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Dove chasing repose,
Cloud passing by the Harbour,
The sea chases me.
A loud “Hey, Kaedehara Kid! C’mere!” gruffly interrupted Kazuha’s musing.
Kazuha sighed inwardly and leapt down to where Juza was calling. When he reached Juza, the Chief Mate looked down at the ronin and scrunched up his eyebrows.
“What was all that vapid staring off into the distance for?” Juza sighed loudly. “Never mind, boy, the Captain is calling for you.”
The Chief Mate grumbled something else to himself while Kazuha stood there, thinking. What did Captain Beidou want now? He hadn’t been summoned by the Captain in a while, and she had miraculously tolerated his going off and making poetry while the sailors were toiling away. Kazuha helped out as often as he could, of course, as was only right when he was so graciously taken in by the hard-working crew, but lately he had found himself lost in thought more than usual.
Kazuha continued to ponder this question as he arrived at the entrance to the Captain’s personal cabin. Just as he was about to raise his hand to knock, the door swung open wildly and a flustered Beidou popped out.
“Oh, Kazuha, there you are!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “I was just wondering where you’ve gone lad,” which confused Kazuha given that the Alcor was not easy to get lost in. Had he really stayed that much out of sight?
“I apologise if I’ve worried you, Captain,” Kazuha decided to say. “I’ve just been on the deck. Is there something you needed me for?”
“Er, yes.” Beidou gave a little cough that sounded inorganic. “As you know, the Alcor is no longer stationed at Guyun Stone Forest. We’re getting ready for a trip, and the destination happens to be Liyue Harbour.”
Liyue Harbour, the capital of the nation of Liyue, teeming with bustling activity and hard-won riches. Kazuha hadn’t seen the Harbour yet, but he had heard plenty of stories about it from all the times the Crux Crew had had to sail there on business before.
“Official business in Liyue Harbour?” Kazuha inquired. “I’ll go and help the crew get ready, then, and prepare for the trip.”
“No, no need for that,” Beidou quickly cut him off. “The preparations are already being finalised. I just wanted to give you a heads-up, because we’re not going there to deliver any goods or anything of that sort. We’re heading to Liyue because of an invitation to a party hosted by the Qixing, so you should make personal preparations concerning your appearance.” She hesitated briefly. “Not that anything is wrong with your appearance, of course, just… you know… formalities. Yep, formalities.”
Kazuha could tell that the Captain was acting somewhat odd, but dismissed it as her being preoccupied with preparations for the event, which was still not a very satisfactory explanation given how uncharacteristic it was for Beidou to be so concerned about these details, but he decided not to dwell on it too much.
“Sure, Beidou. Thanks for the notice in advance.”
As he made to leave, he thought he saw Beidou’s face drop a little in the corner of his eye. However, when he looked back, she had a smile plastered on her face. Kazuha hesitated. Had he said something wrong? He hoped he hadn’t displeased the Captain somehow, but it didn’t seem likely that she would have been offended by the exchange they had. Beidou was not one for trivial pettiness.
Kazuha resolved to think over his Captain’s slightly unusual behaviour afterwards, and finally left to prepare for Liyue Harbour.
Liyue Harbour was magnificent at dusk. The abundance of lights emanated a lively golden glow onto the streets bustling with activity and life. Kazuha normally didn’t like crowds much, but he couldn’t help but smile as he watched two shrieking little children chase each other through the docks from his place on the deck of the ship.
“Going off to the party, eh, kid?” Juza chuckled.
Kazuha smiled politely. “Yes, aren’t you?”
Juza laughed even louder. “Ha! That fancy-schmancy party hosted by the Liyue Qixing? That event is by strict invitation only. The Tianquan personally extended an invitation to the Captain, and Beidou lobbied for plus-ones. Guess you’re her lucky plus-one.” The Chief Mate winked at Kazuha.
Plus-one? “So you mean that the rest of the crew aren’t going, and that Beidou specifically invited me only?” This news took Kazuha aback. What was at play here?
Juza shrugged one shoulder. “Exactly what I said, boy.” Then he leaned in conspiratorially and beckoned for Kazuha to put his head close. “I don’t know if it’s my place to pry into the Captain’s business, but from what I can tell, you’re a very special individual to the Captain.”
Kazuha’s mind was whirring. Special to the Captain? Was it because Beidou had taken him in? But Beidou had taken in many of the downtrodden and let them on the Crux, because that was the kind of person she was. So what did Juza mean by “special”? Did it have to do with him blocking a strike from the Raiden Shogun outside the Tenshukaku?
Juza gave Kazuha a firm pat on the back. “Don’t mess it up,” were his last words before he turned back to the rest of the sailors.
“Kazuha.”
Kazuha whirled around and came face-to-face with his Captain, who was emerging from the inside of the ship onto the deck. She had discarded her usual outfit for a sleek black suit that matched her hair, and her hairdo was adorned with some golden-and-silver pins.
Beidou chuckled at Kazuha’s expression. “Not bad, eh?” She gestured to her suit. “I think it looks pretty gentlewomanly myself, if I do say so. I may not be a luxuriously pretty flower like many of the other Liyue girls who will be attending, but I’m sure this one will stop some breaths.” She winked playfully.
“You look good, and very elegant,” Kazuha agreed, smiling warmly. He wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to say more than that. Beidou’s comment about “stopping breaths” seemed romantically-oriented, and Kazuha felt that he wasn’t in a position to answer that question. However, the Captain did look very good.
Something unreadable flickered through Beidou’s eye before disappearing almost immediately. “Here, come help me adjust one of the pins. I tried to put the damn thing in my hair, but it just won’t seem to stick!” She tugged at one of the golden hairpins that looked dangerously close to falling out.
Kazuha obediently went behind Beidou and looked up at the hairpin. Both of them seemed to realise that Kazuha’s height meant he wasn’t on an even level with the hairpin at the same time, and stood there awkwardly for a few seconds while Kazuha stood on the tips of his toes and tried his best to adjust the hairpin from where he was.
“I think that looks much better!” Beidou announced loudly. “Thank you so much, Kazuha. Anyway, I wanted to give you something.” She cleared her throat and whipped a dandelion from a pocket in her suit pants. “This, uh, is a flower that I found and wanted to give to you.”
“Thank you, Beidou, that’s very kind of you.” Kazuha gently grasped the dandelion in his hands and decided at that moment that he would neglect to tell his Captain that it was, in fact, a weed. The moment the dandelion passed from Beidou’s rough, calloused hands to Kazuha’s own paler palms, he thought he felt the slightest of shivers go through Beidou’s fingertips.
They held each other’s gaze for a moment, before Beidou spotted Sea Drake behind him and called out to him. Kazuha looked at her for a little while longer, before turning to the dandelion sitting softly in his palm.
Juza’s words… Beidou’s strange behaviour… Surely it didn’t mean that… did Beidou… was this courtship?
Kazuha let out a coughing fit which he deftly covered with his free hand. Surely that couldn’t be the explanation for all this. Beidou, the Captain of the Crux Fleet, courting him ? First of all, it didn’t even make sense, because the Beidou he knew was the loud, confident Beidou who could saunter into any situation and suavely court any man or woman she wished to, so why would she be acting in such a bumbling manner and for a mere wandering traveller such as himself? He was sure that Beidou had likely had romantic and sexual experiences with a fair amount of others in Liyue. He hadn’t often thought about Beidou’s past romances, but he imagined that she would be suave and charming in her assertive captain manner.
Kazuha reflected upon all of this as he absentmindedly donned his own white suit, in contrast to Beidou’s black one. He thought for a moment, then placed Beidou’s dandelion on his lapel.
Archons above, she was such a simp. She was a simp in a big, bumbling way. Beidou wasn’t sure why she was being such a buffoonish simp — the woman has been suavely wooing plenty of men and women alike in Liyue Harbour, and has even drunkenly topped high-ranking members of society before. She was a rough, experienced captain with a gentlewoman's heart, so she shouldn't be such a head-empty, cherish-the-beautiful-samurai simp. But for once, the ever self-assured and confident captain had been finding herself double-checking what she said to the blond ronin.
She wanted to be extra certain that she could sweep the lovely Kaedehara off his feet. Why she couldn’t just be straightforward and do that was a mystery to her, though.
“Look, Captain, it’s not my place to say this, but in my experience, if you want to hit, just hit,” Sea Drake told her, before burping loudly. The scent of alcohol wafted around the room.
Furong and Suling nodded in agreement.
“In my experience, Captain,” Furong suggested, “the best way to get into a poet’s pants is to make poetry for them. That’s what he loves, right?”
“In my experience, Captain Beidou,” loudly added Suling, “the best way to get into someone’s pants, especially that of a pretty samurai poet, is to strut up to them and ask to fuck him senseless!” He started guffawing at his own crass joke, and the other two quickly joined in.
Beidou was unfazed by their rude manners. Her sailors had always been like this, especially after a few drinks, but she didn’t mind as they all knew the line and were always respectful when they needed to be.
“I mean,” Suling continued, wheezing, “the Kaedehara lad is definitely eye-candy. Very easy to look at. I wouldn’t mind —” burp “— giving him a little something to remember me by.”
Normally, Beidou would join in on the banter and drink to their plans for another exploit, but this time, something about the way they were talking about Kazuha made her arms prick and her hairs stand on end.
“That’s enough of that, Suling,” she cut in firmly. The others fell silent almost immediately. They may have been jokers, but they knew to heed the tone of their Captain, whom they all deeply respected.
“I won’t hear any more of this. You can take your crass jokes elsewhere. However,” she said, looking each of them in the eye in turn, “you should be careful about your tone and choice of words when speaking about another member of the crew.”
She stood up and left. It was nearly time for the party, and she didn’t want to keep Kazuha waiting. Behind her back, she could feel her sailors shifting in their seats, no doubt thinking a plethora of thoughts about what might be so special about Kaedehara Kazuha.