Many view death as an end, the final destination of life. But there are also many who fear death, the end of a life unfulfilled. But unlike them, Hu Tao does not feel it is so. To her, death was something that is a part of life. Live life to the fullest and die with no regrets, there was nothing to fear about it.
"Live life to the fullest huh? What about those who live forever?"
"Everyone dies eventually! Some just take a little longer!"
But death is something to be respected as well. If one is to disrespect the dead, then one must be prepared to invite trouble that will span over lifetimes and generations. The dead after all, do not forget.
"Don't fear death but respect it?"
"Exactly! At this rate, you might even become the next director, Aether!"
For as long as Hu Tao had lived, she had always been closely intertwined with death. When she was young, she would often be found napping in coffins and sometimes seen talking to some of the ghosts lingering around the funeral parlor. Her parents tried to discourage her but her grandfather, the current director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor at the time, encouraged her instead.
"Don't listen to them. Live in life, die in death. Follow your heart, do what you can."
(But Hu Tao, though intelligent for her age, had not understood what her grandfather had meant back then.)
Hu Tao loved her grandfather and it was one of the saddest days of her life when her grandfather passed away. At first, she could not accept his death. But after spending days attempting to find his ghost but with no results, she came to a realisation that he had stayed true to his word and moved on the moment he had died. And what better way to keep his memory alive but by staying true to his words as well?
And so Hu Tao changed the way she lived.
She lived the way she wanted, in smiles and joyful laughter. She did whatever she wanted, doing the most eccentric of tasks she had created. She would sing poetry she made on the spot, even if the context of the poem made no sense. By the time she had fully taken over the role of the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, she was well-known to be the most eccentric person in the entirety of Liyue.
"I would have thought that Zhongli would be the most eccentric."
"He is a close second!"
The first time Hu Tao met the Traveller, she had already heard of his heroic deeds in Liyue. After all, it was not often to hear of mortals defeating gods...and the fact that the Qixing and the adepti had given the Traveller all the credit for defeating Osial despite the person not showing up, was one of the reasons she committed the Traveller to memory.
(And a person who fights gods has to be prepared for his eventual demise which means that he would be very likely to buy a coffin off of her too!)
"If you buy now, I'll throw in a free coffin too!"
"But if I'm getting a free coffin for Paimon, the deal wouldn't be as good since the coffin would be a lot smaller than mine."
"Paimon doesn't need a coffin and neither do you!"
They met at Wuwang Hill where Hu Tao had been conducting a funeral. One of her subordinates had gone off to take a break, only to come screaming to her about ghosts. A single look at the supposed 'ghosts' and she immediately knew that the person standing in front of her is the famous Traveller.
The Traveller was a lot shorter and younger than she had expected him to be. When Hu Tao had first heard of the Traveller's exploits in Liyue, she had imagined him to be an older man with years of combat experience under his belt. Though the Traveller was definitely not what she had imagined him to be, his companion on the other hand was definitely not what she had in mind.
(Hu Tao wonders offhandedly if a fairy would be able to leave ghosts behind like humans and gods. Can they even pass through the border that separates life and death when they die?)
After calming her colleague down, she formally introduced herself to her potential clients who ended up lost at the end of her business spiel. But despite not understanding her business proposal, in the end, the Traveller was nice enough to be roped into her whims.
"We weren't so much 'volunteering' as we were 'volunteered'," Aether deadpanned.
Back at the funeral parlor, Hu Tao was having the time of her life messing with the Traveller's companion. From her highly effective business proposals to her throwing in ghostly quips every so often, it was fun to mess with the fairy! Then an idea came to her on a different matter she had to solve. What a perfect way to introduce her new assistants to their new jobs!
"Are we getting paid for this?" the Traveller asked as he followed her from behind.
"Nonsense! It's an unpaid internship position!"
"Can I quit?"
"Nope!"
But even though the Traveller and his companions seemingly appreciate her business propositions, the rest of Liyue (especially the Millelith) do not seem to do so and instead always get angry at her!
"Can you maybe run through your business plans with me before you go out to advertise it?" Aether pleaded after the Millelith had to escort them back to the funeral parlor again.
Regardless of her failed advertising, she was unable to locate the ghost she wanted to find. Their essence had lingered on the people which meant that the ghost she was looking for had interacted with them on their plane but did not stick around. What a shame, Hu Tao was looking forward to meeting this ghost! Oh well, looks like she just has to postpone their fateful meeting until later. Maybe she could even get the Traveller to meet them!
When she returned to the funeral parlor with the Traveller and his companion, she had explained to him the situation with the current matter relating to the ghost she wanted to find. He was understanding instead of fearful like most people and Hu Tao found herself being interested in the Traveller as she spent more time with him.
(For once, other than her late grandfather, there was another person who did not react with outright disgust at her.)
Their precious bonding time was interrupted by a client running towards them in fear, begging her to remove a curse from his body. The curse, the man claimed, to be one that originated from Wuwang Hill and was given to him by the vengeful spirits of the gods. It took a lot of willpower for Hu Tao to not burst out laughing there. 'Curse of the old gods'? All the dead spirits of the gods from the war are all gone! And why would a god care about mortals enough to lay a curse on one person? Hu Tao had to control herself to not laugh again. After all, the last time she laughed in front of a person who told her of an 'evil curse', the person had slandered her and the funeral parlor to the point she barely had any business that week!
"People are so easily convinced of the reasons from the masses that they would not believe the words of a minority. Why would one waste time trying to make them believe something when they won't change their minds?"
"I think it's possible, just harder to do so."
"Aiyo! You are so naive! But I like that about you! Never change, Aether!"
It was easy enough to use a Ley Line Monolith conveniently located in the outskirts of Liyue Harbour to lure 'evil spirits' for the Traveller to 'purify' and thus, dispel the 'curse' from the victim.
Hu Tao had to quickly stop herself from bursting out loud again at the thought of 'curse of the old gods'.
Of course, Hu Tao had already deduced the cause of the 'curse' but perhaps the truth of it all was not one that many people would love to hear. This also definitely does not have anything to do with the fact that she would never pass up a chance to prank someone, definitely not.
"Ah, great! In which case, I guess now I can tell you...You've been pranked!"
"Hu Tao looks like she enjoys messing with people."
"Paimon! You weren't supposed to say it out loud!"
Thankfully, the client took the prank well enough and thanked Hu Tao for her help before departing. With the client gone, Hu Tao could finally introduce the ghost she had wanted to meet to the Traveller!
Admittedly, the meeting with Big G (the ghost that she had been asked to find) could have gone slightly better. The Traveller's companion screamed loudly in surprise at the ghost's sudden appearance before realising that the ghost was a child, while the Traveller looked both confused, unimpressed, and very worried for his companion.
(She lied, she found the whole meeting hilarious.)
"Are you guys talking to Big G? Is he in front of us?"
"Oh yeah! Paimon forgot that you can't see ghosts with Elemental Sight."
That...was an interesting tidbit of information. Why would the Traveller need to see things with Elemental Sight? Why was he reacting as though he could not see the ghost standing in front of him? The questions burned within her and she desired to have them answered. But first, the outskirts of Liyue Harbour was no place to chat with a ghost nor was it a good place to interrogate the Traveller. Best to be on the home turf before doing all of that!
After returning to the funeral parlor, Big G explained that he had gotten lost when he came to Liyue Harbour to check up on his friends. He had followed the man back to Liyue Harbour and found himself lost in the city before deciding to stick to the man he had followed, which inadvertently led to giving the poor man nightmares.
"Why didn't you just fly? Like any other ghost or spirit? Don't you think it's much easier to find your way from up above?"
"I... can't. It's too high for me, I'd get scared."
Hu Tao found this whole incident very amusing. And with that out of the way, there was still one more thing she needed to confirm about the Traveller...
"Why do you need to see ghosts with Elemental Sight?" Hu Tao asked, her eyes narrowing at the Traveller.
"I...can't see without using Elemental Sight. I'm blind," the Traveller answered, his eyes never meeting her gaze. He shied away from her, as if he was afraid of admitting that he had a disability.
"So you have never seen my beautiful face!?" she gasped loudly, savouring the sudden snort laugh from the Traveller.
"That's what you're concerned about!?" Paimon screeched in response and the Traveller burst out laughing.
As the Traveller and his companion helped to gather keepsakes for Big G while she and her assistant escorted the ghost to Wuwang Hill, she could not help but feel a slight pang of jealousy. Growing up, her only friends had been the ghosts that linger around Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Big G had a lot of friends who still remembered him even if the time he had spent alive had been short. Would anyone remember her when it was her time to go?
"The problem about living a long life is outliving everyone that you know. But I do not ever forget those that I've met."
"I don't envy you one bit, Aether. But who will remember you when it's time for you to go?"
"...I don't know...No one I guess."
"What about your sister?"
"Lumine? She won't remember because she would be following me every step of the way. We promised after all."
After the Traveller had arrived with the items, Hu Tao led the party to the borders separating the realms of the living and the dead where they may perform the final send-off for Big G. Meng (the person who requested for Hu Tao's help to find Big G) had to stay behind in Liyue Harbour as the domain that sits between the borders of life and death was dangerous to those of the living. He protested in the beginning but his ghostly friend assured him that he would be fine. It was not important that he had to be there but it was important that he did not forget.
Hu Tao was quite experienced traversing through such a place but as it was the Traveller's first time, she wanted him to take the lead. Of course, she would ensure that the Traveller would not get stuck in the afterlife. It would be a major problem if the hero of Liyue was not able to return back to the living.
As it turns out, traversing a domain whose environment touches both the living and the dead tends to not show up very well with Elemental Sight. The elements needed to open the way do show up thankfully but everything else that touches the realm of the dead do not.
"Is it because the gods hold no sway in the land of the dead?" Aether asked.
Hu Tao mused over his reasoning but she could neither confirm nor deny. It was, however, a possibility that she could look into one day.
The end of the path opened to a large cavern with a hole so deep, one could not see the bottom.
"Traveller, I need to know, can you swim?"
"I-Yes?"
"Good!"
Hu Tao pushed the Traveller off the edge of the cliff, letting him fall and scream all the way down. His companion screamed in fear and rushed off towards the Traveller while Hu Tao whooped and jumped off the edge after the Traveller. She always enjoyed the adrenaline rush from the exhilarating fall every time she had to come here. But when she reached the end of the fall, creating a giant splash in the water as she landed, it was to the sight of the Traveller flailing in the water in panic while his companion fluttered closeby frantically trying to calm him down to no avail. The Traveller was losing stamina and at this rate, he would drown.
Hu Tao quickly called a spirit, beckoning it to come to her. The one good thing about this place was that it was full of wandering spirits willing to answer to her Vision summons. The spirit came and she pushed it towards the Traveller, controlling it to take away his consciousness. When the Traveller's eyes closed and his arms collapsed into the water, she grabbed hold of him by the waist and swam to shore while his companion followed silently.
She had joked about accidentally killing the Traveller but she had not really meant it! The Traveller's companion kept calling the Traveller's name but the latter would not be waking up for a while. But it was okay, they had time to wait for the Traveller to wake up. There was after all, no such thing as a sense of time in this place.
"Paimon, you will tell me what happened and why the Traveller reacted like this," Hu Tao ordered, her voice uncharacteristically serious.
The Traveller's companion nodded and began to explain.
Hu Tao has dealt with a fair share of fear. People usually fear the unknown and death is the biggest one. It was easy to help people overcome the fear of death especially when they were dead. She had consultation for the living and the dead on the subject of death and their fear of it. The Traveller however, was afraid of water, he was afraid of being in water and she had just shoved him into the very thing he was scared of.
He woke up moments later and Hu Tao was all over herself trying to apologise to him. Tears slipped out as she apologised profusely for almost killing him and for pushing him into something he did not like.
(Death was something she did not fear but death to the people she cherished was one she always finds the most painful.)
The Traveller forgave her of course and Hu Tao wondered how there could be someone so kind-hearted as him. They continued to the ritual site in relative silence, only broken on occasion when the Traveller's companion inquired quietly on the Traveller's health and each time he would tell her that he was fine.
(No one pointed out how shaky the Traveller's voice was nor did anyone say anything about his trembling hands.)
Hu Tao stayed close to the Traveller, only speaking to tell him when they had reached the end of the boundary separating life and death. The land in the domain that sits between the world of the living and the world of the dead could be described as tranquil. There were many souls waiting in the place, either for their loved ones to join them eventually so as they may depart to the afterlife together or for personal reasons preventing them from leaving for the afterlife. Time does not move for anyone here, it was not like the dead needed it.
However, no matter how beautiful the place is, the Traveller would never know what it looks like. At least, he understood that this place was no different from the many places of Teyvat. It was not special, only unique in that it was only accessible in a certain way.
"I wished I could see it," Aether said after listening to Hu Tao and Paimon describing the place. "I really wished that I could have seen it."
They returned to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor after sending off Big G. At least, the way out was simpler compared to the way in. Meng bid Hu Tao farewell, he no longer had a reason to linger around the funeral parlor now that his friend had departed peacefully into the afterlife. Strangely enough, the Traveller had yet to leave for his next adventure. Instead, he waited until Meng had left and it was just Hu Tao, the Traveller and his companion standing outside the building. Hu Tao invited them inside for tea, assuming that the Traveller had business with her.
"You can consult the spirits of the dead right? If I'm looking for someone, can they help?"
"Oh ho? Now that's an interesting request. The dead do remember people that they have met but only if they made a strong impression on them. Families, best friends, etc. If you're looking for someone who is dead, I can definitely find them if they have yet to pass over to the other side."
"No, she's alive. But you see, my sister and I, we live a long life. Someone has to have seen my sister."
Hu Tao promised, as sincerely as she could, that she would find any information about his sister from both the living and the dead. Any information, no matter how small they are, she would pass it over to the Traveller immediately.
"In the meantime, do you want to prank Zhongli?"
"Sure. If he asks if this was your idea, just say it's Paimon's."
"Hey!"
This chapter is dedicated to my friend whose favourite character is Hu Tao. Thanks for letting me soundboard ideas at weird ass o'clock in the mornings and nights and correcting my grammatical errors when I throw you sentences without context.
Now for the actual author's notes. When I started writing this chapter, I got stuck. Hu Tao was a character I don't particularly understand very well to be honest. But I do understand what she means to view death as just another part of life. Of course, there are people who don't see it the same way and that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their opinions.
On a related note to this fanfic, this fic is now in the top five sorted by favourites on this site! Hooray! Also, we're nearing 700 kudos on Ao3 at this time of posting. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, the readers, for taking your time to read, comment, kudo/favourite this fic.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter! And I hope that you look forward to the next one!
P.S. Chapter 14 on July 14. Also, 14 when read in Chinese has almost the same pronounciation as the word death in Chinese. The more you know :p