Work Text:
当时见到你， 也就是我第一次了解人类是怎么爱上光亮。
The day I met you, I understood why humans loved starlight.
一
The first time they meet is at dusk, just as the sun kisses the sea.
Warm golden rays fall onto the two women staring each other down in a cozy office at the back of Yuehai Pavilion. Beidou, Captain of the Crux Fleet, folds her muscular arms as she glares at the slender woman lounging behind a fine wooden table.
Lady Ningguang, the newly-appointed Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing, holds her gaze with an insufferable smirk on her rosy lips. Her silky white tresses are draped all over the chair; a gold-and-brown hairpin is neatly secured to a bun on her head. Her wine-red eyes are piercing and deep all at once, every languid movement of hers dripping elegance and power.
She is both irritating and intriguing.
“Two hundred thousand Mora for” — Beidou squints at the letters on a parchment — “two consignments of Sumeru Roses that the Crux Fleet didn’t report? That’s daylight robbery,” she declares.
Ningguang breathes out a low chuckle. “Yes, I do believe that Section 32A of Liyue’s shipping laws and regulations states that you should be fined double the import tax for unreported goods. This… ‘daylight robbery’, as you so eloquently put, should encourage you to report your goods more accurately in the future.”
The one-eyed captain scowls. This law, like many others, didn’t exist when she left Liyue Harbour for Sumeru two months ago. In the eight weeks that the Alcor has been at sea, the former Tianquan suddenly retired, naming a common merchant as her successor. This announcement caused ripples of rage and uproar across Liyue Harbour’s upper echelons.
The role of Tianquan has never been relinquished to a common Liyuean, much less one born into poverty, if the rumours are true. The highest authority in this nation has always been kept among the rich and the powerful — until now.
Until Ningguang.
And the new Tianquan brought with her change: swift, colossal, brutal change. She closed ten business loopholes and overhauled taxation laws on her first day in office, ensuring that all citizens were taxed by income percentage instead of rigid amounts.
The result was immediate: the wealthy took massive blows to their profit margins, and the financial struggles of the poor significantly lessened.
When the Crux Fleet arrived home, the dockhands and small-time merchants sang the Tianquan’s praises, while the Eight Trades at Feiyun Slope cursed the very ground she walked on. Rumour upon rumour spread like wildfire across the restless harbour — that Lady Ningguang is ruthless, Lady Ningguang is cruel, Lady Ningguang is kind. Untouchable, despicable, exceptional — a beguiling enigma.
Now, looking into those intelligent wine-red eyes twinkling in amusement, Beidou is inclined to agree.
The captain unclips her pouch of Mora, dropping it onto Ningguang’s lacquered desk with a thump. “Two hundred thousand.” She nods.
The Tianquan beams, amusement dissolving into satisfaction. “A pleasure doing business with you, Captain. I trust we will not see a repeat of this?”
It is Beidou’s turn to smirk. The burly woman lays both hands on the table and leans forward, muscles rippling under sun-kissed skin. Ningguang’s gaze drifts from her well-toned arms to meet her intense gaze. There is a faint, barely visible tinge of pink on the Tianquan’s pale cheeks.
“You’d be sorely mistaken if you think a couple of fines will change my pirating ways, my lady,” the captain murmurs. “You can make me pay a million Mora and I’ll still do what I do for the people.”
“And if I bleed you dry?” Ningguang asks, amusement dancing in her eyes once again.
Beidou barks out a laugh. “You can’t, Lady Tianquan.”
Wine-red eyes narrow. “Is that a challenge, Captain?”
The pirate grins, pushing herself off the table. She turns with a wave, feeling Ningguang’s piercing gaze bore a hole through her back. “A challenge? It’s a fact, my lady,” she laughs as she opens the door, steps out, and swings it shut with a loud click.
二
Their second encounter is when paper snow has Liyue Harbour aflutter.
Captain Beidou finds Lady Ningguang leaning on the railings of Yujing Terrace, letting the sea breeze carry the shredded paper in her hands far and wide. Children and merchants below scramble to catch the fluttering snow as their Tianquan watches fondly from above.
“So, is the law going to fine herself for littering?” the brunette remarks, raising an eyebrow.
Ningguang pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and releasing a controlled sigh. “You are here about the latest fines, I presume,” she deadpans, sparing Beidou a glance.
“Yeah. Got the summons before I even hopped off the gangplank. Your three new secretaries are quick, and they look alike.” Beidou waves the slip of paper in Ningguang’s face. “Where’d you get them?”
“It’s none of your concern.” Ningguang gracefully holds out a hand.
The captain holds up her Mora pouch, dangling it above her palm. It’s then that she notices a new accessory attached to her midriff. It is a square-shaped cor lapis, glowing faintly with the element of— “Hold up, my lady. You got a Geo Vision?” she blurts out. “Since when?”
Ningguang scowls, raising a hand to snatch the pouch, which Beidou deftly pulls out of her reach. “Captain,” the Tianquan warns.
“Hey, it’s an innocent question.” She holds the pouch in her outstretched arm, letting it dangle over the railing. “I mean, I have a Vision, too. Got it from slaying Haishan.”
The white-haired lady stares at the pouch like a cat ready to pounce on its prey. She huffs, electing instead to fold her arms. “So I’ve heard. Mine is not a remarkable tale. It was a masterless Vision, one that I was about to sell.”
Beidou’s ruby eye widens. She’s only heard about this method of gaining a Vision in stories and legends, never in person — and she would never have expected to hear it from this woman, of all people. “You laid your hands on a masterless Vision… and it resonated with you?”
The Tianquan scowls again. Beidou thinks a smirk suits her much better. “What does it matter?” Ningguang mutters. “It cost me a good deal. I had to shred the contract.”
“Hah?” Beidou scratches her head in disbelief. This woman has just accomplished a feat achieved only by people of remarkable ambition and will — and she’s grumpy she couldn’t turn it for a profit? “Are you for real?”
Ningguang glares at her. “Masterless Visions are highly valuable, Captain. My buyer was willing to buy it at thrice the market price, too,” she says sourly.
Beidou tries her best to control herself — she really does. But the misery on Ningguang’s face is just so melodramatic that the captain can’t stop the grin on her face from widening more and more until she bursts into laughter. The brunette wheezes hard, bending over and slamming her free fist repeatedly on the railings as she guffaws. “Oh — oh Archons — I’m going to cry,” she gasps.
The Tianquan watches her with such an unamused expression that one might think her beloved pet just died. “If you’re done laughing, you can clear your fines and begone,” she grumbles, holding out her hand again.
“Okay, okay,” Beidou wheezes, wiping a tear from her eye. She drops the heavy pouch of Mora into Ningguang’s outstretched hand. “Why are you so hung up on Mora anyway? Aren’t you already Liyue’s wealthiest woman?”
The Tianquan hums, weighing the coins in her hand. “Mora is simply a catalyst for transformation,” she replies, a hint of arrogance creeping into her mellifluous voice. “And I can never have enough of it to fulfill my dream.”
“Which is?” Beidou leans on the railing, watching her. What a picture of confidence Ningguang is, her face lifted skyward, silky white tresses swaying gently in the wind. And the way she lifts a hand to shield her eyes, a faint smile on her lips — truly, Beidou has never met anyone quite like Ningguang indeed.
“One day, I’ll live up there,” she declares, pointing at the sky. “In a floating palace so large it will be seen from every nation in Teyvat.”
The conviction in her voice could inspire an entire army, Beidou thinks. “Sure,” she says. “I can believe that. But even when you do accomplish your dream, you still wouldn’t have changed my pirating ways.”
And that beautiful smile instantly turns into a scowl. “We’ll see about that, Captain. You’re always putting the Qixing in difficult positions, and I haven’t been the most impressed by your illegal antics.” Her tone grows cold. “You don’t want to know what we do to troublemakers like you.”
Beidou chuckles at the empty threat, giving her a casual wave as she walks away. “And I won’t ever know. Give it all you’ve got, Ningguang. I’ll catch you around!”
She imagines the Tianquan’s scowl deepening behind her, and laughs her way down Feiyun Slope.
三
The third moment creeps upon them with the chill of rain.
Captain Beidou finds the Tianquan alone on the outskirts of the Golden House next to a construction site, staring listlessly at a shattered pile of stone, wood and floating plaustrite. A cacophony of materials playing their final song to the beat of rain. She has been standing there for a while now; the raindrops have soaked into her clothes and completely undone her hair. Quietly, the captain holds out an umbrella for the lady dressed in white and gold.
Ningguang blinks, instinctively rubbing the tears from her eyes. Beidou says nothing, standing like a rock by her side, umbrella shielding them both from the rain.
“Wh–what are you doing here?” the Tianquan mutters.
“Was going to pay my fines, but someone wasn’t in her office,” Beidou replies, ignoring her puffy eyes. “So I asked around.”
Ningguang doesn’t hold out her hand expectantly.
So Beidou stares at the pile of debris before them. “What happened here?”
A heartbeat. Then, the Tianquan speaks: “My calculations failed. The Jade Chamber collapsed.”
The Jade Chamber? Beidou studies the bits of plaustrite scattered among the stone and wood. The rock is known for its floating properties… which means this must be a failed attempt at her dream: the floating palace in the sky. “You were using a plaustrite base?”
Ningguang nods. “In theory, a plaustrite rock of sufficient size and purity should be able to raise an entire palace into the air—”
“Not by itself, no,” Beidou muses. “The plaustrite needs to react with something first.”
The Tianquan looks at her in surprise.
“Uh…” Beidou scratches her head. “I’m no rock expert, but… well, you know Port Ormos? There’s all sorts of geniuses there coming down from Sumeru City to write their thesis or something. I might’ve heard some stuff about the properties of plaustrite there.” She frowns.
Archons-damnit, I can’t remember. She shouldn’t have drunk so much beer with Dori.
“Oh,” Ningguang says uselessly. The Tianquan returns her attention to the debris, staring at it sullenly.
Despair doesn’t suit the lovely woman by her side. She is like an eclipsing star, her ambition folding in on itself in the face of failure. “Hey.” The captain jabs her in the shoulder, hard.
Ningguang winces, swatting her hand away with a scowl. “What was that for?!”
“You wanna make this work, don’t you?” Beidou asks.
The Tianquan cocks her head quizzically to one side.
“I can get you the information you need,” the captain begins. “I’m heading to Sumeru soon, so I’ll ask around about plaustrite and its catalysts. And if you want to know anything else, well… you’ve got two days to write me a letter on everything you need to build the Jade Chamber.”
Ningguang’s eyes widen in surprise. “You’ll… help me?”
“Yeah, why not?” Beidou grins, lifting her head towards the dark rain clouds. “A floating palace in the sky… I’d like to see that.”
And Ningguang gives her a grateful smile, one that makes her heart flutter. “Thank you, Captain.”
Beidou’s cheeks burn. “W–well… shall we head back and dry off then, my lady?”
“Yes. And you can pay your fines in the comfort of my office.”
Whatever tiny spark of affection Beidou felt in the last ten minutes immediately dies.
四
Their fourth meeting happens under the blazing afternoon sun in Yuehai Pavilion’s courtyard, nestled comfortably along the sides of Mount Tianheng. Stone railings line the perimeter of the cozy alcove; a sprinkle of cuiha trees provide a brief respite from the heat.
“Spar with me,” Lady Ningguang says before Captain Beidou can even open her mouth.
“Huh. No fines today?” the pirate teases.
“That can be settled later.” The Tianquan turns to look at her haughtily, confidence twinkling in her wine-red eyes.
“And why does the illustrious Lady Ningguang want to fight today? Someone piss you off big time?”
The white-haired woman’s face reddens. “D–don’t be ridiculous. I’ve just had some time to play around with this.” She taps the Geo Vision attached to her midriff. “I need someone to practice with.”
And you waited weeks for me to come back? Beidou grins, cracking her knuckles. “Very well then, my lady. Your wish is my command.”
The captain is immediately taken by surprise when Ningguang hurls a series of Geo crystals at her. Deftly, the pirate dodges all of them, raising an Electro shield to deflect the last. She lunges forward, drawing her fist back, only to connect with something soft, yet hard enough to withstand her punch.
She frowns at the sight of a jade screen hovering between Ningguang and herself. “Interesting. What other tricks have you learned?”
In response, the Tianquan summons a pipe out of nowhere.
Beidou’s jaw drops. “You made a pipe?” she asks. Of all the damn things you could have made?
Ningguang nods, dismissing the item with a flick of her clawed fingers. “Indeed, I did. I quite enjoy smoking,” the Tianquan replies mildly.
The pirate shakes her head slowly. “Sure, I guess.” She draws back her fist once again as Ningguang opens another screen. Beidou’s fist crackles with Electro this time; she slams it into the screen. The two elements meet each other with a crash, and — before Beidou can stop herself — her Electro-charged strike shatters the screen, her first heading straight for Ningguang.
Shit.
Beidou presses one foot on the ground, pivoting sideways. As the momentum pushes her into a spin, she grabs Ningguang with her free hand, pulling her out of range as the bolt strikes the mountain harmlessly. Beidou skids to a halt, one arm holding Ningguang close to her chest. Shocked wine-red eyes meet her gaze. The brunette’s ruby eye instinctively drifts down to those plump red lips, slightly parted in surprise.
Her brain shuts down. Beidou leans in, completely enraptured by Ningguang’s soft lips. The lady in her arms doesn’t move; her eyes only flutter shut nervously. And before she knows it, her lips are on Ningguang’s, tongue touching tongue, her brown hair falling like a curtain around them both, shielding them from the world.
In this moment, with their lips pressed together, time stops.
And it flows again only when Beidou pulls back, curtain of hair exposing them to the world once again, her cheeks burning.
Ningguang swallows thickly, flushing a deep red.
Nervously, the captain lets her go. The Tianquan straightens her qipao, taking great interest in the courtyard’s stone flooring. Beidou studies the mountain for several heartbeats; she’s never found rocks this satisfying.
It should be impossible, but her cheeks are heating up even further. “Uh — uh… that’s… a reward,” Beidou finishes lamely. “For… uh… you know. Your Vision. Geo. Yeah.”
Yeah.
Ningguang nods. “It was… an eye-opener,” she concedes, still watching the floor so intensely that Beidou thinks the stone might crack.
“Well, uh… the fines?” the captain asks, jingling her Mora pouch.
The Tianquan clears her throat, finally looking up. Beidou’s face flames red when their eyes meet. “I will… make an exception… for today,” Ningguang mutters, quickly averting her gaze. “As thanks.”
“Hey, is this going to be a trend?”
Ningguang’s brow furrows cutely as she scowls, all trace of embarrassment suddenly vanishing. “No. It’s a one-off. Now get out before I change my mind.”
Beidou guffaws all the way out of Yuehai Pavilion.
五
The fifth time they meet is in the dark of night, like shadows forbidden to kiss in the light.
It’s one of the rare occasions where the Crux Fleet docks late at night, having been delayed by a storm at sea. But to Captain Beidou’s surprise, one of Ningguang’s secretaries still faithfully waits at the docks to issue yet another summon.
The pirate almost laughs as she takes the slip of paper from Baixiao’s — Baiwen’s? — hand, already knowing what it would say. Beidou strolls down the quiet streets of Liyue, pausing only to glance at the address written on the slip.
The door to Lady Ningguang’s home in Yujing Terrace is unlocked. How confident. Beidou lets herself into the dark interior. The only source of light comes from a room on her left, like a golden beacon beckoning her to follow. And so Beidou does, pushing open the door to find the Tianquan lounging on a sofa, silky tresses draped over her body clad in nothing but a night robe.
Beidou stops, and stares.
The phoenix tattoo on the governor’s creamy thigh snakes all the way up to her hips, vanishing under the robes. Yet her ruby eye follows the phoenix’s imaginary path, past the Tianquan’s shapely breasts up to the slender hand propping her head up on the sofa.
Ningguang huffs out smoke, wine-red eyes lazily lifting to meet her hungry gaze.
“You’re late, Captain,” the Tianquan breathes, dripping elegance as she sits up, crossing her creamy legs.
“There was a storm at sea.” Beidou’s throat is dry. Her cheeks burn.
Ningguang lets out a low chuckle, eyes twinkling victoriously as she holds out her hand.
But the captain isn’t about to admit defeat. “Aren’t you a little bored of always taking my money, Lady Tianquan? Shall we make things more… interesting?” The words drop from her lips before she can think them through. Oh shit.
A smirk tugs at the corners of those soft lips. Lips that Beidou had felt on hers, three long weeks ago. “What is your proposal, Captain?”
The brunette folds her arms. “You’ll have to beat me to earn that fine, Ningguang.” You can’t just do this and expect me to obey like a dog. Her face reddens, and she studies the red carpet on the floor with interest.
Ningguang raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “At what?”
“Anything. Your choice.”
The Tianquan ponders this for a moment before getting to her feet. “Very well.” The robes fall over her thighs as she walks over to a shelf, bending down and opening a drawer.
Beidou swallows thickly, cheeks still burning.
“How about a game of Liyue Millennial?” Ningguang asks as she pulls out a chessboard. “I’m told it can be rather… challenging.”
Huh. A wide grin spreads across Beidou’s face. Clearly the Tianquan has no idea that this will be an easy victory for the captain. Ever since the game was first launched, Beidou has held a keen interest in its complex gameplay, often dreaming up tactics beyond the basic strategies shared in the game’s comprehensive guidebook.
It’s become a little bit like a hobby of hers. Whenever she docks at Liyue Harbour, Ganyu would be sure to provide her with an updated guide — if there’s any. She doesn’t know how the half-qilin gets her hands on the latest versions so quickly, but she’s learned to simply be grateful.
“This will be fun,” Beidou replies as Ningguang sets the chessboard on the tea table, preparing the pieces. The swiftness with which she lays out each piece would have been Beidou’s first warning, if the captain wasn’t already deep in thought, contemplating which of her uncommon tactics would fare best against the Tianquan.
When the game begins in earnest, Beidou confidently opts for a decoy route. Most of the (few) people she’s played against never expect her to use her own General as bait, since the capture of the General piece is a victory condition. But to her surprise, Ningguang catches on very quickly, and completely circumvents her trap, knocking off two of her soldiers.
Wha—?!
Intimidated, Beidou moves her general a step back, using the river on the board as defensive terrain. She watches in disbelief as the Tianquan simply engages a boat and clears the river in a single turn, surrounding Beidou’s General with her soldiers. “Jiàng,” Ningguang says triumphantly.
Beidou’s jaw drops. “What–how?!” she groans, covering her face with her hands. “I spent years practicing this!”
“You did?”
The captain looks up, puzzled by the surprise in Ningguang’s tone. “Yeah. It’s a challenging game. Keeps me engaged. Ganyu gets me a set every time there’s an update…” Her voice trails off when a pensive look crosses Ningguang’s expression.
“Oh,” she suddenly murmurs, “Oh… so that’s why Ganyu asks me for a set every time, although she doesn’t play.”
“Hah?” It’s Beidou’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Why the heck would she get Liyue Millennial from you?”
Ningguang gives her a look, as though she’s trying to figure out whether the captain is joking. Realising her confusion is genuine, the Tianquan’s lips curve into an almost mocking smile. “I’m the creator.”
“Oh.” Beidou frowns as the words sink in. “Oh–wait.” The gears in her poor brain creak into action, slowly processing the three words Ningguang has just said. Halfway through, it skids to a halt.
“Wait.”
The captain stares, slack-jawed, at the pale lady now wearing an insufferable smirk, wine-red eyes gleaming in wicked amusement.
And then Beidou springs to her feet, ruby eye widening in indignation and disbelief.
“WHAAAAAT?!”
六
Their paths cross again for the sixth time on a stormy night.
Captain Beidou jogs down the stone path from Liyue harbour towards Wangshu Inn in the distance, frantically looking around. In this calamitous weather, the Tianquan couldn’t have gone far.
The rain that pelts Beidou is thick and heavy, instantly soaking her to the bone. Thunder rumbles and lightning streaks across the sky. The weather had taken a sudden turn for the worse when the Crux Fleet docked earlier in the day, while Beidou had been enjoying a rare occasion without being summoned to the Tianquan’s office upon return.
It’s only after the rain starts that Beidou finds Baixiao nervously waiting outside Wanmin Restaurant, hopping from foot to foot. And it’s then she learns that Ningguang hasn’t returned from a trip to Yaoguang Shoal, that the storm began soon after she left.
A storm of this magnitude would cause the low-lying shoal to rapidly flood.
Through the blinding sheets of rain, she glimpses the shoal, entirely flooded up to Qiongji Estuary. “Ningguang?!” she yells, her voice ripped away by the howling winds. Archons. There is no way she can find a single woman — potentially incapacitated — like this.
She closes her eyes, focusing on the elemental traces in the land around her. If Ningguang is nearby, Beidou should be able to pick up a Geo signature.
Thank Rex Lapis she senses it: a faint blip right at the edge of her senses. The captain breaks into a run, scaling the rocks to find a half-flooded alcove along the shoal. Ningguang is lying on a ledge near the entrance, surrounded by deep water. Beidou dives in, surfacing at the ledge in slight confusion.
The look of utter disbelief on Ningguang’s face is one to behold, even if Beidou had been worried sick just a few minutes ago. The Tianquan slowly sits up. “Beidou…? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” Beidou repeats indignantly, clambering up onto the ledge. “What are you doing here?”
Ningguang hugs her knees miserably, covered in mud and scratches. “I was picking shells for my jewelry business,” the white-haired lady mumbles. “Then the storm came.”
And Yaoguang Shoal instantly flooded.
“You were lucky to get into this alcove,” Beidou muses. “But… the currents here aren’t strong. You can just swim out like how I got in, you know?”
Ningguang’s face reddens.
Beidou stares at her for several heartbeats before she notices how the Tianquan seems to shy away from the water lapping at the ledge.
Oh.
Oh.
“You can’t swim,” Beidou says slowly, ruby eye widening.
The Tianquan scowls, folding her arms. “I–I was prepared to wait it out,” she declares haughtily.
The captain chuckles. “Sure you were,” she remarks, appraising the sorry state of Liyue’s highest-ranking official. She’s lost her hairpin in the chaos, her silky hair looking just about as miserable as its owner, especially with twigs and leaves stuck in it. Beidou leans in to pluck the largest ones out of her hair.
“Well, it’d be awful if we waited for the storm to pass and all of Liyue got to see their Tianquan like… this.” Beidou gestures at the woman, who shoots her a death glare. “So how about you hold on to me, and I’ll get us out of here?”
With any luck, the storm will hold up till we reach your home.
The captain turns to face the water, gesturing at Ningguang to cling to her back. Slender arms nervously wrap around the captain’s neck as the Tianquan obeys, pressing her body close to Beidou’s taut back. The brunette wraps her arms around Ningguang’s thighs. “Ready?”
She waits until the woman she’s piggy-backing nods, before she slowly sinks into the water. Ningguang’s arms tighten around her chest, and they don’t loosen even after Beidou clambers back onto dry land, beginning the journey back to Liyue Harbour under the cover of rain.
And Ningguang’s head lolls onto her shoulder as she falls asleep, exhausted from the day. Something unfamiliar stirs in Beidou’s heart, a warmth that spreads all over her cold body and brings a gentle smile to her face.
Ningguang is such a troublesome woman to look after.
And Beidou likes her precisely because she is.
七
Their seventh encounter rides upon the winds of change. Captain Beidou finds Lady Ningguang observing a tiny glaze lily blooming in the gardens of Yujing Terrace. The Tianquan is as delicate and as graceful as the flower that blooms shyly in the soil.
“They’re growing well,” the Tianquan remarks by way of greeting, smiling at the flower quivering in the wind.
Beidou sniffs the lily. “They smell good too.” Like you.
Ningguang rolls her eyes, turning to face the brunette. “Walk with me?”
The captain shrugs, falling into a steady pace by the Tianquan’s side as they head down Feiyun Slope, towards the Golden House. Millelith salute as they pass. Merchants and citizens dip their heads respectfully as Ningguang passes, though Beidou feels curious eyes boring into her back. She can almost imagine the rumours flying now: the notorious pirate Captain Beidou, walking alongside our Tianquan, the embodiment of law and order.
“You have my thanks,” Ningguang murmurs, seemingly unfazed by the people’s stares. “For… that night.”
(When Ningguang awoke, she was tucked into bed, and Beidou had long vanished.)
“I’ve taken quite a liking to our games,” Beidou replies smoothly, “It would suck if my chess partner can’t play for a while, you know?”
(It was Beidou who had carried Ningguang back to her mansion, cleaned her up, and left her to sleep the day away.)
That familiar scowl creeps up on Ningguang’s face again. She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You are irritating, Captain.”
Beidou grins. “And you are so easily riled up, Tianquan.”
“We will agree to disagree on that,” Ningguang answers, ending the conversation. She makes a turn, and Beidou recognises this place.
Now, a resplendent stone platform hovers above the land, tethered to the ground by four thick ropes. The platform is small — barely able to fit a room — but construction has already begun to expand its surface even further.
The Jade Chamber.
“Hey, you made it work!” Beidou exclaims in awe. “How’d you do it?”
Ningguang smiles. “The papers you delivered from Sumeru were of absolute importance. I did my own experiments… the one method that worked was combining adepti sigils with plaustrite. This amplified its floating properties, allowing me to build upon its core.” She looks up at the floating platform, glowing with pride. “It won’t be long now.”
“Yeah.” There is a slight pang of disappointment in Beidou’s heart. After the Jade Chamber rises, and Ningguang moves there… will they see each other again?
Almost as if Ningguang has read her thoughts, she nudges Beidou in the arm. “Captain.”
“What?”
“Are you willing?”
“To do what?” Beidou asks, completely dumbfounded.
Ningguang looks up at the Jade Chamber again, her cheeks reddening. “It would mean everything to me if you could… stand with me on the day… the Jade Chamber ascends,” she murmurs. “And when the time comes that it hangs above all the seven nations… will you stand by my side on that day?”
Beidou stares at her, at the ambition shining in those confident wine-red eyes now fixed on the small floating platform. That ambition burns like an undying fire in Ningguang’s heart, illuminating her soul from within. She shines like the brightest star Beidou has ever known, her light more brilliant than even the north star that the Crux Fleet follows home.
And the captain stares, mesmerised by this blinding light that condenses around her own seafaring heart, lighting up the darkest corners of her soul.
Ningguang is untouchable, impossible, exceptional — a beautiful enigma— her radiant north star.
And I will follow you, for wherever you are is home.
“Yes.” Beidou lifts her lady's slender hand, pressing her lips to Ningguang’s knuckles. “On that day” — every day — “I will stand by your side, my lady.”
Forever and always.
八
They find each other before dawn, staring out at a picturesque view that is far more breathtaking than anything Captain Beidou has ever seen on the ocean.
Lady Ningguang stands by her side, a fresh, crisp breeze caressing her silky hair. Together, the captain and Tianquan watch as the first rays of the sun peek above the horizon, fingers of light piercing the veil of night, casting a welcoming glow over the slumbering sea of clouds — and over a silent Liyue Harbour far below.
“Wow,” Beidou breathes. “I could get used to this.” She’s seen the sunrise plenty of times, but never like this: never from so high above in the clouds.
It’s hard to believe that she now stands on the Jade Chamber, now floating over the harbour, just as Ningguang had dreamed.
The Tianquan beams, tearing her gaze away from nature’s performance to face Beidou. “Thank you,” she says earnestly, “For all your help, Beidou. I would not be standing here today if not for you.”
“Don’t be silly,” the captain chortles. “With or without me, you’d have found a way eventually, Ningguang.”
You’re just that brilliant after all.
Ningguang merely smiles. “Care to be my first guest in the Jade Chamber, Captain?”
“Hah! It’s an honour.”
The doors to the Jade Chamber swing open, and Beidou follows her light into a brand new world.
听说，有缘千里来相会。。。
原来我们是有缘分的星呢。
They say souls destined to meet will find their way across great distances…
So it turns out we are fated stars indeed.
—FIN.