Remember Me at Summer's End [ZhongChi/TartaLi]

Walk as a Hero

The next month is painful.

Childe's injuries themselves are not painful, for Cloud Retainer ensures Childe is treated with the utmost care, but the way she fills his schedule with list after list of boring rules—no sitting up too quickly, no excessive movement, sleep before 9pm—is closer to breaking him than the Abyss ever was. The long bed bound days scratch at his mind, gouging out the excruciating possibilities of the enemies he could be facing, the strength he could be accumulating if only he wasn't stuck in this damn bed.

Zhongli also fusses relentlessly. At first it's sweet—he brings food packages, washes Childe's body in the evenings, and spends his days weaving stories and reciting history—but the way he insists on asking Childe how he's feeling, every hour on the hour, is more than a little wearing.

Childe's one saviour throughout all of it is Xiao, who sneaks into his room when the others are away, bearing gifts of padded training dummies and providing his own brand of encouragement.

"Mortal, you seek to waste away here?" asks Xiao about two weeks after the accident, balanced on the footboard with two training dummies standing behind him.

"Uh, no?"

And how in Celestia did Xiao get those in here anyway?

"Then train with me. There is no excuse for remaining negligent of your upper body."

"I think Cloud Retainer's nagging is a good enough—woah!"

Xiao leaps forward, landing squarely atop Childe, aiming a jab at his head.

Childe catches it in the palm of his hand. "Hey, what would Rex Lapis think if he knew you were sneaking in like this, huh? The Vigilant Yaksha is becoming the Rebellious Yaksha in his old age, I see."

Xiao raises an eyebrow. "You are suggesting I should inform Rex Lapis of our meeting?"

"No, I—! No, let's just keep this our little secret." Childe laughs as he grabs his gloves from the bedside table and slips them on. "Thanks, Xiao. I owe you one."

"Thank me when we are done."

Childe hadn't known it was possible to work up such a sweat while sitting in bed, but after half an hour of Xiao's drills his forehead is dripping and his shirt is plastered to his back. He's not on top form, but it's better than lying around and "wasting away" as Xiao so-kindly put it. He will not become weak.

After a few weeks, notice comes from The Tsaritsa, sending him her best wishes for a speedy recovery. Although her displeasure in needing to reassign his upcoming mission is evident, she is grateful for the goodwill attained with the adepti and Rex Lapis. One cannot run from their debts, she writes, and a political favour is a type of debt she shall be sure to collect on one day.

Childe throws the letter into the fire before Zhongli or the adepti can read it. He'll take care of that little issue later.

After four weeks Cloud Retainer deems that, thanks to her healing powers (that Childe still doesn't fully comprehend), his legs are functionally repaired and he is free to begin rebuilding his strength.

His first steps are clumsy and stiff, with Zhongli and Xiao supporting him under each arm. It's embarrassing, to be treated as though he is some incompetent toddler, not the Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui Harbingers. If the others saw him like this, they'd never let him forget how ridiculous he looks, placing each trembling foot in front of the other.

But neither Zhongli, nor Xiao, nor any of the other adepti laugh at him. Madame Ping, Ganyu, Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper poke their heads in the door, voicing their congratulations before disappearing to do whatever fancy things adepti do. Cloud Retainer has her beak buried deep in her bag of medical supplies, but Childe manages to catch the dramatic sniffling she fails to hide.