Chapter Text
Liyue's warm climate felt like a blessing, how long has it been?
The Nation of Geo, ruled by the Geo Archon who the locals call "Rex Mare".
Known widely for many things, the tall mountains, the exclusive Li and Yue cuisine, the bustling businesses, possibly even the Lantern rites in which they commemorate the fallen heroes.
Personally, the harbinger remembered it as his place of birth, where he spent a great part of his life before.. "moving" to Snezhnaya.
The light sway of the boat, the smell of salt from the ocean, the Ginkgo leaves fluttering among the sea breeze, and the sun's warmth seeping into his skin.
Home, it all felt like home.
"Sir Morax, we're approaching the dock."
He turned from where he was perched at the edge of the boat, masking his disappointment by fixing the Fatui agent with a stern look.
"Understood, take my luggage to my place of residence as soon as we step on land." he paused for a moment "Carefully, I do not wish for a repeat of last time." he added with a glare.
The agent nodded nervously, clearly understanding what event he was referring to, and to his credit managed to reply with only a slight waver to his voice.
"Yes sir, it won't happen again, sir."
The harbinger strode curiously through Liyue's stone streets, paying attention to every detail of his once hometown, he eyed the merchant's wares, glanced at the numerous fish swimming freely in the ponds, and in general just basked in the familiar sunlight.
However, as much as he was enjoying his time there, he was painfully aware of two things:
One, he was getting curious looks from people, this he understood considering he was wearing a Fatui attire, it was normal for them to be cautious of them because of their reputation and the recent Mondstadt incident.
He wasn't exactly... subtle if the mask hanging from his hip was anything to speak of.
Two, Liyue had changed drastically compared to his last time here, which meant he wasn't exactly sure where to go next...
He might be a bit lost.
The scent of simmering food quickly caught his attention, head whipping towards the direction of it so fast his hair smacked his face.
He had not gotten a chance to eat anything yet after arriving, he was positively starving.
"Hm, 'Wanmin Restaurant'..?" he murmured to himself, already walking towards the building.
He took a seat on a nearby table just as a couple was leaving, the girl in an orange attire looking up from where she was cleaning the table to greet him.
"Oh, hello! Welcome to Wanmin Restaurant! I'll bring you a menu in just a moment." she chirped, folding the handkerchief inside the palm of her hand and running off into the kitchen as the man simply hummed in acknowledgment.
Morax ended up ordering a serving of black-back perch stew, the signature dish of Wanmin consisting of fish, Jueyun chilis, and fragrant violetgrass, expertly prepared and boiled by chef Xiangling herself.
Of course, he couldn't just order that, he also had to try the squirrel fish. Named that after its similarity to a squirrel's tail, this dish combines sweet and sour to create a mouth-watering mix.
And surely he couldn't pass the opportunity to try the crystal shri-
"Oh, it contains seafood? Ah… nevermind, then, just bring me a serving of universal peace instead, please."
He shivered, that was a close one.
Sighing in contentment, the harbinger placed his chopsticks down, waving Xiangling over to signal he was ready to leave.
His eyes widened when she placed the bill in front of him.
"That would be 13,500 mora, sir!"
He glanced up at her expectant smile, then down at the bill, then back up at her again.
"...Sir? Is everything okay?" her brows furrowed in confusion.
He looked to the side sheepishly.
"I… seem to have forgotten to bring any mora."
The thing is, he technically had mora considering he was currently supervising Northland Bank, but due to his extravagant spending habits, Her Majesty Guizhong stopped letting him use the bank's mora.
Instead, he got a gradual amount every week - similar to a paycheck - to carry around as pocket money.
But, he left it in his luggage.
He would've forgotten it anyways, though.
Xiangling stared at him for a good 5 seconds while the other patrons began murmuring between themselves.
"A Fatui harbinger with no mora? Who's he trying to make a fool of?"
"Is he just expecting to get all that food on the house or.."
"'No mora', yeah right, what a cheap skate."
Just as Xiangling took a deep breath and was preparing to say something, a friendly voice cut in.
"Heyyy, Xiangling! How are you?"
Her eyes lit up immediately when she recognized the person.
"Childe! Good to see you! You'll have to forgive me, I'm a bit busy at the moment and no tables have been cleared out yet."
The man, 'Childe' pouted as his eyes flitted to Zhongli.
"Oh? And who might this gentleman be? Don't think I've ever seen you before."
Deciding to ignore the bill currently burning a hole through the table, he locked eyes with the man.
He had deep blue eyes.
They were the color of the sky as it darkened, when there was only a sliver of sun left and the pink-orange tint had seeped away fully. They were comparable to Liyue's sea, glittering in newfound interest, the sight reminding him of the slight rocking of the boat and the scent of the ocean, yet if he stared too long he felt as if the wild torrents would envelop him and drown him.
They twinkled in amusement as the man let out a laugh full of mirth, snapping Morax out of his trance and quickly closing his slightly parted mouth.
He got caught staring, how embarrassing, he willed the heat in his cheeks to go away.
He realized the other was still awaiting a response by how he tilted his head with a grin, the small cowlick in his hair dangling with the motion.
He shook his head in hopes of clearing it and steeled himself as he finally gave him a reply.
"I'm a Fatui diplomat personally sent by Her Majesty Guizhong, I tend to go by Zhongli."
The originally warm gaze of the man seemed to close off, tranquil waves turning frigid, the carefree smile he wore twitched slightly, ceasing to reach his eyes.
He certainly noticed how he looked at him in a more calculating manner, almost resembling Guizhong herself.
"I see. Well, I'm Childe, an independent adventurer! Nice to meet you, Zhongli." he stretched out a gloved hand towards him, and Morax gladly took it, giving it a firm shake.
"Say, you're new around Liyue, aren't you? How about I show you around? Well, right after I have something to eat" the ginger seemed to have finally noticed the bill laying on the table.
"Oh! You were just about to leave anyway, right? Stay here a bit longer, we can chat while I eat!" he grinned again, albeit less brightly than the last time.
"I.. erm.. can't exactly leave yet even if I wanted to." his sheepish demeanor returned.
Childe tilted his head quizzically again, this time resembling more of a confused puppy instead of whatever smug gesture it was before.
"How so?" he glanced at the bill and Zhongli in the same way the former had done a few minutes ago, his mouth formed an "o" in understanding.
"You don't have mora." it was a statement.
"I do not."
The ginger simply chuckled.
"A harbinger with no mora, hm? You're interesting, something tells me we'll get along just fine..."
Before he could say anything else, Childe pulled out a big bag of mora from.. his pocket or something, he wasn't sure actually.
He dropped it on top of the table with a thud, the coins inside making clinking sounds at the impact.
As Zhongli sat there with wide eyes, Xiangling simply smiled as if she was used to this, thanked him, and left with the bag and the bill.
They fell into easy conversation, the self-proclaimed adventurer mentioning the best touristic places to visit while in Liyue while the harbinger listened, sipping tea the other ordered while nodding along.
Once they finished their small chat in Wanmin, they took a walk around the harbor, the sun setting over the sounds of laughter.
He learned that Childe was a man full of wanderlust, energetic and jumpy, and enjoyed fighting for the thrill of it.
When Zhongli asked where he got so much mora from he simply smiled and dismissed it by replying "From commissions".
"But aren't commissions directed to the Liyue branch of the Adventurer's Guild?"
He looked at the harbinger as if he had grown a second head.
"Um, I'm an independent adventurer? If someone wants a commission from me specifically they just ask me directly! That's all there is to it, really."
He hummed in response, interesting, can't say he's heard of it before, though.
"And the Adventurer's Guild is fine with this arrangement?"
He looked up in thought for a moment before shrugging.
"Eh, it's probably fine, I've never gotten any complaints, the only thing I've heard from them are invitations to join, they try to convince me with 'you'll get more commissions!' or something along those lines, pshhh, as if." he punctuated the last statement by rolling his eyes, looking back at Zhongli with a lazy smirk.
"Is there any particular reason you refuse to join them?" he said tilting his head, not unlike the way the adventurer had done before.
"I guess I prefer to live by my own rules, I know it's kinda odd to hear this from someone who lives in Liyue, a land ruled by contracts and promises and whatever, but I'd rather do one or two commissions every once in a while than be forced to do more in a day, you know?" he walked with his arms laced behind his head stretching his back in the process.
Zhongli nodded thoughtfully, he greatly respected the land of Geo and their contracts but constantly being bound to one seemed.. tiring.
He'd be speaking from experience, after all.
When it seemed the ginger had nothing more to add, he began filling the silence with tales of old, he spoke about topics the other might be interested in, like the great battles of the Geo Archon during the war, and the other seemed to be lost inside the stories, nodding excitedly with wide eyes at every word.
Before they knew it, night fell upon them, crickets announcing it clearly, and the stars shining brightly in the dark.
"Childe, I believe we should leave the story here for today, it's already gotten dark."
The ginger deflated visibly, arms flopping dramatically under him.
"Aw man, it's already so late? Fine, go to bed, grandpa."
As Zhongli opened his mouth to retort, Childe grabbed one of his hands, prying open his fingers to place a small object inside and then closing it again before retreating.
Opening his hand once again, he noticed a small starconch was now laying in his palm.
"Here, it's a trinket I bought a while ago! I didn't have any use for it anyway so why don't you keep it? As a memory of our first meeting!" he grinned, this time his eyes crinkled along with it.
Zhongli unconsciously replied with a small smile of his own.
"Thank you, I'll make sure to take good care of it."
Childe stared at his smile with a blank face before his lips quirked up into a soft smile.
"You better! Anyways, I've gotta go now, let's meet tomorrow at Wanmin again! I wanna hear all about how the Geo Archon demolished Osial, ok?" he shouted already running off while his head was turned back to look at him.
"Alright, alright, be careful now." he waved as the ginger ran into a wall, dazedly looking back at him again to give him one last wave and proceeding to actually focus on where he's going.
At that moment, with the starconch clenched inside his hand, he recalled the Rex Incognito books he'd read so long ago.
"Every form Rex Mare took had blue eyes."
He watched Childe jog away and chuckled.
"What a strange coincidence."