Author's Note

I'm slowing to twice a week just to give myself more time and you all won't be cut off so quickly when I catch up, so there's that!

Enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Lumine

Lumine was perched on the counter in Aether's bathroom, looking across the space to one of the large mirrors. She was sitting against another one, and the two reflected endlessly in a green-tinted, infinite sequence, as they faced each other head-on. It was really quite interesting.

Aether was on the counter beside her, facing her directly. The counter was set back into the wall by a few feet and he was leaning back against the side of the alcove.

"Do you remember how to braid your hair?" Lumine asked.

Aether looked at her, in the mirror she was facing. He paused for a second as if considering. Lumine met his gaze. It was hard not to worry about last night, especially when she looking at him. He had just told her what happened. Gods, she should have heard him leave. They just needed to keep the balcony door locked or something. But what if he had gotten hurt? She shivered a little.

"I don't think so. Well, I'm not sure actually. I don't even know if I was the one who braided it before though, to be fair," he answered.

Lumine pulled back to the conversation.

"Would you know where to start?" she asked.

Aether hesitated but nodded tentatively: "Yeah, yeah I think so."

"You should try!" Lumine encouraged.

She was actually quite curious about this. Aether closed his eyes and started undoing his ponytail. What else might they have forgotten how to do? Did they know magic? Maybe she was a really good surfer or something. Would everything they used to know come back to them when they attempted it?

"Do you think we have family somewhere?" Aether asked.

That was unexpected, but she had thought about it during the tour actually; after Hu Tao had dragged them up a million spiral stairs to get to the top of the wall. In all fairness, the view of the whole academy had been well worth it. It let them "tour" while just sitting down at the top, which was better than walking everywhere.

Beidou and Hu Tao had told them various stories about the locations on the campus. They had pointed out the training grounds and the armory, which looked intriguing. Then, they identified the library, the astrology tower, the post office, and the most important academic buildings. After they got back, the twins had excused themselves to talk and so, here they were.

Regardless, Lumine wasn't that surprised to be talking about family.

"I don't know. I want to find them though if they're out there. I think maybe it would help our memories come back," she admitted.

"Yeah. Me too, I think. But we probably need our memories first to find them, so that makes things difficult," Aether agreed.

He had actually cleanly started putting his hair up, and he didn't seem to have really noticed. That was great! They still had their previous skills! Actually, maybe that was a quick conclusion to draw just from Aether braiding his hair. But still, it was a good sign!

"This isn't such a bad situation to be in, in the meanwhile, though," Aether added, opening his eyes to look at his sister again.

"No, no it isn't," Lumine answered. She leaned against the mirror and relaxed a bit, exhaling slowly.

"Oh, except for those hunters," she noted. That was actually pretty worrying.

Aether giggled, "Except for those hunt- oh wow."

Lumine sat up quickly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah I just- look," Aether reassured her, pointing to the opposite mirror.

He had gotten a very neat braid. It was pulled over his shoulder, but he had started it in the back just perfectly so that it was positioned nicely down the middle of his head.

"I wonder what else you're secretly good at," Lumine mused.

"Oh, easy; capturing magical cats. I have a gift, Kaeya would agree."

The twins were laying on their common room floor, sorting through all the books from Lumine's room, when the front door flew open. Through the open balcony doors, Lumine heard someone call out "Heeelllllllo~" into the house in a sing-song voice.

The voice was high-pitched and happy, a bit like the exact opposite of Qiqi's, but Lumine felt mean for thinking that. The door shut and Lumine could only hear muffled sounds coming from downstairs.

"Should we…?" Aether started, reluctantly looking up from "The Mystery of the Wolvendom's Final King".

"Yeahhh, probably," Lumine answered, as she got up and stretched.

Aether dropped his new find onto the couch, which already held a stack containing "A Guide to the Signatures of Inazuma", "100 Liyuean Recipes from the Archives of Wanmin", and "A Brief History of Sumeru Academia".

Lumine brought her own pile back into her room. She had so much reading to do, but she should start by finding an atlas. All the locations the books mentioned were meaningless to her right now.

When she emerged Aether was already waiting by the door.

They descended the stairs to find Beidou, Kaeya, and a new person sitting around the table. The new arrival was wearing an oversized purple sweatshirt that dropped all the way to her knees. The front read "Only a National Pizza Day can Stop Me From GAMING" in ornate gold lettering.

"Hi, I am Qiqi," spoke the stranger. She gave a smile that looked friendly, if not a bit tired.

Lumine realized who it was even before she said her name, it was the same lonely voice as before. One of Qiqi's eyes was a striking ashen grey. The other was bright pink, and it seemed to shimmer of its own accord. Her hair was lavender and it fell just below her jawline very neatly. She looked a bit older than Lumine did, closer to Beidou's age. Oh, right. She was one of the third years, wasn't she?

Lumine waited for her to say something further but she just kept gazing at the siblings.

"Hey guys," Beidou called, grinning at them. "Qiqi, these are the people; Aether and Lumine."

Beidou indicated each of them in turn.

"Hi Qiqi!" Aether offered.

"Hello," Qiqi nodded at him.

"Hi, I'm Lumine. I like your sweatshirt, are you a gamer?" Lumine asked. Was she being patronizing? She was just trying to start a conversation, she wasn't trying to be. Oh no.

"Huh? Oh," Qiqi glanced down. "No. I'm not."

"Ah, sorry," Lumine backpedaled.

Kaeya shot her a look that said "don't worry about it". But she was worried about it. Had they made Qiqi that upset by joining? Was she just very laid back?

At that moment the basement door flew open and a new figure floated up onto the kitchen floor. They were wearing a vibrant green beanie and they had on a plain green t-shirt under a white, denim, vest. They had clean white pants on, and their socks were adorned with cartoon cats. They were hovering a few inches off the ground but they touched down after surmounting the stairs. Not to mention how cool that part was, they just seemed interesting in general. It must be Wendy, right?

"Oh! It looks like we're all here! Hiiii~ guys! I'm Wendy!" Wendy called.

There was the sing-song voice. Wendy had vibrant blue-green eyes and a very kind smile. Their hair was dark, but it faded to bright blue at the tips and fell in loose ringlets around their shoulders.

"Oh! I saw your name on the- hi! I'm Aether!" Aether called.

"It's nice to meet you Aether!" Wendy chirped.

Aether extended a hand for a handshake as the newcomer strode around the table, but Wendy just went for a hug. Aether seemed startled but not annoyed, and he laughed a little.

"Soo, are you Lumine?! Hiya!" Wendy looked over Aether's shoulder to where Lumine was standing.

"Ah, yep! Hi!" Lumine responded. She already liked Wendy a lot, everybody was so nice here. Lumine was quickly enveloped in a very very tight hug, but she did not object at all.

Wendy pulled away and looked around the room, and Lumine heard muffled shouting coming from downstairs.

"Oh, what's-?" she started to ask.

"I think Hu Tao lost," Beidou theorized, hauling open the freezer and sifting through frozen meals.

"Are we making a dining hall run for lunch or no?" Wendy asked, seeing this.

"I figured these guys wouldn't want to meet a gajillion people on their first full day, and I like burritos. Anyone else is welcome to school pizza though," Beidou responded nonchalantly, while setting the oven to preheat. "I mean we can always all go for dinner if you two are up for it, it's whatever. Otherwise, we buy a shit ton of frozen food because Xiao is antisocial and hates eating out, and Tao stays too so they can play video games. Anyway, help yourself."

"Oh, that's really nice. I'm not hungry, but thanks," Lumine answered. She sat down at the table. This was so much. Eight people was a lot. They were all nice, and there was personal space in the house, so that wasn't an issue. But how could she socially navigate six strangers?

And what were they playing? Did most people eat in the dining hall?

"Where does the money come from? Is it all mercenary work?" Aether asked.

"No," Qiqi stated. "Kaeya does insider trading."

That was a good question actually. Wait, what?

"Oh. What's that?" Aether ventured.

"She's kidding." Beidou informed them. "The school pays for it all. Most of the non-signature students have rich nobles for parents, which is how they got the opportunity to train before and make the academy. So the treasury is just loaded with donations, it's awesome. They paid for all that stuff I dropped off outside your room this morning too, so you can thank the general."

Qiqi nodded.

"Oh! I forgot to ask about that! Oh no, she probably thinks I'm so rude," Lumine cried. She needed to do that next time.

"Oh, it's all good. It's been hectic for you guys," Kaeya reasoned, waving aside her worries.

"Okay, yeah. Thanks. I mean, yeah," Lumine stammered. She gave up. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. She was already worried that Qiqi didn't like her, and she had yet to meet Xiao. Aether liked him at least, so that was good.

"Hey, so we're all here actually, Wendy made a good point," Kaeya began. "So, are we playing tonight?"

"I always make good points, you never listen," bemoaned Wendy from a window seat.

"What do you mean Kaeya? Play what?" Aether asked.

"You will see," Qiqi answered for Kaeya. She smiled a little bit. Maybe Qiqi was just very… calm. She hadn't really shown a ton of emotion but she also didn't seem annoyed or upset at them. That was the goal so… success?

"Oh shit, you're right. Yeah, you know what fuck it. Let's do it. Well actually, Wendy, can you stick around?" Beidou looked over her well-muscled shoulder at the gently-floating third year.

"For What the Fuck is up With That? Always."

"Cool," Kaeya nodded.

He turned to Aether and Lumine.

"We're playing a game tonight, get ready. It's just about the only way to provide you with a proper introduction."

"I am excited." Qiqi blankly informed the room.