Dominator Stellae

13 | Truths Start the Breath the Surface

The rest of our gathering of things for the Rite of Parting was going rather smoothly aside from accidentally pissing off the man who sold us the silk flower. He'd called his servants so I'd glared at him. To tell us not to speak anymore without further trying to figure out our identities had annoyed me. I'd decided it was best if I left the search for a woman who could make perfume to the younger ones and silently followed Zhongli to the Statue of the Seven.

The silence between us was tense with words that needed to be said. I wasn't going to be the one to break it. He stood by the statue as I sat down on the stone that lined the base of it. After another beat of silence Zhongli spoke.

"What brought you to Liyue?" His eyes shifted to me, probing for something.

I didn't know what he was searching for but he certainly wouldn't be finding it. I pretended to recall my reasoning. Truth be told, the only actual reason I'd come was to see Morax but...I pushed that thought away. I could mourn once all of this was said and done. "Truth be told, I have no real reason. Well, I guess wanting to see Rex Lapis again was my reason," I explained. And then I realized my mistake.

"Again? You've been to Liyue before?" He inquired. "Interesting. I've seen many faces before, I'm sure I would've no doubt recognized yours."

I had to play this off. It's not like anybody knew Aphelion had existed...well he does, but he doesn't even know what exactly my godly form looked like. This could be brushed over easily. I raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "Oh? Is that a compliment?"

"Well, it is pretty hard not to remember someone with freckles shaped like stars," he said, giving a pointed look to my freckles. I opened and closed my mouth. He wasn't exactly wrong, but I wasn't going to mess this up. It would probably be a good idea to start covering said freckles with makeup. If I could find some in my skin tone that is. Why was it always so hard to find things for darker skin?

I shrugged. "You're not wrong, but I doubt you would've seen me. I spent most of my time indoors because it was hard to get used to being in a very active city."

"Ah, I see. That's completely understandable. If I may ask, what nation are you from? I've never heard an accent such as your," he questioned, genuinely sounding curious for once. Give him a vague answer or give him a white lie? I'm silent for a moment as I debate how to answer him. It would be hard to sound like I was being truthful but I could work this out just as I always had. I guess it was hypocritical of me to not like people who exploit others when I was exploiting his little knowledge of Aphelion.

"It's hard to speak about...but I come from an area north of Monstadt, just barely within its borders," I said, hoping he bought the lie. It looked like he had. The weird probing look that had been nestled away in his eyes was gone and replaced once again by nostalgia. Zhongli was an enigmatic man. One I was unsure if I could trust completely. He was sort of like Childe in a less...battle-hungry, bloodthirsty way. That kid had some serious problems that needed to be sorted out.

The air shifted towards awkwardness again. We sat there in silence for five minutes before Zhongli broke the silence again. "You mentioned earlier that you'd been searching for texts related to Aphelion, yes?" He said. "You're welcome to come read them once we finish. I would give them to you, but they...hold some sentimental value."

If they're my diaries then you better kiss your "sentimental value" goodbye. I offered him a half-smile. "Uh, yeah, that would be nice actually." It actually wouldn't. I'm horrible at small talk. And so we fell back into silence, Zhongli turning around and stared up at the statue. I stood and wandered across the road, it felt so familiar and yet so not. I, too, turned to stare at the statue from a distance. My eyes drifted back to Zhongli.