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Honestly, Wanderer isn’t even sure how the people in front of him figured out his date of birth. He’s never been interested in this day enough to celebrate it himself, much less with anyone else. Not like there was anyone to celebrate with for a large portion of his existence, but that’s beside the point.
And besides, what is there to celebrate? Congratulations on another year of somehow still existing! And on the anniversary of what happened that miserable first day! No, he prefers to look past it. Birthdays are only really so important to humans anyways, since they have not even a hundred in their whole lifetime. Not like him.
The students are smiling at him with naive glee, like they’re proud of themselves for arranging this. Like they’re happy to celebrate with him. Which is an utterly ridiculous sentiment to even consider.
Wanderer is tempted to depart from this celebration that’s somehow gathered against his will; he’s not a fan of all this commotion, especially when there’s nothing interesting going on. And he almost does so, but it’s like he hears Nahida’s little voice pushing him to socialize and make friends! Archons, she’s in his head now. It’s a somewhat worrying sentiment to come to terms with, that her words of wisdom are rooting their little seeds into his brain and sprouting without his permission. But solely for Nahida’s sake, he decides to stick around.
One of the students instructs him to blow out the candle atop the cake. It’s a meaningless tradition, he thinks. He opts to put out the candle with a small flick of anemo from a fingertip—half indulging them, but not fully. Then they cut it into slices, and drop a much-too-large slice onto a paper plate which he stares at it with a palpable feeling of disgust. These students somehow know his birthday, but don’t know anything about the foods he dislikes, nor do they know enough to not disrupt his peace. He ought to get up and leave now, or perhaps toss the offending piece of ‘food’ into the bushes they’d jumped out of.
But they’re looking at him expectantly, and this combined with the fact they have only a sliver of the life experience compared to him kind of reminds him of a group of overexcited, naive puppies.
Fine, he decides, and takes the tiniest amount of cake possible and deposits it into his mouth.
Immediately, it’s too sweet—of course. He hadn’t expected anything else. He fights back a grimace and forces himself to swallow it down. There, now that he’s indulged them there is no need to eat any more.
While the rest of the students are eating their own cake and talking, he’s quiet the whole time because there is nothing he has to say, but then they start asking him questions about his life, like they’re curious about him.
“Do you have any plans for today?” one of them asks.
“To seek some peace and quiet, alone,” he says.
“It’s not good to spend your birthday alone,” one of the girls says earnestly. “You should spend some time with people you love!”
He narrows his eyes. “Did Kusanali Devi send you?”
“T-The Dendro Archon?” she stutters, eyes wide. “Ah, no, but I mean we would be honored to do anything she said.” She looks around, and the others start enthusiastically nodding. “As she is the goddess of wisdom, we trust her judgment fully!”
Not what he was asking for, but he supposes he got the answer to that question.
“Um,” one of the guys starts after a moment, “we were wondering if you knew what classes you’d be taking next semester?”
“I can’t see why that would be of any concern to you,” Wanderer replies.
“We were just curious,” another one says. “Maybe some of us have class with you next semester, that’s why.”
Wanderer leans back in his seat, running his fingers along the rim of his hat. “You’ll have to wait to find out.”
“Ah…okay then. Yeah, we understand.”
Wanderer doesn’t know what they could possibly understand, but he has no interest in asking.
The students take up at least an hour or two of his life before leaving him alone. And he finds that when they leave, it oddly feels a bit too quiet. Some of the gossip was interesting to hear, he’ll give them that. And plus, this whole stunt they just pulled off reminded him of something he has to do. Something Nahida tasked him with last year on this day, and likely will this year as well.
Speaking of Nahida, she will probably be expecting to meet him today anyway. Now is as good a time as any.
There’s still his practically untouched slice of cake to deal with, he thinks as he looks at his plate—
Oh. It’s empty.
Wanderer stares at the place where the missing slice of cake should be with confusion. It hadn’t fallen, no. Nor had anyone taken it. So unless it had fallen through a portal to some unknown world, it means he’d actually… ate it?
Archons.
Hopefully nobody noticed.
— : —
“Happy Birthday Wanderer!” Nahida says to him as soon as he enters the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
“Sure, thanks,” he mumbles, then gives her one of the two boxes in his hand. “Here.”
“Oh?” She takes it in her tiny hands and opens it up. “Cake?”
“There were a few leftover slices and I’m not going to eat it, so.”
Nahida smiles, looking up at him with her peridot green eyes. “Is this from your Akademiya friends?”
He furrows his brows. “You know about that? And they aren’t my friends.”
“I heard them talking about their plans for your surprise party.”
He huffs out a dry laugh. “I never wanted a party, much less a surprise one.”
“But it must be nice to spend time with people today,” Nahida says.
It’s eerily close to what that Akademiya girl had told him earlier. “You didn’t send those people, did you?”
Nahida shakes her head. “No, no, they planned it on their own. I think they admire you.” Then she puts a big spoonful of cake into her mouth.
“Heh. Well they should.”
As she chews she stares at him in an almost unnerving way. And then she asks, “Do you know their names?”
He thinks for a moment. “Maybe.”
“Then they must interest you at least somewhat, yes?”
Wanderer sighs, crossing his arms. “Are you lecturing me?”
“I’m not trying to. I only mean, it’s good to hear you let them celebrate with you.”
“Hm. I guess.”
“This is a really tasty cake, you know. Did you try some?” Nahida holds up a spoonful of cake to him as an offering.
“Of course you would think it’s tasty,” he says pointedly. “Yes I tried it and the only flavor is pure sweetness. I’m not a fan.”
“Still, try some more!”
“No,” he says firmly.
She pauses for a moment, thinking. “You know in Sumeru, when it’s someone’s birthday, people have to hand-feed them bites of cake.”
He scoffs. “You didn’t do that last year.”
“That’s a mistake on my part. Come on!” She wiggles the spoon like she’s trying to entice him to eat it.
Wanderer holds his stance for a few seconds, trying to get her to give up, but eventually sighs and relents, bending down to eat the piece of cake off her spoon.
“Good?” Nahida asks, watching his reaction.
“Just as unappetizing as I remember from about half an hour ago.”
Nahida laughs at that. “In Sumeru, we also spread frosting on the birthday boy’s face.”
Wanderer shakes his head. “You’re just trying to humiliate me now.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” she says, and he has to admit she’s right. “Trust me.”
…Damn it, whatever. If having frosting spread on his face by the Dendro Archon counts as penance then so be it. Sighing again, he crouches on the floor as Nahida takes some of the frosting on her fingers and carefully smears it on the tip of his nose and on his cheeks.
Right when she’s done, he shoots out his hand without warning and spreads frosting on her own cheeks, and she squeals.
“Payback,” he says, smiling smugly.
She’s smiling too, really wide. He thinks she almost looks like a child like this, with the childhood she never had.
Later, when she’s finished her cake and they’ve both cleaned the sugar off their faces, Wanderer asks, “Is there anything you wanted me to do today?”
She’s sitting on the floor beside him, as they do because she never has any furniture. “No, just enjoy your birthday fully.”
He blinks. “What?”
She puts a finger on her chin. “Hm? Did I say something surprising?”
“You don’t need me to—” he makes a vague motion with his hand, “—do anything, or whatever? You told me last year I had to.”
“Do you mean when I had you bring something to the Traveler?”
“...Something like that,” he mutters.
“Oh. Since you spent time with friends today, I think that’s adequate. Of course, you’re free to do whatever else you like.”
They’re not his friends, as he’s said before, but that’s beside the point. “But last year…” He frowns.
“Hm?”
“Last year you wanted me to give food to the Traveler. You don’t need me to do that this year?” he asks again.
“If you want to, I’m sure she’d be happy with that,” Nahida says.
“I don’t want to. I just thought I’d ask.”
Nahida smiles knowingly, glancing at the second box of cake next to him. “It’s your decision, Wanderer. It’s your day, after all.”
— : —
Honestly, Wanderer hadn’t planned for this. He fully expected Nahida to tell him to go see the Traveler, to nurture their friendship, or whatever Nahida likes to say.
Whatever, he’ll still go anyway. Not because he wants to, but because he has to. In other words, he’s doing this out of obligation. Because he still owes her.
The only food he has is a bit of leftover cake, so he decides to make her a serving of shimi chazuke, like last time. It would be easiest to use the stove in her teapot since it’s the best balance between secluded and well-kept, but he can’t risk her finding out beforehand. So he searches around the more rural areas of Sumeru for a decent bonfire to use instead.
And he realizes—Sumeru has a lot of nice flowers. Not that he hasn’t noticed this before, but he gazes out across a pond filled with bright yellow nilotpala lotuses floating atop the water, contrasting in color with the blue leaves surrounding it, and thinks—they really are quite pretty. These almost remind him of her in a way, with the yellow and blue. Perhaps if he thought more boldly, of them. In one way or another, Wanderer ends up with an armful of nilotpala lotuses to stash away before beginning to cook.
The first time he’d made chazuke for her, she’d been utterly shocked at the idea that he could cook well, and he’d been amused. Think so little of me, Traveler? he’d asked.
It’s just, I’ve never seen this side of you before, she’d replied.
I’m skilled at many more things than you think I am, he’d told her.
Well, I know that now. You’ll have to show me the rest someday.
It’s been a while since that day, Wanderer realizes. Maybe he can surprise her with the rest of her gift this time.
He returns to Sumeru City with a fresh bowl of chazuke, a box of cake, and about a dozen lotuses tucked in his pockets. The padisarahs scattered in the grass in the city call to him as well, he can’t particularly pinpoint why, but he takes some of those as well.
Agh, okay that’s enough, he decides. At this rate he’s going to end up creating a bouquet of all the nation's flowers just to give to someone else on his birthday. Granted, that someone else is Lumine, but still.
There’s a strange feeling of pressure on Wanderer that he can’t quite shake as he puts together what to give to her. Maybe it’s because he’s not unaware of the romantic connotations that gifting flowers to another can have. But he sees it more like a challenge, especially paired with the letter he’s written. If she has anything to say about it, there’s no choice but to say it to him in person.
To his disappointment, her teapot isn’t empty when he enters using the realm dispatch she’d given him. Lumine and Paimon are cheerfully talking inside her mansion, and he realizes for not the first time that they always have each other, the two of them. He wonders what that must be like, to have someone stick by your side and give you company. Lumine is lucky to have so much love around her. He wants to resent her for it, even half does, but he knows it’s not fair to do so.
When the two of them are no longer in her kitchen, Wanderer enters the kitchen with silent footsteps and arranges the things he’d brought on the table so that she’ll see them easily. He needs to be quick so as to not be caught; just like a wisp of wind, felt one second and forgotten about the next.
And yet, while he should leave immediately afterward, not tread where he isn’t welcome, Wanderer can’t help but stick around, just long enough to see her reaction. He wants to know what she acts like when she’s reminded of his existence, of the person in debt to her who once caused her a myriad of difficulties.
It’s almost like she senses him, because as soon as he finds somewhere to hide, she’s back in the room, a look of confusion upon seeing what he’d left behind. The look only lasts a moment before her eyes catch on the bowl of chazuke, and it’s like she instantly understands who it is all from. She picks up the letter and reads it, an indecipherable expression on her face.
Then, she calls, “Wanderer?”
And that’s when he decides it’s his time to leave.
— : —
Wanderer heads to the library afterward, because it might be his birthday but that doesn’t mean his studies are put on pause. He needs somewhere quiet, somewhere where nobody will bother him. And even if someone does approach him here, a sharp glare always sends them on their way away from him.
But of course, one of the few people this trick doesn’t work on just has to come up to him.
“Need something?” he asks nonchalantly, keeping his eyes on the paper in front of him.
“No,” Lumine replies. “Just looking for a nice spot to read my new book. And I saw there’s one right next to you.” She plops down into the set, getting comfortable immediately.
“Choosing the one seat closest to me rather than any others? You must be eager to get close to me,” he goads.
“Mmm, maybe I am…” she says unexpectedly, and he has nothing to say to that.
The two of them sit there for a while, Lumine reading whatever it is she’s reading, and Wanderer studying rather unsuccessfully. He knows she definitely didn’t come here just to do this, yet at the same time she doesn’t seem interested in saying whatever it is she does want from him.
Finally, when she sets down her book for a second to stretch, he asks, “Why are you here, Traveler?”
“To read,” she answers simply. When he gives her a skeptical look, she sighs and relents. “Did you come to my teapot earlier today?”
“Yes.” There’s no use lying.
“Why didn’t you stay?”
How is he supposed to respond to that? “Didn’t you read my letter? I said it’s up to you whether we meet or not.”
“You know that you’re welcome in my teapot any time. So you should have stayed.”
He frowns. “Well, I can’t change the past.”
She huffs out a laugh at the irony. “You’re one to say that. But no, what I mean is, thank you for the gifts.”
“Don’t thank me. Consider it a part of my debt.”
She purses her lips. “Even if that’s how you see it, Wanderer, I appreciate it.”
Part of him wants to make some kind of snarky remark, try and draw a reaction out of her, but the words don’t leave his throat. “…Yeah sure, whatever,” he says softly in the end, looking back at his paper, though it’s not like he’s reading any of it right now with Lumine next to him.
“I was thinking,” Lumine starts. “You’re not really a fan of physical items are you? Or as far as I know, you aren’t. So since it’s your birthday I figured we could just spend time together instead. Do something, get to know each other better, or something like that.”
He laughs. “What, are you trying to ask me out on a date? Have you finally fallen for me after all this time?”
She rolls her eyes, resting her chin on one propped-up hand. “It’s not like that, Wanderer. Don’t misunderstand me.”
Yes, of course it isn’t. He didn’t think it was. Attempting to take over an entire nation and become a god must not be very attractive in her eyes.
He doesn’t bother to tell her that she’s probably the person who knows him the best in this world. She might even already know. “If that’s what you want.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m asking if that’s what you want, not me. It’s for your birthday not mine.”
“I…” He opens his mouth, then closes it, not even sure how to answer.
Finally, he says softly, “Okay.”
What was it that the Akademiya girl told him to do? He thinks he’s somehow ended up following her advice in the end.