The wind was blowing through the trees. As the sun was lowering and the moon took its place, two people were speaking to each other somewhere in Mondstadt. As a red-haired man climbed up a tree, a bard with green hair played a tune on his lute, waiting for him at the highest branch.
As his song finished and the last sounds echoed into the gales, the dreams of an Archon could be heard by the citizens of Mondstadt, signifying the start of the Windblume Festival. The man who was with him heard this as he settled down next to them, gripping the branch beneath him tightly out of fear of falling. After some moments of silence between the two, one of them asked a question.
"Venti... What really is the Windblume?" The redhead asked. The sacred flower of the legends of Mondstadt, better known as the Windblume, represented the freedom that the Anemo Archon Barbatos stood for. The real Windblume flower had been lost to history, its name fading with each new rendition of its stories by each new generation of Mondstadtian story tellers and scholars.
"Ah, the Windblume. I believe that you shall find out that this flower you seem to be looking for is, in fact, not really a flower after all. Rather, the Windblume is an analogy for a prophecy, one given by the one and only Archon of Prophecy herself, of course." Venti replied to the other one. Though he was the vessel of Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, his memory had not been so easy to wear away as the memory of humans did. After all, he had been the one to first tell them about the Windblume.
"The Tsaritsa was in a sort of in between state at the time she delivered the Windblume prophecy. She was unsure as to whether she would continue living out her days as the Archon of Love, or if she should carve out a new path for herself as the Archon of Prophecy. And so, I was the one to give her an idea. If she could make a prophecy relating to love, perhaps it would give her the closure to move on with her life. And so, she created one." He continued.
"And what does this have to do with the Windblume?" The red-haired boy looked back at him. So far, he had not been following the things which the other man had been saying at all. Though he had been well taught about the history of his people, hearing the stories from someone who had seen them all caused quite a bit of confusion for him.
"I will get to that point in time, my friend. Now, her prophecy... She created one which outlined my future love life. One day, I would wake up from a sleep, one which would have lasted for several centuries before this event. I would meet someone who hailed from another world, and battle one of the Four Winds. There would be two warriors by my side as I did this. And I would fall in love with one of them, and they would return their feelings and become my lover. They would be the only one who would listen closely to my songs, and the only one to decipher their true meanings. They would learn of the true history of Mondstadt in this way. And one more thing about this person... Well, he would have red hair as well. So, does this person sound familiar to you?"
The man gasped and looked at the other with shock. "So what you are telling me is... The Windblume is a prophecy, not a flower? Then in that case, what about the stories which wouldn't make sense without a flower? There is simply no way that history could be twisted that badly, even after thousands of years of being passed down from generation to generation."
"Well, I was just about to get there, but you so gracefully interrupted me for a second time. The answer to this one is simple, really. The prophecy stated that the favourite flower of my future lover would be declared to be the Windblume flower. So, in that case the true Windblume is Small Lamp Grass." He told the other one with a flourish of his holy lute.
"My, my... This is all just a bit too hard to believe. You, and me? Soulmates? It is all simply too much... How is one supposed to accept this so easily? I thought that you were a good friend. nothing more. But the prophecies say otherwise..." He panicked, losing his grip on the branch they were sitting on and nearly falling, holding on to a patch of leaves at the last moment.
"Oh, Diluc. So easily upsettable! So unlike your brother, who could turn a blind eye to a burning city and not have a care in the world. Do not fret, there is no need to fulfill the Windblume prophecy so quickly. Take your time to sort out your feelings for me. The prophecy did not state how long it would take for you to reciprocate. There is no reason to rush things. I promise that I will stay patient with you and that I will stand by your side, no matter how much time it takes. I will always be Venti, and you will always be Diluc. That will never change."
"I do suppose that you have a point, the Windblume prophecy did not state the time after all... I just... I am unsure as to how much time it will take for me to sort out my feelings." Diluc confessed to the other one.
"And that is completely alright! Like I said, I will always be right by you, waiting for you. As one of my old friends told me once, every journey has its final day. Don't rush."
And so they stayed up for hours on end, simply being with one another, not as friends of as lovers, but as themselves.
