Chapter Text
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Upon Illuga opening the door to the Lightkeepers' archives, Lohen almost regretted his decision to stay. Yes, he may have developed a scarily quick affection for the cute nightingale—that would have to be dissected at a later date, but he wasn't sure if time spent with the little bird was worth the mountain of papers that he now found himself faced with. The sight of it made him grimace more than the thought of trading blows with a horde of Mitachurls. Actually no, that sounded delightful. He would happily go deal with some Mitachurls right now. Mitachurls bleed and die on the wicked edge of a blade. They stay dead, but paperwork? Paperwork never dies.
He was ripped free from the horrors of his imagination by the charming sound of melodic, soft laughing coming from the silver-haired ratnik beside him—who was now laughing at him. Two minutes ago, Lohen would have stopped and savored the sound, but not now.
"This is not funny. What the fuck is this, birdie?"
Illuga laughed harder at his aghast expression. "What? I told you this was going to be boring. I wasn't kidding."
"Okay, but this is obscene. You are not going to read through all of this."
"Yes, I am," Illuga said. Despite his best efforts, his endearing smile and sunny voice weren't doing anything to help calm the knight down.
"Do you hate yourself?" The low snicker that came from the lightkeeper did nothing to soothe Lohen's soured mood. "No, seriously! Do you have any clue how many trees died for this?"
Illuga felt like his face may split from how hard he was smiling. When was the last time that happened? But he tried to placate Lohen again, "It's not much of a choice. Someone has to do it."
"All of it? Just you?" At Illuga's nod, Lohen shook his head in disbelief and said, "Nuh-uh, nope, this is some form of cruel and unusual punishment. What did you do, birdie? I'll figure out how to free you from this hell, I swear."
Lohen had never sounded more sincere, which was only making the situation worse. Illuga continued to laugh even harder at the seriousness pooling in crimson eyes that were now staring the papers down like a hunter eyeing his prey. "There's nothing to get out of—this is my job!"
"I'll make it someone else's job."
"Lohen." His name being sighed out, almost fondly, made the knight put his murder plans on hold. For now. Illuga continued, "I don't mind, really. When I used to be in the logistics squad, I did this all the time. I promise it isn't so bad."
"Well, you used to be in logistics, so why exactly are you still the one doing it?"
"I'm good at it." The response was short and simple. The ratnik took a moment to think carefully before choosing to elaborate further. "And you're far from the only one who hates sorting papers. I'm not going to make someone miserable by handing it off to them."
"You're way too nice," Lohen—who had finally decided to claim one of the seats at the table—huffed with a frown. It wasn't as if the ratnik's caring nature was up for debate, not after how far he had gone to rescue a strange knight he didn't know, but saying it aloud left a bitter taste on Lohen's tongue. "That's the kind of attitude people will jump to take advantage of, y'know."
"People like who? You?" Illuga's voice remained light and teasing as he settled down beside the knight.
"Nah, and I'll kill anyone who tries." The promise of violence was made slightly less serious thanks to Lohen's joking tone. Doesn't mean he didn't mean it, though.
Illuga laughed again before he grabbed a few of the reports. "How kind of you, my dear knight, but I can take care of myself perfectly fine."
Lohen's mind screeched to a halt. The unexpected endearment, coming from the content and happy nightingale, finally managed to snap him out of his sulking. Fully settling into the moment, he let his lips quirk to the side—taking the form of a lopsided grin. My dear knight.
Taking no notice of Lohen's reaction to his offhand remark, Illuga wasted no time in getting to work. He hadn't been lying when he said he didn't mind doing it, but the monotonousness of the task was unavoidable.
"Do you want me to help?" Lohen asked.
The question stunned Illuga and made him look up. "Based on how just looking at the papers made you threaten murder, I'm not sure I do."
"I can be normal."
"Can you?"
"…I can try?" Lohen's answer sounded more like a question, even to his own ears. That wasn't very convincing.
Regardless, Illuga smiled at him sweetly. "It's alright. You being here is more than enough—don't feel like you need to do anything else." Seeming to realize what he just said and not wanting the knight to feel trapped, Illuga rushed to continue, "Or, ah- but also don't feel pressured to stay if you don't want to though!"
The satisfaction that Lohen got from the words, and watching the lightkeeper stumble over them, was unprecedented. "Oh, don't worry. I want to be here."
"You're sure?"
"Very sure, birdie~"
"…Okay." Illuga's soft smile that he tried to hide by turning back to his work wasn't lost on the knight.
At the sight, Lohen let his own smile show. "Okay."
On a normal day, the silence that followed would have been nothing short of miserable for the restless knight. But, just like their last meeting, Lohen's mind was wonderfully content with keeping itself occupied by savoring everything the little nightingale's presence offered. Lohen felt crazy… crazier than usual.
.
.
.
Time passed, an hour or two. Maybe more. Lohen wasn't completely sure—he was too busy staring at Illuga to care. What? There wasn't much else to do in the dusty old room. Sue him.
Lohen's chin rested on crossed arms that lay against the table. Finally, after taking note of how tired the nightingale still looked, he decided to break the comfortable silence they had found themselves in. "You eat yet?"
"I woke up late."
"Sooo, is that a no?"
An affirming hum was all the lightkeeper offered as he kept his eyes glued to the report in front of him.
An obnoxiously loud sigh left Lohen's mouth as he abruptly stood up, carelessly pushing his chair across the creaking floorboards in the process, while saying, "I'll be back. Keep sitting pretty, sweetheart." With that rushed parting statement, the vice captain flung the door open and left before Illuga had time to reply—leaving him staring blankly at the now closed door while the words replayed in his head.
"…Okay?" That was sudden, but I can't really blame him for wanting to get out of here. It is pretty boring. Now alone in the room, Illuga's previous concentration faltered as his mind lingered on the quick goodbye. The nice atmosphere, that had settled once Lohen's initial paperwork fueled disgust faded, left along with him and Illuga's anxious nerves from earlier began to return. Lohen had been quick to move past his earlier touch-induced freak out and seemed to have forgotten about it completely—not likely, but it was a comforting thought regardless. But now, the man's sudden departure and the possible reasoning behind it left the nightingale crestfallen. Illuga tried to reason with himself—it really didn't matter if the knight stayed or went, but he found himself hoping he would actually come back.
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Lohen happily whistled while he made his way out of the building. The need to stretch his limbs had begun to make his skin itch and the nightingale's admission provided him with the perfect reason to prowl the streets of Piramida in search of food. But Lohen wasn't one to half-ass anything and if he was already going through the effort, he may as well get something Illuga enjoyed. And he had absolutely no clue what he would like. Meh, should've figured it out before I left. Guess I'll ask around.
Compared to Mondstadt, or even Favonius Keep, the atmosphere in the Lightkeepers' headquarters was depressing. Everywhere Lohen looked he was met with shades of dull grey and metal beams. The distinct lack of vibrant flowers placed on windowsills or colorful banners waving in the wind made Lohen feel homesick. Damn, a couple years away and I'm already missing it. And after all the work I went through to get on the expedition team, in the first place. Lohen's younger self would have bit him, then stabbed him and maybe even poisoned him—just for good measure—if he knew about his current traitorous, longing for Mondstadt.
Piramida couldn't be described as a bustling city, not anything like Mondstadt City, but it wasn't completely barren either. Ratniki were scattered around the area—most chatting amongst themselves with solemn expressions or doing some sort of work. There were some civilians, but even their faces had been hardened by the environment of their cruel homeland. Smiles and relaxation were luxuries that were nowhere to be found in the cold fortress of Piramida.
Lohen hadn't spent much time around the Nod-Krai locals, but from the moment he saw him he knew Illuga was an anomaly. The lawless land of Nod-Krai was meant to be a collection of the most selfish and cruel people that all of Teyvat had to offer. It is a place where survival has to be earned and only the strong could hope to flourish. He hadn't seen him in action, but Lohen already knew the young captain had to be strong. No, that wasn't what bugged him about the lightkeeper. How such a depressing place could be Illuga's home, who shone like the sun—bright and caring, that is what was lost on Lohen.
Lohen's growing annoyance was distracted by the sound of lively voices coming from a little further away. The source of the voices, one of them belonging to the teenage boy that Lohen scared off earlier that day, made him break into a grin. Not the soft grin that, in the span of two days, Illuga had developed the unique talent of coaxing out of him. No, this was his usual sharp smile that signaled danger for those it settled on.
The boy spotted Lohen, but not before it was too late to run away. The girl beside him turned towards the approaching knight with a wary stance.
Lohen didn't bother with greetings and got straight to the point. "Y'know Illuga, yeah?"
The girl was quick to get defensive. "What's it matter to you?"
At first, the only response Lohen offered up was a smile, showing off his sharp canines, and lasting a beat too long—just long enough to make the pair squirm. "Just wondering where I can find something he'd like to eat, that's all."
The pair exchanged glances, holding a silent conversation, before the girl spoke up again, "Why?"
"He ran off to lock himself in the archives and hasn't eaten. So, I'm fixing that."
"You can go to the mess hall."
"No clue where that is."
"Alright… we'll take you." The boy beside her violently shook his head, trying to get her to change her mind before it was too late. Lohen's predatory smile widened at the pathetic display.
The girl introduced herself as they started walking. "I'm Dragana and this is my brother Paivio."
"Oh, yes. We've already met. He's the one who went and grabbed Illuga for me this morning." The reminder of the scared boy running away brought another manic grin to Lohen's face. "Thanks for saving me the trouble. Really, I have no clue how I would've found him otherwise."
Dragana stopped walked. "Wait, you're the one he was telling me about? You held a knife up to him!"
"Ah-ah, nono. That's quite the accusation—I didn't hold anything up to anyone."
"You pointed it right at me!"
"Oh, he speaks!" Lohen exclaimed while turning towards the previously quiet boy. "Well, maybe I was pointing to something behind you. Have you considered that, hmm?"
Piercing crimson eyes studied Paivio with a deadly focus that terrified him, but he did his best to steel himself and answer anyway. "You were literally looking right at me!"
Lohen cackled and continued walking while shouting over his shoulder, "Keep up! We don't want Illuga starving to death, now do we?"
"Hey-!" Paivio wasn't able to finish before getting cut off by his sister's indignant shout.
"You don't even know where you're going!"
At the siblings' frustration, the cackling grew louder. "No problem! I'll just walk into every building until I find the right one."
The pair exchanged one more horrified and confused glance before deciding to chase after the viridian-haired knight.
.
.
.
It didn't taken long for the trio to make it to the mess hall and find something that would please the hardworking squad leader: an omelette and some hash browns. Lohen had grown increasingly frustrated when the pair, who he learned were Illuga's childhood friends, insistently told him Illuga would eat 'anything that's warm'. What kind of fucking standards are those, Lohen thought to himself. But the knight chose to leave it and not argue. He had grown bored of what the rest of Piramida had to offer and was looking forward to getting back to the busy nightingale—the only interesting part of this entire place.
His thoughts were interrupted by an endless stream of questions from the annoying siblings beside him. I already got what I needed from them, so why are they even still here?
"Why were you looking for Illuga earlier? Weren't you the one he had to go rescue. He was stuck in the infirmary because of that. And why did he let you go to the archives with him. Actually, why would you even want to? That place is so boring." The makeshift interrogation was held by the now talkative—and incredibly annoying—Paivio, while his sister nodded along from the side.
Lohen was rescued from the interrogation by a series of events that would have been comedic if they had happened to anyone else and if he didn't have very important places to be, namely back to one little bird.
Too lost in his thoughts of why it wouldn't be a good idea to murder Illuga's friend, Lohen didn't notice what was about to happen until it was too late.
One second, the plate in his hand was home to one omelette and three golden hash browns that Lohen had chosen because they reminded him of the ones sold at Good Hunter back in Mondstadt. The next second, the plate was almost knocked out of his hand by a jumping flash of fur that streaked by, saved only by the knight's battle honed reflexes. The dog successfully managed to swipe one of Lohen's beloved hash browns before it continued its mad dash down the streets of Piramida. He recovered quickly, but the absurdity of what had just happened left Lohen standing still for a moment longer than usual.
Once the surprise wore off, he instinctively went to load the crossbow on his wrist—an action that usually took him no time at all, but was slowed considerably by having to balance the plate in his hand all the while.
"What are you doing?!" Dragana yelled
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Finally, Lohen nocked the bolt into place and began to take aim at the furry thief.
"No!" The girl ran in front of the crazed knight who was seconds off of commiting a crime, or something that would have been a crime if it were anywhere except Nod-Krai.
"What do you mean 'no'!" It was too late; the dog had already ran around a corner out of his sights. Lohen huffed while lowering his wrist. "It stole my fucking hash brown!"
"You can't just shoot a dog!"
Lohen's eyes narrowed into slits at the challenege. "Watch me."
"It's probably someone's pet!"
"Well, clearly whoever owns it is doing a real shitty job considering it's hungry enough to steal a hash brown. And last I checked, dogs don't even eat hash browns!"
"If Illuga finds out you shot a dog, he'll never speak to you again."
That finally seemed to knock some sense into the viridian-haired knight and made him pause. "He won't find out."
"You wanna bet?" Considering the trigger happy knight she was up against, the girl's courage was admirable—Lohen would give her that. But that didn't make him feel any better about getting blackmailed by a teenager.
That wasn't the problem, no, Lohen knew how to keep a snitch quiet. But, unfortunately, he doubted Illuga would be very pleased to find out his friend's tongue had been cut out, so he restrained himself. "You're lucky I like him enough to let that slide. This time."
Lohen turned on his heel to stalk away, but not before raising a hand in farewell saying, "Thanks for the help, though! Let's keep this little adventure between us, shall we?"
.
.
"Dragana… when he said 'like', do you think-"
"Dont say it, Paivio. That guy is crazy."
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Illuga glanced up at the sound of squeaky hinges being pushed open. He smiled before he looked Lohen up and down. The knight looked… oddly disheveled.
"You came back."
"Yeah, and I learned my lesson to never go outside again. Wait, hold up- what do you mean 'you came back'? I said I would. Do I look like a liar?"
Choosing to mess with the knight who had left him so quickly, Illuga jokingly said, "I mean..."
The knight rolled his eyes. "Ouch, and after the ordeal I just went through for you. Extra ouch." The fake hurt that laced itself in Lohen's voice made Illuga chuckle. The sound gave Lohen slight pause as he placed the plate in front of the hardworking ratnik. "Here."
"You got me food?"
"I wish it were really that simple, but yup," Lohen said while loudly popping the 'p'. "The amount of ratniki I had to corner—or sorry ask—to figure out what you would like is ridiculous, by the way. You weren't kidding about not talking about yourself."
"I'll eat anything, really." Regardless, the knight's casual thoughtfulness made Illuga bite his lip before faintly saying, "This is really nice of you, but I'm not picky. You didn't have to go through that much trouble for me."
As if he never left, Lohen had already settled back into his seat and returned to resting his chin against crossed arms. "Mhm—well, I only did it cause it's you, sunshine." He admired his well-earned prize: pink-tinged ears and periwinkle eyes that now refused to meet his.
"Thank you, Lohen."