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“Hold…hold on, just a little further. Are you still alright? Yes? I’m so sorry…”
Yun Jin felt as if her chest might combust into fireworks. She paused yet again to catch her breath, feeling her vision spot with black, desperate to just stop and lie down, but she wasn’t doing that. Not until they were well away from the ruins and safe.
“Hey, it’s alright, we can—”
“No, no! To that overhang! We’re getting there before the rain starts, and…and we’ll be…out of range of their stomping grounds. I’m sure.” She heaved in another breath. “I’m sure.”
That Ruin Hunter may be in pieces now, but Yun Jin wasn’t waiting around long enough for its friends to show up. She got to the place she said she would get to, carrying Xinyan on her back the whole way and fighting to ignore her own wounds as she did so. Unfortunately, Xinyan had it much worse, and for this, Yun Jin deeply wished their fates could have been reversed.
She set Xinyan down gently, trying not to get weak-kneed at the sight of the blood. She wasn’t squeamish about these things, really, but this was hitting her limit. Or maybe, it was just, again, because it was her friend she was looking at and not her. Xinyan had a long gash across her right leg from the center of her calf up to her thigh, and it turned her leg into a smeared mess of blood and dirt, with a dark red line across the cut showing that it was, indeed, still actively bleeding. Her left shoulder as well was a mangled bloody mess where she took that one shot. Her shield had protected both of them from the barrage the Ruin Hunter unleashed on them, but that last shot broke the shield and hit her.
Yun Jin kept telling herself not to panic. She had some measure of first aid on her, and she knew how to use it. Venturing into the wilderness by herself so much, she had learned to take care of herself, too, if only to ensure that she was fully patched up by the time she got home so that her manager and her family would never notice. If they ever did find out she had an injury, no matter how slight, they would fret over her to no end and forbid her from going anywhere at all for a while until they calmed down.
“I’m so sorry,” Yun Jin said again, diligently getting to work disinfecting and wrapping up the leg wound but feeling her heart crack as she did so. “This is all my fault, I—”
“Hey, hey,” Xinyan cut her off, looking up at her with a weak smile. It didn’t help—looking at her face just made Yun Jin realize how unnaturally clammy and pale her dark skin had turned. “Don’t…blame yourself, okay? It’ll be fine. I adventure too, so this…this isn’t the first time I—agh!”
“Sorry! Sorry,” Yun Jin repeated, realizing she had moved the leg just a little too much. Her muscles were probably very damaged. “Just hold on,” she spoke just as a peal of thunder boomed in the background, the rain following it just seconds later. “There it is,” she observed with a measure of distaste at how the weather seemed to be impeding them at the worst time. If only the rain would deter the Ruin monsters, too. Logically, a machine should avoid getting wet, Yun Jin would think, but they didn’t. Some elements would at least have an advantage in the rain when fighting them, but unfortunately, Geo was not one of them.
Yun Jin caught her breath only briefly before moving on to Xinyan’s shoulder to do what she could for it. She wondered if she could use the rain just outside the overhang to clean her hands of her friend’s blood after she was done. “We can head out as soon as the rain lets up and travel back to Liyue Harbor. Or, actually, going that way, we can stop by Pervases’ temple first. Ever since they fixed it up, people have been going there more, so we might run into someone who can help, and if not that, it’ll be another place to take shelter and rest—while paying our respects, of course.” She had meant to stop by on their way back, anyways, actually.
Yun Jin was satisfied to see that her efforts had stayed the bleeding to some extent, but of course, she still felt awful. This was all her idea. She had wanted to go out on one of her wilderness excursions for inspiration, and Xinyan had offered to come with her, as she sometimes did. Yun Jin was happy for the company—the two of them didn’t get to see each other nearly enough nowadays, so when they had time to just go out like this, it was always a pleasant time. The possibility of having to fight alongside her hardly even crossed Yun Jin’s mind, even though, in the end, it was her who wanted a closer look at the stalking machines, deluding herself with the notion that she could avoid catching its attention.
Yun Jin thought back to that time she met the Traveler in that same kind of situation—her calmly observing a Ruin Guard and then watching it begin its attack. The Traveler dealt with it very quickly, and then was shocked at Yun Jin for her disregard of it. They said she might get hurt like that. Perhaps, they were right. The truth was, Yun Jin indulged in few worries over her own safety. However, she usually had better regard for the safety of others than this.
“How are you now?” Yun Jin dared to ask, looking into Xinyan’s half-lidded eyes with fear and hope.
“Eh, I’ll…not great, but I’ll be fine. Just, getting kinda tired…”
“No, no! Don’t do that!” Yun Jin cautioned quickly, trying to break through the delirium to remind her of that. “Please, don’t pass out. We’ll, um, we’ll talk. About what we saw before…before…oh, Xinyan, I am so sorry! I should have stayed clear of that Ruin Hunter! It’s my fault that you are hurt; I’m the one who got its attention.”
“Yeah, and it wasn’t mine or your first fight with one, either. We just got unlucky—that’s all.”
“Xinyan, stop trying to make me feel better!” she shot back. “I know you can’t be thinking I had no play in getting us into this mess! Please, kindly, say what you mean!”
“Okay, okay!” Xinyan laughed through a cough, sounding hoarse. “Okay. I get ya. I accept your apology. Are we good now?”
“Well…it’s…hardly that easy,” Yun Jin stumbled, just so Xinyan to raise her eyebrows at her with a knowing look, so Yun Jin relented. “Oh, fine. We are good. As you said. Just…like I said, you have to stay awake, and we’ll rest, and…we’ll get on our way. And everything will be fine.” She hoped. Oh, how she hoped.
“Yeah…” Xinyan blinked slowly, her eyes glazing over. “Yeah, it’s a plan.”
Yun Jin needed to say something else. She needed to keep her mind active with a conversation, but everything was leaving her all at once. “I…had a nice Jewelry Soup for lunch today, at Wanmin. Have you had the Jewelry Soup? It’s…it’s very good.”
“Heh, well, I do usually go for a spicy dish, so it’s been a while, but if you say so, maybe I could have a go at it again. It’s sure to be unique.”
“Yes, that’s right! Xiangling does have a way of making a familiar dish taste like you’ve never tasted it before. Especially if you make a special request. We’ll have to visit her together. How about that?” Yun Jin paused, suddenly losing track of what she was say. “Oh, and! On another note, I listened to the most wonderful story at the Heyu Teahouse last week. It was a new one, about the Unknown Yaksha. You know, the one from the Chasm five hundred years ago? People have been talking about it lately, I noticed, so it seems that Liu Su added it as a story. I suppose there’s just been a lot going on in the Chasm lately, hence the interest in the tales. As for me, I’m always just pleased to hear something new. It reminds me, I do wish to come out with something new myself, soon, though all I have now are scattered notes of ideas. Still, I believe I have plenty of inspiration from the people around me if I only I look—oh wait, I know! What if, I can make a play based on you?”
“Heh, me?” Xinyan echoed with a hoarse laugh. “And I thought I was the one feeling delirious right now; what are you talking about?”
“Oh, you know!” Really, must she spell it out? “Your story! I will adapt your story. Of course, I can leave your name out—I usually do in such a case—but the story will be yours.”
“Well, I’m flattered, but my story really ain’t that exciting.”
“Nonsense. You are an artist seeking to make your place along a path none have traversed before. What is not story-worthy about that?”
“Yeah, but aren’t these operas usually about dead people? Just in case you were still unsure, I’m not dead yet.”
“W-What!? Not always!” Yun Jin was appalled at the notion. “Well, maybe traditionally, but not so with my own! I just rewrote a play for Shenhe, remember? I told you the story! And she is very much alive!”
“Relax!” Xinyan laughed, and actually, Yun Jin was immensely relieved just to hear it. “I was only joking. I know your plays. I know…” She paused a moment as her face tightened in pain for a bit, before relaxing with a prolonged exhale. “I know your style. You make plays about common folks, both now and in the past, and I think that is really awesome, Yun Jin. Just…wait a bit before you start talking about me, please? I don’t think I’m ready!”
“Very well,” Yun Jin conceded. “I will wait until you are famous. Well, Teyvat-wide famous, anyways.”
“Hey! You know that ain’t my goal! I mean, if I could make more people happy with my music, great, but it don’t have to be big or anything.”
“Well, we shall see about that. After all, didn’t you mention getting a certain new friend from Inazuma you met to develop an interest in rock and roll?”
“Ha, Kazuha? Well, he’s in Beidou’s crew, so he’s practically one of us, anyways.” She laughed again, and Yun Jin could feel her heart ease a little further, if only a little. She was glad if she could, at the very least, distract her from the pain while they waited. “But fine, fine, we’ll just see where this goes and what happens, okay?” Xinyan took in a deep breath, keeping herself steady. “Actually, can we…go back, to that other thing you were talking about? The ‘Unknown Yaksha’? I’ve heard vaguely of the incident before, looped into other stories about the Cataclysm as a whole, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard that story specifically, before. Could you tell it to me?”
Yun Jin nodded with exaggerated poise, feeling very pleased. “It would be my honor.”