Talking to the Moon

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The Tianquan. Or as Beidou often referred to her as: ‘Liyue’s Little Princess’.

Ningguang had done nothing wrong, of course. She was consistently admired and awarded for her leadership, making a positive impression on her people with policy and personality. To her, Liyue wasn’t just a nation, it was her home. Which is why she had a considerable talent for preserving its business and culture. Beidou’s issue, however, was that it was hard to steal from the people you didn’t hate to at least a small degree, so she found that one of her main hobbies was nitpicking irrational things about the people she stole from. In Ningguang’s case, Beidou claimed she didn’t like her because she was ‘too fancy’. Which was true, to an extent, though she kept more humble about it than others.

After frequent successful expeditions of stealing the gems from Teyvat’s most important, the Crux proposed a hit against Liyue’s Tianquan. A distracting event was crucial to tasks such as these, and the upcoming Lantern Rite, that Ningguang would have to make an appearance at, made it the perfect opportunity to strike.

The festival saw hundreds of people celebrating in the streets of Liyue Harbor, decorated with dancing bright lights, fluid puppetry of large dragons, floating lanterns, sparking fireworks and street vendors with sweet and savoury aromas you could smell from miles away. Beidou proposed she do this mission alone, giving her crew an opportunity to relax and celebrate for a night.

Beidou sat at the edge of the pristine concrete base of the Jade Chamber, peering down at the blur of lights and festivities she’d be missing out on this year, though she figured that if she was quick enough she might be able to grab a plate of something warm and spicy from the harbor’s bustling restaurants. She stood up and walked to the outside of the Chamber, stealthing its walls to a side-entry door of the building. She twirled the dangling silver keys around her finger that she’d pickpocketed from one of Ningguang’s guards a few hours prior.

‘It really is too easy’, she laughed to herself as she unlocked the door to the Chamber’s main room. It only took looking around once to clearly see which room belonged to the ‘princess’.

*** The doors to Ningguang’s bedroom were grand. A towering curve of an arch, perfectly carved into the wall, patterned with twisting and entwining orange and brown patterns. The detailing of the lines were laced with a smooth gold, forming an accent that set them apart from their surrounding standard wooden walls. Even those with the simplest of minds could easily figure out that these were the doors to Ningguang’s room. Beidou snorted. ‘Typical’. Though she could admit, they did make her quite impressed, even if she couldn't appreciate their true beauty in the dark blue of the night. She rested her fingers on the handles of the doors, giving herself a reassuring moment that she had to be quick and quiet. She knew Ningguang was quite plentiful with whom she employed to work in her Jade Chamber, so Beidou knew she didn’t have long before someone walked in. She pushed the doors open, revealing a large bedroom. The walls towered up, the patterns on them following, meeting in the centre of the ceiling to form into pictures of mythical animals and constellations. The curtains that framed her bed were made with a soft pale-gold fabric. The dark wooden floors were mostly covered by a large carpet, the design of a golden phoenix weaved into it, framing the base of the bed. Beidou was stunned, glancing around and almost forgetting what she was here for. She couldn't possibly imagine ever living in something so luxurious, compared to the conditions of living in a ship. Though, admittedly, she did grant herself the best sleeping quarters of the Crux, even then it had no comparison to the room she was standing in. Looking around the place in awe, the corner of her eye caught sight of the perfectly displayed jewellery sets that her soon-to-be victim owned. Beidou rushed over to them, examining the heavy jewels that gave character to their connected metals and chains.

She set her eyes on a thin stacked necklace, its curved shapes divided by aqua-blue gems. She gently picked them up as they glistened against the moonlight that came from the window behind her. In her admiration, Beidou knew she had struck gold with this endeavour.

Slowly, her eyes couldn’t help but focus on the katanas mounted above the dresser in front of her. Setting the necklace down, she thought of the potential value of blades such as these. There were three mounts stacked above each other, each one holding up its own uniquely designed katana.

All except one of them.

Slightly surprised, Beidou pulled her hand away from the mount with a missing blade. She discovered its new location pretty quickly.

A cold tip travelled curved inches backwards, ending with the handle of the blade being held by pale, soft hands, delicately decorated with bracelets and sharp silver finger guards. The tip of the katana was methodically placed against Beidou’s skin of her upper back, perfectly slotted between the divided pieces of fabric that made up her cape. The coldness of the blade sent a slight shiver up Beidou’s spine. She felt a small amount of fear, as one would do. Though a deviant feeling of excitement was gradually overcoming it. Beidou cursed herself for this, but she knew playfulness was in her nature.

A quietness lingered in the air for a few moments, as if both women were quickly thinking of the next steps in their plan. The armed woman's voice cut through the silence, relaxed, though cunning. ‘Member of the Crux, I suppose?’.

Beidou kept silent, slowly removing her right hand from the edge of the wooden dresser and down to the holstered dagger at her hip. These predicaments weren’t anything new to Beidou, her years of sailing the seas and gaining more enemies than allies proving that. Her movements always became almost cat-like in these situations. In this case, her hands would find the handle of her dagger like a cat stalking its prey, only to then unleash her violence as soon as she had hold of it.

‘Not a smart move’. Ningguang said, her eyes studying the path of movement of Beidou’s right hand.

Beidou stopped, still looking at the empty display mount in front of her. ‘You might want to give up wielding that now, hm? We both know you’re not used to fighting like this’.

‘You don’t know me as well as you think you do.’ She tilted her head, ‘Captain Beidou’.

A smirk creeping up on her face, Beidou turned around to her captor, her hands held up by her sides with an admirable confidence. This was the last situation where she’d want any of her movements to come across as sheepish.

Her eyes met with Ningguang's stern expression. ‘Lady Ningguang,’ Beidou said, straightening her back.

Ningguang’s eyes slowly scanned Beidou, taking her appearance in. ‘I heard talk of my political peers being stolen from in the past few months,’ Ningguang said, amused. ‘My guards suggested we increase security but alas, what sort of power do a group of trinket-hungry pirates really have anyway?’. Beidou sneered, trying her best not to take offence to Ningguang’s words. ‘You pose no threat to me, Beidou’.

She glanced down at the blade pointing to her chest, her eyes trailing the length of it back to the other woman’s face. ‘Really? Why not? A sword like this being used for your own defence, you’d think me the most dangerous woman in Teyvat’.

Ningguang eyed Beidou’s dagger holster once again; she wasn’t sure she could hold a fight against a woman who’d surely dealt in combat affairs more frequently than her. Her expression flickered with the slightest hint of uncertainty as she bit the skin of her lips. Causing harm to someone would only cause Ningguang more problems to deal with than she already had. Beidou also knew this, of course.

‘You didn’t wait here with the intention of killing me’. Beidou stated, lowering her palms to rest on the dresser behind her. ‘Only to interrogate me, right?’.

Ningguang lowered the katana from Beidou’s chest. She examined it before she set it down on her bed behind her. Beidou noticed something then; a change in Ningguang’s expression. The features of her face became softer as she looked back up at Beidou, crossing her arms over her torso. Was it a look of defeat? A look of tiredness? She couldn’t exactly tell. And as much as she hated it, Beidou was starting to feel sorry for her. She was familiar with the stress it took to run an entire pirate crew. She couldn’t fathom the responsibility of handling business endeavours for an entire nation. Her guilt started to get the best of her. ‘I think you’ve won this round, Lady Ningguang, I'll tuck my tail between my legs and leave’. She started adjusting the gloves on her hands. ‘No need to do it for me, your Highn-’.

She was cut off by the quick and sudden movement of Ningguang walking closer to her, stopping as soon as she could practically feel the heat radiating from Beidou’s body. A few seconds of silence followed, Beidou staring intently at Ningguang’s face, wondering what she was up to. Ningguang hesitated, she herself also wondering the same thing.

‘Lady Ninggu-?’ Beidou asked in confusion, as a decorated silver hand slowly traced its way up her arm and face, stopping at her cheekbone.

Ningguang’s eyes met with Beidou’s. ‘I've heard many tales about the criminals you call your crew, yet they all failed to mention the beauty of their captain.’ Her finger guards traced the outer of Beidou’s eye before they glided down her jawline. ‘How could a gem such as yourself be so cruel to the unsuspecting?’.

Beidou found it hard to figure out what to say next, but she can't deny she was enjoying it. Being intimate with people was nothing out of the ordinary to Beidou, but high royalty? This was a new one.

She gave a low hum of a laugh. ‘Except for the simple fact that you were suspecting it’.

Ningguang’s grip tightened, lifting Beidou’s chin up as if she were a trophy to be examined. ‘Precisely’.

Beidou looked down at her face, admiring the warm orange light bouncing off her features, contrasting to the dark blue of the night sky. She found it increasingly hard to keep up a dislike for Ningguang in the position she had her in. She snaked her hand up Ningguang’s arm, gently pulling her hand away from her face. It was her turn to take control. ‘You know, Lady Ningguang, I came here with the intention of stealing inanimate objects, but it seems the most valuable one can talk back to me, why is that?’. Beidou’s hands and eyes found their way to the side of Ningguang’s hip, fidgeting with her glowing geo pendant.

A hint of a smile crept up on Ningguang’s face. ‘You flatter me, Captain Beidou. Do you speak to all of your victims in such a manner?’

Beidou looked back up, meeting Ningguang’s ruby eyes once again. ‘Only the ones who catch my eye, princess’.

A sudden burst of fireworks erupted from outside the window, interrupting the intimacy that both women seemed to be enjoying. A beautiful display of Liyue’s warm red and yellow colours, marking the end of the Lantern Rite festival. Ningguang’s eyes darted to the impressive show and cursed under her breath, knowing that she should be there to celebrate another prosperous year for her nation instead of dealing with more personal affairs.

She swiftly brushed past Beidou, taking her hand and guiding her towards her direction. Ningguang picked up a golden necklace from one of her jewellery mannequins and handed it to Beidou. ‘I suppose I can’t leave you empty handed’.

Beidou inspected it before extending her arm to hand it back. ‘No, really,’ she looked at Ningguang longingly, knowing these were the last moments of their strange, though comforting, interaction. ‘This chat was enough.’

Ningguang encased her hand around Beidou’s, tightening the necklace in her grasp. ‘I insist. It’s worth something for your crew and besides, I can always buy another.’

She made her way hurriedly towards the open doors before she stopped, resting her palm on the frame and taking a glance back at Beidou. ‘Tell me I'll be seeing you again.’

Beidou smirked at her imposing request and rested her hands on her hips. ‘If our greetings will always start with a blade to my back, then hopefully not.’ Beidou replied playfully.

Ningguang smiled, looking out the window at the continuation of fireworks, then walked out the room. ‘A charmer, Captain Beidou, a real charmer.’