Chapter Text
The soft blow of the wind rustled the leaves of the nearby trees, their gnarled roots twisted and contorted so that Lumine had to carefully pick her way over them, lest she trip into the damp Earth that was dusted with a light cover of snow.
Winter was fast approaching, and if the woods were haunting now, they were damn near lethal past the first blizzard of the year. It wasn’t unusual to find frozen bodies of unlucky souls who had wandered to close to the forest’s kiss of death come spring.
Despite this, Lumine journeyed into them anyways. She had no choice, not if she wished to live.
Her parents had died when she was 17, leaving her and her twin brother, Aether, alone. It had been a hard winter that year, and when the rationed food was all gone, they spent the last of their meager inheritances on what they could find in the markets. But even then, they went to bed many nights starved and freezing.
One night, Aether set off into the void with nothing but the clothes on his back. He had left the sole winter coat for Lumine so she could stave off the cold long enough for him to return. He claimed he was going to find help, whatever that meant. Either way, that was the last she had seen of her brother in nearly 2 years.
She waited, she really had. But after a week with no news, she accepted that he was gone. She would’ve cried, she wanted to, but that would have only wasted what little energy she had left.
It hurt, to be so alone in the world, but she would certainly never find out what happened to him if she allowed herself to die alone in her family’s cabin that, though once was home to warmth and happiness, was now cold and empty.
When the snowfall next broke, she stepped into the woods with the warnings of her parents from when she was young ringing in her ears, but she had no other choice. She would not fail.
Using her father’s old bow, she settled low in the snow, and waited. Waited for an unsuspecting animal to pass her by, waited for life to pass her by. A chance, that was all she needed. Because she would not fail.
She had always been a good shot, and though she favored a blade, she knew that would not save her here. No, if she wanted to live, she would do whatever was necessary. Because she could not fail.
Not when she still had to find Aether. Not when she still had to survive.
Though that day was only the first she had gone in the woods, it was not the last. She took to hunting relatively quickly, and was able to yield enough not only to feed herself, but occasionally to sell some in market. If not meat, she at least made sure to sell the pelts.
Unfortunately, she was stuck in these woods, which were both her savior and her captor. If she ever hoped to find Aether, she needed mora, and that was much harder to find in the woods than a next meal.
Over the last two years, she had saved all of what she made at market in a small jar. A jar that sat in the back corner of the left kitchen cabinet, and was only half full, a far cry from the amount she needed if she ever hoped to leave and look for her brother. A brother who had probably frozen to death in that unforgiving wilderness years ago, but she couldn’t believe that, because that would be to accept that she was truly alone in this world, and at that point, was it even worth living?
She was 20 now, and hopefully, with her catch today, she would be able to get a fairly handsome sum for her efforts. That was, if this deer she had been tracking for the last hour would show up.
Its prints in the snow were practically teasing her, mocking her futile efforts to find it. Or at least, that was the case, until a faint snapping of foliage to her left snapped her to alertness.
Crouching low, she moved slowly, being careful not to make any sounds that might startle it. Peeking out behind a tree, she saw it. One of the largest deers she had ever laid eyes on. Forget selling his pelt, the mora she could get for this deer could fill her pitiful jar two times over.
Her heart raced. This was it, this was the break she needed. Aether was so close, all she had to do was kill this deer. She had killed hundreds before, this would be no different. Drawing her bow, she pulled the string taut.
Breathing in deeply, she exhaled, and with it, cleared her mind of all its thickly laden anxieties. Steadying her hands, and trying to calm her racing heart, she narrowed her eyes in anticipation of the kill, and fired.
Or, that’s what should have happened. Until she froze, not out of fear or the cold, but because she truly could not move. Suddenly, a large boom filled the world around her, and all the air was sucked from her lungs, she barely even registered that the deer had long run-off deeper into the woods. Her vision swirled while her stomach flipped. She felt like she was going to puke.
Trying not to pass out, she focused her mind, but just as suddenly as it began, the world righted itself, and she was alone. Now within possession of her body once more, she breathed heavily, and standing straight up, swore loudly when she realized her prey had evaded her again.
Slinging her bow on her back, she angrily shoved the arrow back in its quiver. Huffing once, she raised her foot to begin pursuit once more, but then the world around her came crashing down. Literally.
A rumbling noise from above shot her gaze upwards, just as she saw a flurry of motion and a large ball of something falling from the Heavens.
It landed with an unceremonious thud on the ground just in front of her, and with a cautious wariness, she shuffled to the thing, her curiosity winning out over her annoyance at losing her prized catch.
Upon inspection, she realized it was not a thing, but a man, who in another world she might have considered handsome.
He was thin, and looked half dead, though after crouching down, Lumine realized he was quite alive, albeit barely. His hair had a reddish, coppery tinge to it, and he was tall, taller than anyone had a right to be.
Looking up, she bit her lip, torn between going after what had to be the most impressive beast she had ever seen and taking this man back to her cabin. Glancing back down at the stranger, she saw a singular snowflake fall and get caught in his lashes while a weak breath clouded up in the air above his partially opened lips.
No, she had morals, and as much as that deer would help her, she knew that if she left this man here, he would surely die. Not many went into these woods and lived.
Grabbing the area under his arms, she attempted to pick him up as she would a dead animal, but he proved to be to heavy. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around his torso, and started to drag him back the way she had come. This was going to be a long walk.
Alone with her thoughts, her mind fired in a million different directions. Forget who this man was, what on Teyvat had caused him to literally fall from the sky? That wasn’t even mentioning the other absurdities that had happened just before he decided to drop in on her life, literally.
Finally, after ages, she reached her cabin, which was weathered with age and looked out of place in the grand forest surrounding it, but to her, it was home. Now on the doorstep, she nudged her way into the worn building, and smiled as the heat from the hearth warmed her frozen extremities. With one big heave, she pulled the stranger over the threshold, and after closing the door, lied down on the floor out of exhaustion.
She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but when she next opened her eyes, the only light in the room came from the light glow of the flame in the corner, which had miraculously managed to keep going despite her absence from it.
Getting up, she added some more wood, and watched as it flared up. Peeling off her thick winter clothes, she made sure to be extra delicate with the coat, which was frail with age. But she could never part with it, not when it was one of the final things she still had of her past that hadn’t been lost or sold.
Humming a slow lullaby she recalled from when she was younger, she hung her bow on its hook and shucked off her boots in the corner, stepping outside briefly to knock the snow off.
Looking out to the forest vaguely, she quickly widened her eyes and darted back inside. She had nearly forgotten about the random man who was still sound asleep in the middle of her floor.
Inching over to him, she looked at him closer than she had earlier. His own thick coat reminded her of her own, with loose threads and different patterned fabrics patching up what had to be old rips and tears.
It had to be sweltering under it, what with the heat from the now blazing fire. Grabbing his shoulders, she pulled him into a sitting position leaning against her chest as she worked the sleeves off of his arms. Pulling it off, she let him fall back to the floor, and hung it in the corner with her own belongings.
Moving towards his feet, she began to unlace his boots, when she noticed the fine dirt that was caked into the soles. She furrowed her brow. Though having dirty boots was no crime, Archons knew the pitiful state of her own, she had never seen this kind of dirt in her life. It looked out of place, like it came from another world entirely.
Just another mystery regarding this stranger. A stranger that was passed out in her home. Oh, how her brother would kill her if he was here now, but she couldn’t just leave him there. Her mother raised her better than that.
Sighing, she stood, and started shuffling to head back into her room. There was nothing else to be done, not until the morning. Even she wasn’t stupid enough to go out into the woods at night, and the stranger still had yet to waken. She would have to make up for today’s hunting loss come tomorrow. Giving one last forlorn glance at the left kitchen cabinet where her back corner jar sat, sadly waiting for mora that seemed as though it would never come, she pushed her door open and stumbled into bed.
Once again, she fell asleep almost immediately, exhaustion pulling her further and further until she thought no more.
Her consciousness returned jarringly, as she registered the presence of something warm and hard on her face. Her eyes shooting wide open, she found the cold eyes of the stranger looking back at her. His left hand was clamped around her mouth, and her dull kitchen knife was positioned in his other hand above her. He was straddled over her waist, with his body weight pinning her to the mattress so that she couldn’t get up.
“Now Girly, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. So, make this easier for both of us, and tell me where I am.”
His hand slowly retreated from her mouth, and with her heart racing, she realized how stupid she was. How stupid it had been to fall asleep with a stranger in her home, how stupidly pitiful her failure to find her brother had been, and how stupid it would be if the last thing she ever saw was this man’s haunting blue eyes.
Her dignity would not allow her to go out this way, but her pride would not allow her to answer his demands. Snaking her hand under his thigh, she flipped him over in one quick motion, and he hit the floor with a resounding thud as the knife clattered from his hands. Rolling on top of him, Lumine scrambled across the floor to grab the knife. The moment her fingers made contact with it, she swung back around, holding it out warningly.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but if it wasn’t for me, you would be dead. So I suggest that you don’t threaten me in my own home.” Almost as an afterthought, she added, “And don’t call me Girly.”
He smirked. “Well, you still haven’t answered my questions, Girly.”
Oh how she hated him. Forget being somewhat handsome, he was the most repulsive, vile person she had ever met. Narrowing her eyes, she didn’t say anything. It was like he short-circuited her brain, what with the rude wake-up he had given her. Her sheets were still in a tangled heap on the floor, and she was sure her hair was in a similar state. She probably looked feral, but with how angry she was, that was probably a fair representation.
“Now, if you want to set down that knife, why don’t we just have something to eat instead and do this over breakfast.”
She laughed. She had to with how ridiculous he sounded. “You’re kidding, right?”
His smile betrayed nothing, though she couldn’t help but notice the way it stopped before reaching his eyes, which were as unwelcoming as death itself.
“You really just tried to kill me, and are now asking me to eat breakfast with you? Sorry if I fail to see the logic.”
“Well, let’s be fair, I never said I’d kill you, only that I wasn’t afraid to hurt you. There’s a difference. And since you’re being difficult about things, yes, I’m offering to have breakfast with you. My mother did teach me some manners you know.”
How such a horrible person could have something as normal as a mother was beyond Lumine’s comprehension. As much as she really hated him, though, she realized she didn’t really have another option. As unlikely as it was, if he had anything to do with Aether, she had to know.
People didn’t just fall out of the sky every other day. Something was going on here and she had to find out what.
After staring at him for over a minute, she finally bit out “Fine. But since you’re so insistent on it, you can cook.”
Lowering the knife, she didn’t break eye contact with him, not even as he held her stare with equal intensity. With a slight smile on his face, he reached out expectantly. “Oh come on, you can’t expect me to cook without a knife.”
Like hell she couldn’t. Holding it back from him, she stood on the tips of her toes so that she could get somewhat eye level with him. “Then find a way.”
His breath hit her face as he sighed heavily, and she realized how closely she had been standing to him. Backing up suddenly, she opened the door, and motioned for him to exit, praying to the Archons that he didn’t see the red that now colored her cheeks.
Stepping out of the room, he moved towards the kitchen and started pulling together a meal with the scraps she had lying around. As much as she despised the idea, she had to admit that he was a good cook, or at least was very good at making food smell good. Her mouth watered, and she scolded herself internally.
After some time, he called to her that he was done. Going to the table, they sat opposite each other, the steaming food being the only thing separating them.
It seemed they were both waiting for the other to say something. Well, Lumine certainly would not be the one to break first.
“It’s not poisoned you know.”
She could determine for herself if it was poisoned, thank you very much. Still, she remained silent.
“You’re not much of a talker are you? That’s fine, I talk plenty. Too much if my brothers are to be believed.”
Nope. She would not rise to the bait.
“Well if you have to be so silent, I guess we’ll just cut right to it. Where am I.”
It wasn’t a question so much as a statement. “I have a question of my own. Who are you.” Two could play this game, mystery man.
“Who are you?”
“I asked you first.”
“And I asked you another question first.”
Another staring match.
If Aether were here, he’d probably scold her for being so boorish. But he wasn’t here, so she only smiled and leaned back in her chair. She was quite enjoying making mystery man mad, something she hadn’t had the chance to do in a long time.
This was going to be too much fun.