Fading With Time | Genshin Impact |

Chapter 34

Lumine made her way to the nobles, she had decided to ask the Baron that never had children, he couldn't convince her to dance with one of his kids since he didn't have any, and hopefully he'd accept the invitation. 

The Kamisato attendant that was still following Lumine was a little off-putting, she didn't know why she was being followed and couldn't think of a reason why she'd be followed. There was nothing between Snezhnaya and Inazuma, at least no more than other nations. 

A circle formed in the center of the room, musicians were setting up on the side of the room. Lumine made her way into the circle and started walking on the edge of it, she couldn't see the Baron but she did see a commotion going on in the crowd and she stopped to see what was the matter. 

A red gold-rimmed hat moved quickly through the crowd, seeming to push everything away from it. Then suddenly the hat dipped back into the people and out came Scaramouche, now on the inside of the circle. 

Scaramouche was perfect for this, he knew ballroom dancing. He was also not a commoner so it would be appropriate for Lumine to ask him. 

He stood facing Lumine with crossed arms. Lumine outstretched her hand without a second thought and approached Scaramouche, "May I have this dance?" She asked and Scaramouche quickly grabbed her hand. 

Their hands intertwined and the two went further onto the dance floor, the crowd started to separate and pair off into two's. 

Scaramouche was wide-eyed and this sent a few alarms to Lumine. "What's wrong?" Lumine whispered and leaned closer to him so the room wouldn't hear. "I saw a kitsune here." Lumine's eyes now widened and she shot a look across the room trying not to seem distressed but she was. 

It must've been sent from Inazuma, Lumine didn't happen to invite anyone that had a tail, the security wasn't the tightest it could've been and someone could've gotten through with the group delivering the wine, but it was unlikely. Lumine didn't know what to do since this could've been a problem. "Do you know what color the tails were?" Lumine asked quietly trying to get as much information as she could. 

"White. It had two tails, a kimono, and it was on the balcony." Scaramouche replied and as the dance ended partners were switched, Scaramouche was swept away and Lumine quickly made her way to the entrance of the room. 

An armed Fatui Skirmisher stood by the door and looked Lumine up and down before greeting her with a bow. "How long have you been guarding here?" Lumine asked, "The whole time, we are having a change in five minutes or so." The Skirmisher replied holding his weapon tighter. 

Lumine knew then that the kitsune got in another way if they really wanted to they could've entered via the balcony, came in with servants, or other more elaborate ways. "Please keep a lookout for someone in a white kimono." Lumine then decided to check the balcony. Walking past the people was a little difficult but luckily nobody stopped Lumine. 

Truthfully Lumine had only seen a few kitsunes in her lifetime, she never dealt with them firsthand though. 

In a tree eye level with the balcony striking blue frosty eyes looked back at Lumine. The glow of the moon allowed her to see a smiling man in a white kimono with long flowing silver hair and two tails towering over a pair of ears poking up from his head. He rocked his feet back and forth and Lumine could see he was barefoot. She was about to speak when she heard a mellow voice, "You're here." He leaned back and suddenly fell off the branch he was sitting on, although Lumine couldn't tell if he fell all the way down to the ground or not she ran to the edge and looked down past the balcony and into a courtyard. She didn't see anything below but a pristine blanket of snow. 

"Sorry about that." She heard his voice again and darted her eyes up, he was now a few trees back. Lumine realized it was going to be a chase and she ditched her heels on the balcony and climbed up onto the railing, she then jumped onto the branch the kitsune had previously been sitting on. 

The smile on the kitsune's face faded and he turned to the forest and started jumping from branch to branch. Lumine followed after him slowly closing the distance. 

Now they were quite a ways away from the palace and the kitsune stopped. They froze in place and Lumine jumped to them. He didn't blink or even breathe, Lumine grabbed him by his collar in triumph but looked behind her to see a dark building, the lights were no longer on. She took the fastest route back while the kitsune remained limp in her grasp. 

Lumine reached the balcony and a wave of horror hit her, then thunder could be heard booming in the sky, next lightning stuck in the distance.