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Tick-tock.Tick-tock.
The wall clock hanging in her bedroom at the Serenitea Pot was deafening, if only because it was the only sound echoing against the walls. Such was the nature of her mysterious realm when the sun finally went down on it— birds stopped chirping, hogs went to bed and dogs and cats rested among their kind. The Realm was submersed in peace and quiet. And on nights when her brain was a swirl of chaotic thoughts that wouldn’t let her rest, it became somewhat unnerving.
Lumine let out a heavy sigh.
She thought that after a busy day of carrying out commissions, she deserved some respite. The traveler just wanted some time to be by herself and rest, maybe meditate and get ready for what surely would be another busy day tomorrow. And yet, she felt as restless as if she was still strolling up and down the mountains of Chenyu Vale.
Her agitation had nothing to do with her sore muscles or the fact that she’d skipped dinner, much to Paimon’s exasperation. Its source had a name and a face.
She let out another sigh, defeated at not being able to control the trail of her thoughts.
As of lately, it hadn’t been odd for Lumine to go to bed each night while thinking of Childe. The sentiment of emptiness and preoccupation left by his battered image when she last saw him in Fontaine only got stronger with each passing night. A thousand different questions about him haunted her as she tossed and turned about in her bed.
Had he reached Snezhnaya safely? Was he healing without difficulty? Had his family confined him to his bed to recover, causing him to become a bundle of nerves?
There hadn’t been any letters coming from him, not that he owed them to her, but without them, Lumine had no way of knowing what was going on in his life. Not that he’d be able to share much— he was still a Fatui Harbinger, they were still supposed to be on opposite sides. But was news of his wellbeing too much to ask for?
The clock in her room got louder. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Time was slipping through her hands, and she was unable to do anything about it. It made her hyper-aware of the next day.
Tomorrow was Childe’s birthday. She remembered the date by heart now, after having known him for a few years. A date that should be saved for celebration and merriment was bringing her… troubling thoughts. Anxiety, to say the least.
As much as Lumine tried not to think about it, Childe was getting old. Older, at least. Yes, for the moment he was still in the prime of his life, and if the Archons were good and his ability to fight remained true, he still had many, many years ahead of him.
But what was the speck of his life, compared to a virtually immortal star’s?
She’d known all along that developing feelings for him wasn’t wise, that it would only bring her heartache. It was something Aether always reminded her of when they traveled, to be mindful of the lifespan of the inhabitants of the worlds they arrived in. Lest she got attached and then… had to deal with the grief.
But Aether wasn’t with her to remind her now. And so, in her arrogance, Lumine had believed that she wouldn’t fall for Childe even if she kept him close. Even if the space between them sometimes became nonexistent.
Alas, she had flown too close to the sun.
She side-eyed the jewelry resting atop her nightstand. Two simple golden bands, one slightly bigger than the other. Lumine still couldn’t believe she’d had the audacity to buy them.
Hopefully, she would have the chance to give Childe his birthday present soon. She had all but given up hope to give him his gift in time by this point…
“Traveler!” Tubby’s voice resonated through the chamber, startling her out of her mind. “You have a visitor!”
Blinking the stupor away, Lumine could hear the distant click of the principal door opening, and steps making their way in. It was already too late for visitors, so who could be arriving in her Teapot at this time of night…?
Her heart fluttered in her chest, and yet she tried to remind herself that it could be any of her friends who she had given realm dispatches to. She could be utterly disappointed.
~
A peek over the second-floor balcony proved her hopes right. Standing in the middle of the hall was the ginger menace she had just been thinking about. It was as if she had thought him into existence.
Childe’s unruly red hair and immaculate uniform were signs that, even though time was passing, some things were bound to stay the same forever. He was never going to try to smooth his curls to appear well-groomed, and yet he wore his Fatui uniform with as much pride and poise as ever.
Lumine couldn’t help but call his name excitedly. “Childe!”
Dull blue eyes shot up to meet hers, and even in the dim lighting of the lamps she could see that wide, bright smile she dreamed about so often. “Comrade! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
The butterflies in her stomach felt like they were furiously trying to escape their confinement. Lumine could barely conceal her enthusiasm as she bolted down the stairs to meet him, and it was all she could do not to throw herself into his embrace. While she was sure he’d never reject such a simple yet strong display of affection, she didn’t want to push it.
Childe couldn’t take his eyes off her as she descended. It took only a moment for him to realize how much he’d been missing his petite confidant during their time apart. The hummingbird his heart had turned into fluttered furiously in his chest. A pang of regret in the back of his mind being stubbornly ignored.
His feelings weren’t going to ruin the night. Not after all the trouble he’d gotten into to get back to her.
“I wasn’t expecting you today,” Lumine’s eagerness was palpable through her words, and Childe’s smirk indicated he had noted it. “I thought you might be staying in Snezhnaya for a longer time… and I can’t imagine you’d be able to access my teapot from so far away.”
Childe, ever the expert at snuffing her attempts at fishing information out of him, raised his eyebrow, amused. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to you that I’m always on the move, comrade.”
Lumine’s eyebrows narrowed in a disapproving stare.
“I am aware. However, I can’t imagine that you’re fully healed yet with how stubbornly you refused to rest when you needed it the most,” if Lumine sounded anything like a scolding mother she wouldn’t care. She had lost count of the endless amount of sleepless nights she had spent worrying over him.
“Ah,” Childe dismissed her preoccupation as he made a show of stretching his arms and legs, unbothered. “But I am feeling like new already! It’s like I was only fighting in the Abyss for a day instead of a month!”
Lumine rolled her eyes at his remark, but a small smile painted itself on her lips. “So back to work straight away? Are you back to your evil Fatui plans already?”
A chuckle reverberated in his chest. Childe inched closer to her, his arrogant demeanor seeping off him while his towering height, intimidating for most people, loomed over her. Good thing she wasn’t like most people. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Swatting him away, Lumine should’ve known he wasn’t going to share anything with her. As much as she wanted to ask if he was bound for Natlan the same way as she was, she only shook her head and accepted that Childe chose to keep part of his life hidden away from her.
As long as it wasn’t all of it, she wouldn’t complain. At least not too much.
“But seriously,” Childe recovered his composure, not wanting to worry the Traveler more than he had already done so. “I have been taking things easy and resting for quite a long time to reassure my family. I didn’t want to trouble them too much. Besides, mama would’ve tied me to the bed if I didn’t do as she said.”
A cute giggle left her mouth. Lumine would’ve paid all the Mora she had to be able to see Childe, the Tsaritsa’s Eleventh Fatui Harbinger, honed weapon of war and feared warrior on the battlefield, beaten to submission by his mother who was barely half his height.
Childe smiled tenderly at her. Lumine’s laugh was truly one of a kind. He would be caught dead before admitting he’d do anything to hear her laugh.
“However, it seems I have reached the point of too much rest,” he took a step closer to her, reaching out to cradle her cheek with a confident hand. “If I don’t get some exercise soon, my body might actually start falling apart.”
She rolled her eyes again, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. “So you want to spar? In the middle of the night?”
“Not exactly the exercise I was thinking of,” another bold hand found the small of her back, the space between them disappearing with each passing second.
Lumine’s eyes scanned him in silence, looking for any signs that he may be downplaying his recovering injuries. She was well aware of how stubborn and restless this man was and knew that there was no power on all Teyvat that would change his mind once he was set on something even if that something was risking his neck for the Tsaritsa and her wish once again.
His scent was intoxicating. That smell of sea salt and coniferous forest combined with his own musk after what must’ve been an agitated day took her over, clouding her thoughts. While she still didn’t believe that he was fully recovered, she was too starved of him to resist.
Her small hand traced the shape of his lips, tempting destiny itself. “You think that just because you’re about to be the birthday boy you can get me to say yes to anything you propose?”
Childe’s head jerked back in surprise, his eyes as wide as saucers. “You remembered…?”
“Of course I did!” a bit of exasperation seeped into her voice, hurt because he was fool enough to think she didn’t care about him enough to remember his birthday. “I even got you a present.”
His curiosity piqued, Childe raised an eyebrow as he tilted his head like a sly, inquisitive fox. “You did?”
“Yeah, I… I couldn’t help myself.”
“How did you know what to get me?” His voice was teasing as always, but also heavy with fervor. His face inched closer to hers, the tip of his nose and the phantom of his lips lightly roaming through her skin.
Lumine’s mouth wasn’t working. Her knees were starting to buckle. She could hardly breathe.
Childe chuckled under his breath. “I can’t wait to unwrap it.”
A shuddering gasp. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Something in her voice caught his attention. Childe pulled away from her, leaving Lumine instantly missing his warmth. He scanned her flushed face, finding traces of fear and worry behind her golden eyes.
He realized the extent of how much this woman had been frightened for his safety, something she must’ve downplayed on their previous meeting. It wasn’t surprising, considering neither of them wanted to give any of his colleagues a reason to believe something was going on between them. And Arlecchino had been perceptive enough with them holding back.
His expression softened. He hadn’t wanted to be a source of such grievance for Lumine. “I’m sorry if I worried you, comrade, but you know it would’ve taken much more than what I got to take me out.”
Her face contorted into a mask of dismay.
Hands moved up to delicately caress his cheeks. She was so close that she could count each and every one of the freckles scattered in his face. So close that she could clearly see the slight shade of stubble in Childe’s jaw as it tickled her fingers. Lumine had noticed how it had been growing more and more over time. Once again, the thought of him getting older overtook her mind. For now, that meant that he was only getting better and stronger. But someday it was only going to signify that he’d be getting weaker. He wouldn’t be able to take those types of beatings anymore, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t want to risk taking them.
He was such a danger to himself…
Before she knew what she was doing, Lumine threw herself forward. She snaked her arms around his neck, holding him tightly to her as if to reassure herself that he was still there with her. That he wasn’t going to crumble to dust in the blink of an eye.
Stunned by her sudden action, Childe took a moment to return her embrace with just as much vehemence.
He sighed next to her ear, the puff of air tickling her tender nerves. “I’m okay, Lumine.”
His saying her name stirred something inside of her.
Lumine had the urging desire to hear him say her name, over and over again, as desperately as she needed air to breathe. Suddenly, she felt like the slight space between them was alive with electricity, tension waiting to snap at a moment’s notice.
Ultimately, the tension snapped.
She yanked down on his scarf.
Childe could hardly get a chance to assess what was happening when his lips met Lumine’s in a passionate, desperate kiss. While stunned at the swiftness with which things were happening between them, he was quick to return the gesture.
Lumine could feel his desperation and need for her in the exchange; they were almost as notable as hers. Her heart felt like it was about to implode in her chest.
No communication was needed between them at that point. Or maybe, their bodies were already so in tune with one another that they already knew what to expect, and what were the next steps to take.
Childe picked Lumine up in a bridal carry like she weighed nothing, something the Traveler always cherished about her strong Harbinger. His legs carried them to her bedroom without getting distracted from their kissing— it was like they knew the way so well that he could’ve gotten there blindfolded.
Once they had arrived at their destination, neither of them wasted any time.
Lumine was carefully but unceremoniously sprawled on the bed, and in a flurry of quick movements, clothes started coming off. His fingers peeled off her gloves and boots, she unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and unbuttoned his jacket. Layer after layer of clothing was discarded until Childe had to pause, despite the evident tent on his trousers.
His cheeks were as red as beets.
Maybe she was just as ablaze as he was. Maybe it had been too much.
Even when her room was dimly lit only by the soft glow of the moon cascading through the window, Childe could see distinctively how Lumine was clad in a very daring set of lacy lingerie.
The black fabric left almost no room for imagination, its top barely covering Lumine’s peaks and its bottom as thin as a single thread between her legs. She did not attempt to cover herself— it didn’t matter when they both knew the business they were about to conduct. And yet she looked away, demure like an innocent fawn left with no protection in the middle of a meadow.
Childe blinked a few times, shocked by the goddess before him. For a moment he even forgot how he had ended up laying on the bed himself, his paramour straddling his hips.
“Do you like it?” Lumine’s voice was small, full of insecurity at his speechlessness.
That had to be amended as soon as possible.
Wrapping his arms around her, Childe brought her close to him. “You look stunning in it, Lumine.”
There he was again, saying her name like it was the most sacred word he knew. Lumine was already unraveling for him.
Childe’s lips descended on hers again, his hungry mouth claiming her as fiercely as if he were fighting against her, his teeth grazing her lips and their tongues intertwining in each other. Lumine felt like drowning in the bliss that he brought upon her.
“Is this my birthday gift, mylashka?” He husked against her mouth.
Lumine couldn’t help but snicker in response. “Not quite.”
It was official. Lumine’s giggle was the most precious sound in the whole world. Childe would never get enough of it.
Lumine messily unbuttoned his shirt and took off his pants. She couldn’t work fast enough, her need only grew with every passing moment.
Small hands traced toned, fuzzy muscles, and after finding the familiar marred skin, they came across a rugged, foreign surface. Lumine stopped in her tracks to take a good look at Childe in the darkness.
There were still patches and bandages on his chest, torso, shoulders, and arms. She could even discern the traces of new, still pink and tender scars peeking from underneath the seams.
Her preoccupation must’ve shown on her face because Childe tenderly tilted her chin up. Golden eyes met dull, familiar, and comforting blue.
“It’s okay, Lumine. I’m okay. I’m here.”
She didn’t mean to sound pleading as she responded. “Stay with me.”
It was like two comets colliding in space.
Their keen lips met again for a brief moment before Childe’s began wandering, first to Lumine’s earlobe, then to her neck, trailing down to her chest. He pulled the fabric over her breasts down, using her bra as leverage to push up her heavy bosom.
Lumine should have already been used to being so exposed to him, but she still felt blood furiously rush to her cheeks as Childe nibbled on her sensitive, perky nipples.
Moans were ripped from her throat. Big, calloused hands didn’t stop there and instead kept exploring her body. Her scrupulous fingers held on to his mane of red hair.
Childe filled all her senses in every way, to the point it was overwhelming. He was driving her past the point of insanity.
And yet, she needed more.
“Childe, please,” she begged, something she scarcely did. The man in question stopped his teasing to penetrate her with his gaze— though, Lumine wished it wasn’t just his eyes doing that.
“So eager, mylashka,” he whispered amidst the darkness, his voice husky and thick with desire.
A knot rose to Lumine’s throat. “You’ve been gone for so long…” And I don’t know when I’m going to see you again, was the thought she left unspoken.
He clicked his tongue, then gave a light tug on her pebble with his teeth.
“What my pryntsesa wants, my pryntsesa gets,” Childe solemnly declared. Lumine was surprised by the new nickname— he’d never called her a princess before.
Childe sucked in a breath, realizing what he’d said in the passion amidst the sheets. The word had slipped away from him, used to being rolled off his tongue back home. Yet, his family was not occupying his mind now as it usually was.
Focusing on the task at hand, Childe fondled Lumine blindly to situate her beneath him, his long digits teasing her wet cunt. Lumine was truly eager as could be.
“You’ve been waiting a long time for this, haven’t you?” He taunted her, ever the antagonist in their trysts.
Lumine pursed her lips into a pout, but she was too needy to argue. Instead, she whined. “Childe…”
His name was like a prayer in her mouth. A prayer to fill her. To complete her. To never abandon her.
Lumine knew that she was greedier than she should be, greedier than he could imagine.
And yet, Childe wasted no time to push aside the small piece of fabric covering his prize and spread her around him.
His cock was abrasive, yet he made sure not to split her in half with the sheer, brute force of his entrance. Her cunt molded around him like wax melting before the flame. Childe insisted on keeping his mouth busy with her tits, suckling on a peak and making her scream in response. The stimulation was almost too much. However, the only thing that felt more alive than Lumine’s nerve endings was her heart.
He was here. He was well. He was alive.
He is mine.
I’m his.
Childe set the pace like he always did, their bed-bound skirmish as familiar as their usual sparring by now. He knew exactly how to move, with how much speed, where to touch, and what to do with his mouth to please her. They had explored each other so much by then, the action was as easy as taking a promenade or getting dinner together.
But the reward was much sweeter.
Only grunts and moans echoed throughout the room, wordless sounds enough to convey their satisfaction. That was the way were used to, that was the way they had agreed to go on through with their multiple rendezvouses, whenever they had the chance to have them. There were no words needed when their bodies were more than versed enough in each other’s silent language. There were no words needed when this was all carnal desire. There was nothing to say when feelings weren’t involved… was there?
And yet, Lumine had never wanted to speak more in all her life.
Even as pleasure rippled through her body, her mind was set on Childe’s satisfaction. Was he okay to go on like this? Was she making him feel alright? Had he not grown bored of her?
Lumine shouldn’t be as aware of those thoughts as she was. She’d been waiting for far too long for this to be so distracted all of a sudden. Childe was here and he was as magnificent and dutiful as she remembered, and he was making love to her…
Right?
Picking up the pace, Childe pushed her legs up, giving him a better angle to fuck her guts out.
Lumine wailed. It felt so good. He felt so good.
His eyes bore into hers, claiming her just as much as his body was. She could feel herself coming to the verge of her extasis.
Lumine felt full and happy and possessive of him. The twitching of his cock inside her indicated that he was also coming close to his peak, they were both almost there. Lumine felt proud that she was the one making him feel those things, that she was the one making him let go of reason and listen only to his primal needs.
Childe pounded on her faster. Their bodies clapped together in a countdown to their release.
Lumine stopped thinking. All rationality abandoned her.
But her mouth took a life of its own.
“Childe!” She called his name. “I love you!”
He suddenly stopped. Pounding into her. Moving. Lumine could’ve thought he even stopped breathing.
She opened her eyes to find his wide open, his mouth agape. His earring dangling in his earlobe was the only remnant of his violent cease of action.
Lumine realized then what she’d said out loud.
Fuck.
Childe’s dull blue eyes, so alive with lust and desire just a few moments ago, were now as obscure and lifeless as she’d ever seen them.
Lumine bit her lower lip.
She’d broken their agreement. Those feelings she’d been fighting so hard to suppress and hide had finally come up to the surface against what they’d previously agreed to. And there was no taking them back.
Whatever small hope she’d had about him reciprocating her feelings (well, what was she supposed to think after he had entrusted her with his vision?!) was evaporating into thin air before her eyes.
“Childe…?” she foolishly attempted to bring him back to attention. Back to her.
He blinked himself back to the present. Childe let out a hefty sigh and tumbled next to her, covering his face while a thousand different thoughts clouded his judgment.
His heart screamed for him to say it back. He wanted to— needed to let her know how much he burned for her, how much he wanted her, how much his body, mind, and soul craved for her light. And yet…!
And yet he knew he couldn’t do it. He shouldn’t do it.
Lumine didn’t know what to say. She felt awful, having broken the moment because she’d been incapable of keeping no strings attached as they had originally intended. How was she supposed to keep it together and not feel hurt and rejected by his unresponsiveness to her words? Her heart was shattering inside her chest.
Eventually, Childe spoke through their whirlwind of thoughts. “Maybe I should go…”
He sat up in his attempt to leave. How foolish they both had been, thinking they could go into this situation and exit on the other side unscathed.
“No!” Lumine spat louder than she had intended to. Her hand shot up to hold on to his bicep, well aware that he could just release himself from her grasp as if she was nothing more than a mosquito clinging to his skin. “Please. At least stay the night. Get some rest.”
He turned around with a doubtful stare. She needed to probe further. “I can’t have you spend your birthday camping in the wilderness.”
He let out a dry chuckle at that. A small dent to the walls he had instantly put up at the slip of her tongue. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“But I wouldn’t forgive myself if I was to blame for it. Please. Stay.”
Childe averted his gaze, sending another stab straight to her chest. However, he didn’t make any further attempts to leave the bed.
“I still have to give you your birthday present,” Lumine had the fleeting notion that maybe she could still get through to him.
Lumine reached out to pick up the pair of golden bands from her nightstand.
Childe inspected the identical rings conspicuously, suspicion evident in his features. When Lumine offered him one of them and kept the other one to herself, his heart sank to his stomach. “Is it… just a ring?”
Lumine felt herself blush but pushed herself to say the speech she had been rehearsing a thousand times in front of the mirror before.
“Yes! It is… a promise ring. I got us both one,” she looked down at the one still in her hand, willing her breathing to remain steady. “I just… it signifies… it’s a token of my… how I feel… of how much I care—”
“I can’t accept it.”
A slap to the face would’ve hurt less.
Lumine’s soul dropped to her feet. Lower even. She thought she’d been prepared to hear a negative response from him, it had been an obvious possibility all along. But judging by the pressure in her chest keeping her from taking another breath, she’d been so, so wrong…
“Childe…”
His face was a mask of nonchalance, but Lumine knew well that he only seemed that calm when he was truly trying to conceal the way he genuinely felt. If that was a good or a bad sign, she didn’t know.
Childe averted his gaze, focusing on keeping his voice leveled. Even if his next words ripped him apart from the inside. “You know I can’t accept this, Lumine. I can’t attach myself to you or anyone else as long as I’m at the service of the Tsaritsa. And you know that is a lifelong commitment.”
Lumine was well aware of the fact, but that didn’t stop her feelings from flourishing. That didn’t stop her from raising her hopes.
Childe pushed her hand away with indifference, albeit carefully.
“I’m not asking you to—”
“My loyalties cannot be divided. You knew this. That is why we agreed to only have these encounters as long as our feelings weren’t involved,” not that I was any better at the endeavor, Childe sourly thought as he felt a crack parting his dark heart in half. “Maybe it is time that we stop them.”
All those battles that were fought in the past, and yet Childe was finally finishing her off.
Her eyes swelled up with tears, but Lumine refused to let them fall.
“I’m sorry Childe! I didn’t think— I thought—! I shouldn’t have gotten ahead with this,” she begrudgingly tossed the rings over her nightstand, turning her body around so that she had an excuse to not let him see her face. The dam was about to break and she didn’t want him to witness it… defeat had never been so bitter. “You don’t have to accept it, but we don’t have to stop seeing each other. It’s probably something fleeting. It will pass.”
Her lie was so blatant, she wasn’t fooling anyone, let alone him.
Childe shuffled next to her. There was hesitance in his movements. He wasn’t withdrawing himself, but he wasn’t advancing closer either. Lumine held her bated breath the same way she held out hope for something that wasn’t going to happen.
He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to run away. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her. He wanted to never see her again.
The two wolves fighting each other inside him had never been so brutal to each other as they were that day.
Childe couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do anything.
The rustle of the bedsheets was the final nail in Lumine’s coffin. Childe settled down for the night, shifting to turn his back to her.
“Goodnight, Lumine.”
He had never spoken her name so devoid of emotion.
Not trusting her own voice, Lumine tucked herself in bed in silence, her back turned to him too. Silent tears were finally falling down her cheeks.
She stayed awake for what seemed like hours until she finally lost consciousness.
~
Lumine woke up the next day to an empty bed, a letter, and a missing ring.
Disappointment and heartbreak made way for optimistic longing.
Blinking the sleep away, Lumine hastily unfolded the piece of paper and began to read.
My dear Lumine,
I am quite sorry about how things ended up last night. I’m sure that wasn’t the way you envisioned things would go when you thoughtfully got me my birthday gift. And while I am apologizing wholeheartedly, I also believe that I couldn’t have reacted in any other way.
You know that I care for you deeply… I’d say we’re way more than friends at this point, wouldn’t you agree? Nevertheless, my loyalty remains true to the Tsaritsa and the vision she has for Teyvat, and while I willingly enjoy dangling in a risky tightrope when I choose to involve myself with you… everything has a limit.
I wish I could wear your promise ring with the pride and joy it deserves. Yet, you know I take my promises very seriously. And I cannot guarantee that I can keep the one you were asking me to keep. Even if it hurts your feelings. And mine.
Be that as it may, there’s hope. Hope I thought I’d lost all those years ago when I fell into the abyss. Hope I thought I’d never feel again after I became Her Majesty’s honed weapon of war.
Hope you brought back to me. With your joy, with your passion, with your kindness. Even with your stubbornness, if I may say so. Hope carries my wish that, maybe one day, when we reach the end of our journeys, we can meet at the finish line. And we won’t be enemies, and we won’t be friends. We will be… well, I guess we’ll discover it when we get there, won’t we, comrade?
So, until then, while I cannot wear this ring in the way it was intended, I can still keep it close to my heart. That way I can remind myself what my goal is. And I’m not talking about conquering the world, though that may come as a consequence of what I now know I want. My new goal is much more important than that.
You know I never back down from a fight, so I will not give up until I fulfill that goal. And if you’re wondering what that may be… well, since I made that my birthday wish, I can’t very well give it away, can I? If I do, it may not come true. I can’t afford to risk it.
I long for the day when our paths cross again, comrade. I hope we meet again soon. Thank you for your hospitality.
Affectively,
Childe
Lumine read the letter a couple of times before setting it down. She wanted to memorize his words, to imagine his voice reading them out loud to her, to engrave in her mind his cursive penmanship.
Maybe last night hadn’t been a mistake. Maybe not all was lost as she had feared.
The path ahead of them was as treacherous as it was dangerous, and as destiny would have it, she and Childe were bound to cross their blades again. Not in the frolic way they did most of the time, but putting everything, even their own lives, on the line. As was expected from their roles in the grand scheme of things.
But Lumine was determined to reach that final line Childe spoke of. She was determined to find him there or drag him over if he was delusional enough to try to make the ultimate sacrifice for his Tsaritsa.
A small smile spread on her face.
Not enemies and not friends, huh? I wonder what that could be…
~
Meanwhile, somewhere near the Snezhnayan border, the 11th Harbinger clutched his birthday present. Hanging it from a make-shift necklace, he was sure to keep it close to his heart like he’d promised his Traveler.