EN | An encounter she will never forget | ᴄʜɪʟᴜᴍɪ

17 - Quarrel

As Lumine went off to find this famous Adeptus, she snuck out of the building through the door onto the dark alleyway where Childe had let her in the day before. With her current position, crossing paths with any person would be fatal to her, so she tried to avoid any living soul into the harbor so as not to be spotted, and unfortunately, it was no easy task. Although it was getting late, Liyue Harbor remained busy long after nightfall. When she finally reached the northern exit, after passing through the alleys, she managed to avoid the gaze of the Milleliths posted at the entrance to escape the city without their knowledge.

Once she was out of danger, Lumine let out a sigh of relief, as well as of slight melancholy. As soon as she left, she already missed Childe. The regrets of seeing her leave so quickly that she had thought she read in his eyes only gave her motivation to accomplish her mission as quickly as possible in order to return to him, cleared of all suspicion. Or at least, it was the final and utopian outcome of the plan, but for that, she needed not to be caught. Fortunately, it would be easier for her to escape from the clutches of the Millelithes in the wild if she happened to come across one.

When finally she was a good distance away from the harbor, Lumine didn't forget to pull up her scarf to cover as best as she could the mark that the kindly Harbinger she loved so much had left on her neck, then called out to the little fairy.

"Paimon? Are you there?"

The latter appeared with her usual pop barely a few seconds after, which fascinated once again the Traveler.

"You called me?" replied her flying companion.

"How do you appear so quickly after I call you if you don't spy on me from your world?" Lumine finally asked, still not understanding how Paimon always appeared when she had to.

"Hehe, it's a mystery! Paimon doesn't know what is happening when I'm not here, but when you speak to Paimon, I hear it clearly so I appear. But the rest is...how can I say...blurry. But then, Paimon knows when you need me without you calling me....uh... Anyway, let's say Paimon is related to you so I know when to arrive!"

Paimon displayed a pose of victory as if her explanation was crystal clear, which of course was absolutely not the case... If the little fairy herself didn't know how her parallel world worked, it was impossible for Lumine to guess. So she didn't try to understand any more, contenting herself to keep in mind her motto since she knew the little fairy: "calling Paimon = appearance of Paimon".

Then, instead of holding forth on the subject, Lumine just asked the question, which she probably knew the answer, but that had still been bothering her since she escaped from the city.

"So you don't know anything about what happened at Childe's?" asked Lumine to have confirmation that her closeness with the Harbinger was still a secret.

"No, why? Did something happen? I hope he didn't hurt you! Wait here, Paimon is on her way to rearrange his face!" she said while forming fists with her hands she held at her face's height, as if she were about to give some imaginary blows to her favorite Tagliatelle.

The little fairy's protective reaction drew a laugh from the young woman, and she was reassured that she knew nothing about it. She didn't dare imagine what the pixie's reaction would be if she discovered that Lumine had fallen in love with Childe, and that these feelings were mutual...

"Haha! No, no, don't worry, he didn't do anything to me, on the contrary..." she chuckled to try to evade the issue. Unconsciously, Lumine's voice ended in a whisper that Paimon had trouble hearing.

"But by the way, what's in your hair?" the little fairy rightly pointed out, not leaving out of sight the barrette that had been added to the two flowers that Lumine had permanently.