Chapter Text
Sanhua was often told that she didn’t have a sense of humour. She tried her best, of course — but she’d never been able to fully grasp the things that made her companions laugh. Perhaps this is why many player-made teams place her with cheerful companions, like Encore and Verina — she could use a bit more bright pink and green in her life.
Though, many could attest to the fact that a drunk-on-wine Sanhua was a hilarious Sanhua — one whose laugh pierced through the air like snowflakes in the night. But that’s a story for another time.
And yet, even though her inability to find things haha-funny pervaded all social interactions she had with others, Sanhua still managed to find irony in the fact that a blind woman — that being herself, was more aware of Jinhsi’s omnipresent crush on Rover than the Hero of Jinzhou was himself. It was like having a free front-row seat to the best (or worst, depending on how you looked at it) cheesy Chinese romance flick of all time.
Being Jinhsi’s bodyguard, Sanhua was often around whenever she left the City Hall. Back when the Magistrate was still fresh in office, Sanhua would tail her closely, to the point where it made people wonder what the looming cloud of snow behind Jinhsi was, and then finding themselves facing a wall of spiked ice a few moments later.
Now, her relationship with the Magistrate was more lax, though Sanhua still had the occasional sense of uneasiness creep up her spine whenever her charge was out of sight for too long. However. Being on watch for Jinhsi almost twenty-four hours a day gave Sanhua a lot of time to observe and familiarise herself with the Magistrate’s habits, mannerisms, and speech patterns.
Was that… maybe a little weird? Sanhua didn’t think so. After all, it was her job to ensure that her employer and close friend was safe and happy, and if that included memorising Jinhsi’s favourite foods, preferred vacation spots, odd twitches and habits, then so be it. In this case, being only able to see frequencies was more of a blessing than a curse — Jinhsi’s frequency was so pure, so undeniably human that there was little that Sanhua needed to do to differentiate her charge from the rest of the people in the world, and that allowed her to hyperfocus on any small fluctuation in her and her emotional state.
At least, Jinhsi was the only one. But when Rover arrived in Jinzhou, Sanhua found herself faced with a frequency equally as pure and as beautiful as the Magistrate’s — one akin to the notes of a lyre or a harp, a song of resilience and of harmony that soared through the air, like a warm hearth in the midst of a blizzard of distorted shapes that were others. Sanhua couldn’t even count on both hands the amount of time she’d approached Rover thinking that he was the Magistrate, the first few weeks after they’d met. Especially considering Rover and Jinhsi’s accommodations in the City Hall were so damn close, Sanhua would sometimes find herself wondering which door to open and rouse the occupant from slumber early in the mornings, along with a plate of freshly baked Loong Buns.
Their frequencies were so close that when they were walking next to each other – such as, during Jinzhou’s Loong Lantern Festival – Sanhua could barely tell that there were two people.
Privately, she felt it almost looked like her Magistrate had simply doubled in size.
The only difference she could see was the rapid, small fluctuations in Jinhsi’s frequency that signified shyness, which appeared most often when she was around Rover. Sanhua, thus, could only draw two conclusions from this. One, Rover emanated a special type of energy that caused heart palpitations. Unlikely. Two, Jinhsi had fallen for the Hero of Jinzhou. Almost equally as unlikely.
But, having been in close proximity with Rover herself, Sanhua could easily rule out the first option. Thus, leaving only one correct answer in this multiple choice, true-false quiz. Sadly, unrequited love was not a problem that Sanhua could kill with a blade nor defend Jinhsi from with ice. Thus, the only way she could tackle this issue was with the use of social skills. A field she was much less skilled in than filleting any nearby threat to the Magistrate’s safety, much to her disliking.
It was on a warm, sunny day (for some reason, it never rains in Jinzhou) that Rover found himself pulled unceremoniously into one of the meeting rooms in the City Hall and presented with the horror of… an unskippable, dialogue-filled cutscene, with none other than Sanhua herself.
“Rover,” she greeted, with a slow exhale that clouded the alleyway with a faint, chilly mist. “Apologies for the sudden interruption. I promise this will not take long.”
Rover could only answer with a nod and a slight, confused frown. What was it this time? More Fractsidus bastards invading one part of Huanglong or another? An Exile uprising up north? A new Tacet Field growing out in Mt. Firmament? Or god forbid, another quest where he had to rescue someone’s cat from up in a tree? What could it possibly–
“I’m sure you’re aware the Madam Magistrate is… very affectionate of you.”
Huh. Out of all the things Sanhua could have brought up, Rover put that near the end of the list. The only thing that could’ve been more unexpected would’ve been her telling him that she was starting a comedy club, and even that conversation would’ve been easier to broach than whatever the fuck this was going to be.
“Yes…?” He says, tentatively. “We’re close friends, and I value her company–”
The look in Sanhua’s eyes told him that he was on the wrong track. Internally, the bodyguard was almost stifling a laugh. How could someone so legendary and wise be so clueless?
“Not in that way,” she interjects. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed… but my lady has been spending more and more time with you, has she not?”
Rover had a slight inkling of where this was going, but he chose to push that can of worms back down to wherever Abby was. Perhaps his ever-hungry, ever-sleepy companion could swallow up the impending humiliation and never let it see the light of day again.
“...I suppose she has,” he says, nervously. “What of it?”
“I believe that you yourself know that she has begun to see you as… more than a friend.”
And there it was. A truth bomb he couldn’t get even Abby to swallow.
Sanhua leaned herself closer to him, and he felt a sudden wave of cold air wash over his entire person.
“Don’t break her heart. Understood?”
And with that, the cutscene ended, and Rover was left with the knowledge that he now had one of the most powerful women in the entire world pining for his heart — and that he probably shouldn't... what's the term? Ah, yes. 'Fumble'.