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Even though you live quite comfortably under the Tsarista's cold rule there is always the ache of your old life. Teyvat is filled with wonder and danger both familiar and unknown yet it's so far removed from your home on Earth.
It feels odd, lonesome even knowing you might not be able to go home, if there even is a home to return to in the first place. Columbina's presence is comforting when your homesickness wilts your posture even if you perform your duties in the library.
She sings her song and at times you even hum along though far quieter you're not exactly confident in your singing compared to hers. Though her song and presence do ease that ache you both have for a home neither of you can return to it's only a weak balm to soothe both your longing.
When she eventually leaves whether out of boredom or something else you take a break and pick up a few books about the fauna and flora of Teyvat. As you turn the pages in each book the frown on your face deepens.
The tigers of this world don't have those familiar stripes and thick coats you're used to. You turn the page to one of a fish from Nod Krai looks similar to one in the depths of your world's seas but is still off. You grab another book and see that the apples are only red here never sweet soft and yellow or sour and green. The sugar found here is from a flower not cane.
You turn page after page after page in book after book after book for something, anything that looks like how you remembered it. You want to throw away the books in frustration when a page in a book a bit further away catches your attention.
You stand up and lean over the table to get a better look at the page. There on the aged paper in dark ink and faded color is a rose a flower you're more than familiar with. A flower from home.
"There is a garden of flowers from all over Teyvat in town." A deep voice speaks jolting you from your daze. You look up into the void of Capitano's mask with new life to your eyes.
"Take me there!" You shout despite it being a library and quickly cover your mouth and lower your voice. "Take me there, please?"
He gestures with a hand towards the table and you can't help but be confused. As you look around you can't help but begin to laugh nervously. Capitano and you stand there surrounded by tons of books half opened on the table at random points the other half stacked haphazardly on or around the table on the floor.
"A-after I clean up I guess..."
He takes you there after the two hours it takes you to finish cleaning up the books making sure you put everything back exactly where it is supposed to go. You learned more about library organization than you ever thought you would since you've arrived here even if your duties revolved around it so much.
The trip isn't too long with the trains running through so regularly. The greenhouse is massive you're almost sure to call it a palace of it's own. You're not sure if a place like this is called a botanical garden or even if Teyvat has something like those here. Maybe in Sumeru?
As you walk down the paths as see all the flowers the smile you wore before fades with each plant you see. Rainbow roses, sumeru roses, nothing like the roses you knew so well. But Capitano guides you past them like he knows exactly where you two must go because in the back in another protected area with heat lamps further away from the plants are rose bushes in a rainbow of colors.
White, yellow, pink, orange, and even light blue of all things but you're focus doesn't stick to any of these as it lands on red. You think you remember a time when you'd see red roses lining the shops during the earliest parts of the year but you're kinda forgetting what the point of that was as it wasn't like you'd ever received some from another yourself.
It doesn't matter as your fingers trace the red petals fondly a soft smile breaking on your face as the texture is just the same a you remember when you would touch the shop flowers getting some for yourself if you had the money.
You're not sure how long you stay there but you don't fight as Capitano guides you both back to the palace. The next week after you come back from the library the vase in your room is filled with red roses. You think the smile you make might be a bit stupid but you try not to get too excited just trying to appreciate the kind gesture. After all roses for Earth mean something completely different than for Teyvat.