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“what is love?” paimon blinks at the non sequitur, and eventually shrugs.
the traveler asks themselves this question, deep in thought. many people before have asked themselves this question, and many people will after. it is a very complicated question, and requires some of teyvat’s best thinkers to get a proper answer to.
thus, the traveler finds themselves in a tavern in sumeru, surrounded by all those they met on their journey through this corner of teyvat. gathering them all was easier than expected, even if the table is now quite crowded.
maybe this, being with friends and reminded of every experience they’ve shared, is what love is. it certainly feels like it, a gentle warmth in the traveler’s soul as they reconnect with all those they saved. it still doesn’t hurt to get some outside opinions on the matter, though, and so they question everyone present.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a puppet with a heart.
“disappointing.” the wanderer snarks back, arms crossed and gaze dropped to the floor. perhaps this is true; often enough, the unfortunate ending to most relationships is indeed disappointing. perhaps the wanderer knows this better than anyone else, abandoned as he was.
but the wanderer’s presence at the table says more than his one word answer. love’s end may be disappointing, but is he not here now, giving love another chance by the traveler’s side? it is humbling, to have such trust put upon oneself.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a feeble scribe.
“a mix of chemicals.” alhaitham says, not even bothering to look up from his book. from a man as committed to logic and rationality, this is an expected answer. it is also a correct answer, even if some particular roommates with blond hair and architecture degrees want to disagree.
but for all alhaitham wants to claim that is it but a bodily reaction, he is the master of his body, and yet still finds himself here, hiding a smile behind a book as his roommate chatters away at his side.
“what is love?” the traveler asks the light of kshahrewar.
“a reason to create.” kaveh declares, grinning at the traveler before turning back to ramble at alhaitham. the words he says are lost to the general din of the tavern and to the fact that alhaitham is not listening, but their comforting weight loosens the scribe’s shoulders anyway.
kaveh loves his sketches and his blueprints and his creations, but perhaps what he loves the most is the occasional up-tick of alhaitham’s mouth as he gives one of his designs a rare compliment. it drives him to learn, to improve, to perfect what is already perfected, and perhaps that is the definition of love he imparts on the traveler.
“what is love?” the traveler asks the flame mane.
“something to fight for.” dehya nods towards everyone present with a slight smile, gaze lingering on candace. mercenary she may be, mora was not the driving force behind her assistance to sumeru. instead, it may have been the heterochromatic eyes of a certain descendent of king deshret. the traveler gives her a knowing look.
her face tints the same color as the element she wields, so the traveler leaves her be and instead mulls over her answer. the traveler is fighting for their sibling- this feels like love. the traveler fights for all those they meet in teyvat- this feels like love, too.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a sleepy astrologist.
“fated and unavoidable.” layla yawns and promptly goes right back to sleep. for the people of tevyat, perhaps love really is written in the stars, fated and decreed by celestia. to be able to read the stars and receive answers must be convenient.
the traveler comes from beyond the stars. the traveler wonders if somewhere, there is love guaranteed for them, too. the traveler thinks of their sibling, and wonders if their love was written in stars elsewhere, perhaps in the world they originated from.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a forest watcher.
“the ability to tolerate annoyance.” tighnari grits out after another of cyno’s jokes. even through his suffering, the fondness his gaze holds for the general mahamatra is in plain view for all to see. his definition of love is also rather cute.
it is not an annoyance, but an utter rending of one’s heart to find that the person they love is working against them and doesn’t plan to stop. but perhaps the traveler still has this definition of love in common with tighnari, because the traveler still loves their sibling so.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a merchant.
“painful.” dori admits, tossing a mora into the air and recalling an unfulfilled prescription. it had hurt, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help. it had been her reason for getting where she is now, even if it stings sharply in her chest when she thinks about it too long.
the traveler thinks back to a long-lost sibling shrouded in the abyss, and agrees emphatically. the pair share an understanding look, even if for different reasons, and dori later pays the traveller’s tab off with no strings attached.
“what is love?” the traveler asks aaru village’s defender.
“duty and appreciation.” candace tells the traveler off-handedly as she makes her way towards dehya, who has not stopped staring. for someone so utterly devoted to her life’s work, candace is lucky to be able to find love in her protection of aaru village. she is also lucky to be able to find love in a certain eremite with a flaming mane.
maybe dehya and candace share their love, the traveler thinks, as the two lean into each other and laugh. dehya fights for her love, and finds a sense of duty in doing so. candace fights out of duty, and she loves what she protects.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a rediscovered researcher.
“memories, of course.” faruzan replies with a tap to her forehead. for someone who spent a century trapped away from the world, maybe all there is left to love are the memories in her head. the traveler looks at the self-identifying senior and wonders if the memories are more-so haunting her than loving her.
faruzan launches into a retelling of karkata’s recent exploits at pardis dhyai, and the traveler finds those worries easing away. just as the traveler recalls the years spent exploring worlds with their sibling, so does faruzan recall her family and friends. this is a bittersweet way of loving, but it is love nonetheless.
“what is love?” the traveler asks the star of zubayr theater.
“beautiful.” nilou tilts her head and beams, already thinking of new dance routines. she is right; what is love if not beauty, what is love if not the baring of one’s soul? the dancer demonstrates her love for the world through dance, and that is something beautiful.
the traveler likes this definition the most, mostly for the way it makes nilou shine as she thinks of all she loves. if nilou finds that beauty is in love, then who is anyone to tell her to stop? the akademiya itself, even with a new god under its floor, could not stop nilou from performing; such is the strength of her love.
“what is love?” the traveler asks a god.
“something human.” nahida wonders aloud, looking down at herself with melancholy. she wonders, not aloud this time, if she will ever understand love in the way all those around her do. if she’ll see the beauty nilou does, if she is fated for love like layla says everyone is, if her tree-created body has the chemicals alhaitham names as the cause of love.
the traveler thinks nahida has a far better grasp on love than most of the people they’ve met. nahida loves in the way gods do; all-encompassingly and with all of her existence. she loved her people when they locked her away, and she loves her people now that she is free to do so. based on the shy smile nahida gives them after reading their mind, the traveler wagers that their reassurance worked.
there is only one person left, and they are currently in the middle of explaining a two-step joke to tighnari. cyno is animated in a way he only ever is when truly relaxed, and the traveler is curious if that is what his definition of love references.
“what is love?” the traveler asks the general mahamatra.
“baby don’t hurt me.” cyno barely manages to finish the lyrics before tighnari lunges across the table and tries to strangle him, very pointedly hurting him.