CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE LAND OF ETERNITY

The departure from the Land of Wisdom had concluded with a sudden encounter that had led to emotions bursting like the eruption of a volcano. Amongst the docks of Sumeru, a particular ship had been resting like a slumbering beast, and it's captain had just returned from the city to set sail.

That captain was the robust woman that Ganyu and Keqing knew as Captain Beidou, and upon their eyes meeting their old friend, they had instantly lost their resting emotions.

It had turned out that Beidou had been out at sea during the events that now haunted Ganyu and Keqing's memories, so she had been clueless on the destruction of Liyue Harbor and Ningguang's demise. Less to say, the cheery captain had immediately lost her resting bottle of rum nestled in her right hand instantly at the mention of Tianquan's horrid death, having led to anger and disbelief, followed by sadness and acceptance that the two ladies she knew as 'Ningguang's Best' weren't feeding her any lies.

Upon accepting the truth she instantly had begun to cry and shout. She had begged for that encounter and information to be false, but she knew it wasn't and, out of respect, Ganyu, Keqing, and Yelan had walked off to give Beidou space and time to weep.

The three had decided to settle their bellies with a quick meal, knowing that the Crux would be their way to Inazuma. Beidou may have been delivered tragic news that all three had wished not to have even told her, but all three knew she wouldn't deny them a ride now. They weren't to blame for their grotesque reality; the Tsaritsa and her twisted mind were the culprits.

After a good half hour, all three had returned to the docks where the Crux remained anchored and rested in calm water. Beidou hadn't moved an inch, but her demeanor had changed; she was angry, emotionally drained, and lost, but time didn't freeze, it only kept moving forward. She couldn't just sit there forever, and upon their return, Beidou had gotten to her feet very slowly.

"Whatever you girls need, I'll provide. I can see that our encounter wasn't just a coincidence, but an act of destiny. I know you have a plan, so allow me to help you put these bastards in the ground where they belong!"

They had not even said a word, and, as if she could read the future, Beidou had already caught onto their plan and objective. Therefore, they had stated their plan to go to Inazuma, and had managed to kill two birds with one stone with figuring out where the base that manufactured the androids was in Snezhnaya. Beidou was excellent at navigation as captain of the Crux, so there was no doubt in their minds that Beidou could decipher the Snezhnayan ship's route that they had examined in the recorded files of Reshav's mind.

They'd been at sea for about eight hours now, and, while the crew had retired for the night, Ganyu was wide awake and admiring the stars and moon on the bow of the ship. This was her first experience ever traveling by sea, and, while it certainly was intimidating at first, after getting over the water's turbulence swaying the Crux like a baby being cradled by a mother, she adapted to the feeling.

The night was calm; the kinds of nights Ganyu adored, just allowing the subtle breeze grazing her skin and hair to calm her stressed mind. Tomorrow would be a challenge, and she needed this rare calm before the raging storm in less than ten hours.

"Mind if I join you?"

A voice graced her ears among the ambience of the rolling waves just beyond the wooden support her arms were lazily resting upon. A voice that immediately made her smile.

"Of course, my love," Ganyu answered happily, turning and meeting the sight of her beloved, a steaming cup of tea rested atop a plate gripped by her left hand.

Keqing smiled at the answer, navigating slowly to her beloved's side to avoid spilling her beverage. Upon meeting Ganyu's company, she rested the plate on a flat part of the bow off to the side, joining her love in the serenity of the evening's nature atmosphere.

"Are you okay?" Keqing asked. "You haven't really said much since we left the port."

"I'm fine, just…nervous about tomorrow," Ganyu assured. "I've heard rumors that Inazuma isn't the easiest place to get into, and that their archon, the Raiden Shogun, isn't really the type that's open to what we're planning to propose."

Keqing nodded.

"The rumors are true. Ever since the declaration of the Vision Hunt Decree, the Land of Eternity has been the equivalent of a peasant trying to get into a king's castle. However, the decree was recently abolished, so maybe this will make our plans go smoother. Besides, we're not going for a long term stay, just to seek reinforcements, so a ton of papers shouldn't be necessary to just speak with the Raiden Shogun.

There's also the matter that what we're proposing concerns the archon's safety and well-being, so I doubt they'd deny putting input into something that potentially ends them up kidnapped or worse."

Ganyu let out a long breath, smiling at her beloved's words. She couldn't imagine a world without Keqing, despite the past and their differences. Turns out that the saying "opposites attract" was definitely true, because here they were, together with what remained of Liyue Harbor and fighting for retribution.

"You're right," Ganyu confessed. "You always know the right things to say."

Keqing smiled again and nodded her head.

A silence followed among them, Keqing taking occasional sips of her tea and joining Ganyu in admiring the sights of the night, up until the sight of a mass of awry thundering clouds came into view. That sight was Inazuma's security barrier, signaling that the calming essence of the night was about to turn into a very violent downpour of rain and lightning.

"Looks like we've reached the storm barrier of our target destination," Keqing said. "It's probably best we get inside before we get close."

Ganyu nodded in agreement, having heard stories about sailor's experiences while passing through the storm barrier while. To put it lightly, the fellow captains occupying the harbor at the time had stated it as "trying to battle the wrath of the gods," and that was terrifying.

Ganyu didn't even want to be anywhere close to the upper deck during their passing through the raging storm.

"I agree," Ganyu answered. "We should get to safety before we enter."

With that said, the two gathered up any belongings, and quickly moved to lower bunkers of the Alcor. Beidou had arranged them what she could manage for a "bed," but, to the three girls, it was far from anything as such. The "bed" was nothing more than a blanket that wasn't even thick enough to comfort their backs from the hardwood floor.

The pillows were a stack of spare clothes that were lent to them by the entire fleet, and were surprisingly sturdy enough to pass as an actual pillow. Ganyu, having been born and raised in the mountains of Liyue, had no issue with sleeping on a hard surface, but she couldn't bear watching her beloved sleep on the hard ground, so she'd offered her a spot on her belly.

It wasn't much, but it would be much more comfy than the clothes. Therefore, Keqing had taken Ganyu's offer and was now resting her head on Ganyu's soft lap.

The storm was raging above deck, so the two were wide awake and doing everything they could to ride out the violent turbulence that was attacking the Alcor with an angry force. It hadn't taken long for the storm to attack after they'd retreated to their current position, so they were relieved that they'd gotten out of the crosshairs of the monsoon when they had.

Now, it was just a matter of Beidou managing to navigate the ship through, having treaded this dangerous route many times before. It felt like the battle with the raging tides and strong gusts had lasted for eternity, but, after a long two hours, the storm passed, and only then did Keqing and Ganyu finally fall into slumber.

On the other hand, Yelan stayed up to converse further with Beidou on the plans that would follow upon docking The Alcor safely in Inazuma's docks. It would be an extensive and difficult process to get an audience with the Raiden Shogun, but Beidou knew some of the nation's people; people who had connections to the Archon and her subordinates.

It was a matter of getting a message to those subordinates to get into Tenshukaku, and, given the nature of the matter, seemed pretty important for the matriarch to give consideration and exception to. It was a process none of them were looking forward to, but it had to be done, and, by the time the two robust women had concluded their talk, the sun was already in the sky, and the shores of their destination were in sight.

Yelan left the captain to her duties to go wake her two companions in the lower compartments of the ship, finding them shortly and preparing to rouse them from their respective slumbers. However, before she could say anything, something stopped her.

"I'm awake. No need to say anything."

The voice was Keqing's, her eyes open and head still rested atop Ganyu's abdomen. Her beloved was fast asleep on the blanket mattress, lightly breathing in her slumber as Keqing slowly got to her feet and addressed Yelan.

"Let her sleep a little longer. She needs it."

Yelan nodded her head in agreement, then the two ladies quietly moved from the area to the upper deck where all of Beidou's crewmates were prepping the ship for its arrival. Beidou was standing on the bow with her back turned to both of them, most likely to eye the waters for any unexpected hazards that the crewmate positioned in the crow's nest couldn't see well.

Yelan and Keqing navigated to Beidou's position, meeting her in less than twenty seconds and taking in the sea's calm and smooth breeze. Beidou caught their approach rather quickly, but didn't even move, continuing to eye the encroaching mass of land known as Narukami Island.

"Good morning, ladies," she greeted.

"Morning, Captain Beidou," Keqing greeted back. "How's the ship? Did it suffer any damage from the storm?"

Beidou merely chuckled at the comment.

"Nothing more than a few scratches. Other than that, my ship remains unscathed by even a mighty storm that was manifested out of divine power!"

"Good," Keqing said with a smile. "How long do you think it'll be until we reach Narukami Island?"

"I'd estimate our arrival will be in about twenty minutes. From there, Ms. Yelan and I will follow up with the proper proceedings to get past the guards of Tenshukaku.

"Right," she agreed, knowing that Inazuma was easily the most secure of all of the nations.

"Note to self, go wake Ganyu in ten minutes."

Upon noting her self-reminder, she looked beyond the bow of The Alcor, immediately seeing their destination inbound. It was quite a sight, given she'd never been to Inazuma, but had always wanted to make time to visit The Land of Eternity. She'd heard many stories and tales about its culture and history, the most invigorating being about when the Raiden Shogun had slain a giant serpent and split an island into two separate masses of land.

That was enough proof that the Electro Archon was very powerful, and a perfect reason for her to be cautious during their meeting with said matriarch. They were in a whole new land with different standards and laws, and, from what she had heard in her occupation as the Yuheng, the Raiden Shogun wasn't afraid to execute anyone who insulted or got in her way.

She was a much more strict Archon that wasn't afraid to sever heads from shoulders, and that was intimidating. However, they were not planning to insult the Shogun, but save her from potentially being attacked and kidnapped, so that shouldn't be any reason to be afraid of losing a head or limb.

Coming out of her thoughts, Keqing noticed that The Alcor was nearly at the shores of the island, leading her to going below deck to wake her love. It turns out that ten minutes is much shorter than she had anticipated as she approached the sight of her soulmate still out like a light.

She smiled at the sight, getting to her knees and pecking Ganyu lightly on her left cheek. The action caused Ganyu to rouse from her sleep, muttering cute little moans as she slowly opened her eyes to the sight of Keqing. Upon seeing who had awoken her, she smiled and giggled at the sight of her beloved.

Keqing followed with the same actions, leaning down and embracing Ganyu's soft lips with her own as way of saying good morning. Ganyu repeated the gesture, locking her lips with Keqing's for a long moment, up until they finally broke the seal.

"Good morning," Keqing greeted.

"Good morning," Ganyu returned, sitting up from the hard floor and stretching her limbs. "Have we arrived?"

"Yeah, but we still have to wait until Yelan and Beidou get the proper requirements for us to enter the borders."

Ganyu nodded, her smile not fading.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Ganyu asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I'd guess around three hours or so; long enough for us to freshen up as best we can and wake up some more," Keqing replied.

Ganyu nodded again.

"Alright, I'll be up on deck in about five minutes," Ganyu promised.

Keqing smiled and kissed her beloved one more time, before leaving her partner to her morning rituals. Upon returning to the upper deck, Keqing was greeted with the sight of the entirety of Beidou's crew in full action. She was very careful not to get in their way as she met back up with Yelan and Beidou on the bow of the Alcor.

As she climbed the left set of stairs to the upper part of the ship's front end, she caught a glimpse of the docks of Inazuma, now less than fifty yards away. Upon meeting back up with Yelan, the ship's captain too busy directing her crew, the two didn't speak a word.

Today was a big day, and they had to be prepared for whatever the electro archon would say or do in their goal of gaining help in a war that was fast approaching. Every nerve in both of their bodies were dancing frantically, knowing that they were now practically stranded, and had to be careful about everything they said or did.

This wasn't their home anymore; it was the Raiden Shogun's, isolated far from the Teyvat they all knew well.

The ship came to a halt, signaling that their mission had officially begun, and the first and most crucial step was now in action. It was time to gain entry to the distant Land of Eternity; a task that seemed far from possible, but they had to try.

Beidou met back up with both of them, meaning that it was time for her and Yelan to move into the borders of Inazuma.

"Ready to go, Ms. Yelan?" Beidou asked with as much confidence as she could muster in the current state of the world.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Yelan replied in the same exact manner, to which Beidou nodded.

"Alright, I'll direct my crew to lower the bridge, then we'll head into Ritou to register ourselves to gain entry into Inazuma's borders."

"Sounds like a plan," Yelan finished, to which Beidou turned to head down to the main deck, leaving her and Keqing to discuss anything they may need to say before departing.

Yelan confirmed that by turning to meet eye contact with her colleague, Keqing following instantly upon her movement.

"I don't know how long we'll be gone, but I still want you to keep watch for any suspicious activity along these docks. I doubt any of the Tsaritsa's army have made it here, but you can never be too careful."

Keqing nodded in agreement, Yelan following with a confident smile.

"One more thing. If we aren't back by tomorrow, Beidou has already instructed her crew to leave immediately. We cannot risk all of us getting stuck here, so, if we don't return, the crew will take you and Ganyu back to Sumeru. From there, I want you two to go to Fontaine to alert the Hydro Archon.

Our main priority is to protect any other archons from danger, so please don't come looking for me and Captain Beidou if the circumstances end up as such."

Keqing didn't argue, knowing Yelan was completely right. This wasn't a game or a matter that could afford mistakes; this was a war that could end Teyvat's entire existence.

"I understand and promise to follow through," Keqing loyally agreed.

"Good," Yelan replied. "I want you to relay the same information to Ganyu as well. I know she won't take it as easy as you, given her past, but I want you to do everything you can to make her understand."

"Don't worry, I w-

"It's okay, Ms. Yelan," a familiar soft voice interrupted.

The two simultaneously turned to meet the sight of Ganyu, her demeanor calm and undisturbed.

"Ganyu? How long have you been standing there?" Keqing asked.

"Long enough, and, don't worry, I understand and won't do anything to disrupt the plan. While my past may be full of tragedy and loss, that's no excuse to destroy everything we've worked so hard for. Shall you and Captain Beidou not return, I will follow through and allow the Alcor's crew to leave Inazuma."

Keqing smiled at her beloved's maturity, happy that she was as aware as she was that they couldn't risk anything in their current situation.

"Well, in that case, that saves me a lot of worry," Yelan stated, folding her arms.

"We can't reverse time, so mourning over the past will get us nowhere," Ganyu stated. "I've learned that, and have also realized that there are bigger issues in our current predicament that won't get solved by crying or wishing that it's all just a nightmare. If we're going to win this war, I need to be strong."

Keqing and Yelan were shocked. This was a whole different Ganyu than before, and it was clear that she wasn't to be underestimated.

"You're right, Ganyu," Keqing said. "We all need to be strong right now, and I'm sorry if we offended you in any way."

Ganyu shook her head and smiled in assurance as she made her way fully up to the bow, taking her position next to her love.

Yelan admired the sight of her two colleagues, standing in a stoic stance against the world. They looked so fearless and unphased by the looming peril beyond the horizon, but even she knew that they were far from it. They were scared just as much as she was, but they had to mask the fear to remain strong for each other.

True love in its purest form.

"You two are perfect together," Yelan complimented. "Love is the strongest form of strength, and it's clear you two have a very strong bond, even in a world on the edge of an apocalypse."

The two blushed at the compliment, Keqing motioning Ganyu to hold her hand out of Yelan's sights. Ganyu returned the gesture, gripping and embracing her beloved's warm hand in comfort and strength.

"No matter what, always keep that bond you share strong," Yelan continued. "It just might be the very thing that can lead us to victory in the final battle, even if the odds are stacked against us."

The two lovers were not sure what she meant, but accepted the words regardless.

Following her statement, the sight of Beidou came into view, meaning it was time for Yelan to depart.

"Looks like it's time for me to take my leave," Yelan stated, starting her way towards the stairs, but stopped to say one more thing. "Remember, if we're not back by tomorrow, go back to Sumeru and head for Fontaine. I'm counting on you two."

"Understood," Keqing answered for both of them, following with a nod from Yelan.

Having stated her last reminder, Yelan continued her departure down the stairs then disappeared from sight amongst the sea of Beidou's crew, currently swarming the main deck. The plan was officially in motion, and, as a way of calming their nerves, the two gripped each other's hands tight in assurance that they both were ready for whatever was to come in their time along the shorelines of Inazuma's borders.