Chapter Text
Long, long ago… Ah! Why do stories always begin with a phrase as old as the stories themselves?
Perhaps, for some authors, long ago is less the threshold of a tale than a refuge from further questioning. For once a story is consigned to unreachable distance, all the people and events bound up within it may as well have faded into obscurity, leaving no path by which the present might truly follow them back.
And yet, those stories of long ago endure still.
Long ago, the lights of many nations filigreed the earth in gleaming gold. Long ago, the daughters of heaven wandered in carefree grace through divine courts and mortal cities. Long ago, the sovereign of ages past, who had descended into deepest darkness, had not yet brought disaster back to his homeland. Long ago, the three radiant moons that hung aloft in the night heavens were still three...
For the voiceless angel, stories were mainly the passage of time. Many of those who read and listened to her tellings had long since taken their leave. The angel who once longed to write laughter into the world lost all that had once made laughter possible. In the end, she even lost the voice with which she laughed, and could speak no more.
She would go on cradling her many long agos, roaming the world and watching as all things passed, changed, and were remade by time.
The heavens-
"Nicole, you're getting distracted and going into a tangent again! What does any of this have to do with the story?!" Mr. Nine exclaimed. She was currently inside the body of an old bald writer. Nicole couldn't keep her laughter. The hair loss was real now.
Mr. Nine scowled at her, and the mage smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Also, could you go slower?! I can't write that fast!"
The mage cleared her throat. "As I was saying…"
Humanity has always been such an intriguing, brilliant species. Ever since humans began populating the world, their resilience has enabled them to navigate, adapt, and recover from adversity, trauma, or crisis. It isn't merely about enduring hardship, but rather the ability to process challenges, rebuild their lives and beliefs, and emerge transformed into something stronger.
Several thousand years ago, when humans still roamed around the land as nomads looking for a place to settle, Teyvat was in disarray. Severe droughts, floods, heatwaves, catastrophic storms, and terrible blizzards diminished human population. Even so, their resilience was such that not even the harmful environment could stop them; thus, many civilizations were born: the first city in history that created an artificial sun, the one filled with genius engineers able to repair the solar chariot, the kingdom that flourished in the desert, the city where humans rebelled against dragons, the golden city in the far north, and…
The mountain kingdom blessed by the heavens, where this long-ago story takes place.
Nowadays, the mountain is covered by ice and snow that never melts, but it wasn't always like that. Once verdant and full of life, it was the place where nomads settled after seeking refuge from a land of snow and strife. There, they found a new beginning that allowed their population to expand. Every morning and every evening, they sang hymns to honor the heavens, thanking them for the blessing of having a place to call home. They erected a monument to honor the Lord of the Sky on its peak and established a civilization there, naming it Sal Vindagnyr.
Delighted by their worship, the heavens gifted Sal Vindagnyr with two new blessings. The first was the Divine Tree, silver-white in color and connected to the world's Ley Lines. It granted the people fertile land to prosper and knowledge beyond their own. And so, the tree was revered as the heavens themselves.
The second blessing was a divine messenger. She was too young for an envoy of the heavens, and among the youngest, in fact. Granted with the holy favor of the heavens like her sisters, she was endowed with both wisdom and sacred authority and called to fulfill their supreme will. Her purpose was to guide the people of Sal Vindagnyr as a flawless arbiter of justice so that they wouldn't go astray like the city that bound fire to their rule, the one that tried to climb towards the heavens, or the one that pushed wisdom to its limits and descended to the lightless bottom of the sea.
"The laws shall not be tested, nor shall the strictures be questioned, or the scriptures be infringed." Thus spoke the eldest sister, once closest of them all to the Lord of the Sky. "Any transgression shall be greeted by inevitable punishment."
This was an edict that the young angel believed with all her heart. With those words engraved in her very soul, she did her best to guide Sal Vindagnyr toward prosperity, teaching them the philosophies of nature and serving as an oracle to help them understand the future. Under her guidance, the city flourished even more. With favorable geography, advancements in agriculture and cattle raising, urbanization, specialized labor, institutions, and record keeping, Sal Vindagnyr developed into a monarchy ruled by a high priest, where people lived peacefully.
With their deep faith in the heavens, the angel had the highest rank in their social hierarchy. Every morning and every evening, at the temple high above the city, she stood beside the king-priest, singing hymns and worshipping the heavens alongside the people of the city. The rest of the day, she sat poised on a rug inside the temple, receiving people who sought guidance.
"Gracious envoy, my father is sick. Please, help him."
"Divine envoy, our daughter is getting married in a few days. Please, bless their union so it's full of happiness and prosperity."
"Gracious envoy, my little brother passed yesterday. Please, bless his soul so it can rest and return to the cycle of reincarnation."
For years, the angel answered the troubled people, showing them the way to joy. Still, she kept her distance. As a divine envoy, the Lord of the Sky was the most important being in her heart. Angels were to love the heavens and no one else. Angels were to cherish the heavens and no one else. Angels weren't meant to love humans more than the heavens themselves. She followed those rules to heart, never too close to love them too much, but never too far to lead them astray. This was how she tackled her fate, and just like that, many years passed.
Despite never being too close to humans, the envoy kept a close relationship with Sal Vindagnyr's royalty. As the highest esteemed member in their society, the king-priest or queen-priestess, in turn, always took her advice above everything else. Throughout her life, the angel saw many monarchs rule the city. She witnessed them being born, growing up, and dying. Witnessed sights that made her speechless and filled her heart with curiosity. Perhaps it was because of this that she found that girl so peculiar.
"Gracious envoy, I have come yet with another question." Another day had dawned. The girl came to the temple high above and, once again, knocked on its doors and practically ran across the place until she sat in front of the angel. Her blue eyes stared at the angel with curiosity as her short black bob-cut hair fluttered with the mountain's breeze coming through the temple's main entrance.
The envoy incited the girl to speak with a smile. With a grin and, almost without pausing for breath, the young girl began to spill out every single thought she had had from the night before. Her words came and went as swiftly as birds sweeping low over water, but the angel caught them all. Of course she did, since she was an angel after all.
The girl was the most curious creature of them all in the city, and it was as if the world itself were a giant unsolved puzzle to her. There were fools in the city who feared that, sooner or later, the girl would ask a question that strayed too far, and by it call calamity upon them. And so they shut her in a room and bound her in irons, in hope that hunger and fear might smother the unruly stirrings of her mind. Free as she was, the girl escaped many times before being shackled.
The angel had been shocked at this. How could they do that to their own crown princess?
"Everyone is equal under the heavens' laws. Not even Her Highness can escape from punishment when it comes to angering the Lord of the Sky," the royal scribe told the envoy when she asked about the princess' punishments.
But despite the solitary confinement, the young girl remained herself. She carved complex equations in the floor of her cell and let her mind wander through the many rules that bound their world. She would stay in confinement for days before being let out, only to go ask more blasphemous questions and get thrown in a cell again.
"Aren't you scared?" The envoy asked, sitting poised on the rug as always.
The princess snorted. "Of the old scribe? Of course not." The angel blinked at her words. The princess' eyes shone with curiosity as she continued, "But let's not talk about him. Gracious envoy, tell me, why is the grass green?"
In some part of her heart, the angel wondered if one day she could be as free as the princess even when shackled. The latter didn't seem to mind any of the bad things done to her and kept smiling and being curious about the world. Maybe one day the angel could be like that, too. Maybe one day she could travel across Teyvat and-
That was a dangerous thought. Her main goal as a divine envoy was to adore the heavens and guide humans towards the path built by the Lord of Sky, not to lose herself in mundane things.
What a foolish thought.
Still, a seed of doubt was planted inside her heart, and she wondered if her fate would always remain the same, sitting inside the temple on that rug for the rest of her days.
Changing your own fate sometimes only takes a small action. For someone going out in the rain might lead them to disease and death, for others, not doing anything might bring fortune; for the angel, this small action was speaking on the princess' behalf. She got the royal scribe to stop putting her in solitary confinement. She told him that the princess was blessed by the heavens; thus, whatever they did to her was akin to doing it to the Lord of the Sky. After that, they let the princess do whatever she wanted, mouths shut and gazes towards the ground in shame.
For the first time in her life, the angel lied.
"You mustn't tell lies, for your words are the Lord's own," her sisters had told her before she descended from the skies. But surely, a small lie wouldn't hurt, right?
Without the angel noticing, that action started the downfall of Sal Vindagnyr.
The angel was rather fond of the girl's endless questions, for it gave her something she had rarely been afforded before: a chance to truly guide someone. Sure, she often guided people, telling them their fates or doing her best to turn her words into prayers that would soothe their minds and souls, but she had never truly guided someone the way she did with the princess. Most of her time was spent sitting and praying with people, so she seldom found much room to put her own gifts to use. As one of the youngest of the angels, she had come only after so many others had already enlightened the people of the world, and despite the trust the people of Sal Vindagnyr had placed in her shoulders, sometimes she felt powerless.
But fortune had finally handed her one precious opportunity in the form of a fair and curious princess.
"Gracious envoy, why is it that the fruit upon the trees is always drawn downward to the earth?"
"Why does the thunder always arrive only after the lightning has already flashed?"
"And what keeps the moon from flying far away, so that it rises and sinks before our eyes instead?"
The angel's mind raced while she looked for answers. The young princess wanted to know about gravity and the speed of light versus sound. That was fine… unless she wanted equations and calculations… she couldn't possibly handle that! Well, she could just explain the basic concepts and principles. That part was easy. She could do it… But could she get away with just that? Wasn't the princess growing up too fast? One day, she was asking if clouds were made out of cotton, and now she wanted answers about gravity. At that rate, in a few more days, she was going to start asking about fluid dynamics, orbital mechanics, thermodynamics, that sort of thing! She couldn't possibly explain that! Please, no. Was that normal for humans? Well, she guessed that it was because people from Lang-Gan were quick to learn mathematics and physics. Everyone studied different things, separately. Was that what made learning difficult concepts faster? By having more folks learn different things? Hm. It was impressive that the angel guiding that city could keep up at all. Did she ever know her name? What was it again...? I think she was-
"Nicole, you're side-tracking again!"
"Sorry!"
The angel's gaze was full of untold wisdom that made the young princess' eyes shine in wonder. She gave two little coughs, shifted her body a little, and began explaining once more.
"Ahem. So, the answer to your question is..."
"The answer to your question is..."
"The answer is…"
"I don't remember," the voiceless mage deadpanned.
"Nicole!"
"It's fine, just make something up. Or I can make something up! Let's see… The answer to your question lies in the fact that gravity, the force that structures the cosmos, also shapes human physiology. It influences skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological systems, sustaining balance, blood circulation, and functional capacity. Unlike other senses, the brain lacks a dedicated gravity-sensing region and instead relies on a distributed vestibular network, graviception, to interpret gravitational cues. On Teyvat, gravity-driven blood pooling in the legs triggers compensatory responses that preserve cerebral perfusion. In microgravity, these mechanisms are altered, leading to fluid shifts toward the head, visual disturbances, cerebral changes, and-"
"What are you even talking about?! It doesn't even make sense! I can't write that!"
Nicole smiled gently, "If it's you, Mr. Nine, anything is possible."
"You-!"
For the angel, mortals were-
"You're just going to continue like that?!"
Ahem! For the angel, mortals were a fleeting existence. One day they were born, and before she knew it, they were gone. Such was the fate of immortal beings like her. Sometimes, she stared at the princess and noticed the changes in her form as she grew. She knew that one day, the young girl would be gone from this world, just like many before her. But for some reason, the thought of losing the princess made her chest tight. She wasn't exactly sure what that feeling was, but she didn't like it.
The angel was reminded of how frail human life was the day the king-priest passed away. As an oracle, she already knew the king wouldn't live long, and she had done her best to warn him about his health, but in the end, that was all she could do. Before the heavens' will, she was powerless.
Funerary rites of the royal family were done under the Sacred Tree's shade. During such times, morning prayers would be moved from the temple, and would focus on asking the Lord of the Sky to take the deceased soul in their care and let them return to the reincarnation cycle.
Just like the many king and queen funerals she had been to before, the people of the city mourned the loss of their monarch. While the envoy wasn't particularly close to him, she knew she wasn't a bad person and that he had done what he could for his people. The tears shed in his honor were solid proof of that.
The princess, now a young adult, stood proudly beside the angel. The latter wasn't sure how close she was to her father, but she guessed their relationship wasn't that close because the man had never done anything to stop the princess' punishments.
"Looks like I'm the new ruler of this land," the princess said resolutely. Her eyes never left his father's body, not even when it was burned to ashes that returned to the fertile soil as life itself. Just like when her mother passed two years before, the princess didn't shed any tears.
Life kept going after the king's passing. The princess, now queen-priestess, led Sal Vindagnyr with the heavens' favor and their envoy standing tall beside her. Like any other mortal, her life moved on. She grew up to be a beautiful, strong, and caring woman. She got married and got pregnant, but not once did she stop seeking the envoy for answers about the world.
"Gracious envoy, we have a favor to ask of you," the queen-priestess asked one day. Like many times before, she sat in front of the angel, but unlike those times, she was now accompanied by her husband and carried her newborn son in her arms. "I want you to bless this child. Tie his soul to yours so that he won't ever feel lost."
Her eyes widened as she listened to her words. She was a divine messenger. Although her main goal was to guide humanity, the Lord of the Sky was the only one she should ever worship. They were the only ones in her soul and heart. Humans should be equal under her gaze. None should gain more favor than the others. None should be loved more than the others.
And yet…
"That's-"
The royal couple kneeled. "Please. We beg of you."
She was used to being revered; used to having people kneeling and asking for directions. But the queen had never done that before. The angel would be lying to herself if she didn't accept that the woman had a special place in her heart. As she stared at the small sleeping baby who carried the blood of a person she cherished, her mind was a mess.
Humans should be equal under her gaze. None should gain more favor than the others. None should be loved more than the others.
And yet she used her divine power to bless this child. Tied his soul to hers so that she would always protect him. The moment their souls connected, she felt a warmth unlike anything she had ever felt before. The sensation made her chest fill with happiness as a soft smile graced her delicate features. "What's his name?" The envoy asked, her eyes never leaving the child's sleeping form.
The queen and her husband looked at her with a smile, too. "We were hoping you would name him."
Her gaze flew towards the royal couple, eyes wide open with shock. "I can't possibly-"
"We insist."
The angel looked at the baby again. Wrapped in a blanket, he slept without a care in the world. A soft breeze flew past them, and his small, chubby face scrunched up as he started to wake up. Seconds later, he opened his eyes, and her smile turned even softer when she realized he had the same eyes as his mother. His father's silver hair and his mother's eyes… what a lovely little human.
"Varuch." She took her eyes off the baby to stare at his parents. "That'll be his name."
That would be the second thing that put Sal Vindagnyr's downfall in motion.
Varuch turned out to be just like his mother. From a very young age, he was curious about everything and anything and sought the angel for answers. More often than not, he would ask the same questions the queen did when she was his age, and every time he did, the angel would laugh softly.
She was glad to know that, unlike the previous scribe who had already passed, the royal court didn't punish the young prince's curiosity and instead pushed him towards knowledge.
"Gracious envoy, how big is the sea of stars?" Varuch asked one day with his eyes full of interest.
The angel smiled sheepishly, for she had no answer to that question. Still, she pretended to have one "Very big."
The child gasped. "Even bigger than the mountain."
"Even bigger." At her words, Varuch gasped again.
Maybe she had gotten closer to humanity in the many years she had spent at Sal Vindagnyr, or maybe it was because her relationship with the queen and the link she and Varuch shared had turned her softer, but the angel started looking at humanity with different eyes. Full of admiration and adoration… eyes that should've only looked at the Lord of the Sky.
The day the king consort passed was hard. The angel had to see the queen and Varuch holding each other with sorrow drowning their hearts. Old and frail, young Varuch was the one who supported his mother through the funerary rites. That was the first time she saw the queen crying. The link between her and Varuch's soul flared with heartbreak. The queen and her son wailed as the body turned to ashes, and for the first time in her life, the angel understood what sadness was. Her chest felt tight, and she felt a knot in her throat, as Varuch's sadness became one with her own.
"You shouldn't feel for humans more than you do for the Lord of the Sky."
Her sisters' teachings disappeared from her mind the day the queen passed away. Her precious person had left the world, and while the angel had known from the beginning that she would live a long, happy life, it didn't make things easier. Varuch and his wife stood at her side as they watched the queen's body burn. At that moment, the world stopped for both of them. Her own emotions, as well as Varuch's, ran through her soul, turning everything dull.
For the first time in her life, she cried when memories of the now-gone queen came into her mind. As the angel wiped the tears that fell over her cheeks, she wondered if loving humans was truly so bad.
As always, life kept going. Sal Vindagnyr was the same as it had always been. For the angel, life kept going, too. She now knew what sorrow and mourning felt like, and even though she still got sad at the memory of the curious princess who once sat in front of her, she understood that all humans would eventually perish.
Being the king-priest with many responsibilities, Varuch stopped seeking her guidance. Sometimes he still went to ask things of her, but most of the time he asked about the future of the city rather than things he was curious about. He was still the same Varuch, but somehow it seemed as if his curiosity about the world had turned to ashes alongside his mother.
The link between their souls was still vivid. The angel felt his frustration, his sadness, and lately, his worry about his pregnant and frail wife.
"Gracious envoy, please tell me if she and our child are going to be okay."
"They're going to be fine. Don't worry, Varuch." Just like everyone who sought her answers, the king left feeling reassured that things would be okay. The angel could sense through their link that his worries were slowly dissipating after speaking with her.
She didn't have the heart to tell him that his wife wouldn't be fine. Didn't have the heart to tell him that a few years after their daughter's birth, she would die.
"You mustn't tell lies, for your words are the Lord's own."
When the daughter of the priest of Vindagnyr was born beneath the sacred white tree, the whole city got up in celebration. For the first time in history, a royal child had been born under the Divine Tree's shade. Since the tree was a symbol of prosperity, everyone saw her birth as a blessing from the heavens and rejoiced.
"The Heavens have blessed my daughter!" Varuch exclaimed as he stared at the swaddled baby sleeping peacefully in her exhausted mother's arms.
Dappled light came through the Divine Tree's leaves. On a very ordinary early morning, beneath the kingdom's sacred symbol, the daughter of Sal Vindagnyr quietly came into this world.
When the angel arrived at the scene, her heart fluttered at the image of the new family embracing each other. The queen consort looked exhausted from giving birth, but she still signed to the envoy to move closer. Once she did, Varuch took the tiny newborn princess in his arms and carefully handed her to the shocked angel, who did her best to pretend that wasn't the first time she held a baby in her arms.
The baby had Varuch's silver hair, but her eyes were like the queen's with bluish-gray irises and faint red pupils. Upon seeing the angel, she let out a cute baby laugh. The envoy smiled gently and poked one chubby cheek with her index finger, only for it to end up squeezed in the princess' small hand.
This time, no one asked her, but she still tied the baby's soul to hers. The moment she did, her heart was filled with an even bigger warmth than when she linked her soul to Varuch's. It was soothing, a tender feeling that made her want to cry from joy.
"What's her name?"
"Elin. Her name's Elin," Varuch answered.
The angel's gaze fell over the small human. She smiled again, "Nice to meet you, Elin."
At that moment, she didn't know that her relationship with that girl would be the end of Sal Vindagnyr.
꙳·❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊
Giving up her wings and halo wasn't a fall from grace, but a chance to become part of something tangible. Sacrificing her voice didn't silence her, but instead gave her the strength to listen before judging. She realized that divine potential lies within each and every human, and each day she spent among them was more fascinating than the last.
She wasn't bound to the heavens anymore, but she still did her best to guide humans. The silent mage still carried the failure of being unable to save the people she held dear in the form of a scar in her heart. Thus, she bowed to fulfill her duty, guiding everyone to build ever stronger bonds, not out of blindless fate, but from her own freedom.
What is the true purpose of this world?
The angel, shackled by the heavens as she was, could never get an answer to this question. In that case, it was time for the free-spirited mage to seek out the answer instead...
And so, she traveled across the whole world. From Liyue's stone forests to Fontaine's pure currents and the Red Sand's sandstorms, the silent mage sought people to guide and help. Everywhere she went, her eyes widened with the beauty of a world that she would've never seen if she had stayed under the tyrant's shadow. A part of her felt joy, but another felt the sorrow of those who never got to see such sights or live as freely as she did now.
Humans were still as interesting as they had always been. Time and time again, they proved their resilience. Cities fell, and others rose, but humanity remained as strong as ever.
The first time she set foot in Nod-Krai, the silent mage was astonished. The place was unlike anything she had seen before. The moon-blessed land was full of biting gales and desolate tundras as the snow-kissed lakes, fractured like mirrors, reflected their ageless, glacial radiance. The days were bitterly short, and the night stretched on like a dark, yawning maw. But even then, the light and song of the Welkin Moon danced gently across the faces of locals and visiting travelers. She would've been lying if she said that her heart wasn't worried when she saw the snow-covered land, but her worries dispelled when snowflakes melted in her hand.
For someone whose wish was to guide people, Nod-Krai seemed like a paradise. A place where people from all over the world came for a new beginning. Nod-Krai was a paradise for vagrants, its gates standing open to anyone who might choose to enter, regardless of wealth or status. Nod-Krai, a land where no one asks about your past.
A perfect place for someone like her!
The silent mage's eyes widened in awe as she strolled around Nasha Town. People from all over the world coexisted inside the city in a mix of cultures that left her speechless. Well, technically, she was already speechless, but you get the point, she was marveled by-
"This again?!"
She saw people from many places, as well as locals. Scholars from Sumeru, people from Fontaine, folks who somehow managed to escape from Inazuma, a merchant from Liyue who probably worked hard to open his own shop, a young local girl with antlers in her head, surrounded by a group of indigenous people, giving out food to the poor…
Everywhere she looked, people were asking to be guided, and she was the best person for that job!
And so, the silent mage looked around for people to help… and she found nothing. She was awestruck. Usually, it wouldn't take too much to find someone who needed guidance, but Nasha Town was a busy place where people lived quickly, and no one spared her even a glance.
She let out a heavy sigh when the sun started to set on the horizon. The silent mage hadn't found anyone willing to accept her help. Dejected and tired, she decided to go look for a place to sleep and try again the next day.
Failure wasn't falling!
Night fell over the town as the mage looked for a place to stay. The harsh, cold wind of the night hit her face, and she shivered. She was about to speed up her steps when she heard someone shouting in the middle of the street.
"Please help us! Our child needs help!" A young couple shouted frantically, only to be ignored by the people still outside. The woman held a small blanket bundle close to her chest. Both their faces were filled with desperation as they tried their best to find help.
The silent mage smiled. See? Humans always needed guidance.
With confident steps, she approached the couple. "Hello! What do you need help with?"
The two blinked at her, clearly confused. "Are you… speaking in our minds?"
Her smile grew wider. "I'm a mage! A very strong one!" Her voice was full of pride.
Maybe her explanation was enough, or maybe the two were so worried about their child that they only nodded and went along with her explanation, but whatever the case, they moved closer to her. "Our child has been burning with a fever for the past three days. We took him to a healer, but he hasn't gotten any better. If he doesn't get any better, he won't make it," the woman cried.
The mage nodded. "Let me take a look."
Carefully, the man moved the blanket to reveal a cute but struggling baby. His little red face twisted with pain, but despite that, he was silent. The mage placed her hand on his forehead, and her eyes widened. "He's burning up! We need to take action now!"
"Please save him!" The parents cried.
She smiled, "Don't worry. Helping others is my job."
Now, she said that, but healing wasn't exactly her forte. Well, it didn't matter; she had learned many spells from both B and R, so she was sure that she could handle a simple fever…
It wasn't a simple fever. While she tried to use her Pyro to soothe the child's pain and cure his sickness, the silent mage realized the baby's pain had a complicated origin. "Is he weak to kuuvahki?" She asked
The couple looked at each other before answering, "We don't know for sure. He hasn't been around kuuvahki much so…"
Even if they didn't know, the mage was sure that this child was weak to kuuvahki. What a sad situation for someone who lived in a place full of such elemental energy. If she didn't do something, the child would die, but no matter what spells she tried, nothing seemed to work.
Then it hit her.
Her mind was clear as the open sky on a sunny day. She knew exactly what she had to do, but she wasn't sure if it would work. The mage didn't have her divine powers anymore, and in that moment, she made a rash decision that could cost the child's life. She used the power of her vision and tweaked one of R's spells: the one that could bind souls to artificial bodies. Yet, she bound the baby's soul to hers in the same way she had done with Varuch's and Elin's. A horrible pain ran through her whole body, but she paid it no mind. Then, she felt it, the same soothing warmth she felt when she tied her soul to Elin's. Her eyes widened for a second as her very own soul recognized the baby as someone she knew, even though he had never seen these people before.
"Is it you, Elin?" She whispered in her own mind.
Done with her strange treatment, she felt weak and feverish, a sign that what she did had worked out. "Is it over?" The man asked, a bit confused.
The woman's hand flew to her child's forehead, and her eyes shone with unshed tears. "His fever is receding!"
"What?!
The silent mage did her best to appear poised. "He'll get better with some rest."
"Thank you so much!" Tears ran down the couple's faces. Her whole being still felt the tender warmth of the child's soul. A warmth that she knew and had missed for thousands of years.
With the excuse to check the baby's temperature, she approached. Her breath caught in her throat the moment the child opened his eyes: bluish-gray irises and faint red pupils. She gripped the gold bracelet in her right wrist tightly.
Those were Elin's eyes.
She had finally found her in the form of a baby boy. The silent mage felt her own eyes glassy with unshed tears, but she did her best to hide it. She smiled and asked, "What's his name?"
Smiling tenderly, the woman answered, "Illuga."
The mage's gaze fell over the small human. She smiled again, "Nice to meet you, Illuga."
At that moment, she didn't know that finding that boy would be the onset of her redemption.