Chapter Text
Ganyu led the Captain of The Crux through the Jade Chamber, upholding her professional persona despite Beidou being her friend. She was surprised, and yet she supposed not, that the Tianquan had summoned her to come up to see her. Usually, only herself and Ningguang's three secretaries were permitted entry but it seemed this was a special exception.
As head of the Liyue Qixing it was Ningguang's duty to make sure the rules and regulations of the land were upheld and of late even Ganyu had to admit that the Captain of the Alcor had made that difficult. No matter the fines, the threats, Beidou and her fleet still seemed to do as they pleased and perhaps Ningguang had decided to take matters into her own hands more directly.
Beidou had been her jovial and boisterous self as Ganyu had escorted her up from the docks, telling her tales of her most recent sailing and trying to goad her into joining her crew down in the tavern that evening. She did not seem at all nervous as many would had they been summoned by the Tianquan herself, Ganyu worrying how her attitude would be received by Ningguang who usually commanded the utmost respect.
“Try to behave yourself.” Ganyu said softly as they reached the doors of Ningguang's office, smiling at her friend.
“I can’t make any promises.” Beidou replied with a hearty laugh, lightly ruffling the top of Ganyu’s head. “But I will at least try.”
With that Ganyu opened the heavy golden doors and led her inside.
Ningguang did not immediately look up from her desk as they entered, her mind occupied with the pile of contracts laid in orderly piles in front of her.
“My Lady, Captain Beidou of The Crux is here as you requested.” Ganyu announced.
Ningguang finally looked up from her papers, and if it weren’t for how long Ganyu had known her she probably wouldn’t have noticed the way the Tianquan’s eyes widened just a fraction as she finally looked at Beidou.
The flicker of something Ganyu could not place was gone just as fast as it had appeared but it had been there just long enough that it would play on Ganyu’s mind for some time.
“Thank you, Ganyu.” She said. “You may leave us.”
Ganyu was surprised, it was not often that she would not be required at these kinds of meetings, the Tianquan usually trusting her to listen in or to take notes.
“Of course, my Lady” She replied with a small bow of the head. As she turned to leave she glanced once more at Beidou, a look in her eye that told her there would undoubtedly be trouble.
The woman who had been causing her so much extra work was not what Ningguang had been expecting.
She was slightly taller than herself and clearly well-muscled, yet her face had a beauty to it, her single eye a shade of red not so dissimilar from Ningguang's own. She held herself in such a casual way that it should have irked her, and yet somehow it did not.
Her eyes drifted to the electro vision that hung from her hip, earned from the Archon of eternity in a way that was undeniably worth the legends. In fact, Ningguang had yet to hear of someone of her time earning a vision in a more deserving way. She could not help but respect it somewhat. Although her own vision was of little value to her it did have its uses when it came to making business deals, never failing to impress or intimidate merely by its presence. She doubted that it would serve either purpose here.
“Thank you for coming.” She said politely as she rose from her desk.
“Did I have much of a choice?” Beidou said with a raised eyebrow, a smirk dancing in corner of her lips.
Ningguang had not been expecting the respect she was so usually given from this pirate but already she knew this woman was going to be a challenge.
Beidou walked over to a display case by the window, ignoring formality.
“Now that’s a nice specimen.” She commented, inspecting a fossil embedded in beautiful crimson quartz. “From Natlan I assume, worth a lot if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes.” Confirmed Ningguang as she made her way across the room towards the other woman, somewhat surprised that the pirate had identified its origin so quickly. “You have a good eye,”
“I know the value of rare stones when I see them.” Beidou replied, her eye glancing down at Ningguang's body seemingly of its own accord.
“Indeed.” The Tianquan replied, smiling tightly as a heat came unbidden to her cheeks. “And speaking of Natlan, is it not the case that you recently exported goods from there to Inazuma, of all places, without first declaring them to our port authorities?”
“The port procedures are too slow.” Beidou declared, waving her hand dismissively as she came to take a seat. “It was important I moved the shipment quickly or else the goods would spoil and those peoples livelihoods would have been at risk, their families, and I had to honour my contract.”
“I see.” Ningguang responded, returning to her desk slowly as she thought of the best way to deal with this pirate. “I admire you as a citizen of Rex Lapis’ Liyue for upholding your contracts, but your refusal to follow our laws and regulations is causing no end of problems, Beidou. It is unacceptable.”
“I do what is best for my crew and the people of Liyue.” Said Beidou plainly. “I do it not to cause you trouble.”
“And yet it does.” Ningguang replied coldly.
“Well, you’ll just have to fine me again, won’t you?” The Captain goaded her.
Ningguang sighed. “It seems I will.”
She took the appropriate form out of her desk and wrote out the fine, applying the harshest penalties for all of The Crux’s infractions that she could.
The number was eye-watering. She could have probably bought another ship with the amount.
Beidou simply laughed as she looked at it.
“I’ll have the gold to Yujing Terrace by noon.”
The second meeting had gone similarly to the first, with no progress being made. The third had ended horribly with the shouting heard throughout the Chamber, the Tianquan telling Ganyu to keep Biedou out of her sight after it, rumour starting to spread of Ningguang’s dislike for the pirate. Surprisingly though, mere weeks later, Ganyu was asked to bring the Captain to the Jade Chamber once more.
She had wondered aloud to Keqing why Ningguang kept summoning Beidou to the Chamber if she infuriated her so much, but hadn’t gotten much of an answer.
“For all your years in Teyvat, Ganyu, you still sometimes miss the simplest of things.” The Yuheng had said to her, rolling her eyes with a smile when a look of confusion came to Ganyu’s face.
"I’m sure it will all become clear to you in time, my dear Adeptus.” Keqing had reassured her, tapping her lightly on the nose before carrying on with her duties.
For now, Ganyu had her own conclusions. Mora was everything to Ningguang and she was all too happy for people to believe that to be true. Ganyu knew differently though, that there was one thing the Tianquan valued more than mora, and that was the game. She always won eventually, no matter what kind she played, and Ganyu supposed the situation with Beidou was just another game to her, one that was taking her longer than usual to secure victory in.
It was evening when she finally heard the knock on her office door. She hadn’t spotted the Alcor coming into the harbour until sunset and she knew all too well that Beidou would not come until her cargo and crew were all in order. For all she disliked about the woman she could not help but admire her care for those who sailed with her.
Ganyu had quickly come to learn that her presence was not required at Ningguang's meetings with Beidou and left the room once she had announced the Captain.
Ningguang was about to apologise for her behaviour at their last meeting, both of them having gotten angry and Ningguang at least had regretted her unusual loss of temper.
Before she got the chance however, Beidou spoke.
“I’ve brought you something.” She stated, her voice betraying something the Tianquan couldn’t quite place, an ever so slight lack of confidence perhaps.
“Oh?” Was all Ningguang could say, surprised.
“I figured it couldn’t hurt.” She said almost sheepishly as her hand scratched the back of her head. “After how our last meeting ended…”
“You needn’t have.” Ningguang replied. “I was out of line too.” She added quickly seeing a flash of misunderstanding had come across Beidou’s face at her words. Unlike herself, the Captain did little to try to hide her emotions.
“What is it?” She asked softly as she made her way over to the pirate.
Something about it being the evening made her let her guard down a little. All her staff were usually gone by this time, apart from Ganyu of course, and it made her relax a little. Ningguang didn’t know what it was about Beidou but she felt strangely at ease around her despite their disagreements, despite all the problems she created for her. She felt as if Beidou saw her for who she truly was, saw past the cunning facade that everyone else accepted as reality. With anyone else she would have recoiled at the thought, but with her…
“I found it in an antique store in Inazuma.” Beidou explained as she gently placed the box she had been carrying on the table. “It doesn’t have the mark of an official kiln or anything but something about it struck me.”
“Its beauty reminded me of you.” She added matter of factly, her eye locking briefly with Ningguang's own, before returning back to the box.
Silently Ningguang opened it and a small gasp escaped her at what she saw.
It was an exquisite aquamarine porcelain vase, delicate and in pristine condition, Ningguang amazed that Beidou had managed to keep it unscathed on her voyage across the ocean. It had a glossy finish and gave off an iridescent shine that so reminded her of the mother of pearl of the Starconch that started her journey to being Tianquan all those years ago.
“It truly is beautiful.” She breathed out in wonder, her reaction genuine as it so rarely was. “It must have a very long history.”
“I thought so too.” Beidou agreed as she admired the antique, her arm coming to brush against her own. It was warm and firm. It sparked something inside her that she wasn’t sure she was ready to address.
“Thank you, Beidou.” Ningguang said earnestly, not quite being able to bring herself to move away just yet. “I appreciate the gesture.”
The Captain smiled, a soft smile that the Tianquan had not yet seen amongst her usual smirks and ever infuriating grins.
“And I have a gift of sorts for you too.” She stated, mourning the loss of contact as she carefully picked up the vase and placed it in a prime position on her shelves. She noticed on the base some words were written in bold strokes. ‘From the Crux’ it said. But Ningguang knew that this gift was very much from Beidou alone.
“Oh yeah?” Asked Beidou, coming to sit on the chaise longue that Ningguang had imported from Fontaine.
“Well.” Ningguang smiled as she returned to sit at her desk. “It’s less of a gift, and more of a proposition.”
And that was when a new era started between the Captain of The Crux and the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing. Beidou would take care of Ningguang's requests that needed to be done outside of official channels, and in return, Ningguang would look the other way when Beidou broke the rules.
Both would, of course, deny working together and many believed them to still be at odds, but for now at least, there was no more reason for Ningguang to summon Beidou to her chamber.
She resolved that she would have to think of some.