Chapter Text
As the gilded sunlight scatters through the leaves,
And the clouds roll over, rocked by the breeze…
Venti pondered over the next line of his ballad, scouring the scenery before him for inspiration. He had sat nearby a river, whose clear waters trickled calmly, and had brown reeds laying on its bank that swayed back and forth. The sandbearer trees that dotted the rest of the terrain stood tall as they reached for the blazing evening sun. Not a single other soul could be found around him. In this small patch of land untouched by war and terror, he found peace.
He had found the area by chance after wandering aimlessly around Windwail Highland, where he hiked up the hill near the cliffside lake and strolled around until he found a cave with a long-abandoned temple hidden inside. Surrounding this temple was crystal clear water, and when he decided to follow it he ended up at a waterfall that pooled into a serene river, one that flowed southwards towards Dihua Marsh. Ever since then, he had returned to the river every evening to cool down after a long day, enjoying the tranquillity that he had long searched for.
Shha!
The sound of shuffling grass pricked his ears, and he looked around to spot a weasel scuttling its way towards the stream. He whistled towards it, and the frightened creature scampered away towards the hillside in search of the safety of its burrow.
“That poor weasel.”
He jumped at the foreign voice that had so suddenly broken the silence. Turning around, he found a tall man in brown Liyuen clothes with a sorry expression on his face, as if he had all the regret in the world by surprising him like that.
“Forgive me, I did not mean to disturb you. For a few evenings I have spotted you wandering alone around here. But, today, you seem quite happy, and I decided to pick up the courage to speak to you.” He spoke with grace and softness. Venti felt relieved to hear it.
“Well, I can’t say I expected someone to be watching, especially not a total stranger who I’ve never seen before. I wonder what it is exactly that prompted you to stalk me,” he teased. He could sense from the man’s mellow demeanour that he did not mean any harm, and decided to keep talking to him.
The man in brown cleared his throat. “I was not ‘stalking’ you, nor have I ever intended to, but I have been coming here often in search of a little peace and quiet. I usually sit over there,” he pointed towards a patch of rocks on the other side of the river, a few ways from where Venti sat. “But you have never seemed to head that way, or else you would have noticed me.”
“So it seems. Alas, I also come here to search for the peace and quiet you mentioned, though I prefer that peace to be enjoyed in solitude. That is why I’ve never looked around in search of fellow men,” Venti replied with a grin. The man smiled in response, his amber eyes squinting slightly.
“You tease me so. But you must know that I have been retreating here for at least a month now, and have spent many evenings exploring every nook and cranny of this place so much so that I may be acquainted with it, which is why I was quick to notice your presence.”
“I’ll take you word for that, then.”
The man smiled again. For a while they sat together in silence, each wondering about the other’s newfound presence. Then the man in brown spoke again.
“This place is quite remote from the nearest settlement, and one would be far from the safety of others here. Do you not fear being alone then, should anything happen to you?”
“I could say the same for you. Also, you sure are quick to assume that one would be safer among many. Aren’t you aware of the war that has been happening for the past few years? Because of it, I’ve come to associate large crowds with trampling troops and squirming soldiers.”
“Of course, I am more than aware. Still, that is precisely why I worry for your wellbeing. What if you get ambushed by rouges, or get injured along the way?”
Venti gave a short chuckle. Who was this man, suddenly preaching about safety like an overbearing grandpa? “Trust me, I’m more than capable of defending myself in such situations.”
The man frowned. “You laugh at me, but I am being serious. It is too dangerous to wander around here alone.”
“Heheh, I’m not denying that what you’ve said is true, it’s just something I haven’t thought much of. You really needn’t worry about me, though, I can take care of myself. See?” Venti flexed his arms, which brought out no reaction from the man except for a small sigh.
“Plus, I’m not here on my own. I’ve got a friend here now,” he added.
The man looked around in surprise. “A friend? Where?”
“You don’t see him?”
He shook his head.
Venti pointed straight at him and smiled. “He’s right here!”
He blinked in puzzlement, and broke into laughter a second later. “Oh, you sure do love to jest, don’t you?”
“Hehe, sure do.” With that, Venti stood up and slipped on his shoes. He looked towards the sun, who had now turned a bright orange hue. He then turned towards Mondstadt, taking steps northwards. “Best be going now, it’ll be dark soon.”
“Right. Take care then,” the man called out.
Venti stopped and turned around. “See you again tomorrow, dear stranger! Or should I say, friend!”
Sure enough, Venti found the man in brown sitting on a large, smooth stone by the river the following evening, close to where he usually sat. He skipped over and greeted the man cheerfully, who smiled warmly in return.
“Been here long?” Venti asked as he removed his shoes and placed them beside the stone.
“I’ve only just arrived. Are you going to take a dip in the river?”
“Yep. It’s been a hot day, hasn’t it?” Venti hopped over into the water and waded around, occasionally kicking the water so that it splashed out.
“Be careful. The pebbles can be quite slippery, so make sure you don’t fall over.”
Venti giggled in response. “You really shouldn't worry much. Even if I fall, I've got you around to pick me up, don't I?”
The man simply sighed and smiled at him.
“You should come in too. The water’s so cool today!” Venti invited him into the stream, hand extended towards him.
The man’s complexion suddenly turned pale, as if Venti had acted indecently. Nevertheless, he quietly rolled up his pants until they were well above his knees, and gingerly taking Venti’s hand, stepped into the cool river.
Venti noticed the slight hesitation in giving out his hand, and now that he was holding it, he noticed that it was cold and clammy, and was shaking ever so slightly. He tried looking at the man for an answer, but he had already averted his gaze away from him.
“Your hands are really cold… are you getting sick? Perhaps your body isn’t used to the cold water. If so, it’s fine if you want to sit this out. You’ll catch a cold if you keep staying here,” said Venti out of concern.
“No, no… the water is fine. It’s just that…” The man couldn’t finish his words, and he dropped his hands out of the other’s hold. Seeing this, Venti chuckled to lighten up the mood.
“Oh, I know! Perhaps you’re scared of the fish slipping past your legs? Or accidentally stepping into a pile of frog eggs? Gasp, maybe you’ve already done so…!” He quickly ducked down to check if his new friend now had his feet coated with slime.
The man huffed lightly in response. “Er, no, that’s not it either. Though you are right in that I do not quite enjoy the sight of slimy and squirmy sea creatures.”
“Huh, so you don’t like seafood, I’m guessing?”
“No, I don’t…”
And the two chatted the evening away as they soaked in the river, trading each other stories about this and that, until the bright orange sun came and it was time for them to part ways.
From that day on, the two of them could always be found in the narrow valley between the peaks that bordered Bishui Plains and Windwail Highland. Together they waddled through the river and splashed each other with its waters, and dried themselves up afterwards in the evening sun as they munched on freshly-picked sunsettias.
They explored the woods nearby too, where they picked wildflowers (Venti made them flower crowns whenever he could, which his friend had worn on his insistence), observed all kinds of animals (the man had extensive knowledge on every creature ever, it seemed, and was always happy to give an impromptu lecture or two to Venti), and made up poems and songs together (turns out they both had a knack for words and prose, and enjoyed helping each other with their works.) In this small pocket of land, they had themselves and whole world to discover: a bit of paradise that made them forget, for just a moment, about the terror that the war had left their lands in.
The war – or as some were calling it, the Archon War – was the term used to refer to the general state of chaos and conflict that Teyvat was currently under. Multiple gods and deities had been battling each other for the last few centuries for the chance to claim one of the seven divine seats in Celestia, thus receiving their divine blessings and becoming an archon of their respective nations. But now, after a millennia of disorder and turmoil, it seemed that most of the fights were now coming to an end, with most of the nations having one god who seemed clear cut above the rest.
It was what happened in Mondstadt too. Between opposing a tyrannical ruler and fighting for justice among the common folk, Venti too has had his fair share of battles; and though he and his side did end up victorious in the end, he may have ended up getting much more than he bargained for (but he wasn’t here to talk about that, and preferred to forget about it whenever he came to the river.) He’s heard that Liyue Harbour and the area around it has seen much more bloodshed than Mondstadt, though, and he wondered what struggles his friend might have gone through.
Other than the unspoken agreement to not talk about the war, they also never discussed personal matters. They didn't know the other's age, hometown, occupation, not even their names; nor have they ever asked each other about so. All of their conversations were filled with chats about the forest and the things around them, and never anything more. Venti felt that it was better this way, as if knowing too much about his new friend would bring them back immediately to the war-torn lands they came from. Perhaps he thought the same way, too.
One fine evening, as they were resting under the shade of a cuihua tree, the man in brown suddenly spoke up.
“I must inform you that I’ll not be able to be here tomorrow. And I think it’s best if you don’t come either. I feel that it is still too dangerous to be here alone. Or… if you do, be careful and always stay vigilant.”
Other than the fact that the man was still insistent in giving out safety advice, Venti was a bit surprised at this sudden change of routine.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere too far. I just have some business to take care of.”
“Oh… alright.”
For a while, the only sound that could be heard was the slow trickling of the river and the rustling of leaves in the wind.
“Are you… upset?” the man asked gently.
Silently, Venti shook his head.
“You aren’t going to ask me what exactly it is I’ll be doing tomorrow?” prodded the man. Again, he shook his head.
“Right. I suppose that is how we have been for as long as we’ve been acquainted. We know next to nothing about each other, and we tell nothing about ourselves either. You know not my name and I know not yours, but we both know how well each of us can skip a rock across this river, or how fast each of us can run from this tree to the next. I wonder if there are ever any two souls in this world that are as peculiar as us.”
Venti kept silent, mulling over the man’s words as he picked out blades of grass from the ground.
“And now it seems that we’ve nothing to say at all,” the man muttered, looking at him.
“Well, there’s nothing left to say between us. We have talked about the water, the birds, the flowers, the sky, the clouds, up until the tiniest pebbles that lay upon the bottom of the stream. Aren’t those the only things that we can ever talk about?” said Venti as he stared forward towards the opposite cliffside, not meeting the man’s gaze.
“You and I both know that there are many more things that we’ve yet to discuss. Our names, who we are, what we do, where we live… Do you really not want to know these things? Do you not want to know me for who I am? Do you not want to ask me anything?”
His words sounded sorrowful, almost as if he was pleading with Venti to read him front and back like an open book. Venti bit his lip and shook his head again.
“You’ve never told me anything about yourself, and so I’ve never wanted to ask for more than what you’ve told me. I had thought that you wanted to keep your identity a secret, just like I did. But it seems that I was wrong in assuming so.”
The man opened his mouth to speak, but was unable to get another word out.
Seeing this, Venti continued. “Listen, I’ll be truthful with you: I don’t want to know the parts of us that live outside of this forest. For just a few hours a day, I want to forget what’s happened to our world and not think about what I’ve seen and what I’ve been through; and I’m afraid that if we talk about anything other than this forest and its contents… I’ll remember it all over again.”
The man, looking deep in contemplation at his words, simply kept quiet and turned away.
Seeing how their conversation was quickly turning sour, Venti tried to lighten up the mood. “Er, plus… stories about the monkeys and the trees here are far more exciting than anything we’ve been through, no?”
The man turned to face him once more. “What we’ve been through certainly isn’t exciting, but it is definitely worth talking about. We cannot pretend that both of us do not have a story to be told, one that deserves to be known as much as the stories of this forest have been known to us. It is about time for us to get to know each other properly. If you are hesitant, then please allow me to introduce myself to you first…”
“No!” Venti cried out. “Don’t do it. I don’t want to know who you are and anything you may be outside of this forest. You’re my friend, and you’re too… I wouldn’t be able to handle it, knowing so much about you…”
Seeing him unravelled like this, the man took a deep breath and regained his composure. “Alright, I understand. But I beg you to please tell me your name, at the very least, so that we may no longer be strangers, even if we only ever meet in this forest,” he urged.
Venti closed his eyes and nodded. “Yes… I think we can both do that. You can go first.”
With glinting eyes, he told him. “My name is Zhongli. Please, call me by that name, for it has been a long time since someone has used that name on me.”
“Well, nice to meet you, Zhongli. And as for me… my name is Venti.”
“Venti,” the man uttered and broke into a smile. “Venti. It is a wonderful name.”
He couldn’t help but grin too. “Hehe, thanks. I forgot how not scary telling your name to someone can be. And your name is nice too, it suits you very well.”
Zhongli scoffed, a slight red tint shading his cheeks, and turned to look at the sky.
The sun was burning with a bright orange hue, and the both of them knew they had to take their leave.
“Well, I’ll head out first then, Zhongli,” said Venti. Zhongli looked like he was swelling with happiness at the mention of his name. It seemed like it truly had been a while since he’s heard someone else call him so.
“Take care, Venti.”
“You too, friend.”
He was planning to skip the event today, but since he wouldn’t have his partner with him at the river this evening, he decided to go anyway.
He wondered about what he should wear – would plain old robes be enough? No, perhaps he should wear the outfit he had gotten when he had first gained his powers. That would be more befitting of a god, right? Are the others showing up in fancy clothes too?
Should he bring any gifts? What kind of gifts would they even like? What kind of people were they anyway? Just what exactly would he be stepping into later?
Eventually, the time came, and he rose upwards towards the heavenly gates, towards the moment which he had avoided thinking of for the past few months.
As he landed on its platform, taking in the ethereal sights he had only ever observed from below before this day, he was greeted by the six others who had also just arrived. This was the first time they were seeing each other, surprisingly, since no one had arranged a pre-trip meetup or anything before they were sent off.
The goddess beside him was the first to speak to him. “Greetings. I am Baal, and I come from the land of Inazuma. Pleasure to meet you,” she spoke with a friendly yet graceful tone.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Barbatos of Mondstadt.” he replied courteously, glad to already be making friends.
“Oh, Mondstadt! Then you must be familiar with the neighbouring god of Liyue, Morax? I met him on the way here.”
“Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever met him before–”
Before he could finish his sentence, the goddess had called over a tall man in flowing robes and introduced him to Venti.
“Here he is. Morax, this is Barbatos, the god from Mondstadt. Since your nations are next to each other, you should get to know each other more.”
Barbatos smiled and looked up at him, wondering what the neighbouring god was like.
His jaw dropped as he realised that he recognized the man in front of him.
“Ahem. Pleased to have your acquaintance…. Barbatos,” said Morax.
“Z-Zhongli…” sputtered Barbatos in shock.
“Oh, do you go by another name too, Morax?” Baal piped up cheerfully.
They both found each other at the river again, a few days after their ascent to Celestia.
“You!” Venti cried, running towards Zhongli who had just sat down on the stone at their usual spot.
“Hello, Venti,” he greeted him calmly as ever.
“You…!”
“What about me?”
“You… looked so different wearing your godly robes the other day!”
Zhongli chuckled. “Yes, I’ve never worn them in front of you before, so I see why you would be surprised.”
Venti plopped down beside him. “Oh come on, you know that wasn’t why I was surprised!”
“Well, I was shocked too, seeing you there. When you were talking about what you had been through on the day before, I could sense that you were much more than the average human, but I had not expected you to be a fellow archon.”
Venti tilted his head. “You could sense that I wasn’t human?”
“I had a hunch, but it was only on that day I had my suspicions confirmed. Your words... they hold a certain sorrow that you can only achieve after having lived for so long."
"Oh," said Venti, staring out into the sky. "You must've been through a lot too then, haven't you?"
Zhongli nodded in reply.
"Was that why you were acting like such a grandpa and telling me to watch out for danger?"
"Yes," he sighed. "I was probably being a bother to you. But I couldn't bear it if I lost another friend simply because they were alone and had nobody around to help them."
"Another? You mean…"
"A dear friend of mine was ambushed when she was by herself, in a lonely forest just like this one. I came just in time to see her…"
He went silent and took a deep breath. Venti patted his hand gently, showing that he understood.
"As I held her in my arms, I kept thinking that if I was there to protect her, if I had stayed by her side, she would not have been gone so soon."
"I'm so sorry to hear that, Zhongli. You two must've been real close, huh?"
"Yes. In fact she was the only one who ever dared to be close to me. Before that – and even now, too – I was only ever known for my bruteness, and people treated me as such. They all showed me respect, fear, piety, but never love. She however, was different. She was kind and gentle towards everyone, including me. She offered me her smarts to partner with my strengths, and I accepted. Together we ruled over our own domain, and we became close together over the years.
“I never realised it until her death, but being a friend and having one is what grounded me throughout all those years. And when she was gone, so too was one of my greatest source of comfort, and I was back to being the cold, brutish lord that everyone knew. Part of it was because I was more resolved than ever to defend Liyue, but it was also because no one else had dared. I suppose that is why meeting you, a kind stranger who called me their friend upon our first meeting, took me aback."
"Was that why you suddenly froze up when I invited you to take a dip in the river for the first time? You… just hadn't been treated so friendly in a long time before?"
Zhongli nodded solemnly. "It sounds a little pathetic when you put it like that, but yes. And I suppose that is the reason why I was almost desperate to get to know you better – I wanted a friend after losing such a close one all those years ago.”
"I see. It's the opposite for me, I think."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I lost a friend too, as you can guess. He wanted to see the sky and the birds, and I promised that we would see them together one day. But he died before that day came, and I was devastated. The first thing I did as I became an archon was to take on his likeness, actually, so that I could honour him forever. But now, he’s stayed in my memory for so long that I cannot bear the thought of making new friends, especially not in a time like this, lest they might fall again as he did… which is why I didn't want to be too close to you."
"Oh, I understand."
Venti scooted closer until their bodies were against each other. "But I guess that failed, huh?"
Zhongli tensed up at the sudden contact and he tried to adjust his body so that he could relax. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I found myself looking forward to meeting you every evening. When I wake up, the first thing that I think of is where we would go today, and what kind of sights we'll see. I was excited to hear your stories and create more poems with you. Ah, and this is embarrassing to admit, but when you said that you weren't coming here on the day before we went to Celestia, I did get upset… it was almost as if I would never see you again."
"I felt the same way. I had been mulling all day on how I should relay the news to – wait a second. You didn't ever mention that you had to be somewhere on that day too, didn't you? Does this mean you were planning to skip the ascent to Celestia just to spend time with me?"
"Ehe…"
"Barbatos. That's quite irresponsible of you."
"Well I ended up going anyway!” huffed Venti. “Also, I'd prefer it if you could just call me Venti when it's just us around."
"Ah, of course. I too would like you to keep calling me Zhongli."
"Sure, Zhongli." Venti smiled as squeezed his hand. For a while they sat together in silence, enjoying each other’s company like they always have.
“So… now what?”
“Hmm?”
“Now that we’re officially archons of our own nations, we’re gonna be pretty busy, huh.”
“Yes, I suppose so. Liyue Harbour is just now beginning to stand on its own feet, and the adepti and I must be there to guide them towards a new age of prosperity. I’m sure it is the same for you, is it not?”
“I have faith in my people. I believe that they have the power to look after themselves, so rather than ruling over them, I’ll just be around Mondstadt clearing up some of the messes left by the war.”
“It seems like we both have different ideals on how to rule over our nation. Yours seems to prioritise their freedom, while mine focuses on order. It may end up that I will be quite more occupied than you.”
“Hehe, yeah. But until the time comes that we have to take on our archon work, let’s just enjoy this place for a little while longer, can’t we?”
“Of course we can.”
The rocks stand firm, the winds breathe in,
And they found themselves together again.