Zephyr played in the streams of Windrise and then through the tree top of the large tree standing strong in the large valley. Always looking out in the distance for the golden hair of their human friend. Zephyr was excited for this visit they had found a flower for her. It was a Cecilia as the humans called it, no matter what it was called it was the sprite's favorite. The most beautiful in all of Mondstadt maybe even further than that. It seems only fitting that it should be bestowed upon Lumine. It was such a pity there were none when they met up by Starsnatch Cliff.
Zephyr's wait stretched from hours to days. It ventured closer to the city, despite its instinctive fear of humans. It lingered near the gates, hidden among the trees, searching for any sign of Lumine. At night it would get as close as the back gate hearing lively music playing that seemed so happy compared to his growing forlorn feelings.
On the seventh day, desperate and heartbroken, Zephyr hovered at the edge of the abandoned temple, its translucent wings trembling. The stone pillars of the temple were once grand and towering, now lay in ruins broken in anger. This place was sanctuary, to beings like Zephyr. It felt hollow and haunted by Decarabian's wrath on the Thousand Winds because of a war it refused to join.
The sprite hesitated, its tiny form shivering – not from the cold but from the weight of its fears. It had never felt anything like this…human before. It missed Lumine's laughter, the warmth of her music, and the way she shared her food without hesitation especially when she had so little herself. It feared the worst: that she had been swallowed by war or forgotten their bond. A sharp pang of longing course through Zephyr.
Zephyr floated into the center of the temple and began praying to its mother. The first day the sprite ignored its sibling urging to play. The sprite's chirps, though soft, resonated with desperation. Images of Lumine filled its thoughts: of Lumine lying in the snow covered in blood, of her forgetting the sprite. But the sprite would shake its head and fill its thoughts: of her determined smile, her laughter when the flew together, the way she spoke to it as if it were an equal…a friend, her promise to return. Zephyr had trusted that promise, and now the silence felt unbearable.
The second day, Zephyr stayed even when its siblings urged it to move on its just a human after all. Zephyr pleaded lifting its head, tears it didn't know it could produce filled its eyes. Lumine was so unlike other humans: she is kind and full of music. Music that seemed such a distant memory. Zephyr felt so at home with Lumine like she was the sky before the first breeze. Zephyr would do anything to find her, to be with her. It knew she needed its help.
A sudden gentle hum emerged from the temple. A radiant light filled the sky brighter than full moon, slowly cascading down with shinning teal and golden hues. Zephyr's wings quivered from the warmth of its mother, the Thousand Winds. A figure appeared cloaked in blue robes with wings that stretch wide like a spring storm, gentle and soft.
The figure's voice was the wind itself, soft yet commanding, "My little one," it said, "you have been heard."
Zephyr's ethereal glow brightened as hope flickered within its chest. With a single chirp that was a plea to let it find Lumine.
The figure smiled, the kind of smile that carried both sorrow and love, "Your wish is granted, but with conditions. This lyre will allow you to move as they do, to touch the ground and feel the breeze upon your skin. But speech will elude you, for that is a gift you must learn. Your form will last four moons, and if you wish to stay beyond that time, you must earn her love – true and unyielding."
Zephyr hesitated, the weight of the words sinking in. Human, it be a human? To love? It did not fully understand the meaning of love. Never the less it bowed low with gratitude.
The figure extended its hand, and as Zephyr touched the lyre, a brilliant teal light erupted. The winds howled softly, not in anger but in celebration, lifting the sprite higher into the air. Its form elongated, its glow dimming as skin and fabric appeared. The transformation felt strange, foreign, but oddly comforting, as though it were being cradled by the wind itself.
When the light faded, Zephyr stood on unsteady legs, its new form clothed in green, a lyre resting gently in its hand. He looked down at his figures and flexed them, marveling at their shape, before looking up at the figure.
The figure nodded with a smile, "Go, my little one. Find the one you seek, and may the winds ever guide you."
He bowed deeply. The weight of his mission both daunting and exhilarating. He turned away from the temple with trembling legs, letting the wind tug at his new cape and began his journey to Mondstadt. With every uneasy step, hope filled into the spaces that once fear lingered.