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mythicamagic · 6 months ago

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Kauaʻi ʻōʻō - a Xiaolumi oneshot

Rated G

Words: 2,500

Summary: Intrigued by the mournful birdsong that carries across Liyue's mountains, Lumine enlists the help of various friends to help her 'answer' the lonely call.

AN: This fic was originally created for the Xiaolumi Zine "Moonlight Rendezvous".

Kauaʻi ʻōʻō

When setting out for a commission earlier that day Lumine hadn’t really stopped to examine her party members. Sucrose had been traveling with her as a means of gathering more data on how Liyue’s mountainous terrain affected mint-leaf samples in comparison to those found in Mondstadt or Dragonspine. Before picking up her daily commissions list, they’d stepped inside Lumine’s Serenitea Pot and promptly found Faruzan and Zhongli inside; one having visited to pick up a book, the other to lounge around and enjoy free tea.

They’d both accepted her invitation to travel through Liyue for the day and help with the commissions, following Lumine’s lead as she scoured the terrain in search of a lost artifact.

That was how the Traveller came to realize she’d unwittingly picked up three of the most intelligent people she’d met in Teyvat.

If I don’t ask them now, I’d be letting this opportunity go to waste…

They were already near the location. It would just take a little more hiking.

Slyly leading her companions, Lumine glided down from Mt. Aozang toward lonely peaks. She made a show of using Elemental Sight, pretending to track the commission's lost artifact, touching down and climbing up the smooth rocks just below Qingyun Peak.

“M-might we- hah- stop for a rest?”

Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed Zhongli reaching down, offering a hand to a panting Faruzan. She accepted, allowing him to pull her up and over a ledge, huffing and adjusting her skirts with a flutter. “Thank you, young man. At least someone around here respects their elders.”

Zhongli blinked, giving a bemused smile. “Not at all.”

Opening her mouth to apologize, Lumine froze as a sound graced her ears. Lonely, long and mournful. She whipped her head around to look up at the lonely mountain peaks before them. By some miracle they’d made it on time.

Everyone in the group fell quiet at the noise. The sound- strange and foreign to their ears- repeated its sad song once more, allowing the rocks of the mountains to echo its noise, carrying it so far Lumine wondered if its cries reached Dihua Marsh.

Only when the sound drifted off and everything fell quiet once more did everyone look at each other; its haunting melody lingering like a gossamer veil, preventing them from raising their voices too high.

“What on Teyvat was that?” Faruzan monitored the dark skies above. “Certainly nothing I’ve ever heard before.”

“Curious indeed,” sitting down upon a fallen log elegantly, Zhongli laced his fingers. “Any guesses?”

“Well I’m no forest ranger, but it sounded like an animal of some sort,” tapping her chin, Faruzan frowned to herself. “Much too otherworldly to be a common finch though.”

Lumine nodded. “I know it’s silly to say- but I almost thought of a whale the first time I heard it. In other worlds, they had similar creatures who communicated through sonar, and they sounded similar over tracking machines. Not that there’s any sky whales around here…” she hoped. “Next I thought it could be a whistle, or a flute-”

“No, not that.”

The group shifted to find Sucrose standing further away. Furious scribbling noises could be heard as she took notes. “I’ve never met one of course, but logically it could be assumed that the noises were from one of the Adepti. The power, reverb and scope is unlike a regular animal cry.”

Lumine bit her lip, catching Zhongli’s calm gaze. In truth, she’d suspected as much, but needed confirmation before doing anything about it.

“You’re right to suspect a bird, Madam Faruzan. My first guess is…ah, what was her name, Cloud Retainer?” Sucrose hummed. “Or it could be Alatus, also known as the Golden-Winged King. I read about him in a book once. As a scientist, I’m sure you know I don’t put too much stock in folklore though. This is just an initial guess.”

And there it was. So achingly simple. The answer she’d long since suspected but hadn’t been sure what to do with, how to confront it. Lumine’s chest tightened. Her breath stalled.

Against her better judgment, she looked to Zhongli again. He smiled softly, turning severe golden eyes to the misty mountains.

“...And they say: 'Hark, the yaksha calls to summon his old friends to their homeland,’” he uttered, eyes softening at the memory of something that had long passed.

Sucrose lit up. “You’ve read the book too, Mr. Zhongli?”

“Oh yes, and that cry was indeed from an Adeptus. A melancholy sound, to be sure; for the song is intended as a duet you see. If it has no answer, then the lone singer feels the silence all the keener. Don’t you agree, Traveler?”

Avoiding his knowing gaze and joining Sucrose at the cliff side, Lumine let out a long exhale.

A duet.

A call waiting for an answer that would never come.

Xiao.

Had he really been calling for his companions all this time? Mourning them every night, hoping beyond hope, that one would answer? Or was there no hope in that song? Just a moonlit cry of grief and aching heartache. The Chasm had snatched away any lingering hope of seeing Bosacius again, and yet Xiao’s mournful singing had not stopped even after their return.

Rubbing her eyes, Lumine set her shoulders back. “Right. I see.”

“Hm?”

“I’d like to answer then, if I can.”

Faruzan spoke up, skeptical. “How are you going to do a thing like that?”

The Traveler couldn’t help but smile a little. “I know some…special little guys who are well versed in music.”

-------------------------------------

Returning to Vanarana again never failed to put her at peace. The static noise of worries and stresses died down, soothed by the happy hum of a thousand voices in the forest breeze. The village greeted her warmly. To her delight, a familiar face was also there amongst the crowd.

“Oh wow, what luck it is running into you here!” Nahida beamed, waving from within the cluster of Aranara. “To what do we owe your joyous visit?”

Sitting among the Aranara with their Archon, Lumine began explaining her idea. She’d returned to Liyue’s mountains not too long ago, but this time she’d brought along a device from Fontaine.

Everyone gathered around the small box, gasping as Xiao’s birdsong blared out of it. Lumine quickly adjusted the volume. “It’s a recording,” she explained, smiling at the wood folk as they tittered amongst themselves. “This is what he sounds like, pretty isn’t it?” taking a breath, she felt her heart tighten. “Do you think you can help me answer him?”

The group got to work immediately. The first thing to settle on was the right instrument. The Aranara brought out a variety of wooden instruments they’d made themselves, inspired by various Sumeru instruments. Nahida tracked the pitch of each one, seeming to mentally sync up with Xiao’s birdsong enough to hear which strum of strings or musical notes matched the melody via the use of a digital dendro screen simulating volume and pitch.

Lumine tried every instrument, strumming on the Oud, Baglama,Tanpura and Riqq before moving onto instruments Nahida seemed to produce out of nowhere; saying they should try Liyue inspired music. Though proficient in a few instruments, blowing notes into a Guanzi, Dizi, and Hulusi flute proved challenging. Lumine didn’t complain once though, drinking plenty and enjoying the process of playing each new thing. She particularly liked the aptly named; Xiao Bamboo Flute, but sadly Nahida found the sound too reedy to sync nicely with his birdsong.

Though it took several hours, eventually with their combined efforts, they selected the right pitch to match Xiao's birdsong. Since it required a combination of different flutes, Nahida turned to Lumine with a smile.

“You should carve a flute yourself out of wood.”

“Are you sure? I don't know anything about making musical instruments. It'll be a back scratcher more than anything,” Lumine pointed out.

“That won't matter,” unfathomably kind eyes twinkled, “trust me!”

Deciding to trust her, Lumine sat down with a long piece of wood, hollowing out the middle and crudely poking holes through it. As predicted, it looked awful.

True to her word however, Nahida took the flute in hand. After a moment, a faint green glow began seeping through the rosewood. As it left her hands to hover mid-air, the Aranaras began to sing. Sweet, joyful and childlike, their melody wrapped around the instrument, giving it a pale shine.

Lumine’s eyes were wide as the flute floated down into her open hands. She could feel the blessings of countless souls vibrating within. Well wishes, a desire to connect.

For some reason, her eyes stung.

It was perfect for Xiao.

She lifted her head and smiled tearfully. “Thank you, everyone.”

---------------------------------------------------

He couldn't verbalize, let alone explain to himself, why he needed to call out.

Bosacius was dead. He'd confirmed it himself back in the Chasm. The rest of his Yaksha comrades were gone, the stories of their time serving Morax wrapped up with overexaggerated glitz into various mortal books and otherwise largely forgotten. Xiao had no reason to fold and change himself into his original form, to give voice to his grief and longing via song.

The feelings that had once inspired him to start singing near Mt. Aozang had somewhat changed at least. No longer was he plagued by uncertainty about the fate of the last Yaksha- and though he mourned, the birdsong that burst out from his throat was meant for many lives that had come and gone, not just his brethren. He pictured Pervases, Guizhong, and other Illuminated Beasts and Gods that had once walked their world. If he reached back even further into his mind, he pictured his parents, and sang for them too.

Being honest, he’d learned his birdsong from listening to his parents perform a duet. A question posed, and an answer. Their faces were hazy, worn and blurred by the passing of thousands of years, but their song had stayed in his memories, and become transformed by his own voice and feelings.

As he perched that evening upon a high outcropping of rock, Xiao looked out at the misty mountains, allowing himself to be lulled by emotion. Folding his ragged, teal wings that had seen better days, he let himself call out.

Long, lingering notes escaped him instinctively. Mournful, longing. The vast emptiness above the cloudbank made the answering beat of silence all the more apparent. The mocking answer of his own cries echoing back to him as they bounced off Mt. Aozang’s rocks had felt like extra salt in the wound during his earlier days.

But Xiao didn’t expect an answer. Though he paused after each segment of his song, it was not out of hope a kindred spirit might reply. It was just out of learned, instinctive politeness when performing a replica of a duet. He had no mate to sing his heart to.

He could long for a gentle touch to run across the calluses of his skin or ragged feathers but the spaces between his fingers would remain empty of another’s hand clasping his own. A flash of golden hair entered his mind- before being roughly shoved aside. There was no use in dwelling on such impossible things.

His voice carried, settling over the ravines and valleys below. He readied himself for another trill, wings shifting, the wind combing through his tail feathers.

A long, gentle melody sounded out from below. Xiao froze, voice dying in his throat. Everything in him stiffened, falling silent. He sucked in a breath so sharply his lungs protested.

The music notes were drawn out, before fluttering into a tune that was lifting, lulling, reminiscent of his own. The only difference was that this tune was full of hope. He waited for the lilting noise to die down, listening keenly a few beats longer. Reluctantly, carefully, as if afraid he were dreaming, the Yaksha called out again, his voice becoming stronger the longer he sang.

When the music came again shortly after his segment, its purpose was unmistakable. His heart began to thrum erratically. Blood sang through his veins with renewed vigor.

A question and an answer. His eyes stung.

It sounded…strange. So very foreign and previously unthinkable, to hear the hills be filled up with a tune that wasn’t carried by him.

Awkwardly, and with a slight tremor- Xiao tried to sync up. He chirped a new notes, before calling out in time with the stranger’s notes. They began to sing antiphonally, or at least that’s what the music sounded like to him. The person playing their instrument was singing, no matter how he looked at it. They’d learned his song enough to replicate it almost perfectly.

Their combined songs rose to a crescendo, notes overlapping until one couldn't be separated from the other.

Before the song could end, Xiao pushed off from the mountain face, freefalling downwards. Wrapped in the warmth of the stranger’s lingering music, he followed the sound’s pathway, beating his wings.

Weaving around a few stone pillars, his gaze locked on a familiar figure.

It's you…

Lumine's eyes flew wide, lowering the flute from her mouth.

Teal feathers tangled in gently swaying blonde locks as he halted inches before her, breath stalling. Of course it was her. It hadn't occurred to him beforehand, but suddenly the answer was so simple and fitting. A puzzle piece slotting into place. It only ever could have been her. The music had even sounded like her; strong, yet simultaneously gentle and encouraging.

Lumine smiled a little, drenched in his shadow as his form dwarfed her in size. He lowered his head, neck craning down for her hand when she reached up.

“I heard you, many, many months ago now,” she said softly, carding her fingers through his feathers. “I only recently found out your song was a duet. I hope it's okay that I joined in.”

Bedraggled feathers shuddered. He couldn't stop the noise that escaped him: a soft keen of long forgotten wanting. Something he'd long since denied himself.

His wings reformed into arms, feathers shedding, discarded around him in a burst of dark energy as he stumbled into her waiting embrace.

“More than…okay,” he breathed, hiding his face in the juncture between her neck and shoulder, breathing her in. Lumine's fingers shifted to comb through his reformed hair, leaning into him just as his arms curled around her in a rare moment of indulgence. There was no Karma in those stolen touches, no war, no loss or pain. The squeeze and press of their limbs and torsos was an acknowledgement, a wordless vow.

‘I'm here. You're not alone.’

—--

End

#xiaolumi #xiao x lumine #genshin impact #xiaolumi fanfic

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