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The pen confidently glided across the paper, leaving behind a smooth and elegant handwriting.
Childe wasn't entirely sure why he did that every year, but a few days before his birthday he would send a letter to Lumine. It was usually a whole package, to be precise—once his family learnt of his intentions, they insisted on adding "a little something" to the box: homemade treats from his parents, cute drawings from the younger siblings, and charming trinkets or useful tools from the older ones. More often than not the package wouldn't reach Lumi in time—she moved around too much for the delivery service, even as good as Komaniya Express, to track her down without any setbacks. Thereby the invitations for a meet-up included in the letters were rarely met with a timely answer. Still, it didn't stop him from repeating the process every year. Having a little bit of silly hope that maybe they would be able to celebrate together. Not that his birthday was anything groundbreaking in the grand scheme of things, but hey, even a hero such as the Traveller deserved a moment of light-hearted fun.
//"So what do you say?"//
The man placed a dot beneath the question mark and, setting down the pen, leaned back in a simple wooden chair. Took a deep breath and rubbing his tired eyes stretched his long legs.
Ajax knew he needed to rest; the fight with the whale really pulled a number on him.
"Is it your fault?" the man whispered lifting the Hydro Vision to eye level—it glimmered happily in the Snezhnayan morning sun.
Maybe using the Foul Legacy without this little thing to balance things out truly was a bad idea.
Lumine was right to send it back to him... She generally seemed to be right about most of the things.
He smiled.
A sudden but quiet knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Ajax?" came a tentative question.
"Come in Mom," he replied and soon after a short yet sturdy woman with a hair as fiery as his own entered the room.
"You're already up Ajax? What did the doctor say? You should rest! And rest means sleeping, not getting up at dawn," she scolded, hands on her hips.
"You know staying cooped up at home is not my thing."
"But showing up here having one foot in the grave is?"
After a few seconds of an intense staring contest, Childe averted his eyes. The woman sighed and reached out, affectionately patting his head.
"What am I to do with you, huh? And as long as I am your mother I will worry about you, remember that."
Then the middle-aged lady glanced at the mostly finished letter and a mischievous spark lit up in her eyes.
"If only there was a girl who could take that responsibility off my hands~"
"Mom!" he protested, a blush immediately spreading across his cheeks.
"What? I can see you're writing to your Lumine again. Maybe you could invite her to visit us? I would love to meet her."
"First, she’s not my Lumine," he muttered grumpily. "And second, I already did."
"And?"
"She's in high demand. There are a lot of nations to save before she can finally drop by Snezhnaya." Childe tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but his mother, as mothers tended to do, saw right through him.
"Son..." the woman said softly, placing her hand on his cheek. "Is she really that special?"
He nodded without a moment's hesitation. "She is. I've never met anyone like her."
His mother grinned, apparently satisfied with such an answer, then unexpectedly attacked! Switched her grip and playfully pinched his cheek. "Then make sure not to let her go."
The room filled with laughter as they teasingly wrestled for a moment. But when she finally let go, her expression turned serious again.
"I mean it, Ajax. I... no, all of us can see how much you've changed since her name started coming up a few years ago. If it's with Miss Lumine then I wouldn't even mind releasing you from this terrible prison of a house"—she rolled her eyes—"for a few days. My heart would be lighter knowing she’s keeping an eye on you."
"You mean it?" he frowned suspiciously. "No nagging and complaining about my sleeping, eating and living habits?"
"None."
"I don't believe you."
"What kind of response is that?!" the woman stifled her laughter feigning an outrage. "All my blood, sweat, and tears just to raise such an ungrateful child."
"Takes one to know one, mamo," Childe retorted with a chuckle, dodging a rag flying at his head.
"You’d better pick that up!" the woman called marching out of the room. "And since you’re already up, I expect you at the family breakfast in 20 minutes. Don’t be late; you know how important it is to your dad that we all eat together."
"I know," he whisper-yelled back, trying not to be too loud so early in the morning.
Finally left alone, the Harbinger shook his head and once again reread the letter. Then picked up the pen.
//"My family would also feel at ease knowing I'm meeting up with you."//
He truly wished they could meet Lumine—if they already liked her now, seeing her in person would surely make them instantly fall in love.
Love... love, huh?
He didn't know much about that particular emotion, but one thing his mother was definitely right about—meeting Lumi truly changed his life. He changed. Did so unmistakably for the better. As if the buzzing in his veins that started ever since he fell into the Abyss, finally settled down.
Neatly signing the letter, Childe folded it in half and slipped into a blue envelope. There were still more things to prepare and gifts to check, but first: breakfast. Then some light exercise, playing with Teucer and a trip to the bakery to order a cake.
He knew Lumine's next destination was Natlan but next year...
Next year it will finally be Sneznaya.
And wouldn't it be nice if, when that time came, they could do all these silly little things together?