Mondstadt felt like a warm embrace after an icy storm. Bright banners hung everywhere, dancing in the gentle breeze, and the fountain in the main plaza sparkled under the light of the setting sun.
Paimon was impossible to restrain, she shot forward like a small comet, darting from one stall to the next, her nose twitching at every new scent.
>>"Ooh! Lumine! Do you smell that? That's Sticky Honey Roast! and, and over there! They have Mondstadt Hash Browns!!"<<
Lumine laughed softly, her hand still anchored in Noxira's. The Guardian moved through the crowd with an indescribable, haunting elegance. Her lavender glow was soft, casting a gentle light on her pale skin, making her look more elegant and perfect.
People stopped and stared, offering friendly smiles, until a little girl ran up to them. The child stood before Noxira, breathless and beaming, holding out a Windwheel Aster with a proud, shaking hand.
>>"For the beautiful Star Lady!"<<
The child chirped, then giggled and disappeared back into the crowd before Noxira could even speak and the child was by her parents again.
Noxira stood there, bewildered and surprised, staring at the flower in her hand, she didn't understand and her blue eyes pulsed gently while they examine the structure of the flower but even after this moment, she still didn't understand the gesture at all and turned to Lumine.
>>"Lumine"<<
Noxira whispered and for the first time since Noxira has been traveling with Lumine, her voice sounded no longer like an echo from the Abyss as before, but almost... shy.
>>"A small individual gave me a plant without demanding anything in return, my knowledge from memories classifies this as an act of selfless affection. Is this... normal in this city? and what does this mean?"<<
Lumine smiled and gently squeezed Noxira's hand affectionate.
>>"Yes, Noxira. This is Mondstadt, you don't have to earn your place here. You are simply allowed to be here and this is not a plant, Noxira, hehehe but a flower. I was completely robbed of the opportunity to give you first, a flower then I'll be first at something else. The Flora explained to me that... the a Windwheel Aster ist, A Flower that adores the wind to the proud children of the wind or the citizens of Mondstadt, the Windwheel Asters are the visible winds."<<
Noxira smiled slightly and initially understood Lumine's humor only halfway, just enough to understand that Lumine was just joking, Noxira she then looked at the Windwheel Aster with a little smile.
>>"I understand, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Lumine."<<
Paimon came floating back, several spears of Chicken Mushroom skewer in her hands and stuffed one into her mouth.
>>"Exactly! And now the analysis is over! Noxira, you have to try this. Lumine always says you can only understand a culture once you know its dessert!"<<
Noxira held the skewer with a delicate, trembling hand after Paimon gave her one and she watched Paimon devour her food with such chaotic joy that it seemed like she is a little monster to her slowly, Noxira took a small, hesitant bite of the mushroom.
Her eyes widened, It wasn't just a flavor, it was a physical sensation of heat, salt, and something else she can't describe. For someone who had lived in the sterile, silent Null Layer for centuries, it was like a loud shout in a quiet room.
>>"It is... intense"<<
Noxira whispered, her hand instinctively moving to her chest.
>>"The warmth... it does not stay in the mouth It feels as if it is spreading through my entire form."<<
>>"That's just the yum, working its magic!"<< Paimon chirped, already eyeing a nearby stand for dessert.
Lumine watched Noxira closely, noticing the way the Guardian's shoulders had finally begun to lose their rigid, military tension. >>"It's okay to find it strange, Noxira. Everything is new today."<<
As evening began to fall, the city transformed and the Lanterns were lit, casting a golden glow over the cobblestone streets. The trio walked up the long stone stairs toward the Cathedral, leaving the noisy food stalls behind.
At the top of the plaza, overlooking the giant statue of Lord Barbatos, Noxira stopped. She walked to the stone railing and looked out over the Cider Lake. The Windwheel Aster behind her ear fluttered in the night breeze.
"Lumine,"<<
Noxira spoke, her voice blending with the distant sound of a bard's lyre.
>>"In the memories I guarded, the world was often a place of duty. A place of 'before' and 'after.' But here... the 'now' is very loud."<<
Lumine stepped up beside her, leaning her elbows on the railing and looked at Noxira's profile. The silver hair, the glowing azure eyes, and the expression that was slowly shifting from a mask of stone to a face of wonder.
>>"Does the 'now' scare you?"<<
Lumine asked softly.
Noxira turned to look at her and the golden lantern light reflected in her eyes.
>>"No but I feel... a strange pressure here."<<
She pressed a hand against her heart, thought a bit and added.
>>"It is not pain It is a feeling of being... heavy. As if I am finally touching the ground, even though I am floating."<<
Lumine reached out and this time, she didn't just take Noxira's hand and she draped an arm around the Guardian's shoulders, drawing her into a side hug.
Noxira let out a tiny, soft gasp and she didn't pull away but Instead, she slowly leaned her head against Lumine's shoulder, just as Lumine had done earlier on the path. Noxira is learning how she handle it, she was imitating the affection she received, trying to find her own way to return it.
>>"That pressure"<<
Lumine whispered while looking at the stars
>>"It is because you're starting to care, you aren't just a Guardian anymore, Noxira. You're my friend and friends carry each other's weight and care for each other."<<
Noxira closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of the city wine, stone, and the Windwheel Aster.
>>"Friend..."<<
Noxira repeated and the word sounded precious coming from her lips.
>>"If this weight is what it means to be with you... then I never wish to be light again."<<
For a long time, they stood there in silence, a Traveler and her Guardian, watching the lights of Mondstadt flicker like fallen stars. In that moment, the Abyss felt a million miles away they slowly take each others Hand and lean their heads against each other.
The night air grew cooler but the warmth between them only deepened and Noxira didn't move her head from Lumine's shoulder, she seemed to be memorizing the rhythm of Lumine's breathing.
>>"Lumine"<<
Noxira whispered, her gaze fixed on the reflection of the moon in the lake below.
>>"The Prince... he created me to be a vessel of his will I was meant to be a mirror that only reflects the past. I was never meant to have a now."<<
She lifted her hand the one not holding Lumine's and watched the faint violet sparks dance between her fingers.
>>"When I feel this... this heaviness in my chest... I wonder if I am breaking. A Guardian should not seek the warmth of a hand a Guardian should not feel a pulse that isn't her own am I... failing my purpose?"<<
Lumine turned slightly, enough to look Noxira directly in her azure eyes she saw the genuine fear there, the fear of a being who thinks that has not yet found its meaning.
>>"You aren't breaking, Noxira,"<<
Lumine said, her voice thick with emotion.
>>"You're waking up, the Prince gave you a purpose but you gave yourself a choice. That choice to wake me, to stay with me that is what makes you more than a mirror."<<
Lumine reached up and gently touched the petals of the Windwheel Aster and take the flower to set it behind Noxira's ear.
>>"You told me you couldn't endure my loneliness anymore but what about yours? All those centuries, watching me sleep... you were alone too, weren't you?"<<
Noxira flinched almost imperceptibly a small, crystalline drop not quite a tear, but a bead of pure elemental light shimmered at the corner of her eye.
>>"I did not know the word for it then"<<
Noxira admitted, her voice trembling.
>>"I only knew that the silence was... too loud until you opened your eyes and when you looked at me... for the first time in an eternity, I felt like I existed not because of a command but because you saw me."<<
Lumine pulled her closer, the side hug turning into a protective embrace.
>>"Then let's make a new rule"<<
Lumine whispered against the silver strands of Noxira's hair.
>>"No more being alone, not for me and not for you. From now on, you aren't just a Guardian of memories. You're a Guardian of our future, my future."<<
Noxira let out a long, shaky breath, her body finally relaxing completely against Lumine. She slowly wrapped her arms around Lumine, imitating the hug with a fragile, desperate tenderness.
>>"Our future... I like the sound of that"<<
Noxira echoed she pulled back just enough to look at Lumine, a soft, radiant smile finally breaking across her face a smile that reached her eyes.
>>"I find that... highly preferable to the silence."<<
High above them, Paimon had finally stopped her frantic food search and was now a round Paimon. She sat on the stone railing a few feet away, swinging her legs and watching them with a soft, rare quietness. She didn't interrupt, she simply stayed there, a small witness to the moment the Guardian truly became a girl.
Slowly, Lumine and Noxira turned back to the view, their fingers interlaced so tightly it was hard to tell where the traveler ended and the guardian began. The stars above Mondstadt seemed to shine a little brighter, as if the world itself was welcoming Noxira home and Lumine She glanced at Noxira out of the corner of her eye and smiled happily at having her with her, and at Noxira slowly finding herself and learning about emotions.
From the high balcony of the cathedral, hidden where the golden lantern light couldn't reach, a tall figure in a navy-blue cape stood as silent as the stone statues around him. His cape billowed slightly in the night breeze, his gaze fixed on the trio by the railing.
He watched Lumine's smile a genuine, radiant expression he hadn't seen since the fires of Khaenri'ah and he watched the Guardian leaning into her embrace.
>>"A mirror that learned to feel"<<
He thought, his voice a low, gravelly hum in the darkness.
>>"The Prince was always meticulous, he created a weapon to guard his most precious treasure, never imagining the weapon would develop a heart of its own."<<
He adjusted his mask, his eyes narrowing as he saw Noxira interlace her fingers with Lumine's and Lumine return it. He knew the weight of memories better than anyone and he knew that emotions were often the most dangerous feeling for a creature from the Abyss.
>>"You are playing a dangerous game, Lumine. I hope you know that"<<
He whispered to the wind.
>>"To love or like a being born of the Null Layer is to embrace a shadow and yet..."<<
A ghost of a smile, or perhaps a grimace of pain, crossed his face as he remembered a time when he, too, followed a traveler with such devotion.
>>"...it is a beautiful one... Enjoy this peace while the wind still carries the scent of wine and flowers, for when the Prince calls his Guardian back to the Abyss, I wonder... which loyalty will break first? And for whom she chooses"<<
With a final, lingering look at the girl with the Windwheel Aster behind her ear, her turned and vanished into the shadows, leaving no footprint behind.