Chapter Text
Hu Tao slowly opened her eyes, but quickly raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Wait, the sun? Wasn’t it just night time? She must have been knocked out for longer than she expected.
She reached to push herself off the ground, and felt grass beneath her. That didn’t make sense. There wasn’t grass in the harbor, except for a few areas, and she hadn’t been anywhere near those. So why would she be lying down on grass?
Slowly the memories of the night before came back to her and she felt a worry as she thought of the other people in the harbor. What had happened to them?
Hu Tao slowly sat up to take a closer look around her, and was surprised to see that she was nowhere near Liyue Harbor.
Actually, she was surrounded by grass everywhere she looked. That didn’t give her a lot of clues, there was grass everywhere in Liyue. Actually, there was a chance that she wasn’t even in Liyue!
Hut Tao felt her breath quicken at the realization that she didn’t know where she was, but she knew that she had to collect her thoughts. She wouldn’t get any answers by staying in one place, and she needed to look around if she was going to figure out where she was.
Pushing herself off the ground and glancing around she tried to get an idea of the area that she had ended up in. To her right she couldn’t see much, but it looked like there might be a body of water. And on her left, in the distance, was the silhouette of a mountain.
She was immediately flooded with relief when she realized that the mountain looked familiar, and she got an idea of where she could possibly be. With the amount of grass around her, she guessed that she was currently in the plains. And she could only hope that the distant mountain really was one of Liyue’s famous peaks. If she truly was in Liyue, she had a decent chance of finding her way back.
Hu Tao had started to almost feel optimistic about her circumstance, although she didn’t know exactly where she was. But just knowing the general area was enough to comfort her, at least just a little.
There weren’t that many plains in Liyue, so she could narrow down the area where she was. There was a good chance that she was in Guili plains, which would mean that she wasn’t far from Liyue Harbor.
She tried to decide which way she should go, but she wasn’t sure. After wandering for a bit longer she didn’t see any ruins or significant landmarks to give her a clue, and she couldn’t even find a statue of the seven.
There should be quite a few ruins in the plains, so how was it possible that she hadn’t seen any? She was starting to get even more confused, but she needed to commit to where she was going.
Hu Tao was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the sun starting to set. By the time that she noticed, it had started to get dark out, and she realized that she needed to find somewhere safe to stay until the next day. She could fight monsters if needed, but she needed to get some rest and couldn’t afford to get attacked in her sleep.
At that moment she had two clear options, go towards the mountain or the water she had seen earlier. If she went to the mountain, there would probably be better chances to find shelter. She took a deep breath and started walking toward the imposing figure of the mountain.
As she walked, Hu Tao quietly prayed to Morax—for the first time in a long time—that she would be able to find a place to stay, and maybe even other people.
But Morax was dead now, so would praying even work?
“Stop thinking like that.” There was no time or room for doubt in her mind. Right now she needs to focus.
She had to hope that she could make it back to the Harbor alive.
She needs to pick up the pace.
~-<>-~
Hu Tao was getting nervous, to say the least. The sun had almost vanished over the horizon and there was barely any light left in the sky. In a few minutes it would be completely dark. Worst of all, she still hadn’t managed to find shelter yet.
She had broken into a sprint now, and worry was starting to creep into her mind. When she had started walking, she was sure that she would find shelter before dark, but now she really needed to get moving. If she couldn’t find shelter before dark, she wouldn’t be able to see where she was going and could end up getting too far from where she needed to go.
As the sun fully disappeared, Hu Tao put one last desperate burst of energy in her step. She needs to find somewhere, anywhere to stay and hide from the cold of the night. It was at that last desperate moment that she saw what looked like a cave.
She didn’t let her pace falter until she arrived at the entrance to the cave. There was no light that she could see, so she assumed it was empty.
There was a pile of sticks near the entrance, and after lighting one with pyro, she continued further.
As the back of the cave came into view, Hu Tao determined that the cave was indeed empty. After confirming that it was safe, she went and brought the rest of the sticks deeper into the cave and made a sloppy but effective campfire.
She found a corner facing the entrance, so she could see if anyone or anything was coming, and she finally allowed herself to try and rest.
Her stomach growled, and she made a mental note to find food in the morning. Despite the hunger, her eyes were still slowly trying to close.
She still hesitated to sleep, needing to make sure she was alert just in case anything came. But she could feel sleep taking over, so she reluctantly gave in and closed her eyes.
~-<>-~
When Hu Tao woke up the sun was already in the sky.
She knew she had to make the most out of the daylight she had. She needed to find food, and most importantly, find her way back to Liyue Harbor.
After leaving the cave, she spotted a berry plant a little ways away. While it wasn’t the most substantial food, it would keep her full long enough to look around.
Hu Tao knew that Liyue Harbor was in the South West, and assuming she was actually in the plains, if she went that way she would most likely find her way back. So she used the location of the rising sun to find her directions, and started to head in the general direction she needed to go.
After about an hour of walking, as Hu Tao neared the top of a small hill, she heard the sound of a Hillichurl in the distance.
"That's not good" she muttered. She couldn't afford to be side tracked right now, and she really didn't have the energy to get into a fight. But as she peered over the hill and saw the size of the camp, she realized that going around wasn't exactly an option for her.
She was the director of a funeral parlor and while she was decent at fighting, it wasn't exactly her biggest strength. But she needed to get through the camp if she wanted to get back to Liyue Harbor.
Although, fighting did not need to be the first course of action, Hu Tao realized. It was possible that she could sneak her way through the camp and make it to the other side without being noticed. That way fighting would be the last resort, and would be much less likely to happen.
So Hu Tao took a deep breath and started to creep her way down the hill.
~-<>-~
As Hu Tao stopped outside the fences guarding the camp she took some time to look around, noting how many archers were standing guard and how many Hillichurls were walking around. She also didn't see any Mitachurls, which was a good sign, although she had to be cautious of any hiding inside the tents.
After a few more minutes of strategising, she finally decided that she was ready to make her way through the camp.
As she quitely walked through the camp, it felt like her head was on a swivel with how quickly she was looking around. But all of her looking around did not help her in the end.
She heard the shout of a Hilichurl behind her, and before she could turn around to defend herself, she had been knocked to the ground. She tried to summon her polearm, but she knew it would be too late.
But before she could be struck down, the ground started to shake.
When Hu Tao looked back up, the Hilichurl was gone, and in its place was a silloutte of a man.
"Are you alright child?" The man asked.
Wait.
That voice was familiar. He almost sounded like…Mr. Zhongli?