Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It creeps up on her slowly, in the beginning, like the first rays of sunlight painting the rooftops down the main street in burning red-gold.

She doesn’t notice it, at first, but some days she watches the Traveler sweep past on bright, feathered gliders and wonders at the taste of freedom that seems to be at the tip of her tongue.

Some days she takes a longer route from her apartment to Floral Whisper, passing by the Church of Favonius just early enough to catch the clouds parting overhead the statues of Lord Barbatos and thinks about what it might feel like to have wings.

Some days, she’s noticing Miss Margaret and the Cat’s Tail, Miss Sara manning the renowned Good Hunter, and then even little Ellin in the training grounds behind the Favonius Headquarters breaking training dummies until dusk.

And all of a sudden Donna finds herself wondering, what it might be like if she stepped out of the mold she has sculpted her life into, one that she had planned to be simple and steady and perfectly mundane, just enough to tide her through her youth, middle age, and then some, and it was supposed to have been everything she would ever have and ever wanted.

Those days, she stands by the displays at Floral Whisper outside, guarding the plants from any touchy traveler who might, with clumsy, wandering hands, think to grab at Miss Flora’s prized possessions, and tells herself that she is satisfied.

Because she must be, she has everything, she is so lucky to have settled into such a nice, stable job, and she is so lucky to be able to afford such a nice, safe apartment in such a nice, charming city like Mondstadt.

She is so lucky to be just a normal girl, living a normal life, away from any heavy, overarching expectations, lucky to never know the gnawing ache of starvation, of reaching out to live another day and falling just a little bit short.

She is afraid to think that she wants more.

So Donna ignores the disquiet, the stinging discontentment of emptiness and unfulfilled dreams that whispers in the darkest corners of her mind, and she wakes up in the morning for her regular shifts at Floral Whisper and she watches over the flowers.

She makes idle conversation with the vendors nearby, with the Knights of Favonius on patrol, makes sales reports to Miss Flora, and daydreams a little about Master Diluc and the Darknight Hero and then both of them at the same time and then blushes a little at her own audacity.

She closes out her shifts by sweeping out the deck in front of Floral Whisper and says goodbye to Miss Flora, counts her Mora earned from kind customers who pay just a little extra, and picks up a dinner of Fisherman’s Toast to take back home to eat. Daydreams a little more about Master Diluc then the Darknight Hero then Master Diluc, because oh, how could she be such a harlot, to betray Master Diluc for but a wandering vigilante—but then could anyone resist the Darknight Hero, really, when his touch was so warm in the cold of the night and his hands so gentle…

She brushes her hair in seventy-five strokes before she goes to bed, a habit etched deep into her very bones from her mother and her mother’s mother before, and then the next day she wakes up and does everything all over again and then—

It comes from out of nowhere, and very much hits her about the head like the club of a hilichurl, and she is left reeling, blinking, stumbling and falling to her feet trying to regain her bearings and then when it settles, it is almost like nothing has happened at all.

Almost.

One day Donna wakes up and decides that there must be more to life than standing outside a storefront every day, getting paid just enough to finance a one-room apartment at the edge of town and the same paltry meal of Egg, Fisherman’s Toast, and Satisfying Salad, and pining over a man—two men—who will never even try to learn her name.

And then when she gets down to Floral Whisper to decide what she wants to do next with this terrifying new revelation, decide every next possibility that comes with the frightening boundlessness of having one’s heart finally in sync with one’s mind, Miss Flora is there, standing by the door, to tell her about a supply chain blockage because of some inner political turmoil in Liyue.

There’s little else that she can do, and she’s so sorry for the issue but Donna will need to take over the shop for the next couple of weeks all by herself because Miss Flora will be gone. Then Miss Flora begins to talk more to herself about all the trouble this will be, and how she will need to pack and plan and go so far out of her way to make the trip to the next country over, to a port close by the sea on nearly the other side of the continent and…

Donna tells Miss Flora that she can go in her place to Liyue.

Miss Flora stops in her tirade to blink up at Donna.

‘Are you sure? It will be rather troublesome and I know you’ve never been out of Mond before.’

Miss Flora examines Donna closely for a few eternal seconds.

Donna’s heart is a bird beating frantic, desperate wings against her ribcage, and her future is a heavy weight placed on a balanced scale, falling to whatever mercy Miss Flora deigns to give.

Miss Flora watches Donna, and Donna can hear the nagging in the back of her mind telling her, see! It was too much, too far, and now you should know, to go back and be grateful and learn to live with what you already have…when all at once Miss Flora claps her hands together and nods firmly, and it seems that she likes whatever she sees in Donna’s gaze.

‘I think you should go. It will be a good learning experience for you, and I trust that you will be able to bring back the proper shipments safely. You are my best employee—’ and she giggles because Donna is her only employee— ‘And we’ve worked together long enough that I know you know what you are doing, and I can put my faith in your abilities.’

Donna thinks the bird flitting around her ribcage might burst into song.

‘You can take the day off early today, then, to prepare. If you leave by tomorrow, you should make it to Liyue Harbor before the start of the trading season. Just make sure that you depart from Liyue Harbor before the end of the month so that you can come back home in time to help with Windblume preparations.’

So the next day, Donna packs her bags and stands outside the gates to Mondstadt, looking out to the wide, blue sky.

Chapter Text

Springvale is a quaint, little town off the edges of Cider Lake known for its hunters and the old fabled spring that sits at the base of the town windmill.

Today, Donna is here for the town’s hunters, to act as her escorts as she makes her way past the borders of Mondstadt and into the rocky plains of Liyue.

Although she’s never been quite as far as the very reaches of where the vineyards of Dawn Winery meet the beginnings of Stone Gate, she knows that there will be areas in her journey fraught with slimes and hilichurls.

Nothing difficult for a vision holder, like the Favonius Outrider Miss Amber or the bartender Miss Diona, much less the illustrious Traveler. Perhaps not even difficult for the average visionless adventurer, like Miss Lynn, who is always cooking up new recipes for travelers on the go…

But of course, for a simple civilian like Donna, they pose quite the threat, so Miss Flora called in some favors and managed to get two Springvale hunters to accompany Donna on her way to Liyue.

So.

By the time she actually gets to Springvale, the sun is high in the sky and Donna feels like a worn and wrung out towel.

She has never been a person who was particularly averse to the outdoors, but today, when she can feel the dust that was kicked up from the roads clinging to and weighing down the hems of her skirt, coating her boots and hair and skin in a sticky, powdery film, she thinks she might begin to understand the sentiment.

She stops by the Springvale signboard and thinks mournfully toward the glistening blue waters of the spring.

The stone steps and steep incline leading up to Springvale look even more daunting from her spot at the base of the ledge, but’s not a long time that she spends loitering around the broken cart beside the Springvale signboard before she sees a young man with blond hair striding down the stairs.

He’s wearing leather arm braces and a starched linen shirt laced closed. He carries a quiver of gray fletched arrows on his back and he walks right up to Donna and holds out a friendly hand.

“Hi,” he says. “You must be Miss Donna?”

“Yes,” Donna nods and takes his hand.

He has a firm grip and he shakes her hand just twice, then lets go.

“I’m Allan, Miss Flora said you’d be helping her with the imports from Liyue this time,” Allan says.

He tilts his head in the direction leading up the steps to Springvale.

“Draff sent two of us to be your guides to the harbor–-Morrow’ll be over in a moment.”

Then Allan nods in the direction of one of the houses. “Would you like to go up for some refreshments while we wait?”

Donna dreads ascending the stairs and the many ledges up to the houses on the upper ridges of Springvale, but she thinks that she probably hates standing out in the hot, dusty air even more.

Plus she’s tired and hungry from her walk, and would very much like a cool drink, so she says yes, and follows Allan up the stairs, and then up a short incline to the house of a woman named Brook.

They don’t actually make it to Brooks’, or even past the stone steps going by the famed Springvale Spring, because Morrow meets them halfway there.

(Donna laments this just a little bit, since Allan had been quite vocal on the virtues of Brook’s culinary prowess, just barely on the verge of waxing poetic.

“She even had a cook-off with one of Liyue’s most famous chefs–I heard the Traveler was their referee!” Allan had waved his hands around excitedly.)

“Sorry now Allan,” Morrow says with an apologetic shrug. “I got caught up a bit late with some of them slimes, you see.”

Then he turns to Donna.

“You must be Miss Donna,” he nods. “I’ll be Morrow, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Thank you for taking the time out of your days to escort me,” Donna nods politely in response.

“Not an issue–” Morrow waves a hand just about at the same time Allan says “Oh, it was our pleasure–”

They stop, then look at each other, and Allan dips his head, deferring to Morrow.

“Yes well, Draff owes Miss Flora a favor, you see, for taking care of his daughter over in the city, yeah?” Morrow gestures in the vague direction of Mondstadt City. “Plus, Allan here isn’t even an official Springvale hunter yet, so it’ll be a good opportunity for him to gain some experience.”

Donna thinks to herself that she really would rather not have known about Allan’s lack of qualification because now she feels a little bit less secure. Still, it won’t do to be ungrateful to her protectorates.

“Of course,” Donna nods politely again. “Then I’m glad to be of help.”

“Great,” Morrow says and it is clear that he has assumed the position of leader in their little group of three. “Now that all that’s settled, we’d best be off. I want us to be past the canyon before dark.”

So they head toward the canyon, following Morrow’s lead.

The canyon isn’t actually all that far away, but Morrow stops by the mouth of the canyon to speak with a fruit vendor named Farrah.

“I don’t know,” Farrah says. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for the three of you to go through without proper protection…Maybe ask one of the Knights to get you through at the very least? It’s been very dangerous as of late, you know.”

Farrah shakes his head and looks over his fruit stand mournfully. “I haven’t been able to sell any of my wares recently because of all the danger, and now I’m worried they’re about to go rotten. Speaking of which, maybe you’d like to buy some?”

Donna ends up buying a sunsettia because it’s hot and it only seems to get dustier the closer they get to the canyon, and she feels rather in great need for refreshment. Plus, she hasn’t eaten lunch just yet and is feeling somewhat peckish.

“Aww, none of that,” Morrow snorts, interjecting into the conversation once Donna has finished purchasing a fruit. “We’re Springvale hunters, I think we’ll manage.”

“Springvale hunters?” Farrah’s eyebrows raise in astonishment. “Well, you must be very good. I shan’t worry about your safety, then.”

Allan looks like he’s about to open his mouth to explain that no, he’s not a Springvale hunter just yet, and that he’s just out to gain experience, but Morrow cuts him off with a sharp look.

“Yes,” Morrow shakes Farrah’s hand. “Thanks for the warning, anyhow. We’ll be goin’ now.”

“Goodbye!” Farrah calls after them as they head off deeper into the canyon. “Come by anytime if you’re in need of fresh produce!”

Donna highly doubts anyone comes out this far just to buy fruit, but she waves back anyway, taking a bite of the sunsettia.

It’s very sweet and a tad overripe.

“Come on,” Morrow says, beckoning them forward. “We ain’t got time to waste now.”

For a short while it seems like Morrow is rushing them an awful lot for no good reason (well, unless he really is just that desperate to get the trip done and over with), because they advance through the canyon at a relatively quick pace.

Then, all of a sudden, they hear the sharp cry of a hilichurl and Morrow immediately ducks behind a boulder, Allan shortly behind him and Donna the last to follow.

“Allan,” Morrow whispers. “It’s your turn to shine now.”

Allan nods solemnly and peeks out from behind the rock.

“There are two of them. One of them is a pyro shooter.” He observes, crouching back down looking to Morrow for guidance.

“You can just try to take both of them,” Morrow whispers back a little too quickly.

Donna raises an eyebrow skeptically. She isn’t much too sure about the mechanics of fighting, but a single Springvale trainee with a wooden bow and half a quiver full of arrows doesn’t seem like that great of a matchup against two hilichurls, especially given that one of them is elementally affiliated. Anyway, there’s strength of numbers isn’t there? And if Morrow wants to get out of the canyon so soon, then wouldn’t it be faster if they each took one?

She wonders why they didn’t bring more arrows. Morrow doesn’t even have fifteen.

“...Are you sure?” Allan whispers, looking and sounding a bit queasy.

Maybe Allan doesn’t really like the idea of soloing a hilichurl that throws burning hot slimes either.

“Yeah, I know you can do it, Allan. You’re almost a fully fledged Springvale hunter anyway, I think you can,” Morrow nods.

He seems to have an awful lot of faith in Allan because he even backs a little further away behind the rock and pushes Allan forward.

“C’mon Allan, you can do it, I know it.”

Allan gives Morrow one last nervous look.

“...Alright then,” he says as he pulls out two arrows.

Allan creeps out from behind the rock and closer to the center of the valley, where Donna’s line of sight is blocked by the rock.

After a few moments have passed, she still can’t see him, but she hasn’t really heard anything either, so she assumes that he’s doing okay in launching a sneak attack against the hilichurls.

Strangely enough, Morrow doesn’t seem very worried about Allan even though he’s probably supposed to be supervising how Allan’s doing.

“Will you go after him in case he needs backup?” She asks him.

“Nah, he’ll be alright by himself,” Morrow shakes his head, but he doesn’t look particularly convinced.

Right at that moment, they hear a yell and then the sound of stamping feet moving at a rather fast pace.

“...He’ll be alright,” Morrow says again, but his face has whitened considerably.

Donna immediately feels much less safe and wonders if it’s too late to go back to Springvale and negotiate with Draff or someone to get a new security detail.

There’s some more yelling, and then the sound of what might be Allan yelling, some thumping, a small explosion, and a bit of what sounds like an arrow sticking itself into flesh before the sound of the hilichurls bursting into stardust.

Allan finally reappears from behind the rock, looking mightily battered and a touch singed.

“I did it, Morrow, you were right! I did it! Did you see how I took out the pyro shooter?”

He is the only member of their party who looks excited.

“Of course I did, a mighty brilliant shot that was. I always knew you could do it, all along, never doubted you for a second,” Morrow crows triumphantly.

He seems to be more relieved at Allan’s success than Allan is, and is most definitely lying through his teeth.

“Aww, shucks,” Allan rubs the back of his neck embarrassedly. “You really think so?”

Donna doesn’t think so. In fact, she knows so, because Morrow hadn’t moved at all from where he was crouched behind the rock during the entire time that Allan was gone, hands over the back of his neck and elbows pressed in close to his ears.

“Why, I’ve never quite seen a finer shot myself!” Morrow exclaims.

Of course he hadn’t seen a finer shot, given that he hadn’t really seen anything at all, Donna thinks to herself.

“You’ll make a fine Springvale hunter someday, you hear me, Allan?” Morrow continues, patting Allan on the back.

“Thanks, Morrow,” Allan says gratefully. “That really means a lot to me.”

“Oh, of course,” Morrow nods wisely, as if he is privy to all the secrets in the world. “Now, the sun’s starting to set, so we should get a move on, eh?”

“Right, sorry about the delay, Miss Donna,” Allan frowns apologetically.

“Oh, enough of that,” Morrow interjects before Donna can respond. “I’m sure Miss Donna knows that you were just doing your job.”

Miss Donna can speak for herself, she thinks scathingly, but responds in assent because he’s not wrong either.

“If that’s all done, then let’s start going.”

So they all fall into line behind Morrow and continue to make their way down through the canyon.

In the end, it is barely evening when they finally arrive at Dawn Winery.