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And it had all felt so strange, when she had recalled that moment; little old miss Ganyu would have never dared to act so brazenly before, to see an open window as an invitation to escape the confines and the struggle and the cage of her work – to simply leap out and onto the rooftop without a second thought to anyone’s regard or her safety! And despite fully acknowledging that she was very much completely disregarding and abandoning her work – leaving it all behind for a day or for two, or three – she didn’t stop or slow down. Not even once, she dared to stop her movement, striding ever forward until she could a hay bale cart she could hide herself into, and she rode that cart all the way to Mondstadt.
Maybe she’s learned it from him, she thinks as she laughs at her newfound boldness; Venti had always been pushing her to be more bold, to be more wild, to be out there and to explore the world outside of the little niche she had stuffed herself into…
She supposes now was her chance to show him she’s learned how.
She yawns at her desk in the late morning hours, as a pale and slender hand muffle the noise and cover slightly chapped lips; through heavy and falling and droopy eyes, she shifts through all the paperwork that had been leftover from last night, still scattered and spread all through her desk. She organizes half-finished financial reports, overdue tax collections, an incomplete list of an inventory for office supplies, and that other tricky building permit that keeps getting slammed onto her desk, despite Keqing being the only one who was authorized to approve it. She decides to pay it no mind any longer, as she quietly sighs and make neat stacks of legal matters, old business permits, and letters and she notes; she glances upward, staring at that bright blue sky that shines down on her, just from outside her window, and…
She sighs again, as she looks back at the mess the other sectaries had made of her desk.
Unfortunately, it’s looking rather likely that she will have to work through her lunch, and therefore disregard her daily nap in lieu of catching up the workload to its proper pace – after all, everyone has let things pile up too much and there simply wasn’t enough time; and if no one else was going to sacrifice their time, then it had to fall on her shoulders. But still – she groans at the thought, suddenly overwhelmed with the reality of it all, as her tummy starts to rumble –
And as she lays her head down on her desk, she imagines him sitting right next to her, taking her hand in his and holding it ever so tightly for comfort, letting his wind soothe her pain as he playfully dangles his legs over the edge, and scolds her for letting them work her so hard again!
Didn’t I tell you to take a break?
“But there’s so much work to do,” she whispers.
Is half of this even yours? She imagines him saying, raising up a dark eyebrow. Why can’t you tell them to do their own jobs? Just how much of yourself are you expecting to give?
Foolishly and feebly, she attempts to argue with the phantom, until –
Until the window subtly creaks open, one of the panels seemingly swaying without a care in the wind; she blinks as she lifts her head and rubs her eyes and ever so slowly, begins to rise from her chair, waving her vision of him away. The window being open is no surprise; she’ll often prop up the pane to get some fresh-smelling air for her naptime, but didn’t she just say she wasn’t going to be able to nap today…?
Perhaps she had forgotten to close it last night? No – no, that couldn’t possibly be right; surely, someone else would have noticed it and closed it right away before they had gone off of work, wouldn’t they? .. Shouldn’t they?
Ganyu then sighs, as she shakes her head. No, she decides – no, she will not pay this anymore mind, and she will think nothing of it; this isn’t the first time she had simply forgotten to close it before, and it was just so stupid to keep fretting over something so simple and arsine – so, she fights through yet another tired and frustrated yawn, as she places her fingers on the handle, but –
… But it’s not before she catches sight of that lone Cecilia that rests so comfortably on her window will, white petals fluttering in the late morning breeze, vibrant and thriving; it brings back memories of Mondstadt to the front of her mind, as tenderly, she traces along thin little veins on verdant leaves between her fingertips. Briefly, she recalls that this is around the time of the year that Mondstadt holds its Windblume; that dandelion seeds flutter so freely in the Mondstadt wine, as the whole city is decorated in wild flowers and hand-crafted blumes... And as the wind blows in at that very moment, scattering pen and paper and leaves all about the floor, tussling her hair and carrying the scent of dandelion on its breath – she imagines him behind her, pale lips pressed to the back of her neck and his arm wrapped so comfortably about her waist as he whispers in her ear –
Run away to Mondstadt with me, Ganyu – I want to be with you. Do you know just how badly I miss you…?
And it just makes her crave for him, as she feels his hands ghosting over her body; and as she hears yet another thick and fat pile if paperwork being slammed onto her desk –
Something in her just snaps.
Something in Ganyu just snaps, as her knuckles turn an alabaster white as she holds on so tightly to the handles of the frame as she waits for the person’s footsteps to fade away; and then, she strikes – without a care, without hesitation, without looking back, she pushes the window wide open and without a second thought – she leaps onto the roof, as she slides down time and wood and arches and stone, until she’s safely back on the ground with her cheeks flushed and her chest laboring, the adrenaline rushing through her veins as she gives one last glance to that open window and then… walks away.
And through trembling, newly-born fawnish feet, she walks, and she keeps walking; and though she knows what she’s doing is wrong, knows she is shirking her duties in favor of the company of some whimsical green little bard – the absolute thrill of newly-begotten freedom drives her ever forward, as her heart races in her chest with each step she takes.
She’s done, she yells in her mind – she’s done cleaning up someone else’s mess! She’s done having someone else’s permit being stuck to her desk! She’s done being used for excess labor she isn’t being paid for! And she’s done being told that no one else can do it! Go find another worker! Beg Keqing to actually pay attention to where her things were! Because Ganyu wasn’t doing it tonight!
And these rebellious little thoughts, like soldiers under her command, push her forward; they push her forward and they tell her to never look back, until she finds a lone and abandoned hay bale cart to sneak onto, the owner distracted by a beautiful woman with red and white string tied in her hair. Swiftly, she hides herself amid the bundles and the blankets and the back corner of the wood, covering herself in straw and in dust before the owner of the cart returns; and anxiously, she waits about half an hour before the little old wooden cart begins to move – and from there, they’re off!
.. Off to Mondstadt, as she watches Liyue Harbor shrink smaller and smaller.
They arrive late into the night – late enough for Mondstadt’s city gates, brick and stone and wood alike that tower over her, adorned with blue and white and yellow garlands and tied up with rose-colored ribbons and silk, to be lit up so wonderfully, a thousand bright and shining torches and lamplights bringing the city light against the black starry sky; and she smiles gently, as she catches sight of the dandelion seeds which fall so softly throughout the spring night air, as she wipes the sleep from her eyelids and peaks through half-numb fingertips. It only takes a single sound – a creaky wheel hitting a rock on the stone bridge – for her to know she’s home.
And while the cart owner once again distracts himself – by speaking to a city guard this time, no doubt begging for a drink – Ganyu takes her chance to sneakily tumble out of the hay bale cart at least, plucking out straw and leaf and tumbleweed from her hair; and very slowly, carefully as to not make any sound… she slowly moves away in the dead of the night before she fully runs, laughing as exhilaration pushes her toward the long walk to Windrise.
That’s not where she’ll find him this time, she thinks; but it’s where she’ll always hope to have a small little space to herself, to sleep ever so serenely underneath a large oak tree, surrounded by pink and blue and white wildflowers, gently twirling Windwheel Asters in the evening wind.
And there, she lays – curled up amidst the grass and the wildflowers and the breeze, as she dreams of him underneath his tree.
And as she slowly rises to the scent of the wildflowers in the spring, the dandelion breeze, and a still blue-dark twinkling night sky, just before the dawn – she laughs as she recalls the thrills of last night, wiping away the sleep from her eyes.
And all of it had been on such a whim; one moment, she had felt his winds passing through her window, carrying the faintest smell of dandelion and wine and song, filling her with much tender longing as she imaging his voice as he hotly whispered in her ear and the next, she – and the next, she had found herself sliding down on the roof and wood and tile, and jumping down on the terrace below without nary a second thought or turning back, until she had found a cart to sneak into. She grins as she stretches, ever impressed by her own capability to be reckless, as she takes a handful of water from the stream.
And as the sun slowly rises over the horizon, casting this lone and blue and muted world into golden hues, Ganyu thinks she’ll start the long walk toward the Whispering Woods and Starsnatch Cliff already, so that she could be back in time to return to Mondstadt City before sunset, to offer up a gift unto his stature.
She did need to offer up a gift, as she fondly recalls a sad and a broken and haphazardly-built poor little xiao lantern; oh, though she does not think she ever told him, she did love that poor little thing – she loved it as much as anyone else could, knowing that Venti had traveled so far and so wide just for her –
It was only fair, then, that she did the same for him.
And in return, her gratitude for his love and his time and his patience and his dedication to her, she comes bearing cecilias; she comes bearing cecilias she had painstakingly hand-picked in her arms, as she softly approaches him at the base of his statue in the middle of the cathedral’s plaza, the late afternoon golden sunlight casting him in a brilliant hue as he steps out from underneath the long dark shadows made by beautifully carved stone wings; she approaches him slowly and tentatively, her heart racing, as dandelion seeds flutter so delicately within the spring breeze – and in a small, tiny voice, barely above a whisper, she calls out his name.
She calls out his name, the name of the man she had grown to love so fervently, as she stands ever so quietly before him, unable to utter another word; her tongue and her mouth and her lips – they’re all so simply useless, she finds, in the face of the magnitude of just how much she loves him. Oh, words – words could never just do; there is nothing she can’t quite say, that would express just how deeply she felt for him.
So, she comes bearing cecilias as her heart blooms roses, in the hopes that her devotion would be enough.
And then, he sees her – he sees her as he turns around, idle fingers strumming his harp as straw is still stuck in her hair, carrying an armful of flowers and soft checks flushed a vibrant red as she smiles gently at him, unable to meet his gaze.
“… Ganyu,” he whispers, shocked. “Ganyu, is that – what are you doing here!? I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’m really glad you could make it, but how – “
“I – I snuck out of my office window and hitched a ride on a hay bale cart to Mondstadt!” She blurts out, her face reddening even more than it had before.
And then, he just – he just blinks at her, as if he could not understand what she had just said; and she doesn’t blame him, because she wouldn’t exactly be able to comprehend what she just said, too.
“You – you what?” He mutters, absolutely bewildered.
“You – you told me to be more daring and more wild, didn’t you!?” She stammers, forcing out the words, still so frustrated her inability to speak, as if she were but a child unable to face her father.
“You – you told me that I needed to be out there, and when I had felt your winds at my window, I – I missed you,” she frantically mutters. “I missed you, Venti – I missed you so much, and I realized just how much I wanted to be with you right then so I – I remembered that Windblume would be happening around this time so I just – I just left and got these flowers for you!”
She blurts it all out, says everything all at once; she doesn’t think that her face could be more red than it is right now, all the blood that is rushing and swirling in her head, causing her to feel faint and out of breath as her legs tremble. She must look as red as a valberry, she imagines he’d say – as red as a valberry on a summer pie. And he merely laughs, so breathlessly as he moves closer to her; he plucks out a single flower from her little bundle, twirling it about his fingertips.
“… You really did it then,” he smiles as he looks her, gazing so tenderly and loving at her as he takes that lone flower, and tucks it so gently behind her ear. “You actually listened to me.”
“… You would always make time for Liyue traditions,” she mumbles softly. “I knew that Windblume was important to you, and I missed you, so… I thought it was only fair then, to return the love you have given me so freely.”
“Where did you even get these?” He asks, as he chuckles.
“Oh, Starsnatch Cliff,” she murmurs. “I walked the rest of the way. It was a very long climb, but it was worth, I think.”
He smiles as he laughs again, ever so breathless, as his gaze softens; his gaze softens, and he looks at her as if she hung the moon and the stars in the sky, as if she was the reason his heart had been given breath and life and love – and so tenderly, he takes her hand in his – her other arm struggling to contain all the flowers – as he presses feather-light kisses to every inch of her skin. “Oh, Ganyu,” he whispers, full of adoration and devotion,” have I ever told you I loved you?”
She smiles softly, as she reminds him. “Every morning and every night, Lord Barbatos,” she whispers. “Every morning and every night, you tell me that you love me.”
He breaks out into a wide grin as he kisses her hands, and his lips start to climb onto her wrist and onto her arm and onto her shoulders, as he presses himself against her. “Shall I remind you, then,” he says as he brushes his lips at the nape of her neck, pressing hot and hungry kisses to her skin, “just how much your Archon utterly adores you?”
She brushes brightly, as she tries to pull away. “Venti, we’re in public…!”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that,” he whispers slyly, “You just have to be quiet – “
“Please accept the flowers, sir,” she says as she thrusts them into her arms, and with no choice, he gladly accepts them as he laughs and she pulls a little bit away, hurriedly readjusting her collar, feeling very flustered and hot underneath her bell.
“… I really am thankful that you picked all of this more, though,” he tells her softly, as he holds them in his arms. “And I do love you, Ganyu. Even if you weren’t able to come, I wouldn’t have held it against you, you know? I know just how much your job means to you, so…”
“… I think I’ve come to find out that some things are more important than work,” she confess quietly, her fingertips brushing past gently at the flower tucked so lovingly into her hair. “Venti, if I can be honest, I… I can probably find another job. A better one, too. But – but I don’t think, even at the end of all this, I would ever find someone else like you.”
“To hell if they fire me from my job,” she laughs, as she blushes again. “… I want to be with you.”
And then, he pulls her into his arms, so tightly and so comfortably, comically holding the flowers in his elbows.
“Come then, my beautiful and brave warrior,” he tells her, as he takes ahold of her hand and presses another kiss against her palm. “The night is still young – and there are still so many ways I have yet to show you just how much I love you.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she laughs.