Chapter Text
Yelan moves through her life quite simply. She had her weekly report to Ningguang and her occasional work-related trips that really helped her move about. In the case of today, she has been staking out this possible treasure hoarder hideout for a good ten hours now. She yawned just as the sun was setting on the horizon. A single person was yet to come back to the building in some time.
The day was turning dark and the fact that not a single person had appeared yet made Yelan to just go up to the door and knock. Maybe if she was nice enough, they would let her inside and show her all their contraband. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any of her make-up products or costume props with her, or else she probably would have done so already.
Sighing, she rolled onto back and looked up at the stars that slowly appeared before her. The moon shone brightly in the sky, the milky surface bathing the land around her in a soft glow. The stars themselves had started popping out one by one.
Suddenly, above her, a flash of light passed by. The white light was so quick that Yelan almost missed it. She sat up just as it crossed and gasped as she had never seen a shooting star before. In all her years that she had lived, she's always heard of shooting stars in stories and love songs, but never seen one in real life.
They say that a shooting star is another page turning in life, a new beginning.
In that moment, there was a rustle of movement from behind her and her attention snapped back to the building and walking towards it was an unusual figure. Not unusual in the way that treasure hoarders would often sneak things away pretending to be stealthy in their thievery.
Not in that way, but more in the not a treasure hoarder way. It was as if there was a whitish blue glow around the figure's body. Tall and thin and muscular and hair that hung down to their hips that mimicked the way that snow slowly transitioned to cold black stone as it was melting at the edge of Dragonspine.
Yelan’s heart thumped a beat before she made a move. She climbed over the hill she was hiding behind and made her way over to the building as the figure continued to slowly approach it. She was unsure whether she should warn the figure about where they were about to walk into or apprehend them instead.
She was moving as fast as she could, the wind picking up and whipping at her face, sharp enough to cut. Before she could say anything over the wind, the figure stepped inside the building.
Yelan stopped on the other side of the bridge that led up to the safe house when she heard yelling from inside. She was catching her breath when the sounds of fighting had continued to flow out from the inside the building. The sound of clashing metal and the shouting of commands continued on for a good minute. Yelan had no idea why she was standing outside instead of joining in on the fray.
Soon enough the sounds died down and the out walked the same figure from before. The figure was very obviously a woman in her mid-twenties and in her hands was the same object that Yelan had been commissioned to retrieve from the Traveler days before.
The women walked away from the building, crossed the bridge and passed by Yelan without sparing her a glance.
Yelan was stunned at the gall of the women. She turned around to say something, anything about what she did encroached onto her business, or that the item she held was to be handed to her for safe keeping.
When she did turn around, the woman was gone. Not even the scent of her on the wind was left behind. This made Yelan even more surprised. How could someone up and disappear without her noticing.
One thing Yelan didn’t know was that this wasn’t the last time she would meet her.
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It was a couple days later when she was sipping on some osmanthus tea that was referred to her by a nice gentleman that she had met not long before. The taste of it was earthy and reminded her of sensiettas, with a hint of sweet flower, or maybe mint. Whatever it had soothed her to the point where it had become her go to drink on bad days.
It was only that morning that she ran into the Traveler and Paimon who sheepishly told her that they had accidentally asked another one of their ever-increasing list of friends to fetch their item for them since they were busy dealing with other problems.
Yelan left them with the statement that they will rue the day that they decided to choose another person to handle the commission that they had left for her. She promised to never help them again and the Traveler only laughed and went on with their day.
If it was any other person, Yelan would have already had their hands on their knees, begging for her forgiveness by now. But this was the Traveler, Yelan remembered, and they did so much for Liyue and helped save her and others from the Chasm. This slight mishap was nothing for her.
However, the person they had commissioned at the same time was someone that Yelan was now hunting. A woman by the name ‘Shenhe’.
She intrigued Yelan because of the fact that when she asked for her agents to dig up anything on this dear Shenhe, they came up with nothing.
This came as a surprise to Yelan as she was the one person that everybody else came to for information. She had dirt on everybody in Liyue, documents that went back generations.
Except for one woman.
This led her to a manhunt of gathering information about this elusive white-haired woman with dead iridescent eyes, Yelan remembered fondly. This little information led to her agents finding a woman with a similar description frequently visiting this bar she was at right now.
This would be the first time that Yelan would be seeing Shenhe again, but it was like clockwork, just as her agents said. As the clock struck 9:00 pm, out of the corner of her eyes, white strands of hair appeared in her view.
She looked exactly the same as she did that night. The same snow thawed hair and strong figure, covered in a black revealing bodysuit that even Yelan couldn’t help but look away for a second in respect. But she couldn’t lose her this time, she needed to confront her at least. She had a very interesting proposition for her.
Shenhe had decided that night to sit down at the same spot as she did every week. The seat always seemed to be empty as ready, just for her. The bar attendant slid in front of her, absent-mindingly wiping down a wet glass.
“Will it be the usual tonight?” Shenhe instinctively nodded yes, unsure of the fact that she had been here enough to have a usual. It was that same drink she had when visiting Mondstat. A Snow-Covered Kiss. It had quickly become one of her favorite drinks as it went quite well with her daily meal of qingxin flowers.
Unlike every time she has been here, learning to mingle with her fellow humans, a peculiar shadow slid into place in the seat next to her.
The Traveler had recommended going to this bar every week to get used to the company of humans. All she had learned was that most humans were gross and uncoordinated. However, a place overflowing with alcohol may not have been the best place to learn about humans.
The human right next to her turned to look at her leaning her elbow on the countertop in front of both of them. Shenhe took a sip of her drink before finally breaking the silence.
“May I help you?”, she said, drink in hand and her eyes staring blankly at this strange woman’s green eyes.
“Actually, in fact, you may”, this took Shenhe by surprise. Never had someone reacted that way to her statement before. This woman's slight smile took her off guard and Yelan noticed the surprise in her target's face with her slightly opened lips and ever so widened eyes.
The woman offered her hand to Shenhe, before she took it and practiced the motions that the Traveler had taught her when meeting new people. She never had a chance to use it till now.
“My name is Yelan, and I have a very strange but rewarding proposition to offer you.”
Now Shenhe was worried.