Flowers apart

1

No one knew what the curse exactly was. Or why it exists.

The curse, where gods cannot love mortals, or even someone close to god.

The rule was, that gods can't fall in love, so that they can keep their head straight and continue to lead their people with no strings attached.

They say that the curse usually leads to death.

There were no records of this, of course, because gods can't find a reason to affiliate themselves with the mortals below, or even hope to fall in love. They just carried out their duty, year after year, for thousands of centuries after.

This was just a baseless rumour, running around town, whispers among the people, then later to be forgotten like what they had for breakfast last week.

However, it was a subject of worry for the Ameno archon of Mondstadt, and he worried his lip as he listened to the traveler ramble on and on about the gossip she picked up back in Liyue.

"How...do you think this curse will occur?" Venti asked Lumine, who was striding ahead of him, trying to keep on the lookout for hilichurls.

"I don't know, there wasn't a specific explanation on how it will occur. Some guessed that it will happen all of a sudden, like sudden death, you know?"

"Some say that the archon will lose their powers slowly and die, then the other one third say that they will die and reincarnate again and again, remembering their past lives and die from the hanahaki disease." Paimon added with a dramatic voice, and Lumine just rolled her eyes and chuckled. "It's stupid stuff, really."

The bard tensed at their words. The problem was - and not that he wanted to admit it - his powers had been fading recently, but he didn't mention that to the oblivious traveler and her guide. And he definitely knew what was up.

"Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about anyway, because I can't imagine you dedicating yourself to someone," Lumine laughed as she spun around to look at him, but the happy expression dissipated after seeing his face.

"Uh, Ven...are you okay? You seem really...sad, which is unlike you."

"Oh, it's nothing," He chuckled, forcing himself to put on a smile. "I just suddenly felt a little sentimental, since you're leaving soon."

Well, he wasn't lying exactly. He did feel sad that Lumine was preparing to leave soon, now that she succeeded in finding her brother Aether, it was time for them to move on.

"WAIT-" Paimon screeched. "YOU'RE LEAVING?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

Oops- Venti had totally forgot that Lumine hadn't told Paimon about this yet, to prevent her from moping around for the rest of the time that she's here.

"WHAT ARE YOU EVER GOING TO DO WITHOUT MEEEEEE?" Paimon broke into a dramatic pout and whine. "HOW CAN YOU JUST LEAVE ME JUST LIKE THAT-"

"No, I'm not going to leave you just yet-"

"YET! YOU SAID YET..."

The bard watched the two quarrel back and forth and he just laughed along a little guiltily.

With nothing to do, he fished out his lyre, hoping to play some music to set the mood. They were near Starsnatch Cliff anyway, and he wanted to influence the two with his music to calm down.

When he plucked the first note, the two went quiet, looking at him with attentive eyes, already entranced. He smiled to himself, then closed his eyes and immersed himself into the music that he was making on the lyre.