Chapter Text
A glimmer of sunlight peeked into the inside of the room through the gap of the curtain. Slowly, it pushed the darkness and filled the entire room with a warm light. That light covered Lumine, who was lying comfortably underneath a thick blanket, poking her skin gently to wake her up. Lumine eyelids fluttered and her muscles started to twitch. A small groan escaped from her lips as her fingers started to touch the bed. It was the softest thing Lumine ever laid since the war.
Her eyes opened.
Lumine watched her surroundings carefully. She knew this room. She definitely knew who owned this kind of room she was sleeping in. The entire room was filled with gold, from the decoration, the ceilings, the door, even the floors. The only thing that was not covered with gold is the big bed she was lying in.
Only one name appeared in her head.
Ningguang.
Lumine slowly pushed herself up. Her eyes never once left the closed door, afraid that the Tianquan would suddenly barge into the room. Lumine winced and quickly held her throbbing head as her breath became short as she tried to remember how she suddenly appeared in the Jade Chamber.
She remembered the scream calling her name. The coldness from the sea when it engulfed her. A glimpse of a woman with an eyepatch jumped to catch her. That must be Beidou.
It was supposed to be a simple crystal fireflies hunt. Lumine brought Xiangling, Xingqiu, and Chongyun to the location where she remembered to find them. She didn’t expect it would bring her to meet two legendary women in Liyue this soon.
With a bit of hesitation, Lumine slipped her feet out of the blanket and put it on the cold floors. She let go of the warm comfort from the bed, then walked slowly toward the door.
A small hesitation stopped her hand from pushing the door open. Lumine took a deep breath, then opened the door as quietly as she could. The hall was empty. There wasn't anyone wandering around. Ningguang probably had ordered all of her staff to leave the Jade Chamber. Only Lumine and Ningguang were now in this place.
Lumine walked silently toward Ningguang’s room. Her steps became heavier when she got closer to her destination.
Ningguang was sitting behind her grand table. She was looking at a thick parchment in her hand, her beautiful long white hair framed her face perfectly, and her other hand was holding a small smoking pipe. Lumine stood outside of her room while watching her.
“How was your sleep?” Ningguang said without bothering to lift her eyes from the parchment.
“Good, the bed was great.”
Both of them let the silence to speak. They were waiting for each other to continue the conversation. Finally, after a long wait, Ningguang put the parchment away and gave all of her attention to Lumine.
Her brow arched. “Why are you still standing there? Come, sit.” She said and gestured to the chair in front of her.
Ningguang watched Lumine with full interest as the traveler pulled the chair and sat down quietly. Her eyes moved from the top of Lumine’s head to her dress, clearly admiring the blonde girl's appearance. Meanwhile, Lumine shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the way Ningguang looked at her. Her hand slowly caressed her shoulder and quickly alert when it touched her skin.
“Your cape was still drenched when Beidou carried you here, it was still being dried out.” Ningguang explained after she saw Lumine’s panic reaction. Her lip turned up a little. “Nice tattoo, I also got one on my leg. It doesn’t glow like you though.”
Lumine frowned. The more Ningguang tried to calm her, the more agitated she became. Her heartbeat thumped rapidly while sweat was trailing down slowly as the heat inside her body raised.
“Lady Ningguang, with all my respect, please tell me what do you want from me? Why am I here?” Lumine asked with displeasure.
“Impatient, aren’t you?” Ningguang was bemused. She leaned back into her chair and stared directly into Lumine’s eyes. “Very well, if that is what you want. You are a traveler who arrived in Mondstadt a day after a foreign object fell from the sky. Some people call it a meteor, some call it a falling star. It was very fascinating. So far as I know, something like that never happened in Teyvat.”
“I don’t see any correlation between my arrival and that event.” Lumine quickly retorted to intercept.
“True, it might be just a coincidence.” Ningguang nodded then suddenly leaned forward. There was a smile on her face, but there wasn’t any trace of warmness in it. “But with the way you dress and your appearance, you definitely are different from people of any nation in Teyvat. Not to mention, you soon became an honorary knight of Knight of Favonius after you arrived in Mondstadt. Don’t you think it is strange for a military organization to suddenly accept a foreigner into their rank?”
A thick and tense silence engulfed the room. Both of them are glaring at each other, waiting which one would strike first.
Lumine definitely had to give appreciation to Ningguang’s intel. Nothing in Teyvat could escape the watchful gaze of the Tianquan. However, it irked Lumine so badly about how easy Ningguang found her secret. The traveler crossed her arms and raised her chin.
“You are correct. I admit I don’t know the Grand Master reason to accept me, but I have been a great help to the Knight of Favonius in their mission. I don’t understand why you are interested?” Lumine replied.
Ningguang suddenly stood up and walked to the window. Lumine blinked as she watched curiously.
“Come here.”
From the window, they could see the entire sky of Liyue was covered by thick clouds. Only some trace of light managed to escape the clouds. Lumine slowly glanced at the woman beside her while Ningguang kept looking outside.
“Since that night when the star fell, Liyue’s weather condition has become unstable. Never once rain fell to our city as it was protected by Archon influence. But rain poured the entire city a few days later after that night. Heavy rain almost became a storm. Then we received several reports of the increasing danger from monsters. Everything became a mess, the economy was disrupted, the people's lives were in danger, and even the ships couldn’t reach the harbor without any damage.” After explaining, Ningguang turned her head to Lumine. Without any words spoken, those red eyes showed Ningguang’s turmoil and desperation.
They then walked toward the board in the room. Some papers and maps were posted on it. There were interesting words that immediately caught Lumine’s attention: ley line, imbalance, core, reaction, elements. Location of the turbulence was shown by red dots in one of the maps.
“I was lucky to be able to receive help from an infamous Sumeru scholar. Lisa Minci, I presume you have already met her?”
Hearing the librarian's name successfully took Lumine in surprise. “Yes, she had already told me about your request.” She answered. “Did she fix the entire problem?”
Ningguang shook her head slowly. The corner of her mouth turned downward while her brows furrowed. “Only the majority of it. Please don’t think I’m feeling ungrateful to her. Miss Minci had actually really saved us from all of these problems. We know the main problem is caused by the ley line instability. But, there are still a lot of other ley lines that we have to clean and the monster's problem is not entirely solved.”
Those explanations made a sense of dread crawling into Lumine's body. She slowly crossed her hands and bit her lip. A trail of cold sweat falling down from her forehead as her mind made a connection between the dots. Lumine’s arrival in Teyvat had brought bad effects to the stability of elements and ley line. Was this because she was not supposed to be in this timeline? Archons, how many problems has she had caused now?
“You want me to help you.” Lumine said quietly. It was not a question, but a statement.
Ningguang nodded.
“But why? You didn’t know me. This is the first time we met and suddenly you ask a stranger with an unknown past to help your nation?”
“Don’t get me wrong. Personally, I don’t trust you.” Ningguang's words made Lumine want to wince, but the traveler hid the pain from her face. “But the Grand Master of the Knight of Favonius and the people of Mondstadt seemed to have high opinions of you. I heard you also possess a strange ability to control elements without a vision.”
Then, she suddenly came forward and leaned closely. Lumine’s breath shortened as she and Ningguang were staring deep into each other's eyes.
“You also have your own reason and motivation to travel here. How about we make a deal? You help me to solve Liyue’s problem and I will help to fulfill any of your requests here?” Ningguang challenged her.
Lumine frowned, but she didn’t lean away from Tianquan's gaze. “You didn’t even know what my goals were and you're still willing to make a deal?”
“You can refuse me, but I don’t think you will achieve what you seek here without any help from me or one of the Qixing.” Ningguang smirked with amusement, daring Lumine to refuse her.
The answer was already obvious. Ningguang knew Lumine did not have other choices but to comply with her request. She just wanted to give an illusion of freedom to choose her options to Lumine.
“Fine, I will help you.” Lumine grumbled in frustration.
“Don’t worry, you won’t handle this alone. I actually want you and Beidou to partner up. She is currently still in the harbor right now, probably to meet her crew. How about eating some breakfast first? There are still some foods in the dinner room.” Ningguang walked back to her table and started to continue her work, completely ignoring the traveler's presence in the room.
Lumine watched her with a sullen look before quietly turning around to leave the room.
The breakfast was delicious. It might be even the best food Lumine ever had since her time travel to the past. Her mouth kept chewing the food as Lumine enjoyed the taste and flavor. She seemed to enjoy her food too much that the sound of footsteps getting closer to her went unnoticed.
“The sleeping princess is finally awake!” An excited shout from her back made Lumine cough. She quickly snatched the glass on the table and drank the water.
“Whoops, sorry about that.” Beidou giggled, definitely didn’t sound sorry at all. The pirate pulled another chair and sat down as her hand picked a dumpling for herself. “Good news for the kids. They are really worried about you.”
Oh yes, the kids. Yesterday's event might have scared Xiangling, Xingqiu, and Chongyun.
“We haven’t properly introduced ourselves. I’m Beidou, the captain of Crux.” Beidou introduced herself.
Lumine nodded in acknowledgement. “Lumine, nice to meet you.” Her cheeks then flushed when she remembered Beidou jumped down to save her. “You’re the one who saved me, right? Thank you so much.”
Beidou smiled and shrugged. “It’s okay, I’m glad I was there to help you.” She then leaned forward.
“Ningguang said you will be helping me to clean the scattered ley line spot. I actually wasn’t sure if you would agree to help her request, but it seems I underestimated her negotiation skill.” She chuckled. “If you refused her, surely you wouldn’t be devouring all of her expensive foods.”
More likely because she didn’t have a better choice, Lumine grumbled inside her head while her mouth kept munching Tianshu Meat. This time, her ears caught another footsteps approaching them. At the corner of her eyes, Ningguang strode toward them while holding a parchment in her hand.
Beidou raised her eyebrows as she also saw the parchment. “What is that?” She asked with a suspicious look.
“A new map.” Ningguang stated flatly.
“What?! You mean there are new ley line spots?!” Beidou gasped in horror. “How in the world do you even manage to know that?!”
Ningguang showed a smug look. “I have a very good intel.”
After Beidou took the map, Ningguang turned her head to Lumine. The way Ningguang looked at her made Lumine shiver. Those red eyes, staring into her soul as if it was inspecting her to find out her value.
“You can start after finishing breakfast. Please report back to me after you have cleaned all of it.” Without waiting for their response, Ningguang walked back to her office.
Lumine stared longingly at Tianquan’s back, wondering if Ningguang was as cold as this one when she met her for the first time in her previous life. Slowly, Lumine turned her eyes away and inspected the map as Beidou was grumbling at the amount of ley line spots she had to clean.
After they devoured the entire breakfast, Beidou and Lumine travel back to the city. Beidou walked slowly to stare at Lumine from behind as the girl was giving all of her attention to see around. Even though Beidou did not give any sign to direct where they should go, Lumine kept walking with confidence as if she already memorized the entire city map. Beidou narrowed her eyes.
Has this mysterious girl visited Liyue before?
Beidou opened her mouth slowly but before she could question Lumine, a group of youngsters and Guoba were running toward them and took her attention.
“Ah, you guys,” Lumine mumbled.
“Lumine, you awake!” Xiangling shouted gleefully as she jumped to hug the blonde girl while Guoba gently hugged Lumine’s leg.
“How are you, Lumine?” Chongyun asked hesitantly.
A small smile formed on Beidou’s face as she was watching their interaction. She didn’t know the kids already got too attached to the traveler.
“Miss Beidou, good morning. Are you and Miss Lumine on your way for business?” Xinqiu nodded politely to her.
Beidou crossed her arms and nodded. “Yeah, we are going to clean all the ley line disorders around Liyue.”
Xiangling gasped. “You mean the entire Liyue? It sounds a lot.”
“Tell that to Ningguang,” Beidou sighed in despair.
Xingqiu was quiet for a few seconds before he suddenly spoke with full confidence.“We can help you.”
Beidou immediately wanted to refuse his help. Chongyun and Xiangling quickly nodded with the boy's suggestion.
“The three of us have visions! Surely we will be a great help for you guys!” Xiangling pointed toward Lumine. “Besides, Lumine just woke up after passing out. Do you think Lumine is strong enough to travel around Liyue to clean the ley line?”
“Have you ever fought monsters before with your vision?” Beidou asked as she glared at them. “Listen, I know how much you want to help us. But, if you could not fight and use your vision correctly, it would bring more trouble to me and Lumine.”
The trio protested, not willing to give up. Lumine chuckled and then placed her hand on Beidou's shoulder.
“It’s alright Beidou. I think it will be a good opportunity for them to use their vision,” Lumine said with such a fondness in her voice. “Our job will be done faster with their help too.”
Beidou pouted, she definitely wasn't convinced at all. Lumine glanced at the three pairs of eyes that were looking at them with hopeful looks. “I will take Xingqiu with me and you can bring Xiangling and Chongyun, you will definitely need him just in case Xiangling causes a burning accident.” Lumine tried to persuade her.
“Hey, I’m not that bad!”
All of them ignore Xiangling’s protested.
A few seconds passed as Beidou contemplated Lumine's suggestion. The pirate could not argue, the kids' help would help them greatly but she was still worried about Lumine. What if the blonde girl passed out again? A warm touch from Lumine’s hand in her arm brought her out of her thoughts.
“Fine, you can help us.” Beidou grumbled.
The kids yelled in excitement. Xiangling and Guoba jumped while Xingqiu and Chongyun gave their widest smile. They ran back to their home after Beidou ordered them to make quick preparations before they left the harbor.
Lumine smiled in amusement watching the kids. Before she could continue walking, Beidou grabbed her shoulder to stop her. Lumine turned around and raised her eyebrows.
“I still don’t like to leave you alone, especially because of how bad the state of the monsters around here is.” Beidou chided.
“Beidou, Xingqiu will accompany me. It will be fine,” assured Lumine.
“That boy just recently got his vision, he still might not even know how to use it.” Beidou rebutted. Her mouth turned into a firm line.
“I know how to help him, Beidou.” Lumine grabbed Beidou’s hand to remove it from her shoulder. “You have to trust me.”
Beidou scoffed. “How could you be so sure of it? You just met them yesterday, Lumine. You barely know them.” She sighed, confused with Lumine stubbornness. “You are not even their friends.”
Lumine felt her breath halted. She turned her back to Beidou, making sure to not let Beidou see her distressed look. Lumine wanted to yell, to say that she knew all of them for almost her entire life, but she couldn’t. She had to lie, agreeing with Beidou's words that she didn’t know them at all, but she couldn’t. Not when Lumine felt she was the one to be blamed for their deaths in the bleak future. Lumine could not force herself to pretend as a stranger to them.
So, the only thing that Lumine could do was to keep walking and ignore Beidou calling her name. She was once a good friend for them and she will do anything to build those bonds again in this life.