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#1 venlumi: lovers' oath

“... Tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens.”

“Oh.” Venti hums, as if he isn’t disturbed by the idea she might leave Teyvat for good the following day. “I assume you’ve already said farewell to all your friends?”

Lumine silently nods.

“I’m the last one, then?” His smile is still as joyful as ever. “To what do I earn the honor?”

“Maybe because you’re the first person I met in this world…?” A vague answer turns into a rhetorical question. “I also want you to be my last… I think.”

She slightly bites her lip, doesn't know why she becomes so nervous. Maybe it’s because his hand is holding hers ever so tightly, or his always understanding smile blooms so brightly across his face, making her heart race crazily in her chest.

However, those melancholy eyes say otherwise.

Lumine, more than anyone else knows how deeply she fell in love with Venti, she just can’t bring herself to say it out loud. Not when she doesn’t know if he feels the same. Not when this love may just become a burden on his shoulder. Not when she will leave this world eventually, and might never come back.

“Please don’t cry, my warrior.”

Lumine startles when his hand falls down on her cheek, wipes away the tears that have already formed in her eyes. That loving gesture makes her chest throbbing even more since it cruelly reminds herself that she may never feel this warmth ever again.

He carefully strokes her face once more, then slowly steps back and murmurs.

“Mind if I play a tune?”

Lumine’s surprised by the unexpected request, but she nods anyway. Even though she is so sure that his angelic voice will make her sobbing even worse.

Having her agreement, Venti silently hums. He brings his hand forward to call the lyre she's grew so familiar with. His slender fingers trail through the strings, making a foreign melody that she realizes she has never heard before.

She opens her eyes. None of the tunes from him that she hasn't listened to.

But his silvery singing instantly makes Lumine lose her train of thoughts.

"There was this so-called bard
he wandered from place to place.
With wine he lived,
and with songs he played.
His words traveled far and wide,
People praised him for his songs 
and the truth he conveyed.

But at places away from prying eyes
He'd sang a tune
for tales of old
for ashen grief
for the truth untold,
for his friend who'd sorely gone.
For long,
His sorrow became distraught.
With the solitude he held
and the aching price he cost. 

But everything took its turn
when a star fell down, 
right into his embrace.

The star came from another world
which was far-far away.
She had met countless people
ready to die, or even kill to make her stay
But! To their dismay,

there was only one who met her gaze.

And he, too, forthwith fell for her grace.
Although her wings were lost
and her power then was erased,
but with his wind she flied
and once again saved the day!

She decided to travel the foreign world
Not unknown, except for her brother - at the time was lost.
But this time,
she carried anew ardor
and her fate that had once again recrossed.
She was brave for her companion's sincere guide
And of course,
with the bard she dearly loved beside.

But she was scared,
when her journey came to an end,
everything she got
would be painfully tied.
She was a star
One's used to freely traveling through worlds,
with no ties.
But now, she thought about her dear bard
who might eventually slide by
She fell apart, 
as she cried.

Yet,

as lovers’ tears perpetually run through sore eyes
as an oath swore to last for evermore
as the wind eternally blows above sea side,

Remember, love.

At every moonlit 
and moonless night,
the bard will look at glistening skies.
He'd play the sincerest song
before longing 
for his own starlight."

"Will you do me a last favor, my starlight?"

The bard whispers and for a moment, she thought she was drunk. Losing in the surreal song, she doesn’t realize he has been so close. His smell is intoxicating, filling her lungs with the familiar scent of fresh cecilia and dandelion wine. His voice is soft, tender next to her ear. His breath is subtle as a spring breeze brushing against her lips.

A tear sheds down her cheek, and she closes her eyes.