Chapter Text
“I do hope that the next time she visits the shrine, she keeps to herself. I've got better things to do than answer her incessant questions about Ei.”
Old habits had settled back into a semblance of normality, and Yae faced her duties as the Guuji with her usual levels of enthusiasm. Which was to say, she didn’t seem to be doing her work whenever Sara was at the shrine. There was a truly staggering amount of ways the Fox Envoy seemed to kill time, be it following around one of the shrine maidens to get her opinion on a new novel, or lurking near the fortune slip counter and snickering silently at the visitors who tried to whine their way out of an ill fated fortune.
And, whenever the General was about… well. Let’s just say Yae fancied herself an avid birdwatcher.
She didn’t understand Sara. There were woefully few mortals she could say that about, and while on the one hand the Tengu was usually an open book to her, there were times she found herself wondering how the girl could possibly have lived as long as she had. She was so stubbornly honest at times, it was equal parts endearing and infuriating to the Kitsune. Blindly loyal to Ei, fiercely protective, but sometimes the poor girl was about as sharp as a marble when it came to social matters.
For example. Her habit of asking Yae to tell her more about Ei, when really the Guuji would have much rather talked about herself. Luckily, that was readily solved by refusing to give her a straight answer.
“So, what was Ei like when she was younger?” Sara asked on one of her (now more frequent) visits, her tone casual but her eyes watching Yae with the same intensity as a hawk about to swoop in for a kill.
“Mm, another visit of questions, then?” Yae stretched her arms above her head before leaning against the post of a Torii to watch her with a languid smile. She could get used to Sara looking at her this intently. “Is this some novel new form of prayer? Instead of paying respects to the Narukami Ogosho, you ask me for gossip about her?”
Sara sputtered out a protest, but Yae pressed on, a new game afoot.
“Or, perhaps, Madam Kujou, you handle all your worship privately now?”
Such a simple jab, and one so clearly trying to get a rise out of her that normally the Tengu would have simply cleared her throat and moved on. Instead, Yae was delighted to note that Sara was now a similar shade of crimson to the mask that she always wore. She still held her head tall, Yae would give her credit for that under any other circumstances, but for now that was only a challenge in the eyes of the Fox Envoy.
“If you don’t wish to answer, you need only say so, Lady Guuji,” Sara said with a remarkable evenness to her tone, even if every part of her seemed to be screaming to retreat before this got worse. Yae was all the happier for it.
“You’re right, it’s only fair you want to learn more about her,” Yae admitted with a soft sigh. “I have known her for longer than you have been alive, of course you would look to me for guidance. Just like going to a senior for lessons with a bow.”
Sara made the cardinal mistake of relaxing ever so slightly, nodding along with Yae’s words as the topic shifted back into familiar territory. The poor, trusting girl.
“And that is why I would be more than happy to share with you how best to please our darling Shogun in-” Yae scarcely got halfway through the sentence before Sara was bidding her a curt farewell and employing Ei’s patented Tactical Retreat to Avoid Social Situations .
The two of them really were perfect for each other.
Yae watched her as she started back down the mountain, sly smirk fading back into a soft smile. An unchanging eternity… it was a beautiful notion. One that Yae would have loved to bear witness to. But it was an impossibility. The next best thing, in her eyes, would be an existence that was at the very least interesting. Ei had long been the object of her focus. Her god, as she had made the mistake of referring to her as in front of the traveller, that narc.
But she wouldn’t mind sharing, not when it was somebody as entertaining as Madam Kujou. She’d just have to make sure the poor girl didn’t get scared off first.
“I don’t know what you said to Kujou Sara but you’ve left my poor General in quite a state.”
Ei’s voice was not remotely accusatory as she poured tea for herself and Yae, mirroring the way that Furuyama had served it centuries before. Yae smirked, leaning forward slightly as she regarded her friend.
“Nothing that I wasn’t more than willing to make good on,” Yae said primly, her hands folded in her lap as her god poured tea for them both. She had missed these simple moments, while Ei was away. She had talked on occasion with the Shogun, but it just hadn’t been the same, unless it was one of the rare occurrences that she was able to coax Ei to the surface for a brief time. “Also, your General?”
“She is one of the Generals of my army, and one who happens to report directly to me,” Ei nodded, knowing exactly what Yae was getting at but allowing the Kitsune the small joy of directing the conversation there herself.
At least, Ei had thought she knew what Yae was getting at. Because, much to Yae’s frustration at times, Ei and Kujou Sara could be very similar. Baiting them was almost comically simple.
“So am I your Head Priestess, then?” She asked after pausing to take a sip of her tea. Was it a loaded question? Yes. A potentially underhanded one, depending on Ei’s mood? Maybe. But was it something Yae honestly, desperately, wanted to hear confirmation of? Certainly.
Ei seemed to consider this a moment, the implication of Yae’s words hardly lost on her, but the nuance of how to explain it… that was something Ei was struggling with.
Because Ei had never exactly been sure what her and Yae were. They had known each other for centuries, longer than near any living being that still walked Teyvat. And Yae had always been… well. Yae. Constantly flirting, constantly bantering, often draping herself over Ei, teasing her…
Had Yae been this way with Makoto? Ei tried to remember, but she hardly thought back on those times often. Not intentionally, at least. She was this way with everybody , though. She teased her shrine maidens, and had a tendency to poke at anybody who she thought might bring some enjoyment. Archons, she had even tried flirting with Sara, from what her General had mentioned.
While Ei might have thought this mental journey was rather brief, it took a good few moments before she blinked back to reality and saw Yae watching her with the slightly ill expression of somebody who had shown a rare moment of vulnerability and then been left with an awkward silence in reply.
“You, ah, are a Priestess, yes,” Ei blurted out, desperate to end the tension.
Yae stared at her, rendered speechless for one of the only times in her long, long life.
It was, of course, at this point that Ei declared the battle lost. Perhaps, Yae reckoned, this was what Ei saw in the Tengu? They really fit together perfectly, both stoically bumbling forward until past the point of safe return. Ei had it down to an art form, she needed merely let the Shogun take over for a bit while she screamed silently in the Plane of Euthymia.
“Wait don’t you DARE just go-” Yae began, recognizing the look of empty calm falling over her friend’s face.
“Good afternoon, Guuji Yae,” The Shogun greeted politely, reaching to pick up her teacup and take a careful sip.
“Tell Ei to get back out here,” Yae sputtered, still reeling from the Archon’s reply. “Tell her she’s a coward for running and that wasn’t a remotely helpful answer!”
“Oh, I assure you. She is well aware of both facts.”