Erison

Wind

Xiao felt the wind against his hair and smiled. It was chilly, but the smell of near-blooming sweet flowers graced him. Distant chatter of customers and workers below him. While sitting on top of Wangshu Inn wasn't the safest spot, it felt free. The tiles glazed his skin from under him, and the scent of fresh seafood being flickered around in Yanxiao's giant wok.

"Good view up there?" Asked a voice from below, disturbing Xiao's peace. He looked down and his eyes met a pair of ocean-blue ones. "I don't think it's exactly safe for a teenager to be up there,"

Xiao groaned and rolled his eyes. "I can handle myself,"

"I'm not saying you can't," chuckled the ginger, swatting his hand at imaginary fireflies. "Where's your family, kiddo?" Who cares? Xiao thought I'm old enough to be by myself anyways. The blue-eyed man frowned after he received no response other than silence. "Do you want something to eat? I can pay,"

That caught Xiao's attention. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten for a while. Normally Verr and Huai'an would feed him leftovers, but because Wangshu had been so populated as of late, they often forgot. He was about to say he didn't need the man's money, but his stomach betrayed him and growled at the idea of food.

Again, the blue-eyed man laughed. "Come, I'll get you something - what do you like?" Xiao bit his tongue. He wouldn't typically take food from strangers, but he knew Yanxiao would be the one cooking it, so what danger was there? He slid down the tiles - they grazed his skin a little as he did so, Xiao oddly liked the feeling - and landed next to the ginger. "I'm Childe, by the way,"

"Xiao."

"Xiao, hm?" Childe tilted his head for a second before nodding. "That's nice, it suits you,"

With the open blue skies over them, Childe followed Xiao as he walked to the most discreet table. "A loner, mm?"

"I'm not alone-"

Xiao was cut off by the other's giggles, gently placing a hand on Xiao's head. "Feisty - you remind me of my brother," anger shifted to confusion, and Xiao whacked away the hand on his head.

"Don't touch me,"

"Okay, okay, sorry," Childe pulled up a chair and crossed his legs. "Now, what do you want to eat?"

Xiao blushed with embarrassment.

Would it be strange to ask for plain old almond tofu? It was just tofu, a side dish at best. He normally couldn't eat much else, he'd puke up anything that wasn't light.

"Almond tofu..." he mumbled, hardly audible for Childe - thankful, he dealt with his siblings enough to understand what Xiao said. He raised an eyebrow and waited for a few seconds, seeing if that was truly all Xiao wanted before nodding and getting up.

Xiao enjoyed the peace once again. The closest this place would ever get to silent. The wind howled through the plains, brushing against the wildflowers below. He closed his eyes, just to focus how it felt and how it smelt.

"I'm back," Childe announced, retaking his chair. Xiao didn't reply. "Why tofu, wouldn't you have rathered something more hardy? And less... side dish-y?" He asked.

"It's one of the only things I can stomach," Xiao replied honestly. "If something is too heavy, I normally puke it all up," Childe hummed and nodded.

"Where I come from, everyone tries to make a meal as heavy as possible to carry them through the day,"

Huh. That made sense, Childe didn't look like he was originally from Liyue, everything from his name to his clothes, to his hair colour made that obvious and Xiao felt stupid for not picking up on it before.

Childe had blue eyes too, which was abnormal for anyone in Liyue. They were cool looking. Like endless sky or sea, yet kind, the teasing type, sure, but kind. They seemed to shine extra bright in the sun. It made Xiao lower his guard, just a tiny bit.

"... Where are you from...?" Xiao mumbled. It was probably the first time he could recall ever trying to commit small talk and Archons it was the stupidest thing he'd ever done. He immediately wanted to smash his head into the table multiple times in a row.

What was he doing??

Childe smiled, "Snezhnaya," he replied happily.

Snezhnaya, huh? Xiao hardly ever thought about it. He hardly ever thought of places other than Liyue, because that was the only thing that really mattered to him, he had a contract after all. Maybe on a rare day, he'd see the storms in Snezhnaya, and he'd think about how lucky they were to actually get trade from Inazuma, but that was rare because he almost never left Wangshu Inn. Who could blame him? He slept under the sky whenever he wanted, he had protection from the elements if he ever needed it, if he felt hungry - which wasn't often - he'd simply ask Verr for a meal. Life was good.

He ordered what Snezhnaya was like, he wondered if the air felt the same against his skin and if the water tasted any different. He wondered what types of birds thrived and what animals hid themselves under snow.

Xiao had a love-hate relationship with snow. On one hand, he could actually eat it and enjoyed the beauty of it, on the other it was uncomfortable to stay in. Perhaps robes would be better suited for the snow.

Either way, Xiao had never experienced much snow, and never for long periods of time. He read that it was constantly snowing in Snezhnaya, that it was endless.

The wind ruffled Childe's hair from behind as he watched Xiao, expecting a response of some sort. "You'd like my brother," he commented after receiving no reply.