Chapter Text
She never should have agreed to this, shaking her head as she walked towards the pavilion. It has been a couple of weeks since Venti caught her singing to glaze lilies and she never thought the bard would actually hold her to it when he invited her to join him in his performance in Liyue Harbor. It was already embarrassing enough that he heard her singing, but he actually heard her song -- the song she had been working on the past couple of months, in her futile attempt to process her emotions towards a certain someone.
She's never had to deal with such emotions before. After all, they only really traveled, her and Aether, jumping from one world to another. No other attachments aside from him. She felt another sting when she remembered Aether and the last time she saw him, but she knew that longing and pain was different from the one she's experiencing now. Her heart aches, and somehow, she thought the only way to deal with it is to write a song about it.
She wasn't entirely new to this, they used to write songs about their journeys to try to retell their memories. Maybe that's also why she immediately felt connected with Venti when they first met, sharing some similarities with what people in Teyvat called bards.
But this time though, she felt like strangling Venti, forget that he's the Archon of Freedom. "Freedom?" She thought to herself, "Freedom from this madness of needing to perform in front of people in Liyue." She was only a few blocks away from the pavilion and she was getting more and more creative with her excuses to get away from this deal.
"Lumine, you can't back out now! Think about the MORAAAA" Paimon shouted, noticing her hesitance the closer they get to the venue. "And Venti promised to give us all the tips that we'll be getting tonight! Paimon can't wait for the food we can buy with that Mora!"
"It's always about food with you, Paimon," she huffed, despite being fully aware that they really need the money. It wasn't cheap to have to feed Paimon, and maintaining her gear and weapon also comes with a price, albeit being discounted given her reputation.
-
"No Lumine, just think about it!" Venti shrieked in excitement, "The Honorary Knight singing about her adventures! It would be a blockbuster!!!" He was practically flying like Paimon right now, jumping around, beaming like never before.
"Venti, I have a reputation to uphold." She knew the bard was right though, that it would be a blockbuster, whether they perform in Mondstadt or Liyue.
"I can give you 70% of the talent fee!" Paimon's attention was piqued at the mention of the fee. "And, all the tip that we get then is yours. Lumine, we're talking tens of thousands of mora here, even more, because you're the honorary knight, saviour of Liyue Harbor."
Lumine knew then that she had lost Paimon, her supposed friend and confidant. She turned to her companion and saw the glimmer in Paimon's eyes, her mouth opened and then closed again. Paimon was… speechless????
"No thank you," she sighed, hoping that her small friend would be swayed by her answer. This seemed to shake Paimon awake, "Lumine it will take us a full day of commission to earn that amount of money!" she squealed, to Lumine's disappointment. "You only need to sing one song! And we'll earn LOOOOTS OF MORA!"
She knew there's no winning this fight, and has learned in her months of being with Paimon that somehow, she always gets her way, leaving Lumine having to figure out how to make what Paimon wants happen.
She looked at Venti, then to her floating companion before turning back to Venti, "… Fine." An exasperated sigh was all that could be heard from the traveler, as both Venti and Paimon cheered and hugged with her agreement. "On one condition," she continued, making their celebration short-lived. Venti looked at her, big smile not fading from his face, "Let's hear it!"
-
"I'm never going to recover from this embarrassment, Paimon," her palms are sweaty as she climbed up to the second floor of the pavilion where Venti agreed to meet her. Paimon giggled, excited to hear Lumine sing in front of an audience, knowing full well how lovely her voice is, despite her being so shy about it.
"You're going to do great Lumine! And we'll grab dinner afterwards with Venti and we'll have lots of mora and we can eat our hearts out…" There goes Paimon, again.
"Lumine!" A familiar voice called her as she reached the floor where the tea master Liu Su tells his stories every morning. "Just in time! I really thought you wouldn't come," Venti sighed, relieved that his co-star showed up. It wasn't that he didn't have any stories to sing, it's just that he also wanted to help the Traveler, in whatever way he can. This was his creative way of helping her out.
"Not like I had a choice," Lumine sighed, the floral zither appearing into her hands. "When are we performing?"
"We have a couple more people performing before us, I'll perform first before you do-"
"Oh no way, Venti! I'm performing first" Lumine's eyes grow wide.
"No I'll warm up the crowd before your performance," Venti almost half-shouted as a cheer from the crowd was heard all the way to the backstage.
"They're warmed up enough! There's no way in hell I'm performing after you, Venti."
The bard sighed in resignation, nodding, "Better than not having a co-star!" he gleamed, his wooden lyre materializing into his hands.
They waited for a couple more minutes "backstage," listening to the performances of storytellers, and bards. There were tales of a great captain slaying a giant sea dragon, songs of the old Liyue and the growing city, even legends were being sung by amazing performers and balladeers. Lumine felt her hands getting colder and clammier by the minute.
"Honorary Knight and the Bard!" Lumine squeaked when she heard the lady call their names. She shot Venti a look for using her title as their name and decided she'll give him a talk after this.
"May Barbatos guide you, Lumine" Venti snickered, as they walked out of the curtains and into the spotlight.
Lumine stood there, legs shaking. It was unbelievably cold for a summer night in Liyue Harbor, the breeze blowing through the pavilion made it even harder for her to hold the zither. She would very much rather fight ten hillichurl camps alone than to do this.
"Ehem ehem, good evening, Liyue Harbor! My name is Venti, and I'm sure a lot of you know the beautiful lady beside me tonight"
Lumine blushed, " Beautiful? Venti really knows his way around his words .
He giggles, "I will let the Savior of Liyue, the Honorary Knight of Mondstadt take it away." Venti steps aside, getting off the stage, clapping towards Lumine.
The pavilion was awfully quiet. Lumine was still trembling, looking through a sea of people. She heard Venti's voice in her head when they were still practicing, "Just imagine them as a bunch of hillichurls listening to you!"
She plucked the strings of the zither, the sound echoed through the whole pavilion, and looking up, she saw a whole lot of the hillichurls intently listening to her music.
I walked through the door with you, the air was cold
But something about it felt like home somehow
And I left my scarf there at your sister's house
And you've still got it in your drawer, even now
So far, so good. She actually felt confident as the hillichurls also seemed to enjoy her song. Nevermind the fact that some of the words she used were not even from Teyvat, it seemed that they were too entranced by her performance. She looked at Venti at the side of the stage, nodding in approval as well.
The idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you
Not weeping in a party bathroom
Some actress asking me what happened, you
That's what happened, you
Lumine felt some tears coming to her eyes as she continued to sing her hearts out, she looked up in an attempt to stop them from flowing freely, which she managed to somehow successfully do. A plethora of emotions building up in her chest -- the pain, betrayal, anger -- coupled with the inexplicable pain of missing Aether. Remembering the times they would sing their mother's lullaby whenever they missed home, or just singing anything that comes to mind as they go from one world to another. She was mentally patting herself at the back for really holding back the tears.
Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there
Down the stairs, I was there, I was there
Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there
It was rare, you remember it
She plucked the last chord of her song, and she looked up, some tears still in her eyes, slightly blurring her vision. As the song came to a close, Lumine slowly started seeing the faces of the people watching her, solemn and listening intently. Although some of them were giving her looks of confusion, probably trying to decipher what a car or a refrigerator is, most of them seem to have enjoyed her song. Adjusting her eyes to the light and wiping some of her tears, she thought she caught a flash of red hair among the crowd before disappearing down the stairs. She quickly turned her attention to Venti, who has now joined her in the stage.
"Let's give it up for our honorary knight!" The crowd cheers, to Lumine's surprise. She steps off the stage and lets Venti take over, and was immediately joined by Paimon, who was also sniffing.
"You were soooo good Lumine! Paimon is really proud of you!" Her companion hugged her, still crying. "I wonder if we got a lot of tips!" Paimon mused. Lumine sighed.