I'll Be Here

Invitation to Mundane Life, Part 1

When Lumine came to find Xiao later in the morning, he was sitting at a table far out of the way of any foot traffic, just outside the kitchen of the inn. She waved when she saw him and slid into the chair across the table from him.

"Good morning!" She folded her arms on the table and looked up at him. "I didn't think I would ever see you down here."

"Good morning." He nodded once. "I'm... trying something new."

"I support that."

Xiao clenched and relaxed his jaw. Try. "I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"Where does Paimon go when she's not with you?"

Lumine smiled sideways, the way she did. "Sometimes she goes to hang out with Xiangling, this cook in the city, and sometimes she goes and hangs out in my serenitea pot. She likes it better out here, though. She has to make her own food in the pot."

Xiao blinked. "Your... what?"

"My serenitea pot. My adeptus abode? I have an adeptus abode. Madame Ping gave it to me." She cocked her head and stared at him. "Is that bad?"

He shook his head incredulously. "What even are you? How do you have your own domain? I don't even have my own domain."

Lumine snorted and waved her hand dismissively. "I get the feeling that you don't have one because you don't want one. If you wanted one, I'm sure you could have one."

"Maybe." Xiao would definitely never figure her out. Maybe no one ever would. "It's insane to me that you are not an adeptus, or even a spellcaster of any kind, and you still have an adeptus abode."

She shrugged in response. "It was a gift, and I don't really turn down gifts. You should come see it sometime! I think it's pretty great. I'm no interior designer, so there's lots of open space." She tapped her fingers on the table and looked at him through her eyelashes. "But you like open space."

A corner of Xiao's mouth lifted, just a little bit. "Mmhm."

A somewhat nervous-looking waitress stepped timidly up to the table just then. Her hands were laced together in front of her, and shaking just a little. She pushed her glasses up higher on her face, then quickly returned her hands to their original position. "May I take your order, sir?" She asked Xiao.

His eyebrows knit, and his mind immediately took off on a downward spiral. Why was she nervous? What had he done? Is she afraid of me? I didn't think this through, I'm scaring the humans, I'm exposing the truth about the upstairs of the inn —

"You're not Yuhua," Lumine remarked to the waitress. "Hi! I'm Lumine, but most people in Liyue know me as the Traveler. Are you new here?"

"Oh!" The waitress twirled her thumbs. "I am Yuhua's twin sister, Xiuhua. I've seen you in Liyue Harbor!"

"Oh, yeah, I know you!" Lumine grinned. "You work at Baiju Guesthouse. Nice to formally meet you! What are you doing here at Wangshu Inn?"

Xiao breathed a soft sigh of relief. Lumine knew everyone, and everyone was instantly comfortable around her. It was almost like her natural warmth canceled out Xiao's natural cold anxiety.

The waitress smiled shyly, pleased to have been recognized. Her nervousness cleared. "My sister and I switch places between the Inn and the Guesthouse from time to time, and I suppose today is my lucky day if I have the privilege of serving both the Traveler and the Conqueror of Demons." She fixed her hands more securely in front of her. "What can I get for you?"

"Just tea for me, thanks." Lumine looked over at Xiao.

He cleared his throat. "Grilled tiger fish."

The waitress nodded. "Coming right out." She smiled again before turning and disappearing into the kitchen.