Act 1) The girl with burning eyes
Chapter three: Stray flame
Mountain Shaper looked at the girl across from him in the courtyard, Xiao was teaching her how to handle a spear. Liyue had grown quite a bit over the course of a year, she was seven now. A bit too young to learn how to use a spear but he supposed with her maturity it wouldn’t hurt to start early. He had to admit, he had grown rather fond of the little girl, seeing her get older was a beautiful sight.
One thing that struck the adeptus as odd was her lack of… feeling. She was expressionless a lot of the time and didn’t react to things like a normal child would. A new dress? Liyue would say thank you and go back to reading while other girls would at least have a small smile. Mountain Shaper came back from a battle covered in blood? Liyue would calmly retrieve some bandages for him. It pained for him to say it, but there was definitely something wrong with the child.
He took her to a mountain where he raised her mostly in solitude with a few servants. Morax had specifically requested that she have her own space to grow up, rather than share it with the likes of Xiao and the other adepti. Of course, some of them still came to visit and help her along with her education, it was a regular occurrence for Guizhong to come over and teach Liyue some… “girl stuff” as she had put it. Etiquette, fighting, reading, writing, she was like Liyue’s second teacher.
Mountain Shaper understood that mortal’s growing up required a parental figure of the same gender to help with troubles they may encounter in life, but with how isolated Liyue was, he doubted she’d have any “boy trouble” or falling out with friends as most girls will. Perhaps that was good, but that was an important part of growing up.
The adeptus was of course very aware of Morax’s desire to have her as an adeptus. And with the reports he was feeding his master about Liyue’s development, about her seeming unresponsiveness to any attempts at emotional connections, he was scared for her. Immortality was not a gift like the mortals claimed, it was a curse, it came with honor yes but… he couldn’t raise a weapon to be another part of Morax’s arsenal. Especially not Liyue. If the god wanted to protect humanity, he shouldn’t go around making them into immortal war deities to serve him.
"Alright, that’t it for today" Xiao said wiping his brow and putting his spear away. Liyue nodded and bowed.
“Thank you for the lesson, Xiao"
Xiao nodded and walked out, leaving Mountain Shaper with Liyue. There was yet another issue he had to address: Liyue’s parents. Mountain Shaper had buried them, he promised them that their little girl would be safe. He buried their terribly mutilated bodies, falling apart and crushed. He lowered them down to be claimed by the earth. They never even got to say goodbye to her.
"Liyue, come here please"
She was older now yes, but could she comprehend death? Especially her parents…
"Liyue…. you’re parents…”
Curious blue eyes looked up at him, with an odd flicker in them.
“Your parents are dead"
"What does it mean to be dead?"
Mountain Shaper sucked in a breath "It means…” he though for a moment. What would a child understand?
“You know how dolls just flop down on the floor and don’t move?” Liyue nodded “Well, your parents are like that now. They can’t move and they can’t speak to you"
"What happens when people becomes dolls like that?"
"We bury them. We can’t leave them there"
Liyue didn’t seem too phased "Oh… ok. I’ll still see them again, right?"
Mountain shaper sighed "Not for a very longtime, but yes, you will"
The brown haired girl nodded and sat down, smoothing out her dress a bit "Ok. I can wait. I’m very good at waiting. Will Mountain Shaper come with me?"
Mountain shaper sighed. Oh the innocence of a child "Yes, yes I will, Liyue"
Author’s note:
I know that it’s rather sad and gruesome that Mountain Shaper told her that, but that’s the same way I learned what death was when I was four. I asked my mom why my grandfather was sleeping and not moving during his funeral, and my mom told me “Grandpa is a doll now. We need to bury him so that we can make room for other people”
“Is he going to wake up?”
“No, sweetheart. But you’ll see him again if you’re good”
I didn’t think much of it, but yeah that’s how my mom introduced the concept of death to four year old me. I figured I’d introduce death the same way to Liyue
I know this is a very short chapter but I wanted to establish Liyue’s dynamic with Mountain Shaper and some of the other adepti so please forgive this short chapter that isn’t really relevant to the story