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Lumine was getting tired of Teyvat.
Her sole goal was to find her brother and get out of here—and even that had been compromised.
Her dear brother, Aether, who she considered her other half, looked sad and weathered. Even the dark look on his face had softened into a gentle smile before he vanished into starlight.
She’d watched so many things slip just out of reach after coming so close.
Lumine wondered just exactly how big the bigger picture really was. The "truth of this world,” her brother mentioned. The deeper she dug, the more questions she would find than answers.
Venti had dodged her questions about Celestia when she asked, and she could tell it pained him greatly to answer. Zhongli couldn’t say anything as per his mysterious contract. Lumine was growing impatient, and the fog of doubt threatening to suffocate her crept at the edges of her mind: had they deceived her all along?
She was tired of being kept in the dark. Tired of feeling stupid all the time. All she wanted was the full, unadulterated truth.
All she had wanted was to see her brother again…
Lumine stifles her sobs, so as not to wake Paimon, who was probably fast asleep in the little pocket dimension she'd pop in and out of.
She feels the ground beneath her shift ever so slightly. Footsteps.
Hilichurls? Treasure Hoarders? Fatui foot soldiers? This late? Startled, she scrubs the tears out of her eyes and reaches for her sword, gripping it tightly.
The rustle of the surrounding foliage grows closer and closer. Lumine prowls forward, towards the sound, and just as the bushes begin to part...
“Stay back!” Lumine thrusts the blade of her rapier forward, stopping just short of the intruder’s throat.
“Woah, hey! It’s just me,” cries a familiar voice, the source of it throwing their hands up in surrender.
“Just you?” She asks through gritted teeth, recognizing the silhouette in front of her.
Tartaglia “Childe”, eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers, was wandering the land and happened to find a very vulnerable Lumine out in the Liyue wilderness.
“I thought you left Liyue,” Lumine sighs, drawing her blade back and sheathing it. “It’s been a week since... you know.”
“I still have some loose ends to tie up here. Keeping up correspondence with our infantry. And what about you? Don’t you have some Honorary Knight business in Mondstadt? Why all the way out here?”
She doesn’t want to tell him anything, given that he might get some ideas, tell everyone in the upper echelons of the Fatui, and wreak havoc in another nation again, but she desperately needs someone to talk to, and the whole thing earlier with Teucer...
-------------------
“I’m trying to reunite with my brother,” she whispers. The two of them are sitting by a stream near Lumine’s camp, throwing pebbles into the trickling water. “I only saw him once, but he told me that he has to keep away from me for now, for both our sakes. ...It’s not that different from you and Teucer, to be honest.
“It’s hard. All I want is to see him again and get out of this place, but I can’t leave until we both know everything and set things right.” Her throat feels tight, and the tears are beginning to fall again.
Childe hums, lifting his gaze to the starry sky. “So, you understand now. Sometimes we know that the people we love will understand the things we do in time, even if they don’t agree or know everything at first. Your brother is probably just trying to protect you.”
“I know. We’re--we're the same age, but my brother still thinks of--of himself as the ‘older twin’. Always t-trying to protect me,” she hiccups. “Up until now, it’s always been the two of us. And then just like that, he was t-taken from me, and now I’m all alone. I can--I can handle myself, but... still. It sucks. I really-- I really miss him.”
Lumine hates how embarrassing this part is. The sobs are wracking her body and she's trauma-dumping onto a not-really-stranger that had tried to kill her not even a week earlier.
Childe hands the sniveling girl a small red handkerchief from his coat pocket.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t like keeping Teucer in the dark, either. It’s hard enough to lie to him when he’s... like that,” Childe waves his hand vaguely. Lumine laughs, remembering how the boy had snuck onto a boat unnoticed solely to visit his big brother doing work in another country, and how badly Childe had fumbled trying to disguise his dealings with Treasure Hoarders in front of him.
Lumine thought Teucer was naïve and annoying, but it was kind of endearing. Little boys are just like that, after all. Her brother was the same when they were younger.
“I can assume your brother feels the same way. He probably has lots to tell you, but knows it isn't the right time yet.
“...I’m not that great at giving advice. But what you can do for now is just be patient. Savor the journey, all its hardships and joy. Savor the battles you’ll fight, and the thrill of it all. Snatch every opportunity given to you. Then, when your brother finally comes to face you, take the chance to show him what you’ve learned.”
"Uh-huh. Thanks, Childe."
"No problem--woah,” Childe jerks backward as the girl beside him suddenly slumps over onto his shoulder.
“Sorry for dumping all that on you,” she mumbles. “As much as I hate you and think that you’re weird, I really needed to let stuff out. And now I’m too tired to walk.”
“It’s fine. Here--up you go,” he takes Lumine’s hand and hoists her upwards, and they walk the distance back to camp together. “I’ll keep watch for tonight. You look horrible.”
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t I get in the way of your work? And hey--”
“Eh, no harm in losing a few hours of sleep. Nothing’s going to hurt you while I’m here, because if you were dead, I wouldn’t get to rematch you. And where would the fun be in that?” He chuckles. “I’ll be out of your hair by daybreak, if that’s what you’re worried about. Just get some rest.”
Targtaglia “Childe” is many things. A high-ranking officer from an imperialist military organization. A slightly unhinged dude who also happens to be a weapon of mass destruction. A perfectly reasonable big brother. An excellent cook and an even better ice fisher.
This man is the weirdest person Lumine has ever met. It unsettles her to the bone and puts her at ease at the same time.
She lies awake for a bit, staring at the starry sky, the moon illuminating the faraway floating islands of Celestia in its pale glow. Childe is humming some Snezhnayan lullaby as he tends to the fire. She traces a shooting star, briefly streaking across the night sky and fading as quickly as it appeared.
Lumine missed being truly free, able to shoot past solar systems and pierce through galaxies in search of a new home with her brother.
But even as she was trapped alone here, she came to grow quite fond of this world. Initially, when Lumine had stumbled into Mondstadt, everyone had taken her in as a sort of errand girl (which she hated). As she spent more time in the city, however, they proved to be shoulders she could lean on. Amber had led her by the hand all over the place, showing her hidden gems and little secrets, the two of them having so much fun that perhaps they'd both forgotten that Amber wasn't supposed to be disclosing these kinds of things to random outsiders.
She remembers helping Jean and Rosaria drag a very drunk Kaeya home, Diluc's amused gaze following them as he headed for the night shift at Angel's Share. Lisa's careful hands guiding hers as she and Razor studied elemental magic together, going out to lunch at the Cat's Tail with Barbara and Noelle, and contemplating the meaning of life with Albedo, Sucrose, and Mona in the laboratory whilst Klee drew at Albedo's work desk, off in her own little fantasy world. Running through the city gates with Bennett and Fischl, bandages and grime covering their bodies, laughing and out of breath as they walked toward Katheryne's booth together.
And while she was on her own for most of her journey in Liyue, there were plenty of people who were happy to tell their stories to her. Verr Goldet and Huai'an were always happy to lend Lumine a place to stay, and Smiley Yanxiao would let her help out in the kitchen every now and then. Sometimes, Xiao would be at his usual space on the rooftop, silently guarding that little haven of his.
In the harbor, life continued like it had before Lumine had come along. She'd wave to Ganyu and Keqing as they shopped together in the market district. Catch one of Xinyan's impromptu concerts at the docks and eat with her at Wanmin afterwards as Xiangling hands the two of them a plate of her newest invention. Lie down under a tree with Xingqiu, Hu Tao, and Chongyun as they casually throw around slapstick anecdotes and random lines of poetry. Meet Ningguang and Beidou for dinner at Xinyue Kiosk only to listen to them bicker (flirt?) with each other for the entirety of the meal.
Lumine greatly enjoyed all of their company, maybe a bit too much, and she could tell they enjoyed hers, too.
Then there was the one who stuck together with her through it all. She was useless in a fight; a squishy, rude little thing that was all bark and no bite, and seemed to only ever think about their next meal or gig. Again, Lumine was likely the one to be doing all the work. But Paimon is just Paimon, only the most adorable and informative emergency rations travel guide in all of Teyvat.
Some day in the future, she'd hold hands with her brother, golden wings unfolding to part with this world and all its inhabitants, just as they had done all those times before. They both hated to stay in one world for too long, fearing they might get too attached. It was likely the people who'd helped Lumine on her voyage would never get to hear her tearful goodbyes.
But she supposes that even the untrustworthy have solid words to live by.
The destination is not everything. So before you reach the end, keep your eyes open. Use the chance to take in the world around you...
Every journey has its final day. Don't rush.
When your brother finally comes to face you, take the chance to show him what you’ve learned.
Lumine turns under her covers and lets the exhaustion take over, falling into a dreamless sleep and shelving that distant day into the depths of her mind.
[ end. ]