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The kids in Mondstadt had been telling one another that The Greatest Toy seller was coming back to the city. The eagerness spread like dandelions in the wind; it was easy to see on the children’s faces. There were numerous toy sellers, yet they liked toys from this certain person the most. He’s a foreigner who visited Mondstadt only once or twice a year, especially when there’s a meteor shower to be seen. He had lots of magical items from all over Teyvat. The citizens did not know him well, except that he came from Snezhnaya, and was once a formidable warrior. Sometimes, he did say that he missed all the fighting and even offered help to the people along the way. He never rested in the city, though. The man always set up a small tent by Starfell Lake, and it seemed that the Fatui agents in the city were somehow wary of him.
That time, it was autumn. The atmosphere was quite pleasant, not as hot as summer, nor as cold as winter. In Mondstadt, it’s not freezing like in Snezhnaya, but the night sky was the same everywhere. So high. So far away.
Childe reached his hand out to catch a twinkling star, then released it. He had always loved the stars, yet they were never his to keep. The stars belong to the sky, so does she.
Someone dropped the fresh logs on the grass beside Childe’s seat. He gazed up and caught Teucer, who was gasping for breath.
“Here... Here are your logs, brother...”
“Thank you, Teucer,” replied Childe with a smile.
The youngest brother plopped down on the other side of the pile of wood he had just carried there. Childe held up each log in his hands, evaluated their weight and size, then arranged them neatly into order. Teucer, meanwhile, looked at his brother with a complex expression.
“What do you want to tell me this time, Teucer?” Childe spoke, “That I should stop doing what I’m doing? And stop living like this?”
“I’m not mom and dad, or our siblings!” Teucer said. “If you take any advice, you would have already given up on your falling star for these ten whole years.”
There wasn’t any reply from Childe, only a faint smile.
Had it been ten years? Childe had stopped counting the days a long time ago, because doing so only caused him unbearable pain. A day or a thousand day in this world without his falling star; it was all the same.
Childe watched Teucer for a moment. The boy grew up so fast! He was the one sibling that resembled Childe the most, with quite messy ginger hair and ocean eyes. Childe recalled the time when his brother was still a little boy, looking up at him with pure admiration and love. He believed in everything his big brother said, even the lie that he was the best toy seller in Snezhnaya. Even though that lie had become true, Childe still could not help but feel like he owned Teucer his entire childhood.
At that time, he just couldn’t explain to his little brother what he had been doing in the Fatui. Childe wanted to keep Teucer’s innocence away from the darkness of this world. But now, Teucer no longer needed his protection. On the contrary, it was the boy who’d been supporting him, always; even when he’s a Harbinger still, or when he became a toy vendor roaming around the continent of Teyvat.
Childe had spent his most glorious days serving his Queen and Snezhnaya. Yet he had known that the Fatui wasn’t his place all along. He belonged with a star which had gone for really, really long.
“When you were a kid, you believed in fairy tales and miracles.” Childe spoke as he took out the tools from his travel bag, then began to chisel the log in his hands to make a new toy. "What about now, Teucer?”
“I’ve grown up now!” Teucer seemed rather upset. He didn’t want to be protected and worried like when he was a child anymore, so he tried his hardest to prove that he’s a big boy. But the truth was, somewhere inside, there’s still a little Teucer who believed his brother's star would return. He really liked that star; a girl with a kind heart! Teucer could no longer remember her smile, or the warmth that spread from her hands when she held his tiny ones. But the bright light embraced her the day she left this world was still vivid in his mind. It was the day this world shattered in front of his brother’s eyes.
Even at that parting moment, Childe still smiled. He never cries, not in front of Teucer or anyone else. But Teucer knew that every night, every night in these ten long years, his brother not once stopped looking up at the sky and yearning for the return of his shooting star, as she had made a promise.
Childe had renounced his title in the Fatui to find her. Wherever a meteor shower, he would be there. Yet not once did he catch the star he was waiting for. People told him that the star would not come back, that he should not wait in vain. But that hope she would return one day was everything he needed to go on living, day by day for the past ten years.
If it wasn’t for that hope, that promise of hers, no one knew how he would destroy himself and throw his life away to the darkness of this world.
“In the world where I came from, it is believed that wishes upon a falling star will certainly come true.”
“Then, every time I see a falling star, can I call out your name, ojou-chan?”
“Of course. As long as you call my name, no matter which world I am in, I will always, always find the way back to you...”
Her words were taken back to him by the wind. It was here, in Starfell Lake she came into his world. And it was in this very place that they bid farewell.
“Please stop making that face, can you?” Teucer spoke, interrupting Childe’s waves of memories.
“What face?”
“The face like you’re doing so well...”
“I am doing well, Teucer.”
Childe tried to reassure his brother, but he was filled with emotions. He had high hopes in this meteor shower, but could not forget the disappointment, the loss every time the stars went out and the sky darkened before his eyes like many times in the past. Over the years, his heart was revived and then died in an instant for so many, many times when the sky rained stars.
“Are you sure you don’t need me here tomorrow?” asked Teucer. He truly worried about his older brother. Childe never stayed in one place for too long, so it was difficult for the boy to catch up on his journey. Still, Childe didn’t let the boy stay with him.
Teucer respected his brother. Childe just didn’t want to see how heartbroken he would be. He thinks for others before himself. Hence, Teucer did not insist on staying when he saw Childe shaking his head.
The next morning, Childe found a small letter on the toy stall. Teucer had left a message:
“I’ve been trying to be strong all these years, because I thought you might need my help someday. But I’ve realized that I can never be as strong as you, brother. You have the courage to wait for your star, yet I seem to have forgot how beautiful and miraculous this world used to be in my childish eyes. Thank you for reminding me of that. Now, I can say it from my heart that I still believe in miracles. And I believe you will see her again.
P/s: I will return to Snezhnaya first. Please come home soon! I’m kinda tired when everyone keeps asking me how you’re doing!
–Teucer.”
Childe smiled as he put the letter in his travel bag. The sunny sky of Mondstadt greeted him with its warmth.
***
The children of Mondstadt gleefully left Starfell Lake, holding new toys which they had purchased from the seller from Snezhnaya. As their laughter melted in the wind and the sky darkened, as people eagerly left their homes to prepare for the stargazing session, the toy vendor quietly went up the hill alone. Placing his back against a tree, letting the wind play with his ginger hair, his ocean eyes gazed up into the open sky.
As the night was torn apart by countless streaks of light, he gently closed his eyes. He whispered to the wind what he had always wished for during these ten years; only a name.
"Lumine ..."
Childe opened his eyes. It was late at night and the stars had stopped raining. He lifted himself up; the same way that he would gather every piece of his shattered heart together again, and wait for a new meteor shower.
As soon as he walked back, he heard his name called. The winds must be playing with him again, and even when he turned around, he still could not believe his own eyes.
On the hill was a petite girl with blond hair and a pristine white traveling dress. Her whole body radiated a gentle light like a star. She smiled at him, the little corner of her mouth curved up as she called his name.
She was as beautiful as in his memories.
“Ojou... Ojou-chan?... Is that you?” Childe felt his voice, or himself, trembling.
“I promised, didn’t I? As long as you call out my name to the falling stars, I will be back.”
Maybe it was a hallucination. Maybe it was a dream. But who cares? The only thing real to him was Lumine running to him with a bright smile, her arms wrapped around him as her head rested on his shoulder. The scent of sunshine and wildflowers still lingers on her hair as he could remember. Her body felt so small in his arms.
Childe’s trembling hand found its way to Lumine’s hair as he whispered, “Welcome back, ojou-chan!”
-The end-