Chapter Text
Hu Tao opens her eyes, and it is to a blue, blue sky.
She chokes when she takes in her first breath; there's blood in her mouth, rot and mud caught between her teeth. She rolls over and props herself up on her hands, hacking up the corruption. The dark sludge fizzles away as soon as it makes contact with the dirt. Everything hurts. Her ribs are sore, her arms shake just from the exertion of propping herself upright. Hu Tao hasn't felt this weak in centuries.
She draws in a deep breath. The air is cold as it hits the back of her throat. She curls up, tucking her legs beneath her and finally raises her head to look around.
This place does not resemble Wuwang Hill at all.
The leylines are still the same, faint as they are. They way they extend outwards from her resting place- that's the only way she can tell that she hasn't been moved. Otherwise, it's as if she's woken up in an entirely different world.
She's on top of a grassy hill. There's not a single tree in sight. There's no fog, or even a single cloud overhead. The sun beats down on her from the sky overhead. It's perhaps early spring, just after the winter thaw, Hu Tao muses. The breeze is chilly but the sunlight is warm.
The stone ruins that had once been signature of Wuwang hill are now entirely gone, not even rubble remaining. But that towering stone cliff is still familiar, even if it has seemed to have shrunk during Hu Tao's long nap.
Shakily, like a newborn fawn, Hu Tao pushes herself up onto her feet. Her muscles are sore, and they protest every step she takes. She stumbles a few times as she makes her way down the grassy hill, but eventually, she manages to figure out a steady pace. With the trees gone like this, she can see the entirety of the Liyue basin from the crest of the hill.
Even that has changed. The landscape is practically unrecognizable. The tree Wangshu Inn had been built on is gone. There is a forest growing in the distance where the Guili Plains used to be. Minlin still seems to be as mountainous as ever, but rock has always been particularly resistant to change.
"Wow." She says. The words come out in a croak, her throat unused to enunciation after centuries of disuse. She turns her head gaze in the direction of where Qingce village used to be. She can't tell whether the village itself still remains, but the bamboo forests that had surrounded the village are certainly still there. Hu Tao shifts her weight from foot to foot, testing her strength.
There isn't a proper road to where Qingce Village was, not from Wuwang hill anyway. There hadn't been one however many centuries in the past, and there certainly isn't one now. Hu Tao slides down the side of the grassy hill, the blades of grass tickling her shins. She steps through a river, the water sinking into her shoes. The bamboo forest on the other side of the river towers over her head. Hu Tao closes her eyes, drawing in another breath of crisp mountain air. For a moment, it's as if nothing has changed.
She doesn't run into a single monster on her journey through the bamboo. There's not a hilichurl in sight, and certainly no abyss mages. The only creatures she'd run into were the small woodland creatures that had scattered underneath her feet, and a small pack of hydro slimes by the river that had swiftly dove beneath the nearby stones to flee from her. Something like elation rises up in Hu Tao's chest as she wanders, longer and longer without seeing a single abyss-touched creature.
Qingce village isn't Qingce village anymore, either. When Hu Tao finally rises to the crest of the hill, she's greeted by even more wilderness. The area has transformed into a hilly marsh; the rice terraces of the past are long since eroded away. The only familiar part to the valley is the waterfall situated at the back of the basin.
Instead of the collection of wooden houses and stone steps of the Qingce village of the past, there's only a single house perched on a hill just across the valley from Hu Tao. It's a small Liyue-style house, achingly familiar in its architecture compared to the overgrown wilderness surrounding it. Even from this far away, Hu Tao can make out the traces of a small vegetable garden in front of the house. Its windows are clean too.
Hu Tao stares at the house. She tests her powers, trying to see if she can make it across the valley in a single jump. Just the stretch feels like pulling on an overused muscle, and Hu Tao winces at the exertion. She ends up slipping down the side of the hill she's standing on and trudging through the marshy village towards the house the old fashioned way.
She sees the mailbox first when she approaches the house. A lump forms in Hu Tao's throat; there's a constellation carved into the side of the mailbox, and it is a terribly familiar one. Hu Tao checks her appearance in the window pane. She looks human enough. There's no strange limbs or black spots seeping through her skin. Her eyes are a bit too red, and she forces them back into the amber shade she'd preferred before. Satisfied with her apperance, she raises a hand to the door and lightly raps her fist against the wood twice.
A short wait later, the door creaks open, and Hu Tao stops breathing.
Yanfei hasn't changed much, compared to the last time Hu Tao saw her. Her antlers are larger, sloping outwards from the back of her head. The half-adeptus has her hair chopped short now too. She looks visibly older, too. Far more tired, certainly, with much less of the brightness that a young Yanfei had happily carried around.
Yanfei makes a small noise when she sees Hu Tao, hands flying up to cover her mouth.
"Hi, Yanfei." Hu Tao laughs, watery. She's suddenly so, so, tired. "It's been a while." She tries to smile. There are tears threatening to spill past her lashes already. Her limbs ache and her head hurts and she's missed Yanfei- terribly, wonderfully.
"Hu Tao." Yanfei chokes out. She lowers her hands and lets out a sob. When she launches herself forward, Hu Tao catches her. Her legs go out from beneath her, and both girls go crumbling to the ground.
"Hi," Hu Tao repeats, squeezing her arms around over Yanfei's shoulders. "Sorry I was gone for so long." The tears run well and truly free now.
"Hu Tao." Yanfei repeats, sobbing. The half-adeptus buries her face in the crook of Hu Tao's neck, and Hu Tao rubs soothing circles into her girlfriend's back. Yanfei clings to Hu Tao, her nails digging almost painfully into Hu Tao's skin. Hu Tao tucks her face into Yanfei's hair. She smells like rosewater shampoo.
Eventually, the sobbing ceases, and Yanfei pulls back. She cups Hu Tao's face in her hands, running a thumb over Hu Tao's cheekbone. Hu Tao rests her hands on Yanfei's waist.
"Hi." Yanfei laughs, still watery. "Welcome back."
Hu Tao lets out a choked laugh. "I'm back." She leans in again, and Yanfei meets her in the middle for a kiss.