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Ganyu couldn’t help but notice how crisp the morning air felt on her skin.
She didn’t know how else to describe the feeling but as… odd. Odd was a good word to use.
It wasn’t that there was a sense of impending doom looming over her shoulder as she worked, nor did she feel giddy as she did when there was a festival to get ready for. No, Ganyu felt odd, as if something in home had shifted half an inch to the left.
It started that morning, when Ganyu breezed past a group of secretaries as she always did before starting the paperwork. Except this time, she could feel cursory glances at her through unblinking eyelashes and felt the urge to turn around as the onslaught of whispers tickled the shell of her ears.
Even with most of her attention occupied by the numbers and words scrawled messily on the paper, she can feel eyes all around her. They weren’t hostile, but still… Ganyu was familiar with being stared at in public, but never to this extent. It unnerved her in some way, but she wasn’t sure enough to investigate it.
Ningguang’s assistants continued to whisper long after she disappeared from their gazes. She knew that they were susceptible to gossip, but something about today felt different.
Different. That was a good word to use instead.
Ganyu stopped in her tracks just in time for Baiwen to clip into her shoulder. “My apologies, Baiwen,” she said automatically, and she reached out with a hand in case Baiwen were to fall over. “I didn’t see you coming this way.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Lady Ganyu,” Baiwen said easily, and she gave her a big, peculiar smile. And it was even more bizarre to think about, considering that she and Baiwen had never greeted each other with such camaraderie.
Ganyu decided to brush it off. She put down the papers onto the corner of her desk and opened a new ink well, reveling in its smell before turning her attention to the pens. She moved one by a quarter inch, then thumbed through the paperwork to find a folder and grabbed it with a deft sleight of hand.
Ningguang’s office in the Jade Chamber didn’t take too long to get to. She tapped twice on the door with a knuckle before entering, the report on her lips only a split second after Ningguang’s welcoming words left her mouth.
They danced through their morning routine as usual, with Ningguang’s flick of the wrist to denote her attention, Ganyu’s report of yesterday’s findings and statements, and the way Ningguang would thank her and ask about her day in a way that was practiced between them.
Except, Ningguang sounded quite genuine this time. Surprised, Ganyu’s words faltered in her throat.
Ningguang looked up at her with a questioning gaze, the twirl of her pipe slowing down in her hand.
Ganyu shook her head to herself. “My day’s been good so far,” she said, almost in an off-hand manner.
And Ningguang’s smile was small, soft and gentle even, as she said, “That’s very good to hear, Ganyu.”
She passed a surprised Keqing in the main chamber. Keqing’s shoulders were squared and tensed, the press of her lips much too thin to look poised. The Yuheng had many duties when it came to serving Liyue, but Keqing had never looked so rattled about it.
“Is everything alright, Keqing?” she asked gently, and Keqing’s head shot up.
Keqing would not meet her eyes, her back pressed against a long table that she kept shuffling her feet in front of whenever Ganyu tried to crane her neck to peek. “Do you need any assistance?”
Keqing waved her hand in dismissal. Her eyes darted around the room long enough for Ganyu to notice, before it settled back on her with a fixed gaze. “No, I’m perfectly fine,” she insisted. She began to flounder through her words. “I was going to ask Ningguang for a… permit.”
“Permit?”
“Permit. Yes.” Keqing nodded her head resolutely. “For a new fishing port.”
Ganyu was baffled. “I wasn’t aware we had new construction,” she mused, and she tried desperately to look behind Keqing for the proof of permit. She had to make sure it was all up to code for the fishing laws in Liyue. “If you would like, may I—?”
“It’s still in its early development. But thank you,” Keqing said quickly. “I was going to discuss it with Ningguang. Please, take the leisure time to peruse the market for as long as you’d like.”
Ganyu’s brow scrunched. “But I—?”
“I will get back to you on the permit as soon as I can,” Keqing promised. “I heard the market just had an arrival of shipments today, I’m sure you would like to check it out.”
“But Liyue laws stipulate that shipments arrive every d—”
“Bigger shipments,” Keqing said hastily. “So. What do you say?”
In the end, Ganyu relented. They were close enough that Ganyu was sure that Keqing would seek her out if the stress was getting to her, and by the looks of the sweat that was appearing on her temples, that cliff was nearing. “Alright,” Ganyu said. “I’ll come back and help you with your paperwork at the end of the day, will that be fine?”
“Yes,” Keqing said, and her voice was higher by a slight pitch.
Ganyu played with the glove on her hand with a sigh. That woman was so hard-headed about time, and she was almost certain that Keqing’s stress stemmed from being a few seconds late to whatever she had planned for the day. No matter— Ganyu would help her with whatever she needed by sunset.
“Oh, and Ganyu?”
Ganyu craned her neck back to look at her. “Y— yes?”
“Beidou said she wanted to talk to you after sunset. At the pier.”
After a quick thanks, Ganyu hesitated outside of the Jade Chamber. She considered going back to work for a long moment before ultimately deciding to head to the Harbor. Keqing seemed adamant that she spent some time in the market, and perhaps she had a point. Ganyu needed to restock her pantry, after all, considering that she had neglected it for almost a month now.
But that was when her unusual day became even more bizarre.
Chongyun, the quiet exorcist that she often found hanging around the streets, gave her a hearty wave. She waved back, albeit in slight confusion, but she appreciated it nonetheless. His friend Xingqiu stretched out his fingers to her in greeting, and then beckoned her over with an inscrutable look.
Ganyu made a beeline for them. Once she was within earshot, Xingqiu didn’t want a single breath to ask her, “Can I inquire you about your humble opinion of Qingxin flowers?”
“Well…” Ganyu blinked in bewilderment. “I’m quite fond of them, actually.”
“I see.” Xingqiu bobbed his head, looked down at his notebook, and then scrawled something in. He did not raise his head to her again.
An odd interaction, but certainly not the most bizarre she’d ever experience. She continued to keep walking through the market, determined to find fresh fruits to pair with her supper for that night. Something deep in the pit of her stomach told her to treat herself with a nice meal for today.
Xiangling waved her over while she was craning her neck at a nearby food stall. Ganyu strolled up to her with an inquisitive smile, though Xiangling’s wave only grew in its aggression.
“Hey!” Xiangling called out loudly, despite the fact that Ganyu was standing almost directly in front of her. “How do you feel about mushrooms in your fried rice?”
Ganyu tapped her chin. She hadn’t ever considered that, so she voiced it out loud, and then added, “But I think it would be delicious if prepared correctly.”
Xiangling flashed her a quick toothy smile. “Perfect,” she declared. “You really must be hungry walking around without a meal or a snack in sight, you know. How about you sit down and grab a quick bite to eat?”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly,” Ganyu argued weakly. She was embarrassed that Xiangling had caught onto that.
“Nonsense!” Xiangling chirped. She turned her back to Ganyu with half of her body poking out from the kitchen. She looked back at Ganyu, then added, “I have a lot of food in the kitchen right now for a special occasion. You wouldn’t be bothering anyone for taking a small portion from the hundreds I already have.”
With that, Ganyu caved in.
She sat down in front of an empty outdoor table, and she was shocked to see that there were hardly any patrons. The restaurant was usually quite busy around that time of day, and now the numbers were down to her and a quiet woman reading a book next to her humble meal of noodles.
Yelan, if Ganyu could recall correctly.
She swore that Yelan peaked at her over her novel and smiled a little, but perhaps it was the hunger talking. It was hard not to get hungry around this spot in Liyue, especially with all its fresh aromas in the air and the food that were displayed on the front stalls. Plus, whatever Xiangling was cooking in copious amounts in that kitchen was hitting her nose hard, and it smelled absolutely delectable.
She ate the fried rice Xiangling gave to her in an embarrassingly short amount of time. She knocked on the door to thank her for the food, and then left a fresh apple that she bought from the market on Xiangling’s window as a small token of appreciation. Ganyu walked out of the street before Xiangling could insist she take it back.
The funeral director, Hu Tao, and her consultant named Zhongli were having a peaceful break at a tea shop that she passed by.
Ganyu swore that she saw Zhongli’s eyes flit over to her in one quick flash before Hu Tao kicked his shin under the table. Hu Tao turned to her and laughed loudly, making some raucous excuse about her consultant not getting enough sleep. An entirely unneeded excuse, considering that Ganyu barely even noticed.
Yanfei and Xinyan were chattering over something about Xinyan’s guitar.
When Yanfei spotted her, she lifted her lips into a kind smile and told her to have a very nice day. Xinyan followed suit.
Which would have been fine, and something completely in the realm of routine, had it not been for the fact that Yanfei added the “very” to her greeting. It was something she almost never did, but perhaps Ganyu was looking too deep into it.
And Yun Jin’s voice was as grand as ever, her sweet song carrying over from the walls of the tea house and into Ganyu’s heart.
In all fairness, her singing always did. It was just the fact that Yun Jin happened to play her favorite song that made her pause for a moment in her step.
The people in Liyue were acting normal as ever in the grand scheme of things, but there was a slight twinge that Ganyu couldn’t put her finger on. Was it the way they were looking at her? Whispering to each other? Smiling at her?
Or the way that they were watching her even when they believed she wasn’t looking?
Her mind raced with all the possibilities: was it something she said? Was she suffering from body odor?
Finally, when the sun was setting over the horizon and turning the sky into colors of candy, she spotted a familiar face in the thinning crowd along the pier of the Harbor.
A loosened breath was knocked out of her chest, and Ganyu put a few fingers against her chest to remind herself to breathe in.
“G’evening,” Beidou greeted her with a lopsided smile. She raised her cup to Ganyu and drank heartily. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then commented, “Just the secretary I was looking for.”
“Good evening,” Ganyu reciprocated. She shifted her weight from foot to foot uneasily. “Oh, I don’t know what it is, Beidou, but today feels a little… odd. Don’t you think so?”
She expected Beidou to guffaw at her, or to raise an eyebrow in blatant confusion.
Instead, Beidou’s eyes widened in panic, and she choked quite a bit on her drink. She put it down on a nearby barrel to pound on her chest, and Ganyu held her hands out to her in mild alarm.
“Weird, huh! You think today feels weird?” Beidou asked her incredulously, her laughter peculiarly sharp. “Bah, that’s just the nerves talking. Hey, how about we take a walk and clear your mind for a while?”
Ganyu tilted her head in confusion. “Where to?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Beidou had the same shifty eyes that Keqing did. “Maybe to Qingce? Heard that was a nice place for the scenery.”
“Qingce Village?” Ganyu said in disbelief. “Are you sure? It’s—”
Beidou took a long step to the side to prevent her from walking around her. She had a tight-lipped smile on her face. “Then just outta this harbor,” Beidou said quickly. “For about, ehhh, ten to a hundred and forty minutes?”
She looked almost antsy.
“I thought you liked hanging out on the pier?” Ganyu asked.
“I do!” Beidou was sweating slightly by the brow. Her visible panic was accentuated by her searching eyes, which landed on everything but her.
“Is everything okay?” Ganyu asked sincerely. Her brow scrunched in concern.
“‘Course. Why not?”
“Exactly my question.” Ganyu was baffled. There was nothing else she could say, and she was almost certain that Beidou looked relaxed until a minute ago. “Beidou, are you sure? You know you could tell me anything. I can escort you to the pharmacy, if you’d like.”
“No, no! Trust me, I’m fineee. I’m—” Her eyebrows peaked upwards mid-sentence. She perked up, eyes zeroed in on something behind Ganyu, and she stayed there unmoving until a slow grin crept up on her face. “—I’m perfectly fine! How do you feel about taking a walk around the Harbor instead?”
“What? But—”
“C’mon. You’ll like it.” And her smile was endlessly bright.
She put her hands on Ganyu’s back and steered her out of the pier, despite all protests.
Every single indignant word died out of her mouth the moment she stepped away from the wooden planks under her feet and into, well, a party.
And judging from the blue lanterns, the Qilin paintings on the walls, and the amounts of familiar faces greeting her with words on their lips that Ganyu could hardly process through the overwhelming feeling in her chest, the party was for her and her alone.
She combed through her brain for the current date and the explanation for the scene in front of her, even breaking a sweat as she did so, until a little girl, an employee at Bubu Pharmacy, tugged on her arm sleeve and simply said, “It’s your birthday.”
And according to the adeptus Xiao and the reclusive Shenhe, it was a gift to her from the people of Liyue who appreciate everything she’s ever done for them, a gesture spurred by a great traveler’s whisper to the Tianquan and the Liyue Qixing about how out of place she felt in their world.
It was her birthday, and she was the most fortunate to spend it amidst the nation and the people she devoted her heart to.