Eula lifts Amber into her arms; the outrider's blood spills onto her skin and she feels its warmth.
She notices her wounded thigh, the emergency treatment isn't able to stop her bleeding anymore.
The captain runs in the direction of the small area where the camp doctor operates; Albedo follows suit.
"Doctor!" Eula approaches the woman, who was in the middle of binding a soldier's sprain. The doctor stands up and gets close, without wasting any time.
"Barbatos… Lay her down in the cot inside the tent, we need to evaluate her condition." The woman points to a large tent not too far. Eula obeys, goes in and delicately places the outrider down.
The doctor bends down on top of Amber, cuts her pants with a pair of scissors, just above the wound, as she assesses the situation.
"If the arrow's tip had gotten to an artery she'd already be dead, but the abundant amounts of bleeding don't exactly put her out of danger. It'd be best if we had a healer such as Barbara here, but in the time she would take to get to us the outrider would die, we need to try a more drastic measure."
Eula's breath shortens, her heartbeat fastening its pace. Everything around her feels slowed, the voices reaching her merely noise and the only feeling she can clearly grasp is that of Amber's blood on her skin.
"We need to try, I'll offer medical support." Albedo approaches the doctor.
Amber regains consciousness, her eyes are half lidded and other people's voice are far too muddled for her to understand what they're saying. She sees Eula covered in blood, her eyes wide, her breath jagged, fear in her gaze.
"Eula? What happened?"
Memories of her incident come back to her, all muddled.
"Oh, right… is that my blood on you? Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."
Albedo turns to Eula.
"Captain, I reckon it's best for you if you head out."
"Huh?" Eula's head whips briskly towards the alchemist, without his words even reaching her.
"Go outside, we'll handle this."
"No, I… I need to stay with her."
"Eula, your men need you, trust us, we won't let her leave us."
Eula shakes, looks at Albedo, then lingers on Amber, she makes eye contact with her confused gaze as her eyes become watery. She nods and gets out of the tent.
Amber does not make out any words, her ears deafened by a muffled noise similar to what one would hear underwater.
"Eula? No, wait… Don't leave me…"
The outrider's hand weakly reaches out in the direction of the captain's back, her tears piling up at the edge of her eyes.
Albedo gently takes her hand.
"She'll come back, don't worry."
But Amber doesn't even hear him.
"Chief Alchemist."
Albedo turns his focus to the doctor.
"We need to extract the arrow slowly while simultaneously sewing up the wound, so at to prevent bleeding."
"I'll take care of extracting the arrow and keeping the wound clean, then." Albedo takes a flask filled with water, a clean piece of cloth and a hemostat. Using the water and the cloth, he cleans the wound enough for its edges to be visible.
The doctor readies her needle, thread and corn suture pliers. The two exchange a quick look of consensus. The woman penetrates Amber's skin and begins running needle and thread through it, sewing shut the two ends of lacerated flesh. The girls feels a sharp sting of pain pierce through her thigh, before fainting again.
Eula stumbles her way through the camp. She does not hear the noise the other knights make, her head filled with a ringing that keeps her from registering anything else; her sight blurred by the candor of snow that has started falling slowly.
Her body is still covered in Amber's blood, slowly dripping to the ground as if marking out a path.
She reaches the river near the encampment and sits on a tree trunk near the shore.
She leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and bringing her hands to cup her face, covering her eyes; when she does that she can clearly perceive the viscosity of the blood coating one of her hands. She raises her head abruptly and looks at her reflection in the water. Her face, hand and most of her uniform are covered in the outrider's blood.
Silent tears mix in with the scarlet substance, partially cleaning off bits off her face.
"I didn't manage to do anything, anything at all!"
Eula starts sobbing; she wraps her own arms around her body, trying to contain her tremors, but she cannot keep her body from shaking.
"Amber needed me! I shouldn't have let her go by herself!"
The young woman cries; her memories float to the surface, accompanied by her tears.
"Well, maybe if you weren't so suspicious of other people's intent you might actually realize who's doing it on purpose and who's not."
"It's difficult when you're raised among the Lawrence clan."
"I'm not the Lawrence clan."
That was one of the first things Amber said that made Eula wish to get close to her.
"I say we start from the top then. Outrider Amber, at your service."
"I'd like for you to also trust me, so I promise I'll train a lot and next time we dance I'll be the one taking the lead and making you do a casqiè!"
"What I was trying to say is that even if you're of noble blood, nothing is keeping you from freely expressing nostalgia, melancholy and whatever other feeling makes your usual imperious and stoic captain persona crumble."
With every sentence she spoke, the outrider seemed to melt the ice prison were Eula had locked herself, little by little. It was as if the warmth did not really belong to her Vision, but her as an individual, and it only resulted in acknowledgement from the Gods later on.
"When the outriders took their separate ways I thought it'd be impossible to see them again and go on a mission once more, but now it's possible thanks to you. Thanks, Eula, you're the best!"
The tears had long stopped falling on the captain's face, leaving nothing but her drained expression.
"The best? I couldn't even handle protecting you."
Amber's blood becomes heavy on Eula's body, suffocating her, constricting her chest.
She has already had other's blood on her, enemies, the Lawrence, monsters, but their blood was light as water, it flowed without interference.
Amber's, however, she perceives as denser, the more it dries, the more it burdens her.
She stands up, impulsively throwing herself in the river; submerged up to her belly, she rubs her face and clothes with the freezing water. Cold is nothing compared to the weight of blood on her skin.
She screams, the night filling with those cries, echoing on the mountain walls. Overwhelmed by her own voice, Eula submerges herself in the water completely, leaving the iciness as the only perceivable sensation. She emerges once adrenaline leaves space to fatigue.
Eula observes the water, now red, under her. Her uniform only partially clean.
Amber's diluted blood in the river flows away; she watches, unmoving and silent.
"I'm in love with her."
Only when no blood is left in the water does she leave, walking slowly and staring at the ground.
On the shore, someone wraps her in a dry towel; Eula turns and sees Nikola, her eyes puffy, like she was just crying.
"If you don't dry up you'll catch a cold, Captain."
Eula nods then goes back to looking down, letting the woman lead her to campfire, where several other knights sit.
Niki makes her sit down and, with a smaller towel, starts gently rubbing her hair. The soldiers are silent, they're cooking something on the open fire. One of them approaches her, handing her a warm bowl of soup.
Eula takes it without looking.
"It'll be okay, Amber's strong." Niki whispers.
Eula nods and eats in silence.
After about two hours, the doctor and Albedo exit the tent covered in blood, they get closer to the captain; she looks through them with unfocused eyes.
"She's stable, for now." The doctor announces. Eula nods.
"Can I see her?"
"She's sleeping right now, but I think she'd like to find you next to her when she awakes." Albedo hints at a smile and invites Eula to follow him.
The young woman follows him, leaving her bowl behind; her hair and clothing have dried by the fire, but they are in an unusually messy state for the Lawrence girl.
Once inside the tent, Eula sees her: Amber lays onto the cot, sleeping peacefully, her chest rising softly and methodically every breath she takes. There is a thick layer of bandages on her thigh, the rest of the blood on her leg was cleaned.
The captain approaches, she covers her with a blanket, sits beside her and gently takes her hand, intertwining their fingers together.
"She's not in the clear yet, but her chances of survival have greatly improved, we just need to wait for her condition to stabilize enough that we can take her back to Mondstadt so that Barbara can heal her for good."
Eula's gaze is stuck on the outrider's delicate face.
"Thank you, Albedo."
"I didn't do much out of the ordinary, if Amber is still alive she owes it mostly to herself."
Eula smiles.
"Yes… she really is incredible."
Albedo notices the captain blush faintly; a hue he probably would not have noted if he wasn't so used at grasping every shade, in each thing he observes.
"You've noticed, haven't you?"
Albedo takes a deep breath.
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"Since the first time I saw you together." Albedo is calm, there's no malice behind his words.
"Then you've known for longer than me. I go around flaunting the noble's typical confidence, but I'm too blind to even start to understand my feelings." Eula forces a melancholy smile.
"Feelings are complex and difficult, there's no shame in being disoriented by them; especially when it's something as nuanced as romance."
"Well, you got me well, I was hoping that maybe you were spewing something more pretentious and generic and that maybe I wouldn't be so easy to read."
"You could always chalk it up to my observant nature as Chief Alchemist."
Eula giggles softly.
"Right, right." Eula sighs "the big scary Eula Lawrence, brought to tears and on her knees by her infatuation for a commoner."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing."
Eula turns to Albedo.
"I'm sure Amber would be very happy to know."
"I don't know, I'm too much of a coward to tell her anyway."
Eula holds the outrider's hand tighter, bringing it close to her chest.
"If you don't wake up, I swear you'll face my vengeance, Amber." The tears come back, streaming down her face and falling to the ground. Albedo gets closer.
"Take this." The alchemist hands her a bandana, usually tied in Amber's hair. Eula gives him a puzzled look.
"It got untied in the altercation, I think she would be glad if you were the one to give it back to her."
The captain nods silently. As she takes the red fabric, her crying intensifies. Albedo covers her with a blanket.
Amber is laying on the snow; her strength has ran out to the point that even the smallest movement is impossible to her. It's snowing, and small crystals fall onto her, some melt on her cheeks, others slowly but surely start hiding her body.
The moon is in the sky, surrounded by numerous stars. Amber observes the asters.
"How pretty" she thinks, incapable of speaking.
A feeling of peace envelops her. The cold hugs her without bothering her, it becomes almost inviting to the senses. Her eyelids become heavier and heavier and they gradually keep her from seeing the dim moonlight.
"Amber!" Eula's desperate scream reaches her, she feels her holding her hand. The snow melts.
The outrider opens her eyes, she's laying on a cot, covered in multiple wounds, inside a huge tent. Beside her, Eula is cuddling against herself, sleeping and holding her hand.
"Eula…"
The outrider squeezes her hand back. Once that touch reaches Eula she starts slightly, raising her face. Amber notices the telltale signs of exhaustion in her, her messy hair, the deep circles under her eyes, surrounded by the redness of someone who has cried for a long time.
Amber swallows emptily, her lips tightly pressed together.
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have worried her so much."
"Amber!" Eula recovers from her drowsiness once she sees the outrider with her eyes open. She smiles, even though her eyes become watery once more.
"Thank Barbatos! You're here, you're here." The captain places the outrider's hand on her forehead and lets her tears flow freely on her cheeks. Amber squeezes tighter with what little strength she has left, as she lightly caresses Eula with her index finger.
"Yes."
The outrider levers herself with her free arm to get up; a flash of pain runs through her body.
"Ugh," she grits her teeth, holding back a moan.
"Wait," the captain helps her sit up. Amber can feel each sore muscle, she hints at a smile.
"Sorry, I've only managed to make you worry".
Eula dries her face.
"Don't you ever dare to say that again, because seeing you are fine is making the happiest woman in Teyvat."
Amber blushes, looking at Eula for a few instants.
"Are you serious about that?"
Eula blushes too, she coughs a few times to clear her voice.
"A noblewoman does not lie about such matters."
Amber's vision is blurred by tears.
"Could you say that again?" The girl's hands are shaking and her voice cracks, as if it were a weak cry for help. Eula observes her silently.
"Amber…" The captain picks apart the outrider; she appears to be even more fragile than two days prior, when she had burst into tears at the thought of Zhiruo.
Amber cries, as thoughts she doesn't have the courage to share start whirling in her mind.
"Momma, do you think you'd been happier if I wath a beta or an omega?"
"It's undeniable that she would have had much less to worry about if she didn't have the prospect of me being found out to concern her…"
"With what audacity can I call myself better than the Lawrence clan? At least they're not a bunch of clowns."
"Hey, Grandpa, is it okay for me to have friends? Even if I'm a liar?"
Eula strokes her face and dries her tears. The sobs start making Amber shake without her being able to control them.
"You shouldn't hold yourself back just because our nation decided that people like you aren't wanted."
"Seeing you're okay makes me the happiest woman in Teyvat."
Eula hugs her softly and pets her hair. Amber wraps her arms around the captain, and squeezes back weakly.
"I still need to make my promises of vengeance come to fruition, so if you dare to die before I can do that I'll hunt you down in hell, got it?" The captain starts crying and sobbing too. Amber smiles, with her cheeks flushed.
"Can let a noble's pride get stained, after all."
The two of them only manage to calm down after several instants spent enveloped in the pleasant warmth of each other.
"Captain Lawrence, I'd like to speak about how we should go about our next attacks… Oh, I see Amber is awake." Albedo steps into the tent and closes it nonchalantly. The two separate, their faces red with embarrassment.
"Hey Albedo! How's it going?" Amber greets him with her hand.
"Everything's fine. What about you?"
"Splendid!" Amber tries to flex her bicep, but her muscles sends a sudden shot of pain "ugh!"
Albedo stares, raising an eyebrow.
"You better rest; you've used your body to exhaustion, it's normal for it to complain."
Amber smiles guiltily.
"Oh, Albedo! I found something on the mountain's peak! It's like a dark liquid, pretty suspicious, the monsters seemed attracted by it and I took a sample, it's in my bag!" The outrider tries to get up, but the captain stops her.
"Stay here, I'll get it." Eula gets up and gets out of the tent.
Albedo approaches Amber and sits next to her.
"She spent the whole night next to you."
"Huh?"
"Eula, she stayed with you for hours, we had to insist she ate something, and even then she opted to stay here. She was absent only while we bandaged you."
Amber blushes slightly, a smile blooming on her face.
"It's not hard to believe, she's stupidly stubborn."
Albedo hints at a smile.
"Eula… She worried too much, she could have rested while she ate, at least she did that when I was getting patched up. Wait… My wound is on my thigh!"
Amber raises the blanket to observe her leg, the clothes she's wearing are the same as the day before; the wound was pretty low, so they had ripped her pants instead of undressing her to stop the bleeding. Amber relaxes again, but she remembers another detail.
"Fuck, my scent! But if Eula and Albedo acted normally around me, I must still smell like a beta… God, I hope Eula comes back with my backpack quickly."
Amber takes a deep breath. Albedo looks at her.
"Is everything alright?"
"Oh? Ah! Yes, yes, everything's great, haha!" The outrider averts her gaze.
A heavy silence falls between the two of them.
"Here, sorry, I had to ask a few soldiers where they'd put it."
Amber takes a sigh of relief. Eula places the bag next to her, the outrider takes the small metal container, quickly eats a candy and starts rummaging in the backpack's main pocket.
"I made sure to wrap it carefully, it should be in here… There it is!" Amber grasps a small bundle with a triumphant smile; she tries to unwrap it, but her vision becomes blurry and her fingers lose coordination.
"Oh? Crap, I must've tied it really well, excuse me." The outrider's hands are shaking, the drowsiness coming back up to her head. Eula gently takes Amber's hands in hers.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Amber observes their hands, then Eula, finally nodding and letting go of the fabric casing. The captain unties it easily, making the glass vial filled with dark liquid emerge.
"Is this the one?"
Amber nods again, though her head is spinning, her sleepiness is coming back.
"There was a big splotch of that weird liquid and the hilichurls were surrounding it, as if it were calling to them."
"Do you have any idea about what this might be, Albedo?" Eula hands the vial to the alchemist; he takes it, and observes. He analyzes its color under the light, moves the vial around to ascertain the presence of clumps and its consistency, his gaze inquisitive and his movements precise.
"I have some suspicions, but only analyzing this in the lab will give us clear answers. One thing I'm certain of, though, this discovery represents an important step forward in understanding what is going on; and it's thanks to you, Amber." Albedo hints at a smile.
The outrider blushes slightly and smiles too.
"I just did my job."
"Well, that doesn't change the fact that you managed to reach a goal that no other knight had managed to up until now." Eula grazes her fingers, a touch so delicate that Amber almost sees as shy.
"It's also the fact that I had a great captain by my side."
Eula blushes and averts her gaze; she strokes her hair as if she wants to hide her embarrassment.
"And an exceptional Chief Alchemist!"
"Not like there's much competition in that regard." Albedo answers with a pinch of sarcasm.
"I'm going to try and make some first observations on the sample; I'll leave Amber to your care, Captain." Albedo quickly winks at Eula, with no other inflection in his face, as he heads out before Amber can notice anything. Eula groans.
Amber's head starts to sway, as if her neck had no more strength to keep it upright. Her eyelids, more and more heavy, have a harder time keeping her eyes open.
"Amber, go back to sleep, you need to let your body recover."
"But I just woke up, I wanted to talk to you some more." The outrider reaches a point where she has to keep her head between her hands to feel somewhat stable.
"Oh? Where's my bandana?"
"Here." Eula takes the object out of her pocket and shows it to Amber. The outrider tries to take it, but her hand trembles too much for her to grasp it successfully.
"Wait, I'll do it." Eula kneels behind Amber, gets her hair out of the way and gently ties the fabric around her head.
"What an honor, Eula Lawrence is fixing my hairdo, hope it's not too shameful to style a commoner's hair." Amber provokes her with light heartedness in her voice; Eula smiles.
"I'm only making this concession because of your injuries and because of your honorable service for the knights. If you try to take advantage of the situation, you shall receive my vengeance."
Amber weakly chuckles.
"I'm glad to see you're back to normal, I'm sorry I made you worry, Eula."
"Still on that? I already told you, you don't need to apologize." The captain finishes the knot on top of the outrider's head.
"Yeah, you're right, I think I'll do this, then." Amber lets herself fall against Eula, leaning her head in the base of the young woman's neck, relaxing against her warmth.
"Amber! Doing such inconsiderate gestures without warning! You'll have my revenge for this." The captain blushes, without the chance to even try to contain the color spreading on her cheeks.
"Huhhh? Where did all my concessions as honorable knight in recovery go?" Amber's eyes close slowly.
"Well…" Eula notices the outrider has fallen asleep against her, she sighs.
"If you couldn't hold yourself up anymore, you could've just gone to sleep then and there, idiot."
Eula holds Amber gently.
"I'll have my revenge for this."
The captain lowers her head, leaning it against Amber's shoulder, lingering while surrounded by Amber's smell.
"Maybe we should both take a bath." She laughs as she settles the outrider back in her bed. She stands and heads towards the exit, but before leaving, she remains to observe Amber's sleeping face for a few instant, she only exits when she can read peace on her features.
When Amber awakes, the evening has come. The smell of cooked food passes through the open spaces in the tent. Next to her, Niki is reading a book.
"Oi, Amber! I'm so happy to finally see you awake."
"Hey Niki, have you been here this whole time?"
"More or less, I volunteered myself to keep an eye on you, along with the captain; I think that even if she would never admit it out loud knowing that you weren't alone calmed her down."
Amber giggles.
"Yup, she's that kind of person, thanks Niki."
Nikola waves her hand nonchalantly.
"For what? I managed to avoid going on a mission out in the cold, so that's a win win for me. Wait, boss wanted me to call her right when you woke up again."
Amber nods. Niki head out of the tent. Eula come in not much later, bearing two bowls of soup.
"How are you feeling?"
"Well, you know, I can only feel my leg because it hurts, my head is spinning and I'm hungry."
"I can fix your hunger, I'm afraid I can't remedy the rest."
Eula sits beside her elegantly.
"I was hoping you had some magical noble remedy up your sleeve, but alas, it seems that even Eula Lawrence is powerless against dizziness."
"Are you trying to provoke me? Because if that were the case, I could decide to leave the hunger issue unsolved too." The young woman takes the two bowl of soup out of Amber's reach.
"I humbly ask for your forgiveness, I shall never disrespect you again!" Amber hold back her laughter as she clumsily bows her head. Eula smiles.
"Fine, I feel lenient today, so I'll honor you with my forgiveness."
"Thanks".
The two of them eat and chat together, the scene seems as lighthearted as before the incident happened.
"Tomorrow morning you'll head back to Mondstadt, escorted by two soldiers; if the wound were to open again the doctor and Albedo are not sure if you'd survive here." Eula announces after taking a deep breath.
Amber lowers her gaze, sighing and grasping at her blanket tightly.
"I guess there's no other solution, I'm not of any use to the mission anymore anyway." The outrider forces a smile.
"Without you we wouldn't have discovered that strange liquid."
"We still don't know whether it will be useful or not."
"It will be, surely."
Amber's smile widens, losing its bitter aftertaste and gaining the outrider's typical cheerfulness.
"If you say so, I trust you."
Eula smiles and remains silent, admiring the girl in front of her.
"When you'll be back in town we'll need to train together a bit to prepare for the next missions, promise?"
The captain looks up at the sky, then back to Amber.
"I promise; a noblewoman never goes back on her word."
Note
Well then, the situation has been solved and Eula finally understood her feelingsss, I think it's a win win :D
Btw hope you all don't hate me after this, after all, we still have a long road ahead ;)
Also, did you know I now have a twitter account entirely dedicated to the fic? You can follow me if you want updates on the writing process or some trivia regarding the worldbuilding; it's entirely in English ;)
/MCyntiaz
This goes without saying, you should also follow my beta reader/translator, ya scoundrels v.v
Twitter: /nyarasss
Tik Tok: nyarasss?lang=it-IT