Amber and Eula are lying under the shade cast by the tree in in Windrise; the sun filters through its leaves, forming uneven sunlit areas on their bodies and on the grass. The wind is gentle, it carries the usual warmth leading up to summer.

"Hey, Eula." Amber smiles, her cheeks sort of rosy. The captain looks at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I wish there were more moments like this, just the two of us, under a tree's shade, the rustle of leaves and the birds' songs."

Amber gets closer as she cuddles against Eula, burying her face in the young woman's shoulder and wrapping her arm around her torso. She remains silent, enjoying the breeze.

Eula observes the outrider, she smiles as she blushes and reciprocates the gesture, holding the girl closer to herself.

"I agree."

Amber's smile is as clear in Eula's dreams as it is when she awakes at the first lights of dawn. Alone in her tent, the image of the outrider fills her mind as she rises, sitting down onto her sleeping bag. She runs her hand through messy hair locks, unkempt because of sleep, as she stares at the tent's fabric, her vision still blurry.

"This predicament is becoming ridiculous!"

Eula rubs her face vigorously as she slaps her own cheeks, but Amber's smile is still clear in her thoughts, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"A noble of my caliber shouldn't be so easily flustered by dreams, birthed by the image of a commoner no less!" Eula's heartbeat does not slow down; she groans.

"Who am I trying to fool, it's Amber… But why?" The captain finally decided to head out and join the rest of the knights for breakfast. She eats a portion of eggs and bread distractedly, the dream playing out again in her mind, conveyed on milky clouds as she stares emptily. The other knight's chatter is but background noise; no one dares to disturb her.

Once the meal is over, the captain starts her round in the camp, making sure provisions are enough for at least another week; she then goes onto checking their equipment and listens to the reports who took night guard duty, nothing is amiss.

As it goes, after lunch, there's nothing left for her to do but to wait for the reconnoiters' return. She sits near the path headed towards the inner most areas of the mountain, making sure she's not too close but she can still see clearly enough until the first turn. She waits.

She waits for three hours, occasionally squinting her eyes in an attempt to spot Amber's red bandana and its characteristic flapping. However, every time she thinks she has managed to make out her form she gets disappointed, realizing it's only an illusion caused by lighting.

The Company's knights look at her sporadically, but none of them go so far as to distract the young woman from her thoughts.

The resounding crash of a landslide fills the air for a few seconds. Eula observes Dragonspine's peak as it gets surrounded by snow, resembling clouds.

She swallows, a shiver running through her back, she shakes her head and goes back to waiting.

In the later part of the afternoon she spots Albedo and the other reconnoiters making their way back to the camp, everyone's there, everyone but Amber. Eula gets up on her feet, her back held straight, as she waits for the party to get closer and approach Albedo.

"How come Amber isn't with you?"

"She took the burden to explore the most impervious area of Dragonspine on herself, so she told me to let you know that she'd most likely be late. In the meantime, I've gathered everyone's reports so that we can elaborate a strategy."

Eula nods, as she then gestures to Albedo to follow her into a big tent, wherein a map portraying the mountain is placed onto a table.

"How did the exploration go?"

"The reconnoiters have found a few big hilichuurl encampments inside Starglow Cavern, not too far from here in Snow-Covered Path and Wyrmrest Valley. They all looked quite dense in inhabitants and they seemed about ready to expand beyond Dragonspine. Amber is exploring the peak, so we don't have any news regarding that area."

Eula nods as she marks the areas on the map, as told by the alchemist, only to then stop in her tracks suddenly.

"Wait, did you just say that Amber's on the peak?"

Albedo takes a deep breath.

"Yes."

Eula's hands start trembling; Albedo notices, but he remains silent.

"An avalanche took place a few hours ago, in the peak's vicinity, we need to send someone to check on her." The captain's voice is hesitant, dripping with fear.

"Eula… We can't, there are too many monsters, employing a few men just to look for Amber right now would slow down our mission even by several days."

Eula clenches her fists as she stares at the mountain's peak on the map.

"If help were to be late Amber… Amber might… I don't care about slowing down the mission, we need to make sure she's alright." The young woman's breathing speeds up, alongside the beating of her heart in her chest.

"Captain, Amber is a trained knight, she's used to surviving alone for several days, even in unfavorable conditions; we must have faith. She told me to refer to you to give priority to the mission herself."

Eula furrows her brows, her thoughts becoming muddy.

"Amber! Amber! Amber! What can I do? Where are you? Please, Barbatos, make sure she's okay. Don't tell me she's… she's…" Eula's vision gets clouded by tears

"But-"

"Eula, the hilichurls are a serious threat to Mondstadt right now, if we don't react quickly they will attack Springvale or the city in no time. I wish it were different, but you and I both know we can't put a mission at risk to secure a singular knight's wellbeing."

Eula places her hands on the table as she crumbles, staring to the ground. After a few silent seconds, she gets back up and focuses on her breathing, trying to bring it back to a normal pace, as she fights back the tears, not allowing a single one to fall.

"The sooner we rid Dragonspine of monsters, the sooner we can look for Amber."

"We can't hurry this process."

"I know, that's why I'm asking you to help me elaborate the strategy to adopt."

Eula and Albedo work together and craft a plan to eliminate the monsters in the most efficient way possible. They would have started the following day.

During the night, the captain isolates herself in her tent, plunging her face in the small pillow she brought with her and letting her tears come out, surrounded by silence.

"Amber…"

Submerged in solitude and without the certainty of ever being able to see her again, Eula starts to think about the time spent together in the two months prior. Her body starts trembling, as the girl tries to stifle her sobbing in the cushion.

"You can't be gone; I'm begging you, please… You must be alive, still".

It's dark, Amber is curled up against the rocks, her backpack still held tight in her arms and her face drowning in its fabric. Her breath condensates in small white clouds beside her head. She doesn't feel cold, the snow walls in her narrow space hold in warmth, allowing her to withstand the cold without the help of her Vision.

She's stock-still, as if the avalanche didn't only trap her, but froze her in time. She doesn't hear any external noises, only the cold's deep silence.

"I can't let myself be brought down! I'm the boss here, what would Niki and the others say if they saw me like this?" Amber raises her head and takes a deep breath, but she there's nothing near for her to see. She extends her arms and touches the snow walls surrounding her to evaluate the size of the space she's in; it's small, there's barely enough space to crawl a bit further, and the ceiling is low, enough that it doesn't allow her to stand up.

"If I were to use pyro I'd be able to melt all of the snow on top of me, but I'd risk drowning; my only option is to wait for rescue." The outrider sighs and sits back down, her bag between her legs.

The hours go by and hunger sets in in, she checks to see if she has anything to eat, but only finds dry meat and fish that might be able to last for a day at most, even by rationing them. She eats a few stripes of meat without feeling sated and she leans against the rock.

More time goes by and sleepiness catches up to her; Amber shakes her head, again and again, as much as she can, every time she gets too close to falling asleep.

"I can' fall asleep now! I'll risk not being able to wake up ever again!" And yet, that thought, more than scaring her, does nothing but give her a sense of tranquility.

"No! I can't let these feelings take over again! I have a family to go back to! I would only make mom sad if I didn't come back, and the same would go for Lisa and Jean, they've done so much for me, I'd never find out what happened to Grandpa! And Eula… Even if we haven't known each other for that long, I've promised her we'd dance together! I always keep my promises!"

But the temptation of closing her eyes doesn't go away and neither does the feeling of utter peace that prospect brings to her. Amber's head begins the lull and the slaps she keeps hitting her face with aren't enough to keep her from falling asleep, after hours of fighting with herself.

As she sleeps, she dreams of a memory from her childhood.

She walked with her mother, hand in hand in the city center. She was about six and Esther was taking her along for grocery shopping, as she held a bunny plush tight. They were chatting cheerfully.

"And then I thaw an eagle fly thuper high in the sky! Like, near the thun! And it wath tho pretty! I altho wanna fly that high. You think I can, momma?"

"Of course, dear, you can fly even higher than any eagle, I'm sure of it!"

Amber's face lit up and her joy overflowed to the point that the little girl was jumping as she walked, as she kept grasping her mother's hand firmly.

They saw a large group of people in front of the greengrocer's store, chattering and muttering to each other.

"Good day! What's so interesting that such a crowd has formed here?" Esther approached them with a smile and a greeting gesture. Amber held her mother's hand tighter as she attempted an "hello", only to then hide behind the woman's skirt.

"Oh, Esther, good day, haven't you heard? It seems that Viktoria's newborn son happened to be an alpha. She went with her husband to report him to the knights right away, so they got a pardon and managed to stay in the city while the child was adopted by his uncle, who still lives in Liyue." The woman explained, covering her mouth with her hand as she sighed. "What a shame, she is such a nice woman, she didn't deserve something like this; let's hope the next one is either a beta or an omega, otherwise there'll be no avoiding a sentence of exile."

"Alas, that's what you risk when you marry betas who are foreigners, you never know whether there's any alpha genes in the family bloodline or not." A man with graying hair randomly joined the conversation. "We already have the Lawrence clan to deal with, I wouldn't want other alphas around."

Esther grasped Amber's hand, the smile on her face faltered.

"So it seems. Now excuse me, but I have some groceries to buy, see you around." Esther entered the shop, delicately dragging Amber along. The child was staring downwards as she squeezed the bunny rabbit. She quietened, didn't break her silence until they left.

"Momma…"

"Yes, honey?"

"If you reported me to the knightth, would you live in peace?"

Esther stopped and bent down to Amber's height. The little girl avoided the woman's gaze as she stared at the ground.

"It's a tad late for that, I'm afraid, I should've done that right after you were born, but I wouldn't have reported you even if they offered me all the mora in world; come on, let's go." Esther invited Amber to hug her; the little girl quickly threw herself in her mother's arms, as her small ones wrapped behind her neck. Her mother carried her as she went back to walking.

"I would've been much sadder without you, Amber, and no matter how many times you'll need to hear that, I'll make sure you do. I will remind you every day that I love you so much that you're irreplaceable to me."

Amber hid in the base of Esther's neck.

"You're the betht, momma!"

"Obviously!" The woman laughed.

Amber awakes abruptly, the memory of her mother's younger face still fresh in her memory.

"Mom has always been by my side no matter what. I don't deserve that, what did I even do for her?"

The outrider's thoughts are reeling furiously in her head, aided by the increasing lack of oxygen.

"I'm a failure of a leader. I got all cocky, saying I would have reached the peak by myself, but I just ended up under a pile of snow without being able to do anything! All of the Company will have to slow down the mission to come look for me, if I don't die because of the cold or starve, that is. After all, it's highly unlikely they'll even be able to find me, seeing as there are no signs of my position on the surface." Amber tried to shrink herself even more.

"It's always like this, I can't do anything but make others worry for me; Just like Mom and Grandpa did when I was born, or Jean and Lisa that one time they found me lying unconscious in the woods; and now even Eula. I've always done everything I could to try and help others, to show that I'm someone they can rely on, but even after all these years all I can manage to do is get myself in trouble!" The tears flow out silently, streaming down the outrider's red cheeks.

Amber runs her hands through her hair and her fingers graze upon the red bandana.

"Every time you feel lonely in the forest remember that as long as you have these bandanas with you we will always be with you, even if not in person. You'll just have to close your eyes and touch the fabric, and then like magic, you'll be able to feel our love to remind you aren't alone."

Zhiruo's voice echoes in Amber's memories, as her tears only increase.

"But you're not here, I miss you Grandpa, I miss you!" Amber cries, shaken by sobs and the trembling of her body. She crumbles up, squeezing her knees to her chest tight enough to make breathing more difficult on her lungs.

The Vision strapped to her side glimmers lightly, accompanying the girl's feelings.

Quite a few minutes pass before Amber manages to calm herself down, she notices her Vision shining dimly, takes it in her hand and observes it; the Vision's red hue is vibrant, it blends into various shades of crimson and vermilion, reflected in her newly shed tears. The object irradiates her with a mild warmth, relaxing her if by a bit.

"What you lacked was not wind, but courage. It is courage that has allowed you to become the first flying birds of this world"

She was reading that quote the moment she first got her Vision, from the old storybook her and Grandpa used to read together all the time.

When she had realized that there must be something in the world only she can do, a gentle heat had enveloped and comforted her, as if submerged in a deep fondness that went beyond what could be explained through rationality.

"What am I doing?" she giggles to herself.

She dries the tears with her hands and she smiles again.

"Eula and the others need me, I can't keep making them worry like this."

Amber put on her backpack as she tentatively approached the snow in front of her. She touches it, feeling the surface thoroughly.

"If I were to unleash some flames all at once I'd drown, the only solution is to dig with my bare hands; but what if the snow on top of me collapsed?"

Amber clenches her fists and bites her lip.

"If I don't do that I'll die anyway, I need to act quickly!"

Amber channels the Vision's warmth through her hands as she starts digging. Not vertically, but horizontally and slightly uphill, as to ease the slant as much as possible.

In the camp, Eula is deep in slumber. Her mind travels, but it's held captive by a nightmare that makes her sweat in her sleeping bag, accompanying her rest with fast, irregular breaths, and rash shakes of her body.

"Amber!" Eula walks on the snow pile, she's a tad below the peak; as she drags on, her feet deep in snow up to her ankles. The wind rages forcefully, leaving minuscule ice crystals on her face that scratch her cheeks.

"Amber, please, answer!" She cries helplessly. The rustling of the wind is the only answer she receives.

She keeps marching on until she spots a red splotch on the snow, further away, a red jacket.

Eula runs, fighting against the wind and a lack of coordination, she feels the freezing air bite into her lungs, she ignores it. A small smile on her lips.

"Amber!" Eula's voice dies in her throat. Now that she's close she can clearly see Amber's figure, buried down from her torso in snow; her lifeless eyes, a fleck of blood on her cheek, her jacket ripped, the red bandana flowing in the wind like a sad memorial tribute. Her shoulder, pierced through by an arrow and the blood, almost entirely congealed, drips down the weapon's wooden nock, spilling onto the ground where it mixes with the white color of snow.

Eula crumbles, sobs, makes incoherent pained noises; the tears barely have the time to fall to the ground before they freeze.

The captain crawls near outrider's body and she holds it gently, stroking her hair and cleaning the blood from her face with the fabric of her clothes. She bends forward, trying to keep that lifeless, breathless body as close as she can.

A scream echoes on Dragonspine's peak.

Eula wakes up covered in sweat, her breathing jagged, the dream freshly imprinted in her mind, over and over, without pause.

Under layers of snow, Amber keeps digging. Her gloves are staining, little by little, the blood coming out of the various wounds that are bound to happen when knocking against rocks and branches.

But she keeps going.

She digs for what feel like hours, the air slowly thinning little by little, leaving her in a constant daze.

She's tired and she can't see where she's going, but she doesn't stop, the images of her mother, Grandpa, Jean, Lisa and Eula stuck in her mind.

"It'd be a really bad look if I died before keeping my promise to Eula. I'm sure she'd come look for me in the afterlife just to reprimand me for how unreliable I am!" She smiles and pierces the snow on top of her with a vigorous flick of her hand; the air caresses her fingers.

Amber's eyes widen, she takes her hand back and, from the hole in the walls, she can see the outline of the moon in the sky.

The day after, Eula continues her mission; she has divided the team in two parts, one commanded by her and one by Albedo. The usually perfect Lawrence sports deep, dark circles under her eyes, she talks only when she needs to give orders; but she avoids any worries that might muddle her thoughts when she speaks to the soldiers.

On the battlefield, her claymore strikes the monsters without its usual grace, only the fierce rage of a blinded beast.

The soldiers stare, but no one dares to approach her to ask what reason is there, behind all that destruction.

Amber is free, she can finally breathe fresh air again; she extends her arms towards the sky with a radiant smile.

She notices the rustling noise in the snow too late, as she turns an arrow pierces through her right thigh, stabbing deep.

"Ugh!" she clenches her teeth.

She spots a hilichurl, half buried in snow, a crossbow in its hand. In a nimble motion, she grabs her bow and arrow and hits the head of the monster cross and center, killing it.

Blood trickles down her leg, dripping on the snow and surrounding her foot.

Amber limps her way to a small cavern close by, leaving a long crimson trail behind, she sinks against the walls. Her breathing is rough, she feels the heat in her body flowing to the ground with her blood.

The outrider takes a deep breath, smoldering her fingers, clenching her teeth tighter and cauterizes the edges of her wound without extracting the arrow's tip. Her skin sizzles under the scalding hot fingers; Amber fights back a scream between her teeth as she closes her jaw so tight that her face starts hurting. Fine droplets of sweat stream down her face, they evaporate as they reach her chin.

She stops as soon as the blood stops leaking.

"I hope it didn't sever any of the main arteries, if I take it out now I'm at risk of bleeding out. I need to get back to camp quick or I don't know how much my cauterization will last".

The outrider takes some bandages out of her bag as she performs an emergency bandaging, tightening parts of her thigh carefully around her wound. Her head feels heavy and the cold seems to pierce much more aggressively. She tries to stand up, but she's forced to lean on the cavern walls to keep her balance.

"Fuck, did I already lose so much blood that I can't walk? I'll freeze to death if I stay here, I need to go!"

Amber gets going, the snow up to her shins slows her down. Limping along, she looks around in search of the main path; but the avalanche got rid of almost all reference points, the only clearly distinguishable feature being the rocky wall, beyond which lays a cliff towards the plane.

Amber stops, clenches her teeth; the cold air is scratching against her cheeks and makes her tremble without control.

"I have no other choice."

She gets closer and starts climbing against the mountain's surface. The pointy bits of rock rage mercilessly against the already scratched hands, while the wound in her leg pulsates and starts small waves of acute pain throughout her body for every inch she climbs.

She manages to go up the handful of meters on the mountain's surface as she sinks heavily against the rocks, her jagged breathing keeping a pace. Her vision gradually becomes blurry, accompanied by a bittersweet sleepiness.

"Eula will cast some otherworldly vengeance on me if I don't manage to come back." Amber forces a pained smile, the Reconnaissance Company captain's face forming in her mind; the constantly pristine azure hair, the fair skin, her uniform, never wrinkled or stained, her proud face.
She indulges for a few instants on the memory of her eyes, their unique color that has always reminded Amber of the sunset or maybe the color of a torch's light reflecting on a lake at night.

Even while surrounded by the mountain's cold, Amber stops trembling, under the sweet warmth those images provide.

She struggles to stand back up, she has to leverage both of her arms to manage; the horizon is laid out in front of her, underneath the valley in Dragonspine.

The outrider grabs her wind glider, takes a deep breath, focusing what small amounts of energy she has left in her legs and jumps.

Her blurry vision barely allows her to see where she's gliding.

"I need to find someone, anyone!"

As soon as she passes through the low clouds surrounding the mountain's peak, she manages to distinguish what lies under her easily. She concentrates, attempting to find anyone along the paths.

Blood starts leaking out of her leg again.

"Fuck!"

Amber furrows her brows, her gaze jumping from place to place.

"Someone, someone must be here!"

After very long seconds, she manages to spot a group of soldiers in what is left of a hilichurl camp, among them Eula's characteristic blue cape flapping on the woman's back.

"Eula!" The outrider's cry is weak, but it manages to reach its destination. Eula turns briskly, she sees Amber land aimlessly, rolling on the ground and covering her body in a mixture of mud and snow from the camp. Sees her as she stills, surrounded by a red puddle.

The captain lunges towards the outrider as she grabs her in her arms.

"Amber!"

The outrider's eyes are barely open.

"Hey" her voice is frail.

Eula notices the wound on Amber's leg, her eyes widen as she holds her comrade close.

"I did it."

The captain nods and caresses her hair delicately.

"It's okay, you'll be okay, I promise."

The outrider smiles.

"I trust you."

Amber barely has the time to feel Eula's tears fall on her face before she passes out.

Note

Eheheeh we've finally reached the angsty portion of this fic, I was awaiting this moment *super evil laugh*.
Anyway, hope you're ready for the upcoming chapters and you might wanna comment to let me know what you think ;)
I swear I really do love Amber and Eula lol.

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