Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Emmy, can you come down for breakfast!" a voice sounded from the kitchen which traveled to a room on the top floor of the two-story building which housed a six-year-old girl. Emmy opened her eyes and looked around confusedly for a moment, from her position near the door. She had fallen asleep while standing as she debated whether sunsettas or berry's made better juice.

The room was quite small with a bed draped in white sheets in the corner near the window which gave a view of the other houses in the area. The morning rays peeked through the blue curtains and enveloped the room in light. There was a table on the other side of the room, equipped with various types of stationary in different amounts, and a closet on the side.

The girl, Emmy, was small and a bit frail which was normal when her age was taken into consideration, she had hair that took on the colors of the night and looked soft to the touch. She had hazel eyes common to most of the Edgar family, a white delicate skin tone with cherry lips, and a button nose. Ultimately she was cute for a six-year-old.

"I'll be down in a minute!" The girl's voice, which was reminiscent of a songbird was laced with joy as she sounded out at the beckoning of her mother.

Emmy quickly walked out of her room and dashed down the stairs, she was almost to the bottom when she jumped and twirled in the air, her white dress fluttered in the breeze, she landed stably on her feet as she descended to the ground and ended it all in a showy bow.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Oh? you've gotten a bit showier the last we saw you, huh munchkin, hasn't she Jemma?" A man with spiky black hair questioned as he applauded, he was a towering man of 193cm and had what looked to be a freshly trimmed beard, like Emmy he spotted hazel eyes but had more tanned skin. Garbed in a white dress shirt and cargo pants with some white slippers to match he looked quite handsome.

"She has indeed, I don't know where she learned this but it looks well practiced and adorable, don't you say Arthur?" Answered the woman, now identified as Jemma. Jemma was particularly tall for a woman, standing at a height of 168cm, she shared quite a lot of traits with Emma except for her cyan eyes and tanned skin. Jemma was dressed in a maroon dress but was instead barefooted.

She looked to be balancing many dishes in her hands at the moment.

"Also, Emmy be a dear and get the glasses and water jug that are in the kitchen and Arthur help me set the table, please? " Jemma said as she held what looked to be two trays with bowls and plates filled with food in both hands.

Finished with her little morning show Emmy lifted her head to glance at the familiar living room. It had a total of three doors which lead to the kitchen, washroom, and outside. There was an assortment of furniture placed in the center area with the table placed along one of the sides.

"Okay, dad hurry!" Emmy dashed to the kitchen while she called out to Arthur and glanced at the walls where numerous family photos aligned the walls. Her parents took the photos with something they called a kamera, they said it was something that they found in one of the ruins they explored. They got someone to fix it before putting it to use hence, the clarity and detail of the photos.

She soon arrived in the kitchen which had a simple furnace place, water basin, cupboards, and other kitchen utilities. She quickly spotted the things she came for and placed them on a tray she found, going back to the living room.

The table was already set up when Emmy came in with the water and she quickly placed them in their spot on the table. Then the family was gestured by Jemma to sit down as they prayed to Barbatos, the anemo archon.

"Oh blessed lord of the sacred winds may you bless our meal and guide us through our day," the family prayed and then began eating their breakfast.

Breakfast that morning was some hearty bread and sausages with a variety of condiments like butter and jam. The adults drank some black coffee while Emmy sipped on some berry juice. Emmy ate quickly as she wanted to ask her parents some questions about their recent adventures out in the world.

Emmy's parents were adventurers who traveled the world and documented what they found, they also brought home a lot of artifacts and treasures and told Emmy various stories about their adventures. It was also due to this that Emmy was mostly home alone and treasured all the time spent with her family.

As if sensing the agitation of their daughter, Jemma and Arthur looked at each other and ate quickly as well. When done the family quickly said another prayer before going to wash the dishes together.

"Emmy, how was your time for the past few weeks? make any new friends?" or any at all? Jemma winced at the thought she just had but she couldn't help it as her daughter rarely told them about any companion of hers. It was due to this that the couple was quite reluctant to leave their daughter alone as she may be isolated by her peers.

"I did make one last week, her name was Fischl and she said she was the 'Prinzessin der verurteilung!' or whatever," Emmy knew of her parent's worries which is why she tried her hardest to make friends, unfortunately, outside of her family she didn't talk much to other people but she made an effort last week, finally scoring herself a friend in the form of a blonde girl by the name Fischl.

"Haha! that's great why don't you tell us about your time with her when we finish washing the dishes," Arthur's voice boomed as he laughed in joy at the revelation and even Jemma's expression evened out, Emma found herself smiling as well, and by the time the family finished washing the dishes all of them had smiles on their faces.

The family quickly organized themselves in the living room, with Arthur and Jemma sitting together on a sofa and Emmy sitting on a separate sofa diagonally across from them. They sorted themselves out a began their lengthy discussion.

"I met her on a sunny day just on the outside of the house actually, turns out she lives nearby and so we hang out together. We played by the town square and went to the moat sometimes but we only stayed on the shore," Emmy told her parents about her time spent with Fischl and quickly explained when she saw their shocked faces at the mention of the moat. When they settled down she continued.

"Anyway, we played together nearly every day after that, most of those times being roleplay games with her being a princess and I the head of one of her three ducal houses, really she's such a hand full!" When mentioning the roleplay Emmy's sounded frustrated that her parents nearly thought she didn't enjoy her time with her new friend, but the tender look in her eyes and smile on her face quickly ruled out that possibility.

Frankly, Jemma and Arthur were relieved that Emmy finally found a friend, although she sound a bit weird as she thought she was a princess from another dimension despite being born in Mondstadt, they were glad for any friend that Emmy could get really, as long as they were nice to her. They tended to travel a lot and hoped that their daughter would find happiness when they were out on adventures.

While they were caught up in the joyful musings Emmy asked them about their recent adventures and discoveries.

"Well we only traveled to one part of the world this time and we found this bracelet by chance, other than this there was nothing else other than rocks," pausing to show Emmy a rusted gold chain bracelet with a piece of broken emerald he took out of a bag he continued, "We found a multitude of statues depicting various mythical creature and strangely diagrams of constellations and stars."

"Oho?" Emmy was captivated as her father continued to talk about how they delved deep into the ruins they found, which were apparently in an underground forest they chanced upon by following a coin rodent into a hole in a mountain between the border of Liyue and the Chasm.

They talked about these trees which were alive and could speak and how they would grow twisted in strange ways in search of light. Jemma and Arthur helped them obtain a steady light source in the form of strange crystals they found and were given this bracelet.

"'The ancients tread carefully amid men's ingenuity, perhaps you can continue the legacy' was what the oldest said when he gave us this bracelet" Arthur finished.

"Hey mom, dad," Emmy said carefully after listening to the story, eyeing the bracelet she continued, "Can you give me the bracelet I promise I will take care of it." She spoke quickly, closing her eyes fearing rejection. It was after all something that possibly ancient talking trees gave to them so they might not give it to her but she had to try because something about the bracelet captivated her.

"Sure, we already finished our research and found nothing interesting about it, so you can keep it as a gift," Jemma said smoothly with Arthur nodding along, they were indeed planning to give it to their daughter for her birthday in a few days, as far as they were concerned it was a useless bracelet so they would rather trade it for their daughter's happiness than for it to collect dust somewhere.

While her parents were completely calm, Emmy, on the other hand, was bewildered as she stood still for a while, as she thought she would be rejected, when the reality set in she immediately tears welled in her eyes as she pounced on her parents.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much aha!" Emmy clung to her parents as an intense warmth flooded her body from their words. It was as if the feeling in her heart wouldn't go away as she came out of the hug and started running and jumping around in excitement. The Edgar couple had tender smiles as they looked at their daughter's smiling face, her buoyant laughter sounded like a bard's lyre, pulling the strings of their heart and encasing them in warmth.

"Ehehe..." Emmy covered her mouth as she giggled, her laughter settling yet not washed away. Her cheeks burned from exertion as she felt sweat journey from her forehead down to her collarbone, encompassing her neck. She looked impish with the way she covered her shit-eating grin, all of it coming together to make her look cuter.