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Nefer never really liked the Moonchanter of the Frostmoon Scions.
Always gazing longingly up at the sky, never having anything remotely constructive to offer besides her repetitive hymns and prayers… it reeked of blind devotion, and there was nothing Nefer hated more than people who ceaselessly gave everything they had to the Gods.
And here the Moonchanter was again, eyes closed and head bowed in prayer. Truly, Nefer shouldn’t have bothered making this trip to Hiisi Island in the first place. What had she been thinking?
Before Nefer got close enough, Lauma’s eyes slowly slid open. When the Moonchanter spotted her, she gave her a small, sad smile.
A prick of irritation struck her. What did Lauma have to be sad about? Her Moon Goddess had achieved what she’d wanted and returned to her home. Lauma didn't get to be sad about what her God desired. Not after she'd wasted her entire life praying to her.
Gods were just like humans, in the end, all the same selfish beings.
“Lady Moonchanter,” Nefer said. “It’s almost like I never see you doing anything besides praying.”
“Nefer… What brings you all the way here?”
Nefer took a seat on the armrest of the chair across from her, ignoring the offended stares of the adherents nearby. “Maybe I just felt like paying a pilgrimage to the abode of the Frostmoon Scions.”
“In that case, the Frostmoon Scions gladly welcome you, Nefer.”
Another prick of irritation. What was this air-headed woman’s problem? “Shut it. I do wonder, Miss Moonchanter, what else do you have left to pray for? Your lovely Moon Goddess doesn't care what anyone on Teyvat has to say. She's already gone home.”
Lauma shook her head. “I do not desire anything from her.”
Nefer resisted the urge to scoff. “Surely, you must be angry that she left you.”
“I am still in the middle of processing my emotions,” Lauma confessed.
At that, Nefer stilled. She hadn’t expected her to be truthful, and it somehow managed to annoy her even further.
“What is there for you to process?”
Lauma stared listlessly up into the sky. There she went again. Always looking up, and never back down at her own feet. Never at the people around her, and never at Nefer.
“I was born to serve Kuutar. And now that she's gone, it still feels surreal to me.”
“What did she ever do for you, I wonder?”
Nefer stood up and stopped right across from Lauma, who was, for the first time in a long while, starting to look a little perturbed. Perhaps Nefer’s words had finally gotten under her skin—something that’s never managed to happen in all the time they'd known each other.
“It was never about what she did for me,” Lauma said, looking like it was taking all her effort to choose her words carefully. “She is our Moon Goddess, our Lady Kuutar, and I am Moonchanter of the Frostmoon Scions.”
“My dear Lady Moonchanter,” Nefer said derisively, “why don’t you come back down to Teyvat, for a few days? Would it really pain you to tear your gaze from the sky?” Would it really pain you, to stop looking where I can’t follow?
Lauma looked back at her, and Nefer felt a small sense of triumph. Finally, the Lady Moonchanter had stopped looking up at the false sky, yearning for the true moon beyond, even if it was only for a few moments.
“Nefer… I appreciate you looking out for me. I really do.”
Lauma stood up, and Nefer stifled a flinch as she began walking towards her.
“I just… need some time to process through everything that’s happened,” she said, stopping an arm’s length away from her. “If I am to be allowed nothing at all, can’t you give me at least this?”
Nefer’s glare deepened. “Give you what? The leisure to mope around and sulk? Let’s face it, Lauma, you just can’t accept the fact that your Goddess has no interest in staying with you people. I don’t understand your fanatical obsession with a God who can barely tolerate listening to all your demands. Isn’t that the whole reason she’s left?” Nefer took a step forward. Lauma refused to budge. “The era of the Gods is over in Nod-Krai. All we can rely on are ourselves and the people around us, and you and your air-headed Frostmoon Scions can’t seem to wrap your pretty little heads around this reality.”
“I know,” Lauma said, her voice cracking a little. It was admittedly rare for her to lose her composure like this, and a surge of guilt immediately flooded through Nefer. “I know, Nefer. I do.”
“So why the hell are you still acting this way?” she snapped, and this seemed to finally attract the attention of the other Frostmoon adherents nearby, who looked like they desperately wanted to come in between them and get Lauma away from her. Nefer wanted to laugh. As if their dear Lady Moonchanter needed any protection.
“This has been my entire life,” Lauma said, looking more and more pained by the second. “Being Moonchanter, leading the Frostmoon Scions, helping Nod-Krai—all of it. I can’t let go of it all. I just… I can’t.”
“Who says you need to let go of anything?” Nefer countered. “Just spend some time away from this goddamned island for a few days. If you truly wish to process everything, get away from here. Go somewhere you can at least breathe.”
Lauma’s face crumpled. “There’s nowhere else for me to go.”
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
“Doing what?”
“Being painfully dense.”
Lauma shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Nefer wanted to laugh again. “Nowhere else for you to go? Lauma… come back to Nasha Town. We’ve all been waiting for you, idiot. Come back to the Curatorium. Come back to…” Nefer tore her gaze away from her and stared stubbornly at the ground. “Come back to me.”
Lauma didn’t say anything for a few moments, and Nefer wanted nothing more than to bury into the ground and hide from everything for the next few months.
There was a light pressure on her face. When she looked up, she realised Lauma had cupped her cheek in her hand, smiling softly at her.
“Wipe that stupid grin off your face,” Nefer hissed, without much bite. She wanted to slap Lauma’s hand away, but her body wasn’t co-operating with her. This damned Moonchanter.
“I’ve always been with you, Nefer,” Lauma said quietly, her expression morphing into something more serious.
“No, you haven’t,” she grumbled, looking back down at the ground. Lauma tilted her chin up for her to look back at her.
“Yes, I have,” Lauma insisted. “I just… wasn’t sure what you wanted from me. If I was…” She bit her lip. “If I was making you even angrier by being near you. I know that I can be very intolerable sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” Nefer echoed mockingly. When Lauma didn’t smile back, Nefer softened. “What are you even saying, Lauma? When have I ever…” She swallowed tightly. “I’ve never… not appreciated your presence. You know this.”
Lauma sighed, tucking a stray stand of hair behind Nefer’s ear. Her arm went back to her side, and Nefer was already starting to mourn the warmth of her lovely palm. “Can I really come over, whenever I want?”
Nefer blinked. “Did you think I was joking? Of course you can. The Curatorium’s doors are always open to you. They always have been.”
“Only if you’re going to be there,” Lauma added quietly. Nefer felt heat rush to her cheeks.
“What the hell is your problem?” she grumbled. “If I’m not there, just drop Jahoda a message and I’ll go wherever you are.”
Lauma stuck out her pinky finger, blinking expectantly at her.
“Promise?”
“Are you a child, Lady Moonchanter?”
“Humour me, won’t you?”
Nefer stared at her outstretched pinky. “Only if you promise to stop staring up at the sky so much.”
Lauma’s smile dimmed a little. “I will be honest with you, Nefer. It’ll take me some time. More than you’d like, and more than you can be patient with me for.”
Nefer frowned, mood souring. “Of course I know that.” She hesitantly wrapped her pinky around Lauma’s, ignoring the way the Moonchanter’s eyes lit up. “But I promise that I’ll wait for you, anyway.”
“Nefer…” Lauma looked like she couldn’t get any happier, and Nefer felt a twinge of satisfaction. Take that, Moon Goddess. When have you ever made her smile like I have? “I’ve really missed you.”
Nefer shook her pinky away and stepped back, flushing slightly. “What’s up with you?”
“I’m really glad I met you,” Lauma said, her voice painfully sincere. “You make everything much less painful to bear. If you’re with me… I can go through anything.”
Nefer was going to beat the living daylights out of this Moonchanter. She kept silent, not trusting herself to speak when Lauma was looking at her like that. Like Kuutar was standing right in front of her.
“I get it,” Nefer finally said, not being able to bear the heavy, expectant silence from Lauma. “You can stop now.”
Lauma smiled. It all happened so quickly. Before Nefer had the chance to come back to her senses, Lauma had stepped forward and pressed a feather-light kiss to her cheek, their fingers intertwining by their sides. She proceeded to raise Nefer’s hand up to her lips, and pressed another soft, searing kiss to her knuckles.
Nefer spluttered, “What are you—”
And with that, Lauma abruptly let go.
“I would say your pilgrimage has been well-spent, Nefer,” Lauma said, smiling cheekily while Nefer was busy trying not to explode. “The Frostmoon Scions will gladly welcome you with open arms, too.”
“Lauma, you—”
“Goodbye, Nefer.” Lauma didn’t stop smiling. “I have to run some errands now. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.”
And with that, she vanished in front of her eyes, shifting into her rimehorn deer form and floating halfway across the island before Nefer even got the chance to protest.
That damned Moonchanter.