Chapter Text
“Go to Liyue, my Harbinger.” Her Majesty had ordered of him. “Claim the Geo Archon’s Gnosis using any means you desire. Keep in mind, My Tartaglia, I have no desire to fight a war on another front. There is no time limit on this mission.”
It was very generous of the Tsaritsa to allow him to keep to his own pace for a mission as dear to her as the Collection of certain Gnosis’, and he was even given a cover story for said mission- To keep the fraying peace between the lands of Cryo and Geo from decaying even further. However, there was something about the whole thing that didn’t make sense to him.
See, Tartaglia wasn’t someone that the Tsaritsa would just send off to Liyue without some kind of hidden objective. He was too obvious of a sight for such a thing, what with him being the Eleventh Harbinger of Her Majesty’s fools: The bloodied, ruthless, and cold-hearted Vanguard. The one who struck at threats against Her Majesty with a swiftness only expected of an Anemo User. Tartaglia was the one who was sent onto the frontlines to both lead and to fight.
(Tartaglia was the one who, in the end, would be in the middle of the fray. Because there was no other place for him to be. He could not afford being anywhere else, no matter what his wishes on the subject might be.)
It was an open secret in the lands of Eternal Frost that he had been to the Abyss. It was an even greater open secret in said lands that the lessons he learned while there had carried him through the Fatui regiment and into the position of Harbinger. It was even more an open secret that Tartaglia didn’t mind using those lesson to correct insubordination, which had quickly petered out within the first two months of Tartaglia being fully recognized as a Harbinger.
One only needed to witness the twin blades of pure, condensed Hydro that he would summon as an executioner’s tool to know it. It was visible in the murky black that clung to the blades, dripping like tar, and infused with malice. It was visible in the unholy gleam in his eyes when he would call upon a power that was celestial-granted alongside his Hard-Won Abyssal Powers. It was visible in the darkening of the vision proudly displayed on his belt when filled to the brim with elemental energy that was wielded a little too keenly for even the War-Forged souls of Natlan.
So it made no sense to Tartaglia that Her Majesty, who had given Tartaglia very explicit instructions to not cause Morax- a God rumored to be one of Battle Prowess- to try and retaliate against her movements in his lands, sent him. Someone who, no doubt, had the same rumors spread about him all the way to Inazuma- Scaramouche certainly liked to grouch about some ‘Uppity Fox Bitch’ who wanted to meet him so badly. Someone who was, like Her Majesty, sworn to destroy all those like him and erase all traces of the Abyss, anything that could connect him to that fallen, sinful land that had been cast out of light.
(It didn’t matter that there had been innocent people in that chaos. It didn’t matter that Tartaglia had only entered the Abyss long, long after that fateful day. It didn’t matter- because he had been touched by the Abyss, and thus the Celestial-Granted Vision on his hip- which came to him in the Abyss- made no sense.)
Tartaglia didn’t understand it, but he supposed it wasn’t in his job description to understand. He just needed to follow his orders like a good Harbinger and not anger Her Majesty. She would protect him, would allow him to continue enjoying the warmth that his heart-made lands didn’t have, so long as he followed orders and continued to do as he was told.
And, he supposed, Morax would just have to suck it up. Besides, even in the fathomless depths of the Abyss were there rumors of Morax. Geo Archon, lord of Mora, and God of Martial Arts. Rumors of his kindness, of his strictness, and of his relatively fair judgement. Rumors of his fierce protection of Liyue.
Tartaglia figured that if he kept his claws sheathed and hoarded a couple of elemental gemstones to supplement his diet- which had to be plentiful in the land of Geo, no?-, he could force himself into being more… was the word domestic? Less inclined towards violence?
(Geo gemstones wouldn’t suffice for extreme periods of time, but for a land that was said to have been borne of Elemental Energy, hopefully he could find something he could consume to ease his abyssal hungering to devour.)
He wasn’t certain, but it mattered very little. If he could convince Morax to allow him to stay in Liyue, and that he meant no harm towards the people the God was sworn to protect, then it would be easier to talk Morax into letting go of his Gnosis.
Ah. Wait, wasn’t Morax also the god of Contracts? Perhaps that would be a way to go. Convince the Dragon-God that the people of Liyue were capable of standing on their own, and the Archon could relax his hold- didn’t he have those Adepti people to look after Liyue or something? However, none of it would be possible if he couldn’t convince the God that he meant no harm to the people of Liyue- which, perhaps, could be made into its own contract to help ease things along?
The answer to how he was going to go around with convincing Morax of that, however, didn’t come to him until he was already in the middle of Ocean, surrounded by the salt-spray and ocean-thrum that made up Oceanic Life.
See, he has a special condition- multiple, really, but he was focusing on one very specific condition. One that he’d used multiple times to his own advantage. It was unlikely that anyone would buy his act if they believed him to be the Eleventh Harbinger, but it would plant a seed.
Not of doubt, sure, but… perhaps, one of hesitancy. One that would let Tartaglia convey his intentions.
After all, how many people would believe literal children were capable of destroying entire nations?
(Much, much later, Tartaglia would come to regret that last thought of his. Were all children of Teyvat… like that? Not even children in the Abyss were like her!)
(Actually, no. He wasn’t regretting a single thing. He was enjoying this far too much to mind!)
--- --- ---
Arrival at the docks of Liyue Harbor was met with much rejoicing among the crewmates, and Ajax couldn’t help but grin along with the crew’s cheer. Two weeks of being stuck with the same group of people in close-quarters, and with all of them not letting Ajax have his fun in jumping overboard and swim using his Vision and innate powers had him growing bored and anxious.
He understood their worry, but why did they have to insist on not letting him prove he would be fine? To make matters worse, the moment his feet touched the wood of the docks, he got accosted by his second-in-command for an introduction to someone who would be his guide to Liyue and all its pleasures.
“Sir, I must beg of you to keep your games to a minimum. We’re paying a heavy fee to borrow the knowledge of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s Consultant. Do not run him off, Sir.” Ajax’s second-in-command grumbled at him for her greeting, and Ajax couldn’t help his giggling laughter.
“Katya,” Ajax began, grinning. “You wound me. Would I really do such a thing?” He knew, without fail, that his amusement was showing in full force. His second-in-command hadn’t suffered through years of being his second-in-command for nothing, after all, and two months of separation was hardly going to change that.
“You would, Sir, if it brought you amusement.” Delivered in her dry deadpanned tone, Ajax couldn’t help but let his laughter ring out for everyone to hear. It was good to have his Second-In-Command by his side once more, even if he could do without the side-eying going on in his direction from the local dock workers.
As it turned out, Ekaterina had a reason to worry about Ajax running off the Funeral Consultant who had been hired to teach him. The man was absolutely radiant in the Golden Glow of Liyue’s Archon, in the same way a carved statue shined when it was polished, and the sunlight hit the surface at just the right angle.
(Adepti? Morax himself, hiding among the populace? Why would the God take to work in a funeral parlor of all things? Was it a morbid sense of humor, blessing a normal human who worked in the business of death so strongly that he might as well have been a walking Statue of the Seven?)
The man was just standing there, eyes casting around the docks but routinely flickering back to the ship that Ajax and his people had just left. Ajax watched for a few moments, mesmerized by the gentle billowing of the man’s dark hair that faded into the equally Golden Glow of Geo at the tips, and bit back a vicious grin.
There was no way that the Consultant had been told who to expect. Among the Fatui, the chaos Ajax could cause by being underestimated had led to something of a tradition that even the Tsaritsa had even given it her seal of approval, although unofficially. There was something about being completely blind-sided by him that left everyone off-kilter and even sated a deep need in him to cause trouble.
(The less mentioned that the ‘trouble’ talked about usually involved causing bloodshed, the better. Ajax had been very careful to work with Her Majesty once his little abyssal secret had been surged forth, and it had benefited everyone in the end.)
Ajax motioned to his Second and dismissed her once he had the confirmation that tall, dark, and glowing was, in fact, the Consultant he was supposed to follow around and he wasn’t ogling some poor innocent non-civilian by sheer circumstance and chance.
(No. No way someone that caked in pure, unrefined Geo was a civilian. Morax was old, sure, but Ajax doubted that he was that senile, too. That much energy on a single person would cause health hazards- as Ajax learned well in the brief time between him getting conscripted into the Fatui and his secret being unleashed to the Harbingers and the Tsaritsa.)
(So. Was this made an Adepti, some sort of well-beloved Priest, or Morax himself? A large part of Ajax hoped that it was the latter, but he figured it was probably the former.)
Oh, he could have fun with this. If his only requirements were to not run the consultant off… well, Ajax felt that those who aligned with Geo’s Steadfast nature weren’t going to be so easy to scare off. Not with how healthy that Geo glow around him was, at any rate.
“Mister,” Ajax began, voice soft once he walked up closer to the man and waited for the man to give him his attention. “Are you the consultant that was hired by the Northland Bank?” He did his best to try and channel the innocence of actual children as he spoke to the man, and the double take that he did was nearly enough to make Ajax laugh. But no, he had a role to play, and play it he would.
(The Balladeer hadn’t painstakingly taught him the art of theater just for it be in vain, after all. His size was an advantage to be used and use it he would!)
“Ah… Who might you be, young one?” The consultant asked gently as he took in Ajax. The quick, worried glance between the ship Ajax had just disembarked and the mask on the side of his head he knew contained literal power was enough to tell him everything. Oh, this really was going to be too much fun. It was almost too much, there’s nothing
“I am Tartaglia, the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbinger’s, sent to Liyue by Her Majesty the Tsaritsa to aid in strengthening economic and political relationships between Snezhnaya and Liyue! Please, call me Childe!” Ajax tried his best for a precocious child, voice, posture, and all. There was a momentary darkening of the consultant’s face, but it was gone just as quickly as it came, and Ajax knew he had hit the mark on all his scores.
“I see…” The consultant’s growled out, his voice rumbling and setting off Ajax’s instinct to want to play with predators more dangerous than him- oh yes, this was no civilian. “I understand, do not worry. I will not allow you to come to harm.” A hand was dropped onto Ajax’s head and ruffled his hair, messed it all up, and Ajax would forever deny the squawk that came out of his mouth that action. “As for your earlier question, I am indeed the Consultant hired by the Northland Bank. My name is Zhongli, and I suppose I’m to be your guide to this land.”
“Well, Mister Zhongli, I don’t suppose you know any good spots to sit down eat. I’m hungry from the trip and think I might as well get myself acquainted with the cuisine I’ll be dining upon for the foreseeable future- the payment, of course, will be handled by the Northland Bank.”
Ajax enjoyed the briefest flash of molten gold enter the consultant’s eyes and set off after the man when he nodded his head, turned, and began to lead the way through the streets of Liyue Harbor. All the while telling stories of the history of the Harbor itself, which Ajax found absolutely fascinating- just because he had a history of being a violent brat didn’t meant he couldn’t appreciate the rich tones the consultant spoke up, or the way he could vividly paint the descriptions of that the harbor looked like ages ago, thank you very much.
(Puzzles pieces were falling onto the board. It was just Ajax’s time to wait to gather more of those puzzle pieces before trying to put them all together. He knew patience, and patience he would deploy. He had to, if only to draw out Morax from hiding. Or, perhaps, to another lunch date with this very knowledgeable funeral consultant!)
--- --- ---
Lunch, as it turned out, was a very simple affair- A small daughter-and-pop shop that was run by a man who apparently knew what a certain Mister Consultant wanted to order almost as soon as he laid eyes on the man, and Ajax soon learned why after spending a second to look through a small list made available to him upon his request.
The food was amazing. Not a Tsaritsa-Grade Feast, but something needed to be said about the small crafted-with-love restaurants that existed outside of the Grand Festival atmosphere.
Ajax had ordered something small and that didn’t require the use of chopsticks- something without some kind of peppers that were apparently super spicy and were typically too much for non-Liyue folk to handle and something that wouldn’t embarrass him more than necessary- but the meat practically melted in his mouth, and the herbs used to season the meat gave everything a fancy aroma and texture without being overwhelming. The sauce was even sweet, which was a bit of a surprise, but Ajax didn’t hate it. It just added to the wholeness of everything he was currently in the process of trying to devour.
“You may wish to slow down, Childe.” The consultant offered up after a moment, sounding both a tad bit amused and worried. “The food will not disappear if you take your time to appreciate it. I fear you will choke if you keep eating at this pace.”
Which, right. Table manners were a thing to behold, especially in public. Whoops- it was good thing none of the other Harbingers were around to scold him. He could do without the particular kind of embarrassment, really. That said, the consultant was technically right in that the food wasn’t going to go missing if he slowed down eating it.
It was just.. the food was very good. And Ajax was hungry. Although, now that he was thinking about it, it probably was just a hungering for more… elemental foods that he was feeling. However, there was probably no way to politely bring that up in casual conversation without being rude, so he could refrain.
Besides… He could afford to slow down his pace. He could afford to not eat all the food supplied to him right now. He could afford to not eat right this moment when the food would do nothing except sit in his stomach like an uncomfortable weight. He was going to be staying in Liyue for the foreseeable future. He could come back any future point in time to enjoy whatever other foods were here, after he got the tour and filled his belly in the wilderness with an elemental stone or two.
So, putting on the airs of a grumbling child told to stop enjoying something, Ajax complied with the request asked of him. He slowed down the pace at which he ate and made certain to make mention of being full at the appropriate time, and I’m sorry, Mr. Zhongli, I really am full. It was all really yummy, though!
It was a cruel joke on the consultant’s part to ask him if he wanted any sort of deserts, and Ajax seriously debated on if it was worth it to try consume more non-nourishing food but made the ultimate decision when he remembered that he had something packed away in his luggage, just waiting for him to unpack it and consume. Something that would state his hunger for a time, although with how small it was it wasn’t meant to do more than tide him over for an hour or so to help him sustain himself in the event he needed to get somewhere else to heal. It would probably be more than enough to get him out of Liyue Harbor and into the Plains itself. From there, hopefully the cover of nightfall would be enough to cover his tracks if he got a little sloppy with his feast.
(There had to be something worth it in a land so full of Geo. Worse come to worse, he’d lower his requirements from elemental hydro to just elemental in nature. Hydro was just a preference, but abyssal creatures like him didn’t really care what flavor power was, just that it was there for consumption.)
“I’m sorry, Mr. Zhongli,” Ajax began, mournful and remorse. Face downcast and displaying the nervous tick of a shifting foot being dragged against the ground. “I was so ready to explore, but now I’m really tired… Can we get sweets sometime tomorrow? If.. If you aren’t busy, that is.”
“Of course, Childe.” The consultant nodded his head, and gently escorted Ajax to a section of apartments that were away from the general hubbub of Liyue, and away from the Northland Bank.
It was something about how the specific set of apartments were set out for visiting dignitaries from other nations, and how the apartments came about because of one person complaining about how the mornings in Liyue were so loud with all the people coming and going from the marketplace that they hardly had gotten any sleep- because Liyue Harbor was a city that did not sleep, the consultant made certain to mention.
“If you ever need anything, there will be at least one Vendor who will most likely supply you with what you need.” Ajax was told, with a pointed side look and a warm smile that Ajax would not decipher. “Most of the establishments that rely upon tourists will be closed- such as the antique shops and the jade betting- but the shop owners who keep their stalls opened during the nights are usually also willing to not ask questions depending on what you need. For both a discount and a price, depending.”
Ajax wasn’t certain why exactly he was being told this bit of information, but he nodded his head and continued to follow the consultant through a set of heavy, but elegantly designed, iron doors and into a massive, green courtyard. There were a couple of Millelith Guards patrolling said courtyard, but Ajax ignored them for the time being, too focused on the massive pond that in the center of said courtyard.
It was massive- larger than pond he’d seen in the Cryo Archon’s palace, although he supposed it made more sense here in Liyue where they wouldn’t freeze solid every couple of minutes. It was also full of little floating pads and leaning over the edge of the railing around the pond, full of colorful fish. Some were orange, some were white, some were red. Some of the fish were even a speckle of all three colors, mixed in with a small splash of black dots.
Ajax couldn’t see any sort of mechanical motor that would keep the water churning gently to prevent mold buildup, but he supposed that it wasn’t really relevant. Hopefully someone was around to take care of the fish, though, otherwise he was going to have to get creative in his use of… liberation.
(What kind of fish were these, anyways? He hadn’t thought to look up the local aquatic like of Liyue before his departure. It would be redundant to try and save the fish from suffocating in old, mold water only to toss them somewhere they were going to get gobbled up because they were fish that lacked a survival instinct. That’d just be plain ol’ stupid, and Ajax was many things, but he liked to think of himself as being ‘Not-Stupid’. )
Ajax was cut out of his thoughts by the consultant waving his hand in the corner of Ajax’s field of view, a small frown on his face.
“Is everything alright, Mr. Childe?” The consultant asked after a second, making certain that Ajax’s attention was on him instead of the pond. The man had even turned his own attention to the pond, as if trying to find some invisible slight.
Ajax, for his part, decided to play up the part of a tired child and simply shook his head. He could address the issue of the fish once he’s gotten a feel for the land itself, which he couldn’t do while he was being escorted left and right. Admittedly, it sort of was the job that the consultant had been hired for, but still.
The consultant didn’t seem to believe him but made no further inquiries in that direction. Instead, he motioned to one of the Millelith Guards who was beside him and mentioned that the ‘kind gentleman’ had agreed to escort Ajax to his specific apartment- since the consultant wasn’t a visiting dignitary or person of high esteemed importance, he wasn’t allowed within the building proper for security purposes unless he had prior permission.
Ajax guess he understood. It was the same for the Cryo Archon’s palace. The Harbinger Wing required special permission to access unless you were a Harbinger or the Tsaritsa herself. Everyone else was watched like a hawk watches its prey, and the slightest cause for concern was usually met with hostility.
Not that the Harbinger’s required the security, but rather it was the families that the Harbingers usually stored there. Civilians, who otherwise would have nothing to do with the Fatui except that a member of their family was involved a position of power that would, could, and has, attracted the attention of others. Unprotected families were a weakness, but not one that the Tsaritsa prohibited.
(As much as Ajax wanted to put his three precious starlights in that wing, he had no desire to deal with the rest of baggage that came with them, and his precious starlights would refuse to be separated for long periods of time from said baggage. Which was a security risk all of its own, so Ajax had never purposed the idea to them. He knew at least one of them would drop the baggage like burning coal, but the other two were two young. Too attached to the notion of ‘perfect family’ to see what the parents were like. Ajax did not fault them this- they, at the very least, were loved. Ajax was not.)
So, Ajax understood the security of ‘esteemed visiting guests’ apartments. Except he also didn’t, because what was to stop someone from just… sending a volleyball of Pyro down upon the building? He’d seen some Vision Users use their powers pretty far detached from their person, after all.
But still. He had no reason to complain, no matter the fact that he was playing the part of a little kid and that was something that kids typically liked to do. He also had to attempt to pretend to play pretend adult. Which, in his hind brain, was a hilarious concept.
A small part of him wondered how easy it would be to break into other people’s apartments. He shoved that part down of his thoughts as the door to his room was opened and he was left, rather unceremoniously, standing in front of his apartment.
It was… alright, he supposed. Three rooms, a large open balcony, and very oriental, which Ajax supposed was going to pretty much be the trend for his stay in Liyue. There was a faint trace of the more modern age in the apartment, however- no matter how much Ajax wasn’t supposed to cause a riot and pick a fight with the entirety of Liyue, he would have if the apartment didn’t have even the basics of modern plumbing and electricity. A ceiling fan that worked, a kitchen area- open to the rest of the living room- and a pretty sizable living space.
The bedroom, Ajax was more pleased to note, was completely modern. While there was an option for the more traditional Liyue-style of sleeping using a hardened pillow, there was already a small collection of softer pillows already on his bed.
Even more pleasing to Ajax were the numerous boxes that were neatly piled into the living room, with not a single unseen Hydro Mark of his having been triggered- which mean whoever was moving his stuff to his apartment hadn’t tried to take a peek. It was a simple affair to find and locate the one with all his clothes and toiletries, and from there it was an even more simple affair to get himself set for bed and calling it a night.
He barely remembered to set a small alarm- once more using his mastery over his Hydro element- to quietly go off in a couple of hours so he could be awake during the night.
He did still need to go and grab some actual food for himself to eat, and he needed to learn the layout of Liyue. Sure, he could do it during the day, but Ajax found that night hunts were more fun than hunts during the day. Mix it up, add a little variety into the lives of others. How often could a Millelith Guard claim they got to chase a Harbinger clear across Liyue in the middle of the night? Not very often, Ajax figured- what with him literally being the only one who would ever think of doing something like this and then executing it physically instead of making someone under his command play dress up and risking their life.
But for now, he would rest and try to get some sleep in his system before he went on what would most likely be a very full day tomorrow.
--- --- ---
“Lady Ganyu, might a borrow a moment of your time? I understand how busy you are, but I have concerns regarding the diplomat from Snezhnaya.” Zhongli- mortal guise of Rex Lapis- asked the moment the child he’d spent the better part of the afternoon with disappeared behind the doors to the apartment rented out to visiting diplomats. The Qilin-hybrid with the blessing of Cryo, diligent as she was, was just as sharp-witted, and knew exactly what Zhongli wanted to talk about, because no sooner had the words left his mouth did the young woman frown and stand up at attention.
“Mr. Zhongli, do you think the Eleventh Harbinger managed to dupe an innocent child into playing his role? When we noticed you were guiding a child around, we set a small contingent of Millelith soldiers to search for the missing Harbinger, but so far they haven’t found any sort of trace of the man. The current theories are that the 11th Harbinger never made it to shore, or he’s very good at evading detection and slipping past
Which. That’s about what Zhongli expected, but it worried him in no small amount.
You see, Zhongli had heard of the rumors of the Cryo Archon’s 11th General.
He had heard the rumors of the kindness the man could perform for those under his protection- how he’d move entire towns to keep them safe. He had heard of how the 11th Harbinger would go out of his way for children and make their wishes come true if they were reasonable enough- and the 11th General seemed to have a very broad, very loose sense of what was ‘reasonable’.
However, Zhongli was not blind to all the rumors of the 11th Harbinger.
Tartaglia. The ruthless Vanguard of the Eternal Frost. The one who strikes first and strikes last, blades bloodied beyond measure. The one who left whatever battlefield he was in a complete barren wasteland devoid of anything except needlessly shed blood. The one who was always looking to fight stronger and stronger foes, because nothing else would state his hunger for battle.
It only stood to reason that the 11th Harbinger, with the history to back it up, would likely be arrogant and cocky. Those who developed power, but not the means by which to temper themselves, usually were. They had survived, after all- what else was there to do except continue to battle and survive?
(He had been in such a position, once. Once, when he was a quite bit younger than he currently was and had the company to teach him how to fix himself for a world where his major battle was done and over and his was the victor of.)
(He wondered, not for the first time, how such conflicting rumors could exist about the same person.)
However, such a man had not be given to him by the contact person the Northland Bank had offered him. Ekaterina, was it? She had escorted a literal child to him, and then listened to the child when they motioned for her to leave without so much as a twitch.
It left a bitter taste in his mouth. That wasn’t even to mention the fact that the child was covered head to toe in the bitterness of the Abyss, in a way that no child ever had the right to be.
It was the Abyss part of the child that was really throwing him for a loop, however.
He’d seen others who had tried to harness the power of the abyss, but they all had two features in common- a general lack of sanity and a complete lack of empathy. The more power one gained from the Abyss, it felt like the more they lost their sense of self.
The child was displaying none of those symptoms, and much more alarming was the fact that a child even had Abyss energies clinging to them like second skin to begin with and wasn’t ill. It couldn’t have been because he was a child- Zhongli had seen too many people sacrifice their children to the Abyss back in the beginning of its known existence to Teyvat to know that Childe’s survival wasn’t simply chalked up to being young and flexible.
No, there was something else at play, and Zhongli couldn’t figure it out. It was making something nasty curl up inside of him, ready to lash out and howl and to hoard the child away inside of a nest so that nothing else could harm little Childe.
Childe. The child had called himself Childe. Was it his true name, or a name that was given to the kid by the 11th Harbinger as a ploy to deceive him further? There had been no taste of deceit on the child when he’d uttered that name, but at the same time there was very little of the child that Zhongli could actually tell of the kid from ambient energies alone.
The kid had a genuine Hydro Vision- something that surprised him, when one considered the sheer amount of natural abyssal energy attached to the kid. He smelled of petrichor- the smell one gets after a fall of rain- and of something both thick and heavy, like a syrup that’s started to go bad. Something that was trying to be two different things, which Zhongli supposed was fitting considering the very paradoxical existence of little Childe.
He had called for the Cryo Archon to test Liyue- not himself. This was outside of the preview of their contract- except was it really? He had left wiggle room in the contract, on both sides, to allow for unknown factors to enter the play. However, Zhongli couldn’t help but feel himself begin to growl all over again.
If it turned out that the 11th Harbinger had decided to dupe an innocent child into playing his role, contract or not, Zhongli was going to raise hell upon the- genuine- Harbinger the first time they laid eyes upon each other. Children were precious lives that were to be protected, not used as weapon fodder because the 11th Harbinger wanted to play the ‘plausible deniability’ card.
“… I do not know what to think, except that young Childe is a child in a very precarious situation… As much as it may gall me, I fear it may be more wise to allow this deception to continue for the time being. Please, if you find any traces of the actual 11th Harbinger, let me know. I will continue to allow young Childe- assuming that is his real name- the deception that’s been built up, and I will do what I can to protect him should the 11th Harbinger find fault with… whatever game he’s playing.”
“I understand, Mr. Zhongli. Please rest assured, the Qixing will get to the bottom of this mystery. We can rest easy knowing that you’ll be taking of young Mr. Childe.” With that, Zhongli bid Ganyu a good evening, apologizing for taking up some of her precious time, and Zhongli turned to head to his own apartment- mind wandering back to the precious child caked in abyssal filth and the missing 11th Harbinger.
Zhongli had his doubts about the whole situation- the kind himself, not the situation with the missing Harbinger-, although he’d hold off from judgement until he could get a better grasp of the situation. He’d never met an abyssal being who hadn’t been crazed into violence, and while the child had been more than ravenous when it came to eating (and Zhongli felt his heart squeeze when he realize why the child might have been eating like a feral wolf tasting food after a long period of starvation) the child hadn’t shown any of the usual symptoms of being abyssal touched.
Nor was the child showing symptoms of abyssal poisoning, either. Which, seeing as the child’s Hydro vision with its Snezhnayan setting was on proud display on the child’s hip, meant either that the Cryo Archon had found a cure for Abyssal Poisoning and was keeping quiet, or that the child was immune.
Both were just as implausible as they were impossible. The very nature of the abyss was to corrupt, which made immunity impossible. If you tried medicine for one thing, the lingering abyssal energies would mutate and come back with vengeance- the most one could do in that situation was either manage symptoms tentatively and live an agonizing life or be given a swift death as a mercy.
As for the Cryo Archon keeping quiet about having a cure? Or some sort of medicine that functioned to combat the Abyss? Highly unlikely. For all the Cryo Archon was bitter with the world and Celestia at large, even she knew better than to keep something so important to the humans the Archons protected to herself. Every Archon- new and old- was at threat from the Abyss, and any sort of breakthrough in terms of combating the abyss and its corruption tended to be shared among all the Seven, no matter the sour relationship between them.
Besides. The chance to lord it over the rest of the Archons would have been motivation enough to share the knowledge.
Which made the child- a charmingly, albeit hilariously named Childe- an anomaly all of their own, and Zhongli was going to protect the child with all his might, because no one deserved to be used like the 11th Harbinger was using the child. Not someone who survived so much, at such a young age at that.
(There was a third option, Zhongli realized. Celestia interfered in Childe’s life down in the abyss and stopped him from dying. However, Celestia was not moved by the plights of mortals- it had not since the close of the Archon Wars, and that debacle with a nation that had been… that had been cast down into the Abyss. Zhongli stopped his thoughts there. Down that road was treason to the very contract he’d been asked to uphold since he became the Geo Archon. Down that road was treason to the very foundation of modern-day Teyvat. That was not something that he was willing to risk upon the world, regardless of his impending retirement.)
Idly, Zhongli wondered what kind of days he was going to be having before he could retire from being an Archon. They were certainly going to be something, alright. He really shouldn’t be adopting any new hatchlings this close to his retirement, but… well, it wasn’t like he spent the majority of his days not doing Archon work to begin with. Besides- he was certain his beloved Adepti would understand and also come to protect this little child. Mortal life was precious, yes, but abyssal-touched creatures were, by the nature of being abyssal, longer lived. Like himself with his nature as both Adepti and Divine. Surely he could take care of one child who would not die within a few years’ time, right?
(He could deal with a drunk Barbatos. Just how much more trouble could this one abyss-child be?)
(Much, much later… he’d remember those words, and shudder at the realization that perhaps he had accidentally cursed himself.)