Chapter Text
As far as life or death situations go, Keqing is sure she’s seen worse, but at the moment, nothing else comes to mind.
The point of the adeptus’s arrow digs into the tender skin of Keqing’s neck, just over her choker. Her eyes are red — no, brown? Gold? — some jewel-toned shade burning hot with indignation. Two black horns streaked with red taper to a point above her mop of pale hair. She has Keqing pinned against a man-sized statue of some horned beast. Keqing's sword is trapped behind her back, not that it'd be of any use even if she could reach it. At this range, Keqing couldn't manage a single swing before having her throat cut.
Keqing never saw the adeptus coming. One moment she was crouched over investigating the statue — the next, the adeptus was rushing her, leaving Keqing barely enough time to stand before the adeptus lunged and pressed an arrow against her throat. Losing track of her surroundings is such an amateur mistake, one Keqing had never fallen into even at the very beginning of her tenure as Yuheng. She is sick with fury; mostly at herself, and a little bit at the gods, because this must surely be someone's idea of a fantastic joke.
Keqing slowly raises her hands, fingers splayed peaceably. It’s a wasted effort, from the hard look on the adeptus's face. Keqing resists the urge to roll her eyes, if only because the adeptus clearly has no issues with violence. Keqing's attachment to living aside, dying would throw all her plans into irreparable disarray.
“I am the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing,” Keqing says, staring past the arrow shaft and into the adeptus’s stony, determined face. “I mean you no harm.”
“That remains to be seen.” The adeptus’s voice is soft and gentle, at odds with her narrowed eyes and the steady, professional grip on the arrow pressing into Keqing’s throat. “This is sacred ground. What business does the Yuheng have in Jueyun Karst?”
Keqing takes as deep of a breath as she dares. “Treasure hoarders."
The adeptus stares, then digs the point of her arrow harder against Keqing’s neck. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“I'm serious!" Keqing resists the urge to lean away. If only she hadn't been so careless — she'd have noticed the adeptus sneaking up on her and be in a better position to negotiate. It's difficult to seem authoritative with a weapon at her throat. "Treasure hoarders and other suspicious individuals have been sighted in the vicinity of Jueyun Karst. I'm here to investigate on behalf of the Liyue Qixing."
The adeptus is unmoved. If possible, she seems even more unimpressed. "You're the only suspicious person I've seen as of late. Am I supposed to believe the Yuheng would come to Taishan Mansion alone?” Her grip on the arrow tightens. “And what were you doing with that statue earlier? How do I know you’re not a treasure hoarder?”
Keqing? A treasure hoarder? Her?
That’s the last straw. Tired, frustrated, and now thoroughly insulted, Keqing snaps: "Because I'm too fucking pretty!"
Her body’s furious, involuntary jerk costs her. The adeptus's arrow cuts deeper into her skin. A line of blood trickles down her neck, seeping into her choker. The adeptus’s eyes widen. “Be careful!”
Half of Keqing is beyond caring. The other half is imagining her spirit at the gates of the afterlife being berated by a line of ancestors stretching all the way back to the founding of Liyue Harbor. Adrenaline surges beneath her skin, the taste of metal filling her mouth. Keqing grits her teeth; then sighs. Great-great-great Grandmother Heiyu wins today. She restrains herself with difficulty, and to her surprise, the adeptus shifts back too, just enough that the arrowhead isn't biting into Keqing's skin.
Her presence is still a threat to Keqing, but... Keqing studies her face. The adeptus's lips are pressed into a thin line. Her serene brow is furrowed, and her eyes are fixed on Keqing's collar. She almost seems to feel… guilty that Keqing is hurt. It's leeway that Keqing hadn't expected from an emissary of Rex Lapis. The slight hesitation makes the adeptus seem less ferocious, less ethereal.
It makes her seem human.
Keqing can work with that.
She sighs. "Look. I didn't bring my proof of office, but if you check my sword and my clothes, you'll find that they're..." Oh, she hates what she's about to do. Keqing can't quite bite down a reflexive grimace; she feels like one of her terrible cousins, the absolute bottom barrel of Liyue's overindulged nobles, using their wealth as a bludgeon to showcase their status rather than letting their deeds speak for them. It's one thing to point out the quality of her clothing as a statement of fact; it puts a sour taste in her mouth to flaunt it this way. "... That they're of… fine quality and construction. Do you think a treasure hoarder can afford something like this?"
The adeptus looks her up and down. Keqing's outfit is a little worse for wear after running through the woods all day, but only wears the best. (Archons. There she goes again...) Her outfit is as good in meeting rooms as it is in the great outdoors.
“Maybe so,” the adeptus concedes, eyeing the gold filigree across Keqing’s chest. “But I still want to know what business you had with the statue.”
“Well, if treasure hoarders were nearby, it stands to reason they’d strip the valuables from outside structures first, right?” While that much is true, Keqing would rather eat her own boot than admit that she was just fascinated by the intricate etchings decorating the beast’s flank. She recognizes the style — intricate whorls and swirls like those were a mainstay of the first thousand years of Rex Lapis’s reign. Surviving samples of artwork from that time are exceedingly rare. Keqing had loved them instantly. She had actually been considering bringing out parchment to get a rubbing when the adeptus ambushed her, not that she'd admit that now.
The adeptus frowns, pondering Keqing’s explanation in silence. Her gaze roams across Keqing’s face, then up and down her body once more. Keqing gets the distinct impression that she’s being judged — judged, and worse still, being found wanting.
"I can recite the most recent edition of Liyue's building codes, if you really want some concrete proof," Keqing sighs. Treasure hoarders wouldn't have any knowledge of Liyue's construction regulations — they're bandits, not engineers or architects. On the other hand, she doubts the adeptus — any adeptus really — would be able to recognize any regulation Keqing chooses to spew. Human laws are apparently beneath them, nevermind that they're Rex Lapis's laws too.
Luckily, the adeptus seems to be of the same mind. "That won't be necessary." Her heterochromic eyes sweep over Keqing. "Say I believe you," the adeptus says at last.
She steps back and flips the arrow between her fingers so that the bloodied tip points at the ground. Keqing revels in the first uninhibited breath of air she's taken in what feels like hours, though their entire exchange was only minutes long. The blood trickling from her throat is tacky against her skin, and she has to resist the urge to scratch.
"Even if you are the Yuheng, this is Jueyun Karst. You have trespassed in Taishan Mansion. You must leave."
"The treasure hoarders —"
"— will be dealt with when I find them.”
"All threats and disturbances to Liyue must be investigated to the fullest extent of the Qixing's ability," Keqing argues. "I need to scout the area, and if there are treasure hoarders, I’ll muster the Mililleth. Anyone we find needs to come into Mililleth custody."
The adeptus's expression is grave. "Don't bother. I will shoot them on sight."
A piece of wood snaps in the distance. For a moment, Keqing thinks she imagined it, a hallucination born of stress and adrenaline. But a smear of motion catches her eye. Over the adeptus’s shoulder, a ragged figure stumbles out from the copse of trees surrounding Taishan Mansion.
The man — a boy, Keqing realizes, barely more than a child swimming in the treasure hoarders' unmistakable patchwork clothing — trips and falls on his rear. He scrambles away from them. His fear makes a chalk-white moon of his face.
The adeptus doesn’t hesitate. Neither does Keqing.
Almost faster than the eye can see, the adeptus unslings her bow from her shoulder nocks the arrow she’d held against Keqing’s throat. But Keqing is faster.
She flings a lightning stiletto over the adeptus and slashes her arm through the air. A familiar numbing rush surges through her body. She blinks through space, as if yanked by an invisible hook lodged behind her belly. Keqing materializes between the boy and the adeptus just in time to fling herself over the poor fool. The adeptus’s arrow whistles as it punches through the air; Keqing feels its passage over the top of her head. A miss, but only just. If Keqing had been just fractionally slower, the boy would be dead.
In gratitude for her quick thinking, the boy immediately tries to stab her. Keqing swears and twists out the way. The edge of his knife grazes her side. She snarls, hurriedly slamming his wrist to the ground. He drops his knife with a pained cry. Keqing slaps it out of reach, grimacing.
"Are you kidding me — I'm trying to help you, stay down!" She plants herself firmly between the adeptus and the treasure hoarder.
Drawing her sword would be nothing short of stupid, she recognizes that much, but her fingers still itch to wrap themselves around the familiar hilt. Every sense screams for her to get out of the way, remove herself from danger; but the treasure hoarder is just a boy. The adeptus seems intent on killing him. No arrest, no trial, no leniency. Keqing can't let that happen.
The adeptus has nocked another arrow and drawn it back, holding the bow at full draw with seemingly no strain. Thin ribbons of frost swirl around the arrowhead — Cryro, Keqing realizes. A glowing blue Vision dangles from a knot of red braiding at the adeptus's waist. She has a Vision. Of course she does.
"You said you weren't one of them, Vision Holder," the adeptus calls.
"I'm really not."
"Then step aside. There is only one price for intruders and thieves."
"I'm taking him back to Liyue," Keqing says, forcing every ounce of authority she can muster into her voice. "He will have a trial, and be subject to the judgement of the Milllelith and the Liyue Qixing."
The adeptus is quiet. She doesn't lower her bow. "This is hallowed land, Lady Yuheng. Taishan Mansion was once home to Rex Lapis. Mortals must know the consequence of any who dare steal from an Archon."
"And they will, in a proper court of law," spits Keqing. "Executing him on the spot when he can't even stand —" the nick he gave her throbs in protest, "— is barbaric! That isn't how things are done in Liyue!"
The adeptus says nothing. The blue glow at the end of her arrow begins to burn with unearthly brightness.
"I'm not going to let you just kill a Liyue citizen without a fight!" Keqing cries, desperate. She draws her sword.
They glower at one another across the clearing. Keqing's blood rushes in her ears. Her heart hammers against her chest. Behind her, the boy pants with huge, sobbing breaths, interspersed with broken prayers to his ancestors, Rex Lapis, his mother.
The seconds crawl by. Every beat of her heart pounds between her temples, but Keqing doesn't dare to move.
After an eternity, the adeptus's glowing arrow winks out. She shoulders her bow. Her expression is unreadable, carved from stone.
"Leave now," she says. She folds her hands before herself in a parody of subservience. "Take him with you."
Keqing doesn't have to be told twice. She reaches behind her, fumbling until she seizes the boy's sweaty hand. She doesn't take her eyes off the adeptus as they back away from Taishan Manor.
She only dares to blink once. When she opens her eyes, the adeptus is gone.