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Lumine looked at the sheet of paper that had her commissions written on it, she had been ticking them off as she went along. She had done all but one, the one that was left she had been dreading the entire time. The location of it had been staring at her in her mind, Dragonspine. The bane of her existence she hated the place, if she could never go there again she would.
The idea of having to go there today made her want to scream the commission itself was a simple one. Destroy the hilichurl towers, it was simple enough if it wasn’t in the freezing cold while getting covered in snow. She wished there was a way she could just deny all the ones in Dragonspine but sadly someone had to do them.
Lumine slowly but surely made her way over to a teleport waypoint. She wished she could invest in a coat but they all made it difficult to fight in leaving her to just be freezing the entire time. One lucky thing was that the commission spot wasn’t awfully far from one of teleport way points meaning she could just run in and out.
Once she arrived in Dragonspine the cold air hit her quickly sending a chill down her spine, the snow was currently falling hard making it slightly more difficult to move around. Lumine didn’t let that slow her down though she quickly started marching over to the spot. She decided go to a slightly higher point to get an advantage point over the monsters. She decided jumping down on top of the tower destroying it then using anemo on the 2nd would be the best coarse of action, it would avoid the most conflict and should be relativity fast.
Lumine walked back slightly, getting in a running stance she raced forward of the edge and plummeting down on top of the tower destroying it instantly. This alerted the hilichurl’s around it who started getting ready to fight her, Lumine decided to quickly sprint over to the second tower and blow it away before the hilichurl's even have a chance to attack her.
Once the tower was blown away she tried making a run for it but as she did she heard a noise coming from behind her. She spun around only to be met with a giant rock flying towards her, Lumine didn’t have time to react before it smacked her head dead on. The last thing she saw was the snow from the sky above falling down before total darkness.
-
As Lumine awoke she felt as if someone drilled into the side of her head. Gaining more of her bearings she realized that she was in someone’s bed no longer in the cold snowy biome of Dragonspine. Slowly opening her eyes adjusting to the light of the room, it was bright as if the sun had just rose but that couldn’t be right. It was only evening when she was on Dragonspine, How long was she out?
Lumine pushed herself up out of bed, while her head was sore she was fine apart from that. No cuts or bruises as far as she could tell, meaning whoever saved her from Dragonspine got to her fast. Hilichurl’s don’t hold back after all if she had been up there longer she would be in far worse shape than she was.
Lumine walked over to the window that was situated on the other side of the room as she got closer it dawned on her where she was. Outside was the lands surrounding Wangshu inn, giving her a good idea on who had picked her up. Before she could speculate more though the door to the room opened and in came the person she had guessed.
Xiao hadn't clocked her yet coming into the room thinking she was still fast asleep, “Hi Xiao” His head snapped towards her as if he was a startled cat before instantly frowning.
“You should be sitting” He crossed his arms giving her a stare his eyes flicking from her to the chair behind her She sighed giving in to him. Xiao walked over kneeling down in front of her her brought his hand up to her face hesitating slightly before grabbing her head gently.
“I feel fine you know apart from a slight headache” She informed him while he took her face in his hands moving it from side to side as he watched her eyes. Lumine tried to keep her breathing regular to make sure her face doesn't heat up to the same shade as jueyun chili even if it’s probably not making a bit of a difference.
“Hmm good” He mumbled removing his hands pushing himself up off the floor. Lumine longed for the touch of his hands she wished to reach out and grab them but stopped herself, “You need to be more careful”
She sighed he told her this every time she got hurt from the smallest scratch to her getting hit by a rock and passing out. Lumine wonders if he will ever stop caring whether she gets hurt or he will be like this till the end of their days.
“I am careful” She insisted, the only reason she got hurt by the hilichurl is because of how much she despised the cold of Dragonspine and so if anything it was Dragonspine fault not hers.
“If you were careful you wouldn’t have gotten hurt” Xiao scoffed, as he finally went to sit opposite from her. Lumine thought he might of left after realizing she was ok but today she got lucky and he decided to actually sit with her.
“How did you find me anyways” She asked the question that had been in the back of her mind begging for an answer. She didn’t recall calling his name before she fell meaning that couldn’t be the reason.
“I happened to be in the area” Lumine raised an eyebrow at him, why would Xiao be in Dragonspine of all places. She didn’t take him as the type to purposely go looking for cold areas.
“Why were you in Dragonspine” She couldn’t think of a reason why he would be there after all it’s apart of Mondstat meaning he had no need to protect it.
Xiao muttered something under his breath that Lumine couldn’t catch, “Hmm?” She questioned tilting her head to the side slightly, it was as if he was embarrassed to admit it. Lumine was stumped at what it might be after all while he was a man of many mystery’s they weren’t usually to do with a reason to be in Dragonspine of all places.
“I was watching over you” He was bright red and all flustered, “I know you don’t like Dragonspine and when I saw you going there while I was on patrol I followed”
Lumine’s smile winded, “You remembered” She was starting to think he actually listened to her more than she let on.
“How couldn’t I you went on about a two hour rant about how it sucks” Xiao reminded her, Lumine forgot about that part but it was obvious he did not.
“Oh yea but still Thank you” She was more thankful for him than she could ever express after all she would probably be dead if he hadn’t arrived.
“Anytime” He told her while getting up to leave standing in front of her as if he was questioning something. Quickly he leaned down getting inches away from her face and kissed her cheek, before Lumine had time to react he teleported away.
Lumine frowned every time he gets close to her like that he disappears instantly after, “I hate when he does that” She muttered to herself.