Tell me, are you an idiot?..

      The waves gently enveloped her thin feet as Lumine walked barefoot along the sandy shore. Despite the soothing sounds of the water, the girl looked anxious — her thin eyebrows were drawn together at the bridge of her nose, her lips were pursed, and her thoughtful gaze was filled with sadness, which had already become permanent over the period of long wanderings. Usually, she carefully hides it, making her eyes shine with happiness in moments of even the lightest joy, but at this moment the Traveler was like an open book.       Of course, she was wandering here for a reason: in the Guild she was assigned to deal with a gang of Treasure Hunters who were plotting something large-scale and obviously not very good. She would have dealt with them quickly as always, but the case was connected not only with Hunters known throughout Teyvat, but also with the Abyss Order. Moreover, it is very closely related. When Lumine and her faithful companion found themselves in a dungeon where an experienced thief was supposed to be, they beheld a terrifying picture: in the center of a dark hall an upside down statue was suspended from the ceiling and a man was sitting in front of it in a prayer pose. Unfortunately, he was already cold.       “This statue, Dainsleif, a dead thief and… Aether.”        The blonde girl sighed, remembering the meeting with her brother, which didn’t go as she would like at all.       “Oh… Why is it that every time I think I’m getting one step closer to understanding everything, I only have more questions?”       Lumine stopped at a stone and, sitting down on it, ruffled her hair with annoyance, from which due to such a sudden movement a white flower fell out and smoothly landed on the sand. The girl tucked her legs under her and buried her face in them, but finding no consolation in this she looked up at the sky. She was unlucky, because the desire to look at the constellations was also unsuccessful — the evening was surprisingly cloudy. However, thanks to this, she was able to notice the missing hairpin, pick it up and, shaking it off a little, begin to fumble thoughtfully.       Lumine would have sat looking at the delicate petals of the Inteyvat all evening if she hadn’t heard the distant sounds of battle. With thoughts that someone might need help, she resolutely got up from her place and examined the nearby territories: she walked along the beach to the north of Liyue Harbor, so it was not difficult for her to see the hilichurls camp at Yaoguang Shoal, where colored flashes appeared and disappeared every now and then — obviously, a couple of mitachurls with fire axes joined the battle.       “I don’t know who and why decided to take a walk in such a dangerous place in the evening, but I should hurry up”       There was no time for long thoughts, because she had to run one or two kilometers on the sand and, preferably, as fast as possible. Figuring out in advance how to win so as not to get abrasions — and Lumine is sure that she will not be well if the long-asleep Paimon finds out about the secret walk and the upcoming fight — the Traveler lowered her gaze to the sand under her feet, missing the moment when water flashes appeared in the crowd of monsters and the sounds of battle stopped.       And here she comes to the hilichurls camp: her cheeks are flushed from running, her legs are aching, and sweat is actively flowing down her back.        "Oh, don’t be stubborn!" there is an effort in the man’s cheerful voice, and Lumine, who did not expect that her help was no longer needed, looks around curiously in search of the source of the sound.       "Come on, get in here and then I won’t hurt you!" this voice, which seems painfully familiar, as if trying to persuade someone…       An amazing picture appears before the girl who carefully rounded a small hut: there was not a single hilichurl left in the camp and it was not clear whether they had run away or had already managed to disintegrate. And near one of the devices that they left and which is usually used to keep pyro slimes inside is none other than the Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui, diligently stuffing the cryo slime into a kind of trap. Noticing someone else’s presence, the young man turns around, continuing his fascinating occupation and blowing off a lock of hair stuck on his forehead with the air of a man completely confident in his abilities.        "Oh! The Traveler!" a joyful exclamation was heard. Lumine twisted her face in incomprehension and contempt, recognizing Tartaglia, with whom she had recently fought. "Holy Archons, don’t look at me like I’m the most vile creature in the whole Teyvat!"        "I’m sorry, I prefer to react to people the way they deserve" the girl quipped, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at the Harbinger with suspicion.        "Fair enough, haha…" The young man replied, after which there was an uncomfortable silence.       Tartaglia awkwardly scratched the back of his head and looked at his boots, stubbornly refusing to meet the Traveler’s gaze. Cryo slime, with whom the young man had recently talked, tried to jump away from these two, but Lumine, who tired of awkwardness, pointed at the elemental creature with her finger and almost indifferently remarked:       "It seems that your previous interlocutor is about to escape. Aren’t you going to stop him?.."       "Oh! Sure!"       While Childe was running after the innocent slime, the Traveler watched him and mentally laughed at the whole situation:       “M-yes, I doubt that this is part of another grandiose plan of the Tsaritsa…”       "By the way, Childe, what are you doing?" Lumine asked when the young man returned with his icy prey in his hands.       "Oh, I’m really glad you asked!" it seems like the girl’s phrase was not particularly friendly, but Tartaglia was inspired anyway, "You know perfectly well," he began to explain what was happening with enthusiasm, at the same time setting a trap with a cryo slime (which already somehow turned out to be there) in the middle of a small lake,"that winters in Li Yue are the same as summer in the Snezhnaya, and it’s just incredible for me: the locals don’t have any weather diversity! You can’t play snowballs here, you can’t build snowmen… and I missed ice fishing so much! So, well… in general..." Child hesitated once again and it seems even blushed a little, but this time he was looking at the Lumine, not on the sand. He did not see the expected disdain in her eyes — apparently, the Traveler had already realized that he was not here for Fatui’s business, but for personal reasons.       Tartaglia was glad that the girl did not treat him as categorically as usual, but he was also a little surprised by her calm, if not tired behavior. He thought for a long time about how such a strong and unusual Traveler, noted by him as a capable warrior and a good person, would treat him after the battle with Osial, in which, in fact, he was to blame.       "Wait, wait…" Lumine looked at Tartaglia in bewilderment, trying to understand his strange idea, and starting to smile at the corners of her lips. "So you just cut out the hilichurls camp, were working hard to stuff a cryo slime into this thing, and then dragged it to the middle of the lake just to… Arrange ice fishing?"       With each word spoken, the Traveler’s smile grew wider, and now the girl could barely contain her laughter.       “Just think! The great Harbinger of Fatui, the storm of bloody battles is trying to negotiate with slime in order to go fishing! Pha-ha-ha!” — Lumine laughed sincerely and kindly in her head, but outwardly tried to remain calm, however, she obviously did not do well.       Childe noticed how the girl’s bright eyes were beginning to sparkle merrily and involuntarily smiled. The young man understood that he must look ridiculous, but he was sincere in this absurdity, so he was not going to hide it. At least not from the Traveler.       "Oh, come on!" Tartaglia threw up his hands in an indignant gesture and a slight blush covered his cheeks. He was still embarrassed by his openness and hurried to say something justifying and convincing, "Loving ice fishing is not bad! Everyone tends to miss home and… and… and yeah!" “That’s how it always happens — you try your best, but it turns out much worse than it was before…” — in his thoughts the young man complained about his awkwardness, which appears in moments of sincerity. He, like many men of Snezhnaya, wanted to appear in front of others in all his harsh and brutal beauty, but in some situations for some reason he showed what he often hid even from himself — sensitivity and tenderness, which are characteristic of almost all residents of an ice-covered country.       The Traveler began to laugh, unable to stand it and trying to cover her mouth with her palm, and the mask of calm, which she had not taken off for a long time, fell and crashed with a thud on the stones washed by the Sea of Clouds. Childe, who had been watching Lumine all this time, froze in amazement and delight, because the most charming girl he had ever met was standing in front of him and laughing sincerely. His heart skipped a beat when the wind, as if playing, got into the Traveler’s hair and a slight blush appeared on the girl’s delicate, once pale cheeks from laughter.       “It’s like she’s glowing from the inside,” — Tartaglia thought, smiling involuntarily. At the beginning, when Lumine first came, he noticed that something was wrong with her and was a little worried, but now the girl was so sincerely happy that any worries and doubts faded into the background. Summoning all his willpower into a fist, Childe asked directly, hopefully:        "Do you want to stay and sit here with me?       Lumin’s eyes widened slightly at the unexpected question and, embarrassed, she looked away. In fact, she really needed company right now, she just wouldn’t admit it to herself for anything. But, since Childe himself asked, the girl saw no point in refusing. With a quick nod, she decided to arrange small seats for them on the ice and hurriedly retreated to the hut of the hilichurls to hide her cheeks that were no longer slightly flushed. Childe, who did not expect such a quickness from the Traveler, at first wanted to go after her to help, but then he realized what was the matter, and, smiling like a man completely pleased with himself, went to get fishing supplies that he had left some time ago on the ground to join the battle.       They arranged a resting place in comfortable and a little embarrassed silence: the Traveler found small bales of hay and placed them on the ice so that it was comfortable to sit, and Childe, from time to time looking at the girl with interest, made a hole in about the middle of a small space with frozen water and installed a fishing rod holder next to her. Soon the preparations were over, the young man began to fish, and the girl sat next to him, immersed in her thoughts. After several minutes of thoughtful silence on both sides, Tartaglia said in a quiet but serious voice:       "I would have intervened if people were in real danger."       "Eh?" Lumine, tearing herself away from the sad memories of her brother that had come over her again, did not immediately understand what the young man was talking about.       "I’m talking about the battle with Osial. Back then, I tried to lure Geo Archon out to take his Gnosis, but I don’t want you to think that for the sake of the Tsatitsa’s goals, I’m ready to just kill the innocent residents of Li Yue. If no one could protect them, I would have stopped the Archon of Whirlwinds myself."       The Traveler looked at Childe, but he did not turn to her in response — his gaze went into the void, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and the corners of his mouth with some hidden resentment drooped down. "Honestly," Lumine began softly, "I was very sad when I realized that you were hiding a lot of important things from us, I felt even more devastated after our battle, and this case with the awakening of Osial seemed to be a finishing blow. I was very angry with you the moment I realized that Li Yue’s current troubles were your doing."       With each word, Tartaglya’s face became darker and sadder — it was unpleasant for him to hear about his actions now, but for some reason he felt good when he committed them directly, and he did not think about the consequences then, being in some kind of crazy, not fully studied by himself flow of emotions.       "But, you know," Lumine continued her thought, "no matter how unpleasant it was for me, I couldn’t really hate you or, at least, dislike you. Yes, of course, I could no longer be as trusting as I was at the beginning of our acquaintance, but I never felt resentment towards you or a desire to harm you. For some reason, my brain refuses to judge people by their actions, and you are no exception. I know, in some regions of Teyvat they say that a person should be judged by his deeds, but isn’t it strange? Why not look at a person as a person? After all, the human essence, so-called soul itself is much more important, isn’t it? Any actions can be given so many different meanings that they stop showing anything. In addition, in the case of Osial, I do not know any details, no motives, nothing at all that may concern your soul. Therefore, I do not consider this act significant for judgments about you as a person. Looking at your human nature, I see a good and kind young man who just sometimes does not very good things. But you’re never going to be really bad, that’s what I think. You are such a lively person, filled with feelings, experiences and thoughts, that I simply cannot consider you bad. I can’t, that’s all. Your ideas sometimes surprise, and your behavior confuses, you may want to seem cool at times, but you often fail and from the outside it looks charming, in my personal opinion, and…"       Lumine, thinking and leading her monologue, involuntarily lowered her eyes and began to gesticulate, but while pronouncing the last phrase, she looked in the direction of Tartaglia and fell silent. Childe sat and looked at the Traveler with the look of a contented, well-fed and warmed cat, obviously waiting for further praise.        "Hey, you didn’t say that only to make me flatter you, did you?" Lumine asked with her hands on her hips and indignantly furrowing her eyebrows trying to look menacing.       "Pha-ha-ha! Come on, beauty, of course not. I just relaxed and had fun!" Child was amused, but, paying attention to the confused seriousness of the Traveler, he continued more calmly and conciliatingly "Okay, okay, there’s no need to drill me with a look… Putting the jokes aside, I was really worried about your opinion of me, for some reason I really want to show myself from the best side in front of you…"       Tartaglia thought about it and blushed a little, not daring to say what he really wanted — the truth. Back when they had just met and were having fun together, the Harbinger noticed that the Traveler felt completely different from the ordinary people around him — there was an atmosphere of comfort and warmth around her, simple human warmth, which he really, really missed after joining Fatui. And he feels this warmth exclusively in the family circle.       "You know," exhaling, Child decided to continue talking, either succumbing to the sincerity and openness of this evening, or out of an exclusively inner spiritual impulse, "as a teenager, I often got into trouble, arranged fights, cursed and generally did everything to make the people around me disappear from my life and not see how low I was falling. I tried to make my close friends leave me, and they really left. I tried to make others turn away from me, and since then I have only seen their retreating backs. I tried to hurt my family so that they would disown someone like me, but… but they stayed."       The excitement in Tartaglia’s voice became more and more noticeable throughout the story, and the gaze directed at the water actually looked into the distant past. The Traveler carefully examined the young man, listening and hearing him.       "They stayed close, always ready to support and stand shoulder to shoulder with me. But then I didn’t notice their light, I was only annoyed by their stupid loyalty and perseverance. I wanted to shout about how idiots everyone around me is, how I hate this world, but seeing their sincerity and kindness, a lump rose in my throat and I restrained myself, subconsciously restrained myself so as not to hurt them too much. And then I would go outside the house, where there was no soft light from them that could contain my anger. And I fought, mercilessly fought with everyone who came to hand.       One evening, I started a fight again, but this time I overdid it — I hit one of the local troublemakers too hard and he lost consciousness. His team scattered, not knowing what to do, and the victim remained lying down, showing no signs of life. I was scared. Very scared. I was standing next to a man I might have killed. In a panic, I didn’t know what to do: I wanted to run away, as other teenagers did, but there was still a chance that the boy was alive. Dragging him to the threshold of the hospital, I put him next to the entrance and loudly called for help. And as soon as I noticed that someone was coming, I ran away and hid. I did not dare to go home, and only in the dead of night I got closer to observe what was happening.       I was sitting in the alley and looking at my hands — they still had someone else’s blood on them. It was cold. Not only physically cold. I saw how Dad was taken away by Fatui agents who were keeping order in our village, and I did not dare to return. It was still dark when, having plucked up the courage, I quietly went home. The light was on, making the room a pleasant, warm yellow color, the stove was flooded and heat radiated from it, and next to it, near the kitchen cabinet, my mother was standing in her favorite apron and kneading dough. As soon as I entered, she left her occupation and carefully, trembling slightly, came closer, looking at me with such a warm, tired and loving look that my heart ached. I wanted to say something to her, at least apologize, but there was a knot in my throat, and all I could do was just open and close my mouth, lowering my eyes to the floor and feeling tears coming. But suddenly I felt warm, warm and soft — my mother hugged me to her chest, rocking me to sleep and singing something, as when I was little. And I quietly cried somewhere into my mother’s collarbones, not daring to touch her and hug her back with my dirty hands.       I realized that family warmth, this gentle light is what I want to protect at all costs, what I will fight for."       Lumine listened to Tartaglia without noticing anything around her — she felt as if everything described by the young man was happening right now and it's not just remnants of the past. And she, just like the woman from Childe’s memories, wanted to hug and comfort that little sad boy. This boy, already grown up, sat right in front of her and looked into the distance, immersed in his own thoughts.       "You know, Traveler," Tartaglia said slowly and sincerely, "you also radiate this warm and gentle light."       “It’s now or never!” — flashed through the Traveler’s mind before she got up from her already settled place and, gently hugging, put Childe’s head on her shoulder. The young man, who did not expect this, at first wanted to rise up to look at the Lumine, but quickly realized that this would destroy the sincere idyll of the evening, and settled comfortably on the Traveler’s shoulder, nuzzling her neck somewhere. Tartaglia unconsciously reached for this softness and tenderness of the girl and closed his eyes, enjoying her warmth.       Embarrassed by her own behavior, Lumine ran her fingers through Childe’s hair with one hand and put her arm around his shoulders with the other, marveling at how easily they were able to establish a relationship and open up to each other.       “Maybe I just didn’t get the chance?” — the girl pondered unhurriedly, when Tartaglia’s strong hands gently wrapped around her waist and pressed her even closer to him. The young man sighed with annoyance:       "Dawn is coming soon…"       And indeed, the stars were becoming more and more invisible, and the sky was brightening, even if it still shone with a deep blue color.       "Mgm…" came the consonant and no less upset voice of Lumine, "But I don’t want to leave…" she added in a half-whisper after a couple of seconds, gently pulling away.       "Or maybe," Tartaglia began, and, pulling the Traveler back, rubbed his forehead against her shoulder, like a cat asking for affection, "we’ll stay here to live?"       Lumine laughed softly, covering her mouth with her hand.       "And what, will we learn hilichurl’s language and share this hut with them?" The girl asked with a smile, pointing to a small wooden building behind them.       "You’re reading my mind!" Child was inspired, "Oh, I can already imagine how the whole Teyvat will start gossiping about the fact that the Honorary Knight of Favonius, the one and only Traveler, was so tired of running commissions from the Guild that she left with grief to the hilichurls, who idolize her, because... how else! Pha-ha-ha!"       "What are you talking about, Child!" for the umpteenth time this night, Lumine laughed, "I will not be able to leave Paimon alone, and, believe me, she will not want to eat that suspicious meat that the hilichurls eat at all…"       "Well, okay, okay, I agree, it’s not such an idea, I’m also not eager to share a bed with hilichurls," Tartaglia said in a soft voice, smiling. He was still hugging the Traveler and nuzzling her shoulder, but unfortunately it didn’t last that long — he knew perfectly well that it was time to wrap up, because they were both already sleepy. The young man slowly pulled away when the Traveler reminded him that it was probably time for them to leave. Child, starting to collect fishing accessories, noticed that Lumine was trembling slightly — the morning was cool, cryo slime was nearby and she was sitting in only a light dress, so he threw his jacket over her shoulders, remaining in a burgundy shirt. The traveler was embarrassed, but did not refuse, wrapping herself more tightly in a thing too big for her.       Having gathered himself and turned to Lumine, Childe involuntarily smiled, succumbing to her charm: she was sitting and dangling her legs a little, and only the girl’s head with contentedly squeezed eyes, a wide smile and a blush on her cheeks could be seen from under his jacket. The huge thing looked very funny on her, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all, but on the contrary, it made her very happy.       After admiring the Traveler a little more, Tartaglia still broke the silence and said in a caring, warm voice: "Come on, I’ll walk you back."       Lumine opened her eyes and, nodding, jumped off her perch to move away — Child was going to release the cryo slime from the trap, which meant that the ice under her feet would melt quickly, so those who did not have time to leave it would have to swim in cold water. And this already frozen Traveler did not want at all. As a result, when slime went about his business, the ice began to melt and the heavy Tartaglia, no matter how hard he tried, still got his feet wet…       Under the cheerful squelching of the Harbinger’s boots, they returned to Li Yue Harbor, still openly talking to each other about the first thing that came to mind. The sun was gradually rising and two people walking along the beach understood perfectly well that there was no point in rushing home to go to bed — they wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.       The deserted streets of the city joyfully welcomed Lumine and Child, climbing the stairs from the port to the Feiyun Commerce Guild, next to which the Traveler and Paimon, as Liyue’s heroes, were temporary housing. Tartaglia could not miss the moment and complained that now he was being denied an apartment, so he had to sleep right in the Bank of the Northern Kingdom, next to his workplace, but Lumine only laughed maliciously at this, since the Harbinger himself was to blame for destroying the trust of local residents. However, the girl did not want to move on to heavy topics, and therefore she joked sweetly, saying that Child could sleep in their bathtub if he did not like the Bank so much, and the conversation flowed back into a jokingly light, and was interrupted only when the interlocutors reached their destination.       Once completely calm and open, Lumine and Tartaglia stood awkwardly at the girl’s door and did not know what to say. Neither of them wanted to lose such pleasant company, but neither could come up with any convincing excuse to stay, there were only reasons to . Lumine had to get back as soon as possible, since she left Paimon alone, and she would definitely start swearing if she didn’t find the Traveler next to her when she woke up, and Childe had to be at work very soon, because it starts early in the morning.       After saying goodbye quietly, they finally parted, both full of hope to meet again. It was only after closing the door behind her that Lumine realized that she had not returned Tartaglia his jacket, and, smiling slyly, thought:       “Well, that’s the reason to meet him next time”