Chapter Text
Guizhong knew that she should be grateful the Millileth of Liyue were ever vigilant in their duty, but in moments like this when their insistence on precaution delayed what could have been done by now, she couldn’t help but sigh.
Watching as they slowly raised Dusty, her trusted Ruin Guard, up onto a rolling platform was not how she would have liked to spend the morning of her departure, yet there she stood, arms crossed and eyebrows raised as makeshift pulleys wrapped around his shut down form and strained to lift.
She had offered many times to help, but they refused each, wanting to keep a close perimeter on Dusty in case he attacked – which, Guizhong assured them multiple times, he wouldn’t unless he thought her threatened. But the captain was insistent on them being able to handle it alone, so she stood back and watched their attempts with a shake of her head.
Their mistrust was not misplaced with all the Ruin Guards that stalked Liyue with vicious intent, and she had been the one to suggest wheeling Dusty by cart through the Harbor as she did not want to cause any panic, yet she was well aware of what Dusty was capable of, and stepping onto a cart and shutting down would have been a simple command that would have saved them the morning.
Guizhong held her tongue for the sake of remaining on the Millileth’s fair side, since they were being gracious to even let her guard into Liyue Harbor’s walls…
She was not, however, capable of holding her tongue in the face of bad engineering. Especially as the pulley system failed once again and Dusty thumped dust up as he fell back onto the ground.
“Excuse me, I know you asked that I let you all work but… this type of set up is something I’m quite familiar with, and I can’t watch this any longer without pointing out that the second pulley should be at a higher angle.” She said to the overseeing captain, interrupting his brainstorming to show the simple diagram she had sketched up to correct it. “That way it will actually be more balanced with the other one to pull him up efficiently. As well, I would recommend putting more weight onto the first one as it bares most of Dusty’s mass, and from experience it might buckle under the stress and either snap or lift off the ground. Either would be incredibly dangerous to your men.”
The Captains eyebrows quickly fell from a surprised height to furrowed confusion as she flipped up the page on her clipboard, showing another diagram.
“Er, right. But… how exactly would we go about correcting that?” The Captain asked, scratching the back of his nape, staring blankly at what she drew, and she smiled patiently.
“It’s quite simple really if you know what you’re doing. Which, fortunately, I do, and I’m glad to help!”
In twenty minutes, Guizhong stood back satisfied as the pulley’s tried for a third time to lift Dusty off the ground, but this time their ropes held firm and he continued to rise without hitch.
She didn’t have much time to savor silent celebration however as a few feet behind her someone hit the stone steps with a crunch, and the sound of a glider retracting reached her ears as whoever landed paused for a moment.
“Excuse me, are you Guizhong?” A young women’s voice called out, and turning, clipboard still in hand, Guizhong gave a friendly smile to the blonde who had spoken, tucking pencil behind her ear.
“I am, how can I help you?”
“Actually,” A new voice spoke, this one much younger and distinctly childlike, coming from a small floating girl who appeared in an array of magic light out of thin air around the blonde’s head. “We were sent here to help you!”
“Oh!” Guizhong said, voice intrigued and delighted as she looked between the two of them, facing them fully. “You must be the Traveler I’ve heard so much about! Ningguang wrote of you in her letters, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you…?”
She trailed off, inquiring her name with a slight head-tilt.
“Lumine, and this is my friend Paimon!” The Traveler, Lumine, introduced, gesturing to the floating girl as Paimon.
“Nice to meet you Lumine, Paimon!” Guizhong greeted, head falling to the side fully as her shoulder raised and smile brightened. “I look forward to our time together!”
Paimon bobbed around in the air like a fishing lure in the sea, ducking behind Lumine’s head.
“Paimon wants to say it’s nice to meet you, but honestly the Ruin guard behind you is making her kind of nervous…” She pointed at the shut down form of Dusty. “What are they doing with it so close to Liyue Harbor?
“Oh, don’t worry about Dusty!” Guizhong reassured, affectionately looking over her shoulder. “He’s never hurt anyone that hasn’t tried to harm me, and he knows better than to act out in the harbor.”
“That’s… slightly reassuring?” Lumine supposed, crossing her arms with a quirk of her brow. “Will he be coming with us on the boat?”
“He will.”
“Will that be safe? Most of the boat’s that Paimon’s seen are kind of small…” Paimon said, nervously tapping her pointer fingers together as she looked at all the fishing and merchant boats floating in the harbor.
“That’s because none of them are a Crux fleet ship.” Guizhong said with a slight smile, putting her clipboard free hand on her hip. “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen her, but the Crux’s vessel is large enough for Dusty and more. Their specialty is sailing Teyvat and bringing back countless amounts of trade home to Liyue. Some say their usual load weights more than some could even count.”
Paimon’s eye’s widened, and she looked at Lumine excitedly.
“That sounds like a lot of mora! Maybe we should look into doing that? We travel the world we could easily do trading and stuff!”
Lumine folded her arms. “And where would we get a boat to do that?” She asked, her tone telling Guizhong this was an area of conversation that had happened many times before. “We can’t carry everything.”
Paimon deflated, scratching her head.
“Oh. Paimon didn’t think of that.”
Guizhong laughed behind her hand. These two would certainly make the trip more interesting.
“Well, that’s just word on the street anyway, who knows if it’s actually true. But, if you want any pointers you can ask Beidou about it on the journey.” She glanced behind her at Dusty’s slow raising progress. “Well, he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, so neither am I... If you’d like, the ship is docked down at the shipyard already so you can go meet the crew before we leave.”
Paimon’s eyes sparkled, and she grabbed Lumine’s arm excitedly.
“Oooh come on Lumine, let’s go see how big this ship really is!”
“Alright, alright!” Lumine sighed lightheartedly, shaking her head before addressing Guizhong. “When do you think we’ll be departing?”
She shrugged, vaguely gesturing towards her guard.
“I can’t say for sure. With my adjustments it shouldn’t take too much longer, but I can’t say what else the Millileth might have planned...”
Guizhong glanced at the sun, hovering around mid-morning
“Since you are heading down to the docks, could you inform Beidou of this delay for me?”
Lumine nodded.
“Of course.”
---
Captain Beidou, as Lumine soon found out, was as tall as the stories said, and her personality even more boisterous.
Her eagle eye spotted Lumine and Paimon before they had even neared the gang plank, and she called with a wave down to them.
“Hoy! You two must be the traveler and her little friend, my crew has told me about that time you snuck aboard one of our ships and did all their work- it’s nice to finally put a face to the bold actions.”
Lumine flushed, gold eyes darting slightly to the ground.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that. I swear boarding the ship hadn’t been my intention, but my glider messed up and dropped me into the sea and the ship was the closest thing to swim to. Helping around was the least I could do for intruding.”
Beidou laughed, meeting them at the edge of the plank joining the ship to the dock.
“That’s a hard workers way of looking at it, I like that!”
She held out her hand.
“I’m Beidou, Captain of the Crux fleet and the one who will be taking you to Guyun Stone Forest.”
“Lumine.” She said, shaking the extended hand.
“Paimon!” Paimon’s tiny hands clasped on top of their larger ones so she was included, her smile bright as she looked eagerly at the ship behind Beidou.
“Wow, Guizhong told us this was a big ship, and she wasn’t kidding!”
It was true, the boat behind Beidou was more akin to a warship then a merchants vessel, and she could see the ballista’s mounted on the helm and backside were big enough to give the Guizhong Ballista a run for its money.
Definitely big enough for a ruin guard in its cargo.
“Oh, already talked to Guizhong, have you?” Beidou’s eyebrow quirked up as she half turned, hands on her hips, to look behind her. “Yep, the Alcor is one of the largest vessels to ever sail Teyvat in recorded history. My pride and joy this big ol’ thing.”
She thumped the side of the Alcor affectionately, eyes sparkling with pride.
“Wow…” Paimon said breathlessly, her own eyes sparkling with the reflection of Mora. “It’s like the Jade Chamber of the sea!”
The laugh Beidou gave to that comparison was hardy, throwing her head back to let it go out into the blue sky.
“Don’t let Ningguang hear you say that, or she’ll have your head.” She warned with a chuckle, though Lumine couldn’t quite tell if it was a joke or a warning. Or both. “I appreciate the comparison though, and will gladly take it as a compliment.”
She thumped Paimon on the back, sending her forward through the air a few inches just from the force of it, even though it had been a friendly gesture.
“Anyway,” Beidou changed topic as Paimon’s arms flailed to balance herself. “have you met with Guizhong today by any chance? You said she told you about the ship before, but was that today?”
Lumine nodded, stepping forward slightly as to let a dock worker pass behind her.
“We met her this morning near the Harbor entrance, but it seemed like the Millileth were causing a delay of some kind. She asked us to inform you that the setting out time might be set back.”
Beidou nodded, the tassel on her hairpiece fluttering with the movement.
“Right, I expected something of the sort might happen since she has that big Ruin Guard with her.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand how she managed to rewire one so efficiently, but she did it.”
“Have you seen it in action before?” Lumine asked, intrigued. “We only saw it shut down.”
“Yep, on another favor for Ningguang. It’s an interesting experience walking alongside one of those big fuckers and not having to fight it.” Her smile turned a little sheepish as she chuckled. “It did catch me by surprise one time and I thwacked it good with my sword, but Guizhong managed to fix him up quick so no real harm was done.”
“Paimon doesn’t blame you, just seeing one so close to the city made shivers go up my spine.” Paimon said, shivering slightly.
“Don’t worry, once you get used to it it’s actually quite easy to tell ol’ Dusty apart from other Ruin Guards. As long as Guizhong views you as okay, he won’t bite.” Beidou assured with a smile. “Well, while we wait for our main member why don’t you two come aboard and see the inside of the ship?” She pointed with a thumb over her shoulder, and Paimon immediately lit up.
“OOH yes please! Will we be getting our own room?” She asked excitedly as they followed Beidou up the plank and onto the deck of the Alcor.
The tour of the ship took about an hour, and as they walked back on deck the Millileth had arrived with Dusty in toe, rolling him into position so the Alcor’s crew could bring him aboard.
And bring him aboard they did.
Once Dusty was finally in the hands of the Crux Fleet, it swiftly became evident they were much more efficient then the Millileth in hauling. In the time it took the Millileth to even be prepared to begin attempting to bring him up, two crewmembers had already hooked him up and his ascent began.
Guizhong was with them, signing something on a paper before the Millileth went on their way.
Finally free, she raised a hand to block out the sun to find Beidou against the harsh light, and when she did the blue fabric of her sleeves jostled in the wind as she waved.
“Beidou! Good to see you again, it’s been some time!”
She offered her hand out for a handshake as they met at the plank, but Beidou sidestepped it, opting instead to crush her in a hug.
“It’s been too long! Almost a year since we brought you back from that dig, and so many tales have happened since.” One arm remained slung over Guizhong’s shoulder as she put her back on the ground and released her from the hug. “We’ll have to use this time to catch up while we can.”
“Agreed, though I doubt my stories are anything as interesting as yours.” Guizhong laughed. Her heels hitting the decks wood with a distinct thump as she joined them, and she turned to Lumine and Paimon.
“Hello again, I’m glad you two made it.” The noon sun made the warmth in her silver eyes glisten. “Apologies for being so late; First the Millileth had some setbacks and then Ganyu had a last minute document for me to sign- I hope our late departure isn’t too much of a concern.”
“Don’t worry about it, the crew’s used to working with the Qixing and all the documental hassle that comes with it. We were expecting some setbacks.” Beidou assured, and Lumine nodded.
“I don’t mind either, I’m used to a flexible schedule.”
“Oh good, I was worried it would cause some stress.” Guizhong sighed in relief, hands lightly clasped near her shoulder. “I’ve never been to Guyun stone forest before so I’m quite excited to see it!”
“We’ve been a few times!” Paimon said. “It’s a really big place with lots of beautiful sights, but also a lot of hilichurls and Ruin Guards.” She shivered. “Lumine would have been toast one time if Zhongli hadn’t been with us, so Paimon hopes we won’t have to go near that area.”
Guizhong’s head tilted to the side as her smile turned delighted.
“Oh, you know Zhongli?”
“We do! He’s a good friend.” Lumine said as Paimon nodded enthusiastically. Beidou raised her eyebrow, one hand on her hip while the other grabbed her chin in thought.
“Zhongli… he’s the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor guy, yeah?”
“That’s him.” Lumine confirmed.
“Huh, I’ve heard some talk about him among the crew. Sounds like an interesting man.”
“Interesting is definitely a word Paimon would use to describe him.” She sighed as she shared a look with Lumine, who hid a smile behind her hand. No one else knew the half of just how interesting Zhongli was, as if being a part of the eccentric funeral parlor wasn’t enough.
“Anyway,” Beidou continued, shrugging with the hand that had been on her chin. “I’m curious how you got to Guyun before, not many ships will sail there because of all the monsters.”
Lumine’s eyes went wide, and this time the look she and Paimon shared was hasty and panicked. How do you explain that you dragged the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius all the way to Liyue, just so he could use his vision to ice bridge you across the sea to activate ancient waypoints that no one else seems able to use?
“Uh, well.” Lumine fumbled, picking at her nail. “We had a friend help us.”
Guizhong’s brows raised at Lumine’s shift in body language.
“A friend?” She asked, and Lumine nodded.
“Yes, a close friend. He had a reliable way to get us across so, we used it.”
“Really? How reliable?” Beidou asked, crossing her arms.
“Very reliable.” Lumine said, but Paimon raised her eyebrows and made an unsure noise in the back of her throat, thinking about when Kaeya got bored and withheld making ice till the last possible moment that resulted in Lumine falling in a few times, so Lumine corrected herself:
“Incredibly reliable.”
Paimon side eyed her, and Guizhong coughed over her shoulder to hide a laugh at how unintentionally suspicious the two were being.
“Well, no matter, I’ll be relying on you two to guide us around the dangerous places then if you’re familiar with the location!” Guizhong changed topics to let the two stop the conspicuous looks, and Lumine nodded.
“Of course, I’ve gotten very good at that!”
Guizhong’s eyes drifted over Lumine’s head to where Dusty was now being lowered below deck, directed by Beidou’s 1st mate down the large cargo opening.
“Good, I’d best check the Millileth didn’t damage Dusty now that they’re out of sight, so if you’d excuse me.“
Guizhong hurried off to the cargo hold, long sleeves trailing behind her, and Beidou called out:
“We’re setting off soon, so make sure he’s all strapped down!”
Guizhong flashed a smile to show she’d heard before disappearing below, not emerging again till the anchor had been raised, and the Alcor set sail for Guyun Stone Forest.