After successfully recovering Shiki Taishou's memories and solving the mystery of the Mystic Onmyou Chamber, the team decided that what better way to celebrate their victory in conquering the domain than by grilling fish under the open night sky. Together, Lumine, Paimon, Xinyan, Shiki Taishou and Tartaglia agreed that everyone would do their part in some way to share the time and barbecue the fish. Tartaglia fished the fish out of the water, Xinyan provided the fire under the grill grate, and Lumine, turned the raw meat to be cooked and seasoned them. Of course, Paimon and Shiki Taishou also did their part in the end. The former helped a lot to make sure that no dish was left uneaten, while the latter told the others about his recently returned memories and appreciated the dishes.
"Pheh! Paimon was completely tired of all this flying. We really deserve a rest now." Lumine's traveling companion exhaled, putting her hands on her arms in a slightly annoyed manner.
"It must be much easier to fly! What if you had to run?" Xinyan laughed with a mischievous smile.
"You can get tired of flying!" Paimon replied, her face darkening even more.
Meanwhile, Lumine stood silent and, although she listened to the others' conversation for a while, her thoughts were distracted. Somewhere far in the past, old events came to the fore in her mind, and now, after all that had happened not so long ago, they were becoming more and more like unanswered questions. There was someone who was not in their close company, yet she was still unsettled and had no idea how to deal with the change in her mind.
She remembered the first time they had met. In Liyue Harbor, she was suspected of killing Rex Lapis. The soldiers of the city were on her trail, and though she was cautious enough, a misguided move caused them to spot her and attack. But an unexpected saviour came to her aid as fate would have it, and in the blink of an eye he defeated all opponents. He was Tartaglia, or Childe by code name.
Lumine knew from the first moment that she liked him, the young man who selflessly and chivalrously appeared before her and saved her from the dangers that awaited her. But when it turned out that Tartgalia is a member of the Fatui, and moreover one of the Harbingers, this sudden sympathy seemed to dissipate. The Fatui was their enemy and she knew very well that the only reason he had befriended her was to gain information for his purposes and to exploit her. From then on she remained rather distrustful and distant in their relationship.
But in spirit she never really gave up. She sensed that that day, that fateful meeting, was no coincidence, and that it was a honest expression of Tartaglia. He considered her as his friend, he let her look after his youngest brother, he invited her to their home to meet his family, but he still worked for the Fatui. As much as she tried to let go of this fact, she was unable to, and her traveling companion Paimon confirmed this many times too. Tartgalia was dangerous and she did not necessarily want to be part of that danger.
But after recent events, she felt a change in her heart again. During the search for the memories of Shiki Taishou and the discovery of the Mystic Onmyou Chamber, Tartaglia seemed to have shown her a completely different side of himself. A much more honest and open self, who he really was when he first met with her. One who was not afraid to take up a weapon when a friend and someone important to him was in trouble. He didn't follow the carefully laid schemes and rules imposed on him by the Fatui, but was himself. Though it turned out in the end that his goals had led him to Inazuma because of the Snezhnayan organization again, Lumine found it out in a much different way. Tartaglia played with an open hand and in time revealed everything to her. It was this straightforward and courageous character that really held her, that she had always wanted to see, that made her never really want to give up on him.
As she realised the answer to the questions in her heart, a sudden emptiness came over her, and she knew there was only one way to relieve it. She had to see him. Even if she didn't tell him how she felt now, that she had no doubt that it was no coincidence that they had met, she longed for his company.
"Lumine! Are you all right? Paimon is a little worried!" Lumine glanced at her fellow traveler floating in front of her, her huge dark blue eyes seeming to hide a whole galaxy.
Lumine was a little confused at first as the image cleared before her, and she came back to reality from the depths of her thoughts, but then she pulled herself together easily. "Don't worry, Paimon. There's no problem, but I don't think the last period of time has been easy for any of us." she said, then looked at the fish bucket, which was now completely empty. Now is the time. "I think I'll ask Childe how the supply is going."
"Fine, but don't get into another fight with him!" Paimon warned, and put on her usual distrustful face towards Tartaglia.
"I think those days are over!" Lumine smiled, and was sure that if something like that would happen in the future, it would be strictly in the context of a training session.
"But he's still a member of the Fatui!"
Lumine chose to ignore Paimon's last sentence and turned on the grass and headed towards Tartaglia.
The young man was standing on the edge of a cliff from where he was dangling the fishing rod into the water. The Moonstringer. Lumine had lent it to him when she learned that his own had been unluckily swept away. While fishing, he was attacked by hilichurls and, not wanting to miss a chance to fight them, he just threw the rod into the water in his haste, and the fast flowing river, carried it away. Lumine had a good laugh when he told her the story not long ago.
Tartaglia turned suspiciously in the direction of the noise, probably expecting another opponent to be defeated, but when he saw Lumine he put the fishing rod down in the grass and greeted her with a confident smile. "Oh, it's you, Lumine! Is everything all right?"
"Yes, I just wanted to ask how the fishing was going." Lumine replied, and although that wasn't her real reason for meeting with him, she somehow wanted to strike up a conversation. Having said that to Paimon and the others, it didn't sound so strange.
"Don't worry! In time, there will be enough for everyone. Inazuma is a pretty good place to fishing, as an archipelago it's surrounded by water on all sides, and as I spent time in town I discovered that quite a lot of people do it. They even have a lot of fish dishes on their menu."
Lumine listened wordlessly as Tartgalia told her of his experiences in Inazuma, but when his voice trailed off, she couldn't squeeze any answers out of her. It was as if her body had been chained down. She remembered that she now looked at him differently, and that the courage that had led her to this point had somehow evaporated.
Tartaglia, to ease the tension and possibly encourage her, smiled encouragingly and held out his hand to her. "But while you're here, how about a little stargazing? I swear you won't regret it!"
"All right," Lumine agreed with a faint and modest smile, "sounds like a good idea."
She didn't end up holding Tartaglia's hand, it would have felt too intimate to do so, but she could see in the young man's face that he didn't resent her for not doing so in the end. He must have been pleased that she had accepted his offer, so as he sat down on the grass, she followed. Tartaglia's attention was fixed on her the whole time as she made the move, and remained there even when he addressed her again.
"I want to show you what I meant by you are like the stars in the night sky."
Tartaglia had indeed told her that, but just before he told her of his intentions and his commission to find the gnosis, so that in the shred of memories that one sentence had finally somehow gotten lost. She was more preoccupied at the time with the question of whether she could really trust him, or whether she could really complete the task he had given her. Where would her final destination lead her? But this sentence was also proof that Tartaglia was driven by good intentions and that he was indeed impressed by her presence. She did not think it likely that he could say such a thing to anyone he met.
"We had not yet met when I read in a book about a certain constellation called Viatrix, which is said to be a shaper of destinies. When I looked for it out of curiosity, its stars shone brighter in the night sky than any other up there. I was completely amazed by its presence, I can still recall it clearly. You remind me of those stars."
"I didn't know you are interested in astronomy, Childe. We met an astrologer called Mona in Mondstadt, I'm sure she could tell you a lot about it." Lumine said, trying to relax, though she still didn't look at Tartaglia, instead gazing upwards.
"The stars shine beautifully up in the sky, I'm sure about that, but I don't know as much about them as an astrologer. But on my travels, I occasionally like to stare up at the points of light shining above, and sometimes I even make a wish. I wish my family a better tomorrow, I wish for Snheznaya a better future, and sometimes I think of you too. For all the memories we've had so far. I think back on them fondly as I am again and again immersed in the enormous view above us. I wish you could be there with me."
"I think you got your wish, I'm here with you." Lumine replied, but somehow felt clumsy and awkward in her response after Tartaglia shared his confession with her. She cautiously turned her head to the side to glance at him, but Tartaglia noticed her movement and their eyes met.
"What is your wish, Lumine?" Tartaglia asked her, still looking at her.
"To be reunited with my brother Aether, and to..." Lumine fell silent, knowing she was about to say something she had never said before. But she couldn't back down. She was aware that the constellation Tartaglia had seen long ago then represented her and she was his destiny, even then the man, as he said before didn't really believe in such things. Their destinies had intertwined the moment they had met each other on the road to the incident in Liyue, and she found only further proof of that now. Neither the Fatui nor mistrust could erase all that after this. She must face her true feelings and accept them, even if others did not want that.
"To spend more time with you!" Lumine said with a beaming face.
"Lumine!" said Tartaglia, his eyes widening. "I missed you so much!"
Lumine then felt only the strong arms grip her shoulders and suddenly her head hit Tartaglia's chest. The man's arms wrapped tightly around her and held Lumine to him, fearfully, lovingly, expressing all his feelings. Gently, she lifted her own and placed her arms around Tartaglia, breathing in his scent and taking in the warmth of his body. The perfect moment she had perhaps always longed for in her heart.
"Actually, you're for me too, Childe." Lumine said as they still embraced.
"How about finding the Viatrix? That was the original plan, wasn't it?" Tartaglia then let go of Lumine, but they remained close as they now turned to the sky.
"With you anytime!" Lumine laughed to herself, but she knew it was mostly her joy that made her do it.
Tartaglia lifted his arm and pulled Lumine to him from the side, and she just let it all happen and rested her head on his shoulder. To gaze at the infinite and uncountable stars with the man who was, in fact, almost exactly like her. They were so much alike, in their development, in their battles, in their travels, and even partly in their trouble-making, that Lumine felt as if Tartaglia were really her, the man's self, the missing piece of her.
That night, the constellations Viatrix and Monoceros Caeli shone together, side by side, brighter than any other star in the pitch-black sky.