Chapter Text
A light shimmering blue-tailed creature swam towards the bubbling light. The entrance to another world, just above the surface.
A young blonde woman splashes through the barrier of two worlds, torso above and cyan blue tail underneath. Water droplets spring from short wavy locks and down her porcelain cold skin embellished by iridescent teal scales reflect her thalassic home. A coral diamond-shaped necklace dangles from her neck. Visible under the foreign sun, water drys from the amber seashells covering her chest. Lilies and seaweed fall from her unruly hair, bright golden eyes blinking under the new sky. Without the tones of the dark abyssal blue, above, the world was engulfed with so much light.
"Whew," Lumine settles in the new environment riding the calm waters, relaxing to the flow. At surface level, gills swallowed the water as scales glowed tints of iridescent amber underneath the bridge of her eyelids and knuckles, alive with the markings of her origins. Hair strands draped across her jaw once dry, used to the languid strands underneath. Picky about her flowers, Lumine adjusts the sea lilies left on her head wrapped by a white coral stem. Flowers tight-knit, she embraces the brushing wind from the cool air again, ready to explore.
Croaking from seagulls head south, right where Lumine sets course for. She swims across the surface, waves riding her tail expanding from the trail. The sky above clears the visible mountains from afar, contrasting the abyssal dark blues she’s always known. At certain times the waterless sky shifts darker, with twinkling specs of white crystals winking below. The dry balmy sun was high enough for the transparent clouds to cover little a wonderful time to start today’s journey.
Often alongside her smaller form, the boats the humans used carried supplies and trinkets that would fall into the ocean for her to gather. Starconches to collect after being washed up from the islands. She would see large masses of rocks and giant flora, called trees -from what she overheard from the fishers, come to make life easier and harder for humans of all sizes. Her favorite past times were watching them mingle and explain concepts she didn’t understand, simply observing them for an invention caused her to linger for more.
Avoiding the necessary peril of being caught also came with the thrill of adventure, so long as she tail weaseled herself through tight situations. Lumine could never fully experience these two-feet land things, but a mermaid can find other possibilities!
As a well-trained sea adventurer, none of these go unexplored.
Lumine swam steadily, tail-whipping smoothly against the crashing waves of the surface. She hums at the gentle touch of the sun and freshwater breeze, a sensation that puts her at ease. The wind whips from the left sending her hair adrift with laughter, welcoming the sea traveler again.
She arrives at the usual coast, her favorite. Mounds of sand alleviate the water for a bumpy stream, leading into the lands of the humans. A small riverbed the sailors do not use. Deserted, with only one or two humans wandering and then leaving, the rest up north, an island unreachable. Starcounches were washed ashore in the sands, her eyes greedily beaming to grab them. She heard the name was Falcon Coast, the ocean gulf below the high mountain above her, but no falcons soared above. Lumine tilts above to see everything from her little puddle of water. I wonder what's it like up there, she imagines humans staring below, peering at the massive shades of blue.
Humans were a languid and dangerous species causing a high alert to sea travelers below. Never has the truth been broken before, peace remaining for centuries. Then, an era of monstrous-looking humans brought warnings to all the sea folk below, restricting access to the surface. Lumine had met them twice, covered from head to toe in strange clothing and threatening weapons. She saw brutal fights pit against each other using glowing emblems in their possessions. Lumine heard the original archons gave them powers, ones even to control the water. The merfolk never strayed from their precious home and kept to their humble abode away from the wars above.
She and the merfolk were protected by the great sea's own magic, by the servants of the Hydro Archon who gave them a safe home to reside, using magic to conceal the truth at every cost. The land was threatening and malicious to the merfolk already. Many strayed away.
Lumine turns back to the open sky. A human wearing red stands on the cliff. So very small and out of reach.
Humans were so very interesting. Alluring, even. Little inventions and shiny things to be collected and questioned over. Lumine only had twenty years and so far had the nearest fisherman's belongings inspected asleep next to a dock with a large bottle in hand face too red to even speak. Others were too brawny and wiser, so she only followed the stowaways and thieves to demolish their terrible deeds and take the treasures. Lumine swam near the city of wide fleets and glowing lights hoping to get a good catch of something special and create as many memories as possible. The city she visited is always vibrant, more than the one she can't reach, basting hues of the coral reefs into the night. A beautiful ritual she witnessed with her own eyes.
The city near the fresh wind was closed off from the shore. A few streams were connected to the islands, but they were too shallow to cross. Her tail would be stuck everywhere.
Lumine settled for the mountain view, watching the humans cross and hunt for wildlife animals she's never seen before. When things became violent the special humans with powers from their own gods prevailed and lived. Then some caused the sins, where she turned tail and respect the rules.
Or batter water in their faces with her fins.
Regardless of their intentions, humans were mesmerizing to watch. Those that traveled the sea or crossed the land came with stories to tell. Lumine loved the campfires built near the edges, with humans walking their allies down, and shared with a good meal. Some wore those nasty clothes too big for their sizes, and some wore those bulky shiny clothes(they called it armor?-she can't remember), and they plotted their next move. If she decided, she'd loot from the camps nearby if they were up to no good. Lately, only men with knives and masks committing crimes were all she was housing. Her stock was left back home and then thrown into the ocean if she found no use for it.
A few who called themselves adventurers were docile enough to ride up their belonging near their possessions that she felt obligated to leave them be. Good souls, she judges, as some talk about their homes and families.
Human interaction was the closest she'll get to seeing life above the surface. A pity really, to not break the rules.
The human on the tip of the cliff still stands and then a pair of wings are attached to their small frame. They were flying with those strange feathers again. They descend with the wind, and Lumine dips below the waterline. Another day watching, I suppose. She really wanted those starconches.
She thought the red human appeared smaller, and she was right. A child with blonde hair with red clothes, comfier around her frame than the taller ones. Lumine swims behind a giant boulder and a few bushes, observing the little feet reaching the sand and flinging her little arms eagerly. A big smile and round eyes reflect the sunset by dawn. Lumine peers at her odd shapes next to her hair long acicular ear poking from her hat.
"Alright!” The child swerves in every direction as if she looking out for someone. Finding nothing, except for the mermaid, the little girl in red beams brighter pumping her fist in the air, “Time for fish-blasting!” The child unwraps a strange bag from her shoulders and lowers it to the ground. A furry toy hangs from the bag, swinging with a poker face. “Dodoco, look how sunny it is today, Klee will make sure to find lots of seashells for you!”
Lumine climbs the boulders and peeks at the innocent child named Klee, pulling something else out of the brown bag. Round things that resemble her furry friend, miniature Dodoco(was it alive or did it simply likes to stay put?) bundled into her arms. She carried multiple of them and skipped south, far from her hiding spot to another sand mound. Intrigued, she crawled on top of the boulder, watching the child swing those balls into the water.
A strong blast rumbles the water into multiple waves and Lumine slips in shock, losing her balance. “Oof!” Splashing into the water, she glides underneath and sees the sparks dimming from above. Explosions to her knowledge worked on land better than water, and most used it for bad intentions. With nothing around, Lumine wondered who the child was aiming them at. And why did they look so…cute?
She swam to the spot under the wreckage, knowing that if she floated near she’d be done for. Schools of fish were passing by near the explosions, then shot from the water, floating to their demise. Lumine pursed her lips and crossed her arms, tail whipping in concentration. Was this some sort of fish-hunting? She swam ashore to the left of the carnage the bridge of her nose on the waterline and eyes clear of the sea.
Little hands collected the dead fish with soaked bare feet rustling through the sand. Klee chuckles like a fisherman on a good day, “Klee caught many fish today, good job Docodo, we found enough!”
Lumine spotted Dodoco back on dry land. Still as stone.
“Hm…” Lumine floats back never letting her sight from the exchange. Klee was hunting for fish, yet using different tools to catch her fish. There was no silly bait like the other men used, not a single worm nor hook in sight. Explosions continued and waves rocked from the blasts, the sounds blurring an odd white noise. After a few minutes, the noises were calming and less frightening as Klee’s laughter joined the chorus. The child was potentially dangerous…but oddly adorable.
A few dead steamed fishes floated from Klee’s reach, and Lumine grabbed the meat and took an experimental bite.
Hmm. Not bad. She preferred spearing prey with her trident for a good hunt. She took another bite, a foreign steamed flavor with a heat sensation pleased her stomach. This ‘Fish-basting’ could work too.
Lumine idly watched the child, having a strange urge to inspect the directions of the flinging bombs as she swam farther while keeping an eye on the sand mounds left unchecked. Starconches were waiting to be collected after all. Lumine found a small stream of sand stuck to her gills as she reaches for her favorite seashell. Ha-ha! She beams in victory and flips back to her safety zone, turning back to Klee being distracted. A few starconches spread father on dryer land near the stone pavements. Lumine swam to the edges of the water looking for a branch.
Crack! A crushing sound froze her entire being, sinking nose deep. She clutched her seashell to her chest.
Human noises were familiar patterns to recognize. That weird noise when they step on a branch was all too obvious. Nature ripped and tossed carelessly sprung her to action, from the smallest animal to those thieving-looking, humans. Voices grew louder and Lumine narrowed her eyes, sensing something amiss.
Her wide eyes blew open - the child! Lumine swam back to the sees the moment of respite, Klee merrily humming and collecting fish. Her furry friend who hasn’t moved is still on the sand.
The voices grew clearer, “there's one of the knights. Get her.”
Lumine swims to the side behind a boulder, noticing the newcomer's state of dress. Masks and weapons on their hips. The usual annoying thieves. Lumine swerves to Klee still in the water and panics, what to do, what to do -
No, the child can use those explosions in her possessions, right? She swims back and notices the men approaching stealthily. That won't do. Lumine crawled near the sand dunes and threw her starconches on the stone pavement echoing clinks rolling in her direction. Klee turns and drops her fish.
She gasps, “No! Bad guys are here.” A book, much different from the ones she’s seen in the boats, is summoned and more bombs appear, this time in a threatening manner she’s seen them use. “No fair, I was just fish-blasting!”
The suspicious men curse in foul language and flung their arrows and daggers, clashing with explosives and mini dodocos. Lumine plunges into the depths the surface becoming littered with sparks and flame above. She had no business in the affairs of humans. Yet she believes in the fairness of trials. The water fades the thundering chaos from above, watching vibrant red and orange glide along with the blues. Lumine sighs mournful about her loss, debating entering a new area to find more starconches. Maybe I’ll be lucky somewhere else…
She dives south and felt more sparks and damaged remains of Klee’s bombs enter the water. Lumine knew the girl could handle herself. Brutal as it seemed, no fight is without sacrifice for a hard-earned victory. She silently hopes Klee makes it out without any hard-pressed injuries.
Something spears across the waters in a bolt, and Lumine's eyes flicker to a familiar ball descending in front of her. She stops and catches a drowning Dodoco, carefully wrapping him in her hands. “Oh, he’s not alive,” she squishes him and pokes his little ears. What material was he made from-
A louder splash smacks the waves fiercely, louder than the miniature explosives diffusing. Lumine eyes clash with red, colliding into the dark cyans. Klee sunk into the depths, emitting bubbles from her breathless mouth.
Panic-stricken, Lumine rapidly dives catching the drowning child. Blood escapes an open scratch on her leg. Bubbles of water conceal the curses raging from her mouth as Lumine races to the surface.
They're both embraced by enormous gulps of air in their lungs. Steady hands secured the fallen child and swam away from the unconscious men lying on the sand mounds. She scurried tail whipping fast to a new open area. She follows the stream inside the terrain, dangerous as it was she couldn’t leave her here. The wind tickles Klee's face as she gurgles and coughs out water. "Ugh, don't feel so good…" Lumine raced faster, bouncing waves against the narrow river.
Finally, they come across a massive tree with glowing strange fireflies, enough to conceal them both. Slowly, she sets down the child, shaking her lightly. "Klee…little one, wake up."
Klee mumbles squeezing her eyes and turning away, "no, I failed…." Klee groans, lips trembling and sputtering water from her teary eyelids. Lumine cranes her neck and pats her back. Gulps of water and saliva pour from her shaky mouth.
Lumine gently soothes the girl, patting her cheek. Eyes refuse to budge open. The mermaid stops and then breathes in, readying to use another method. It was prohibited to meet or aid the humans; per the leviathan rules, but Lumine didn't care. The ghost of Klee's bright smile tugged harder than she let on. And death was not a pleasing sight. Left with no other choice, Lumine took a deep breath, chanting a low tune. A melody of the sea children's lullaby flows beneath the giant tree, fireflies hovering over the breathing child.
"Come to me, little one. Come and see the sea with me. From dusk to dawn, open your heart with me. Let the sea take your voice away and sleep in peace. Listen little one, to the Siren who wishes you love beneath the sea."
Frowning lips groan in pain and soon quiver to a weary smile, pleased by the music. Eyelashes flutter and breathing fastens. "Mmmh…," Klee’s chest rises as a gulf of air awakens those watery sunset eyes again. Little hands rub her tired eyes, lost and confused. The song stops and Klee wildly blink at the disappearing voice, shocked by the absence. “Huh?” Klee takes a moment to recover before she sits up gasping, "Dodoco! Where’s Dodoco?!"
Lumine floats back as the child registers everything around her. "You mean this little guy?" Lumine plops him from the water and into Klee's frenzied hands.
"Oh, Dodoco!" She hugs him with every strength she has, hiccuping and shedding tears. "Klee forgot where she put him, and those bad guys threw him in the water! Thank you for saving him!"
“I found him right after I found you." Lumine pat Dodoco's head, turning to her with a serious look. "He's fine now. But I think you should worry about yourself as well."
Klee blinked away tears, "oh…that's right, Klee got blown away." Fear morphed across her face, "if Master Jean knows she won't let Klee out now for a long time! Klee made a big error, almost losing Dodoco and now she has to face the consequence…"
"Hey now, let's calm down," Lumine gently softens, "you won that fight, right? Every fight comes with a sacrifice, little one. And this Master Jean would be delighted to see you alive, nonetheless."
Klee sniffs hugging her furry friend, "but…but Klee almost…" Lumine passively smiles at the human child. "Klee forgot one bomb was diffused and then it set off by accident. The bad guys set it off and Klee doesn't know how…"
They were likely following her. The reputation of this girl may have enticed what occurred back at the coast. Lumine also heard them call her a 'knight.' She's never met one before until now.
Placing her hands on her hips, Lumine shook her head. "Well, you don't have to worry about them anymore. You made sure they would forget about ever messing with your fish-blasting!"
Under the sniveling sadness, sparkles returned to her round cheerful eyes, the same light she was fond of seeing. An odd sense of proudness came over Lumine. Klee stood up on her two feet, confident and energized just as before. "Y-yeah! No one should mess with Klee's fish-blasting!" Then she stopped, a curious glimmer passing through. "Wait…how you do know Klee likes fish-blasting?"
Amusement curled her smile, “because I saw you hunt for fish. And it was rather tasty.”
“Huh? You ate the fish I blasted? But I didn’t see you…” The poor child battled her inner thoughts trying to remember how she missed someone like the swimming lady in front of her. She would have noticed someone taking her fish because they were all in the water! Klee didn’t even get a chance to eat one. “Hmmm…but how could….” Klee pondered and pondered, tapping her finger against her chin when a splash of something rises from the river. Klee’s eyes absorb the water noise and widen like saucers when shining cyan tail curls, two fins waving. Her new friend who saved Dodoco grins and the tail swishes back and forth.
“I am Lumine, a traveler of the sea.” Lumine held out her hand, which Klee leaped to shake uncontrollably.
“I am Klee and you're a Mermaid! An actual mermaid! You-! Klee always-” she was hyperventilating, cheering up and down as if she hadn’t been knocked back from an explosion minutes ago, “Klee always definitely believed they were real! Did Miss Mermaid save me from the bad guys?”
Lumine chuckles wholeheartedly. She found her more endearing than she originally thought. Most of her human encounters were with men and merchant sailors. Someone as jubilant and young as Klee refreshes her journey now and then.
“I’ve never had a human so interested in me before.” Gold scales glimmer under the sun, matching bright hues, “Yes, I brought you back here after you hit the water.” she says, “And I do think that fish blasting was quite fun.”
“That's awesome! Klee and Miss Lumine can both go fish-blasting now! Together we can blast a lot of fish,” she says, so engrossed in her own little world. Lumine felt inclined to stay, blasting fish and riding her on her back, but alas, she forcibly tug herself out into reality.
“I’d love to one day, little one.” Lumine bites her lip. “But we merfolk can’t travel to other places so easily as you can. I can only travel near the coast and where the fishermen take route.”
“Oh…” Klee sadly dims, then perks up immediately. “But Mondstadt has water outside the walls! We even have a bridge....but, um, that would be hard to cross.” She slumps again noticing her error in thinking.
“I’m afraid so.” Lumine knew no other way to cross the lands so far, only searching for an underwater cove would be her best bet. She gave up the idea of entering city-like structures near lakes to easier avoid confrontation, but her journey was often stuck with dead ends and mountainsides. Nothing out of the ordinary for a sea traveler. She wondered about leaving and swimming off the coastline, farther from this point and into the unknown country she saw a sailor once enter through a raging storm. Until she met Klee that is.
“Wait, what if I ask big brother Albedo? He’s very smart and will help Klee with anything!”
“Oh? You have a brother too, Klee?” Lumine felt a fondness for the little girl.
“Yup! He’s the best alchemist around! People come to him for everything. He even helped Klee once make gunpowder for bombs out of lizard scales!” Klee took out a few of her bombs, and Lumine was surprised to find them dry.
“How fascinating. What is gunpowder?”
“Gunpowder is for making things explode silly! They're for bombs and making sure they go off when there set to go.” Klee expertly dismantles her bomb and shakes out an odd black powder, “See, this is the gunpowder, I make sure to make lots of it before I go out.”
Nimble fingers whisk the gunpowder grains run through her nails. “Interesting…” Lumine suddenly dipped her hands into the water, watching the powder disperse from her inky skin. “Not something I’d like to play with, I think.”
“Hehe, Klee is the best bombmaker around next to mom, so if you have questions about bombs, you can ask me any day!”
“I’ll be glad to,” A cloud covers the sun, extinguishing the light. Lumine glances at the sun descending. The day was running late and there is something she must do. Lumine gently grabbed Klee’s hands. “Little one, I have to leave. It’ll be dark soon if I don’t go.”
“Aww, do you have to? Klee wants to speak to Miss Lumine some more.”
“I have family back home, they will be worried,” Half-lies spill from her teeth, hoping to get this over with. She ignored the tremble running across her hands.
“Oh, okay…” Klee sighs in defeat.
Lumine smiles at her understanding. She cups the girl’s cheek, “Don’t look so sad, little one. I have a gift just for you. One wish I can grant you before I go.”
Klee gasps, “A wish? Mermaids can grant wishes?
“That's right. But you have to close your eyes now. Or else it won’t come true~”
Squeezing her eyes shut tight, Klee remains perfectly gullible for this to go smoothly. Lumine hovered her hand over the child’s head. Using magic at her disposal helped her erase the liabilities. Klee was a bright girl who could live and yearn without the touch of the merfolk.
The rules must be abided, echoed the familiars of the Hydro Archon, to preserve peace between two worlds. No one must cross or tear the bridges between man and sea.
For this, the merfolk were given magic to defend against human actions. Songs to spin a trance to every sailor who meant them harm. Lumine and the rest of them would never harm any of the humans for sport, yet the same could not be said about the one above. She rarely uses magic, and for this occasion, it was once for a man who saw an inch of her tail flip through the water, chasing her like his last meal. In the end, she entertained him, luring him with song and taking his memories. The more destructive humans deserved a boat crash to the nearest rock, not something she wished to do personally until the hand was dealt with.
Her hand ghostly touches Klee's forehead, conjuring a spell-
“Oh! Can Klee say her wish out loud? I want Miss Lumine to hear it.” Klee blurts out eyes still shut tight, unaware of the mermaid's true intentions.
The enchantment fades from her shame. “Ah…of course.”
Klee beams and chance is there, it's now and never. She silently begins to conjure the spell. Scales illuminate in a swirling emerald, the human’s mind stuck in a trace, announcing the order to erase her memory. Steadily, the enchantment swirls with the dip of her hand, motioning in circles….
“I want Miss Lumine to meet all my friends!”
The spell proceeds, cracking and then falters for a second time. Frowning, Lumine takes the bait betraying her emotions when she gazes at Klee’s eager puffy cheeks, yearning for a sweet dream Lumine cannot give her. A sigh escapes her and the spell is shattered. On another day, this would be simpler than having saved a human child, yet an invisible bond sets them together, and for once, Lumine wonders if companionship between men and merfolk can co-exist. She prays the servants of the Hydro Archon weren't looking.
Maybe this won’t be so bad. The siren leans to kiss her forehead, “Very well, I will grant you your request.”
What’s one human knowing the truth, anyway?
Opening her eyes, Klee’s jaw drops to the sight of glowing amber illuminating the mermaid’s skin. A promise from the sea becoming sealed. “let's keep this a secret, okay?”
“Promise!”