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The sounds of her heels against the wooden planks of the dock seem to alert passers-by as they turn their heads in the direction of their Tianquan. To the ordinary, unobservant eye, this was an extraordinary sight, to see the esteemed woman herself down by the docks of the harbour. However, to those with a more keen gaze, they would know that she frequently made a point to visit the ships for a specific reason: the Alcor — or a little more specifically, their captain.
She holds her head up as she steps aboard the deck of the ship, making her way in the direction of the captain’s cabin before she’s stopped by a small child.
She seems to remember him — little Yue was his name if she remembered correctly — and a smile finds its way on her face.
“Lady Ningguang!”
She crouches down to give the boy a pat on his head, “Yue, how are you?”
“I’m great! Have you decided whether you want to join my fleet yet? You’d be the second person!”
Ningguang laughs and shakes her head, “Give me a little more time, alright?”
Yue nods and he’s about to leave before he swivels back around to say something but he’s interrupted when a noise creeps its way out of one of the crewmate’s cabins. If Ningguang listens in closely, she can hear the voice of a woman repeating something and her eyes widen when she realises what she’s chanting. Beidou — she was chanting ‘Beidou’ and it was definitely not in a friendly manner. In fact, it sounded a little like Ningguang herself -
“Oh,” Yue hums, “That must be Aunt Furong.”
“Furong?” Ningguang raises an eyebrow. She recognised the name from somewhere but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Yeah,” Yue drawls out, “Sometimes she goes into her cabin in a hurry and then we can hear her saying captain’s name over and over and over again and when she comes back out after a while, she’s always a bit nervous and red. Uncle Liushi says to ignore it and that it’s a grown-up thing so I’ve just learnt to not really care about it.”
Ningguang nods and swallows, “Right yes, I do believe it’s a grown-up thing.”
Just as she finishes her sentence, the door opens and said woman steps out; Yue seems thrilled as he runs up to her and wraps her in a hug. True to his words, Furong’s face seems to be painted a light shade of red.
“Aunt Furong!”
“Aha,” she laughs awkwardly, holding her hands up in the air, “Little Yue, let me go to the bathroom first, yeah?”
Yue lets go and tilts his head up at her, “Why, what were you doing?”
“Uh,” Furong hesitates, “Practising my fighting.”
“Ohh,” Yue nods, “And you were pretending to fight with captain, right?”
Furong’s eyes widen slightly and the colour on her face seems to darken, “You- you could say that.”
Ningguang watches the exchange go on, glaring daggers into Furong’s head until the woman looks up and suddenly she looks like she’s been caught red-handed. Of course, everyone on the Alcor knew the nature of their captain and the Tianquan’s relationship; they weren’t particularly secretive or quiet about it — in their own respective ways.
Furong almost seems to shrink in on herself under Ningguang’s gaze as she quickly scurries off and into the bathroom. Just as she disappears, Beidou steps out of her own cabin and laughs.
“Holy shit, what happened with Furong? It looked like she’d seen a ghost.”
Ningguang turns on her heel and draws her dagger-glaring to Beidou instead, “Were you aware of- of,” Ningguang is struggling to find the right words as a dense feeling settles in her chest, caging her heart, “Of Furong’s- fantasising about you?”
It seems to take a moment for it to click in the pirate’s head before her eye widens and she brings a hand up to awkwardly scratch at the back of her neck as she looks off to the side sheepishly, “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”
“And- and you’re just going to let her?” Ningguang simply didn’t know why she cared so much about such an insignificant matter but she could almost feel her own emotions eating at her.
Beidou frowns slightly in confusion and tilts her head, “What am I meant to do?” She laughs slightly and shrugs, “Barge in there whilst she’s doing her business and be like ‘I’m your captain! It’s inappropriate! Stop this moment!’”
“ Yes ,” Ningguang hisses, “It is inappropriate and- and it- it has made me greatly upset, Beidou,” she huffs, “So I suggest you fix this.”
Ningguang can see the gears in Beidou’s head turn as she looks at Ningguang blankly. After a few seconds to gather up her thoughts, a smirk makes its way onto Beidou’s lips, “I know what this is about,” she nods along with her own words, laughing to herself, “You’re jealous. ” She points a finger into Ningguang’s chest as she states this claim triumphantly. “You’re jealous of Furong — oh my Archons.”
Ningguang’s face turns a few shades darker than it should be as she realises that that was the feeling that was gnawing away at her; jealousy . “That’s ridiculous,” she denies, pushing Beidou away by her shoulders, “Why should I be jealous of her ? She has- she has nothing on me.”
“Aw, Ah-Guang, you’re so adorable when you’re jealous; you should be this protective more often, it’s cute,” Beidou says as she steps forward and wraps her arms around Ningguang, “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you for Furong,” she teases, “Although…”
Ningguang narrows her eyes and glares at her as if she wanted to murder her, “ Beidou .”
Beidou seems to ignore Ningguang, looking off to the horizon as if she were deep in thought, “She doesn’t tax me or fine me nearly as much as you do and-”
“Beidou, if you keep going I will make sure there isn’t a single mora left in your name, how’s that for a fine, huh?”
“And she doesn’t threaten me,” Beidou raises an eyebrow at Ningguang, “So…”
Ningguang simply huffs and puffs instead, her shoulders deflating as she looks down at the ground. This confining feeling was eating away at her stomach, making her almost squirm uncomfortably at how it latched onto her so firmly.
“Aw,” Beidou coos, placing her index finger below Ningguang’s chin and tilting her head up, “Don’t be upset, love, I was just teasing.” She leans down and presses a soft kiss against Ningguang’s lips.
Ningguang crosses her arms in an attempt to stop Beidou from hugging her but the pirate does it anyway, guiding her head to her shoulder. Ningguang can hear Beidou’s faint laugh as she presses a kiss to the white hair, “You’re so easy to tease when you’re angry.”
Ningguang uncrosses her arms and hugs Beidou back, letting out a shaky breath as she feels her eyes brim — goddamnit , “That’s not something you should be capitalising off of, Captain.”
“But it’s so fun .”
Ningguang’s about to respond before she hears Beidou’s name being called from the other side of the deck.
“Captain!” Beidou looks in the same direction to see Juza waving at her, “We need more planks for the repairs, is it alright if we get Kazuha to go out for us?”
Beidou frowns, “What’s the boy got to do with this? Leave him to rest and one of you can do it.”
Sea Drake pipes up just behind Juza, “He volunteered himself — he’s been eager to help out, you know, Captain.”
Beidou rolls her eye and waves her hand through the air dismissively, “Fine, fine, let the kid do it.” She returns her attention to Ningguang, pressing another kiss to her forehead, “Right, what did you come here for again?”
Ningguang rolls her eyes and sighs, “ Chess ,” Beidou can tell from the tone of her voice that it wasn’t simply chess, “But my mood has been sufficiently ruined.”
“Maybe I could get you into the mood again?” Beidou smirks, “How about-”
Ningguang puts her finger up to Beidou’s lips to hush her, “You’d better keep quiet if you don’t want a stone pillar through your head.”
Beidou presses her lips into a thin line and nods her head, “Got it.”
===
“So, what do you do around here?” Ningguang’s tone sounds almost accusative, like to say that Furong was no needed addition to the crew.
Furong jumps as Ningguang creeps up behind her like a snake, eyeing her as if she were prey that she was going to devour. The woman stiffens a little and lets out an awkward laugh as she turns to face Ningguang.
“I… am in charge of fighting, mostly; how come?”
Ningguang raises an eyebrow and huffs, “Is that right?” She pauses and lets the rest of her sentence linger on her tongue before the jealousy gets the best of her, “Shouldn’t your captain be? She seems the most capable of fighting out of the lot of you.”
“Well,” Furong swallows, “Captain just makes sure everything is running smoothly. Of course, she is an excellent fighter and she was the one that taught me but she cannot do everything herself.”
Ningguang tilts her head, “Are you really the best fit, though?”
Furong furrows her brow and crosses her arms, “How would you know? It doesn’t look like you’ve spent a day fighting especially since you get everything handed to you on a silver platter.”
Ningguang’s brow knots into a frown as she too crosses her arms, tilting her chin up in defence, “You don’t know what I’ve been through — don’t disrespect the Tianquan.”
Furong hums and rolls her eyes, “I was under the impression that the captain was with someone less arrogant . Maybe you aren’t such a good fit for her, after all, you of all people should know how much she dislikes arrogance.”
Ningguang narrows her eyes at her, “Don’t you dare ,” she snaps, “It’s not like you would make much of a better wife for her, would you?”
“In fact, I bet I would ,” Furong adopts a smug look on her face as she straightens herself out, “She did say she would marry me and I spend more time with her out on sea than you could ever imagine.”
Ningguang grits her teeth and clenches her fist beside her, small particles of geo collecting around her hand, “I swear to the Archons above-”
“Oh yeah?” Furong taunts, noticing the way Ningguang’s almost ready to fight her, “Let’s go then, come on,” she beckons, “You prissy bitch, lay your hands on me, see what happens.”
Furong lands the first hit on Ningguang’s nose, not with enough force to break it but enough for it to sting. Through teary eyes, Ningguang grabs onto her hair and she has to refrain from simply impaling her with a tower of geo; in fact, if she could, Ningguang would drop another Jade Chamber on her.
Ningguang yanks and she does so hard; Furong lets out a scream as she grabs Ninngguang by the collar and pushes her. They continue their fight for longer than needed before footsteps run up behind them.
Ningguang doesn’t even notice her nose bleeding until she’s peeled off of Furong by a pair of arms. Her own arms are locked behind her back and she kicks about as she tries to escape.
“Ningguang!” she can hear the person that’s captured her — Beidou , “ What are you doing?”
“Let me have at her!” she hisses, “I’ll make her pay!”
On the other side, Juza and Sea Drake seem to have somewhat successfully detained Furong to the floor as she struggles against their grip. Beidou looks over Ningguang’s head and to where Furong is lying on the floor.
“Furong, my cabin after I’ve dealt with Ningguang, do you understand?”
Furong appears to calm down, her chest heaving as she pants; she doesn’t look Beidou in the eye as she nods her head.
Ningguang’s still struggling; clearly, her determination was not to be underestimated. Beidou tugs her back and drags her into her cabin where she makes her sit on the edge of her bed.
“ Ningguang ,” Beidou calls out to her — she sounds furious , “What was that about?”
Ningguang can feel tears brimming in the corner of her eyes and when Beidou notices the trail of red that passes over the curve her lips from her nose, she hurries to grab a tissue and holds it against Ningguang’s nose. Her anger from just a few seconds ago seems to dissipate into thin air, quickly replaced with concern. She crouches down on the floor, a hand on Ningguang’s knee as she looks up at her.
“Hey,” Beidou says softly, “Can you talk to me?”
Ningguang huffs, “I’m sorry.”
Beidou raises an eyebrow and laughs gently, “You’ll have to apologise to Furong, not me.”
Ningguang frowns and glares at Beidou, “I am not apologising to her , that’s the last thing I’d do.”
“You assaulted a member of my crew, Ningguang,” Ningguang was not liking the repetitive use of her full name. “It’s lucky that you are the law so there aren’t any real consequences to this but you can’t just do that.”
“She started it,” Ningguang defends herself, “And she was the one aggravating me.”
“From the looks of it, you were the one that approached her.”
“That’s- that’s not true! And she said that you were going to marry her-”
“Of course this is what it’s about,” Beidou sighs and Ningguang can almost sense the disappointment dripping off her tongue, “You can’t- you can’t let your jealousy of her get to your head, I thought you were more mature than that.”
Ningguang looks off to the side and she feels almost guilty as she feels tears threaten to fall again. She doesn’t say a word and bites her bottom lip instead, hoping to suppress her tears.
“Oh, Ning’,” Beidou’s face softens and she brings Ningguang’s left hand up to her face, pressing a kiss to her ring finger and consequently, the two rings that are wrapped around it, “She said I’d marry her, huh?”
Ningguang nods, still not looking Beidou in the face.
“I can’t be married to two people, can I?” she laughs, kissing the back of Ningguang’s hand, “Not according to the law.”
Ningguang huffs again and retracts her hand, not daring to close her eyes in case tears fall. She hears Beidou laugh and soon feels two calloused hands settle on her cheek. Beidou presses her lips against Ningguang and Ningguang doesn’t have a choice as she melts into the kiss. Slow tears run down her face and when they part, Beidou uses her thumbs to wipe them away.
“You’re so childish sometimes, my star, such a fool.”
“Don’t call me a fool, Beidou, you’re the fool, not stopping her from her perverted fantasies of you,” Ningguang frowns, “You’re her captain and she should look up to you with respect .”
“You act as if Baishi doesn’t ogle you every time you step out the shower and plus, your fantasies of me are very much more-”
A hand is slapped onto Beidou’s mouth as Ningguang flushes a shade of red, “No, don’t finish that sentence.”
Beidou laughs as she stands up, her hand still in Ningguang’s, “No matter that, you still need to apologise to Furong after I’m done talking with her.”
“I’m not-”
“Yes you are,” Beidou cuts her off, “No matter what.” Her tone is stern and commanding and Ningguang wonders if this is the way she talked to her crew.
The conversation between Furong and Beidou is a little more professional; Beidou sitting behind her desk and Furong sitting on the other side. The crewmate has her hands in her lap and she is too nervous to look the captain in the eye as Beidou sighs and looks down at the paperwork she has to fill out.
“Furong.”
“Captain,” she murmurs back.
“You assaulted the Tianquan,” she tilts her head and looks at Furong, “On my ship.”
“I apologise, Captain.”
Beidou raises her eyebrows and sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose, “First, you will have to apologise to her directly and then I will see what I can do so that she does not make the millelith chuck you in a cell.”
“I’m not apologising to her-” she protests.
“You are and you are also taking on extra cleaning duty for the rest of the month.”
“The month ,” Furong frowns, “This is unfair — what punishment is she getting? Nothing -”
“Because she is the law, Furong,” Beidou looks at her in exasperation, “What do you want me to do? Punish Liyue’s highest ranking government official? She is the Tianquan , I hope that you remember that next time that you decide you want to punch her in the face.” There’s a pause before Beidou averts her eyes and clears her throat, “I also want to bring something else to attention.”
“Yes, Captain?”
“I am uh…” Beidou laughs awkwardly and scratches the back of her neck, “I am aware of certain activities that occur that might pertain to… me and,” Beidou sees the way Furong’s soul slowly wilts out of her, turning pale as her jaw drops. “I- I do not care for the matter — I find it a little strange, at most,” Beidou almost recoils at her own words, “But it is none of my business, just- just be a little quieter, alright? Even- even Little Yue hears you.”
“I- I will make sure to be quiet,” she stammers out, “My sincerest apologies, Captain.”
Beidou nods and claps her hands together, “Good, good — uh, you’re dismissed- actually,” she stops herself, “Could you go fetch Ningguang for me?”
Furong silently nods as she slips through the door.
===
As Ningguang steps out of Beidou’s cabin, she hears footsteps approaching her from behind. She’s not wearing her usual attire; something she had managed to chuck on out of Beidou’s wardrobe so she wouldn’t have to step out on the deck stark naked. Her hair is an utter mess, her usual hairpiece out and strands sticking out all over the place; she tries her best to flatten it all out. She hopes her appearance doesn’t let on that she’s just had a chess game with the captain.
She had simply intended to go to the bathroom to freshen herself up but her attention is drawn to the footsteps behind her. She stills at the sound and when she turns around, she squints her eyes to try and make out who it was in the dark.
“Lady Ningguang.”
She recognises that voice and her stomach twists in distaste, “Furong,” she replies, crossing her arms across her chest.
The woman clears her throat and straightens herself out, “I thought I should apologise.”
Ningguang stills for a moment and simply glares at Furong, face struck with disbelief, “ You want to apologise?” She huffs and tilts her head up, “Very well.”
“Yes — I’m sorry for the fact that Captain Beidou likes me more.”
Ningguang’s mind simply stops functioning as she lowers her head and stares daggers into Furong, “ Excuse me?”
Furong cocks her head and a grin splits her face, “You heard me, Captain likes me more.”
Ningguang can already feel fury simmering in the pits of her stomach and she so wants to end Furong right there and then but she manages to calm herself with the reminder of Beidou’s scolding — she wouldn’t want her captain to be mad at her a second time.
“If that’s what you want to believe,” Ningguang hums, “If it makes you feel better.”
“I do believe it because it’s true ,” Furong takes a step forward and points a finger at Ningguang, “Just you watch me-”
The door to Beidou’s cabin swings open and both of their heads whip around to the sound. Beidou’s shirt is halfway undone, her hair loosely drapes over her shoulders and she’s got a glaze lily trapped between her teeth. One of her hands anchors her onto the door frame and she swings out by spinning on her heel. There’s a smirk on her face as she raises an eyebrow and takes the flower out of her mouth to speak.
“Don’t keep Captain waiting for round two- oh.” Beidou halts in her tracks, leaving herself hanging off of the door frame with one hand, “Furong,” she acknowledges, straightening herself out and clearing her throat. “It’s uh- rather late to be out on deck, don’t you think?”
Furong’s eyes drift over to Ningguang before quickly snapping back to Beidou; Ningguang can see the exact moment that the realisation sets in for Furong and she relishes in the way her face drains of colour.
“I’m- I’m sorry, Captain, I was just on my way to the toilet before I bumped into Ningguang.”
“Lady Ningguang,” Ningguang corrects.
Furong scoffs and rolls her eyes, “ Lady Ningguang.” She spits it out as if it pained her to say.
“Right, well,” Beidou scratches the back of her head and laughs awkwardly, “Please don’t fight again while you wait for your turn.” And with that, she quickly disappears back into her cabin.
Ningguang and Furong are left to glare at each other in the dim light of the moon but it doesn’t last long as Furong huffs and spins on the ball of her foot, making her way over to the bathroom. Ningguang follows hotly on her heel and just as Furong’s about to enter, Ningguang taps her on the shoulder.
Furong turns around and rolls her eyes, “Look, I’d love to talk but I have business to take care of.”
Ningguang completely disregards her, “What is your problem?”
“ My problem?” Furong scoffs and crosses her arms, “What’s yours ? What do you even want with Beidou? You are the last person in Teyvat that would ever possibly catch feelings for a pirate so what’s really up? What’s your ulterior motive here, Lady Ningguang?”
“My ulterior motive?” Ningguang is absolutely bewildered, “Why would I have an ulterior motive?”
“We all know that you just get her to do your dirty work as the Tianquan and then you sleep with her as compensation, isn’t that right?”
Ningguang gapes at her in uttermost shock, her mind coming to a halt in an attempt to process all of her nonsense — what ?
“Me and Beidou are married ; trust me, if what you were saying is true and I only sleep with her to compensate for all the work she does for me, marriage would be my last thought.” Ningguang has to pause to gather all of her thoughts up. “I have known Beidou since we were- we were children , since we were the age of ten — no one in this world means more to me than Beidou and yet here you are criticising me because you happen to fancy her.”
Furong grits her teeth and Ningguang can tell she’s going to rebut but she cuts her off by continuing to talk, “I don’t care that you like her and I don’t care about your fantasies and I’ll admit, you have really angered me with your stupid, aggravating comments and I’m sure you’re very pleased to hear that, aren’t you? Well, I don’t care , Furong, fantasise about Beidou all you want but I will always love Beidou and I know that she loves me so you can stop trying to rile me up because it’s not going to work anymore.”
Ningguang takes a deep breath in and by the time that she looks at Furong, she feels oddly relieved. “Do whatever you want but please do not bother me or my wife again. Thank you.” With that, she turns on her heel and makes her way back into Beidou’s room.
Beidou’s laying on her bed, some map rolled out in front of her and Ningguang can see the faintest of smiles grace her face as the pirate looks up to greet her.
Beidou hums, “My star, everything sorted out?”
Oh , she completely forgot about what she was out there to do in the first place but she shrugs and sits down on the edge of Beidou’s bed, “Suppose so.”
Beidou rolls the map up and chucks it into the barrel with all the other pieces of cartography before she holds her arms out for Ningguang. Ningguang accepts Beidou’s gesture kindly, wrapping her own arms around Beidou and snuggling into her embrace; she lets out a sigh and her chest feels almost lighter than it was these past few days.
Beidou presses a kiss to the top of Ningguang’s head, using a hand to card through the white locks, “You know,” she starts, yawning quietly, “I heard your little conversation with Furong out there.”
Ningguang hums back in acknowledgement, simply shuffling closer into Beidou’s arms, “What’d you hear?”
Beidou clears her throat and puts on the gruffest voice she can, “ Leave me and my wife alone ,” it’s followed by a laugh as she looks down at Ningguang. Ningguang’s face turns a light shade of red in embarrassment.
“I had to get my point across somehow,” she murmurs, face tucked neatly into the crook of Beidou’s neck, “She wouldn’t listen otherwise.”
“You’re so cute when you’re jealous,” Beidou hums, smiling down at her.
Ningguang frowns just slightly and huffs, “You’re so annoying when your ego’s boosted.”
“Hey! That’s just not nice,” Beidou pouts. She hooks her finger under Ningguang’s chin and tilts her head up, looking her in the eye with a smile, “Do you feel better though? After your little talk with her.”
Ningguang nods and she feels her stomach fill with butterflies like a little schoolgirl as Beidou’s thumb rubs over her cheek, “I’m somewhat relieved.”
“Good,” Beidou mutters, her eye drifting all over Ningguang’s face, “You know I only love you, right?”
Ningguang nods and of course, she already knows that but the reassurance is still incredibly welcomed.
“My light,” Beidou whispers, “Couldn’t imagine a life without you, you know.”
Ningguang wants to scoff and pull away but she’s too pulled in by the dark red that is Beidou’s eye. She sighs, “Why are you so sappy all of a sudden?”
“Thought you’d like it,” Beidou says with a crooked smirk, “After all, the wife has seemed pretty down these past few days.”
Ningguang huffs and shuts her eyes, “I haven’t been down , I’ve just been irritated.”
Beidou laughs, “That is the same thing, Ah-Guang.”
When Ningguang opens her eyes again, she’s met with the softest, most genuine smile and she just melts, losing herself in Beidou’s gaze. Beidou hums as she leans forward, pressing a sweet kiss on Ningguang’s lips before pulling away. She cradles Ningguang’s face with her hand and kisses her forehead, “I’m quite tired, what about you?”
Ningguang nods and she shuffles closer to Beidou — if that was even possible at this point.
“Goodnight, Beidou,” she murmurs. Beidou reaches over to her nightstand and sets the flame of her lamp out, engulfing the entire room in darkness.
“Goodnight, Ning’.”