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“Shouldn’t you be going?” Xiao crosses his arms.
Lumine stares down the hill, looking indecisive. Paimon points urgently to the harbor. “Lumi! It’ll start any moment now!”
“You… go on ahead, Paimon. I think I’ll stay here—I’ll be able to see the lights from this distance anyhow.”
“But—Lumine!”
The traveler smiles. “It’s alright. Here,” she takes out her pouch of mora, handing the fairy several coins. “Get yourself a snack too, while you’re at it. I remember Xiangling said something about a new experimental dish, didn’t she? Perfect time to try it out.”
Paimon furrows her eyebrows, looking confused, but then her eyes flicker between her friend and the adeptus pretending not to listen in on the conversation. A lightbulb seems to go off behind her eyes, and she withholds a snicker. “Suit yourself,” the fairy giggles, waving cheerfully.
Paimon… Lumine glares at her too-obvious friend, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. ‘Emergency food,’ she mouths slowly. Paimon only sticks her tongue out and makes kissy faces as she flees to the harbor.
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Lumine sits down on the grass, surprised to watch Xiao follow, kneeling lightly just a few feet away. She is even more surprised when he deigns to speak, breaking the silence.
“Why... didn’t you go with your friend?”
The traveler hums, staring up at the starry night sky. “In my old world—well, the place I come from—we used to have a similar tradition. Like the Xiao lanterns of Liyue, my clan used to direct starlight to pave the way back…” Her eyes dim at the memory, ignorant of how keen eyes watch on. Lumine pulls her knees to her chest, resting her chin somewhat gloomily.
“What happened?”
“It was destroyed.” She smiles humorlessly. “We, Aether and I, we’ve been traveling together ever since. Seeing different worlds. Of course,” Lumine holds up a hand, a small constellation appearing just above her palm, “I can’t really do that anymore.”
Even now, the emptiness where her wings used to be tingles restlessly, her body still reaching out into the vacuum where power once dwelled, as vast as the starry expanse she used to travel.
“I was so excited when I first learned the Dance of Starlight,” she muses wistfully. “The elders let me begin early. The glow was like the lanterns here, only we burned so brightly—” Lumine swallows, before continuing in a whisper. “You could see the shine from planets away. I’d finally become old enough to lead the dance, when…”
To be in that crowd of people, smiles bright beneath the light of false stars... She grits her teeth against millennia of buried emotion, feeling it tear through her once more.
How ridiculous, Lumine thinks. What Xiao must think of her now, on the verge of a breakdown after a few sentences and turmoil long past—not that he would know it.
Soft footfalls reach her ear, and she blinks as a gloved hand hovers in her vision. Lumine glances up curiously at the stone-faced adeptus, but takes it without question, secretly thrilled at the feeling of her hand in his.
Xiao pulls her to her feet, easy as breathing, and she forgets not to be surprised at his strength.
“You said the Lantern Rite is like your dance,” he says quietly, glancing to the harbor down below, people waiting on their signal. “Then lead this one.”
Lumine swallows thickly, lips trembling. Her voice is hardly audible. “But I—I can’t glow anymore.”
The adeptus smiles slightly. Just the faintest curve of his mouth, but it transforms his entire face: sharp eyes softened to molten amber, expression terribly, horribly gentle. The sight of it steals the remainder of her breath and brings heat surging to her cheeks. “You can.”
His hand tightens a little, briefly squeezing hers, and Lumine feels power rush through her veins, flooding the dried-up well. Something twitches behind her back, and she thinks for a moment that her wings will pop into existence once more.
Not quite there, but the area around her skin begins to glow like cor lapis unearthed from stone. She gasps, following its trail, and the tears fall before she can think to stem them.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” The adeptus’ voice is unusually panicked, free hand moving to brush the liquid away before he abruptly pulls back. Lumine shakes her head, shooting him a tearful smile.
“Don’t be,” she laughs giddily, voice cracking a little, as she takes his hands in hers. “Thank you,” Lumine says fervently, holding his gaze, hoping the depth of her gratitude will show. Wishing beyond anything to somehow communicate just how much this means to her, how much he has unknowingly given; how much his gesture has touched her, how it feels just to regain a semblance of what once was.
His smile alone would have been enough. But this, this is—
Lumine feels something within her bloom, warmth spiraling through her until it encapsulates everything, head to toe to mind to soul, and it sinks so deeply into her that she knows without a doubt that she will never—not in months, years, millennia—forget this feeling, the weight of his eyes gazing into hers, his power coursing through her veins, her heart racing the way she used to, past asteroids and moons, wild and unstoppable and free.
His thumb brushes over her knuckles, bringing her back to the present. “How do the steps go?”
She recalls the movements, complex and dynamic, the rapid music echoing faintly in her ears. But she cannot retrace them, she knows, not now; not when her heart dances to a different beat.
The outlander shakes her head, boldly moving his hand to her waist. “Show me one of yours.”
Xiao searches her eyes, as though to be absolutely certain that this is what she wants. Slowly, he adjusts his grip, moving her into a placement she does not yet know—but hopes to. Oh, how she hopes to.
Lumine wants to know everything about him.
She feels the power in her flare, something familiar that she has not sensed in centuries. From Xiao’s widening eyes, no doubt he feels it too as he leads her through the steps, pulling her in from a twirl. The lanterns are rising, she knows, noting how the warm amber lights float up and outwards, almost a river of trailing stardust. The flickering lights’ brightness swallows the serene glow of the full moon above, until the sky is dotted with gold.
But none of it holds a candle to Xiao, adeptal power a beacon far lovelier in Lumine's eyes. So despite the spectacle in the sky, she cannot tear her eyes from his as they swirl, their steps light, wholly indifferent to anything beyond their shared gravity.
They dance there, together, immortal stars shining long after the final lantern disappears into the night.