Genshin Impact | "The Last Night in Aaru Village" | Alhaitham x Lumine

A Force in Teyvat, Part 3

A Force in Teyvat, Part 3

In a span of a few days, Tighnari was able to help Lumine regain the strength of her muscles so that she was now able to eat and change clothes unassisted as well as stand and walk all by herself. He had constructed a rigorous routine therapy that would help speed up her recovery which they followed strictly.

The news of her alleged resurrection from the dead had spread like wildfire in Sumeru and probably throughout Teyvat. People who had seen her with Tighnari or some of the doctors from Bimarstan had given her curious looks, some of them looked genuinely happy, others seemed weirded out, but majority were probably apathetic, the Traveler believed. Everybody was busy discussing about the red sky and the sandstorms and how it had finally completely cleared in the desert region. She was thankful that this news eclipsed her miraculous return to life. Lumine herself had seen the red sky rolling back and it was gone during the span of her therapy with the forest ranger.

She squeezed the ball in her hand as Tighnari watched closely. They were in the rehabilitation area of Bimarstan, an open hospital in the Sumeru City.

"You're almost fully recovered," Tighnari said amiably. "You practically don't need my help anymore."

"Thank you, Tighnari," she said as she laid down the ball on the desk beside her bed.

"News has it that Cyno and the others are arriving to the city some time today. He had said so through a Dusk Bird to the Akademiya."

The Traveler's heart leapt. "Is... is Alhaitham arriving with them?" She knew they were able to retrieve his unconscious body in the Khaj-Nisut and were on the way to the city through the forest ranger but she wanted to make sure.

"Yes. Hmm... I feel like you already asked this question before," he said.

"Has he woken up already?" she followed up.

"Yes. Cyno says he seems to be just fine, though I would suggest that he get himself checked by doctors just in case." He looked at her considerately. "You seem to be awfully interested in him," he remarked.

Lumine didn't respond, instead she looked at her hands nervously. She wondered if she would be able to hold back once she meets him. Her heart yearned for him so much she couldn't wait to see him again even if she had to keep her promise to Nahida. 

The Dendro Archon had returned as she had promised a few days after their first heated discussion, and she made a mental jog on how the conversation went.

"Tighnari reported to me that your therapy is doing well." Nahida said as she sat on a chair next to her bed at Bimarstan.

"Yes," Lumine said quietly.

"I'm glad to see that you're calm now. Have you thought about what we talked about last time?" the Dendro Archon asked.

Lumine fumbled with her hands then picked up the ball on her bed side table. It was true that she thought alot about what the Archon had requested. At the start, she was adamant at informing Alhaitham and revealing her identity to him as soon as he arrives to the city but as days went by her resolved started to waver.

She heard from fellow patients in the hospital how families in the desert were torn apart, their homes decimated, the little life left in that region, from pets to crops, killed due to the sandstorms. Fear had flooded the people of Sumeru during the time of her absence. A child confined next to her bed had said she sustained her leg fracture from the stampede in the Grand Bazaar because people were panicking during the time the red sky was spreading. Lumine felt awful for what these victims had to go through. Guilt was eating her knowing these people suffered because Alhaitham tried so hard to bring her back from the Eternal Dreamland. And who's to say he might not commit the same mistake in case something happened to her again? She realized the Archon was right to be concerned; she understood why she wanted her to keep their past a secret.