After The Ending [Ayalumi]

A brand new start

After some moments that felt longer than eternity yet shorter than a second, the two broke the hug and Ayaka was the first to speak. "Traveler, I missed you so much, I was starting to think something had happened to you. I'm so glad that you're back."

"I missed you too. I'm sorry I took so long to visit and for worrying you. I promise I'll make it up to you." She didn't dare look at Ayaka directly in the eye, her guilt weighted her gaze down to the ground.

"It's all alright now, what matters is that you're well and back. Before you make it up to me, why don't you do the introductions?" She spoke, while her gaze was trained onto Aether. The Princess could tell that this was the Traveler's brother, who she had been looking for all this time, the similarities between the twins were rather easy to spot, after all. That made Ayaka fear that the Traveler wasn't back just to visit her, but to bid her goodbye. She knew that the twins used to go from place to place and that Teyvat was nothing more than a world they stumbled upon. So, it was very possible that they were about to leave Teyvat in search for a new world to explore and that they had no plans of ever returning. This was a scenario that had been plaguing the Princess' dreams at night, a scenario she feared far more than death, a scenario she suspected was about to turn into reality.

"Of course. It's my brother, Aether. Aether, this is Ayaka." Once again, the Traveler did the introductions and noticed the way her twin was looking at Ayaka as if he was inspecting her, checking for any malicious intent. 

"It's good to meet you, I've heard lots about you through my sister." Lumine wasn't even surprised that Aether said that, aiming to embarrass her, she in fact expected him to say something of that sort. Thankfully, he didn't address her by her name. It's not like she wasn't planning on telling Ayaka that she has been using an alias, she just wanted to do so in private.

"It's great to meet you too, Aether." She replied in a bittersweet tone before the two shook hands gently. Then, Aether decided it was time for him to leave them alone. "While I'd like to stay longer, I've got some matters to take care of in the city though, so I should be going." The blonde obviously had no bussiness in the city, that was merely his excuse to leave the soon-to-be couple spend some time with each other. 

"That's a shame, we've heard so much about you, I was hoping you'd stay to chat for a while... Let me see you out at least." Said Thoma, but from the way he was looking at Aether, it seemed like he had caught on to Aether's plan and chose to play along. 

"That's truly a pity... You're welcome to visit us anytime." The Kamisato Estate's doors would always be open for the Traveler and that unwritten rule apparently extended to her family.

The twins quickly said their goodbyes and Aether left alongside Thoma, thus finally granting the two ladies the privacy they so desired.

"Do you really have bussiness to do or did you just say that to leave them alone? You can be honest." Seems like Thoma had indeed figured out that Aether was lying. "I just wanted to meet some of my sister's friends. I'm sure they want to talk alone, they haven't had the chance in a while, so why should I ruin it for them?" Aether's response contained nothing but the truth.

"I see. They seem to be having a good time." From where they were, they could see the two soon-to-be lovers in each other's arms. The two luxuriated in the other's warmth as they sat down on the wooden floor, legs dangling off the side while they took in the view ahead of them and each other's presence. The brother and housekeeper tore their gazes off the two girls when Aether broke the silence with a question. "Yea, they do. I think I'll go look around in the city. Do you want to tag along?" It's not like Aether had anything to do at that moment, so sightseeing appeared to be a pretty good option to him at that moment.