Chapter Text
The room was dark, so dark in fact that Trity could barely make out the face of the girl in front of her. But Trity knew she was an older girl, with emerald eyes and skin white as snow.
Trity could glimpse the flowing green veil; but she could not see the pretty white face wet with tears.
“Please…” she whispered, begging. “Don’t forget me.”
The unnerving silence of the room stretched out between the two. At last, Trity spoke up.
“…I…don’t remember your name.”
The following silence was deadly, suffocating. The girl scarcely made a sound. In fact, it felt as though the entire room was holding its breath. Waiting.
“I remember…” Trity began timidly. “I remember the names ‘Rukkhadevata’ and ‘Nahida’.”
There was no other sound for a while, other than the girl’s shallow breathing and Tribbie’s pounding heart.
“…But not mine.” Her voice trembled so that Trity felt her heart would break.
“You are Buer.”
“Yes…”
And Trity was sure then, that the girl was smiling. “I am.”
Lying in the darkness beside Buer, Trity suddenly felt an unbearable ache deep inside her. She would never again go outside.
And would never again walk the streets of Sumeru such as she had with Nahida and her friends, who had shown her the wonders of Teyvat…
Trity jolted as Buer’s slender fingers made their way up Tribbie’s shoulder. They were cold.
“I am sorry about before,” Buer said. “I was too young to know how to love you then.”
Trity did not know what to say.
“I don’t want you to be upset with me.” Buer’s voice cracked.
Trity did not want to remember.
Trity knew that Buer and Nahida were the same…yet Buer was very different. Nahida was loving and caring, and gave soft, gentle kisses. When they were together, Trity always felt…
Warmth.
When she was tall enough to fit the name Tribios, at some point, she had decided Rukkhadevata was not a woman, but something else entirely.
Rukkhadevata was so unlike herself that she couldn’t possible be human—her voice was an angel’s sigh, her laugh tinkling bells.
In fact, Tribios had began to have a fantasy that Rukkhadevata was a dryad who had come from the woods…
Although Trity could now see Rukkhadevata was no dryad—she was not even a woman.
She was just a girl.
Trity tried to remember her name. She stretched her mind all the way back—way back, to when she first woke up in Teyvat.
When Trity had first awoken in the strange land of Sumeru, the first thing she’d seen was Nahida’s emerald eyes, shining with tears. Even in sorrow, she had never failed to be beautiful.
Nahida had held her tightly then, sobbing. “My Tribios, my Tribios…”
Nahida had showed Trity the wonderful land of Sumeru, and she’d met Nahida’s friend—no, her brother with no name.
Trity sat at the edge of the left side of the bed. Buer was on the other side, silent. Trity didn’t turn around. Buer was very sorrowful lately, but she could also fly into a terrible temper at whim.
When Trity had first met her, she hadn’t been so disagreeable. She had been wide-eyed and curious, and nearly as small as Tribbie herself.
Trity was sure it was not long after her awakening…
Nahida then became aware of the small girl that looked nearly identical to her younger self.
Nahida’s eyes widened. “What…is this?”
The Wanderer scoffed and crossed his arms. “Don’t you recognize it? This is the ‘branch’ you so graciously left us behind when you deserted us to chase a stranger.”
The new Buer looked up at Nahida inquisitively, her emerald eyes wide. Trity was puzzled; There was another Buer? And this one was her own height.
She felt Nahida tremble beside her, and looked up. Nahida clenched her fists, shaking with perhaps rage or sorrow, Trity wasn’t sure.
“Get her out of my sight.” Nahida managed to say.
“What?” Wanderer uncrossed his arms. Neither he nor Trity could understand why Nahida was behaving so strangely.
“I said…GET HER AWAY FROM ME!” Nahida exploded.
Trity backed away from her and cowered beside the Wanderer. She knew he was not particularly pleased with her presence, but he did not say anything to her; she knew he was not expecting Nahida to behave in this way either.
“Get her out of her—now!” Nahida cried as she clutched her skull and grabbed at her hair, shaking her head wildly.
“…There’s no need for such hostility, Buer.” Said the Wanderer, his voice not nearly as hard or mocking as it was before.
Nahida looked over at him slowly, and then at her trembling hands. “Do you know…how much I have suffered? How much I have endured? I have been through so much—“ she broke off sobbing then. Even in sorrow she was beautiful.
Wanderer began to reach out to her, but pulled back. He did not look at her. He could not look at her. Instead he grabbed the new Buer roughly by the hand.
The child paused and looked back at Nahida. “Is that…?”
“Can it.” Wanderer snapped. He yanked her forward.
Trity looked back at Nahida. She sat hunched over, clutching her sides as if she’d been wounded. Her shoulders shook with sobs, and her hair hung over her face. Trity didn’t know what to do.
“Hey. You.” Wanderer called. He beckoned her forward.
And so she followed.
The memory wasn’t particularly a pleasant one. Nahida never behaved in such a way, which was why it was so shocking.
Trity hadn’t seen Buer after that. When Nahida went away, only Buer was left, and by that time she was about the same size Nahida had been.
Nahida had kept Buer hidden, though Trity did not know why. From the moment her creator saw her, she’d already been rejected.
Trity looked back at Buer, and suddenly it hit her—yes, that was it.
“…I see,” Trity said aloud, perhaps to herself, but also to Buer. “So that’s your name…it came from suffering and loneliness.”
Buer stirred. “You’re right,” she spoke slowly, softly—but there was no emotion behind her words. “They named me Qahr.”
Trity paused before speaking again. It was that thing Wanderer said…no, she shouldn’t let it get to her.
“I’m not…I’m not a stranger,” Trity asked, with a little laugh as though she wanted to believe it was an asinine question.. “…Am I?”
“JUST SHUT UP, TRIBIOS!”
Trity jumped at the volume and venom in Qahr’s tone. Her lower lip quivered. She hadn’t meant to—
“I-I’m sorry, I—“
“Go…AWAY!” She seemed to be having a fit. She threw a vase against the wall, and it shattered. She clutched her head. “Get out of here! LEAVE ME ALONE!”
Trity ran out the door, into the corridor of the sanctuary. She doubled over, panting. Her eyes watered, tears splattering against the floor.
Why…why is this happening? What did I do wrong?