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Wind blew through the woman's long, white hair, and she was glad that today she had pulled it back.
The beach was a relaxing place for the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing. It was a reminiscent place, with the aura of her past. It was a memory floating in the wind, and a story buried deep beneath the sand.
Liyue didn't have many beaches, and quite honestly, Ningguang rarely had any time to visit its beaches either way.
But, when Beidou requested her company on a voyage and trip to Inazuma, how could she refuse the offer? She couldn't.
What better way than to spend the last day of their trip to Inazuma on a beach, together, Ningguang running her pale, slim fingers through Beidou's dark hair.
Beidou whispered, and Ningguang only looked down at her.
"I'm getting tired, Ning."
"Do you mind staying awake a little bit longer?"
Silence fell between the two, and Ningguang ran her hand along the side of Beidou's face to make sure that she was awake.
"Beidou?"
"I'm trying to stay awake. I'm just so tired."
"I know. I'm sorry for keeping you so long. We can head back to the ship soon."
"Don't blame yourself."
Beidou sat up, leaning against Ningguang's knee. She groaned with the movement, and placed her hand on the side of the Tianquan's face.
"What are you doing?"
"Mmh..." She ran her thumb over the white-haired woman's bottom lip, "I'm just taking all of you in so I never forget it."
The Captain leaned in and pressed her lips to Ningguang's pale ones, and the two of them stayed like that for a moment. When they separated, Beidou laid her head back in the other woman's lap.
"What's your biggest regret?"
"Mmm... maybe not being able to spend all my life with you."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologize, Ning. I know. It's okay."
They stayed quiet again, silent understanding in one another's eyes.
"Maybe tomorrow we will spend forever with one another."
"Yeah. Maybe tomorrow. I promise."
Ningguang intertwined her fingers with the bloody ones that lay over the stomach of the woman she loves.
"Ningguang," She whispered into the cold afternoon air, "I love you."
"I love you too."
All the Tianquan could do was watch, as the woman she once loved closed her eyes and took her final breath.
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Maybe it was a sacrilegious thought, but many years ago, Beidou entrusted her with a secret.
She had plopped right down on the ground next to Ningguang--who was selling seashells at the time--and stated plainly, "When I grow up and have my own pirate ship, I'll pray to the Anemo God every time before I go out on the water."
Ningguang simply ignored it, thinking that it was so stupid.
Now, every time the wind played with her hair, she knew that the woman she had always loved--the woman she would always love--was still right by her side, the way she always had been.