The snowbird and the Fallen stars
Even for ordinary travelers, moments of peace are scarce.
You would think travelers could mind their business as they go from nation to nation, wandering around without a destination but that unfortunately wasn’t the case. After having to fight off a rather large hilichurl camp, a certain traveler cursed their poor luck from their seat on a tree branch, leaning against the trunk in exhaustion.
“Fucking hillis…” They grumbled under their breath as their head bumped against the tree trunk. Thanks to the monsters they couldn’t take a nap on the ground anymore which would’ve been much more preferable to sleeping in a tree.
With the weather as nice as it currently was and the sun as bright and warm as ever, the traveler could hardly bring themselves to continue down the road leading to a certain city in the distance. Like a pampered house cat, all they wanted to do right now was to lay down on the grass and bask in the warm sun but after fighting off the hillichurls they knew it was no longer an option.
Now they stood in a small clearing, carefully observing the surrounding trees in order to find the best option. They didn’t want to wake up covered in dirt, leaves and bugs like last time, nor end up with tree bark in their hair. The process to clean everything up in the aftermath still made them shudder at the memory.
And so, it was as they were lost in thought while examining the trees that they failed to notice the sound of small footsteps running through the grass and heavy panting as someone, two of them, rushed forward in their direction.
Nor would they notice until there was a sudden thud.
The traveler turned around just as something burst through the bushes and their eyes met a pair of wide, terrified golden irises. Blinking in surprise, the traveler stood still from shock while the young girl who had appeared out of nowhere before them struggled to remain upright.
Just as the girl was about to fall over, the traveler snapped out of their daze and rushed forward, catching her just in time. But before they could even say anything, the first thing they felt was a violent shaking as they held a far too small and skinny body in their hands.
“Um…” They began carefully, chest pinching when that was all it took for the child to flinch away in fear. “Are you alright?”
Even continuing in a gentle and soft tone didn’t help, the girl only began struggling to escape their grasp with her focus entirely on something behind her. Setting her down carefully, they watched as she stumbled forward into the bushes once more with a trail of blood spurring them to follow.
Soon, they came upon another clearing, this time with a second child laying in the middle of it. As the girl stumbled over to them, who looked identical save for a slightly darker shade of blond hair and tied back into a braid, the traveler jolted in horror as they spotted a pool of blood forming underneath.
“Shit!” Without any regard for how the girl might react, they jumped forward, carefully flipping her brother (?) onto his back for a better look at the source of the blood.
Just as they suspected, the boy had a large open wound on his front, which was where the blood was coming from. However, what truly made them pause in absolute disgust was the sheer number of scars littering his dirty skin and only an equally dirty handkerchief tied around his tiny hand to cover just one of many injuries.
“What the hell…?!” They growled under their breath, a familiar rage building up in their chest at the sight and threatening to spill out despite their best efforts. Their grip on a roll of bandages tightened, squishing the white fabric as their knuckles turned white from the strain.
Who- no, how on earth could anyone do such a thing to a child?!
Whoever it was, they were in for it now once they managed to get their hands on-
“No!”
Startled cries from birds shooting into the air echoed along with the sudden shout, originating from the young girl they had all but forgotten about.
Startling enough to pull back, the traveler blinked as the girl threw herself over the boy, still trembling furiously but showing no sign of pulling away as she stared up at them with terror.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to,” She began rambling, so quietly they almost couldn’t hear as tears began to spill out and her voice shook just as violently as her body. “I’m sorry, we were wrong, we shouldn’t have done it, please don’t hurt my brother, he needs help, I’ll do anything please, please!”
“Hey, hey, it’s ok,” The traveler tried to soothe her in between sobs, their heart hurting horribly at the sight. They didn’t dare reach out at first, only watched as the child sobbed quietly, gasping and hiccuping while covering the boy as much as she could and her back becoming tight with tension.
“Sweetie, it’s ok, I’m not here to hurt you, I promise,” They continued quietly, wanting nothing more than to scoop her into a hug but all the clear signs of abuse meant they couldn’t do something so casually. “I just want to help your brother, he’s badly injured and needs help. It’s ok, I promise, I’m not going to hurt him.”
“Please…” Came on last whimper, once again almost non-existent before the girl buried her head in her arms and her shoulders tensed up as if she were expecting them to hit her.
“Shh…it’s ok, you’re safe now…” They continued to whisper, only now daring to reach out and gently place their hand on her head, wincing at the violent flinch they received in response. “I’ll help your brother, don’t worry, ok?”
By some miracle, they were able to slip her off of her brother, though the girl didn’t move and instead grasped the boy’s hand tightly. It would make things harder to work with but the traveler couldn’t bring themselves to say anything, not when the child was in such a state.
Fortunately, the wound wasn’t as bad as it seemed despite the wound and was only a bit deeper than normal. The process of applying first aid was done a lot faster than expected too and a half hour later the boy was starting to regain some color to his cheeks.
The girl had calmed down by then as well, with only the occasional sniffle heard throughout the silence. Her panic had worn her out significantly, they could tell with just one look, but she still forced herself to remain awake and vigilant over her brother.
As they finished cleaning up their scattered tools and supplies, the traveler found themselves wondering what to do next.
Their first instinct was, of course, to take the kids to the teapot with them so they could have shelter and safety for the time being. But they also knew convincing the kids to agree with such an offer wouldn’t be easy. Just because they agreed to help treat one of them didn’t make them completely trustworthy and after all the kids had likely been through, only Celestia knows how careful they had to be with who to trust.
Still, it didn’t sit right with them to simply give the kids supplies then send them on their way. True they had done something similar in the past with others, but those kids were all much older than the current pair and already quite experienced with surviving on their own.
Right now, the traveler’s best guess to the twins age was definitely below 10. Even if they were severely malnourished and likely shorter than normal, they still didn’t think they could be pre-teens at this point.
But they’d have to cross those bridges when the right time came. First things first, they needed to establish trust with the kids, or at least the girl, before anything else.
“So…” They began slowly as the girl flinched violently and her head snapped up straight to attention, staring at them with wide eyes once more. “If you don’t mind, could you tell me your name?”
The seemingly safe question made the girl tense, as something flickered in her eyes for a brief moment and her fingers twitched nervously.
“Ah…um…” She opened her mouth to speak but only a hoarse croak came out as it seemed she hadn’t spoken in a long time. Although her cheeks turned red from embarrassment, the girl quickly lowered her head as if in shame and continued trying until; “...Lumine. I’m…My name is Lumine.”
Her voice came as a quiet whisper, to the point of near silence had they not already anticipated this and strained their ears ahead of time.
“Lumine.” They repeated, humming thoughtfully and paying no mind as she flinched once more. “That’s a pretty name.”
“I don’t have any name to give you really…I mean I’m a traveler so I normally get called that but if I had to choose one, it’d be Roam. Because it’s short for Roamer, which I am.”
Silence.
“So if you don’t mind me asking, who or what exactly hurt you guys so badly?” They began after a moment of silence passed. Once again, they watched as Lumine turned white and she shakily avoided eye contact, hands folding nervously.
“If you don’t want to tell me or can’t then that’s fine. I just don’t want to leave you guys vulnerable if whoever you were running from finds you again.” They explained quickly, but to no effect.
Still, Lumine said nothing, only shrank into herself and shook horribly, the absolute terror in her eyes heartbreaking to see. With her current state of mind and brother still unconscious, they didn’t know how likely asking her to join them would be to succeed, especially if they tried to ask now. What’s more, they also wanted to talk things out with Dainsleif before deciding on anything like this but leaving the kids alone couldn’t even be considered.
Though there was someone they could call to keep an eye out while they hopped inside to explain everything but in case of emergency there wouldn’t be anything she could do.
But at the same time, would introducing someone new all of sudden have a positive effect on Lumine? She could already barely tolerate being around them, her brother being the only reason, but if someone else were to join…
“Roam!”
Both the traveler and Lumine were startled by the sudden shout coming from a small white-haired child who floated in the air with a trail of stars and dust following her from behind after popping into existence from literally nowhere.
“Paimon, what the heck?!” The traveler scolded in a hushed voice, eyeing Lumine to check on her state and wincing when they saw she had held her brother closer and tensed up again, trembling picking up as she stared in a mix of shock and fear at Paimon. “We talked about you doing that, remember?!”
“Yeah, Paimon remembers,” The pixie nodded nonchalantly then quickly shook her head frantically. “But that doesn’t matter! Paimon came to warn you of the people coming here from up ahead, there’s a ton of them and they look like they’re Fatui agents!”
“What? Are you sure?” The traveler asked, immediately alert as they jumped to their feet. “What’re they doing in the woods? I thought they were stationed in the city!”
Just as they asked those questions out loud, a sound caught their attention and they turned around to face someone with possible answers. If Lumine were pale before, now she was even paler, something they didn’t think was possible until now. Tears were beginning to form and threaten to spill out of her eyes again as she held onto her brother, stock still and frozen in place.
Even when the traveler took a step forward she didn’t react and her breathing began to pick up in speed as who knows what kind of horrible memories kept her rooted in place.
“Sweetie? Hey, hey it’s ok, you’re safe, remember?” The traveler called out, crouching in front of her and their hands fluttering around nervously as they tried to find something to do. “I’m sorry if Paimon scared you, she didn’t mean to do that.”
“N…” They blinked in surprise when a tiny sound came from Lumine and would’ve pulled back if she weren’t reaching out to hold the fabric of their shirt in her tiny hands, clutching onto them like a lifeline. “No…it’s not…n-not tha-at…”
While she struggled to speak and even make the slightest bit of sound, the traveler slowly removed their cloak and wrapped it tightly around the pair, checking the hood to make sure the spells were still in place.
“In that case…is it…the Fatui?” Their chest clenched painfully as the tiny horrified squeak Lumine made just at the name and wished they could do something to comfort her. With their free hand, the traveler made a few signs before ending with a nod which Paimon returned before picking up their bag and disappearing along with it.
“I…um…” Lumine tried to continue even as her breathing picked up and her voice shook far too much to even make a sound.
“It’s ok, you don’t have to force yourself,” The traveler murmured soothingly into her ear. “Take your time, I promise, I’m going to keep you-”
“Over here!”
Lumine made some semblance of a muffled scream when a fatui agent appeared in front of them and quickly yelled for the other members to join, the footsteps finally allowing her tears to burst through.
“Ah, too late.” The traveler muttered just as Paimon appeared above them once more. “Change of plans,” They called to Paimon in a whisper. “Make sure you tell Dain everything, alright?”
As more and more agents approached, Paimon couldn’t reply out loud but she made a quick salute before floating down to the twins. With both her hands on either one of the bundles, the pixie took a deep breath and disappeared into thin air with the blink of an eye, taking the twins with her.
As the last of her star trail disappeared, the traveler turned to face their opponents who all wore the unfortunately familiar masks of the Fatui.
Well, at least now they had a good reason to fight.
___________________________________________________________
Just like how all his days had been lately, Dainsleif woke up to peace.
Resting on a comfortable bed in a simple room, a young man opened his dark blue eyes to stare up at the ceiling in a daze, his mind still trying to comprehend something.
Things had been like this for quite some time now. He’d wake up as morning came and go about his time making a simple meal and finding something to do. No fighting, no training, not even the throbs of pain he’d felt for the past centuries existed any longer.
And today…
It was just like any other-
“DAIN!”
And down the drain it went.
The blond was sorely tempted to bury his head into a pillow and scream at the top of his lungs, the whole point being to muffle the sound in the first place. A good majority of him was tempted to remain in bed and ignore the frantic cries of the pixie who had just shattered his peace and quiet into pieces but the other part won out.
Rushing out of his room faster than intended, Dainsleif leaned over the railing to see Paimon fluttering around anxiously, a kind of panic he hadn’t seen her express before.
“What is it, sprite?” He asked from the railing, scaring Paimon into a small shriek.
“Ah! Don’t scare Paimon like that!” She scolded at first then quickly snapped back to attention. “Wait, no, nevermind that, you need to come outside, quickly! Roam found something and Paimon can’t handle it on her own!”
What? Dainsleif frowned as he followed the pixie out the doors and into the brightly-colored outdoors of the teapot.
Scattered all over the grass were a variety of furniture and what the traveler called ‘Furniture sets’ of a particular theme, with an adventurer’s tent located further away from the building. As Dainsleif ran after Paimon and drew closer, it wasn’t long before he spotted two heads of blond hair belonging to a pair of kids laying down underneath the shelter.
Now what Paimon said made sense. Of course, ordinary children were already strange and hard enough to understand, muchless get along with, but one look at the current pair and he could see why the traveler had Paimon bring them to the teapot.
Both were in horrible shape, severely malnourished and covered in dried blood. Fresh bandages he knew was the traveler’s doing covered a majority of their small bodies with scars littering the exposed skin.
He didn’t need to hear it from the traveler to know already what they wanted him to do. Stoic as he was, Dainsleif was in no way heartless but the problem was how long this would last.
How long did the Traveler intend to keep these kids around? They knew better than to consider bringing the kids on their shared journey, not when the path to their goal was so dangerous. But if the kids' parents couldn’t be found, would they attempt to bring them along anyways?
Boy was he looking forward to that conversation.