Work Text:
The rite of descension was tomorrow.
Tomorrow, the way of life in Liyue would change irreversibly. And yet, the impact of tomorrow would hardly change anything at all. For tomorrow the geo archon, Rex Lapis, would die.
Tomorrow the portal he typically created at the back of Wangsheng Funeral Palace to the Yujing Terrace would reveal not Rex Lapis, but the archon’s cooling corpse. Or at least, what would appear as the corpse to any and all onlookers.
Tomorrow he’d attempt the greatest plot ever considered within Liyue.
And yet, nothing would really change for Zhongli.
Or at least, mostly nothing.
The death of Rex Lapis would generate rumours, Zhongli knew this. But while he suspected the citizens of Liyue would mourn, they would continue to prosper and routine life in Liyue Harbour wouldn’t change.
However, he’d be foolish to believe the same would apply to Childe.
Childe. The odd Fatui member who’d spent the better part of half a year floating on the peripheral of Zhongli’s life. A man who wasn’t afraid to meddle in Zhongli’s affairs and who happened to have quite a knack for appearing when Zhongli inconveniently forgot to bring mora.
Their initially brief encounters had quickly morphed into established meetings and frequent meetups. Zhongli had grown to appreciate the youth’s cheerful demeanor even when most people would fabricate excuses to run away from him. Childe always appreciated his fascinating tidbits of information, even the less fun ones.
At some point, Zhongli had begun to wish that Childe would never have to leave. While a mortal’s lifespan was a blink to one such as himself, he still felt a strong urge to wrap his tail around Childe and hoard the joyful man’s attention all to himself for as long as he could. He wanted to cling to the man’s enthusiasm and cheer.
But Childe was a member of the Fatui and ultimately belonged to the Tsaritsa. When she called, he would return to her like the loyal dog he was.
Further than that, Zhongli knew that Childe had ulterior motives for his stay in Liyue, perhaps even in accompanying Zhongli. The Tsaritsa was plotting something that would unravel all of Teyvat and the illusion of the archons. One could reason that Childe’s involvement with him was not too a calculated move on the Tsaritsa’s point. A plot that further complicated his established contract with the cyro archon.
Yet, he still wanted to protect the man.
The upcoming events would throw the fatui under scrutiny, both due to the rumours quietly spreading from Monstandt and the general suspicion of outsiders. Add to that, his fellow adepti would undoubtedly hear of his death and rush to Liyue harbour to inspect the death. Despite him suppressing his abilities around Childe, undoubtedly Childe’s constant exposure to Zhongli had left a residual on the man that the adepti would seek out faster than water down a cliff.
The only logical conclusion would be to implement a sort of failsafe on Childe’s person. Something that would ward off the fury of the adepti and present a plausible reason for Childe to be soaked in his adeptal energy.
So the only logical item Zhongli could present Childe with was a sigil of permission.
But how to give such an important artifact to Childe without arousing suspicion?
Does he infiltrate Childe’s dream in a vision of Rex Lapis. Or he could slip the sigil into Childe’s back pocket without him noticing? While Zhongli could imagine all sorts of elaborate schemes to place the sigil of permission in Childe’s care, he decided on the simplest.
He’d just give it to Chlde in person.
The next day, Zhongli plucked the nicely preserved token from his home and placed it in his pocket as he prepared for his day. He went to work and remained his typical demeanor all throughout the morning until his noon break began. From there, he stood from where he’d been filling out paperwork all morning to exit the funeral palace.
Like every afternoon, Childe was waiting for him just outside the palace and greeted him with a warm smile and a, “Zhongli! How’s your day been so far?”
“The morning has proceeded as expected,” Zhongli answered as usual and he began to lead Childe to the restaurant he’d chosen for the day, taking time to carefully explain the history behind the restaurant’s success.
“That didn’t really happen, did it?” Childe broke down into laughter as they neared the end of their meal. His chopsticks hung loosely from his fingers, threatening to fall into Childe’s food.
Part of Zhongli desired to remove the chopsticks from Childe’s hazardous grip, but instead he merely nodded, “Not all of Rex Lapis’ adventures amongst the citizens of Liyue were quite so simple. While many shop owners prefer to remind customers that Rex Lapis once visited their shop to buy some trinket, but fail to mention the circumstances behind the purchase.”
“I bet! If all the stories are anything like the Jade Palace, I wouldn’t want anyone to know what really happened!” Childe agreed with another snort of laughter. “But how do you know about this, Zhongli? I can’t imagine the store owners were in any hurry to tell you.”
“Every excursion that Rex Lapis has ever conducted is written down in excruciating detail for historians to analyze. I merely familiarized myself with the material and recounted to you the most amusing encounters.”
“You know, sometimes I can’t help but wonder how you know all this stuff. You’re like a walking encyclopedia!” Childe waved his chopsticks around for emphasis. And, naturally, the chopsticks fall from his grip and land on his plate. He turned a false guilty expression on Zhongli.
Zhongli sighed as he reached over with a cloth to remove the chopsticks from the noodles. “I have read many books in my lifetime and have a very good memory.”
At that moment, the shopkeeper appeared to remove the finished plates of food with a bill. Zhongli checked his pockets only to retrieve an empty wallet, as typical.
Childe snorted even as he placed the correct amount of mora on the table and stood with a pleased expression. “A good memory for everything but mora, huh, Zhongli?”
He merely gave Childe a lingering glance as he stood as well. As he’d been searching for his wallet, his hands had happened to brush the sigil of permission, reminding him that he still had business with Childe outside a simple meal.
Childe let out a second burst of laughter, “I’m only joking, of course. I don’t mind footing the bill. If I did, I wouldn’t be meeting up with you everyday for lunch!”
“Mhm,” Zhongli agreed as his hand returned to his pocket, “I truly appreciate everything you do for me, Childe.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Childe waved his hands in front of his face as he spoke even as his eyes bore holes into Zhongli, “Where’s this coming from? Not that I don’t like it, but it’s pretty out of character for you, Zhongli.”
“I have something for you as a gift to show my appreciation,” Zhongli continued, ignoring Childe as he pulled the sigil out of his pocket and held it out to Childe.
“An even less likely occurrence,” Childe joked even as he accepted it. He lifted the sigil up and gazed at it for several seconds. A myriad of emotions crossed his face: surprise, horror, and amazement, before what almost appeared to be regret? However, when he finally spoke, all he said was, “Zhongli, what is this?”
Despite Zhongli knowing that Childe knew exactly what he’d been handed, Zhongli answered, “A sigil of permission. Rex Lapis once handed out this very sigil to Lui Mei-hui over 2 millennia ago.”
“Wow, that’s… that’s pretty amazing. But how did you get your hands on something like this? And why would you give it to me? With how much Liyue prizes anything about Rex Lapis, you could probably sell this for quite a bit.” Childe commented as he inspected the sigil.
“It is a priceless artifact,” Zhongli agreed, his eyes never leaving Childe’s face, “I happened upon it many years ago. I believe that you would find more uses for it than I.”
Childe’s gaze returned to Zhongli with a jerk, his eyes wide, “What do you mean?”
So Zhongli elaborated, “You are a citizen of Snezhnaya. Any citizen of Liyue wouldn’t hesitate to spark suspicion on you should anything occur. I only hope that the sigil will bring you protection as it did Lui Mei-hui all those years ago.”
“That’s very kind of you, Zhongli! But are you sure this isn’t an exchange for all the mora I’ve spent for you?”
“Nonsense. The sigil is a gift to a friend, not an exchange to a business partner.” Zhongli turned his attention away from Childe as he started his return to the funeral palace. “I will see you later, Childe.”
“Right, later! Thanks for the sigil, Zhongli. I really like it!” Childe called out from behind Zhongli. He could picture Childe even with his back turned. The young man would no doubt be waving exuberantly at his retreating back until Zhongli was more than half way back to the funeral palace.
At least he'd succeeded in giving Childe the sigil without the other thinking anything of it.
Meanwhile, Childe continued to wave until Zhongli turned the corner and disappeared and continued waving for another 10 minutes before dropping his gaze to the sigil. It was undeniably an authentic sigil of permission; items that hadn’t been discovered in almost 500 years. Rumour was that Rex Lapis destroyed all sigils after their initial owner died. And yet, in his hands was a real sigil.
How could such an intelligent being be so dumb?
Or was he the dumb one. He couldn’t help but wonder the next day as he rescued a traveller from suspicion and instead of giving them the real sigil, he passed them a fake.
The real one, looped around his neck, warming his frostbitten heart.