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The lights of the Golden House glowed warmly, illuminating the intense fight going on below. Childe grinned as his opponent rolled to avoid a swipe of his Hydro dagger. The Traveler used the momentum from her roll to spring to her feet and direct a gust of wind towards his hands. His grip on his daggers weakened, and he dismissed them in favor of summoning his bow. The Traveler’s eyes narrowed, and she began sprinting around him. Childe pivoted and shot a Hydro arrow at her. It missed, but soaked both of them in spray.
He drew his bowstring back again when the Traveler suddenly stopped her sprint and lunged towards him. He summoned his blades again to block the strike, when suddenly all he could see was green. Wait, what? Since when could the Traveler use Dendro? He’d heard that she’d picked up more elements along her travels, but he hadn’t seen her newfound powers for himself. Fine, if she wants to bring other elements to the fight, he can too. He prepared to use his delusion, but then froze. The Dendro the Traveler sprayed had mixed with the water on his clothes and formed a little group of Dendro cores around him. If he used his Delusion right now, the electricity would activate them and do a lot of damage.
Childe looked for an opening to leave the circle of cores without triggering any of them when he caught sight of the Traveler and her mischievous smile. Her sword was wreathed in flames, and she was glowing slightly. Oh yeah, Childe had received a report that she could use Pyro, though he hadn’t seen her since Fontaine. She almost looked like an angel as she swung her sword towards him and the cores…wait…uh oh!
The cores exploded in a burst of flame and plant matter. Childe stumbled backwards, coughing. He was about to make a clever remark when he noticed his scarf was on fire and cursed, swatting at the flames. He suddenly heard the crackle of electricity and looked over to see a blade of lightning leaving the Traveler’s sword and headed straight for him. Childe, off balance from attempting to snuff out the fire, failed to dodge properly. The electricity hit his burning scarf, triggering another explosion that knocked him off his feet and onto the ground. He wheezed for a second, the air knocked out of his lungs, and the Traveler took the opening to pin him to the ground with a Geo construct. Childe slumped in defeat and looked over at the Traveler’s smug grin as she leisurely walked over to his prone form. Her hair shone golden in the mellow lighting, barely mussed from their fight.
“You know, I think you have a bit of an unfair advantage in this fight. ” He pouted up at her.
“What do you mean, Childe? I thought you wanted me to go all out.” She tilted her head in faux innocence before kneeling down next to him and dismissing the construct holding him down.
Childe tried to sit up. “I’m always up for a challenge, but the fight is over too quickly when you use so many elements. How about next time, you just pick three to draw from, and when I win you can add another to keep it interesting.” He gave up on sitting up. He hurt too much. “That way I can actually function once we’re done sparring.”
The Traveler hummed. “That’s no fun, but if you insist I guess I can hold back.” She reached out and flicked a still smoldering spark from his hair.
Childe reached up and grabbed her hand in his. “Just for now, I promise that I’ll be able to beat you in a no holds barred fight soon. Wait for me, please.” He kept his eyes trained on her face as he brought her hand to his lips and gave it a soft kiss.
The Traveler’s cheeks burned faintly pink, but she didn’t wrench her hand away from his grasp. “You’d better hurry, then. I’m waiting for you.” Suddenly, she leaned towards him. Childe’s heart stuttered in his chest. Was she going to kiss him?! Did she actually return his feelings?? He closed his eyes as she got closer and closer, and suddenly heard a knocking sound.
His eyes flew open to see the roof of a canvas tent. Childe quickly sat upright and looked around frantically. How did he get here? Where is the Traveler? What -- he looked at the table next to his cot and suddenly remembered. The table was littered with hastily scribbled schemes for disobeying orders, rescuing the Traveler, and ensuring that Dottore never saw the light of day again for daring to abduct her.
Oh…right…the Traveler had been captured and Childe couldn’t do anything to help her. He scowled. Arlecchino and Sandrone were resourceful and more than capable of rescuing the Traveler from that psycho, but Childe had been in a foul mood ever since he found out. The Traveler was one of the strongest people he knew, but as far as he knew she had never had to fight a pseudo-deity by herself. Childe sighed and rubbed his face. His dream was probably his subconscious trying to reassure him that she was strong and safe, but he just wished he could know for sure.
There was a knock on the pole at the front of his tent. The knocking must have been what cut short his dream right before he got to the good part. Childe scowled again before marching up to the door and sweeping the tent flap aside. “What was so important that you had to interrupt my sleep?”
The subordinate outside started and quickly held up a letter. “We just received this report from the Knave. You told us to make sure any news from her got to you regardless of the hour–” Childe ripped the letter from his hand and turned back into his tent, letting the flap closing suffice to dismiss his subordinate.
He opened the letter with frantic hands and started scanning the contents. Arlecchino, Sandrone, and other prominent figures in Nod Krai were planning a final confrontation with Dottore. They were also working on a solution to get Columbina back from the Moon’s Shadow, whatever that was. But what about…there! The Traveler has been rescued and is working with us to prepare to face Dottore again. She is unharmed and eager to make him pay for all of his wrongdoings. Childe’s legs trembled and he sat down hard on his cot. She’s safe. She’s unharmed. She’s as full of fire as ever.
Childe reread the letter again, but there was no more mention of the Traveler. He’d just have to grill Arlecchino for more information the next time he saw her. He sighed and lay gracelessly back down on his cot. He had been on edge ever since he’d gotten the news of her capture, and now that he knew she was safe he wanted to go see her with his own eyes more than ever. Soon. Childe knew that the Traveler was planning to come to Snezhnaya next. He would do everything he could to be by her side so nothing like this would ever happen again. His heart couldn’t handle her being in danger. He would get stronger so nothing could harm her. Childe considered. Well, except maybe him when he finally was able to beat her in a spar. He grinned faintly. One day, Traveler.