EN | An encounter she will never forget | ᴄʜɪʟᴜᴍɪ

5 - The visit of Liyue Harbor

Lumine woke up with a start as if to escape her dream. She sat cross-legged for a moment, staring into space. A sudden shiver ran through her, and at that moment she was certain that her dream was more of a nightmare than a dream. Unable to recall it, she decided to move to change her mind. She got up, stretched, and put nature back into its state before the makeshift camp was set up.

The sun wasn't even up yet, and neither was Paimon. She looked around and saw some Cryo slimes not far from the shore. She decided to get rid of them as a morning workout while waiting for Paimon to get up.

Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be very well awake. She made a series of blunders, getting frozen multiple times, and taking a long time to eradicate those four unfortunate slimes. When the fight was finally over, she dropped onto a rock to rest.

What was I thinking? It's like jumping into the ocean without knowing how to swim. I would never have taken on Cryo slimes without first getting them away from the water...

Water.

The word echoed in her head like church bells.

Lumine shook her head to chase away all her thoughts that were drifting towards a certain stranger. Then she looked up at the sky, which was just beginning to lighten, the exact moment that Paimon chose to appear.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" she said with a cheerful voice.

She was greeted by a sigh.

It's going to be a long day.

◆ ◆ ◆

The two friends had been walking since dawn, even though walking was a bit much since one of them was levitating... The large bodies of water on either side of the land had given way to large plains and mountains. They had crossed the Guili Plains and were now descending.

The landscape left them speechless. Below them, they could see the ocean shimmering of a million sparkles, stretching as far as the eye could see, waves hurting the rocks and the docks of Liyue Harbor, a city made of traditional red wooden buildings. Many huge ships were moored in the harbor or sailing on the waves.

It's nothing like Mondstadt. The atmosphere seems more traditional.

When both companions stopped contemplating the view, they hurried down the slope to reach the city. After crossing a wooden bridge, they found themselves in a large street with stalls on both sides. Lumine admired the architectural style of the buildings while Paimon seemed to be looking for restaurants.

Finally remembering what had brought them to Liyue, Lumine pulled out the Adventurer's guide to look up the map for the guild office where Katheryne was supposed to be.

However, Paimon didn't slow down. Lumine tried to read the map as best she could while keeping her eyes on Paimon, but it turned out to be difficult.

As she should have expected, she bumped into someone a few feet away. The impact made her drop her book which fell at her feet.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," she apologized to the person she had bumped into. She bent down to pick up her book when she saw a black-gloved hand ahead of her.

Black gloves...

She looked up to see the person who was now handing her book. She stopped breathing for a moment when she saw his orange hair. Her gaze drowned in the infinite blue eyes of this person. The blue of the sky when no clouds disturbed it. The blue of the peaceful sea before a drama occurs. The blue of a bottomless ocean continuously agitated. His eyes reflected these three facets at the same time. Calmness, danger, and agitation. Three terms yet antinomic together in the eyes of this person.