So fun fact, this was supposed to be posted a month ago, as a birthday present for Zhongli- I promise it's not as shitty as the Ragbros birthday presents. You see, the Author's Curse keeps coming for us! I, Fae, got hit with a strained tendon, immobilizing back pain (I'm fine now, just muscles being stupid) and a chopped off thumbprint. Then Kalietha and Storm got to meet each other, only to immediately catch the plague for the entire month. We're all fine now, aside from my thumb, but seriously. This thing kicked in the instant we chose to add Kalietha as an official author. It was out for blood.

Please do welcome our newest author though, she did a ton of work on this chapter specifically and is likely to do a lot more in the future! She deals with the Lizard so I don't have to. As per usual, any Chinese words or phrases used will be translated in the end-of-chapter notes.

Trigger warnings: Panic attacks, hallucinations, grief, general blockheadedness, eye trauma

Barbatos' words haunted Zhongli as he left his abode. What did the wind spirit know that he did not, to so openly urge him to go find Xiao? Barbatos, who almost never said anything clearly, favoring instead a manner of speech that wrapped everything in so many extraneous words as to become almost meaningless entirely. Something must be terribly, urgently wrong, for the confounded bard to be so straightforward… speed was essential. He could speak with Ping later– he had to find his son, and quickly.

Xiao spent much of his time at Wangshu Inn, when he was not actively patrolling or in combat. He would go there first, search thoroughly, and if his yaksha was not there… well, he would have to tighten up that shale when he skidded on it. The odds might be low, but anywhere else would require him to stretch out his stone sense and hope the bird was touching rock, hope he was in one of the first places he checked, hope that the time he wasted searching did not make him too late–

The dragon tried not to think just how low those odds were. Xiao had a tendency to overwork himself to the extreme in the best of times, and now? If, as Zhongli had a terrible suspicion, the avian adeptus was in a mood to punish himself, he was likely out in the furthest corners of Liyue, seeking out the toughest battles he could find.

Given that, the archon could not really say he was surprised to find the adeptus' usual rooftop apparently empty. Worried, yes, but 'usual' only applied when the yaksha was not out cleansing the land– and even if he was here… Well, it was never that easy when it came to Xiao, particularly if he wished to avoid being found. He had always been good at concealing his presence in general, and for Zhongli… well. He had to admit that sensing the presence of another in such a way had never truly been his strong suit.

But perhaps… if he was not actively trying to avoid Zhongli…

With a small sigh, anticipating failure, the dragon softly called the yaksha's name. To his surprise, his summons was actually answered, and he found himself hoping Xiao did not notice his small jump as the adeptus appeared before him. He was further startled to see Xiao's iridescent wings spread out behind him– it was quite rare for the bird to bring them forth, rather than leaving them tucked out of the way in his bodily subspace. For him to have summoned them…

Barbatos was right, stars damn him. Something had to be off.

At least it was also an indication Xiao had not been out fighting, which was a small mercy to the Archon's nerves. It made it far less likely the yaksha was injured. Nevertheless, that he had his wings out at all warranted a closer look at the avian adeptus– just in case.

At first glance, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary– but appearances were often deceiving, and the archon had long since learned that just because the yaksha looked in good health did not mean he actually was. Xiao was annoyingly skilled at hiding pain and injury. A closer look revealed the disarray of those shimmering feathers, a clear sign even to a dragon that they had not been preened in some time– not unexpected, with how they were usually tucked away. And as that was the only even possible visual sign of a problem- at least, without making his inspection obvious– Zhongli suppressed his concerns for the moment, instead choosing to ask Xiao why he had not come when called earlier.

Long moments passed without answer, and he eventually was forced to conclude that the younger adeptus had not heard him, lost in his thoughts despite coming to Zhongli's call. He could not keep the concern from his face as he gently spoke his son's name once more, hoping to return his attention to the present. "Xiao."

"I…I couldn't… Kaeya…"

Zhongli waited patiently as the avian adeptus struggled to force out words. He knew the yaksha struggled to organize his thoughts sometimes, but that if he allowed him to do so, he would get his answers in due time.

Then Xiao reached for the feathers of his left wing, and the dragon's heart cracked. He barely halted the movement of his arm, reaching to stop his son from acting on that old self-destructive habit– he remembered just in time the lectures he had received from Ping and– he was not going to think about him, not right now– about not interfering, because it would only make things worse.

Knowing it would make things worse did not make it any easier to simply stand and watch the gold and teal feathers slowly litter the roof, aware of the level of stress and emotional pain that had driven such an action in the past.

It had been years, centuries since he had last felt so helpless. He did not like it now any more than he had then. If he should not interfere, then how was he to help Xiao? Did he dare touch him, offer physical reassurance? When the yaksha was younger, it had often ended… poorly, if a touch caught him by surprise. Was that still the case?

It shamed Zhongli that he could not be certain.

He took a step closer– unlike himself, Xiao had always excelled at detecting the presence of others, perhaps his presence alone might have a soothing influence? But it was a frail hope. He knew… after all this time, his presence, his pitiful attempt at aid was likely the last thing the young adeptus wanted in such a moment. Perhaps his excuses were just that, an attempt to justify his own selfish desire to be close to his son, to protect him. It did soothe his own nerves slightly. And from this closer vantage, he could get a better look at his yaksha, at the condition of those wings he so relentlessly insisted on harming–

It was not as bad as he had feared. There were indeed patches of missing feathers, the occasional speckle of blood on the bare, pebbled skin. And it was clear, as before, that he had not properly preened in some time. But that was all. In contrast to the first time he had seen them– burns both old and new, misshapen bones that one did not need to be a healer to know spoke of far too many mishealed breaks, bruising until it was hard to tell the true color of the skin–

Zhongli had to close his eyes for a moment and breathe, forcing back the images.

Every time someone commented on how a perfect memory must be a wonderful thing to have, he had to fight the twin urges to laugh and scream.

Letting out his breath, Zhongli focused on the fact that his son's wings were not so injured as they had been. His son was whole, and safe - or as safe, as whole, as he ever was, anymore. Physically, at least, he was fine– though his mental state was clearly more in question.

After several more minutes of waiting, he was forced to conclude that Xiao had lost track of the world around himself once more. The Archon struggled to think how to help his child– because whether the yaksha knew it or not, he was, both legally and in the old dragon's heart.

Finally, with no other ideas, Zhongli spoke softly and reached out to lay a hand on Xiao's shoulder. "Hǔ zǐ…let me help, please- " He had not even finished the words, and his hand had not yet reached Xiao's shoulder, when his son disappeared in a swirl of karma-darkened anemo. The dragon closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to force down the hurt. It seemed he had been wrong, and trusting Zhongli with his child had not been the sign of forgiveness he had hoped, and he…he was still unwanted in his son's life.

It would be so easy to go hide in the depths of his abode, drown in the hurt for a while.

It would not solve anything.

And if he failed to do right by the hatchling currently in his abode, if he failed yet another child, it would only drive his son further away. So he shoved the hurt down deep, told himself he did not actually feel as though he were being torn apart, that his heart was whole and not shattered into a crumbling pile somewhere below his stomach. Tried to convince himself that it did not matter that Xiao had chosen to leave, rather than acknowledge his words. That it changed nothing. He could deal with his emotions later.

He had other priorities at the moment– such as informing Ping that he had a child under his care, and asking if she would be willing to do a full reading on the hatchling, to find out if there were any problems to be addressed from the start.

With a deep sigh, Zhongli scooped up a handful of the abandoned feathers for later, before teleporting to the Harbor.

✦ •— ✧ —• ✦ ·𖥸· ✦ •— ✧ —• ✦

Ping couldn't help chuckling and shaking her head when her old friend appeared in the plaza. Really, if Zhongli kept teleporting into public areas like this, he would never manage to maintain a facade of mortality– not that he'd ever been terribly successful with it, even with centuries of practice.

It was no surprise that he headed straight to her table– who else would he come to the plaza to see? –but she had to work to hide her worry when she saw the obvious concern escaping the Archon's facial control. He had long since mastered maintaining an expression of stone in public, and there were only so many things that could push him to show his emotions past it–

The old healer offered Zhongli a warm smile as he approached, a friendly greeting and asked after his wellbeing, but all the while she wanted to scream what happened to Xiao–

And then his words brought her mind stuttering to a halt for a moment.

"Xiao left a hatchling with me."

He plunged immediately into the story of how and why and what happened since, in his usual long-winded way, and for once Ping was grateful for the way he expanded on things. It gave her time to scramble for mental purchase and adjust to the notion.

Xiao had a child? How, when– the bird was far too dedicated to his duty to take time off for socializing, and his karma– but as she listened the answers came clearer. A soft, sad smile found its way to her lips. So, a foundling then… but one the yaksha was clearly attached to. If they could find a way around the karma issue– and if the boy had a vision, that was likely workable– it would do him good. He had separated himself from the world for the sake of duty and the safety of others for far too long as it was. Grief and bittersweet sorrow swamped her for a brief moment, as she remembered another yaksha… perhaps he had rubbed off on Xiao more than any of them had thought. They had always been close, it wasn't unexpected, really…

With a shuddering sigh, she pulled herself away from those memories. She couldn't afford to get lost in reminiscences right now… not when Zhongli was flailing about emotionally with regards to Xiao, as usual, and this time with another child caught in the middle.

Some starting information would be helpful to figure out what, if anything, she might need to bring… even before the old dragon asked, she'd already planned to insist on checking the poor thing over. Between them, Xiao and Zhongli had probably terrified the child out of his wits– and she doubted either had taken the time to explain much of anything to him.

She could take care of that while looking him over. "Do you know how old the child is?" The sudden consternation on her friend's face spoke volumes. "No matter. I'm sure– Kaeya, was it– can tell me himself. Shall we?"

…

She shouldn't have been surprised when golden light immediately surrounded them, depositing them in front of the entrance to Zhongli's abode. She really shouldn't.

It was a good thing she was already known to have adepti as friends, or her own mortal cover would've been in trouble…

Zhongli didn't even seem to notice, immediately leading the way in and down the halls at a ridiculously fast walk. Huffing to keep up with her shorter legs– really, even adepti had to deal with some of the side effects of age, he should know that- it took a moment for her to realize the route was familiar.

No.

Even he wasn't that much of a blockhead, was he?

He wouldn't.

Then he touched the symbol to open the door, and proved that, in fact he had. Her idiotic god of a friend had put the child in Xiao's old room. Sighing, she resolved to give him a lecture on why that was a bad idea later, and hoped neither the yaksha nor his new adoptee had figured it out yet.

It took about two more seconds for that hope to be dashed. The door opened to reveal a scene she had never thought to see; Xiao, wings out and spread– she winced as she saw bare patches, he'd been plucking again– hissing at Barbatos.

It took a moment for her to locate the child, hidden as he was by those wings. At least if Xiao was holding him, he was unlikely to get too violent– she rather suspected he didn't have a handle on the new instincts associated with parenthood, yet. And at least Barbatos was showing enough sense to keep his distance, for the moment.

In the time it took her to take in the situation and keep Zhongli from getting into the middle of things, Xiao had retreated with– well, she assumed that was Kaeya, to a corner and folded his wings around him, and shortly rather adorable cooing noises were coming from their direction. At least he should be a bit calmer now, if she could get the two gods to leave him alone–

Because both the idiots were already moving towards the pair, and reaching out–

She might have growled a little herself as she smacked both their hands down, "Out."

"But– "

"Surely– "

"I said out." She glared, and continued to, until they left the room. Zhongli gave in first– but then, he'd heard more of her lectures. She almost thought she'd have to drag Barbatos, but he sighed and left too before much longer, following the elder god into the hall.

Ping eyed the door a moment longer- just in case one of them was stupid enough to open it and try to watch– then turned to her patients. Kaeya might be her official reason for being here, but if she had the opportunity to get a good reading on Xiao's health… it had been entirely too long since she'd gotten him to sit still long enough to check how bad his karma had gotten, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it was partly because he didn't want her picking up on how little care he was taking for his own needs.

Which was bad enough normally, but if he was going to be raising a child– and given how Xiao was acting right now, she didn't think Kaeya would be staying with Zhongli much longer, if at all– then he needed to be in good enough shape himself to do so, and needed to provide a good example. A child as young as the one she'd gotten a glimpse of was unlikely to listen to the reasoning that their parent didn't need as much food as they did, and would just imitate them instead.

To her relief, it took only a few minutes before Xiao began to relax, folding his wings back to eye her cautiously. She had no doubt he'd known when Zhongli and Barbatos had left, and that she remained; she had never met anyone as good at sensing presences as Xiao. That caution did hurt, though, even if the change in posture showed he didn't view her as a threat.

…or at least, as much of one.

"May I come closer, Xiao? I promise, I won't hurt your chick. I just want to make sure you are both alright, perhaps do a reading to be absolutely sure."

To her surprise, Xiao only blinked at her a few times before nodding. Maybe this would go more smoothly than she had thought. There was no doubt that the yaksha made for an extremely protective father, but if he was classifying her under 'protectors' instead of 'threats'...

There was still the matter of the child, who was clearly terrified. Her display of temper earlier might not have helped with that, honestly. Best to be as gentle as possible from here on out. "Why don't you sit down on the bed with Kaeya? It might be a little more comfortable for both of you."

Xiao hesitated for a moment, then nodded, his wings disappearing in a small flash of light as he tucked them away again before sitting on the bed. Little Kaeya still clung to him, staring at Ping as though convinced she would hurt him– or take him away, she wasn't sure which- so it was no surprise that he was settled on the young adeptus' lap instead of at his side, for all it might complicate things.

After a moment's thought, the healer decided to kneel in front of the two. It put her a little below the boy's eye level, which would hopefully make her… 'less scary', as someone would once have said.

"Hello, Kaeya. I'm Madam Ping, and your Yéye asked me to come check on you." …it wasn't an encouraging sign that those simple words were enough to have the poor child starting to tremble. Was it just from the altercation he had just witnessed? The way his world had been turned upside down, the last few days? Or had he been ill-treated before Xiao found him? Ping noted how thin the exposed parts of him were, the shadows under his eyes, and came to the sad conclusion the last was most likely. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you, sweetheart. I'm a healer, that's not what we do."

Why did that make him shake harder?

"All I want to do right now is a quick reading, to see if you're hurt anywhere we can't see. It's completely painless, you won't even feel anything. I could do one on your Bàba first, to show you, if you like…" She trailed off, looking to Xiao. Hopefully he'd cooperate– and then she'd solve two problems at once. Get that look at his condition she wanted, and calm the child.

He didn't respond to her directly, instead focusing on his chick, running his fingers through that dark blue hair and making more of those cooing noises from earlier. It seemed to be working, so she waited patiently, and after a few minutes Xiao bent forward to nuzzle the top of Kaeya's head and whisper to him. "It will be fine, Kaeya. Honorable One– Madam Ping- will not hurt me."

Hearing that title again, after so many centuries, was like a blow to Ping's gut. Memories swamped her for a moment– a child more hurt than any should ever be, screaming in agony because she'd misjudged things yet again. Wings deformed and broken, and a gentle touch that seemed to land like a lit brand on them. Tear-filled apologies- but she shoved them down, stomped them down, they wouldn't help right now–

"I have known her for a very long time, and she has never hurt me intentionally before."

Damn it, she could not start crying now. She needed to stay calm, or at least appear to be. But… to hear proof that he'd forgiven her for all the pain she'd caused, so long ago…

"I don't see why that would change now. She will not hurt you either, fledgling, I promise."

Ping took a minute to make sure she had her emotions back under control, then held out a hand. Once he'd learned it was an option, Xiao had always preferred a hand as her access point for readings and healing when it was possible– and she was more than skilled enough to work from any point of contact. He ran his fingers through Kaeya's hair one more time before setting his hand in hers–

Her power had barely begun to sweep through the yaksha when her heart sank. It was immediately apparent that, despite the lack of an increase in requests for his medication, Xiao's condition had severely worsened. He'd already had more karmic taint built up than any other yaksha had survived, multiple times over, the last time she had cornered him– and that had been centuries ago. But by all reports, there were less tainted monsters appearing, so she'd hoped…

Once again, Ping fought to suppress tears, to maintain that calm smile. How was Xiao still alive, still sane? They'd never figured out how he'd resisted it so well. Without knowing how, they couldn't know when he'd lose the battle, when they'd lose him too… they'd already lost…

She had to get him to cooperate with an increase in dosage. If he hadn't requested it, with the amount of pain he was in, he had to be trying to just handle it on his own, and they already knew from others that it didn't help matters. They had to.

Perhaps, with a child to look after, he would be more reasonable…

At least he didn't seem to be hiding any wounds at the moment.

Hoping her smile hadn't become noticeably shaky, Ping released Xiao's hand and turned to Kaeya, whose eyes followed her hand as she offered it to him in turn. The fear was not entirely gone from his eyes, but unless she missed her guess, curiosity was the stronger force in the child now.

"See, it doesn't hurt at all. Your Bàba is perfectly fine. Just put your hand in mine when you're ready, and I'll be quick about it."

The boy hesitated, then looked up at Xiao– for reassurance, she assumed– before slowly reaching out to put his hand in hers. She shoved down her reactions to her other patient's state, forcing a more genuine smile to her face that she hoped he would find reassuring.

"Thank you, sweetheart."

That smile froze as she began her reading. Once again, the information felt like a blow. There was no question the child was mortal, the way energy flowed in his body matched that of other human vision-wielders, not that of an adeptus– but how could a mortal child of his age bear so many old wounds? Most were long healed, of course, but the echo remained in his bones and flesh, much as it had for Xiao, when he'd come to them. A level of scarring she'd expect from a lifelong soldier many decades Kaeya's senior… but who, in these days, would force a child to fight so much?

Her heart ached.

All those wounds were bad enough, but then she got to the child's head, and discovered that his right eye appeared to… it wasn't even as if it didn't exist. A missing eye would still show the empty socket, the condition of the surrounding tissue… this was some sort of magical void, like a hole in reality. She simply couldn't sense anything there. What had they done to this child?! She instinctively prodded further at the area, hoping for some clue–

Pain.

For an unknown period of time, that was all Ping knew. Her head hurt worse than she could ever remember feeling, and she couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't hear– then she heard distant screams, from a voice she didn't recognize, then they weren't so distant and she realized it was Kaeya screaming in front of her, oh gods she'd hurt another child with a reading how–

She pulled away, still struggling to think through the blinding agony in her skull. She thought she was apologizing, she wanted to be apologizing, but she couldn't be sure and could he even hear her right now?

Gradually, the pain faded enough for her to properly register her surroundings. It was quiet now, too quiet, Xiao's wings were back out and blocking them both from view and those bent feathers where the bed was in the way probably hurt but why was she thinking about that right now, was the child alright? What had she done to him when she prodded that void, oh stars don't let him be dead–

Zhongli was there. Since when was Zhongli there? He was standing between them, looking from her to the young ones and back, panic written in his face and posture–

She had to calm down.

They needed her calm.

She took a deep breath, and hoped the lingering pain in her voice wasn't too obvious. "I'll be fine, Zhongli. Can you tell if the little one is? I…I doubt Xiao will let me close, just now."

The god hesitated a moment, but didn't move towards the pair on the bed. "I- I managed to get a look earlier, the hatchling is unconscious, and I… I suspect he may have aggravated an injury I failed to notice earlier. I did not see, but I smell fresh blood. Xiao has thus far refused to put him down so I can take a closer look… or respond to my words at all, to be honest."

She sighed. There was no help for it, until Xiao calmed down. "We'll just have to wait, then. I doubt Xiao has a good handle on his parental instincts yet, so with his chick hurt– I have no doubt any attempt to interfere will be read as an attack."

Zhongli didn't look terribly happy about that answer, but there was nothing even a god could do to change things. Finally, he sighed and turned more fully towards her. "What happened?"

Ping closed her eyes and struggled for control again. This was not the time to break down in tears. Later, in the privacy of her abode, she could take the time to process everything… and to remember. "There was something highly unusual with Kaeya's right eye, and it did not respond well to being investigated. I'll tell you more later."

The dragon looked rebellious, but she pinned him with a glare. "Those two are the priority right now. First, we wait for Xiao to calm down enough to let us check on Kaeya, to at the very least find the source of that blood you smelled. Perhaps see if Kaeya is willing to talk to us, tell us if he knows anything about what happened. I doubt he will even if he does, but at this point that looks like the only– "

✦ •— ✧ —• ✦ ·𖥸· ✦ •— ✧ —• ✦

Xiao wasn't entirely sure when Honorable One- Madam Ping had entered the room, but he certainly wasn't upset by it. Kaeya almost certainly needed a healer and he could think of no one better than the elder adeptus. Granted, he wasn't entirely comfortable with another touching his fledgling right now, but he had to be. For Kaeya's sake, if nothing else. It was just a reading, surely he could handle that much- he even sat through one himself just to prove they were safe. It had to be better for him if the reading was done now, instead of later…struggling to shove down his reluctance to allow anyone to touch Kaeya, Xiao forced himself to relax as his fledgling put his hand in the healer's and she began her reading.

He laid his cheek on top of Kaeya's head and just breathed for a moment, taking in his scent and the familiar, stony smells of the abode. His fledgling was safe, Honora– Madam Ping wasn't going to hurt Kaeya because readings didn't hurt. 'They did once', a tiny part of his mind reminded him. He quickly pushed that thought aside, refusing to even entertain the idea. A reading wouldn't hurt Kaeya, there was no reason it should. He was nothing like Xiao, he'd never been enslaved... He smiled softly, turning to press a kiss into blue locks. His fledgling was nothing like him. He would be fine.

The bird adeptus was yanked out of his thoughts as the child in his lap let out a scream of agony, stiffening in the yaksha's loose hold. On instinct, Xiao tightened his grip, protectively pulling Kaeya closer, only for his fledgling to wrench himself nearly out of the gentle hold the bird adeptus had on him. Panic flooded the yaksha as he pulled Kaeya closer to him and away from the healer.

Readings weren't supposed to hurt, the only time they had hurt had been when he had been first saved from Master Moharus– when he still had the gem– did that mean…

No, he needed to calm down. Kaeya was nothing like him Kaeya was fine, he would be fine there had to be a different reason that the reading hurt his fledgling. There needed to be a different explanation, Master Moharus was dead, had to be dead, Master had killed him… but what if he wasn't? What if Master Moharus had gotten to Kaeya? It made sense, Xiao had disobeyed so many rules. Why wouldn't he punish Xiao in the worst way possible, by taking his fledgling?

A whine tore from his lips before he could stop it. How was he supposed to protect Kaeya from Master Moharus?

'You can't. You never stood a chance.'

He was just going to end up like Mighty One had. Dead because of him, dead because he couldn't just follow the rules, dead because he upset Master Moharus again.

'Dead because you made the mistake of caring. You know better, to care is to doom others.'

How long would his fledgling last before Master Moharus got bored with the little mortal, even if Xiao followed every order? Even if he didn't fail? Most mortals didn't last very long, and as strong as Kaeya was he still wasn't an adeptus, and he was just a fledgling, not even grown...

'You should spare him the pain. Slit his throat now, before the torture begins-'

Master Moharus might not even kill Kaeya himself, he might make one of his other adepti do it, or worse he might force Xiao to kill his fledgling while he watched, make him eat his dream...

Could he hide Kaeya away someplace only he knew about?

'You can't hide, can never hide.'

It would probably mean breaking more than a few rules, but Xiao was willing to do that and a lot more if it meant his fledgling was safe. Better to take the punishment on himself, if he could. But where could he hide Kaeya that Master Moharus wouldn't be able to find him?

'Nowhere, he can always find you, you could never run- '

Could he even hide his fledgling? If Master Moharus found out he would kill both of them.

'No, you're too useful, he'd use Kaeya as a lesson. You'll have to cut him apart, listen to his screams as he controls your limbs, like so many others-'

Still, he had to try, it was Kaeya's best chance– his best chance to make sure his fledgling could grow up free.

'Never free, never, he didn't deserve it and anyone he touched was tainted, he doomed the child the moment they met–'

It needed to be someplace the god couldn't easily get to-

'There is no escape. He can get to you anywhere, control you from anywhere, hurt you from anywhere.'

–but someplace Xiao could get to just in case his fledgling called for him.

'As if you'd be permitted to help him, you'll just hear him screaming your name and be unable to do anything but witness.'

Although he hoped Kaeya wouldn't call him too often, just in case. As desperation took hold, a possibility struck the yaksha and he teleported away from the room he was currently in, before anyone could think to stop him.

'You're already much too late, little monster.'

I'm not sorry for the end of this chapter, in fact I'm holding the next one hostage until I get at least 10 comments/reviews. Kalietha is currently laughing maniacally while I type this. If you don't comment then the Crab People will come for you. Be warned.

A personal note from Kalietha - I've started crossposting Drowning in Crystal Sand here on , for those who may be interested and don't want to join AO3! Only the first chapter is up so far; but I'll be dropping a new one every few days until it's caught up.

One more thing, there's a boycott going on for Genshin and it is something all three of us have agreed to back. If you're somehow unaware, over the last year Genshin players, including us, have become increasingly dissatisfied with the state of the game and the lack of voice for the playerbase. Since Star Rail's release it has become clear we are missing out on a lot of fixes and that the current director is at least partially responsible. Right now people on all servers are dropping the game, refusing to spend money on or even log into the game in an attempt to finally be heard.

We need to try, for at least the next 72 hours, or Genshin will never be the game it could and should be. We love it to death, but something has to give. We encourage all of you to join in- together we can make a difference for the game we love.

We hope you're all doing well in 2024 so far, and that this new year is better than the last in all the ways that matter. Also, don't catch the plague, it's not fun.

Chinese translations:

Yéye- (paternal) Grandfather

Bàba- Father

Hǔ zǐ-

English: brave young man

This one literally means "tiger cub" or "tiger son."