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The colossal upheaval Teyvat has been through, wrought almost entirely by Lumine herself, has changed remarkably little of its seven nations’ landscapes. The trees surrounding the Wangshu Inn were there long before Lumine’s arrival and will remain there long after she goes; all that is different from the last time she visited is the colour of the leaves. As she walks through the marketplace at the inn’s base and up the wooden stairs she fixed on one of her first stays, she has the feeling that her journey in Teyvat has come full circle.
The people she sent letters to, asking them to join her here, are both present; Baizhu meets her and Paimon at the door, and the three of them find Xiangling already in the kitchen, trading recipes with Smiley Yanxiao. Lumine greets them briefly before heading upstairs, leaving Paimon in their company.
She didn’t send him a letter. She never needs to—he always knows when she’s coming. He doesn’t turn when she joins him on the balcony, leaning on the railing and looking out over the plain.
“You’re back,” he says.
“I’m back.”
Xiao exhales, like he’d been holding his breath the entire time she was gone. “Good.”
The wind picks up before Lumine can reply. The miasma that follows him washes over her, that which he calls karma but that she now knows to be something akin to the Abyss’s curse. She can sense it more clearly than before, and it makes her ache, dank cold seeping into her bones. After spending a lot of time thinking about it lately, it seems that her unfortunate hypothesis is correct: that what others can sense of Xiao’s burden is merely a fraction of the pain he feels.
She conducts a small experiment, pulling a tiny amount of the curse to her fingertips. She’s relieved when it works, despite knowing it would in theory, but with that relief comes an urgency to follow through. She was going to explain everything to him, carefully, but now that she’s here, she can’t stand to let him be in pain another minute, not when she can alleviate it.
She turns to him. “I have so much to say to you, but there’s something I need to do first. Do you trust me?”
Xiao raises an eyebrow. “I always have.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
“Okay. Give me your hand.”
He offers it easily. She doesn’t quite touch him, her own hand hovering above his as she closes her eyes and prepares. Her power is not new, but her strength is. She remembers what her brother showed her, remembers Asmoday—
And pulls.
Black fog coalesces in Xiao’s hand and flows into hers, where a small, golden light is shining. Lumine feels the despair condensed in it, hears the voices of those that Xiao was forced to hurt, trapped beyond the reach of the ley lines. She acknowledges them, because their suffering is real, too, but she makes it clear in her silent apology: this was never his fault.
Xiao rips his hand back. “What—what are you doing!?” She doesn’t stop pulling, even when he tries to force her hand away. “You’ll hurt yourself!”
“I won’t,” she tells him. “I wouldn’t do it if it hurt.” She’s not sure that’s true, but saying so doesn’t seem like a good idea.
“You can’t—It’ll kill you!”
“It won’t. Xiao, look. Really look.” She holds up her hand, which is still pulling in the fog. Instead of permeating her skin, however, it’s being absorbed by the light, disappearing before it touches her.
“It can’t be dispersed,” Xiao says.
“I’m not dispersing it. I’m purifying it. I’ve always been immune—”
“To being near me. Not to this—”
“—and I understand why now.” She’s almost done. “I promise, this won’t hurt me.”
One stubborn bit of miasma remains; she wonders if it’s Xiao himself, fighting her. She pulls harder. It finally comes loose, leaving a vacuum of crisp Liyue air behind. Both of them stumble forward, but while Lumine catches herself, Xiao goes down, falling first to his knees, then to his hands.
“You can’t—” he mumbles.
“Xiao?”
His eyes close, and he slumps against Lumine’s legs. “Xiao!” she shouts. She shakes him, but he doesn’t rouse.
Fuck. “Paimon!” she yells. “Paimon—”
Paimon floats up from downstairs, appearing beyond the railing. “What’s—oh, no!”
“Get Baizhu, now!” Paimon flies away, and Lumine lifts Xiao, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She tries to calm herself as she carries him to his bed. This is why she asked the others to be here, but—this wasn’t supposed to happen. Nothing was supposed to go wrong—
Baizhu bursts through the door, wheezing, Paimon trailing behind him. He works quickly, examining Xiao, listening to his breath and heart.
When he’s finished, he smiles. “It’s okay,” he says. “He’s alright.”
“Then why isn’t he waking up!?” Paimon asks.
Around Baizhu’s neck, Changsheng tuts. “Because he is asleep,” she says.
*
Xiao sleeps through the morning and into the afternoon; Lumine sits by the bed, not daring to leave his side. Even though she knows he’s not hurt, she doesn’t want him to wake up alone.
There’s a soft knock at the door. It’s Paimon, carrying a tray of precariously-balanced plates. “You missed lunch, so Xiangling sent me to give you this.” There’s water, sandwiches, and two bowls of almond tofu. “How is he?”
“He’s still asleep.”
“I remember him saying that he doesn’t sleep much,” Paimon says. “He must have been really tired.”
Lumine nods. For a really long time. She thanks Paimon for the food and returns to her vigil.
When Xiao wakes, it’s sudden and startling. His eyes fly open, and he looks around wildly, trying to catch his breath. It’s only when he sees Lumine at his side that he calms a little.
“Are you alright?” he demands. “My karma—”
“I’m completely fine,” she assures him. “Really. How do you feel?”
Xiao sits up, leaning against the headboard. He studies his hands, turning them over, and sighs. “Like I’ve been drowning for centuries, and someone just offered me a life raft.”
“You’re not in any pain?”
“No. It’s just… gone. But that is no excuse for the risk you took—”
“It wasn’t a risk,” Lumine says. Xiao gives her a look. “Fine, but it was a calculated risk. Let me explain, okay?”
“You better.” Xiao’s eyes slide to the food on the side table. “Is that for me?”
“Do you… want it?”
Xiao nods. Lumine passes him a glass of water. He drinks some, stares at the glass, and drinks some more. Lumine watches in astonishment as he then reaches for a sandwich, taking a big bite. She politely looks away when he starts to tear up.
She talks instead, telling him everything that happened since she last saw him. Celestia, the Heavenly Principles, her new power—she thinks it relaxes him, makes it easier to process his new freedom without the burden of having to speak. He keeps eating, though the part about Paimon shocks him enough that he pauses with his jaw dropped. Lumine offers him her sandwich as well, then the tofu.
He makes a face when he tastes it. “It’s so sweet,” he says, and keeps eating.
“And then I came back to Liyue, and came here,” she finishes, “which brings us to now.”
“This is the first place you came after all that!?” Xiao asks.
“Yes.”
“Your priorities are out of order,” he says, flushing.
Lumine disagrees, which brings her to the next thing she wanted to talk to him about. “Want to go outside for a bit? The sun will set soon.”
“Sure.”
On the balcony, they lean on the railing again, watching the world turn golden below them. This time, Lumine plans to take her time and explain herself, but Xiao speaks first.
“What you’ve done for me… I can’t thank you enough.”
“I don’t want you to thank me,” Lumine says. “I’m just so glad you’re alright now. All I want is for you to be happy.”
Xiao clucks his tongue, like that’s a silly thing to want. “How much longer are you staying in Teyvat?”
“Hmm… Forever, I think.”
“What!?”
“Or at least for a very long time,” Lumine clarifies.
“But—but you found your brother—”
“He’s staying too,” she says. “When we were travelling, we went to a lot of different words, but that’s all it was: travelling. We were tourists, not really part of the world. We never stayed anywhere as long as we’ve stayed in Teyvat, and we never made friends like we have here, either. Teyvat is… it has become our home. So don’t worry.” She winks. “You won’t have to miss me.”
She watches Xiao’s face carefully. He hides his relief well. “I’m glad you’re staying,” he says, “even if that’s selfish of me.”
“Only you would think that was selfish, Xiao.”
He rolls his eyes at her. She allows herself to move a little closer to him. He doesn’t flinch; he’s long lost the habit with her. Now, she hopes he can lose it around everyone else.
“Actually, part of the reason my brother wants to stay is that he’s found someone to spend his life with,” Lumine says. “That’s where he is now—he and that person have a complicated history, so he’s trying to repair their relationship. But I’m happy for them.”
She pauses, then speaks more quietly. “I told him that he should meet me here in Liyue when he’s done, so that he can meet the person that I want to spend my life with.”
“That’s—” Xiao says. “Who—”
This time, Lumine offers him her hand first.
“What are you—” Xiao’s mouth opens and closes. “Why?” he eventually chokes out.
“Because you’re the kindest person I’ve ever met. Because you have always been there for me, and I want to be there for you. Because we’ve fought side by side for so long, and now we can just be together. And because I love you,” she finishes. “Is that enough?”
Xiao looks at her like she has two heads.
“I could live another ten thousand years and never deserve you,” he says.
“You’re wrong,” Lumine says, “and if I have to, I’ll spend at least that long trying to convince you of that. Unless you don’t want to—”
“Don’t be stupid!” Xiao snaps, the tips of ears turning red.
“Okay,” Lumine agrees. “I won’t. And I’ll take that as a yes.”
She wants badly to kiss him, but she’s worried he might jump off the balcony if she does, and she only just cured him. She holds out her hand again instead. He takes it, and she pretends that she can’t feel him shaking.
“We… we should go get dinner,” he says.
“Are you hungry again?”
“No, but you haven’t eaten.”
“Alright.” It is getting dark, and Lumine is getting hungry. But Xiao makes no move to leave. It seems like he’s working up to something, so Lumine waits, letting him get there.
Finally, he leans over and whispers in her ear. When he’s finished, Lumine grins, and even though the sun has just fallen below the horizon, her smile is so bright that it could light up all of Liyue.