"One did not expect Ganyu to give away a protective charm she has nurtured for more than a hundred years — and to Fang Qiu, of all people. Could it be… that child Ganyu also…"
Cloud Retainer watched The Crux Fleet draw slowly out of the harbor, her eyes narrowing as she spoke.
Something about this did not sit right.
Her two disciples.
One of them sat reading those books about women bedding women together with Fang Qiu; the other had handed Fang Qiu the precious jade she wore against her skin.
"What about that child Ganyu?"
Beside her, Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver turned puzzled looks on Cloud Retainer.
"It is nothing of consequence." Cloud Retainer shook her head and said mildly, "One did not anticipate such unfortunate timing. Since that is how matters stand, let us return as well. One's mobile Guizhong Ballista is still in need of tuning, besides."
"Mm."
Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver glanced at Cloud Retainer and nodded.
A few days ago they had bought the books and brought them home, only for Custodian of Clouds to shut herself away in her abode building some mobile Guizhong Ballista — nine full days before she emerged again.
What she had produced was an iron turtle shell with a Guizhong Ballista bolted on top, able to roll forward and back on wheels for improved mobility.
Ugly as it was, it did seem a considerable improvement on the original.
Which was precisely why Custodian of Clouds had only begun reading Fang Qiu's "anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day" last night.
And the moment she finished it, she had dragged the two of them straight down to Liyue Harbor.
Only to find that Fang Qiu had already set out for Inazuma.
"Let us go."
Cloud Retainer waved a hand, and a thread of clear wind went drifting off toward The Alcor.
She did not wait for it to arrive. She turned, shifted into her true form, spread her wings, and flew off in the direction of Jueyun Karst.
Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver shifted as well and followed after her.
The wisp of wind sailed all that distance and settled on Fang Qiu as she came down from the stern of The Alcor. All Fang Qiu felt was her sleeve stirring for no reason at all.
Hm?
As though someone had flicked it up.
She looked back. There was no one behind her, and a chill went straight through her.
Hsss…
Don't tell me I've run into something strange.
But this was Sister Beidou's ship, The Alcor.
Surely no ghost would dare come aboard here?
And she still had the jade pendant Ganyu had given her — surely no ghost would come throwing away what was left of its life?
Without thinking she scooped up the pendant tied at her waist. A faint cyan glow was rippling across the jade, and before she could look at it properly the light sank away into the stone.
Fang Qiu stared at it.
Had some vengeful spirit just come creeping close, only for Ganyu's pendant to turn it away?
"Fang Qiu, what's wrong?" Paimon had turned around to find her holding Ganyu's pendant and gazing into space.
"It's nothing." Fang Qiu smiled faintly.
"Then you stay here and enjoy the view, Fang Qiu. We'll go ask Sister Beidou where our rooms are, and we can all take a look at them in a bit," Paimon said.
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded.
Once Paimon and Lumine had headed for the bow, she walked over to the rail and looked out.
The Alcor had not fully cleared the harbor yet, so it was still moving slowly.
Just then she caught sight of two familiar figures on the Pearl Galley, not far off.
One was an old man in a gray-white vest, with a full head of white hair.
The other wore black robes, tall and straight-backed, with handsome features.
The old man was Uncle Tian, who had borrowed their fishing boat to go out on the water; and the young man in black was that member of the Liyue Qixing who had sat drinking with her in the dessert shop in Mondstadt!
Even now she had no idea which of the Liyue Qixing he actually was.
But a man with that kind of presence, a man who could dig up her identity without the slightest effort — he had to be one of them.
While she stood studying the Pearl Galley and turning it over in her mind, Uncle Tian spotted her too. He rose, walked to the rail and waved a greeting.
Fang Qiu waved back at once.
The young man in black seated across from him turned his eyes her way as well, and Fang Qiu met them with an awkward look of her own.
"Fang Qiu, Sister Beidou's having Xinyan take us to our rooms, so let's go — huh? Who are you waving at?"
Paimon's puzzled voice came from behind her.
"An acquaintance," Fang Qiu said. "And someone I'm fairly sure is one of the Liyue Qixing."
She had turned to find Xinyan and Lumine standing at the entrance to the cabins, with Paimon flying over to fetch her.
The question had given her pause, and she had thought it over for a moment before answering.
"Someone you're fairly sure is one of the Liyue Qixing?"
Paimon tilted her head and looked toward the Pearl Galley, mystified — but by now the ship had begun to pick up speed.
In that hurried glance she caught only Uncle Tian, on his feet at the rail, and missed Zhongli entirely, hidden now behind him.
"He really is — ah, no, wait, that's supposed to be a secret."
Halfway through the sentence, Paimon clapped both hands over her mouth.
"So he is one of the Liyue Qixing after all."
Paimon's slip sent a jolt through Fang Qiu.
That man really was one of the Liyue Qixing!
Just as well she had never done anything to offend him.
"Fang Qiu, he keeps a low profile, and he doesn't like people spreading word about who he is, so remember not to go telling anyone, okay?" Paimon said, with a glance at the sailors around them.
"Don't worry. My lips are sealed," Fang Qiu said at once.
Plenty of important people stayed behind the curtain and had no wish to see their identities exposed.
Counting the young man in black, she had met only three of the Liyue Qixing so far.
Which was normal enough.
After all, those smirking "Dragon King" heroes in the urban novels of her past life had all been dead set on keeping a low profile too.
Unfortunately, presence was not a thing a person could hide.
With that young man sitting across from Uncle Tian, a single glance told you which of them belonged to the Qixing.
Still, if he preferred not to advertise it, she would keep it to herself.
"Good." Paimon nodded, grinning. "Let's go. Paimon hears our room is really big — Sister Beidou had it cleared out specially."
"Mm."
Fang Qiu nodded and followed along behind her.
What she never noticed was the shaft of amber-gold light that flared across the pendant Ganyu had given her — and sank away into the jade the very instant it appeared.
Meanwhile.
On the Pearl Galley.
Once The Alcor had dwindled far into the distance.
"The Pearl Galley really is the best place to see someone off. Young people going out to make their way in the world — that's a fine thing." Uncle Tian settled back at the table, lifted his teacup with a sigh in his voice, and took a sip.
Zhongli quietly drew his own gaze back from the sea, turned to him and asked, "You are acquainted with Fang Qiu as well, sir?"
"Oh? You know her, young man?" Uncle Tian blinked.
"My Director is very close to her," Zhongli said.
"You're with the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?" Uncle Tian said, mildly taken aback.
"Just so." Zhongli nodded.
"Hahaha — now that you mention it, I know that little Hu girl myself. Met her when I borrowed their fishing boat to go out to sea. By our second meeting she was already pitching me the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's services," Uncle Tian said with a laugh.
"And did you buy, sir?" Zhongli asked.
"Ha, I bought a package. The girl even urged me to bring more people in — the more people, the bigger the discount." Uncle Tian chuckled. "That reminds me. Since your Director knows Fang Qiu, you must have read her books too?"
"Naturally." Zhongli nodded.
"Then how about humoring an old man and talking about Fang Qiu's books with me?" Uncle Tian asked, smiling. "I'm not far off retirement myself — I've been handing my affairs over to the younger generation bit by bit. When I've nothing to do I like reading that Fang Qiu girl's books, but my daughter is busy from dawn to dusk, and it wouldn't do to interrupt the youngsters at their work. I can't find a soul to discuss books with."
"You do me too much kindness, sir," Zhongli said with a smile.
"Then let's start with Fang Qiu's newest book, 'anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day.' Have you finished it?" Uncle Tian asked.
"I have. A remarkably fine book." Zhongli smiled. "A tragedy written with a warm hand. In the course of helping Hayama Meiko fulfill her wish, every one of them is in turn helped by her to forgive their own past selves — and so they truly step out of the day she died, look their failings in the face, make peace with what has been, and walk on."
As he spoke,
Zhongli looked into the distance. Within his sight lay Liyue Harbor, and the Dragon-Queller, and The Chasm, and the Guili Assembly.
His amber-gold eyes dimmed a little.
After finishing Fang Qiu's "anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day," he had gone to every one of those places.
And then he had gone drinking.
The longer one lives, the more one loses…
And the harder it becomes to make peace with oneself…
The longer one lives, the deeper certain people, certain stories, take root within.
Worn thin by the years though they may be, they cannot be forgotten.
The sea wind passed over him, stirring the hair at his temples.
Uncle Tian saw the look of remembrance on his face as he gazed at Liyue Harbor. "Looks to me like you're a man with a story of your own," he said. "How about a cup or two of wine?"
"Sir, in your condition, perhaps wine is best left alone," Zhongli said.
"It's fine. Two cups and no more for me — the rest will be my treat to you." Uncle Tian waved a hand, smiling.
"Then it would be discourteous of me to refuse." Zhongli nodded.
Uncle Tian beckoned for the wine to be brought, then turned back to him. "Young man, I'd say the two of us get along rather well. Once we're finished here — how about keeping this old fellow company down at the shore tomorrow for a bit of fishing? We can talk about Fang Qiu's books while we fish, and once we've caught something we'll take it to the Wanmin Restaurant and have Xiangling do it up for us. They say that around the Lantern Rite she invented a way of grilling fish and eating it with a dipping sauce. Supposed to be very good."
"Ahem. Sir, fishing is not much to my personal taste — though I have enjoyed our conversation greatly. Master Yun has a performance tomorrow. We might go and watch it together, and afterward go to the Wanmin Restaurant for grilled fish all the same," Zhongli said.
Xiangling's grilled fish he could accept. Seafood, however, he did not care for.
Live seafood least of all.
One look at the stuff and back came the memory of that slippery texture, and a fishy stink no amount of washing would get out.
It had to be said: sometimes too good a memory was no blessing at all…
"Is that so." Uncle Tian did not press the matter of fishing. He smiled. "An opera sounds like a fine choice as well."
The wine arrived soon after.
And so the two of them, the old man and the young, sat drinking and talking about Fang Qiu's books.
As the conversation went on, Uncle Tian found himself marveling at the young man across from him — the depth of his learning, the precision with which he quoted the classics, the sheer originality of his readings of Fang Qiu's work.
An odd impression crept over him.
Namely, that no one alive understood Fang Qiu's books better than this young man.
Had he not known Fang Qiu had written them, he might well have believed the young man had written them himself.
And amid all that admiration, Uncle Tian fell to thinking.
I've no idea how he measures up in other fields — but if his learning is that astonishing across the board, should I find some way to bring him into the Ministry of Civil Affairs and groom him as the next Tianji Star?
…
Meanwhile, Fang Qiu, the Traveler and Paimon followed Xinyan to their room.
Fang Qiu looked it over.
Not large, exactly, but not small either.
A little smaller than the house she used to rent.
It was bare, too — one bed, one writing desk, one chair.
On the whole, though, not bad.
Very clean, with no stale smell to it.
The bedding was new.
And the window pushed open onto the view outside.
A soft sea breeze came in through it and set her hair drifting.
Her luggage sat stacked in the corner.
"Sister Beidou and me are right across from you. Anything comes up tonight, just holler," Xinyan said.
"Sure, no problem." Paimon nodded. "Yep — same room as before."
"As before?" Fang Qiu said, puzzled.
"When Paimon and the Traveler went to Inazuma last time, this was our room. Except there were these huge thunderstorms hanging all around Inazuma, so once we got into Inazuman waters we hardly ever came back here to sleep," Paimon said.
"Thunderstorms? What thunderstorms?" Fang Qiu went still, with the distinct feeling she had just heard something she really should not have.
Was there still time to turn back?
They hadn't gone far. Set her down on the water and she could freeze her own path home across the sea easily enough.
Seeing the worry all over her face, Lumine smiled. "Relax. Ever since Inazuma lifted the Sakoku Decree, the storms around it went away with it."
"Oh. Good." Fang Qiu let out a breath.
In her past life she had watched no end of videos of storms at sea.
Waves anywhere from a few meters to tens of meters high.
Heart-stopping to watch.
She had no wish whatsoever to learn what it felt like to be a leaf of a boat tossed about on a raging sea…
The mere thought set her legs trembling.
The Alcor sailed steadily, and today the wind was mild and the water calm; the hull scarcely rocked at all.
Fang Qiu felt no hint of seasickness either.
Once everything was settled they went up on deck. Liyue Harbor had already fallen far behind.
It stirred something in her.
This was the first time she had ever left the country, and it left her a little on edge.
In her past life she had barely been out of her own province a handful of times, let alone abroad.
After lunch,
Fang Qiu went back to the room with the Traveler and Paimon and brought out brush, ink, paper and inkstone.
Paimon volunteered to grind the ink.
Fang Qiu sat down in the chair, looked at the blank white page, and sank into thought.
Her original plan had been to write a seafaring story.
There had been no shortage of them in her past life — but on reflection, writing about a ship going down while sitting aboard a ship was not exactly auspicious.
If anyone found out, she'd probably get hit.
Word was that the last time Sister Beidou and her crew read "The Eternal," they ran into an iceberg the moment they put to sea.
If she dared write another one now, she couldn't promise Sister Beidou wouldn't haul her back to this room, pull her skirt down and spank her.
The kind of spanking that leaves you swollen.
As for Paimon and the Traveler… they'd probably help out by handing over the whip.
No. Never mind.
Not worth it.
People who went to sea were dead serious about that sort of taboo.
Even if Sister Beidou didn't care — she was the sort who believed people could master the heavens — the rest of the crew were another matter.
In that case… Fang Qiu thought it over. It was about time she wrote a Liyue story.
So after a moment's consideration she lifted the brush and wrote a few graceful characters on the xuan paper.
"Sword and Fairy 3."
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