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The ruins of the Abyss order were empty now. The hung statue of the Ameno Archon and it’s ominous light remained as the only proof someone had once been here. Had Paimon and Ying not witnessed Dainsleif and the leader of the abyss order vanish right in front of them, nobody would even know of this wretched place's existence.
Ying.
At the edge of the room, where a glowing portal once stood, the outlander remained. Tears running down her face in a state of shock from the events that just occurred. Her brother, who she had devoted herself to finding, was now her enemy. Paimon could be insensitive at times, but even she could grasp what her friend must be feeling.
But something was bothering Paimon.
The young man addressed his sister as “Lumine”
And she answered .
But whenever anyone would ask, she would say her name was Ying. Everyone knew her as Ying. That was who she was.
Then why would she respond to “Lumine?”
This confusion burned into Paimon’s head too much, the creepy statue and the nature of this place wasn’t helping. She wanted to leave, get some sticky honey roast, and try to figure out what to do next.
She flew over to the girl “Come on Ying! Let’s get outta here already!”
Ying shuttered at the noise, with a sigh she turned her head towards Paimon and stepped back towards where they came, “Oh… Yeah… Lets.”
An uncomfortable silence lingered over them as the two made their way back to Liyue harbor. Whenever they were on long treks like this they would discuss whatever plans the two had for the day, how their adventures were going, or Ying would tell stories about her past adventures with her brother. Silence was a rarity between the two, and Paimon quite enjoyed the chatter. A lot of people considered the outlander the quiet type, but they didn’t know her like Paimon did.
Which made the current circumstances all the more concerning.
Now Ying wouldn’t say anything, any attempts to make conversation were met with a dismissive remark or no response at all.
The dead air and uncomfortable quiet lasted for far too long as the two traveled, wandering around the Cuijue Slopes and the edge of the Luhua pool until they reached the cliffs above Liyue harbor where Ying finally decided to take a break. Sitting on the grass and looking out onto the city with a blank expression. Paimon hadn’t realized how long the two had been walking. The afternoon sun that was above them when they left had long since set, replaced with a starry night sky offset by the dim lights visible in the city.
Now that the two weren’t occupied with walking or avoiding hilichurl mobs, Paimon decided to make one last attempt at conversion.
“Ying, Paimon has a question.”
Ying looked up at her floating companion. She was still quiet, but she answered, “Yes?”
Truthfully Paimon did not expect that to work. She also had several questions but decided to hone in on the one that came to her first.
“Why did your brother call you Lumine?”
She sighed, “Because that’s my name.”
Paimon was not any less confused, “But I thought your name was Ying! That’s what you tell everyone!”
“Well…” She trailed off, apparently trying to figure out what to say next. “My actual name is Lumine, but only my brother calls me that anymore. Ying is just an alias.”
“An alias? What does that mean?”
Ying (Lumine?) shook her head, “Like a codename, you know how everyone calls Childe “Childe” even though that’s not his actual name?” Paimon nodded “Like that.”
“Ok… But why do you have an ‘alias’? You’re not part of the Fatui are you?!”
“No Paimon,” Lumine(?) snickered for a moment. “I’m not part of the Fatui.”
She looked up to the sky, “Me and my brother aren’t the only ones who can go between dimensions. I’ve seen a few others who can do the same, but I cannot say how many others there are that can do what we can.”
“When me and…” She paused “...And Aether, if he’s letting himself be called that, first learned to cross dimensions, we got ourselves into a lot of trouble. We were young and didn’t know better, and we made enemies. We fled into another world, but someone managed to follow us.”
Paimon gasped, “Did you get caught?”
“No, but we learned not to wreak havoc on people from other worlds for no reason. It also taught us that we still had to be careful when we moved between worlds. To make sure we couldn’t be traced, we started using different names whenever we went somewhere new.”
Paimon wasn’t sure she understood. Would changing your name really be that helpful? How would you even keep track of that?
But regardless, she was proud of herself now. Her friend was talking, and she even smiled for once!
Deciding to continue the conversation further she asked another question, “So What other names did you use?”
“Hotaru was the name I used in the last world, Hyeong before that, the earliest name I can remember using was Hikari, but I know there were others. It’s just been too long to remember.”
Her tone dropped again. “I don’t know why Aether is going by his name again though. When we were planning on leaving for this world he decided to go by Kōng. If Dainsleif hadn’t vanished I would’ve asked him about it, but…”
In an instant, Ying had begun crying again. “Something had to have happened to him…” she muttered between sobs “Aether was always the more reckless one, but he would never have done any of this. We were supposed to stick together… We...”
Oh no.
All at once, Paimon’s attempt to cheer her friend up had failed again.
Doing the only thing she could think of to calm her friend down, Paimon flew closer, nuzzling herself against Ying’s cheek. “Hey! Look on the bright side! Now we know he’s alive! And we have lots of new information to find him again!”
The girl didn’t say anything. It wasn’t working. Things were never that simple. But Paimon didn’t like it.
Ying, Lumine, whatever her name was, was Paimon’s friend. And Paimon’s friend was hurting. Betrayed and left behind by the person she cared for more than anyone. Even if she couldn’t quite understand everything her friend was going through. Paimon knew that it was painful, and that was enough.
Still nestled against the traveler, she made one last attempt to do something.
“Lumine?”
Lumine paused. The surprise of someone else using that name enough to briefly stop her outburst.
“I’m sorry.” Paimon started. “A lot of bad things happened today. Your brother being the prince of the Abyss order and all.”
The traveler looked at her with a blank expression, this wasn’t working.
“But we’ll get through it! You’re not alone in this. You have the Knights of Favonius and the Liyue Qixing and Venti and Zhongli, and everyone!”
Flying back in front of her friend’s face Paimon finished, “And I’ll be here too! Every step of the way! We’ll finish this journey to the end and we’ll make sure you see your brother again!”
Lumine sighed. She was still down, but she was no longer crying. “Thank you, Paimon.” She gave the fairy an affectionate pat on the head. “That means a lot.”
“Good! Paimon doesn’t like seeing you all mopey like that. Now can we cook up something to eat? Paimon’s starving!”
“Sure, any preferences?”
“Hmm… How about some sticky honey roast! You don’t make it as good as Good Hunter, but it’s still good!”
“Now what’s that supposed to mean?”
Once dinner was served Ying decided to set up camp for the night. They would check back with the adventures guild and the non-abyss-related details of their commission in the morning.
Now that everything was settled Paimon still had another question.
“Hey, What should I call you now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well if everyone calls you Ying but your name is Lumine should I call you Lumine? Or Ying?”
“Well, I guess that’s up to you Paimon.” She replied “Although I’d rather you not tell anyone Ying isn’t my name. I don’t want to have to explain that to everyone just yet.”
“Hmm.” Paimon feigned indecision, but she already knew her answer, Lumine didn’t sound right to Paimon. She had met the traveler as Ying and that’s who Paimon saw her as.
“Paimon will call you Ying then.”
Ying smiled, giving her friend another pat on the head. “Alright, Paimon.” She stood up, “I’m gonna go to bed. Thank you for your help today.”
As Ying departed into her tent. Paimon looked up at the sky, content at her success.
They found Aether, they learned about the Abyss order and where it came from. There was still so much to do, so many places to go and people to talk to. A whole journey that they would need to see to the end.
And Paimon would be there for her partner each step of the way.
Because that’s what friends were for.