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It’s a windy day on Wangshu Inn, the leaves of the massive tree in which the frequently concurred inn stands shake gently yet without any signs of stopping anytime soon and atop the roof, as per usual, a timid figure stands, warding the Inn and its surroundings from danger whilst keeping his distance from any who may come his way, as that Is the how the Yaksha of the Wangshu Inn works.
A woman’s voice comes from the stairs “Xiao, do you have a minute?”
The Yaksha jumps ahead and without a sound appears right in front of her and asks, “What is it Verr Goldet?”
“It’s not something important really, it’s just, I noticed you’ve been quieter than what is usual even for your standards ever since you returned from your journey to the chasm, Is everything alright Xiao?”
The Innkeeper words took the Yaksha off guard, and after a brief silence, he lets out a small smile of relief “So you noticed, well you don’t really have to worry, everything is alright and taken care of, it’s just, I’ve come to realize a few truths about myself after the events which transpired in the chasm.”
Xiao turned around and got closer to the edge of the roof’s balcony “I owe a lot to the traveller really, she really helped me come to terms with it all, and I wish I could return her the favour, she’s done so much for me.”
Verr Goldet stands next to the Yaksha and without giving him any time to step aside she intervenes “Then go for it Xiao, word on the streets is that the traveller will soon be leaving for Sumeru, take the chance now that she’s still here, because something tells me it will be a while before she comes back” With a glance, the innkeeper and Xiao’s gaze focus on the horizon, towards the nation of knowledge and wisdom, towards Sumeru.
With a frown on his flustered face, the Yaksha intervenes “I know that is the case yes, yet I can’t help but feel uneasy about whatever is going on in Sumeru, the Karma I’m sensing feels off, even from here, and the closer I get to the border, the worse it all feels, something is not right”
“And how bad is it from your point of view?”
“If I had to make a comparison, it feels like if something could fall off the heavens and light it all ablaze at any moment, like a literal rain of fire, whatever it is, It’s bad news for sure.”
With a bold move, Verr Goldet puts herself in front of the Yaksha “Shouldn’t you at the very least warn the traveller then?”
Timidly and trying to hide his embarrassment, the Yaksha turns around and with much less confidence in his voice he murmurs “I’m sure she already knows, you know how she is…”
Back at it again, the self-proclaimed mondstadian places her forehead with the Yaksha’s and yells “Even so, pay her a visit, it’s the least you can do”
Taken aback by the boldness of the usually calm and collected Verr Goldet, Xiao hops back, his face as red as a tomato field. “…”
Without much time for the Yaksha for a comeback, Verr Golden just pats his back and goes back inside “You know what you want Xiao, it’s written all over your face.” And just like that she was gone.
With a sigh of relief, the yaksha jumps back to the roof and looked at the horizon, and with a sudden gust of wind he vanishes, like he usually does.
At around the same time our dearest traveller is all alone, fishing on the outskirts of Liyue with the light of dusk as her guide while collecting her thoughts of recent events, she left Paimon with Itto and Shinobu back in town with a handful of Mora and told them dinner was on her and also kind of ordered Paimon to be their guide while she took care of preparations for their journey to Sumeru, it’s the first time in a while where she was all alone, but it seems the whims of a certain someone have other plans in store for her.
After a seemingly unassuming gust of wind, she turns her head to a lone tree on top of a rocky hill nearby, she knows she’s no longer alone, and with a smile on her face she talks towards that unassuming tree “Xiao”
Then and there, right beside her but with just enough distance to be just at arm’s length, the Yaksha appears beside the Traveller and sits down on a stump, not uttering a word while timidly gazing at the smile of the girl on his side.
The traveller, visibly excited with the Yaksha’s sudden appearance, gets a tad closer and sits beside her precious friend, and with only half an arm between them, the girl moves her head closer and playfully whispers “Missed me much?”
His face turning pinkish, the Yaksha turns his head around and rashly comments “It’s not like that, I heard you’d be leaving for Sumeru soon, and I just wanted to give you a heads up, the Karma in Sumeru is dangerous right now.”
Lumine’s lets out a sigh of relief “I know Sumeru is in a bit of turmoil right now, a traveling merchant of curios with whom I keep in touch told me a while ago in one of his stops by Mondstadt, but I’ll be fine, Inazuma was no better when I arrived, because wherever danger is, I follow suit” Puffing her chest while exclaiming those last words, the girl lets out a playful laugh in the end.
The Yaksha turns his head back at the girl and abruptly gets up “But, I’m serious here, the Karma in Sumeru right now is really bad, some of the worst I’ve seen in the past 500 years, for all I know, a Mad King could descend from the heavens and set the whole nation ablaze.”
Lumine gets back up and places her right hand on Xiao’s temple “Oh, Xiao, you don’t have to be so dramatic, I know the possible dangers better than anyone and you should too, we’ve been in this together just recently, you’re just being silly now Xiao, I mean, a mad king burning a whole nation? That’s just absurd.” She laughs off the worries of the flustered Yaksha.
Stuck in place and with his face turning as a Jueyun Chili, Xiao gently breaths in while the Traveler retreats her hand from his face and takes a step back. “Sorry, I’m being more emotional than ever, it’s just… It’s just that I have a lot on my head lately, ever since that day I’ve been thinking, about what you told me, about Bosacius and the others, about living my life with the people I care about right now and about Heroes” Xiao sits back down, flustered, and embarrassed by his burst of emotion while he covers his face. “It’s just, that even if I have finally come to terms with the passing of my companions, even if I’m starting to try and get closer to those who care about me, and even if I can finally start to move on from the past and focus on what’s in front of me, there’s just this one feeling, this intense beat in my chest which loudly cries out the same all the time, these unnecessary feelings which saddle me and won’t let me go… I just don’t know what I should do about them.”
A gentle touch reaches out for the Yaksha’s head, the traveller crouches and gets closer to the boy’s face, he moves his hands out of his face, and his timid expression shines with the light of dusk. In the face of dusk, the gazes of the pair meet, and it’s as if time freezes.
Without a word, Lumine moves her head closer and closer to the Yaksha’s face, and gently retreating her hand from his soft hair, she kisses the yaksha’s forehead and moves both arms around his shoulders to embrace the boy in a gentle hug in a moment they will both treasure forevermore.
In the calm of dusk with the traveller’s embrace still present on the Yaksha, Lumine whispers softly to Xiao’s ear “Xiao, I love you” And just like that the girl starts to lessen her embrace on the boy for whom time had just stopped at that beautiful dusk sunset.
The boy stood frozen for a while, with a rush of emotion surging through all his being as the girl undoes her embrace on him and takes a step back, in a moment of bravery, the boy stands up and with just one word, he closes the distance between him and the traveller and embraces the girl back. “Lumine!”
A rough kiss on the lips follows, one born from pure feelings of love and the inexperience of the innocent Yaksha. Lumine accepts Xiao wholeheartedly and kisses him back, they merge in an embrace that, to them, seemed to last an eternity, exchanging kisses of pure love, and cuddling softly while sitting on a stump next to the river on the outskirts of Liyue, enjoying every second they can while the sun slowly goes down and until the night starts to follow.
The first rays of darkness signal It’s getting late and the couple ease down and lay down, looking at the first rays of moonlight on the sky, their hands entwined in a hold which will be hard for them both to let go of.
The Yaksha is the first to open after a solid minute of complete silence “Lumine, I love you too”
The traveller laughs out loud with a smile of pure joy on her face “Did it feel good to take those unnecessary feelings out of your system?”
Embarrassed, the boy murmured “Did I really call them that… sigh…”
Another minute of silence, then another and another, until the girl broke the silence. “Say Xiao, I mean what I said, seriously, but…”
The Yaksha interrupts the girl with a brash yet kind hand gesture “Don’t, I already know what you are going to say, and you don’t need to say more. I never intended for you to stay here because of me.”
With a silent nod they both know that their union is not meant to be just yet, and even so, no matter how apart the couple are from each other, they both know that the day will come, where they can finally be together, but that day is a long ways to go, and with their eyes fixed on the sky, the couple stays there silently for a while longer, until the starry sky illuminates the heavens.
After a while and before parting ways, Lumine gives Xiao an envelope “Open this in case you miss me, I wanted to give it to you right before parting to Sumeru for good, but since things turned out this way I think you should have it now” And with those words and a kiss on the cheek, the girl returns to the busy streets of Liyue, while the Yaksha becomes one with the wind again and heads back to Wangshu Inn.
And the windy afternoon that saw the Yaksha and the traveller come to terms with themselves concludes, with both reassurance and sadness.
However, there is still hope for the future, the Traveller and the Yaksha are fated to reunite, and even if that fateful reunion may take eons, truth is, that time is not of the essence for the two lovers who have lived for over half a millennium, what are two, ten, fifty or even a hundred years to them and their love?
And come what may be, even if times become tiring and the distance becomes hard to bear, there are always those words of encouragement in the form of a letter that Xiao received before the separation.
Dear Xiao
I will always love you, no matter how many mounts or oceans separate us, I will love you to the ends of the world, so please, wait for me just a little longer my dearest hero,
Yours forever,
Lumine