(A/N: This chapter was highly inspired by Ariana Grande's Moonlight, so I recommend you to listen to it while reading. It goes well with it, I promise! ^^)

//

Sana sighs heavily (part because she is physically drained from all the day’s effort, and part because of relief) after hearing the bell in the training camp at the end of the afternoon, indicating that all the soldiers there can end their activities and go home. She is feeling satisfied and especially radiant this day.

After reporting to her supervisor and saying goodbye to her group mates, she wanders through the town center - merchants, guards and villagers passing her by as she’s making her way home. She needs to clean up. She’s stinking. Bad. And she can’t go see Tzuyu like this. No. No way.

//

The young swordswoman doesn’t take long to be refreshed, putting on a light blue and grey vesture, her shoulders and forearms exposed, her silver hair down. Soon, she leaves her house to walk to another nearby location. She also carries her sword with her, as it is something she treasures a lot, proud of the dream of becoming a swordswoman for her kingdom turning into a reality, and also because it could be an item of safety in an unexpected situation (and, honestly, she thinks she looks cool too).

of sunlight can still be seen in the colorful horizon. Living in the farthest neighborhood in town, she witnesses hard-working humble families ending the work of the day – a middle-aged man with a shovel on his shoulder nods his head at her when they cross paths. Some children, apparently his kids, appear running after some distressed chickens and a woman, their mother it seems, screams at them to get back inside. Sana keeps walking, giggling amused by the sight. Oh, right, she needs to hurry, or she’ll miss the sunset.

Before Sana’s hand can make contact with the door, it opens right away, a raven-haired girl in beige and brown clothes showing up, looking  pleased by the visit.

“Hey. I saw you coming through the window,” Tzuyu, smiling, explains before Sana can ask. Sana lowers her awkwardly-left-in-the-air hand and greets her.

“Hi, dear.” Their encounter was long awaited today, as it always seems to be, even if Tzuyu is never sure when Sana decides to show up at her door.

“So, what brings you h-“ Tzuyu’s speech gets cut off as Sana remembers something out of a sudden and is immediately hyper and excited as she says “Come on, I want to show you something beautiful!” Sana grabs Tzuyu’s hand and makes them run into some other direction Tzuyu didn’t really pay attention to at first, because - she doesn’t say it out loud - she thinks that ‘something beautiful’ was standing right there, or better: running with her with a firm grip on her hand, hair in smooth windy movements that Tzuyu wishes she could register in the form of a painting or something as ephemerally gorgeous as that.

//

Sana takes Tzuyu to a large lake, outside the skirts of town, to watch the sunset together and tell and listen to her about the day.

When they finally stop running and stand in front of the marvelous landscape, they both are mesmerized.

“Now I understand why you were so excited. This is... beautiful.” They are still holding hands, and Tzuyu takes a beat longer to look back at Sana. “How did you know about this place?” She asks, truly curious about adventurous Sana.

“There was a day when I had a patrol around town with the other apprentice soldiers, and we walked through a path near this location.” Sana’s side profile is so nice that Tzuyu almost stops paying attention for a brief moment, but nevertheless listens. “In the break time we had, I went for a walk through the woods and found this place. I don’t think many know about this. I’m considering turning this into my personal sanctuary or something.”

Sana’s gaze is still on the landscape ahead of them, and she notices the silence stretching a little longer in the conversation, so she looks shyly at the other girl and then to her feet, “I must be sounding weird, I’m sorry.” Tzuyu immediately squeezes her hand and turns her full body towards her. “Hey, you don’t need to be sorry. It’s not weird. I understand. This is a nice place to choose as a sanctuary. Somewhere you can just think about life and breathe and just go with it.” Tzuyu agrees on the comment.

“Yeah.”

So they fall in comfortable silence for a few moments. Then, Sana says,

“Hey, let’s sit down. You must be tired. I know I am.”

Under the fading shade of a tree, they sit, side by side, hands grasping at each other where their arms meet. Sana once again speaks:

“So, tell me about your day.”

Tzuyu puts her other hand under her chin, looking up and frowning, pretending to think hard. “Hmm... let’s see...” She starts. Sana could never count the amount of smiles she gives when she’s around the raven-haired girl.

“Ah, yes! You know, my day was basically the usual with me helping my mom at the tavern, but today especially something funny happened.” Tzuyu looks at Sana. She dramatically pauses her story, making Sana get adorably impatient. “Whaaat? Say it already!” She lightly hits Tzuyu’s shoulder and they both giggle at the action.

“I expected that! Any