#ily cee

When the sun shines, she shines for you. She told me she’s making up for those lost three months of lightless conquest. She apologizes for the way she shone so brightly when you finally resurfaced. She did not realize your pupils would be too dilated that she blinded, or skin too pale she burned. She was just thankful for your safe return. As was I, as was the world. A hero by the age of 14, wanting so desperately to live up to the name.

So, cheers to that liquid light; the weighted warmth of honey and gold and all things good that flows directly into your chest. It enters the bloodstream, shooting through every vein and circulating back out of your pores. We walk along the shores of Morepesok, and I think, if I could absorb all your woes I would do so in a heartbeat. In the bat of an eyelash or the final strike of a drum. In the throes of battle you’ve never once doubted yourself, never once hesitated. I hope you never have to hesitate again.

Every time you come back from afar, you feel like a different person. You remind me that change isn’t always bad. Sometimes it’s growth. It doesn’t scare me like it used to, because I know I’ll love you through every iteration of your being. If there is one constant you can be sure of, please let it be that my arms will always be open for you. You will forever hold the key to the doors of my heart and our home. For as long as you return and even beyond the grave, I will always love you.

Tea,

When I look at the moon while overseas, it comforts me to know that it is the very same one that shines for you at home. Her light doesn’t scorch, so you can gaze upon her directly in all her beauty. I think of what her radiance looks like on your skin, I think of your blush in the moonlight… In the cold of the night while deep in the forests, remember how we used to run? Hand in hand like the roots didn’t jut out of the frozen soil with the sole purpose of tripping us? How branches would snag on our clothes and the bushes rustled and trembled with life? What about the looks on our parents when they saw the state of our clothes and the scratches on our skin? I remember it all. But it is your face that will never leave me. While you’ve grown so much and will continue to in the years we will share, you’ll always be the same as when we first met. That I can count upon.

Sometimes my letters weren’t enough. In Mondstadt I used to whisper to the dandelions and blow them away, hoping the wind would carry my words to you across borders. Liyue was gorgeous and it gave me a deeper understanding of where you come from, even if you’re not familiar with it yourself. I had hoped the red envelopes I sent spoke to you clearly enough. It was fun in Inazuma but I couldn’t see us settling down there. Eternity isn’t for everyone, certainly not us. I’d like to grow old with you, if you’d let me. But I see you cashed in the Yae Publishing House’s coupons, even though some pieces were lost in translation. We are never going to Fontaine. Nothing of note there except rampant injustice. However, whether I was imprisoned in my cell or roaming the beaches, I often spoke into the water. Maybe the sound waves of my adoration followed my longing and the tides back home? Apparently none of these methods reached you, so I will say to you now what I could not then.

I love you.