When the Stars Fall [Genshin Impact]

Chapter 11: To Liyue

When Kaeya shut the door you could only close your eyes and sigh deeply. That conversation was much too short for your liking, and although you rarely got mad at your brother, you did now.

He left so quickly. It was almost as if he had grown bored of the conversation. Of you.

Charles had left long ago, so you cleaned up the rest of the mess leftover from that night and headed home.

Diluc was still awake when you headed home, shut away in his office doing late night paperwork. He never seemed to be able to get rid of it.

He came out to see you sat down at the dining table with a book, ‘The Fallen Nation’ in front of you.

“Thank you for tending to the bar today, Y/N.”

“No problem,” you murmured in response.

“Shouldn’t you be getting to bed now? It’s getting quite late.”

“I could ask you the same.” Wait - no. That was what Kaeya had said. You were still replaying that conversation in your head.

“Paperwork. That can’t be avoided. But what you’re doing - it looks like it could wait until tomorrow.”

“Have you heard of the fallen nation of Khaenri’ah?” you blurted.

“…Khaenri’ah…” Diluc’s eyes narrowed. It was so subtle that you wouldn’t have noticed at all if you weren’t looking at him intently. He had long learned to hide his emotions, but sometimes his eyes gave him away.

“I don’t know anything of the sort. Is this from one of those light novels you’ve been reading?”

“Khaenri’ah. The eighth nation. Kaeya ignored my questions when I asked him.”

“As much as I would like to entertain you, Y/N, I do not have sufficient time right now. I only came down to check on you. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have things to attend to.”

“Diluc, there’s something both you and Kaeya aren’t telling me here.”

Diluc merely turned away and started to climb the stairs. “Goodnight, Y/N,” he said firmly.

And then he was also gone.

“A light novel!” You scoffed, retrieving ‘Flowers for Princess Fischl’ from your bag. It was childish to still read such books, wasn’t it?

Sometimes it felt nice to be a child again. If it wasn’t the odd fantasy novel, it was indulging in a shift in personality. Letting go of what you had to act and talk like around certain people.

You had been doing that a lot, recently. Breaking character.

You thought about how you talked to Fischl and Mona as you opened the book. They were people who saw you as the Lady of the Ragnvindrs. But they also saw you as your own person.

It wasn’t Diluc Ragnvindr’s younger sibling. It wasn’t the Dawn Winery’s next in line. Hell, it wasn’t even the girl who was stuck between two feuding brothers.

It was just Y/N. No Ragnvindr. Just Y/N.

And you thought about Fischl. The girl who roleplayed as the princess from another land. She enveloped herself in false reality. The adventurer who was fascinated with the night and the stars. Sometimes you envied her; you envied the girl who was able to live her childhood.

Abruptly, you shut the book.

***

“Good morning, Mona, Fischl, Oz.”

“Thank goodness you’re here!” Mona sighed as you walked towards the gathering at the Adventurer’s Guild. “Last night another meteorite strike happened.”