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Dehya wakes up with a horrible feeling of dread.
It tails her like a predator in the night, even long after the moon has hidden and Dehya is striding through Sumeru City's streets in the early morning light with a purpose, her face pulled into a deep, deep frown when she approaches her destination.
She's just about to open the door when a voice cuts in.
"Dunyarzad isn't in there."
Immediately, the Eremite whips her head around to glare at the intruder, only to find a certain golden-haired Traveler and her flying companion observing her curiously.
"Where is she?" She growls lowly, but Lumine does not flinch. Her thoughtful golden eyes are the clearest Dehya's ever seen them.
"Dehya," Paimon starts, cautious. "Do you… remember anything?"
"What's that supposed to mean? And where is my Lady?" Dehya demands.
"That haunted look on your face…" Lumine's eyes soften. Then she shakes her head, pointing in another direction. "Nothing. Dunyarzad was taken to a safe house towards the outskirts of Sumeru City. You'll find her for sure—she's waiting for you there."
Dehya hardly hears her last words, already breaking into a sprint down the street.
True to Lumine's word, Dunyarzad is there, alive and well and sitting on a small cot, humming a small tune to herself. And Dehya has never been the best at writing, with the flowery language of the scholars and storytellers, but even she knows that no humanly word could ever describe the relief that floods her body at the sight of Dunyarzad perking up the moment she sets her eyes on her protector.
"My Lady!"
"Oh, Dehya!"
Dunyarzad…
"I dreamt, Dehya!" Dunyarzad tells her with a wide, wide smile just at the very moment Dehya stoops down to wrap her arms around her employer with a choked sob. "I dreamt about watching Nilou dance at the Sabzeruz Festival, and it was so beautiful! Like I was truly there!"
Her arms loop around Dehya's shoulders, completing the embrace as bandages brushing across the bare skin there, and she is real and maybe Dehya might actually cry right here. The taller woman shudders as she falls to her knees, buries her face in the brunette's shoulder, and Dunyarzad smiles gently as she lets Dehya hug her, running dainty hands through Dehya's unruly hair.
"Oh, you came to me straight away, didn't you?" Dunyarzad says softly. "Let's head back to my accomodation, I'll brush your hair for you."
"I'm sorry, My Lady. This is very unprofessional of me."
"Nonsense." Dunyarzad's smile would be enough to put the sun to shame. "You have always been my friend first. I like it best when you are yourself with me, Dehya."
The sound of her name sends a shiver down Dehya's spine, a residual feeling of dread from this morning. It weighs heavy on her shoulders, and as she tightens her grasp on the woman she's come to adore so much, Dehya wonders what it has been—why had she woken up so scared?
"Did you dream too, Dehya?"
Dehya's brow furrows in confusion. "People in Sumeru do not dream."
Dunyarzad tilts her head, humming in that thoughtful way of hers.
"But, shouldn't they?"
Forget what the Akademiya says about 'wisdom' or 'clarity of mind', dreams are still dangerous.
Dehya is afraid of dreams, because she knows that if she could, she knows exactly what type of dreams she would have. And they are terrifying, because they occupy that same dangerous, terrible mindset. Not the nightmares, no, but the beautiful ones: the dreams where Dunyarzad no longer has to wear bandages on her arms; the dreams where she steals Dunyarzad away and they travel all across Teyvat together; the dreams where Dunyarzad smiles for Dehya in the early morning light, her face pressed against her pillow and her own hair unruly and beautiful as she calls Dehya's name in that singsong manner and—
"I think you would have beautiful dreams, Dehya," Dunyarzad continues, smiling to herself. "One day, I hope you can dream, and I hope you can tell me about them—all those wonderful visions you see when your eyes are closed."
"And what if I don't want to remember them?" Dehya murmurs, listening to the soft rise and fall of Dunyarzad's breath. "What if they're awful?"
"Then, I hope you move forward nonetheless." Dunyarzad giggles again, pushing a stray hair from Dehya's eyes. "And I hope you tell someone about it. Painful experiences are awful to go through alone—dream or not."
You would know, wouldn't you, My Lady?
Dehya opts to change the subject.
She clears her throat.
"How did you get here, My Lady?"
"Ah," the thoughtful expression returns to Dunyarzad's eyes, "Lumine and Paimon had been walking around the city late last night, when they'd heard me in pain in my sleep. When they knocked on the door but I didn't wake up, Paimon flew in from the window and let Lumine enter. I hadn't woken up during all of the commotion, so they brought me here, where Katheryne of the Adventurer's Guild kindly kept her eye on me for the rest of the night."
"Did they now?" Dehya whispers. "How kind of them."
Could that have been the source of her dread? Had she just sensed that Dunyarzad wasn't where she should have been? No, that couldn't have been it, right? This wasn't the first time she had been separated from Dunyarzad.
So then…
"Dehya?"
"Yes, My Lady?"
Dunyarzad hums.
"I can't help but feel like I just escaped death overnight."
Immediately, Dehya pulls away, eyes wide and horrified.
"My Lady—"
"But I'm fine, now." At Dehya's sheerly incredulous look, Dunyarzad tips her head back and laughs, chiming bells blowing on a warm breeze, and it's almost enough to make Dehya's hackles settle. "No, really! I promise. This is actually… the happiest I've ever been. I can't quite explain it but I'm… content. Even though the festival ended abruptly yesterday, it feels as though I don't have any regrets."
And yet, why can't I, too, shake the feeling that I almost lost you?
"Dehya, I am right here." Dunyarzad's soft words, soft touch, soft everything, manage to break through the Eremite's loud thoughts. "Please, do not look at me as though I'm already gone."
"You are right here," Dehya immediately says, her face hardening into determination. "And you will stay like that."
"As will you?" Dunyarzad questions.
And the crease between Dehya's forehead smoothens. Then she laughs lightly, stands up before reaching for her Lady. There is a squeak, and then Dunyarzad has been lifted in her arms, shyly staring at Dehya through her lashes.
"I will stay with you," Dehya tells her, chuckling under her breath as she bumps her forehead against a flustered Dunyarzad's, who blushes prettily. "Not out of obligation, but because I want to."
"You'll still be paid handsomely," Dunyarzad replies, only stuttering slightly over her words.
Dehya rolls her eyes playfully. "From your parents, maybe. But not from you. Even if we can't go far, I'll take you to see all sorts of wonderful places."
Maybe one day, we can venture even farther.
"Do you promise?"
"I swear it on my life."
End.