The two siblings walked up to the entrance of the Estate and greeted the guard standing by. Lumine was already familiar with him, they had met on multiple occassions, but Aether had, of course never seen him before. The guard, Hirotatsu, asked them of the purpose of their visit and refered them to Madarame when the Traveler stated that they were there to pay a visit to Ayaka.
As soon as they passed the entrance and were about to take a turn to the left to approach Madarame, the housekeeper of the wealthy family noticed them and waved at Lumine while jogging to reach them. That was another face the former Abyss Prince wasn't familiar with. The world around him was vastly different compared to how it was when he traveled across it with Dainsleif, he noticed that much earlier that morning in Inazuma City, but all the new people he saw reminded him of the fact that he had perhaps spent way too long in the depths of the Abyss.
Aether was snapped out of his trance when his sister introduced him to this tall, blond guy standing before them, after giving him a warm hug.
"I guess I should do the introductions. Thoma, this is my brother, Aether. Aether, this is Thoma, the housekeeper of the Estate and close friend of the Kamisato family." Said the traveler, rather awkwardly may I add.
"Your brother?! I didn't know you had found him, congratulations Traveler!" The young guy, whose name is apparently Thoma, replied to Lumine, before facing Aether and extending his hand for a handshake. "As the Traveler said, I'm Thoma. Your sister has mentioned you a lot, it's an honour to finally meet you."
Aether took Thomas' hand in his and shook it. "The honour is all mine, Thoma." They soon let go of each other's hands and Thoma averted his gaze back at the Traveler.
"So what brings you back here? We haven't seen you around in a while, did you want to visit Lady Ayaka?" Either the housekeeper was good at guessing or Lumine had been visiting the Kamisato Estate mostly for Ayaka's sake. Aether assumed that the latter was true.
"Ha ha, you know me so well. So, is she here?" The Traveler inquired as she was playing with her hands nervously in front of her.
"Of course! The Lady is practicing her swordsmanship right now. Let me take you to her." With that, the reliable housekeeper lead the twins to the other side of the porch, where they saw Ayaka swinging her sword gracefully, not even batting an eye at their direction as she was too engrossed in her polished movements.
"My Lady! You have visitors." Thoma called out to Ayaka, who halted her practice in response. She turned around to face the three of them and the second her eyes made contact with the Traveler's, the sword she held slipped past her fingertips and onto the ground as she ran toward them. Lumine took a few steps forward with a smile tugging at her lips and caught the Princess, who fell in her arms for a hug, something they both had missed tremendously.
It had been a very long time since the Traveler's last visit and Ayaka was starting to think they'd never see each other again. Nothing could compare to the happiness she felt as she saw Lumine, alive and well. Actually, scratch that, hugging the Traveler made her way happier than just seeing her a few feet away. That was the true peak of her happiness. Feeling her friend's warmth on her skin and her soft hair on the side of her face was something the Shirasagi Himegimi had been dreaming about for a while. With her arms around the blonde's shoulder, Ayaka kept her eyes closed as she savoured the moment.
Meanwhile Lumine had a secure grip around Ayaka's waist, not knowing how else to express just how much she had missed her. Unlike the silver-haired girl in front of her, Lumine's eyes were wide open, the thought of a simple hug being so pleasant had never crossed her mind, yet it was happening. She could feel her heart beat uncharacteristically loudly in her chest, paired with a feeling she was unfamiliar with in her stomach. Was that what they called 'butterflies in one's stomach'?
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.
"No, I still have a lot of chores to do around the house. Are you familiar with Inazuma City at all? I can give you some recommendations?" His offer wasn't as good as having a tour guide, which is pretty much what Aether was hoping for, but it would have to do.
"That's a shame. I've only been in the city once so, yea I could use some recommendations." While Aether had visited the city before, that was centuries ago and the changes had been drastic. It was as if it was a completeley different place. With that, the knowledgeable housekeeper started listing off places all over the city that Aether simply had to visit. Apparently, Thoma's favourite location was the Komore Teahouse as he emphasized on it pretty heavily to ensure that Aether would remember to check it out. He tried to keep in mind as many of those places as possible, but the blonde boy feared that he would have forgotten most of them by the time he reached the city. When Thoma finally reached the bottom of his list of recommendations and ideal destinations, the two parted ways, with Thoma going back inside to finish his work for the day, and Aether opting to follow a path instead of teleporting to the city. He just needed to pass time and a great way to achieve that would be taking the scenic route.
Back to the two lovebirds, as soon as the boys gave them some space, they dived right into each other's embrace and remained in that position for a few minutes. Lumine had been the first to pull her arms back to her sides, looking lovingly at Ayaka. "How have you been?"
"It's been lonely without you around but I've been managing. What about you? Are things with your brother all cleared now?" Another wave of guilt washed over the Traveler hearing that. She really had no intention of leaving Ayaka for so long.
"Yea, Aether and I are doing well. I wanted to visit sooner but I couldn't. I really couldn't. But, this was the last time I leave." The Traveler noted how the silver-haired girl's eyes widened in shock before she spoke. "Really? You're going to stay in Inazuma?" The Shirasagi Himegimi couldn't believe what she heard. She was almost certain that the Traveler had come to bid her goodbye forever, yet she heard the exact opposite. Said Traveler only nodded with a smile on her lips. A smile that would probably never leave Ayaka's mind. A smile that made her heart skip a beat on a pair of lips that Ayaka found herself looking at for a bit too long. A pair of lips she dreamt of kissing and feeling against her own. Those were thoughts she couldn't bring herself to say out loud, but she couldn't stop them from invading her train of thought either.
"That's great, we'll be seeing each other more often then, right?" After the initial surprise got washed away, bliss took its place. A look of absolute joy was evident on the Princess' face, a look that Lumine had never seen on her face before. Perhaps Ayaka had never felt this happy and if she did, it was long before the met the Traveler. "But you had said you and your brother would leave for another world after you reunited; what happened?" She continued.
"I should be asking you what happened. You sound as if you don't want me to stay." The Traveler teased, with a mischievous smirk making it painfully obvious that she was simply jesting.
"Come on, you know I don't mean it like that." Replied the silver-haired lady after stifling a smile and lightly and playfully hitting her blonde friend on the arm.
"I know, I was kidding" The Traveler admitted. "But, seriously, it's all good. Aether and I just got attached to this world and some people and decided to stay here. By the way, I have a gift for you."
"A gift? What for?" The Traveler sure liked surprising Ayaka, her staying in Inazuma was more than a gift on its own.
"I said I was going to make it up to you, didn't I?" The blonde's question took her back to the short conversation they had some minutes ago. At that moment, Ayaka didn't think much of it because of her excitement. "You didn't have to get me anything." She answered timidly, glancing off to the side.
"I wanted to, though. I saw this and I thought you'd like it." She told Ayaka and presented her the small bag from the souvenir shop. She tore her gaze from the ground and looked at the little bag before taking it in her hand and thanking the Traveler politely.
"Come on, open it. I want to see you wear it." The Traveler encouraged her and saw her pull out the tiny box from the bag and open it. A gasp left the Princess' lips when she saw what was hidden in the box. Saying it was a beautiful piece of jewellery would be an understatement, she hadn't seen a necklace so beautiful before. Or maybe it wasn't really that stunning, but the fact that it was a gift from the Traveler made it special. Seeing her awe-struck face made Lumine nervous; she began to worry, thinking that the present wasn't to Ayaka's taste. "You can always have it changed if you don't like it." She mentioned nervously.
"I don't just like it, that's for sure. It's gorgeous, Traveler, I love it." She took the necklace between her fingers and brought it up closer to her face to inspect it better, admiring its beauty. "This is the best gift I've been given. Thank you so much!" She finally turned back to Lumine to express her gratitude. Seeing her so happy over a single piece of jewellery made the blonde happy as well. If her finances allowed it, she would get her presents every day, just to catch her reactions.
Ayaka removed the necklace she was currently wearing to replace it with the Traveler's present, but as she she was about to put on the new necklace, Lumine decided to assist her. "Let me help you." Ayaka assented and turned around, moving her long, silver hair out of the way and over her shoulder, to ease the Traveler. She saw the necklace, dangling from the blonde's hands, pass in front of her before it settled on her skin. Right after, she felt Lumine's cool fingers at the back of her neck, as the Traveler evidently struggled to clasp the piece of jewellery. Unfortunately for her, the pleasantly cold sensation left as soon as it came and she turned around to face the blonde again. "How does it look?"
The Traveler was almost at a loss for words from this little interaction, but she had to snap herself out of her trance to respond to Ayaka. "It looks perfect on you."
The Princess looked down at the necklace seemingly to see how it looks on her. In reality, that was only an attempt at hiding the red tint that covered her cheeks. She took the necklace in her palm to feel it as she thanked Lumine for the compliment.
After this, the two of them sat side by side for quite a while, talking about anything and everything that transpired while they were apart, occasionally laughing and playfully nudging each other. At some point, the housekeeper and the Commissioner, Ayato, wanted to check up on them and as soon as they saw the two ladies so content, they decided against disturbing them and headed back inside, hand in hand, to resume a board game they had started.