The thing about the world was that it waited for no one. Not for friends, not for lovers, not even for gods. Lumine was reminded of that the hard way when the door that was supposed to be locked flew open and an all to familiar voice shouted, "Will you two sleepyheads get up already?! Or does Paimon have to chase you out of your beds?! Wait, where's Tone-Deaf Bard?!"

"Please close the door..." the Tone-Deaf Bard in question grumbled, rubbing his forehead. Lumine couldn't blame him – her head pounded from the rude disruption of their cuddle time as well.

"Tone-Deaf Bard?! What are you doing in Lumine's bed?!"

"Yes, Paimon, share it with the whole mansion..." Lumine sighed while Venti reached for the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders before he left what little cover Lumine's body provided and sat up. Lumine, on the other hand, simply rolled over.

Paimon finally got the message and closed the door. It also answered the question of why waking up had been so peaceful – Paimon hadn't even been in the room anymore. But now she was back, having slept off the alcohol just fine as far as Lumine could tell, and she was not happy.

However, by the time she flew over and was floating next to the bed, she looked more conflicted than angry, and Lumine finally sat up as well, subtly pushing herself between Venti and Paimon while the latter eyed the two of them up and down. Eventually, she spread her tiny arms and looked helplessly at Lumine. "Soooo... did you... tell him?"

Lumine took a deep breath and nodded. "I did."

"Looks like it worked out well, then."

Lumine shared a look with Venti, then sighed and shook her head. "I wouldn't go that far..."

"It was a disaster," Venti announced, straightforward as ever, but at least he had the decency to look sheepish when he grinned. "I'm glad to have it out of the way, though. I was getting really worried about how weird she'd been acting."

"You should have seen it," Lumine continued, shaking her head again. "We got talking about love songs and physical responses to crush proximity... and this ball of obliviousness over here somehow managed to figure out I'd fallen for someone, but did not think for one second it could be him. At that point, the dots were jumping in his face screaming at him to connect them, and nothing."

Venti snorted in indignation and stuck out his tongue. "Maybe they were screaming for you, but not everyone's mind goes straight to mating when their best friend starts having heart palpitations and respiratory problems."

"Yes, yes. Yours goes to the doctor, I get it."

"Uh..." Paimon interrupted, looking completely lost at this point. "Paimon doesn't get it. Are you a couple now or what?"

"I don't know." Lumine hummed noncommittally and looked at Venti. "Are we?"

"Eh..." Venti tilted his head and chuckled awkwardly. "How about we save that question for later? I don't know about you, but I have a lot of fine print to discuss before I sign up for anything. And Paimon seemed to be in quite a hurry just now, so maybe we should get to that first?"

"Right!" Paimon exclaimed and crossed her arms. "Unless you have better things to do, you get your butts downstairs! Adelinde says she wants to wait for you two to get up before making lunch, and Paimon is hungry!"

"Somehow, I'm not even surprised," Venti quipped, and the blanket slipped from his shoulders as he stretched his arms above his head. "But I wouldn't mind some food myself. Especially Adelinde's food!" A huge grin spread on his face and he dropped his arms to his chest to excitedly pump his fists. "Ohhhhh, do you think there'll be steak? Adelinde's steaks are the best!"

What about my steaks?, Lumine thought, and it was one of these moments when she was glad that she was used to speaking very little. Paimon and Venti already had the whole 'no filter' thing down pat, for one. They didn't need her to join them in their competition for the most foot-ridden mouth. For another, she knew very well herself how idiotic that thought was, and it was enough that she knew she'd had it. She was a great cook and she knew it, but she also knew she was no trained professional.

And she also knew Venti had the whole 'no filter' thing down pat and that praising one person wasn't the same as demeaning another. It was just her emotions going bonkers again. And she certainly wasn't going to prepare three meals a day every day just to make sure Venti wouldn't get them from other sources, and not just because it would seriously interfere with... everything. He would have every right to call her insane if she did.

Besides, she also thought Adelinde's steaks were the best.

Lumine took a deep breath and swung her legs out of bed. She used the opportunity to do a little stretching, too. "Well, we won't find out until we're at the table, so we better get moving. Have you already given some thought to what you're going to wear, Venti?"

"Yeah, I have," Venti replied. He slid back against the wall and started drumming his heels on the mattress. "I kind of had to last night, to decide if I was going to give up my clothes. I put the stuff I picked on a different shelf, so feel free to peruse the rest. I'll wait for you to leave the room."

"What?!" Paimon complained. "Paimon's starving, and you're just going to wait?!"

"Sorry, Paimon," Lumine chimed in. "But it's not Venti's fault I can't handle him changing clothes right now."

Venti nodded sagely and sighed. "I never thought I would have to deal with human mating behavior up close and personal like this one day." He scratched his cheek. "Or should I call it anti-mating behavior, since the goal is not doing it...?"

"'Mating behavior'...?" Paimon repeated skeptically, then shrugged. "You certainly have a way with words, Tone-Deaf Bard."

"Hmm?" Venti tilted his head and looked at Paimon with honest curiosity. "Would you like me to call it something else?"

"No, 'mating' is fine," Lumine cut in before Paimon could respond. "It sounds so clinical and unattractive. It's perfect."

Venti hummed uncertainly. "Yeah, 'courtship display' doesn't seem quite right, either..."

Paimon's skepticism had grown into outright disbelief by that point. She leaned forward in mid-air, staring at Venti with wide eyes. "Are you even trying to sound like a human?"

"But those are words that humans use, right?" Venti argued, insistently waving a hand. "Like 'soulmate', or 'mating season', or 'Oh, this crane is dancing as a courtship display!'."

"Uh..." Paimon held her forehead. "One of these is not like the others..." She shook her head. "Paimon can see now why the confession turned out to be a disaster. Even Paimon could do a better job than this."

"I can see the confusion, though..." Lumine pondered. "You can't insist on 'mating' being only for animals, then turn around and call the most important person in your life your 'soulmate' and expect it to make sense to someone who didn't grow up immersed in this kind of language."

"Thank you!" Venti exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "I'm not doing this for fun! You need to explain things to me instead of expecting me to just know! I'm a god, not a mind reader!"

Lumine snickered. "And we're all glad you aren't."

"I'll say!" Venti agreed, still waving his arms. "That would be horrible! Anyway..." He finally settled and placed his hands on the mattress. "So 'mating' is just for animals? Then what is the equivalent for humans?"

"Uh..." Paimon muttered and looked uncertainly at Lumine, who just shrugged.

"That's the problem, isn't it?" she remarked. "No one uses these phrases in public, generally speaking." It also proved that Venti really didn't eavesdrop on people's private conversations unless there were genuine concerns, or else he never would've thought to connect the words farmers used all the time to the things only shared in bedrooms or among close friends in the first place. (Not that Lumine ever doubted him in that regard.) "But we're not in public, so..." She put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. She couldn't believe she was the one teaching new words to Venti now. This better be correct, or it would be pretty embarrassing for everyone involved. "It's called 'having sex'. I'm pretty sure there are other phrases, but it's always a little hard to tell, so... maybe ask Lisa. She likes to make sexual jokes, I'm sure she'd be happy to educate a confused teenager. Or maybe even Diluc or Jean, just... stay away from Kaeya. Whatever you do, stay away from Kaeya!"

"I'll keep it in mind!" Venti laughed and crossed his legs to prop up an elbow on a knee and cup his cheek. "Hey, why don't we go ask Lisa together?"

"Umm..." Lumine's whole body heated up, and she hoped she wasn't visibly blushing. She really didn't feel like asking Lisa about the intricacies of sexual language. "I'm good, really. I don't feel the need to obsessively absorb every word of every language I come across, unlike you. I can get around, and that's all I need. Besides..." She looked away and started nervously tapping her fingertips together. "I might get in the mood and–"

"Alright, alright, no need to continue!" Venti cut in, waving his hands as if trying to ward off the implications. "A simple 'no' would have sufficed, you know?!"

Right... She was talking to the god of freedom, not Ying'er. She didn't have to justify herself and then have her denial taken as confirmation. "Sorry..."

Venti shook his head and sighed. "No need to apologize..."

There was an awkward silence, and Lumine decided to use it to turn towards the sink and freshen up. However, halfway into removing her nightgown, she froze, feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden.

"Venti?" she mumbled, embarrassment flooding her from head to toe. She knew he didn't think of her that way, but knowing something and feeling something were two very different things. "Could you... turn around?"

She half expected some criticism from him – it would be such an outlandish thing to be embarrassed about from his perspective, even more outlandish than it was from her own – but Venti just sighed through the nose, shoulders slumping in resignation, and hopped to his feet. "You know what?" he said. "I'll just teleport to the roof for now. You can send Paimon to come get me when you're done."

He pushed past Lumine to pick up the washcloth he'd used the day before and drenched it, then walked over to the closet and opened it. When he turned around again, he was hugging a stack of clothes, with the dripping washcloth clenched between his teeth.

See you in a bit, he projected, and before the "Wait!" left Lumine's lips, he was gone.

"Something wrong?" Paimon asked. "Paimon can get him back right now."

Lumine shook her head. "It's not that important," she sighed and glanced at the counter. "He just forgot his towel again..."

Lumine had already noticed that Mondstadt's young woman's fashion wasn't all that different from what Venti wore, so she wasn't exactly surprised when she ended up with a pair of poofy sky-blue shorts and a white shirt, but it felt a little odd without a corset to go with it. She couldn't exactly expect to borrow tailor-made stuff, though, and after some more digging, she found a stiff, close-fitting jacket that would do the job for a day. It was sleeveless and also sky-blue, but when Lumine unfolded it, she found it came with blue and white patterned panels attached – a long one at the back, and two shorter ones at the sides, which made it into more of a coat that was probably meant to be worn over a dress. But Lumine couldn't be bothered to dive into the closet again, and it was fine with her anyway – she didn't have to sit on her bare skin, and the cut itself was familiar enough. It didn't feel too weird to wear.

"You look so different!" Paimon nodded cheerfully. "You could totally go undercover as a Mondstadter now!" she added, then the grin faded and was replaced by a thoughtful expression as she raised her fingers to her chin. "Maybe people would leave us alone for a while... especially the Fatui. Would be nice to just take a walk without getting into a fight with them every other step."

Lumine hummed pensively. She didn't feel entirely comfortable in her borrowed outfit, but the idea of passing as a random tourist instead of being the famous Traveler all the time did appeal to her. There was one problem, though. "And what are we disguising you as, Paimon?" She snickered. "A flying stack of emergency pancakes?"

"Hey!" Paimon shrieked, stomped her foot and crossed her arms. "That joke wasn't funny the first hundred times, and it's not getting funnier!"

Lumine grinned innocently. "I think it's very funny."

Paimon huffed. "Paimon never should've taught you 'emergency food'."

"Aww, it's not your fault, Paimon!" Lumine chortled. "I would have learned both 'emergency' and 'food' by myself soon enough!"

"True..." Paimon agreed, then jerked forward. "Wait, that's not the point!"

Lumine laughed and stretched her arms above her head. She'd almost forgotten her discomfort with her new clothes, but now it came back with a vengeance. She just didn't feel like herself, but she pushed the uneasiness aside. "Let's go downstairs and have some non-emergency food, then. Would you fly up and get Venti? I'll open a window for you."

Paimon harrumphed. "You know, Paimon doesn't feel like it anymore. Why don't you climb up yourself, Miss Emergency Food?"

"Alright, alright!" Lumine smiled. "You're not emergency food, you're the best travel guide in Teyvat."

Paimon nodded vehemently. "That's right!"

"Besides, if I climb up, it'll take five times as long and you have to wait even longer for lunch."

Paimon glared at Lumine, lips curled and hands on her hips. "You just haaaaad to say that, didn't you?" She crossed her arms and turned her back. "You and Tone-Deaf Bard really are made for each other!"

The comment pulled Lumine up short. It had only been the usual teasing from her end, but now that she thought about it, Paimon seemed to take it awfully serious this time. "I'm sorry, Paimon," she said, concern painting her voice. "I didn't realize it upset you this much. Is everything okay?"

Paimon sighed, and Lumine could see her small body relax before she turned back around. She looked kind of... pleading, but she nodded. "Yeah, Paimon's fine. Just hungry."

Lumine was not convinced. "Are you sure?" She sighed and leaned against the dresser. "It's because of Venti, isn't it?"

"What? No!" Paimon exclaimed, waving her hands frantically – and telling Lumine that she was right on the Mora. "Paimon's not jealous of Venti! Paimon's happy that he makes you happy, Lumine!"

Lumine took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. There it was – the big problem. The one they'd talked about before, but were yet to see how it held up in execution. "No one said anything about jealousy."

"Uh..." Paimon muttered and held her head, looking like she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Okay, fine, Paimon admits it. Paimon's jealous. And Paimon knows she shouldn't be, but Paimon can't help it!" Paimon spun around again, but not quickly enough to hide the tearful expression coming over her face. "You got along so well from the start, and now you even like him better than Paimon. When he started teaching you Common, you made much quicker progress than when Paimon did. And he also knows much more about Teyvat than Paimon does, more about its history and more about its geography. He would be a far better travel guide than Paimon. And he even makes his own Mora! If you have Venti, then..." She trailed off and made a noise that sounded alarmingly like a sob. "Then you don't even need Paimon anymore!"

Lumine took a deep breath. She had been somewhat prepared for this, but that didn't mean Paimon's state didn't tug at her heartstrings. "It's not about needing anyone, Paimon. I haven't needed you for a long, long time, but I love you, and I want you by my side. It may not be the same way I love and want Venti, but that doesn't make you lesser. It's not true that I like Venti better than you; you're both equally precious to me. Just in different ways. And there's no way in the world I would ever replace you with him. You're irreplaceable, Paimon."

"Traveler..." Paimon sniffed, and before Lumine knew it, a pair of small arms was wrapped around her neck and an equally small face tucked under her chin. She reached up to awkwardly pat Paimon's back – her tiny companion was nowhere near as cuddly as a certain other floaty Lumine could think of, so she never really knew what to do when something like this happened.

And while she was at it, another unpleasant thought hit her – one she never had on her radar even when she'd talked to Paimon about potential relationships. But looking back... the insecurity probably wasn't without cause. Lumine had been pretty absorbed by her unrequited feelings for the past couple weeks, and while she couldn't think of a particular incident, she wouldn't be surprised if she'd neglected Paimon quite a bit while she was pining away. Indeed, now that she thought about it, the fact that she couldn't remember anything of the sort was probably a good indicator that she had.

"I'm sorry, Paimon," she muttered. "I didn't mean to ignore you. Even if, by some miracle, Venti agrees to date me, you're still my closest companion. The one who's been with me through everything. The one who sees things I don't, the one who says things I can't, the one I can talk to about anything. The one who can always cheer me up. The one who keeps me from going crazy on this journey. Venti may be the better language teacher, but he didn't stick out a sea monster attack with me. He didn't run from a cursed statue with me, or braved the wrath of two puppet gods with me, or fell into a soul-eating tunnel with me, or escaped a never-ending dream with me, or went to prison for eating a cake with me, or got swallowed by an otherworldly whale with me... That's all you, my brave little Paimon. And no one else."

"Yeah, you're right." Lumine could hear Paimon breathe deeply, then she pulled away with newfound determination on her face. "You're absolutely right, Lumine!" she asserted, crossing her arms. "Paimon is your one and only travel guide. No one can replace Paimon, and Paimon doesn't need to be jealous of anyone! If anything, it's Tone-Deaf Bard who needs to be jealous of Paimon!"

"Exactly!" Lumine agreed, smiling and nodding. She was glad this was sorted... for now, at least.

"Alright!" Paimon chirped, unfolding her arms and putting her hands on her hips instead. "Paimon better gets that Tone-Deaf Bard off the roof. He's probably wondering what's taking us so long, and Paimon's famished anyway!"

"Thank you, Paimon," Lumine said, gave her companion another encouraging smile and walked over to the window to open it. Then, with a sigh of relief, she plopped herself down on the bed and hugged the pillow, to rest a little while she waited.

She would never say it out loud, but another thing she appreciated about Paimon, especially in comparison with Venti, was that her tiny travel guide came without any emotional baggage. She had since accumulated some, but it was nowhere near of the same magnitude, which made it easier to share things without worrying that the conversation might spiral out of control.

Of course, there were downsides, too. In a way, Venti was more empathetic. When it came to loss, to guilt, to her darkest doubts and fears, Paimon could offer understanding – but Venti understood. Yet in the same vein, even if they didn't want it to, there was always a non-zero risk of seeking comfort and somehow winding up to be the one doing the comforting, which could become pretty draining pretty fast. Venti was always a bit of a coin toss – heads you're better, tails you're worse.

Paimon was always heads, no matter what. A slightly smaller coin, with slightly less emotional value – but always heads.

Neither coin was inherently better than the other. Both were important. And Lumine would never say it out loud like this, but perhaps it would be a good idea to at least clear up with both of them that this idea that falling in love meant you needed no one else in your life was as short-sighted as it got. Venti already knew it, most likely, but it might help him with his love song research. And Paimon... well, Paimon definitely needed to hear it.

No sooner than she finished the thought, Venti popped up in the center of the room with a cheerful "Hi!" and trotted over to the dresser, where he dropped the washcloth and the nightgown he'd changed out of. He picked up his belt with the fake Vision and his Cecilia accessory instead, the latter serving as a hair clip today rather than a hat ornament.

He looked so different again. Had she not known it was Venti, she wouldn't have recognized him – at least not in passing. He was hopping around in a navy blue tee shirt with light green hems now, with a brown leather vest over it, and a pair of loose knee-length pants the color of red wine.

It made Lumine wonder idly why Diluc was sitting on a bunch of clothes he didn't need. She could see Adelinde digging up Venti's current outfit from Kaeya and Diluc's childhood, but hers? Was it such a common occurrence for people who stayed over at the Ragnvindr mansion to need clothes? Then again, Diluc was very generous, so maybe he was just collecting stuff to donate later, or perhaps they were meant as gifts for foreign wine merchants to bring back to their families.

"Alright!" Venti exclaimed, interrupting Lumine's musings. "I'm ready to go!"

"What about Paimon?" Lumine asked, glancing at the open window. Her tiny travel guide was taking her time. But she couldn't change that now, so she turned back at Venti. "And are you sure you want to go out like this? You're only wearing one layer on your arms and thighs."

"I'm not," Venti objected and pushed up a sleeve to reveal a black armband underneath, then pulled it back down and grinned. "I may not be able to conjure up entire lakes anymore, but I can still create small things. Look!" He raised his hands to his chest, forming a small circle with his palms, and Lumine felt the pull of a storm eye even before the tiny whirlwind became visible.

It was never not fascinating, watching Venti play around with his Anemo powers. Unlike the storm eyes Lumine herself created, Venti's only ever affected areas he wanted to affect, so while Lumine could feel the gales of wind and heard them rushing past her ears, they didn't even so much as rock a strand of her hair. She simply sat transfixed while the sphere of pure elemental energy between Venti's palms grew darker and darker, and then, when it was almost black, a veil of pale mist joined the whirl like a haze of clouds, completely enshrouding the storm eye until it became a dense white ball. Then the wind suddenly stopped, and Lumine kind of sensed it reversing direction for a split-second before it exploded outward and she reflexively closed her eyes against this strange wind that was simultaneously there and not there. When she opened them again, Venti's hand was whipping through the air, catching a small object in his fist with the ease of centuries-long practice. He laughed, a sound as clear and joyful as a wind chime, then darted towards the bed to sit next to Lumine and hold out his hand, just radiating giddiness like the beam of sunshine he was.

His elation was infectious, and Lumine cupped her hands expectantly. A small glass figurine dropped into her palms, the same color as an Anemo Vision, and Lumine picked it up to inspect it more closely.

It was about the size of her pointer finger and shaped like a sitting cat, its tail wrapped around itself and delicately licking its front paw. The Anemo symbol was embedded into its hindquarters, and a miniature Cecilia was attached to the side of its neck that wasn't obscured by the paw. Lumine couldn't help but poke at it – it didn't look like glass, and it didn't feel like glass, either. In fact, it looked and felt like the real deal, and it even gave way under her touch.

"Do you like it?" Venti asked eagerly, beaming at Lumine and trembling with excitement. "I can make it a little bigger or smaller if you want! You can put it up in your teapot, or I can make it into a pendant or pin!"

"Thank you, Venti," Lumine cut in with a gentle smile and rested her head on his shoulder. She kept turning the little cat in her hand, watching the glass catch the sunlight. "It's beautiful!"

"I'm happy to hear that!" Venti replied, then, as if on cue, a rumbling startled Lumine into sitting up while her friend doubled over, clutching his stomach and groaning miserably. "Now I'm really hungry, though... I'm afraid modifications will have to wait."

Lumine patted Venti's back. "Don't overdo it," she half chided, half consoled him. "No gift is worth your health."

The boy archon shook his head and straightened, leaning back on his hands. "It's not that bad, don't worry. I'm aware of my limits."

"I'm sure you are, but–" Lumine was cut off by another grumble, and she raised an eyebrow while Venti looked down at his stomach with a reproachful expression, as if trying to glare it into shutting up. But she couldn't keep a straight face for long, not at that sight, and a soft snicker escaped her. She reached up and ruffled her friend's hair, smiling wistfully. "But that won't stop me from worrying."

"Yeah, I know..." Venti nodded and let out a heavy sigh. "It's hard not to worry." He stood up and padded over to the open window, his feet lifting off the floor as he leaned his hands on the windowsill and looked outside. "I knew it!" he exclaimed, leaving Lumine with a bunch of question marks floating around her mind. She considered getting up herself and follow, but it didn't take her friend long to return and jerk a thumb over his shoulder. "I thought I'd heard Moco and Hillie set up the lunch table outside while I was on the roof. I'll give you three guesses where Paimon ended up." He crossed his arms. "And the first two don't count."

Lumine only shook her head at that. She wasn't even surprised. "Well, at least we don't have to wait around any longer," she remarked and leapt to her feet. She placed her new Anemo kitty on the counter, near the pile of ornaments Venti had unclipped and unpinned from his own clothes the night before so she wouldn't lose or forget it. She petted its glassy head with her fingertip one last time, then spun around and flashed her friend a beaming smile. "Let's get downstairs and find you some food!"

Venti turned away and scratched his cheek, though he looked more weirded out than anything. "You make it sound like some grand quest."

Lumine chuckled and started towards the door – or rather, the shoe rack. "Then let's treat it as one and get going!" she declared, but stopped in her tracks and turned around again when she realized her friend wasn't following. "Are you okay, Venti?" she asked, sending him a concerned glance. He still stood in the center of the room as if rooted to the spot, and he looked a little dazed. "Venti?"

She was about to rush back to his side to check on him when he shook himself out of it and held his head. "Sorry," he muttered and caught up, a rueful smile on his face. "Random memories."

"Of Diluc's great-grandfather?" Lumine ventured, and Venti nodded somberly.

"His name was Norwin. And he wasn't actually an only child – he had a sister, Alda, who was six years older than him. She was set to be one to inherit the winery, but she went missing when she went to Inazuma to renew a trade agreement. The ship she was on never reached the port." He heaved a deep breath and shook his head. "I barely knew her, but her loss was hard on everyone. I believe it was the reason why Norwin never really took to wine-making, too, and why Master Berul was so eager to adopt me. I didn't really mean to, I just wanted to help my friend through his grief, but I kind of... slipped into Alda's spot during that period. By the time things somewhat returned to normal, I was pretty much adopted in everything but the paperwork." He sighed and pulled up his legs, curling into himself in mid-air and hugging his knees. "I... would've had to leave eventually anyway, even without the Abyss Order's ambush, but I never meant for it to be so sudden. It must've broken them all over again. And if what Diluc heard from his great-grandfather wasn't just the kid-friendly version and Norwin really did blame Master Berul for my disappearance, I don't even want to imagine the wedge it drove between them. As if that family hadn't suffered enough... They only had each other by then."

Lumine had no idea how to respond. There was a lump in her throat and a dreadful pinching in her stomach, and her heart went out to these people she never even knew. She did know the pain of losing family, after all. "Did... something happen to their mom, too?"

Venti hummed pensively. "I never knew her, actually. But from what I heard, her name was Roswitha, and she died on a family vacation to Sumeru when Norwin was two. They... didn't know she was allergic to Padisarah."

Lumine's breath hitched. Her blood ran cold, and she silently vowed that she would never tease Venti about his cat allergy again. Even if it was self-inflicted and the only reason he had it in the first place was that his friend had one. Even if he couldn't die from it. Even if she couldn't lose him to it. "That... must have been so hard..."

"There's one piece of good news, though!" Venti chimed and finally uncurled again. He lowered his feet to the floor and folded his hands behind his back. "Alda survived. I met her in Watatsumi after my recovery." He pulled his hands to the front again and held out his palms. "But by then she went by Kazuki, had a lovely wife and was raising two children. Turns out she shipwrecked in Inazuma, but she lost a part of her leg and all her memories. She only knew she was from Mondstadt because someone recognized the clothes she wore, and she called herself 'wind moon' so she would never forget it again." He cut himself off and his eyes flicked to the side. "Uh, Mondstadt means 'moon city' in Common, by the way... I don't think anyone ever told you." He heaved a deep breath and faced Lumine again. "I don't know if she believed me when I told her I knew her family. By all rights, I shouldn't even have been born yet when she went missing. She said she always meant to go back and look for them, but making the journey with only one and a half legs and a shipwrecking trauma scared her so much that she kept putting it off. But at least I could convince her to write a letter by giving her an address, and I do believe they reunited. I couldn't exactly go and check for myself, but there was a rather sudden spike in wine offerings for a while." Venti hummed pensively and raised a hand to his chin. "Now that I think about it, they might have known. If Alda ever recovered her memories, she would've remembered me. No one thinks twice about a random bard kid with braids, but a random bard kid with braids who also hasn't aged a day in twenty years would be a tad more suspicious."

"But wouldn't Diluc know, then?" Lumine retorted. "If the family ever had a run-in with the Anemo Archon, surely that would be a story worth passing down. I mean, Diluc knows you don't want that information spreading, but they wouldn't have."

Venti hummed noncommittally, then shrugged and nodded. "Yeah... I suppose you're right. And it doesn't really matter anyway..."

He looked so down again. Shoulders sagging, eyes lowered and distant, and shifting from one foot to the other... If the stories he told weren't heartbreaking enough, their weight would've done the job.

Lumine took a deep breath and stepped up to wrap her arms around her friend. She wanted to tell him to just stay in Mondstadt, even if it meant the people would eventually figure out who he was. If they saw he was just like them, a person with flaws and feelings, perhaps they would eventually stop worshipping him entirely – just like he wanted. He would have to get through a phase first where he would be treated differently, where every word from his lips would be law, where people would demand of him to solve all their problems... much like Lumine herself had done...

No...

Venti knew what he was doing. If he thought that staying in Mondstadt for a few years, then leaving it behind until he could be sure everyone who remembered him was dead was for the best... then it probably was.

Of course, the ideal situation would be for him to stop clinging to his appearance and change his vessel, but Lumine wasn't counting on that. She wasn't even sure he could even if he wanted to – for all she knew, he could have lost that ability ages ago, and she wasn't going to ask. She just held her friend tighter, and a shiver ran down her spine when she felt his fingers running through her hair.

But even Lumine herself could not tell if it was a good shiver or a bad shiver.

And Venti noticed. "Are you okay, Lumine?"

Lumine shook her head against his shoulder. "That's what I should be asking!"

"You had all the time in the world!" Venti pointed out, laughing softly, and slipped out of Lumine's embrace with an encouraging smile on his face. "But if you insist: There's a steak on the grill outside calling my name, and I would very much like to follow."

Lumine took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Very slowly. She was glad her friend was okay, but keeping up with his moods could be a bit of a challenge sometimes. "Are you sure you won't get stuck somewhere again?" She put her hands on her hips. "If I know more about Diluc's family history than Diluc himself by the time we reach the entrance, I'll...!" She trailed off when she realized she hadn't really thought that sentence through, and a look at Venti's eyes told her he knew it. The sparkle in them, amused and expectant, left no room for doubt, and Lumine crossed her arms, trying to come up with something. "I'll drag you into my teapot and lock us both into a room with all the non-allergic cats!"

The boy archon cracked up at that proclamation. "That's a pretty short time frame to get through... all of Mondstadt's recorded history." He tilted his head and grinned. "Then again, Diluc probably hasn't read all of it, so who knows? Maybe you know more than he does already!"

Lumine curled her lips and hummed her concession. "Kitty room it is, then?"

Venti laughed through the nose and nodded, still grinning from ear to ear. "Kitty room it is! But if it's that important to you..." He held out his hand as the grin turned into a warm smile, and Lumine's heart beat faster when he turned up his palm and she realized where this was going. "Why don't you make sure this bard won't get lost, hmm?"

He didn't need to ask twice. Lumine wouldn't have been able to stop smiling even if she wanted to, and a cozy warmth almost bordering on uncomfortable spread through every fiber of her being as she intertwined her fingers with his and leaned into his shoulder.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked quietly, secretly hoping she wouldn't regret it. "If we show up like this downstairs, it will look official. And you know how talkative Hillie and Moco are."

Venti giggled awkwardly. "Are you worried about rumors? In that case, I'm afraid you would have to find a way to go back in time about... half a year? Probably longer, because that was when I noticed them. But since they were not about me being a non-human, I never paid them much heed."

"Oh gods..." Lumine muttered and held her forehead with her free hand, but a few seconds later, she relaxed and shook her head. "I'm not that worried about rumors, though. I'm more worried about you. Or rather, your inexperience. I don't want to be the reason for you getting weird questions."

"Aww, give me some credit!" Venti teased and raised their clasped hands. "I know what this looks like, and I couldn't care less what people think. If anyone wants to be weird about it, they're free to do so, but it's no skin off my nose." He lowered their hands again and smiled. "Our relationship and how we choose to express it is nobody's business but ours."

Lumine took a deep breath and a corner of her mouth twitched into a grateful half-smile. She suddenly didn't even remember anymore what she'd been worried about in the first place. Even if their relationship was hanging in a strange balance right now, it was their strange balance. "Yeah... You're right."

"And speaking of hand-holding..." Venti curled his lips and turned away, tapping his cheek. "I think it's working, because now we're both stuck and I'm still no closer to my steak."

Lumine couldn't help but burst into snorts. She'd been hearing the word 'steak' altogether too often these past twenty minutes. "Someone call the Knights, the Anemo Archon really needs his steak! It's an emergency!" she snickered, but she had to admit that she was hungry, too. "Alright, let's go," she said and started towards the door, but a jolt running through her shoulder stopped her. She could tell that Venti wasn't moving, so she turned around with a quizzical glance. He didn't get lost in thought again, did he? "What's wrong?"

Venti hummed, absently tapping his chin, but then his eyes cleared and he looked at Lumine with an innocence in his gaze that seemed a little too deliberate.

"How exactly are we going to put on our shoes?"

Fun Fact: Corsets have a nasty reputation, but it's all slander. They were perfectly normal and for women even necessary garments, and people worked and did sports in them as people do. (Yes, men too. Men don't have back-murdering lumps of fat tissue to support, which was the main reason why corsets were invented, but men want to look pretty, too.) Now, tight-lacing was a thing, but the amount of people who practiced it was nowhere near representative, and people harming themselves in the name of beauty isn't a thing of the past, either. We're still doing it and will always be doing it. I don't know why corsets in particular are dragged through the mud so much, but now it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy where people are so convinced they're supposed to be way too tight and hurt the wearer that actresses for historical movies wear them way too tight and get hurt, then talk about it in interviews and reinforce the idea that corsets are way too tight and hurt. I feel so sorry for them...

Guest review July 9th: Something tells me you're a regular here. :D And I'm honored to welcome you to the dark side. We have cake and garlic bread! :3

On that note, I haven't heard back from either of the registered reviewers. I don't know if that's because the PMs were eaten or because of a lack of time or things to say, but in case of the former, I just wanted to say that I did answer and I appreciate that you took some time out of your days to leave a nice review. In case of the latter, no pressure! :D