongli, I work for Wangsheng Funeral parlor."
Lumine looked up into his golden eyes and sighed. "Fine, come on."
In no time the two had completed clearing out a few hilichurl camps and delivered a dish or two around Teyvat. Much faster than if Lumine completed the work alone. She couldn't help but feel a slight sense of gratitude for the man, even if he'd insisted to help her for no real reason.
"You are quite the adversary Lumine, remind me never to be on the wrong side of your blade in the future," Zhongli said from where he was standing by a Hilichurl corpse. He hadn't even broken a sweat.
Lumine turned to face him fully, she felt her lips quirk into a smile. "I never told you my name."
"It was somewhat hard to miss your little companion calling it out earlier." Zhongli made a vague gesture to his shoulder where Paimon usually tended to stay near Lumine's shoulder.
Lumine snorted, "fair."
Zhongli's weapon disappeared into subspace and he walked the few strides to Lumine's side. "Shall we return to the Harbour?"
Lumine nodded once, "gotta collect that mora, I'll give you half, of course."
"I have no such need, keep such things for yourself."
"It's only fair if you get some though."
"You need the mora far more than I do, consider helping with your commission as simply repaying a debt for causing your trouble."
Lumine looked up at him quizzically. Working at a funeral parlor couldn't possibly make him enough money that he wouldn't mind a few extra coins in his pocket. As they began the walk back, her mind began to think of what he could be doing on the side that would mean he didn't want the mora.
Maybe he was secretly a Sumeran prince and was loaded. He had sixteen wild mitachurls in his private zoo off in some fancy palace and could afford to buy all of Liyue Harbor. Wait- but that made no sense because Zhongli was a Liyue name.
Maybe he was a prostitute, secretly pleasing the women of Liyue Harbor in the night. He certainly looked nice enough to be... his demeanor didn't seem like it would be the best in bed though, he couldn't imagine that he would be hired anywhere.
Maybe Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was a front! Zhongli was one of the men working for the evil boss running the secret undercity of Liyue. Maybe he'd taken her out here to secretly get her hooked on some strange drug made of glaze lilies and seaweed.
"Mora for your thoughts?"
Lumine looked up at Zhongli, realizing she'd been zoning out into the middle distance, imagining him with a cartoonish evil smile. "You're not evil are you?" She asked, meeting his golden eyes.
Zhongli chuckled, covering his mouth with a gloved hand, barely covering the smile. "I'm afraid not, if that's what you were looking for."
Lumine couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. At least that train of thought hadn't been real... unless it was. She look at him again, but more discreetly, he didn't look evil, more just mysterious.
"If you have a question I'm more than happy to oblige," Zhongli said as he met her eyes. Lumine quickly turned away and kicked a pebble she saw on the side of the road as they made their way down the mountain.
"...Maybe a few."
"Would you like to join me for tea? It will be about time when we reach town."
Lumine looked up at him and shrugged, "sure, why not?"
When the two reached Liyue Harbor, Zhongli led her through the streets, then through the maze of walkways above, to a nice-looking apartment. He brandished a key from a hidden pocket somewhere in his suit jacket and unlocked the door.
"I'll put the kettle on, the living room is that way." Zhongli gestured further into his home and Lumine nodded dumbly, walking in and sitting down silently.
She looked around at his house, it was just as fancy as Zhongli seemed to be for no apparent reason. He was either very frivolous or very rich, or maybe he was both. When she caught sight of a wall that was full of what seemed to be ancient traditional art of the seven archons, she decided it was both.
A few minutes later Zhongli walked into the living room, his jacket taken off and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Lumine bit down on her bottom lip as she watched him sit down across from her at the table.
"So, what were those questions of yours?"
"Right!" Lumine wrenched her eyes from the rest of his body and looked back up at his face. "I... I'm supposed to be here, in Liyue I mean, for the Lantern Rite."
"Ah, did you see through my ruse? I suppose I should have been more forthcoming with you, I knew you were quite astute the moment I looked at you."
Lumine cocked her head slightly. She was just going to ask him about the practices of the Lantern Rite, and maybe more about the festival itself. She hadn't picked up on him lying, but if he was going to tell her some secret she wasn't about to stop him.
"I'm a historian, Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is a side job. I apologize for not telling the full truth."
Lumine nodded, "it's not a big deal. Is there anything you can tell me about the festival then?"
Zhongli nodded, setting his hands on the table, thick fingers interlaced. "Lantern Rite is a celebration of the god of geo and contracts Morax, that Liyue celebrates. It starts in a few weeks, the process will be carefully overseen by Liyue's Tianquan, Lady Ningguang this year. The person to perform the Lantern Rite changes every rotation, however."
Lumine nodded, "I'm going to be here for a while then."
"Why are you here for the Lantern Rite? Are you attempting to learn of a new culture, excuse my observation, but you don't look like you hail from the region."
"I'm from Mondstadt." Lumine wasn't about to tell a random man her entire life story. "As for why I'm here, I'm looking for my brother, but..."
"You're hoping to make contact with Morax during the Rite. A smart choice." The teakettle whistled from the other room and Zhongli stood. "I'll be right back."
Lumine sighed and set her head on the table. She felt stupid around Zhongli, he was so well-spoken. Somehow though, she didn't feel judged. He even thought she was smart, which she knew she was, but it was a bit nice to hear it from someone else.
Aether had always made her feel a bit dumb, but only because he was the negotiator of the two. Lumine had always been hit first think later.
As Zhongli walked back into the room with the teakettle and some cups, Lumine sat up straight again. It was strangely comfortable to talk to him nonetheless like his presence was soothing.
"So, you are capable of wielding the elements without a vision." Zhongli poured the tea into a cup and handed it to her. She took it and sipped it, it burned on the way down.
"I am."
"How?"
Lumine shrugged, "we're still trying to figure that out a bit I'm not going to lie."
"It's quite remarkable." Zhongli set the teapot down and picked up his own cup. "You're quite remarkable."
Lumine met his eyes, golden and ringed with red eyeliner, she nodded once. Immediately his hands were in her hair and hers were unbuttoning his shirt.
"Come on! Why are old people so fucking chaste!" Diona groaned and fell back against the grass. "I mean Barbatos it was just getting good!"
"Can't help what she writes." Klee's hat was covering her eyes. "But yeah, that was disappointing."
Aurelia snorted, "you guys are shameless, you know that right?"
"Sorry I'm pissed your mom has more game than me," Diona said.
"Don't worry Di, you just haven't found the right person yet." Klee nudged Diona with her foot.
"Yeah, well not all of us instantly click with boys the moment we meet them."
"Have you ever considered maybe you're just looking in the wrong places?"
"What does that even mean?"
Aurelia noticed the half smile on Klee's face as she returned her hat to its proper place. "So what happened to mister sexy historian man Ari?"
Lumine woke up half dressed in a massive bed. Moonlight filtered into the room through the windows. It had been noon when Zhongli had brought her inside.
She stood from the bed and grabbed the rest of her clothes from where they were neatly folded on top of the dresser. Stepping out of the bedroom, she saw no remnants of the time she'd had with Zhongli. The kitchen was spotless and the furniture was all back in its rightful places.
On the table that Zhongli had forcefully pushed out of the way earlier to get to her sat a small bag and a letter addressed to her.
Lumine,
I apologize for being gone when you awoke, but I had urgent business to attend to. You can leave the door unlocked, I should be home by mid-afternoon. Since you missed your commission yesterday, I figured I would give you your money's worth.
I hope you don't see my absence as a slight. I greatly enjoyed our time together. It is always wonderful getting to spend quality time with another great mind.
I believe someday we will meet again, for now, I wish you well and luck in finding your brother. I'll keep an eye out for him. As for the Lantern Rite, I believe there is a good chance that you will be able to meet Morax.
-Zhongli
His name was signed with a little flourish. Lumine glanced around the apartment one more time before walking to the door and closing it as quietly as she could.
"Oh Zhongli!" Hu Tao sing-songed from the door of his office at the funeral parlor.
Zhongli looked up from the paperwork he was doing for a wealthy businessman's family. "What is it?"
"Something came in the mail for you." The woman threw it onto his desk, and it slid, facing him and smudging the ink of the paper beneath it. He raised an eyebrow, then picked it up. An Anemo seal, he swore if this was another letter from Venti begging for Osmanthus wine-
You're cordially invited to the wedding of Aurelia Viatrix and Sage Grünewald on September 18!
Semi-formal attire is required. The ceremony will take place in the Mondstadt Cathedral, and the reception will be held in the Main Square.
Zhongli didn't know a Viatrix or a Grünewald, but the letter was addressed properly. He supposed it would be fine to visit Mondstadt, tell Barbatos to stop sending him letters when he could just visit, and enjoy the matrimony of two people. He'd always enjoyed weddings.
"What is it?" Hu Tao leaned over his desk to try to see it. Zhongli handed it to her and she flipped it around to face herself, reading it. "Aw! You were invited to a wedding! You should go."
"I was planning on it."
"Can I come-"
"No, you may not."
Klee had sat up fully again, and was braiding Diona's short hair. "So who's the last one?"
Ari glanced down at the diary again and flipped a few more pages. "Okay, so here's where it gets kinda confusing. So the third guy, I'm pretty sure it's one person, goes by three names in here. He was with her for more than one night by that calculation, but I couldn't find anyone under the second name."
"Can I take a look?" Diona asked, holding out her hand, but keeping her neck still for Klee. Aurelia handed the book to her, and Diona flipped through it, her eyes skimming the words on the page. "Yeah you're right, it looks like it's one person." She handed the book back to Aurelia, who flipped back to the first page introducing the third man.
"Okay! Read it!" Klee exclaimed, causing Diona to pull away, she whispered a quiet apology and Diona leaned back toward her.
"Okay okay!" Aurelia held the leather journal closer to her face once more to keep reading her mom's messy print.
Lumine walked into the bank nervously, she knew what the Fatui were capable of far more than she had ever wanted to. She'd watched Venti's gnosis get taken by La Signora after all, but she needed somewhere to keep her money safe.
A woman in a mask stood behind the desk with a bored expression on her face. "Welcome to Northland Bank, where we serve with a smile." The slogan sounded like it was more for a restaurant than a bank.
"I'm here to make a deposit."
"Do you have a bank account with us?"
"No."
"You'll have to make a bank account first, we have a starter fee of 200,000 mora-"
"That's insane!"
"Ma'am please lower your voice."
"200,000 mora is outrageous! I'm not paying that kind of fee."
"I'm sorry ma'am but that's the policy, there's nothing I can do to change that."
"I can find a different bank you know."
"We're the only bank in Liyue Harbor." The woman said, as emotionless as she had been throughout the rest of the conversation.
"Is everything okay over here Ekaterina?" A tall man with ginger hair and the bluest eyes Lumine had ever seen seemingly appeared behind the woman. Lumine noticed a blue hydro vision shining at his hip.
"Master Tartaglia-"
"Oh so you're the fuck who made your starter fee so high?" Lumine's anger immediately was directed away from Ekaterina, who she'd never been that mad at in the first place. She'd make sure to apologize before she left, but for now, she was too blinded by rage to notice how her anger was flung. "If I were in my right mind I would wring your neck."
"I'd like to see you try. Come on." The man, Master Tartaglia, turned on his heel and started up the stairs.
Lumine chased after him as quickly as her short legs could take her, ranting all the way. "200,000 mora is obscene! Who in Liyue has that kind of money."
"Well, we only work to serve the best." Tartaglia opened a door for her and Lumine walked inside, still too pissed to pay attention to where he was taking her until she was sat down on a surprisingly comfortable couch across from his desk.
"Well- well your bank is messy, and your service is terrible! So clearly you're not serving the best!"
Tartaglia sat down behind his desk and smiled, propping his chin up on his hand. "Let it out."
Lumine glared at him, her breathing slightly labored as she responded "I'm done," agitation clearly still dripping from her voice.
"Great, you're the Traveler everyone's been speaking of, right?"
Lumine crossed her arms and looked away from him. "...maybe."
Tartaglia snorted, "no need to be coy, there's no point. I know you're Lumine Viatrix. So, your bank account-"
"I'm not paying 200,000 mora to the Fatui."
Although it was well concealed, Lumine detected a hint of annoyance in the man's voice. "I'll lower the price to 150,000 mora if you'll do something for me."
Lumine narrowed her eyes at the ginger. Something about him was off. His smile was too big, he was too friendly, and something about him was just entirely wrong. Still, she couldn't keep having Hilichurls stealing her mora while she was camping. "What?"
"I've heard rumors that you're the strongest person in Liyue Harbor, I want to prove them wrong. I'll lower it to 150,000 and a fight."
"Make it a hundred and I'll do it."
"How about 130,000 and two fights."
"You're pushing your luck."
"A hundred and three, final offer." Tartaglia leaned back in his chair. "Take it or leave it."
Lumine looked Tartaglia over, he didn't seem very threatening if she were being honest. His mask was askew, and all in all, he was pretty scrawny. She'd fought abyss mages that had looked stronger than him.
She met his eyes and offered a hand to him. "Deal."
"Okay okay I don't care about the fighting skip to the romance." Diona said, leaning in forward to look over the journal's pages.
"No, I want to know about the fighting! Who won?"
Aurelia flipped the book around and showed them the journal where a small section at the bottom of the page read Childe - 0, Me - 1 2 3 4 5 . "I don't know how the fights went but it says she won a lot of them."
"Yes! Your mom is so cool." Klee shouted with a grin on her face.
"Tell us about the romance now I want to hear it," Diona said, leaning back as Klee continued braiding strands of her hair.
"That was a good fight, Tartaglia. You almost won." Lumine teased as her sword disappeared into subspace. "You know for the eleventh Harbinger you'd think you'd be strong enough to defeat me at least once."
Childe wiped his brow and grinned at her in the dusk light. His eyes almost looked to be alight. "Don't get too cocky, you're the only one I can't beat in this whole damn city."
"That's not the accomplishment you think it is."
"It's not an accomplishment it's a compliment."
Lumine snorted, "that's not really a compliment either."
The two began the long walk back to Liyue Harbor from near the summit of Mt. Tianheng, where the pair had been meeting up regularly over the past few weeks. Lumine hadn't expected the Fatui to ever be nice, even if it was somewhat superficial like Childe's kindness often was.
Sometimes though, the mask would slip, a dog would run up or he'd catch a stray toy, and Lumine almost thought she was looking at the real Childe in those moments. One time, she noticed the face while he was looking at her after a battle, and she'd flushed and looked away.
"Am I buying you dinner then?"
"Well you lost, you know the rules." Lumine had something to fight for when her dinner was on the line.
Childe groaned in the warm spring air. "Paimon is expensive you know."
"I try to keep her that way, just to spite you."
"How about I cook for you tonight instead? My treat, I'll make you something from Snezhnaya, my favorite."
Lumine glanced up and him and gently shoved his arm. "Sure, but if it's not good you're buying me Black-Back Perch Stew."
"Fine by me."
Childe's apartment was small and sparse, definitely nothing laying around that gave any insight into who he was. There was, however, an entire shelf of firewater in his cabinet right above where his plates sat.
Lumine sat at his small kitchen table, watching him expertly debone and cook some fish he'd bought from the market before bringing her home. He'd taken his Fatui mask off and his hair was even wilder without it, sticking out in all directions.
"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?"
"For the last time, you will mess something up."
Lumine crossed her arms and huffed. "Just so you know, I'm a great cook."
"Not in Snezhnaya you're not."
"Well, I bet you're not either." Lumine retorted sullenly.
The two fell silent again as Childe dropped a piece of fish into a pan and it began to sizzle. The popping of the oil and the shuffling of Childe around the kitchen was the only sound for a long time.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" Lumine finally asked, breaking the extended lack of conversation.
"My mom." Childe didn't look up from the stove, concentrated on his cooking.
"A mama's boy are you?" Lumine teased from her seat.
"Yep," Childe responded with sincerity. "She's the most wonderful woman in my life."
The two fell back into silence, but Lumine didn't feel as awkward as before. Instead, she watched how Childe's hands moved with precision as he worked, the expert way he flipped the fish in the pan, the way he kept a careful eye on the side dish. He even plated the food with care, eyes not leaving the stove until the gas was turned off.
He set a plate down in front of Lumine and handed her a fork. "If you don't like it I'll buy you the stew." He said, reminding her of their agreement.
Lumine picked up the fork and looked down at the food he'd made. She had to admit to herself that it looked and smelled better than anything she'd ever made. She took a bite and it tasted better too. Lumine took another bite, then another, then another.
"I take it I'm not getting you the stew."
Lumine looked up to see Childe grinning down at her, his fork held loosely in his hand. She'd scarfed half the meal down and he'd barely touched his. She felt her cheeks heat and she straightened her spine. "It's good."
"My mom's recipe."
"I think I'd like to meet your mom to thank her for this."
"Too bad, I won't let you."
Lumine grinned deviously, "Lumine Viatrix always finds a way."
"Don't refer to yourself in the third person, that's weird."
Lumine took another bite of fish and replied with a full mouth, "your face is weird."
After dinner was over Lumine insisted on doing the dishes, and when she was done she turned to face Childe. "Well... I guess I should head home. Thanks for dinner it was good."
Childe stood from the kitchen table abruptly, his knees bumping against it causing the stuff on top to make a terrible clattering noise. "Lumine..."
"Yeah?" Lumine leaned against the counter and crossed her arms.
At this moment, Childe didn't look like the hulking man that he was. He seemed small and fragile, and most of all nervous. He looked down at his hands and then back up at Lumine, blue eyes almost pleading. "Stay? Please?"
Lumine crossed the kitchen and grabbed Childe's collar, pulling him down and kissing him on the cheek. "Okay," Lumine responded, letting go of him.
Gently, like he was scared she was going to break, he picked her up, her legs instinctively wrapping around his hips. Her eyes met his , her hands still smelling like the lemon-scented dish soap Lumine had been using just a few minutes ago. She had barely enough time to register the faint freckles dotting his nose before he kissed her.
"Hey Ekaterina," Tartaglia walked into the bank after a long morning of going debt collecting. "How was the morning shift?"
"Same as ever sir," Ekaterina pulled her mask up over her eyes and the violet irises hiding underneath met Tartaglia's blue. "How was debt collecting?"
"Same as ever these days."
"Oh, we got this for you in the mail. Says it's from a Viatrix."
Viatrix. Viatrix. Viatrix. The surname rattled around in Tartaglia's brain as he looked down at the letter Ekaterina was holding out to him with his one functioning eye.
"That's a name we haven't heard in a while huh?" Tartaglia took the letter and slid the card stock out of the envelope with care not to break the wax seal. He tried not to get his hopes up as he flipped the card open. He was sure it had nothing to do with what had happened in the past, he was sure after almost twenty years of no contact Lumine didn't want to talk to him again.
Still, his heart deflated when he read the card to himself.
You're cordially invited to the wedding of Aurelia Viatrix and Sage Grünewald on September 18!
Semi-formal attire is required. The ceremony will take place in the Mondstadt Cathedral, and the reception will be held in the Main Square.
He knew he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. But still, an invitation to get to see her again! From her... daughter. Lumine had a daughter, which meant that daughter had a father, presumably Lumine's husband. He felt himself deflate even further.
"Sir? What's wrong?" Ekaterina rubbed her eye and put her mask back on.
"I'm invited to a wedding." Tartaglia moped, leaning against the front desk to Northland bank.
"Lumine's?"
"Worse, her daughter's." Tartaglia wilted onto the desk. "She has a daughter."
"Master Tartaglia she had a daughter, but that doesn't mean she has a husband! You should go to the wedding and sweep her off her feet all over again! She fell in love with you once I'm sure she'd fall in love with you again if you play your cards right."
Tartaglia paused his moping and then stood up straight. "Ekaterina, you're a genius! I'm going to a wedding!"
"Ajax Alekseev." Childe murmured in Lumine's ear as she lay next to him
In his bed, listening to his heartbeat. Slow and rhythmic, seeming almost as calculated at him.
"Hm?" Lumine looked up into his eyes and felt the same burst of fireworks in the pit of her stomach that she did every time she looked at Childe.
"My real name, it's Ajax Alekseev." A hand slipped into her hair and began messing with the strands.
"Ajax Alekseev..." Lumine murmured it softly to herself, testing the taste of it on her tongue. She giggled softly to herself.
Childe sat up abruptly, "Hey! Don't make fun of my name!"
"I'm not! I'm not, I promise!" Lumine's ended up sitting up beside him. "It's just so different. Ajax Alekseev." She tried it again, the words sitting lovely in her mouth.
"You can't tell anyone okay? I'm only telling you because I..." Childe trailed off and messed with his hands sitting in his lap.
"You what?" Lumine teased, poking him gently in the shoulder.
"I... care about you a lot, okay? But I need it to stay a secret."
Lumine kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret."
Even though it had been only three weeks since they'd met, even though Childe was a Fatuu and Lumine was supposed to be his enemy. She, for some reason, didn't care. When she got to watch him wipe away a bloody nose with a murderous glint in his eye, or the furrowed brow and quiet seriousness of his cooking, or the soft way he looked at kids, she felt any animosity melt away. He was just like her if she were being honest with herself.
A calloused hand ran down her spine and rested on her middle back. "I'm being sent back to Snezhnaya in a few days, it's temporary, it should only be a few months or so... will you wait for me?" Childe said as he pulled her back down to lay beside him once more.
Lumine laid a hand on his cheek and gave him a soft kiss. "Of course, I will Ajax Alekseev."
"Your mom was so cool ," Diona pouted, "I want to have boys chasing after me."
"Ignore that part, your mom was dating a harbinger. You invited a harbinger to your wedding, Aurelia." Klee lifted herself up from where her chin was resting on Diona's shoulder. "You're insane."
"He probably won't even come, we don't have to worry about it. Anyway, you need to get up, I need you to go try on your dresses!"
Lumine woke up in the middle of the night, running to the bathroom and coughing up her dinner into the toilet. This had been more and more common of a problem over the past week, but she'd been doing a relatively alright job of keeping it from him.
Ajax flicked on the lights a few seconds later and sat down next to her on the floor, tucking the long strands of her hair behind her ears. "Are you okay?" He asked, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Are you sick? I can ask for a few more days in Liyue."
Lumine gagged into the toilet with nothing left to cough up. She wiped her mouth and shook her head no. "I'm fine, just felt a bit nauseous."
Ajax's hand went to to the small of her back. "Are you sure?" When Lumine glanced over at him, saw the concern on his face, the look in his eyes scared her. She couldn't quite place it, but it was something she hadn't seen in a long time.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
He left before Lumine woke up the next morning, when she ran back to the bathroom to hurl her guts up once again. She had to go to Herbalist Gui.
Lumine walked to Bubu Pharmacy, still in Childe's shirt and pants. "Gui." She said weakly as her hands weakly slammed down on the desk. "I'm sick, I'm throwing up constantly, I'm tired, my whole body hurts, and I tried to have a chicken mushroom skewer earlier and almost threw up."
Herbalist Gui took another sip from the tea in his hand. "Good morning to you too."
"Help... please."
He sighed, "I'm a pharmacist, not a doctor."
"Normally I know what's wrong with me, this time I have no clue."
"Fine, fill out this form with all your symptoms and I'll bring it to Baizhu." Herbalist Gui handed her a form and a pen, then picked his tea back up.
Lumine filled it out as fast as she could as another wave of nausea hit her. She was trying not to gag as she handed the form back to Gui.
He looked it over, "I'll be right back."
He disappeared into the back of the store and came back in just a few minutes. "So?" Lumine asked impatiently.
"All your symptoms are synonymous with the early stages of pregnancy. I can give you some anti-nausea drought, but that's about it."
The word pregnancy rattled around Lumine's brain. She hadn't even been sure she was capable of getting pregnant until this moment. How could she have been so careless? Still, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
Lumine nodded and took the bottle from his hand, beginning to walk about when the sound of Gui clearing his throat brought her back to reality. "You need to pay for that." Gui pointed at the green bottle in her hand.
"Oh, right, how much?"
"10,000," Gui replied, sipping his tea.
Lumine set down the mora on the table and turned to leave again. Pregnancy. She was pregnant. Oh archons, how was she supposed to go to Lantern Rite in a few days if she were nauseous and tired? She looked down at her stomach and put a hand on it as if she would be able to feel the barely existing person in her stomach.
As much as she hated it, Aether would have to wait.