Whale and Dragonfly // OC x Childe Genshin Impact fanfiction

Chapter 5: News about home

Two weeks have passed. Charlotte was feeling way better, her wound have completely closed, allowing her to stand and walk with no problems. She finally felt more useful than she was when lying in bed all day and night.

Her Harbinger friend was busy most of the day, or so he said. In truth, he'd go out, finish his business in a few hours and spend the rest of the day looking for fights. Charlotte knew nothing about his lust for blood, but she was already getting suspicious when he'd come back with bruises and scratches all over his body almost every day.

Now she was sitting in their living room reading a book about Teyvat's history, elements, elemental reactions and fighting techniques. Yesterday, she was finally allowed to go out in the city. Childe gave her a big bag of mora and told her to spend it on whatever she wanted, but don't forget to buy some clothes. She ended up with 2 sets of clothes, one normal and one for winter, and the book she was currently reading.

The door in the main corridor opened and closed, indicating that her friend just got back.

"Welcome back." greeted him Charlotte in blank tone as the paragraph about special sword technique seemed a bit more interesting than the rest of the world.

"Hey there, comrade! Guess what?" boy seemed as excited as ever.

"What may that be?" girl turned another page, continuing to read. She didn't have much experience on battlefield, so any knowledge about weapon-wielding techniques were useful for her.

"Hey now! At least show some excitement, will you?" her friend pouted, a bit fed up how the book interested girl more than he did.

"Tell me the news and I'll see how I'll react." Charlotte said, obvious sassiness in her voice. She didn't mean to be rude, but teasing him from time to time seemed fun enough.

"We're going back to Snezhnaya tomorrow!" he said, excitement filling his cheerful voice tone. He plopped on the sofa next to her.

"Oh?" girl's eyes finally left book. "Tomorrow? How come so fast?"

"One ship will arrive tomorrow, delivering a huge order of our motherland specialties to Fountaine. Once the order is unloaded it will leave back to Snezhnaya again. Some of Fatui members will board the ship too, so I thought why can't we? I finished my business here anyway." young Harbinger seemed really excited about it. "I can't wait to come back! I'll finally get to introduce you to my family again! I'm sure Teucer, Anthon and Tonia will love you!"

Charlotte watched him beaming with excitement, like a real 7 year old. Even though he always walked around with dead eyes, making surrounding people be wary of him, he really had these adorable moments, especially when it came to his family.

Girl sighed remembering how he spent good 2 hours telling her stories about his younger siblings and how proud he is of them. She lost her own family so seeing him so excited about his own only made her smile and feel warmth in her heart.

"You have a set of warm clothes, right?" ginger looked at her, making sure. "The trip to Snezhnaya will take up to 3 days. Trust me, being in the middle of the ocean for days doesn't feel like tropics at all."

"Yeah, I got it, don't worry." Charlotte assured him, opening her book again. No matter how much that book irritated the Harbinger, he still leaned closer to her, investigating what she's reading.

"What are you reading? Legend of Vagabond Sword? What's that?" he crossed his arms over his chest, examining interesting-looking pictures.

"Oh, it's just a book I got myself to read during my free time. It mainly talks about Teyvat's history, weapon-wielding techniques, visions, elemental reactions and similar things. Basically the encyclopedia about almost everything." Explained Charlotte.

"Huuuh? Weapon-wielding techniques? Don't tell me you're learning to fight from the book!"

"Kinda, yes. For now, at least."

Boy huffed, closing her book. Charlotte looked at him confused and slightly irritated. Book was giant, 892 pages in total, and he closed it without minding her fingers at all. It'd take some well-trained skill to break your fingers this way, but it still hurt as her fingers got suppressed between papers.

"Wait a few more days. Then we'll start the serious practice. I'll teach you what no books will ever teach. Fighting must be learnt by practice, not by reading." Ajax said, his voice serious.

"I know. Paragraphs about fighting techniques and strategies are confusing, so I'm not taking them as seriously. I'll wait for a true specialist to teach me." she glanced at her friend, sneaking a small smile. "I'm more interested in history parts and elemental things: visions, elemental reactions, elemental resonance and elemental immunity. Oh, information about wild creatures is also written in very interesting way!" she opened book again, to continue reading.

Harbinger only sighed.

"Well, if that's how it is, I'll let you have your fun. But now we should go and start packing up. Ship is arriving early tomorrow."

"Oh, sure. Let's go."