A Change of Fates

by Naughty Tome

Fates can be nothing but cruel in this world. The man with the heart of stone had fallen in love with the woman with a heart of gold, they were bound to be united together, yet the unforgiving destiny had refused to give them their blessings. But perhaps, a certain star-born maiden with an extraordinary abilities might be able to change that.

2. Dust and Rock

Sigh... Today was supposed to be her birthday, but I couldn't finish it in time because I encountered so many issues.

Luckily, she understands, and she completely fine for not receiving the fully completed fic, and is happy with this current progress I made. Patiently waiting for me to complete it. She's so kind.

---

Chapter 2

"She's still alive." A grey haired woman in a white dress with billowing sleeves sighed in relief when she feel a pulse from the unconscious girl's wrist.

She was taking a stroll around the plains in search of herbs for medicine, accompanied by her close associate and fellow god, but she hadn't expected to find a person just lying around here unconscious.

"She doesn't appear to be injured, though her breathing looks is a little unsteady." The aforementioned associate of the woman, a tall dark-brown haired man in a white coat with a hood over his head, said as he crossed his arms while looking down at the unconscious girl in his companion's arms.

The grey haired woman's brows furrowed in concern, before she turned her head to look at her tall companion. "Morax, we need to take her with us." She said, with seriousness.

"Guizhong, you can't seriously think of bringing her to the assembly." The man, the lord of Geo himself, Morax, said with his usual stony voice. There's no change on his expression whatsoever, aside from his amber eyes looking down at his close friend and ally with an unimpressed gaze. A typical look on the god of contract's face.

"She was unconscious, in the middle of nowhere, without anyone accompanying her." The goddess of dust retorted back, looking back at the man behind her with a firm yet soft and gentle gaze. "It's clear as day that she might be another victim of the Archon War. Our goal is to provide home and safety for the people who needs it, remember?"

"What if she's faking it?" Morax questioned with a raised eyebrow, causing the goddess to stiffen. "What if she's an underling to an opposing god, waiting for the opportunity to infiltrate the assembly, and destroy it from the inside. Or worse..."

Morax's amber eyes stared into the distance, specifically into the direction of where the territory of a certain overlord of the vortex and his faithful followers reside.

"What if she's another followers of him? He's been quiet for a while now, who knows what kind of hideous scheme he's planning." Morax said with a heavy sigh, remembering an unpleasant memory where his virtue to take pity on the weak and helpless had cost him with the lives of his people.

Guizhong contemplate what Morax just said. It's true, they did a similar thing before, finding a seemingly helpless person in the wilderness, taking them back to the assembly to take care of them, only to realize that it was a ploy for their enemy to infiltrate their base, weakening their defense long enough for their adversaries to strike in their moments of weakness.

The miscalculation on her part for that day will always haunt her. And she had sworn upon herself that such a mistake shall not be repeated again, that she'll be more careful and considerate onwards. But still... no matter how many times the goddess tried to refrain herself from helping a stranger on the streets, she can't. Her heart is too soft and gentle for her to abandon the weak and helpless humans, that is her duty as a god after all. Maybe it was a weakness on the eyes of the others, but maybe it was a strength of her own right, to compliment her genius talent and architecture and mechanism, as well as her cleverness in making battle strategies.

But now, staring down at this lone girl, every fiber of her being screamed at her to help this helpless child. The expression on her face looked sad, despite of being out cold, her eyebrows are furrowed, eyes closed and mouth slightly agape, and then her skin and her hair are drenched in water, making it seem like she just washed up ashore from the rivers nearby. That fact alone is an intriguing one, let's say that the reason of her current condition now is because she went to bathe in the river, why was she unconscious then? That question alone hwve strengthened the goddess' belief that the girl was possibly yet another of the many victims of the war. Perhaps a survivor from a clash between two factions.

There's a sound of footsteps behind her, and Morax came to stand beside Guizhong as he materialize his spear and points the tip to the unconscious girl's face.

"Step aside Guizhong, let me end her here before she becomes a further threat." The tall man bellowed, cold and heartless.

Guizhong stared in horror at him who was about to plunge the spear into the blonde haired girl's face. However, instead stepping away as he said, she did the opposite instead, shifting the person in her arms and shields her with her own body, halting Morax before he could really harm anybody.

"Wait, Morax! Don't you think you're being too heartless right now? A helpless person needs our help and the first thing you're trying to do is to kill them?!" Guizhong snarled angrily, glaring up at him sharply. "I thought I have taught you to never treat a human like they were nobodies, that no matter of who it was, be it if they're one of our people or not, they deserve the equal respect like with anyone else."

"I can't let it happen again, Guizhong!" Morax shouted, unintentionally raising his voice which made the grey haired girl shook. He seem to realize what he just did, so he quickly calms himself down and toned down his voice back to normal. "I can't take any chances... We have suffered great casualties with what happened before already. I can't let history repeats itself."

Morax finally lowered his spear, letting the tip to rest against the ground, earning a relieved sigh out of Guizhong now that she manages to calm down her brute of a friend.

"I will watch over her." Guizhong answered after a brief paused, causing Morax behind her to widen his eyes slightly as he look at her in shock.

"Guizhong, you can't-"

"You said it yourself..." Slipping her hands under the unconscious girl's legs and her bare back. The goddess of dust picked her up from the ground. Her weight is surprisingly lighter than she initialy thought. "There's no guarantee whether this girl is innocent or a spy sent by our enemies to infiltrate our civilization. Somebody should keep an eye on her, no?" Turning around, she asked her companion with a raised eyebrow.

"But your life will be in danger." Morax said with his eyes narrowed and his gaze sharpened, looking down at the girl resting on Guizhong's arms. He may be speak with such an animosity towards her, but Guizhong knows better than anyone that he is simply worried about her. He just spoke it with a language of his own, that's all.

"So dramatic..." The grey haired woman rolled her eyes before starts walking away. "If she turned out to be an enemy, there will be me by her side that can tell everyone to run away should this be true. And even if I die by her hands, there's still you and the Adepti to defend our people. My death should not be a great deal for their survival." It is amazing of how lightly she could speak of herself like that, like her existence is close to nothing to importance of her within the assembly, when it was actualy the opposite of that. "And besides..."

Guizhong stopped in her tracks when she just walked pass Morax who stood still in his position. Her grey colored eyes looked at her companion's amber ones softly, and her lips curved into a gentle smile.

"As long as I have you, you will come to protect me, right Morax?" The girl muttered softly.

Morax didn't say anything for a few moments. And after some seconds of silence, he finally replied with a solemn nod.

A sigh escaped the girl's lips, giving her friend a softened gaze before redirecting it into the girl in her arms.

"I promise, I won't let it happen again." She whispered quietly, but loud enough for Morax to hear it.

They don't know whether this girl is a potential danger or not, but as long as they don't have a clear confirmation of her yet, it's not harmful to bring her back. And now with her in tow, the two headed back to the assembly in silence, only having some small chat between the two while on the way, mainly about why did the mysterious girl lowkey resembled Guizhong in appereance.

~o~0~o~

A pair of closed eyes twitched before slowly open. Everything was all blurry at first so she squints her eyes in order to adjust with the brightness of her surroundings. That awful headache that came from her time traveling drawbacks are vaguely still fresh in her mind, but mostly it was gone during her sleep, just as she had hoped for.

It's always been like this. Reversing the time cost her a lot of energy in contrast to when she accelerates it. The toll it took on her body is more than enough to cause her to go into a coma, one that could take more than a day to recover. And it was during those times that she have Aether to take care of her comatose body until she recover her energy back. But now that he is no longer here with her, added with now that they are thousands years apart... She has no idea what happened to her body during the entire time she was out.

Her vision starts returning to her, and what she saw immediately upon her consciousness returning back a flat surface of the ceiling of a building instead of the clear blue skies of Liyue like she remembered before passing out.

Well this is a little unexpected. It looks like someone had found her unconscious body and brought her with them, to wherever this is.

Quickly, she sat up, only now realizing that she wasn't laying on the ground no more, instead, she was currently on top of a comfy bed, with warm blankets covering her body. And after looking down to see the current state of her own body, she finds out that someone had changed her clothes from the one she usually worn to a more simple white nightgown.

"I wonder how long I was out..."

It seems like some time have passed, but no matter how long she spent on sleeping, it seems like she has reached her destination. Judging from looking closely to the architecture of the building she's found herself in, which highly resembles the many ruins she have come across to in Liyue back when it was in a more greater shape. No buildings in the present Liyue look like this anymore, so this confirms that she had successfully landed in the past, but as for which period she's currently in right now during the war is uncertain. She did set her destination to the time the goddess of dust I'd still alive, but has she met with the lord of Geo in this time around? Is the Guili Assembly had been formed yet?

"Ah, You're finally awake!" A voice spoke up not far away from the blonde haired girl, it sounded young and full of energy.

Slowly turning her head to the direction where the voice came from, she saw a girl standing not far from the bed she's resting on, holding an urn on her hands. The woman has a short grey hair with long sideburns and rat-tail, beautiful ash grey eyes, and a white dress with detached extra long sleeves that hid her arms completely, a hair pin could be seen on the back of her head as well as a hair accessory on the left side, and now by looking at it, the traveler could see the dress she's wearing is an ancient and traditional one by the current Liyue standards, that's what Zhongli had told her in the past. But enough about the dress. Lumine widened her eyes as she continued to stare at the girl.

This girl is overflowing with divine energy, just like Venti, Zhongli, Ei, and Nahida, but not quite as powerful as they are, not even close to Nahida who is not a fighter. No doubt that this girl is a god, and based on her appearance and Zhongli's description of his former lover, this girl is unmistakably Guizhong, the goddess of dust of ancient Liyue.

"Welp, guess this will save me some time on finding her. Heh, what are the odds?"

"Is there something on my face? You're staring at me." The goddess asked a bit nervously, hiding a part of her face behind the object she's holding, no doubt feeling awkward from being stared at.

"Guizhong..." Lumine's surprise for finding her target this quick makes her unintentionally mumbled something out without thinking. And she only realized it a little too late when she saw the other woman widened her eyes slightly in surprise.

"Eh? Y-You know me?" The goddess asked, her eyes widened and her mouth agape, looking at Lumine in shock.

Mentally cursing herself for sputtering out words without thinking, the blonde girl calmed herself down before deciding to answer the goddess' question. "Yes. I've heard a lot of stories about you. A brilliant goddess with the mind of a thinker capable of producing wonderful mechanisms." Lumine replied, giving the grey haired girl a nod before continuing further. "I just... never expect to meet the goddess of dust in person. It surprised me, that's all."

There was a brief moment of silence between them, but eventually, Guizhong relaxed a little, approaching her and taking a seat on the side of the bed Lumine is sitting on.

"I never thought that I was so popular outside of the assembly. If anything, I thought Rex Lapis would've been a more well known figure compared to me." The grey haired girl muttered, she took an empty glass from the top of the bed drawer bedside the bed, filling it with water from the urn she's carrying before handling it to Lumine.

"Oh, thank you." Lumine said with a nod. Her throat is dry from the time she spent on sleeping, and a glass of water is all she needs to relive the fatigue of time traveling.

"I believe I've never seen you before in this part of the region." While having her eyes fixed on the mysterious girl before her, Guizhong gently asked her. "If I may ask, who are you? And how did you end up collapsed by the side of the river that we found you?"

Alright, now this is a difficult question to answer. Lumine couldn't possibly tell her about the fact that she is an Outlander from another world. Cause that will caused quite a shock to her and everyone else here. Perhaps she could come up with some stories, maybe based on her story, but slightly altered and fabricated. Yep, she can do that.

"I am a traveler who comes from another land far from here. I came to Liyue to search for someone, as well as... Another reason. I didn't expect it however, that the land would be crawling with so many nasty and dangerous monsters. I got attacked by them, and I jumped into the river to avoid them, I must've lost my consciousness after that." The blonde girl explained, shaking her head gently as she spoke. Will Guizhong believes her?

"I see, that's very unfortunate for you. Now I understand why it took you five days to wake up." Guizhong nodded in understanding, putting her hand on her chin.

"F-Five days?!" Lumine exclaimed loudly, startling the goddess. No way she's been asleep for that long!

"Y-Yes. We found you five days ago, you're not waking up despite of how many times I tried to wake you. Perhaps the monster that attacked you is one of those kind that put a sleep spell on you, which could kill you from the lack of nutritions entering your body while you were asleep. But not worry, while you were unconscious, I've been taking care of you, and even... Feed you the medicines you need."

Lumine listened to the goddess' explanation. So the energy consumption are even higher than she thinks, to the point of her needing a whole five days to recover. She guess that is completely expected from having to travel more than two thousand years back in time.

However, the time she spent unconscious is obviously still nothing compared to the 500 years hibernation she went through after getting captured by that Unknown God. And as an immortal, Lumine doesn't necessarily need nutritions in order to keep alive, but Guizhong obviously didn't know that, which is why she had been taking care of her. And speaking of that...

Lumine's mind thought of what Guizhong said last. About feeding her some medicine. Obviously a sleeping person wouldn't be able to eat or drink normally. So in order for Guizhong to feed her the medicine, is either by injecting her with a syringe (if it even exists during this era,) or...

Lumine's hand instinctively reaches up to her lips, rubbing it a little, and the second she saw that, Guizhong couldn't help but get her cheeks reddened up a little, confirming Lumine's thoughts.

Well, guess that's one way to experience after waking up from a coma. But on the other hand however, it's good for her to see this kind of reaction coming out from the goddess of dust before her. She have heard multiple times from Zhongli and the Adepti about what was Guizhong like including her personality and mannerisms. But it's a whole different thing to see it for herself firsthand.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?"

"Your name. Can you tell me your name? You already know of me, so it's only fair that I got to know about you as well, right?" Guizhong asked, breaking the awkward silence between them. Returning back to her usual self it seems.

That's right, her name. Lumine contemplates whether or not she should tell her her real name. Though giving out her name would not be hurt, the fact that she's from a future, and anything she'll do here will change many outcomes for all the years to come will really pose a problem is she's not careful. And after thinking about it, she decided that giving out a false name should do.

Now, for Her new name, it should be something simple, a name that was common amongst the people of Liyue, both past and future. By remembering her time learning the language of ancient Liyue from Zhongli, the girl finally decided the alias she's going to use. A certain word that the man used to describe her appearance.

"Ying. My name is Ying." The blonde girl, answered, putting her hand on her chest.

From now on, she shall be known as Ying. And she has to admit that she kinda likes it to have it as her name.

"Ying... What a nice name." Guizhong muttered with a small smile appearing on her face.. "I know you already know of me, but let me introduce myself. I am the goddess Guizhong, one of the overseers of the Guili Assembly, the place that you are in right now. Nice to meet you, Ying." The goddess explained, reaching out her hand towards Ying.

"Likewise, lady Guizhong." Reaching out her own hand, Ying took Guizhong's palm into hers and gently shook it. Her lips curved into a smile as she said it.

They stayed like that for a second before Ying release her holds and clears her throat to ask Guizhong a question.

"By the way, Lady Guizhong. Where are my clothes? Did you keep the clothes I'm wearing when you found me?" Ying asked as she glanced around the house trying to find it, she gets out from under the blanket and moved to the side of the bed. Her bare feet touched the smooth polished granite floor. It felt cold to the touch, making her slightly shiver, it seems like it was Spring on this time around.

"Oh, I put it in the closet, let me grab it for quick." The grey haired girl stood up and goes to the said closet and pulls out the complete set of Ying's traveling clothes that the goddess had preveously taken off when she inpected the blonde girl's body for any injuries. She went as far as to wash and dried it too, much to Ying's surprise. "I've never seen clothes with such a unique design like this one. Where did you get it?"

"Ah, it is because it was custom made." Taking the clothes from Guizhong's hand and muttered a simple thanks, Ying quickly puts it on, along with her boots and stockings. "A master craftsman from a... Really far away land had specifically made it for me for the sake of traveling far distances. It's a special gift from him, as thanks for helping him beforehand. And I treasure it very much."

"I see. I know that feeling. I too would always treasure anything that my friends had given me." The goddess of dust nodding in agreement, watching as Ying finished changing. "So what are you going to do now, Ying? Are you going to continue your journey?" The goddess asked in curiosity.

Ying paused for a bit to rethink of how should she word a response, before shaking her head. "No, I don't think so. I think I'm gonna to stay, if not forever, then maybe for a little while. That is after all the main reason why I came to Liyue on the first place. There's something I need to do here." Ying explained, closing her eyes. She can't just blurted out that her mission here is to protect the goddess before her and prevent her incoming demise. She hoped that Guizhong will let her stay. "Will that be alright with you, lady Guizhong?"

"Oh, absolutely!" Guizhong answered so quickly that it surprised Ying with how fast she just accepted that easily. "I've been telling everyone about you to ask for their agreement whether they would allow you, a stranger, to stay. And most of them have agreed! Well maybe except for Morax. He's still so adamant about his suspicions on you. Tch, seriously that man..." Guizhong quipped under her breath for the last one, causing Ying to sweat drop a little.

"Morax... The lord of Geo..." Ying muttered softly upon being informed.

"That's right. He is the back bone and the great protector of our great civilization. So you've heard of him?" Guizhong asked, tilting her head a little.

"Yeah... I've heard many stories... About him." Ying said with a nod.

That's right... Morax... This person is what Zhongli used to be. The Prime of the Adepti, the god of contracts. Even if Ying were to run into him here, he'll be a very much different person to the Zhongli she know. There will be no gentleness on him that she knew, nor the charm of what made him be... Zhongli.

There's a reason why he's called the god of rock after all, for how dense he is.

~o~0~o~

This place simply looks amazing!

Ying's mouth went agape as she looks around at her surroundings.

"So this is what ancient Liyue looks like."

She have heard of it from Zhongli and the other Adepti, who each described this era in details that makes one could easily imagined what it looks like, and there's also a Collection of illustrations made by various artists that depict the scenery as well as the important historical events that took place during this time. But after seeing it for herself like this, her amazement just got amplified by tenfold.

Surrounding her now is the great ancient civilization known as the Guili Assembly, brought back to life before all thanks to her arrival to the past. People come and go all around doing every day mundane things for livehood, with the majority of them works as either farmers or miners. If Ying remembers correctly, it is said that the goddess Guizhong was the one who taught the humans in agriculture, to plough the soil, plant their seeds, and cultivate the crops. Meanwhile on the other hand, Morax is the one responsible for lowering the tides of sea to make more land for settlements, and raised the mountains from the depths of the ocean for his people to mine the minerals from. Quite a shame that those events were already happened prior to this time period she had traveled to.

As she walks around streets to continue admiring the view, Ying notices that some People have given her some odd looks, with each people giving her a different kind of stares. Some of them looks at her cautiously, other look at her curiously, and there's also those who either doesn't care or at the very least, tolerate her presence to not be bothered about it at all.

"Look! Isn't that the girl that Rex Lapis and Lady Guizhong brought five days ago?"

"Yes, she is! I wonder why I've only see her now, has she only woke up today or..."

"They say that she's like that due to monster attacks. How awful, I hope Rex Lapis will make sure such monsters won't approach the assembly."

"What are those clothes she's wearing? It looks so weird."

"I heard that she came from a distant land. Perhaps from another landmass?"

"Why does she looks kinda like lady Guizhong? If it weren't for her hair color, I'd say they're twins."

People whispers and murmurs all around her, and Ying is trying her best to ignore them and focus on her sightseeing instead. There's no doubt that these people are still being wary of her for being an outsider, added with her strange looks that is very unusual to all the people here. And somewhere in the back of her mind, Ying mentally face palmed herself for not thinking this through. Perhaps if she didn't rush things up and think a little, then she would've make sure to wear that hanfu dress Madame Ping had given her as a gift for her birthday before going back in time. That would at least clear up the people's suspiciona for a little.

Oh well, it's too late for regrets now. The people's trust in her would certainly be an issue, but it's not that much of a big deal, so perhaps she could think about it later. Right now, the most important thing to do is: how do she wish to proceed with her mission?

She has successfully traveled to the past, back when Guizhong is still alive and well, but what can she do in order to make sure that the god of dust would survive up until the modern times and her engagement to Zhongli- ah, no, that's not right. Morax, goes as planned?

Ying was extremely lucky to have Guizhong found her after she collapsed, that saves her a lot of time in finding the Assembly and introducing herself to their leaders. Not to mention that it was also her who has been taking care of her comatose body for almost a week, and they have quickly formed a bond of friendship that made Guizhong trusted her and sees her as no threat, that made things a lot easier to Ying's end, and now she has the goddess at arm's length, so trying to protect her should pose no problem to Ying.

But the question still remains, how is she gonna do it? Or more importantly, for how long?

Zhongli and the Adepti did explain to her the details of their beloved friend's death. How her death is caused by an opposing god's attack. And that her death also happens in conjunction with the destruction of the Guili Assembly itself. But none of them ever tell her about what date it is, what day it is, or even how many years has it been since then.

The Liyue Harbor was found 3700 years ago from her present day, that much she knows. But even then, Zhongli did said that he spent a whole lot time to gather all of his scattered people across the land to built it, after the Assembly is destroyed. An info that makes Ying even more confused than before rather than being helpful.

"Please don't tell me that I actually need to wait hundreds of years before their engagement..."

Ying mentally grumbled, face palming herself as she releases a sigh.

Oh well, it's better to take actions as soon as possible instead of hurting herself mentally like this. There is no turning back now after all, and she had already prepared herself to live the next thousands of years until she finally back to the present time, this time with multiple of changes that she could potentially made now that she has the ability to alter the already existing history of the previous timeline. Hopefully, it'll be one where the almighty Rex Lapis would live a life of happiness alongside his dear beloved wife, the goddess of dust Guizhong. That'll be very sweet to see, so who cares if she has to wait hundreds of years for them to finally proclaim their love for each other, right?

BUMP

"Eek!"

"Bleehh!"

Out of nowhere, without any warning, someone or something just bump into her roughly on the back. The thing that just ran into her is seemingly small, as she only feel the collision on her waist down. But the real problem is not the thing, but what was the thing carrying.

"Oww!" Whatever the thing that that thing's carrying, it just spilled all over Ying's back. And it burns her skin because of how hot it is.

"Bleh!"

"Ack, what is this? Hey, be sure to look where you're going while holding such a hot... Stuff..." Rubbing her back that is now drenched with some sticky hot liquid. Ying quickly turn around to face her assailant, only to be shocked upon finding that there's no one stood at her height of vision. But something did stood there, but it was small and chubby.

"Blehh!"

A bipedal creature, with orange and white colored fur on it's belly, there's a symbol of infinite on it's chest, two tiny ears on its head, and dark circles on it's face surrounded it's white eyes.

It stared at her with it's eyes wide open, as if in a complete shock to see her. And now that Ying takes a better look at it, the creature stood before her, with a large cooking pot lying on the ground upside down, leaving all of it's contents spilled all over the dirt, leaving almost nothing behind but all the tarnished dishes. So this is what just got spilled all over Ying's back, it's carrying a soup of sort.

"Gouba?! Is that you?" Ying asked, surprised and confused.

"Bleeh?" The creature that she recognized as Gouba tilted his head in wonder, making a confused noise as he does so.

"Ah, apologies, I've mistaken you for someone else. I believe you're called... Marchosius. Right?" Ying questioned once more.

"Bleehh~" This time, the creature nods his head, confirming her question.

Now Ying remembers. This little panda-like creature is what Gouba used to be in the past, before he met and becomes Xiangling's loyal partner in the kitchen and in the wild. He is the god of stove named Marchosius, an old friend of Zhongli and the Adepti, also one of the three gods who resided in the Guili Assembly.

Marchosius is one of the main interest during Moonlight Merriment festival in Liyue in the previous year of the present day. At that time, the Qixing founded the statue of the god of stove who had been locked inside a giant boulder since long ago, waiting to be cracked open as the festival continues. The boulder did cracked open at the heat of the festival, and it has been a total shock to all of them to see that it was a statue of Guoba of all people. Which only makes sense after Madame Ping explains everything about what he truly is, and what led him to be in his current predicament.

After the Guili Assembly was destroyed, and Liyue Harbor is later established, Marchosius would sacrifice himself in order to vitalize the land to make it not only safe for the people of Liyue, but to make sure that they would prosper too in the coming thousands of years. Losing all of his divine powers and intelligence, turning him into the adorable cute little panda that is always there to help Xiangling cooks in the Wanmin Restaurant.

"If I remember correctly, Madame Ping said that he had the ability to split himself into hundreds of tiny clones. This is just one of the many of the stove god's clones."

"bleehhh..." Now that introductions are out of the way, it's time for her to face obvious problem in the room, the ruined dish that the panda just spilled all over the ground after bumping into her.

"Ugh, I've just woken up and I've caused a trouble already. I'm so sorry for this, it's all my fault." Ying sighed defeatedly, bowing down her head for forgiveness.

"bleh." But the little panda shook his head to her, before pointing at himself.

"No, it's not your fault. It was I who gets in your way, so it's only right that I'm the one to blame here." Ying replied, to which the panda responded by shaking his head again, more fiercely this time, making her sigh once more. "Alright, we're both at fault here, okay?" The creature was silent for a moment, putting his paw on his chin, before he nods in agreement.

With that out of the way, Ying crouch down to the ground and inspect the damage she had made. The Gouba clone stood beside her, watching sadly with tears in his eyes at the waste of a perfectly good food before him, just seeing him makes Ying overwhelmed with guilt, she needs to fix this situation somehow. Taking the cooking pot off the ground, she closely observed all the spilled stuff on the dirt. And she was quite surprised to see a few familiar ingredients that made the soup: Mushrooms, shrimps, slices of ham, and crabs. Especially crabs.

"Hold on... Is this... Adeptus Temptation?" Ying muttered out loud.

"Bleh!" And in response, the Gouba clone beside her gave her another wide shocked eyes.

"I'm assuming that I was correct." She gave the panda a questioning look, how could Xiangling understood him completely? "So, you were supposed to deliver this dish to someone, and now you're sad because you just ruin it?"

"Blehh..." The panda wailed sadly, dropping his head and looking to the ground.

Looking at him being so saddened like this, Ying come up with an idea to cheer him up.

"Hey, how about if I show you a little magic trick?" Ying asked softly, successfully gaining his attention.

"Blehh?" He gave her a questioning look.

"Let me show you." Ying grabbed the cooking pot and placed it on the ground before him, now that the food has been spilled, there's nothing inside the pot now. She made the Gouba clone check the inside to confirm that there's nothing there, before she covered it with her hands. "Now tt's empty, but now it's... filled!"

Ying took off her hand from the pot after three seconds passed since she covered it. And once her hands is out the way, Gouba look inside the pot again to see that somehow the used to be empty cooking pot is now filled with, you guessed it, Adeptus Temptation, the very same kind.

"Bleehh!" He once again gives her that wide eyed look of utter shock, amazed even.

"Hehe, what do you think about my "special abilities?"" Ying asked a bit proudly.

"Bleh~" Gouba smiled while clapping his paws to applaud her.

"Thank you. It's nothing special really." It really is, all that she did is simply using her magic to bring out the content of an Adeptus Temptation dish that she kept inside her storage, and drop it inside the cooking pot while her hands are covering the top. It would've been lame if she didn't do it otherwise, so at least she's successful in cheering up the saddened Gouba. "It's a little bit cold, so reheating should do the job, you can do that, can you?"

"Bleeh!" The Gouba clone nodded, before taking the now filled cooking pot by his paws and carry it atop of his head, which glows a bright orange color, and Ying could feel some heat coming off from him. Huh, she guess that's probably why they call him the god of stove, the thing is straight up a portable heater.

"Heheh, alright then, be careful on the way there, don't bump into someone else again okay?" Standing up, Ying dusted herself off before preparing to walk away. "Welp, see you around."

"Bleh!"

"Hmm?"

She had turned around and prepared to part ways from him, but the little creature stopped her before she even walking, urging her to look back at him and see what he wants to say.

"Bleeh bleeh!"

"You want me to follow you?" Ying tilted her head.

"Bleh." And he nods his head.

"Sure, I don't mind. But where are we going though?" She asked him again.

"Bleh." Gouba waved his hand, gesturing her to follow him as he begin to walk while Ying tailing him from behind, unsure of where the god of stove is taking her.

~o~0~o~

Meanwhile inside a conference room somewhere else.

The two gods of the Guili Assembly are having a serious discussion regarding some recent events that have piqued their concerns. The god of Geo, Morax, is still having his usual serious, collected, and stony expression that he wore normally throughout their conversation. Meanwhile Guizhong, the god of dust, in contrast are having some varying expression on her face raging from concern to suspense, but still nonetheless keeping her composure.

"I see... That is very concerning." Guizhong muttered with a small nod.

"Indeed, many reports have been received concerning the unsual rise of the tides around Yaoyuang Shoal. A few settlements around the area were severely damaged by the flood it brings, causing crops to fail and most of the mined minerals to get lost. Should this events continue, no doubt the Assembly will be targeted next." With his hands crossed across his chest and his eyes closed, Morax solemnly explain the situation. There's not even a hint of worry on his face.

"Morax, have you went there to confirm our suspicion?" Guizhong asked, looking up towards his pair of closed eyes.

"I did sent Moon Carver and Alatus to scout around the area to see if it really is because of him. however..." Morax opens his eyes to look directly at his conversation partner. "...They found nothing positive."

Suddenly, there's a sound of knocking on the door that leads to the room, gaining their attention as they turn their heads to look at it.

The door slowly slides open before any of the two could ask who was knocking on the other side. And when they see no one stood there at their level, they instead look down to see an orange furred Panda poking his head from behind the door, smiling as the little creature waved his paw at them cheerfuly.

"Oh, Marchosius! Hello! Did you need something?" The moment they saw their friend stepped into the room, it was as if all the tension in the air just now got cleansed in an instant. Allowing them to breathe easily as the suffocating atmosphere has been gone.

"Blehh!" Marchosius then walks in, revealing the cooking pot he's holding above his head.

"Ooh, what is that? A dish?" Guizhong asked, clapping her hand and looking at the pot in wonder.

"Bleh bleh~" The god of stove nodded his head.

"From Streetward Rambler? Heh, that woman... She certainly wouldn't want to miss a chance to get to you even when I am around huh?" The goddess of dust chuckled, giving Morax a side eye glance.

"I am not hungry." Morax declared, straight and upfront.

"Come now Rex, at least show your appreciation for her who made it for you. You've been busy dealing with all of this, a good meal could help you relax a little." Guizhong reprimanded him, causing the god to sigh, perhaps accepting her advice.

"Bleehh!" Marchosius points his paw towards the door behind him.

"Hmm? Someone's outside?" Guizhong tilted her head.

"Yeah, I can sense them too." Morax amber eyes glowed, as he glared sharply into the still open door. "You outside! Show yourself now before I make you."

There seems to nothing there at first. But after a while, footsteps could be heard and then a familiar figure of a blonde haired girl in white dress come into view. Waving her hand at them awkwardly.

"H-Hi..." The blonde haired girl greeted nervously.

"You...!" Morax instantly widen his eyes the moment he sees her. Recognizing her as the stranger that Guizhong had brought into the assembly five days ago. The one that he-

"Ah, Ying! Hello. Not that I don't like to see you, but why are you here?" Guizhong asked, smiling brightly upon seeing the newest friend that she made just a couple of hours ago back in the morning. She waste no time to approach her.

"Well uh... It's a little complicated, but Gouba- I-I mean... The god of stove here, he wanted me to follow him, so I did. B-But I didn't expect to see you two here." Ying explained, scratching the back of her head as she sneak a glance towards the other god in the room.

It's him!

It's Morax, it's Zhongli! In all of his glory as the geo Archon. Him, and the woman that he would come to love. Just seeing the two here in the same room makes Ying felt so happy, happy to see them being together. But at the same time... Sad. She doesn't know why, but she feels... Sad.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure the two of you have so much important things to discuss. I'll be leaving now." Giving both god a small nod, Ying excused herself and prepared to leave, but Guizhong grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving.

"Wait, Ying! All the important discussion is over actually." Guizhong said, causing Ying to look at her. "Look, full pot of an Adeptus Temptation is not something that even two people could finish up easily. Why won't you join us instead? You haven't ate anything for the past few days after all." The goddess offered, giving the girl a smile.

"Guizhong..." Morax called her out.

"It's okay Morax, there's nothing to worry about." The grey haired girl rolled her eyes, hard. Before looking back at Ying with a much softer gaze. "So, would you?"

Ying was about to decline, decline because she doesn't want to be in this room and partly because she doesn't need to eat. But then an unladylike growl was emitted from the depths of her empty stomach, which was heard by everyone in the room, causing her to blush.

"Fine... I guess I could take a few bites."

~o~0~o~

Their lunch together turned out to be even more awkward than Ying had imagined, and the blonde girl wished for nothing but to get out of there as soon as possible.

They sits around a round table, each taking a different position which gives them some distance from one another. Ying naturally chooses to sit herself as far as she could from the two gods, but Guizhong surprisingly chooses to sit down where the distance between her and Morax is more than an arm length away to Ying's somewhat relief, she'd thought that the two of them would sit side by side instead of in a distance like this, so perhaps maybe their status as of now are still close friends?

She wonders what would happen if their relationship remain like this instead of advancing into that of lovers... Maybe then would Zhongli finally look at her the same way he would eventually look at Guizhong... That would be heavenly.

Ah, no! Snap out of it! She can't succumb into her own temptation like this!

Ying mentally slapped herself to wash those thoughts away, shaking her head to clear her head. She had already made up her mind about this! The reason why she went all the way here is to protect Guizhong and prevent her fated demise, to make Zhongli happy, and let him finally get the happiness he deserves. Not to steal him away when she got the chance.

"What's the matter, Ying? You're dropping your food."

"Ah..."

It was caused by the crashing trains of thoughts inside her mind, but halfway through eating her share of the food on her plate, Ying couldn't focus enough to properly grasp the food with her chopsticks, causing her to continuously pick it up only to drop it back to the plate with a wet "plop" over and over again, causing the others to look at her in concern, and by that she means only Guizhong, because Morax neither has the care to be concerned of her or the food she's playing instead of eating. Only sitting there and staring straight at her in silence, which is exactly what he's been doing since the three of them had started eating.

Damnit, she can't just sit still and not cause any trouble around here can she?

"Apologies for my manner... I guess I'm just feeling really nervous. I-I mean... No ordinary person can ever have this opportunity to eat on the same table with the gods, right?" Ying asked, giving them a reason to believe. The true reason is a lot more complicated than that!

"I see, why yes you are correct. But please, there's no reason to be so nervous. You are our honoured guest here, I wouldn't have invited you to have a seat with us if you weren't." Guizhong reassured her, gentle and kind as ever.

"Ah yes, I'm very honoured to be regarded as such lady Guizhong." Ying nods her head at the goddess before resuming to eat her food, trying to ignore the obvious daggers that being thrown at her by Morax's gaze.

The god of dust then turned her head to look at the other god in the room, throwing him a look.

"Morax, you too. Quit acting like a cat and eat your food already, it's getting cold." Guizhong reprimanded him, while huffing in annoyance. The way she did it is akin to a wife who scolded her husband, now Ying can see why these two were to be married.

Morax shots her a glance, looking at her who glared at him in annoyance. And it was only after that did the lord of Geo finally pick his chopstick and starts eating his food, finally breaking away his gaze at Ying at long last, making the blonde girl sighed in relief. Guizhong then turn her head head towards her, looking at Ying apologetically on her friend's behalf, to which Ying only returned with an uncertain smile.

"Is it just me, or is Ping's dish somehow taste a little different than usual?" Morax asked after a couple of minutes into his food.

"Blegh!" Hearing his sudden statement, Ying made a choked sound in shock. Thankfully though her mouth is empty at that moment, sparing her from being chocked for real.

Zhongli had always been an expert in tasting food. He could easily tell the ingredients of the dish he eat from the different taste alone. How much salt put into it, the amount of water being used in the process, or even the conditions of the said ingredients when it's added.

"You're right, it does taste a little different than usual, maybe Ping wanted to try something new?" Guizhong guessed, adding even more tension to the atmosphere.

"But she wasn't the type to stray away from the path she's already chosen. Should she the most suitable way of doing things for she would stick into it. This is very unusual." Morax mumbled out loud, scratching his chin.

"Bleeeh." Suddenly, Marchosius who has mostly been away from them, joined in the conversation, waving his paw at the two gods.

"Huh? What did you say?" Guizhong asked, sounding surprised.

"Bleehh!" The panda points his paw towards Ying.

"What? Ying made this?" Guizhong exclaimed in shock.

"Bleh bleeh!" The god of stove nods his head in response.

"How did that happen?"

To explain to them of what happened outside some time ago. The later-to-be Gouba god climbed up into the table, and starts to recount his experience in meeting the mysterious blonde haired Traveler, explaining things using his own... Language. And by also using his body to recreate the motion of that encounter: him running with a cooking pot above his head, bumping into Ying and spilled the original dish all over the ground, and Ying's magic trick to summon a new replacement of the dish out of thin air. While both gods watch in closely in wonder and confusion.

"I see. So you accidentally ruined the dish Ping had cooked for us. And as replacement, Ying made another one out of thin air. Is that correct?" The stove god's clone nods his head to the goddess as answer. "Interesting... How did you do that Yi-"

Guizhong was about to ask Ying, but when she turned her head she found the girl is nowhere to be seen and her seat is empty.

"Uh... Where did she go?" Guizhong question, blinking her eyes owlishly.

"Bleh." Marchosius pointed at the door, which they're quite sure wasn't left open just seconds ago.

"Tch, that little- I'll go deal with her." Morax stood up, pushing himself up from his seat.

"Wait Morax! wait!" But before the lord of geo could go do anything too drastic, Guizhong quickly stood up as well to stood before him, extending her arms to the side to block him from getting past through her. Despite knowing just how futile it is. "What are you going to do?"

"If that food is made by the hands of that outsider, there's some high probability that it's been poisoned." He said stoicly, as if saying it's a matter of fact.

"Are you listening to yourself right now? There's no way she would dare to try poison us. She ate a portion of that food too." Guizhong retorted. She glanced to the side to look at the plate Ying was eating, and for a girl who's in a hurry to run away from them, she sure knows to be proper and did not leave even a single leftover on her plate. That is commendable. "And besides, since Marchosius is the one who holds it, surely he would notice immediately if there's something wrong with the dish, no?"

"Bleh!" Marchosius nods his head in agreement, putting both of his paws on his side as he looks up at Morax, as if staring down at him in disapproval.

"You may have a point. But still..." Finally letting go of the tension, he looks at the door where Ying had run off. "Why would she run away then if she meant no harm?" He asked in slight curiosity.

Guizhong shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe she's feeling embarassed for being the topic of conversation?"

Morax look down at her, and blinked. Which Guizhong replied with a blink of her own, that he returned with another blink.

"Seriously though mister, we gotta work on your understanding of emotions a little better." The goddess placed her hand on her face.

~o~0~o~

"Uhh... Now way I'm gonna explain that to them." Ying muttered to herself as she walks down the street with no destination in mind.

She is aware that leaving them all of a sudden like that is extremely rude, and not to mention can potentially resulted in their suspicion on her to get increased instead of earning their trust. Especially to Morax who is definitely only one step away from slitting her throat if it wasn't for Guizhong to convince him to trust her, seriously though, she owed so much to that woman already.

But still though, running away from them seem to be the best option she takes instead of answering their question. After all, if she were about to tell them her otherworldly power... There's no guarantee that they'll look at her the same way again. This is the age of gods and monster, displaying her abilities that were never to be seen before might cause them to assume that she was a god, not that it's not far from the truth, but they will think that she's an opposing god, coming to infiltrate the assembly and destroying it from the inside, and with most of her former powers were sealed by the Unknown God, she's like a lamb for slaughter if faced against the might of the lord of Geo at his prime. Yikes.

Anyway, now that she just screwded up her first impression to the lord of Geo himself, who no doubt will probably by now thinks that she poisoned his food or something, Ying thought that's it's probably the best to avoid any contact with the Geo Archon from now on, she wishes to not further damaging the already thin line that connects two, or to sweat buckets from nervousness from the daggers being thrown at her by his extremely intimidating gaze that made her feel weak on her knees.

...or for her to simply sees him.

Ying stopped walking as her thoughts came to a pause. She doesn't want to him? Why? Why would such a thought could possibly crossed her mind?

Is it because of her fear of him, the great God who could raise a mountain from the depths of the sea and summons a meteor to rain down from the heavens like they were easy feats? Is it awkwardness because she is aware that he is the same man she knows as Zhongli, yet also different at the same time? Or is it... Because of her own feelings for him?

Ying placed her hand on her chest, above her beating heart, finding it beating rapidly than usual. And it hurts... It really hurts.

"Zhongli..." Ying muttered... The kind and gentle man that she knows is no longer here, nor will he be anywhere for that matter.

Now that she had traveled back to the past, she will never be able to see him again as the same person. This fate was sealed for her the moment she decided to reverse the time back to this era. And now that Ying was here, changing the history from what it used to be, even though the person that would become "Zhongli" could potentially happen in the far future, it will not be the same as him. Not when he gets his deserved happiness, to be together with the woman that would one day become his wife.

So it's her jealousy that is at play here, it's always like this. Ying thought that she had felt jealous enough that the man that her heart has fell for is already engaged, to a long dead woman, and couldn't move on. She thought that she had been angry enough that she absolutely has no chance in winning Zhongli over when the god is thoroughly in love with his late fiance, that stealing him over from the mutual love they shared is just wrong. But now... Now however, Ying won't be just hearing things about them. But she's gonna see them.

She's going to witness the moment they would proclaimed their love for each other, she'll be seeing how their relationship brought them happiness and changed the stoic and emotionally limited man slowly turned into the reminisce of the Zhongli she knows, she'll be the witness of when they presented their rings to each other, promising to take their relationship from what they are now, into a husband and wife. She'll be there to see as they get married and be a happy couple, while all she could do is watch, as the love of her life get together with someone else, someone who isn't her.

With a vague feeling of something wet on her cheek, Ying reaches up and rub her eyes to confirm that she is indeed crying. Why does she need to embarrass herself, crying while standing in the middle of the busy streets like this?

"No more tears." She muttered to herself, steeling her resolve and using her will power to stop herself from shedding tears any further. "It doesn't matter now..."

She'd never had any chance with Zhongli to begin with, so why bother herself insisting that she still love him? To someone who could never return her love?

Protect Guizhong, make Zhongli happy. That is her one and only goal, the reason why she came all the way here, and she will absolutely not gonna let anything gets in her way, even if it was her own personal feelings.

~o~0~o~

It's been a few weeks since Ying's arrival to the past.

Throughout the days of her stay in the assembly, she had spent the majority of the time to stay out of it instead. Ying is aware that Guizhong would forever remain safe as long as she had stayed inside the settlements, meaning that she doesn't have to worry about her for now. What she do need worry however, is the fact that the goddess of dust would occasionally went out on her own, either to go see her people outside of the man village, or go to gather some herbs for medicines. It was on moments like those that Ying would secretly follow her wherever she's heading, acting like her secret guardian of sorts, making sure that no harm comes to her until she make it back to town safely.

Meanwhile for the rest of the weeks, when she didn't find Guizhong went out of town, Ying would spent her time exploring the surrounding areas of the past Liyue, finding the landscape greatly differs from the one in the present day, if there's one word to describe the Liyue she's seeing now, then it would be "Wild," ten times wilder than the Liyue she knows of. There are no Hilichurl's of any variations of it's kind, since they've only appeared after Cataclysm which haven't happened yet. So instead of them, what's the most threathening on the Liyue's wilderness are the form of primal monsters with a varrying different kinds of forms that are certainly a huge threat to the normal civilians, but not to her though.

In all those weeks, Ying had opted live outside of the assembly, finding a small cave on the side of the mountain that she found comfy enough for her to turn it into a small living space.

And as for the reason why she went through such lenghts instead of choosing to live comfortably amongst the people in town, well, it's becase she feels uncomfortable in doing so. You see, even during that first day since she woke up, the people in town are all giving her a look that tells her that they're being wary of her, due to her unusual appereance, and the fact that she's an outsider. To begin with, Ying did not have anywhere to go in town for her to sleep comfortably during the night, and the only option availabe is she either have to sleep on the streets, or she could ask someone for permission to live in their houses for a while, options that Ying outright declined, both because it would be a major blow to her dignity for the former, and her not wanting to bother the people more than she already did.

But she do still make frequent visits to the assembly, mostly doing so to check up on Guizhong to see any progress in her relationship with Morax, but as she watch over them from the distance or behind the shadows, she doesn't see any significant changes as much as she hoped for. The lord of Geo is still as stoic and stony as ever, even with how bright and cheerful his partner in ruling was as they walked the streets and having a conversations, with the goddess do most of the talking, just as expected.

Anothing thing she did during her visits is to seek out the god of stove. Through their encounter on the first day since Ying woken up, the two has become close enough for Gouba- ah, no, Marchosius, to put his trust on her without a single doubt at all. Ying still finds it really hard to truly understand what the panda shaped creature is saying most of the times, but she was successful in convincing him enough to never tell Morax or Guizhong about her presence in town. And thus making them oblivious to where she is now or where does she live.

Guizhong would most likely be concerned of her whereabouts, and as for Morax... Well, he's either going to be questioning her disappearance in order to add it to his list of reasons for not trusting her. Or, he'll just simply dismissed it and pays it no attention.

At least that's gonna make her chance in encountering him becoming less and less likely. Just as she wished for.

Anyways... Now that those thoughts are out of her head, today is another day for her to do her daily exploration. Taking her sword with her and donning a white cloak with a hood that covers almost the entirety of her body, the Traveler sets out towards north, which in the present day would be the direction towards Wuwang Hill and Qingce Village. She haven't check out those area during the last few weeks, so she decided to do it now.

She went there on foot, since she's still unfamiliar with the world of her surroundings, and using her teleportation magic will only cause trouble if she were not to careful.

Ying continues to walk towards the direction she has in her memories, looking around the scenery to compare the two together, and see how much things have changed in over three thousand years from now. And it was unsurprising to say that she was utterly amazed by it. There's an area that she remembers to be a vast plains of grass and flowers, but in this era, it was a part of the seas instead, and opposite also happens to the bodies of water she remembers being there is now replaced with a dry lands of rocks and sand. If Ying could manage to make it out alive through the Archon War, perhaps she would live to see the slow changes of the geological formations of these lands into what she has accustomed to seeing on the present day.

Ying stopped her tracks for a moment to take a look around. There's a natural flower garden before her, with Silk Flowers being the majority of the plants that grows there. To her right, she could see a giant streams of River that flows directly into the sea. And then to her right, a familiar giant lake can be seen, along with its familiar looking shores that Ying knows so well.

"Is this Dihua Marsh?" Ying questioned herself, putting a hand on her chin.

This place is the one where the luxurious Wangshu Inn would someday be built on the center of it. The place where Ying knows very well because it is her place to stay whenever she's in Liyue. And it's also the outpost where the Vigilant Yaksha lived, one the closest friend of Ying in the present time. And now that she think about it, Ying wonders where had the green haired Adeptus go. Maybe he's on a long term mission outside the assembly. Or maybe he's somewhere hanging with his friends, since the Archon War hasn't over yet, that means the other four general of the Yakhas are still alive, somewhere, if only she could also prevents their death to make Xiao happy, but unfortunately, things like Karmic debt is something beyond her understanding.

"Okay, now that we're in Dihua Marsh, Wuwang Hill shouldn't be that far-"

"Graaawwrr!"

"Huh?"

A loud roar rings through the air, interrupting the peaceful atmosphere she was enjoying. The roar sounds like a beastly cry, coming from something that sounds big and strong. Concerned of what she just heard, Ying look around at her surrounding, tracing the direction of where the roar comes from. And after determining where it is, she heads over there which leads to her going into the lake of Dihua Marsh, where the source of the sound is located.

Once she got there, What Ying find is a twelve feet high dragon, with dark brown hard scales for skin, a pair of giant wings on it's back, and four long black horns protruding from it's skull, standing on it's two feet with its arms spread to the sides, barring its sharp claws. Well this is quite surprising, to see such creature also exist in Tevyat.

But it's even more surprising to find that someone is currently battling the creature. Shooting the beast down with shots of arrows, to which the dragon easily deflected using its large hands, trying to strike its much tinier opponent with its sharp claws. But the little one is much agile than the dragon, using their small stature to their advantage, dodging all of its attacks successfully.

Ying's eyes went to observe the person who's single handedly fending off the dragon, and the more she carefully observes them, the more she could make out some indistinguishable features of their body: Long beatiful light blue hair, purple eyes that's pretty as gem, and lastly, those two black and red horns coming out of her skull.

"Ganyu?!" Ying concluded. And upon finally realizing that this person is her horned friend from the present time, she waste no time to come to her aid.

Out of nowhere, three giant boulder suddenly falling out of the sky and rained down upon the dragon, who growled in pain after being hit by them without the chance to protect itself. The half Qilin Adeptus realizes that what just happened is not natural to happen, so she turn her body around and look up to see a blonde haired girl in a white dress is standing on top of a hill, looking down at her directly, smiling.

~o~0~o~

"You look rather down lately. For someone who is as lively and cheerful as you, what could possibly happened that brings about this change of pace?"

Inside an abode where laws of physics can be altered, and lands floats above the sea of clouds. Three people had gathered around a stone round table. One person was a man with dark brown hair, who wore an elegant dark brown robes with gold linings. While the other two meanwhile is one a woman with long black hair and red framed glasses on her eyes, while the other is a girl with grey hair and white dress. Placed before them is a dish that is different from one another, with each one are the makings of the one that sits behinds it.

The grey haired girl sighed upon being addressed. Gently taking her cup from the table, and sips at the warm tea they've been preparing, finishing it with a satisfied sigh.

"It's no big deal really. It's just..." Guizhong trailed off, a look of worry and concern on her face. "I'm really worried about, Ying." She answered after a brief pause, eyes looking down.

"Ying? Were you perhaps referring to the outsider that you and Morax brought a few weeks ago?" The black haired woman asked, gaining a nod of confirmation from the grey haired girl.

"Have you asked around the town to see if anyone have seen her yet?" Morax asked, looking at his friend awaiting her answer.

"I did, but there's no luck. No one's haven't seen ser in the last few days. Although there is few people who have seen her several days ago, nobody seems to know where she is most of the times, let alone where she lived." Guizhong answered with a small nod, looking distressed with the info.

"Hmm, perhaps I should ask Xiao to track her down given the chance that we would meet again. There are plenty of questions I need her answer me. And I will not let her get away again this time." Morax muttered, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

"Are you still not trusting her, Morax? Even after she cook us that delicious dish that day?" Guizhong asked, pouting at him, she really don't like how dense this man is.

"Well, the matter of that day is one of the things that I would like to ask, but, what I do wanted to know more about her however, is whether or not if she's a god."

Silence overtake the room the moment he said those words.

"Morax, are you serious right now?" Guizhong asked, looking at him questionably.

"I am." The lord of Geo nods his head. "Though the lands of Tevyat are vast with all kinds of different creatures and person. That girl possess both unnatural appearance and powers that made me suspect that she's anything but human. I am curious to what she truly are and what's her motivation in coming to Liyue." He further explained.

"But I've been taking care of her for five days straight. I didn't sense any Celestial energy inside her, she couldn't possibly be a god." Guizhong shook her head.

The two continued their talk about Ying until the third person in the room suddenly stood up from her seat when she felt something coming. And the three occupants of the room turned their heads to look when a child with flowing long light blue hair with a pair of horns on her head come approaching the table the three are sitting on.

"Cloud Retainer, I'm back." The blue haired child announced, before she realized the other two people on the table. "Oh, Rex Lapis and Lady Guizhong. It's a surprise to see you here."

"Greetings Ganyu." Guizhong waved her hand at her while giving a smile. Meanwhile Morax simply nod his head in agreement.

"Cloud Retainer, I did what you asked for. Here's all the Qixings and Violet Grass that I've managed to gather, is this enough?" Approaching the table, Ganyu sets down the package she's carrying in her arms in front of Cloud Retainer, who look inside and sees all the ingredients.

"It's more than enough. That aside, you took quite a while to get back here, longer than one expected. Had something happened?" The black haired Adeptus asked, who came to notice the stratches that are barely visible but still evident on Ganyu's cheek.

"Yeah... I'm sorry for that. I got ambushed by a group of dragons while I was picking up the Violet Grasses on the side of the hills. Though I did managed to fend them all off, it took me quite some time." The blue haired girl explained, wincing at the memory.

"Oh no, are you alright? Would you like me to see at your injuries?" Guizhong asked in worry, standing up to walk closer to Ganyu.

"There's no need to trouble yourself Lady Guizhong, it's alright. I can take care of it myself, okay? And besides, someone had already treated me back when my wounds are much severe than now." Ganyu shook her head while waving her arms, which pulled back the sleeve of her dress a little, enough for everyone to see that her arms are wrapped up with bandages.

"Someone had helped you treating your wounds?" Cloud Retainer asked curiously, usually, her desciple is the type of someone who gets wary with any people that she wasn't acquainted with, remembering the first time the half Qilin encountering the first human she met, where she would then run away in fear and hides behind boxes so that the humans won't find her.

"Yes. And she also helps me in taking care of the final dragon that chased me. Just when I'm almost out of energy too. Oh and also, there are some Qixings and Violet Greass in that package that are given to me by her. She said that she picked them up days before and saw no use in them, so she she give it away instead." Ganyu explained.

"Interesting. Did this person tells you anything about themself? Perhaps if one had the chance, one would like to meet her and extend one's gratitude." Cloud Retainer asked her disciple, giving her a curious look.

"Uh, well... She doesn't say that much about herself. But she did say that her name was Ying, and she's a traveler passing by."

Morax and Guizhong was startled upon hearing that, while Cloud Retainer still keeps her composure despite of how surprised she was like the other two.

"Did you just said Ying?! Does that person has blonde hair and a white outfit?" Guizhong questioned, looking at Ganyu curiously.

"Um, she is. Lady Guizhong, did you know that lady?" Ganyu asked back in curiousity.

"She is. In fact, she's the one who brought that girl into the assembly after finding her passing out in the wilderness, as well as the one who nurses her back to health." Morax explained in Guizhong's stead. Looking at Ganyu curiously, he asked. "What else did she say to you?"

"Uh, well... She said things like "You are so much cuter than I expected!" And "Hehe, she wasn't lying when she said you're such chubby ball of fluff." But other than that... It's nothing noteworthy." The blue haired girl explained, blushing with her face red.

"I see. So at least now we know that she's still alive somewhere out there." Morax nodded his head.

"You said before that she helped you in fighting off one of the dragons that attack you. So she could fight? How well can she do it?" Guizhong asked with great curiousity.

"Oh, she's just so extraordinary with it, Lady Guizhong." Ganyu replied with a nod, smiling. "I've never seen anyone that is so exceptionally good with a sword like her. Every swing and movements she made are very elegant and great to look at. Not to mention that she also has that power to control the Geo energy to form crystals that traps the dragon in place, which is a curious one because no ordinary human should've able to done that. And she is neither an Adepti or a pure elemental being. So what is she then?"

As they listened to Ganyu's explanation. Morax and Guizhong shared a look, they glanced at each other, giving each a knowing look.

~o~0~o~

Ying is standing on top of a mountain when she sees a familiar figure walking out of the town's border during the morning. A basket in hand, swinging back and forth as the girl clad in white dress and billowing sleeves walked with a little skipping on her movements.

It's one of those days when Guizhong went out of the assembly, possibly to gather some herbs to turn it into medicines for the people affected by the Archon War. Despite of her major importance in the assembly as the brain of operations, she's quite confident to stride all alone into the wild without any protection. Perhaps it's because of her knowing that the destination she has in mind is still under the assembly's radar, making it relatively a safe zone for the people to walk around alone. And should anything happen, the town is near enough to notice any anomalies and send help to those who need it.

But still though, Ying won't take any chances to take a break even after knowing the nonexistent danger lurking near the goddess. So, just like she did many times before, she follows Guizhong quietly from the shadows. Acting like her secret guardian.

She remembers of the story Cloud Retainer once told her about Guizhong's death. It said that during a brutal struggle between the assembly and the enemy. The assembly was destroyed as it was ravaged by flood, Rex Lapis and his Adepti were busy fighting off the enemy responsible for destroying their prided civilization. They're so busy that they were distracted to forget about Guizhong's safety. And as the result, once the battle is over and Rex Lapis finally remembered his soon-to-be-wife, realizing that she was in danger, he quickly rushed out to her side, only arriving too late as Guizhong had already turned into a husk of lifeless body. Dead and ready to crumble into nothing but dust.

That was Ying's conclusion her incoming demise. That Guizhong must have been outside of the assembly when it gets destroyed, and as everyone is busy fending off the attackers. She is left helpless and vulnerable for anyone to kill her.

But now that Ying's here to follow her everywhere she goes while she was outside of the town. Ying will make sure to give those responsible for killing the goddess in the near future a kick on their butt for ruining someone's marriage and happiness. That is something that Ying will never ever forgive.

Anyways, they reached the first of the their destinations. The cliff sides of the mountains in Jueyun Karst, where the Qixing flowers would grown on top.

Guizhong seem to doesn't have the skills to climb the side of the cliffs. And because of that, she opted to choose an alternate path that leads her to the top by using a stead pathway. Ying also notice that due to this weakness, the goddess would forgo the Qixings that are situated way above the ground and cannot be accessed normally without climbing, and thus she only picked up the ones that her small body can reach, even though as Ying remember that most of the mountain flowers grew on the very top.

Just seeing it made Ying itching to help her a little. So she do the goddess a favor and plucked all the Qixings that grew beyond her reach. Placing it down on the ground for her to find. Which made the god of dust confused as to why someone or something would left a perfectly good flower out in the open for anyone to take. At first she hesitated to take it, reasoning that someone must've left it there to take it later, and for her to grab it would mean that she would be stealing. But thankfully though, she is convinced enough to eventually take it after realizing that it's better for her to use it instead of letting the flower there to rot.

Once she get what she needs, the goddess then heads back down to the ground level using the stead path she uses to get up before, with Ying secretly using her Geo powers to control the ground beneath her feet so that Guizhong won't accidentally slip and fall.

Once that is over, the goddess then heads towards the northeast direction. Which supposed to be Dihua Marsh if Ying remembers correctly.

There's no way to get there if she walks on a straight line because the two land are separated by the sea. So in order to do that, Guizhong needs to make a detour by circling the lower parts to get around. Knowing that the road there is safe thanks to her exterminating the monsters that usually lurks there a day prior, Ying decided to take the shortcut instead and crossed the sea by swimming just like usual. Once she arrived on the other side of the sea, she patiently waits there, and sure enough, Guizhong came stroding in a while later. Finally arrived on the second destination, the Dihua Marsh.

The materials she gathered here are the Horsetail and Lotuses Heads, which could be found on the shallow bodies of water around the area. After putting down her basket on the shore and taking off her sleeves, the goddess stepped into the water, feeling the slight cold on her already bare feet, before getting to work on harvesting the materials she came here for.

With no cliffs or rocks to hide. Ying could only watch over her from the distance as the goddess drenched herself in water. There seems to be no threat here, but Ying won't let her guard down. So she took out her sword and hid behind a tree that is big enough to hide her figure.

Ying wishes she could help Guizhong in gathering the Horsetails and Lotus Heads, but she knew better to not reveal herself to her to not startle her. They haven't seen each other for almost a month now, and Ying didn't know what to say to her. So for now, she'll just gonna stay there and keep watching her, until the goddess gets back into the assembly.

"Who are you?"

A voice suddenly spoke up from behind Ying, and the moment she heard it, she quickly turns around to face the person who are right behind her, sword in her hand.

But before she could even say anything, let alone swing her sword to defend herself. A hand covered by ancient marks lunges at her, catching her by the throat and pin her against the tree bark. It took her by a complete surprise, and her sword fell out of her hand and into the ground, leaving her completely defenseless against the tight hold the hand has on her throat, choking the breath out of her, and all she could do is to weakly trying to release the hold the assailant has on her life.

"Speak, or die." The voice of the man who choke her spoke up, and Ying's eyes slightly widened upon hearing it. It was a familiar voice, it's the voice of him! "Are you an assassin? Are you here assassinate the goddess of dust? Who sent you?" He questioned, shaking her and push her against the tree harshly.

No way this is how her life end. In the hands of the man she had fallen for. She came here to make his future a happy one, only for him to kill her, what a cruel and forgiving world she found herself in.

"Zhong...li..." She whispers quietly, imagining the face of that man for one last time before this... God, take her life away.

That whisper seem to be heard by him, as the grip of his hand on her neck slightly loosen up, enabling her to breath even just a tiny bit of air. His other hand reaches up to her, and he grab the hood of her cloak and pull it down. Revealing her face to him, causing him to widen his eyes a little as amber meets gold.

"Ying..."

Morax spoke up her name, the name of the girl that Guizhong told him. The girl that the goddess put her entire trust on without a shred of doubt, the girl that she said was so radiant to look at, like a fireflies shining in the darkness of night.

"What are you doing here? Where have you been all this time? And why are following Guizhong?" He questioned, quickly getting over his surprise and return back to his dead serious state, glaring daggers at her straight into her eyes.

Ying wanted to answer his questions, to prove to him that she hasn't done anything wrong, she was only wanted to protect his future wife, to ensure his happiness, that's all. But she find herself couldn't, she wanted to speak but she couldn't, she only gritted her teeth, while staring back at him with blurry visions. This is the man that she loved so much, and yet, the one that stood before her is completely different. He's so cold and emotionless, he's so different that it pains Ying to see him, seeing him being so different, it made her realized that this isn't Zhongli, he's not the gentle god that she met and love. This is a god... Who is trying to kill her.

"Why are you crying?" He asked another question, one that made Ying surprised, as she realized it by now of how wet her cheeks are from the tears that she unknowingly shed for Archon knows how long. "You gave the same look before, on that day. Why?"

What does he mean? Did she stare at him with a weird look without her realizing it?

"Morax? What are you doing here? And..." A third voice spoke up, and both Ying and Morax glanced to the side to see Guizhong standing there, looking at them. At first, she was looking at Morax only, but then, her eyes glanced towards Ying, and see the position she was in. Her mouth gasped in horror, and she dropped her basket in shock. "What do you think you're doing?! Unhand her now!"

Morax instantly did as she said, releasing his chokehold on Ying's throat, letting the girl to fall to the ground coughing as she tried to regain her breath. Guizhong then quickly rushed to her side as Morax stepped back, letting the two have some words.

"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you anymore than that did he?" The goddess asked her, grabbing her shoulders to pull her up to take a look at her face. And she noticed the tear stains that runs down on both sides of her heads, and it causes her to frown. "Just what do you think you're doing?! You're attacking her when I told you she's innocent! You-"

Before Guizhong could go yell at him any further, Ying grabbed her arm and gave it a firm squeeze, telling her to stop, cutting off her sentence. The goddess look back at the blonde haired girl who finally could breathe back normally.

"I-It's okay, Lady Guizhong... It's okay." Ying whispered, using her other hand to wipe away the remaining tears in her eyes, looking up to look at two gods in front of her. "This is just a big misunderstanding, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Guizhong asked in confusion.

"I... I was taking a stroll in the area between Jueyun Karst and Dihua Marsh to see the area for myself, since this is the first time I came to Liyue. But then, as I take a walk around here, I saw you, Lady Guizhong." Ying explained, she lied to them of the reason why she's here, because explaining the truth will only cause them to think that she's a stalker or something. "I saw you picking up some Horsetail and Lotus Heads over there, I wanted to say hi, but I don't know how should I greet you. And it was that moment while I was contemplating whether I should go there and help you, Rex Lapis saw me and mistaken me for someone else, because of the hood I'm wearing over my face."

"Is that really what happened, Morax?" Guizhong asked her fellow god, asking for his confirmation directly.

Ying stared at the lord of Geo a distance away from them. With how little trust he has in her, Morax could've outright deny the statement that Ying just made to Guizhong. She still didn't know how he could even find them here. Has he been followed her since the very beginning? Or is their meeting here is just pure coincidence? Former seems to be more likely than the latter. Since Guizhong is going out to collect herbs alone, being one of the most important person in the assembly, it's only normal that he would follow her to protect her. Maybe Ying just being too focused on Guizhong to the point that she couldn't sense Morax the whole time. And if that is really the case, then Ying is officially screwed.

"It is." Morax said with a nod.

"Eh?"

In a surprising twist, the god didn't object her statement like Ying imagined. He instead agreed with her explanation.

"When I saw you in the distance, I couldn't see your face at all. And when I saw you hiding behind a tree, with Guizhong nearby, I had thought that you are an assassin sent to kill her. But I was mistaken." Morax explained, he threw a quick glance towards Ying and, before closing his eyes afterwards.

"I see. So it is just some misunderstanding then." Guizhong nods her head, looking back at Ying and then to Morax, before smiling and clap her hands together. "Well then, since now things are made clear, you better apologize to Ying now, Morax." The goddess of dust said, causing Morax to open his eyes to look at his companion. "Not only did you choke her so harshly against a tree, and almost kills her, but you also made such a pretty girl cry. Now, apologize to her this instant." The grey haired girl ordered, putting both of her hands on her sides with her lips turning into a pout.

Seeing her act like that is akin to a wife who demands her husband to do a favor for her, one that cannot be objected. She just looks adorable. But that aside though, there's no need to go that far! Ying opens her mouth to say something, but someone beat her to it.

"I... I apologize for my mistake, miss Ying." Morax said after a while of silence, slightly stunning Ying who didn't expect him to give her an apology so easily. "It was my mistake for lashing out so carelessly. Any rationality had left me the moment I thought Guizhong was in danger. I was too wary. I should have been more calm and assessed the situation better by asking you properly." The god explained, before bowing down his body in apology, while Ying could only watch with slight widen eyes.

This manner of speaking as he apologizes to her, the genuine sorry in his voice despite of his tone, and even the way he bows down to her. It's all like... Him.

Maybe some things didn't change after all. Or maybe it's just her imaginations getting wild.

"It's okay lord Morax. There's no need to apologize." Ying shook her head as she stood up, looking at the god before her softly, kindly, just like when she looks at him. "This is all my fault for being too shy to approach lady Guizhong and offered her my help. Perhaps, if I go to her and greet her properly instead of spying on her, this whole ordeal wouldn't have happened. So please, no need to feel bad about it, okay?" Putting a hand on her chest, Ying closes her eyes as he gave him a smile, her brightest smile.

Unbeknownst to anyone there, Morax was stunned by her reply. She did not only dismiss his apology, but she blames herself instead for an event that would likely take her life in a normal situation. Even after the rough treatment she got from him, she's still able to give such a radiant and bright smile to him. Without any malice or hidden motives, just pure kindness. And on that split second of silence from him, Morax finds himself being rid of all the suspicions he has for the blonde haired traveler, coming to see her as a kind and lovely maiden of her own right. Maybe a bit similar or comparable to Guizhong.

"Ah, and speaking of that... Lady Guizhong, I see you collecting Horsetails and Lotuses. Is it for medicine? I happen to pick some of them during my traveling some days before." Moving on from the topic, and turning her body away from the (eerily) silent Morax. Ying walked to Guizhong and talk to her.

"Whoa! They look so fresh and on a perfectly good conditions! Where did you get them?" Guizhong asked when Ying handed her the items, the goddess' eyes sparks with wonder.

While the two girls are busy talking to each other. Morax observed from the sidelines, noting of how similar the two are, not only in appearance, but in personality too.

~o~0~o~

"So you've been living outside for the last three weeks?!" Guizhong asked, slightly shocked.

"Yes. I slept in this cave I find comfortable enough to turn it into my temporary living space." Ying answered with a nod of her head.

After she collected the materials she's looking for, Guizhong and Morax returned to the assembly with Ying followed. And now, the three of them find themselves sitting around the table once more, chatting over cups of tea and some treats. So apparently candies already exists during this time around.

"Why didn't you want stay here? The outside is a lot more dangerous than one could've imagine, you could have gotten yourself killed!" Guizhong berated, her tone is the mix of curiosity, confusion, and anger.

"Well, three reasons: One, I don't know where to live here. Two, I don't think anyone would let an outsider like me to live in their house. And three, I'm not sure if Rex Lapis would allow me to either." Ying shrugged, sighing a little.

Guizhong turn her head towards Morax. "Morax, please tell me that it's not true."

"Well, I would've been more than happy to chat and speak of the terms that would allow you to stay, if it weren't for you who run off so suddenly that day." Morax responded, causing Ying to sweat drop.

"That's right. We were having such a great time enjoying the meal that day, so why did you run off? We have so much things to say to you." Guizhong said with a nod, turning her head to look at Ying now, causing the blonde girl to get even more nervous than she was before.

Feeling that there's no way out of this situation. Ying decided to just surrender to her fate and explains everything.

"Do I really need to explain this?" The traveler mumbled, scratching the back of her head. "Well, the two of you heard from Gouba- I-I mean, the god of stove of what happened to the dish we ate that day, the real dish, that got ruined during the transportation. That Adeptus Temptation was made by the hands of your dear friend, who made it tenderly with her heart to appease the two of you. But it was because of me, I ruined her precious cooking, and to save faces, I even dare to replace it with a cheap imitation of my own. No way I could show my face to the two of you after ruining such a precious dish given to you from your beloved friend like that. I should've stayed to receive my punishment for my insolence... but driven by fear... I ran away instead." Ying explained, looking downcast while placing a hand on her chest.

"Ying..." Guizhong softly muttered, looking at the blonde haired girl across the table.

"I may have overthink it, or maybe I'm not. But there is another reason why I avoided the two of you..." Ying raises her hand, which she kept her palm closed, and once everyone's eyes are fixed on it, she opens her palm, and the instant she does so, a burst of stars and constellations appears, making Guizhong gasped while Morax gawked in surprise and wonder. "This is a special power I posessed, one that I inherited from my mother." She closes her palm again, absorbing the all of the sparks back. "Though this power is said to be blessing that my family had inherited from one to another, my abilities are nothing but normal. People have been trying kill me or exile me from town to town, fearing me for the unknown, and that is why I have taken much lengths to conceal my secret." Ying looks up to give the two gods a look on each one. "And I've heard of... how much a battlefield the Archon War is here in Liyue. And if the two of you were to see me using my secret powers... You may have thought of me as a threat, more than what you alreasy suspects me now." Closing her eyes, Ying sighed before looking down again. "And those... were my reasons."

The room went silent for a while, and Ying silently gulped down the lump on her throat. She's still having her face down so she couldn't tell how the two gods reacted to her long explanations. They are made up by her, but some parts of it are based on true story, such as the fact that she had visited a world before that tried to stake her alive after being accused for a witch. Mentally, she's screaming and begging for this to work, otherwise, she didn't know how to proceed with her plan after this.

There's a sound of chair moving as somebody stood up. Guizhong got up and quickly made her way over to Ying... Before pulling her into a hug, surprising Ying as her eyes went wide.

"Oh, Ying... I-I have no idea..." Guizhong mumbled to the completely confused Ying. "I didn't know you're having such a rough time in your life, if only I knew, I would've come searching you much earlier." She continued as she gave the blonde girl a pat on her head.

Wait a minute, hold on... This isn't the reaction she's expecting to see.

"Y-you're not mad at me?" Ying asked, a bit hesitantly, looking up towards Guizhong.

"Of course I'm not, why would I?" The goddess of dusk questioned. "No way I'm gonna be mad at you after cooking us such a delicious meal like that. I know that you're feeling all guilty about the spilled food that Ping made for us, but the fact that you're trying to fix your mistake is more than enough proof to show us just how much of a kind person you are. And besides, that isn't even your fault to begin with, so please stop blaming yourself for that." The goddess said while continue rubbing her head, which Ying found to be very comfortable.

"While I do have some... Still lingering thoughts about you. I do agree with what Guizhong said." Still sitting on his chair, Morax nods his head with his arms crossed. "I do not mind that you changed the contents of that dish that Streetward Rambler made, as us gods do not necessarily needs to eat to begin with. In fact, I was rather curious about how you've cook it, the one we ate that day taste different from the one she usually made, in a sense that your cooking is... More superior than her." The lord of Geo explained as he stared at her.

"Hehe, oh Morax... You said that now, but back then, once you were told that Ying made the food, you immediately stood up and accusing her of trying to poisoning you." Guizhong throws a smirk at him, to which the Geo Archon replied with only his usual blank look. Making Ying winced a little. "But yeah, what Morax said is true. Your food taste ABSOLUTELY delicious! Celestia above, it feels like with every bite I take I received some sort of boost on energy that makes me strong for the next five minutes straight! How could you even create such a delicious dish? Ping needs to learn a lot from you."

"That's oddly specific..." Ying chuckled wryly at the grey haired girl statement of gaining strength from her cooking. "So... You're not gonna kick me out? Even with my unknown powers?" Ying asked, looking at Morax who stared at her in return.

"No." Morax replied simply, shaking his head. "While I do not know the full details of the powers you possess, or the many troubles it causes you, it's the kind of person you are that truly matters to me. I'm sure that is what Guizhong here have in mind too." The god of contracts, closed his eyes as he continue. "And besides, the Guili Assembly isn't short on that kind of people either. I'm sure that you've met and know of one of them, Ganyu, the little girl you saved a few days ago. You may have noticed the horns on her head, while that girl is a human, she got illuminated beast's blood flowing through her veins. Adding you to our list shouldn't pose no problem at all. And I'll allow you to stay here, for as long as possible."

Ying went silent after hearing that. Everything she heard they said is not what she was expecting them to say. She thought that she would've need to tell them even more, maybe tell them about her search for Aether to gain their sympathies more, so they would allow her to get close to the assembly, not necessarily inside, but close, as long as she still can be there to protect Guizhong when that day comes.

But oh well, this works too, even better than she planned, and she is more than happy to accept it.

"Thank you." She muttered out with a smile.

Which was returned by Guizhong with a smile of her own. While Morax still retains the blank look on his face. But inwardly thinks to himself as to why he is starting to like the smile that Ying radiates. "Better than that sad look in her eyes" Morax mentally thought to himself.

To be Continued...

---

I think this story gonna have two more chapters again for it to be finished. Maybe I can finish it about two or more days and give it to her as a very very late birthday gift.

Or maybe I give it as a small celebration for my own birthday several days from now. But that'll be weird because... I have to give someone a late birthday present when it was supposed to me who receives a present...