Chapter Text
She may not have remembered it at the time, but as Amber told stories of her Grandfather, how he would care for Amber, and never hesitate to clean up her messes, she too had someone who loved her so. While Amber told her these stories she felt a soon-to-be familiar pain, starting in her stomach and curling through her chest, wrapping around her heart like a snake would its prey. Without even knowing who it was that cared for her so lovingly, she felt herself missing them, wishing more than anything that she could rid herself of the pain in her heart.
And then the brunette explained of her grandfather’s disappearance and the struggle she fought daily when facing the gap he’d left.
With tears streaming down her face, she pulled Amber into a hug, holding sobs back as she felt Amber’s tears fall onto her shoulder.
For once, Amber felt as if someone truly understood the pain in her heart.
For once, she was able to share the pain that haunted her.
“It seems as though some fairly important matters have come up. I fully intended to have you join Kaeya, Lisa, or I, but I think the three of us will be fairly busy today. Most of our Knights will be, sadly.
“In brighter news, though, Outrider Amber, our very own Crimson Knight, is always in need of a hand. Though she may force her grandfather's ways on you and train you to fully understand what it means to be an Outrider here. I hope this is suitable work for the time being?” Jean questioned, clearly over stressed and anxious about Lumine’s answer. Lumine only smiled brightly, nodding enthusiastically at the chance to spend more time with such a bright girl.
“Perfect, I do hope you enjoy your day then,” Jean said with a smile, moving to open the door for Lumine. Upon exiting her office Lumine was greeted with the now-familiar sight of Amber’s bright smile.
“Goooood morning! Are you ready to see the rest of Mondstadt?! We have to go visit Storm Bearer Point to see Vind, she’s our storm watcher, along with a couple of other Knights and Adventurers who were sent to scout that area! And then we’re going towards the Thousand Winds Temple, we have a research team there that I check in with every two days, mainly because the area is so dangerous. We’ll probably pass through Windrise to get to the Falcon Coast, and who knows who we’ll see along the way!” Lumine smiled at her enthusiasm, though slightly surprised by how much she did in one day.
“We’ll need to get going if we’re going to make it through all that in time,” Lumine laughed, glancing towards the window to spot the late morning sun. Amber looked too, gasping when she realized it had already become so late in the day. Amber didn’t hesitate to wrap her hand around Lumine’s wrist as she pulled her out of the building, though Lumine swore she saw Amber blush at the contact.
They rushed past Kaeya and Lisa and a handful of guards as they raced through the city, Amber receiving shouts of greeting from almost everyone they saw. Even as they left the city and people became sparse, those they did see would stop to chat with Amber.
Lumine left most of the talking to the chatty brunette, surprised to find she was even more talkative than Klee; and perfectly content with Lumine’s peaceful listening.
When chatting with those who’d been outside of the city during the attack, Amber made sure to inform them of what had happened and reassure them that everything was alright now. And as she parted ways with each and every person she made sure to ask if they needed anything and reminded them to be careful and aware when out in the windy wilderness of Mondstadt.
Once they separated from whoever she’d been chatting with, Amber would explain why they were out of the city and different scenarios she’d encountered with them.
A man who Amber called Reckless Pallad had to be saved from a small group of hilichurls, while a woman who introduced herself as Doctor Livingstone needed help finding samples. A handful of others asked small things of Amber and her new companion, and though some tasks were tedious and boring, Lumine found herself quite enjoying the day.
Very occasionally when Amber would fall into a peaceful silence Paimon would pop out and interject herself into whatever task they were doing, something that took Lumine a while to adjust to. When the sun had crested over their heads, they found themselves next to Starfell Lake, on their way to the Thousand Winds Temple from the Stormbearer Mountains. Paimon had appeared suddenly and demanded they stop to have lunch.
The girls had giggled at the sudden proclamation of the floating fairy, but agreed none-the-less, quickly finding an old cooking fire by the edge of the lake. Amber volunteered to cook, exclaiming that Lumine simply had to try her ‘Outrider’s Champion Steak’. Her apparently well-renowned dish took only moments to cook, which was perfect in Paimon’s eyes as well as Lumine’s as her stomach howled for food. Amber questioned if she’d even eaten breakfast, and then proceeded to lecture her when Lumine divulged that, no she hadn’t even thought of food when she awoke, too excited to help and explore the city.
Stars bloomed in Amber’s eyes at the confession despite her lecturing, a look of awe and appreciation in her eyes. Paimon cleared her throat roughly, pointing towards the last steak that Amber was cooking, coincidently her own. Amber blushed, a squawk escaped her mouth as she rushed to pull it off the fire.
Lumine and Paimon were quick to compliment Amber’s cooking, truly blown away by how delicious she’d made the simple dish.
“Paimon has now eaten two more famous dishes of Mondstadt! What about you Lumine, other than bread can you cook me anything special?” Lumine paused at the question, her face twisting into one of concentrated thought before it fell into a defeated frown.
“I can’t remember anything like that, when I woke up here I remembered how to make bread, and I was pretty quick to figure out how to make Sweet Madame, but I can’t remember if I used to cook outside of that,” Lumine pushed out, her frustration clear in her tone. Amber furrowed her brow, worried to see such defeat etched into Lumine’s normally optimistic face.
“I know what we can do! We can collect every recipe we find and try cooking them! Maybe the smell or even just the muscle memory of cooking a certain dish will help bring back a memory of something you’ve cooked before! I mean even if you’re from a whole ‘nother world, something is bound to be similar enough to trigger a memory for you! In fact, I got a recipe for Mushroom pizza right here! I picked it up from Good Hunter because I heard it’s Jean’s favorite, but we can learn it together and make it today as we go visit other parts of the Mondstadt!”
Lumine couldn’t help but feel her frustrations drift away with Amber’s positivity and conviction. Her frown turned into a soft smile as she nodded along to Amber’s words. It took a moment for Amber to realize she was rambling, if only slightly. When she shifted to see Lumine's reaction to her idea, she was stunned by the look the outlander was sending her.
Amber’s mind scrambled as her cheeks turned red. It was Jean’s exasperated smile when Amber ranted on and on about her day. It was Kaeya’s brotherly smirk and affectionate hair ruffle. It was Venti’s wisdom and joy in the small things Amber experienced in her day to day. And yet this was Lumine, the woman who was supposed to save them. Save their world.
Amber felt as if a motherly god was smiling down at her, happy that Amber had graced her presence with her rambling sentences and random daily tasks. The thought made Amber smile, something bright and free within its depths; but they still had quite the day ahead of them. So Amber stood, brushing off her shorts and offering a hand to help Lumine up.
Amber was pleased when Lumine’s peaceful smile didn’t disappear as they carried on through the day's journey. They’d stopped to read the recipe for the mushroom pizza before they left for Thousand Winds Temple, which led to Amber making cheese in her backpack with the milk she’d brought for lunch, that she was now thankful they hadn’t drunk it.
She promised it would be ready by the time they stopped to chat with Patchi and Dolan, a researcher and adventurer who were attempting to discover the secret of the old ruins around them. Lumine had slowly been expanding her map, in awe of how beautiful Mondstadt was, all the while listening to the problems between Patchi and the apparently reckless Dolan. Amber was in the midst of fretting over their argument when Lumine stepped up.
“I’m sure Amber and I could temporarily shut down the ruin guard so you two could have some time to explore the ruins, with no threat, and no need to be cautious.” Amber balked at her, side-eyeing the giant robot that stomped through the crumbling ruins. Both responded enthusiastically before Amber could shut down Lumine’s idea. Amber gulped nervously, memories of target locking missiles flying her way, but then Lumine was sending a shining smile her way once again. The one that made her feel safe and warm. And Amber was following Lumine through the ruins until the massive robot was locking its sights on Lumine.
Amber followed her lead, observing the attacks and dodging, attempting to formulate some sort of battle plan. It was only after a close call with it’s swinging punches that Lumine fell back to Amber’s side.
“Weak spot in the head-”
“Weak spot on it’s back-”
They said simultaneously, stopping only for a moment to laugh before they both found themselves jumping to opposite sides to avoid another missile strike.
“I’ll keep it’s attention on me while you aim for the weak spots,” Lumine announced, charging forward without a doubt in her mind about Amber’s capabilities. With a confident smirk, the two reengaged the ruin guard, this time attacking back. Amber was quick to get a shot into what they assumed was its eye, but it jerked around out of her sight before she could get another one in. Lumine didn’t react, simply charging up another ball of anemo before launching it at the guard.
Amber began to move her body in parallel with Lumine so that her golden blond hair was always somewhere in front of her own body. It took a moment before she landed another shot on its eye, but once she had she didn’t hesitate to land another, cheering in triumph as it fell to the ground, dust rising around it. Lumine gave Amber a proud smile before diving towards the ruin guard, retreating a moment later with a part from its body. She brushed off Amber’s confusion with an embarrassed ‘sword upgrade’ mumbled out.
“Nice shots, by the way, I knew I could count on you,” Lumine said as they made their way back towards Patchi and Dolan, quickly informing them of the city's current events and reminding them that they had an hour at the most before the ruin guard reactivated.
After that began more of a journey across Mondstadt. Lumine was beginning to marvel at how much walking and running Amber did in a day, her feet aching in her shoes as she marked another statue of the seven, this time under a large tree in Windrise. They stopped briefly to help a researcher who needed evidence on elemental energy, which led to Lumine climbing the massive tree to pluck leaves that glowed in her elemental sight.
Along the way they managed to collect all the ingredients for the pizza and ended up stopping on the shores of the Falcon Coast to quickly make it, once again pulling Paimon out of wherever she went, with the enticing promise of freshly made pizza. While Lumine greatly enjoyed making the interesting dish, playfully ripping off chunks of Amber’s dough to add to her own, and Paimon doing the same to her; however she didn’t feel the same rise of panic and pain in her chest that she’d grown to associate with a new memory resurfacing.
She found herself slightly disappointed, but when Amber caught sight of her dejected look she promised she would scour all of Mondstadt for every recipe until they could make every dish with ease. Lumine smiled at the sentiment before glancing towards the setting sun, it’s golden-pink rays casting a rose color on the beach around them.
They didn’t stay there for much longer eating their pizza quickly before rushing to finish their tasks, Amber checking in quickly with the knights scattered around the beach while Lumine chased after crabs with Paimon, catching very few successfully. When Amber rejoined Lumine on the sandy shores, she happily announced that they were off duty, at least until they were standing in front of Jean or Kaeya to give them the day's report.
This information resulted in a peaceful walk back to the city. Despite the quickly looming night, Lumine couldn’t help but enjoy the serene quiet that came as twilight fell. Her fingers ran through the grass that had grown unchecked till it reached her hip. She and Amber purposefully avoided the few slimes and hilichurls they saw, enjoying each other's company even after a day spent together. It wasn’t until the city lights came into view that Lumine felt a question that had been sitting on the tip of her tongue since she’d arrived at the city, jump out of her mouth, shattering the quiet peace of their walk.
“Why is it that you guys want or wish for me to be the savior?” Lumine asked, so suddenly that Amber’s steps faltered, if only slightly.
“What do you mean? Why...why wouldn’t we hope that you’re the one who saves us all?” Amber questioned back.
“If I’m the savior wouldn’t that mean something big was coming? Even if someone else was the savior and they suddenly appeared, wouldn’t it just mean that there was most likely a war ahead? Why ask for saving if things are peaceful as they are now? Shouldn’t the savior's appearance trouble you?” Lumine’s words were rushed and unclear as she let out what had been bothering her for so long.
“I’d never thought of it that way…” Amber mumbled her tone more sullen. “I think… I think that your appearance means something was on the horizon either way. Without the help of the hero, our world could fall into the hands of evil and become something unsightly. I don’t think that you are the catalyst to some big negative event. If that were true then you very well would have arrived during the Archon War. I think you are the deterrent to that evil.
“And this next part is totally not going to be mentioned again, because I was most definitely not listening in the first time you met with Jean before the attack, but the world, or maybe Mondstadt at least, doesn’t intend to put this entire… ‘world-saving’ business only on your back. You’re not here to be the one true savior to our world, at least that’s never how it was depicted in the legend; rather you are to be the one who unites us all to fight against a greater evil. And together we’ll fight with you, whether you’re guiding or leading.
“Growing up everyone always told me different versions of your story, but none of them seemed quite right, so I pieced together the parts that seemed right until I came up with what I believe. Maybe one day when we have more time I’ll tell you about it, ya? It is your future after all,” Amber said with a playful smile.
Lumine wasn’t sure if she was entirely convinced, but she couldn’t help but return Amber’s smile, a foreign hope building in her chest as she hoped Amber’s words were true.
Soon enough their walk to the city led them to the Jeans office where they gave a rundown of their day to the Grandmaster herself. It wasn’t until Jean had excused Amber that she announced what Lumine would be tasked with tomorrow, and Lumine couldn’t help but smile happily as she found out what her assignment would be.