A cold Snezhnayan night (Snezhnayan! Lumine x Childe)

Stormterror

The Cavalry Captain hadn't bothered to wake up the girl. Instead, he wanted to finish searching through her belongings. All he found were weak swords, crystals, ores, and other miscellaneous items. However, the most exciting thing he saw was a letter directed towards someone named "Aether."

"Dear brother,

It's been 3 months now since I woke up in Teyvat. 3 months since I realized you were no longer on my side. How are you? Do you still have your wings? I am on a journey to find you. This journey so far has shown me the light and dark side of Teyvat; I've met many friends and foes along the way.

Don't worry about me. I met this lovely family when I woke up in the unfamiliar land, along with a fairy guide. They've been nothing but supportive of me, and they even cared when I told them about you, about us. So I hope you're still out there. I hope you're still alive.

Lots of love, Lumine."

With the letter was an attached photo of Lumine and the Sokoloff family. They all donned happy smiles on their faces, even Lumine, who typically hid behind sad, golden eyes. Kaeya felt something in his heart shift... her intentions were pure. It was wrong of him to assume she was Fatui. How could she be? The man saw how she smiled at Donna as she listened to the love-struck girl go on about her love of Diluc. Lumine was even willing to run all the way to Springvale just to deliver food for Sara.

Glancing at the sleeping girl, he sighed and put the stuff back where he found it.

"Rise and shine!"

Lumine groaned as she sat up in her bed, her blonde hair sticking out in every direction. She gasped when she saw Kaeya once again in her room. "How do you keep coming in here?!" The traveler yelled as the man simply replied with a chuckle. "I bribed Paimon with chicken-mushroom skewers of course~."

"I expect you to be ready in 15 minutes! We're gonna be hunting some abyss mages today, specifically the pyro kind."

15 minutes pass before Lumine leaves her apartment, looking up at the captain. She took a deep breath in, then out. "I'm ready." She had only fought a few abyss mages before, and man, were they difficult! The pair traveled to Starsnatch cliff on the lookout for them. After what seemed like days, they had finally found a pyro abyss mage.

Kaeya handed the girl some food, "It's gonna make you do more damage." He said before giving her a plate of Almond tofu, he bought some from Liyue a while ago. "I didn't poison it or anything, just eat it."

Reluctantly, the girl ate all of it. She found out quickly that she really loved almonds. She handed the plate to Kaeya. "Okay.. that was really good, thank you." Lumine said with a smile. "Okay, let's fight an abyss mage!" She said excitedly. The traveler felt the hairs on her neck stand up. It felt as if someone was watching her. She was quick to dismiss it, though, assuming it was just an animal.

On top of a nearby mountain, Aether watched closely while sitting on the hands of a ruin guard. He felt jealousy sink into his stomach; he hated this feeling. Whenever he felt like watching his sister, there was always someone else there. Someone always seemed to replace him. This time it was that disgustingly charming Cavalry Captain. He felt his fingernails pressing into his palm, red liquid dripping onto his pants. The Abyss Prince wanted nothing more than to get his sister back and leave, but he had a commitment to the Abyss.

Aether had convinced the nearby Abyss Mages to be anything but easy on the girl; he wanted to see Lumine develop her Cyro powers. Aether didn't need to collect the powers from all 7 Archons. He had the power of the Abyss behind him. Unfortunately, the blond didn't respect the Gods enough to use their abilities. He played around with Khemia but didn't understand it.