Work Text:
It was several weeks after the adepti had revoked their rights in overseeing Liyue to the humans when Xiao was suddenly summoned by one of the mighty and illuminated beings. Thinking that it was a matter of importance related to the place they had swore to protect, he immediately went to seek the Custodian of Clouds in Mt. Aocang.
However, now after learning that it had nothing to do with their nation, he was starting to regret even stepping foot on her abode.
"I refuse," he said curtly while devoid of any emotions. His arms folded as always.
"But won't you reconsider, Conqueror of Demons?" The majestic crane with cerulean wings sighed in exasperation. "Even for a fellow adeptus?"
"Cloud Retainer, I fail to understand how she will benefit learning from murderer like me." Golden orbs eyed the the enlightened being wearily. "Besides aren't you going to train her yourself? I don't see the need for me to meddle such cumbersome affair."
"Indeed, at her behest, one has decided to arrange a test for her spirit in order to bring out her adeptus side back. But as the sole remaining Guardian Yaksha, only you can unlock her full potential."
He fell silent. His eyes narrowed dangerously when his infamous title was brought up.
But whether she took notice of this or not, she didn't let on as she continued. "Perhaps one shall offer you the most exquisite Almond Tofu as a compensation?"
"You, of all beings, should know that an adeptus won't be easily swayed by mere bribery," he declared coldly.
"Ah, but the traveler had said otherwise." She only chuckled in amusement. "Are you not satisfied with just one? How about two or three serv—"
"Cloud Retainer." He cut her off now in a tone laced with annoyance. "If you have nothing more relevant to speak, I will take my leave."
The female adeptus shook her head. A solemn look suddenly graced her features. "But indeed one does has something important to say..." Then she trailed. "If you lend this one your ears."
He didn't respond but he didn't make any move of departing either. She took it as a sign of interest.
"One supposed you are aware about that child hovering between the mortal and the immortal realm for many millennia now, are you not?"
Of course, he knew. Even if no one had told him, Xiao could already sensed it the moment he saw her more than two thousand years ago during the Archon War. She had this distinctive aura on her different from that of a normal adeptus. (But he wouldn't go as far as to refer the three thousand year old half-qilin a child though.) Still, even though her presence as an illuminated beast was weak compared to them, he knew not to underestimate her powers seeing her fought firsthand side by side with Rex Lapis.
"Sooner or later she will have to decide for herself what path she will take; the ways of the adepti or of humankind. That's where you come in. Whether she will gain something or not during this training is up to how much you are willing to impart, Conqueror of Demons. But one believes that you will learn something valuable from her as well." Then she gave him a mysterious smile. "After all, you two are more similar than you think."
His eyebrows knitted into a frown. "What do you mean?"
"Why don't you see it for yourself, Adeptus Xiao?"
Even when he was still a few yards away from the Moonlit Tree in Nantianmen where they agreed to meet, the Vigilant Yaksha could already make out a blue figure waiting for him from a distance.
The half-qilin was facing the big old tree whilst extending her hand to touch its rough bark mindlessly. Lilac eyes shrouded with loneliness as her long pale blue wavy locks, which reminded him greatly of the cloudless sky, swayed to and fro caused by the evening gale. She was so lost in thought that she didn't noticed him walking towards her.
What he didn't understand however was why he was also only watching her without saying a word. Maybe it's because for a second, she reminded him of a fellow Guardian Yaksha who was long gone or maybe it's just because she looked so solemn that he didn't want to interrupt her musings. Whatever it was, he chose not to delve deeper as it also dawned to him that he was staring at her far more longer than necessary.
He immediately shook his head waking himself from the temporary trance and coughed.
That got her attention as she jumped in surprise and turned to him. She lowered her head in a slight bow. "Greetings, Conqueror of Demons." She fidgeted. "My apologies. I didn't know you're already here."
"It seems living with the humankind for many centuries has dulled your senses."
"I-I was just... thinking." She explained vaguely.
He didn't pry any further. He didn't really need to know anyway.
"I commend you for being so early." Xiao opted to say instead. He was already half an hour early from the appointed time himself but the girl in front of him still managed to beat him to it.
That comment caught her off-guard, probably not expecting to hear any compliments from him, but gave him a small smile nonetheless. "Yes, I have learned to be ahead of time especially at work." She suddenly offered something towards him. "And, um, it's not too much but I want you to have these."
That's when he noticed that she was carrying a small food container on her other hand.
He only raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Inside is a serving of Almond Tofu from the Wangshu Inn. I heard that you really like them so I brought one."
He folded his arms and frowned. That woman. He could feel a headache coming. "Did Cloud Retainer inform you?"
"Um... No."
That surprised him.
"Actually... I brought them on my accord. I wanted to thank you for having me as your mentee." Then she gave him an apologetic look as she lowered the said offering. "Is it not to your liking? No, wait. Sorry, was it too forward of me? You don't really have to accept them. I—"
"How did you know then?" Before he could stop himself, curiosity got the best of him.
She blinked. "Oh, well. As the emissary and secretary at the Yuehai Pavilion..." She suddenly faltered clutching her hand to her chest as if being reminded of something. "I mean, former secretary. I was in charge of accounting all of the expenses of the Liyue Qixing and that includes those of the Wangshu Inn. And, well, they always ran out of supplies for Almond Tofu when you were staying there. So..."
"..."
"Was I mistaken?"
Xiao, in all his life as an adeptus (and that says a lot), never got embarrassed nor flustered but just this time he could almost feel his ears heat up but as always he managed to remain stoic through it all.
"No." He coughed and changed the subject. "But enough idle chatter. I came here to tell you that I haven't completely agreed to this arrangement."
"I... see." She sounded disappointed. "I understand. I'm sorry for bothe—"
"I want you to prove yourself to me first."
"Prove myself?" Confusion was visible on her soft features.
"Knowing fully well of my dark history, why do you want to train under me, Ganyu?" His eyes sharpened. "Many innocent lives have already ended by my own two hands; mortal and immortal alike."
Not that he had a choice to begin with though, especially under his former name. He had been forced to devour the countless dreams of his victims and crushed all of their hopes in accordance to his previous master's diabolical orders. Although he had been freed from that slavery and had sworn not to taint his spear with any human blood, the cries of those he had slaughtered in the yesteryears kept on haunting him to this day.
"Do you still insist?"
She flinched under his cold gaze. Fear slowly crept into her eyes. It was a common sight to him from all the unfortunate souls he had killed in the past even long before Rex Lapis saved him. But somehow seeing that same look on her face left him quite displeased.
He disliked it.
Yet, despite all of that, she didn't look away either and her determination didn't waver. He had to give her that.
"You have always kept the ways of the adepti even after all these years," she reasoned. "If I really want to understand that part of myself, I know that I will be needing your guidance. That is... if you’re willing to have me."
"Very well."
He summoned the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear, the same one that he had used to slay the souls of the gods and demons that threatened the peace in Liyue for many millennia.
"If you managed to hit me once then I will acknowledge your request." He twirled the polearm around him then pointed it towards her direction.
Her eyes widened.
"Show me that same adeptus I had grown to respect who fought with Rex Lapis during the Archon War."
Xiao would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed.
Not even a scratch can be seen on his body whilst the other female adeptus was already struggling to stand up. They had been sparring for more than an hour now. More accurately, she was attacking him using her bow and all he did was dodged all of her assaults and deflected them back to her using his Vision. One would think that he might have just overestimated the half-qilin's capabilities with how she was gasping for air now but he knew very well that wasn't the case.
She was holding back.
And he hated that.
He didn't understand why she wasn't even trying too hard on hitting him with her aim. He had purposely left a few openings but she only ended up wasting all the opportunities by moving away instead.
He gritted his teeth.
Was she mocking him?
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
"I've seen enough." He finally said as he let his spear dematerialized. "You've wasted my time. If you're not serious about this test then you better go back to where you came from and don't even bother showing your face to me. I loath indecisive individuals like you."
She looked perplexed as her grip on her Amos Bow tightened. But he didn't care.
He turned his back on her and started to walk away when suddenly he could feel a cold gust of wind coming towards him. He was quick to summon his lance and deflect the barrage of ice arrows by spinning the weapon in front of him in a lightning speed.
But what he didn't expect next was for her to charge herself towards his direction. She was only doing range attacks for the last hour so that was a first. He immediately readied himself. However just when she was a few feet away from him, she dashed backward leaving an ice lotus flower behind.
It finally dawned to him what she was planning but he was a second too late to move and was caught by the burst of snow freezing him on the spot. He tried to summon the wind to free himself but before he could, she already performed a charged attack. She shot the area above him sending a rain of Cryo particles and adding another layer to the ice that encased his body making it more harder to break.
He stared at her. Amethyst eyes that was once filled with fear before was now replaced with outmost focus and precision. The same look she had when he saw her fought the fatui during Osial's attack and even more so during the war many centuries ago.
He thought to himself. This is Ganyu's full potential.
She was aiming again and this time directly to his face. He decided to surrender and waited for her arrow to pierce his skin but it didn't arrive. Instead, the attack came like cool breeze tickling his left cheek.
He saw her collapsed on her knees exhausted as her bow disappeared into thin air. "I-I'm sorry," she mumbled.
He frowned as he was finally able to cast a small cyclone of Anemo to free himself from his frozen cage and walked towards her.
"Why?"
She bit her lower lip. "I... I just can't bring myself to hurt you... or any of our kind for that matter. I'm sorry for being so weak." She closed her eyes as a stray tear rolled down her cheek. "I've seen far too many people and adepti dying in front of me... because of me. I..." Then she let out a hollow laugh. "I don't think I can bring myself to hurt anyone anymore."
That's when it finally occurred to him that even though the half-qilin was gentle in nature and had lived an unassuming life after the Archon War, she was also not spared by the tragedies of it just like him. Then he remembered what Cloud Retainer had told him that day.
"After all, you two are more similar than you think."
Her hands were stained by blood as well and yet she chose to live, striving for peace and contentment with the humans. Something that even he couldn’t do. He came to respect her even more.
He then dropped on one knee in front of her.
"It's inevitable," he said, barely realizing that his voice was far more gentle than usual.
"There will come a time when you will have to kill again in order to protect those who are important to you." And for a moment, the memory of his fellow fallen Yakshas flashed into his mind. "You'll have to face even those who you considered as comrades. But when that time comes, you have to remember one thing and one thing alone. As an adepti, we have our duty to protect the inhabitants of Liyue until our last breath. So never hesitate to do the right thing, no matter how much it will also bring you pain in the end."
He didn't notice that he was clenching his fist tightly until she held it with her own.
"But what if I could do something... anything just to save everyone? Not just those whom I swore to protect. Then there's no need to resort to violence anymore, right?" She gave him a look of resolution.
He couldn't help but smirk at her simple way of thinking. "Your naive mortal ideal amuses me."
She blinked. "You smiled..."
"You're imagining it." He suddenly stood up, letting go of her hand in the process and turned away. "It looks like you still have a lot to learn in order to fully embrace your adepti side. I hope you are far more ready than this on tomorrow's training."
"Wait. Are you saying—"
"Just so you know, this training will determine how much your body can withstand under pressure. I won't hold back so you better prepare yourself." Then he looked at her blankly, once again back to his stoic demeanor. "I despise those who do things half-heartedly."
She finally stood up and nodded. "Yes, I understood."
"Good."
"Thank you for giving me the chance, Conqueror of Demons." She beamed at him.
He was slightly taken aback by her reaction but nodded in response. He closed his eyes for a second as he contemplated on whether he'll regret his decision or not but it's too late to back out now.
Even though he had finally understood that they might have some similarities, he still couldn’t see how he will learn something from her. But, well, he'll have the rest of the trial to figure it out himself anyway.
Suddenly, he remembered something else.
"By the way... About the Almond Tofu."
She gave him a curious look. "Yes?"
"... You have my thanks."