In the midst of a dense forest, Lumine hummed a pleasant tune, holding Tiamat’s soft hand as she walked cheerfully behind Paimon, who was leading the way.
Tiamat was slightly shorter than Lumine, but because she floated slightly off the ground, she was actually about the same height as Lumine.
Tiamat felt extremely happy being held by her beloved child, sensing the warmth of her palm and the child’s liveliness (her hands certainly weren’t behaving themselves), and her heart was filled with joy.
All along the way, her smile was as bright as Lumine’s.
As for Paimon, well—Paimon was very happy as long as she was full.
Occasionally, Lumine would stop to gather some food, leading Tiamat by the hand toward some fruit trees or little mushrooms, saying they were edible.
Paimon would also act like a little encyclopedia, introducing the names of these fruits and mushrooms in Teyvat.
Occasionally, she would point to some fruits Lumine tried that weren’t edible and explain their other uses, such as Soap Fruit for bathing and washing clothes, or Fragrant Fruit that could be dried and made into spices.
Lumine listened intently, then swiftly completed the picking, cutting, and packing with just one hand, showing a level of proficiency that was almost heartbreaking.
When they encountered small cliffs, Tiamat would carry Lumine and fly up, giving Lumine a sense of floating in more ways than one.
Starting from some point, Lumine stopped behaving herself while being carried, seemingly wanting to feel something.
Tiamat also felt that Lumine wanted to be closer to her, so of course she wouldn’t refuse.
She dotingly hugged her tighter and pressed her face against Lumine’s.
At times like this, Lumine could no longer keep a straight face.
This made Paimon, who saw her expression, feel a bit strange.
She didn’t understand it, but she felt it didn’t matter, thinking Lumine was just a bit embarrassed to be held like that.
However, she couldn’t help but feel there was a hint of a sour scent in the air.
The sky gradually darkened.
Paimon felt the road ahead was getting difficult to traverse, so she said to Lumine and Tiamat, “Let’s stop here for today.
Time to set up camp!
Hehe, our speed is faster than expected.
At this rate, we might even reach Mondstadt by tomorrow evening.” Lumine nodded.
“Mm, I’ll go look for some suitable dry grass nearby.” She then very reluctantly let go of Tiamat’s hand, but just as she was about to turn away, Tiamat pulled her back.
Lumine looked at Tiamat in confusion.
By now, Tiamat understood what Lumine was going to do, so she shook her head and shifted her intent.
Following that, a series of sounds of falling firewood and the soft thuds of fluffy objects hitting the ground could be heard.
Watching the firewood and bundles of grass land before her eyes, Lumine was somewhat used to it by now, but she still remarked, “What a convenient ability.
This certainly makes things much easier.” Paimon also said, “Yeah, having the ability to quickly teleport objects saves so much time on the journey.
Oh, by the way, can you just teleport all of us directly to Mondstadt?” Tiamat shook her head and pointed to her eyes.
“Uh, do you mean, Big Sister Benefactor, that there’s a limit to this teleportation, and the limit is your line of sight?” Tiamat put her index finger to her lips and thought for a moment, then nodded.
After all, her clearance was greatly damaged and she was still in a recovery period.
Even so, regarding space, she was capable of more than just teleporting objects within her current line of sight; she could teleport objects she had seen before, because she had already analyzed the relative positions of this space.
For instance, if she wanted to, she could immediately teleport herself back to the shore where they first met, but doing so would be pointless, so Paimon’s explanation wasn’t exactly wrong.
Lumine, however, had a mischievous idea.
“Within line of sight?
Then if you can’t teleport us in one go, wouldn’t doing it a few more times work?
Or Big Sister, if you fly a bit higher, wouldn’t you be able to teleport over a much larger range?” Tiamat’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, and she nodded to Lumine.
“No time like the present, let’s try it now.
See if you can teleport me to that clearing over there.” Lumine said, pointing to a clearing in the distance.
Tiamat nodded, and then shifted her intent.
Lumine suddenly vanished from where she stood and reappeared in the distant clearing.
Paimon exclaimed in surprise, “Wow!
It really works!
Amazing.” But Lumine, standing there, didn’t react for a long time.
Tiamat felt a bit strange, and Paimon was getting worried.
Suddenly, with a retch, Lumine began to vomit, looking as though she was going to throw up all the wild fruit she had eaten yesterday.
She looked quite miserable.
Tiamat’s heart sank.
She immediately teleported to Lumine’s side, took her hand, and began guiding the Laws and her own clearance to heal Lumine.
Fearing she might hurt Lumine again, Tiamat was extremely careful.
After a short while, Lumine felt better.
Looking up, she saw Paimon’s worried gaze and Tiamat’s guilt-ridden, sorrowful, and pained eyes, which were even traced with tears.
“Cough, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.
Big Sister, you don’t have to be like this, it’s not your fault.
I just didn’t expect this sudden teleportation to feel so nauseating.
Ugh, let’s not use this ability to teleport people anymore.” Tiamat wiped her tears and nodded, but her sorrowful expression did not fade; instead, a hint of panic lingered.
Paimon also said fearfully, “It’s Paimon’s fault, Paimon spoke too much.
I’m so glad Traveler is okay, otherwise Paimon would have died of guilt.
It seems this ability has its dangers too.
We shouldn’t use it carelessly, and definitely don’t use it on Paimon!” she added with exaggerated gestures.
Tiamat was amused by Paimon and smiled through her tears.
With the assistance of Tiamat’s Law-level healing, Lumine soon felt perfectly fine.
In fact, aside from having an empty stomach, she felt very energetic.
After they walked back to the woodpile, Tiamat used her ability to create a campfire from nearby materials just like during the day.
Just as Lumine pulled out some iron ore, preparing to let the wu feng sword make a sacrifice, a “fwoosh” was heard as the fire suddenly ignited in the center of the woodpile.
“Wow, Big Sister Benefactor can even do that.
I’m starting to wonder if there’s anything you can’t do.” Hearing this, Tiamat actually looked like she was thinking about it.
But when she remembered the many things she couldn’t do back then, and that she was far weaker now than she was then, there were likely even more things she couldn’t do.
So, after giving Paimon a serene smile, she opened Lumine’s pack and took out the dinner ingredients one by one—the fish Lumine had processed earlier, the fruits and beans Lumine had picked along the way, and the spices that were ready for use.
This time, Tiamat did not use her ability.
She treated every ingredient with great care and caution.
After all, this was precious food that Lumine had worked hard to gather.
She processed the ingredients based on her assessment of Lumine’s and Paimon’s tastes, scattering an appropriate amount of spices over the fish, coating it with fruit juice using nearby leaves, and stuffing the inside of the fish with shelled nut meat that required a short time to heat.
“Wow, it looks delicious.
Paimon can’t wait.
Traveler, let’s make the beds together.
Paimon needs to distract herself.” Lumine nodded and began laying out the grass beds with Paimon.
She marveled at how much her quality of life had improved since having travel companions.
While making the beds, her eyes would occasionally drift toward the beautiful sight by the campfire, and her heart felt a bit sweet.
…
A little while later, “Nom, mmm, so delicious!” Paimon excitedly kicked her cute little feet.
“As expected of Big Sister Benefactor, Paimon feels like she’s eating in a high-end restaurant.
It doesn’t even feel like we’re in the wild anymore.” Lumine chewed quietly, but from the blissful expression on her face, it was clear she also had a very high opinion of the grilled fish in her hands.
Tiamat remained immersed in the feeling of happiness, dotingly watching Lumine and Paimon eat.
However, she didn’t eat much herself.
After all, she didn’t actually need to eat, nor could she taste the food.
She only hoped to stay like this with the children she loved forever.
‘Being with my children feels so happy.
Only…
please don’t make Mother leave again.’