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“Xiao,” came Lumine’s gentle voice on the wind. A call for him.
Xiao pulled his spear out of the demon and teleported to her location, the top of one of the many mountain peaks. He appeared before her, arms crossed and tried to seem as nonchalant as possible. “What is it?”
He startled as he saw Lumine was sitting on a blanket, a spread of food ranging from satisfying salad to almond tofu on the blanket with her. A small cake was in the middle and on it Xiao could see a crude drawing of himself. Or at least he thought it was him. It was hard to tell since it was mostly blobs of color.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Lumine gestured to the open spot on the blanket. “Zhongli told me that today was your birthday.”
Was it? Xiao wasn’t, he didn’t keep track of the days like the mortals did but if Lumine thought it was then it was probably true. “You didn’t have to,” he said as he took off his shoes and sat on the open spot on the blanket.
“I know but I wanted to.” Lumine held up the plate of almond tofu. “I made it fresh myself. I hope you like it.”
He awkwardly took the plate from her and took a bite of the almond tofu. It was unnerving to have her staring at him so intently as he ate. “The texture is, good.”
“Really?” Lumine let out a long sigh of relief.
“You’ve always made good almond tofu,” he pointed out. He wondered why she had been so worried about this when had consistently made good food.
“I know but this is your birthday almond tofu. It has to be good. Are you a fan of cake by the way?” Lumine picked up the small cake. “Paimon decorated it.”
“I can see that.” He put down the plate of almond tofu. “Did you make the cake as well?”
Lumine nodded. “I made everything here.”
“I see. Is there a plate I can use to take a bit of everything?”
“Oh, uh yes.” Lumine pulled a plate out of the basket and handed it to him. “You really don’t have to force yourself to eat anything you don’t want to.”
“It’s fine,” he murmured as he took something from each dish. He may not have to eat like the humans did but Lumine’s cooking was different. There was a sense of warmth to it that he couldn’t find anywhere else.
“I uh, got you something as well.” Xiao pulled out the few starconches he had collected and handed them to her. “I heard they contain secrets and you can send messages through them. Maybe you could tell me what you’ve heard in them?”
“Of course I will, thank you Xiao,” she said gently, putting the starconches away, a smile lighting up her face.
Xiao had a small smile of his own. He had tried to listen to the starconches but couldn’t hear anything. That was alright, what he really wanted to hear was her voice. “Do you mind telling me about your travels?” Xiao asked quietly.
Lumine smiled. “Of course.”