Chapter Text
Of all the tasks Stelle could have taken on in her life as a Trailblazer, this was something completely out of her usual gigs.
Sure, it involved running all over the place.
Yes, it involved inspecting and investigating certain little objects on the streets.
Hell yes, it involved smashing things to bits.
But what Stelle had never expected with the usual package, was the prospect of smashing something at Cloudford and ending up at Stargazer Navalia.
Or randomly teleporting across spaces in general.
And if Master Gongshu had told her about this pitfall of her gig, she’d have thought at least three times before getting lured into the prospect of money.
But regardless, now that she had promised to help recalibrate all the malfunctioning space anchors aboard the Luofu, she had to see it till the very end.
And so, the next crate she broke led her to Synwood Pavilion.
The lavender skies of the Exalting Sanctum were always a pleasant sight for sore eyes.
The tranquil atmosphere, the quiet crowds milling about, and the soft music that wafted in the air made for a perfect place to sit and take a break in.
It was the definition of peace and calm… until a chaotic scream erupted out of nowhere.
And for good reason too: a strange person had just popped out of thin air, and landed on a Celestial Jade table, most unfortunately occupied by a bunch of highly enthusiastic players.
“What in the name of-?!” A brown-haired girl yelled indignantly as her tiles were scattered all across the place, disrupting the game. Her gaming buddies heaved a secret sigh of relief, evidently happy that now they had an excuse to leave. And so they ran.
“Hey, Qingque,” Stelle grinned, hopping from the table. “Long time no see.”
“‘Sup,” Qingque nodded, a bit overwhelmed by the suddenness of it all.
And then she remembered.
“Y-You!” She yelled, partly out of shock and partly out of annoyance. “What were you thinking, popping out of thin air like that?!”
“I couldn’t help it!” Stelle took a step backward out of surprise and mild fear. “I- I’m!”
“I’m working for the Artisanship Commission.” Stelle meekly answered.
“...Why are you saying it like I’m gonna beat you up for it?” Qingque stared with a very odd expression. “But what does that have to do with…what happened just now?”
“Okay, so here’s the thing.” Stelle sighed, plopping down on a chair opposite to Qingque. “The space anchors all across the Luofu are misbehaving.”
“Possibly due to the energy imbalance caused by the recent growth of the Ambrosial Arbor, Master Gongshu says.”
“Okay…?” The girl egged her on, a nod to continue.
“And I’m fixing them!”
“And… you’re fixing them?”
“Yes.” Stelle nodded. “But not quite in the way you’d expect, I’m not fixing circuitry or anything.”
Qingque didn’t notice the keen glint in Stelle’s eye as she eyed her floating Celestial Jade table.
“So how exactly are you going about it?”
“I am- hey, by the way, is that table precious?” Stelle now prodded at the floating table.
“Not really, but-”
“Okay then!” And with no warning other than that, Stelle whipped out her bat and swung at the table with full force.
“-it’s my Celestial Jad- WHAT THE HELL?!” Qingque shrieked and grabbed her table, ducking and rolling to the side as she managed to barely avoid a death blow from Stelle’s bat.
(For good measure too, seeing how it had knocked a few chairs and a table in the air.)
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” the brown haired girl yelped, clinging to her precious board.
“That’s part of my job! Don’t scream!” Stelle groaned, exasperated. “I gotta destroy all the misbehaving artifacts for the Commission to repair things!”
Qingque backed away, shaking in her shoes. Evidently terrified.
Stelle sighed. “Look- I’ll buy you a new one, okay?”
“What does any of it have to do with my table…” Qingque side eyed her.
“See, I have absolutely no idea why it’s happening, but the space anchors on the Luofu are no longer space anchors, and things that are not space anchors are acting like space anchors.”
“Your table has accidentally become a space anchor, because you’re sitting quite close to Synwood Pavilion’s space anchor.” Stelle continued.
“The fake space anchors might even transport innocent civilians to some dangerous locations if we don’t deal with this issue at the earliest,”
“That’s too many “space anchors” in a single sentence, it’s giving me a migraine,” Qingque groaned.
“I’m sorry that your table’s gonna be martyred, but let me- just take it.” She tried to reason with the brown haired girl and sneakily managed to wrest it out of her grasp.
Having said this, Stelle calmly stowed it away into her coat’s pocket.
Qingque blinked at Stelle for a few seconds, and then something hit her.
“I’m sorry, but did you just steal my table?”
“I said, I’m taking your table.” Stelle looked at Qingque with a scandalized expression. “Phrase it properly, people might get the wrong idea!”
“You can’t just shove my table in your pocket and take it!” Qingque leaped towards Stelle, her arms outstretched to tug at her coat.
“Yes I can,” Stelle ducked the moment Qingque lunged for her coat. “And don’t you have work to do?”
“Taking breaks is a part of my civil rights!” The brown haired girl hissed.
“And work is your civil responsibility,” Stelle reminded her, slowly backing off.
“Don’t distract me- Give me my table back!”
“No!” Stelle yelled at the top of her lungs, and dashed off.
“GET BACK HERE!” Qingque screamed and ran after Stelle.
If you happened to play some fast-paced music and watched them run past you, you’d think that this was some action movie about a heist of some kind, where the conman outruns the cops while snaking through crowds of people.
Stelle was especially agile, and emphasized by her height and long legs, she was quickly speeding out of Qingque’s reach. But Qingque was not one to give up. She weaved her way expertly through the crowd, and taking some shortcuts like tables and kiosks, she managed to reach Stelle in no time.
“Got you!” The girl triumphantly lunged at Stelle, this time managing to grab onto her coat’s lapel, and clinging tight.
“What-” Stelle lurched and toppled to the ground, the table flying out of the hammerspace and falling to the ground.
“No! Don’t fall!” Qingque screamed, her arms flailing as she tried to grab the artifact-
Only for it to fall to the ground, and neatly break into three pieces.
“Oh, great, now you’ve done it.” Stelle huffed, watching the table disintegrate with a blue flash.“Buckle up and hold on tight.”
“W-what did I do?!” Qingque wailed, grabbing onto Stelle’s arm as she felt a dark void tug her, and by extension, Stelle into a strange nothingness.
“Remember what I told you about the table being a space anchor? Well now, we are being dragged somewhere.”
“I’m not paid enough to deal with this mess,” Stelle gumbled as they both rapidly zoomed through a warping tunnel. “And it’s only Wednesday.”
“Work is a scam introduced by the social institution. I totally understand how you feel.” Qingue sniffed. “Anyway, where’s this thing taking us?”
“No idea. We can only wait for it to deposit us somewhere, and, ah! Look!” Stelle looked below, in the direction of their movement. “We’re almost there!”
“Where?”
“At our destination, duh.”
“And where is- ah!” The portal quite violently ejected them both out, closing gracefully above their heads as silently as it had emerged.
They fell a few feet through the air, plopping down unceremoniously somewhere. By the looks of this familiar place, it was still inside the Luofu, thank heavens.
“Whoa!” Stelle tumbled onto a solid surface, sitting down quite ungracefully.
‘Ugh, I hate teleporting…makes my head woozy,” Stelle groaned.
“Qingque, you there? You okay?”
“Y-yeah…” Thankfully Qingque was still with her, deposited behind her, albeit staring ahead with an expression that described countless horrors.
“You see why I was trying to take your table away?” She grimaced, rubbing her bottom. “Anyway, let’s get out of here no-” As Stelle made to move, a chuckle caught her attention, making her freeze in her spot.
“Well, that is a very … novel entrance, I must say.”
A deep, silken and mellifluous voice interrupted her. Her bleary vision whizzed left and right, searching for the source of the sound.
And when it settled right in front of her, Stelle found herself looking right into the languid, but mildly amused golden eyes of a certain sleepy, silver-haired general.
As her vision returned to normal, Stelle realized that the location was indeed very familiar to her.
A bit too familiar for her liking, actually.
The great, towering hall, the weapons on the walls, the holographic starchess board behind them, along with a very bewildered pink-haired woman gawking at the two uninvited guests, which most likely referred to them.
“Greetings, Nameless, welcome to the Seat of Divine Foresight.” General Jing Yuan amiably greeted her.
“What brings you here today?”
“Ah,” Stelle belatedly realized that she was not only sitting on Jing Yuan’s table,but right in front of him to boot, blushing beet red. She hastened to stand up, tugging her skirt down for good measure.
“Hello, General,” Stelle weakly grinned.
“Hello,” he smiled, not a shred of malice, irony or condescendence in those golden orbs, just genuine cordiality.
“I would normally ask you to take a seat, but seeing as you’ve made yourself quite comfortable on my table, I suppose we can skip the formalities, yes?”
“I- uh, sorry about this, Qingque, move!” Stelle hissed and got off the table, moving around it to stand facing him, right beside the Master Diviner, Fu Xuan.
Things just got more and more awkward by the minute.
“Well then, it’s not often that we receive such distinguished guests on such a short notice,” Jing Yuan peered at the two women curiously.
“Is there something critical that requires the Divine Foresight’s immediate attention?” Fu Xuan looked at Stelle, and side eyed Qingque, wordlessly berating her for shirking work again.
“No, nothing really,” Stelle shuffled on her feet.
“Oh?” Jing Yuan’s gaze sharpened just a little. “Then what was it that had you directly appear before me?”
“I- I was working with the Artisanship Commission, checking space anchors for erratic behaviors of all kinds, and I ended up here following one of the anchors, with her, as you can see.”
“Oh, the errant anchors?” Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow. “I believe Master Gongshu from the Artisanship Commission had visited me a few days ago with the same issue at hand…”
“So you are the helping hand he entrusted the task to?” Fu Xuan looked at Stelle.
“Yes.”
“I should have guessed as much,” the General smiled a toothy smile, one that had Stelle’s heart fluttering just a little bit.
“The Luofu can’t thank you enough for your kind assistance, Nameless.” he nodded. “Oh, and you too, Miss.” He lazily looked at Qingque, who shook in her shoes as she bowed low.
“Qingque, you can go back to the Commission’s Archives now.” Fu Xuan waved her off, and the girl ran off gratefully.
“I’ll buy you a new table!” Stelle called out from behind, and then suddenly remembered that Jing Yuan was curiously observing her.
“A table?” he echoed, head slightly tilted with a curious look in his eyes.
“Er… I broke her Celestial Jade Table.” Stelle bashfully looked down. “It was acting like an unstable space anchor.”
“There’s no need to burn your pockets, Trailblazer,” Fu Xuan patted her shoulder. “Celestial Jade is not a necessity for survival, and Qingque can certainly gain a lot by not cutting her job slack for a few weeks.”
“Now, now, Diviner Fu,” Jing Yuan yawned. “A little relaxation should always be welcome in life.”
“I’m not hearing this from you, General.” the petite lady rolled her eyes. “You have five more scrolls to go through!”
“Um, I’m disturbing you too, aren’t I?” Stelle backed away slowly from the bickering duo. “I’ll take my leave, then.”
“Leaving so soon?” The dejected look on Jing Yuan’s face as she made her exit almost made her falter in her steps, but Fu Xuan was very perceptive.
“Don't, Trailblazer,” She shook her head. “I know you’re being misled by his puppy eyes. It’s an age-old trick of his to slack off!”
“I’m not slacking, I’m not slacking,” Jing Yuan chuckled a bit sleepily and picked up a scroll to emphasize himself.
“You are working quite hard,” Stelle smiled at the General, and waved at the two. “Apologies for my sudden intrusion, I’ll be off.”
And with that, Stelle dashed, and decided to leave for the Artisanship Commission.
“...and that’s what happened.” Stelle sighed, rolling on the soft bed.
“I can’t believe this, and yet, somehow, it perfectly makes sense.” March laughed.
“You really have a knack for inviting trouble, you know that?”
“Hmph, tell me something I don’t know,” Stelle grinned.
“Say, what was the General’s reaction when you landed on his desk?”
"He just said “hi”, and he was very sleepy.” Stelle hummed.
“So blasé,” March pondered. “I wonder how many space anchor maintenances he has seen.”
“Ask him that the next time you see him.” Stelle whipped out her phone and began to aimlessly scroll through the searches.
A part of her mind briefly thought about finding out how many times space anchors are calibrated, when a little ping from a notification distracted her.
Stelle opened her messages, and she suppressed an expression of surprise when she saw the sender and the message.
[ Jing Yuan: Nameless, have you safely reached the Astral Express? ]
Rolling over to hide her screen from March, Stelle quickly tapped away at her screen
[ Stelle: I returned safe and sound. ]
[ Stelle: [ringing_bell.png] ]
[ Stelle: Sorry for barging in back then. ]
[ Jing Yuan: [petting_cat.png] ]
[ Jing Yuan: Think nothing of it. ]
[ Jing Yuan: It was beyond your control. ]
[ Jing Yuan: And besides, it was great having you drop by like that. I got a little break out of it, after all. ]
[ Jing Yuan: [sleeping_general.png] ]
[ Stelle: I promise, next time I’ll let the guards know of my arrival! ]
[ Jing Yuan: No, there shall be no need. I have told the guards to authorize your comings and goings in the Seat of Divine Foresight. ]
[ Jing Yuan: And besides, I would appreciate it if you could visit me at my home instead of the Seat of Divine Foresight. Tea and snacks are always ready, as is a good Xiangqi board. ]
Stelle blinked.
He was inviting her to his house? OUT OF THE BLUE?! JUST LIKE THAT??!!
Stelle panicked internally, wondering what to do.
In a hurry, she tapped away, letting her fingers speak before her mind did.
[ Stelle: A few rounds of Xiangqi with the esteemed General of the Luofu? ]
[ Stelle: [shocked_PomPom.png] ]
The die had been cast.
Stelle hoped she didn’t sound too excited.
[ Jing Yuan: Treat it as a friend’s cordial invitation. ]
[ Jing Yuan: I shall send you the address. ]
[ Jing Yuan: [location and time sent] ]
[ Jing Yuan: And make sure this time, you enter through the main gates. ]
[ Stelle: [crying_PomPom.png] ]
[ Stelle: Please, don’t remind me of that… ]
[ Stelle: But if you invite me so kindly, then I shall be there. ]
[ Jing Yuan: wonderful. I shall be looking forward to our match. ]
[ Stelle: See you later, General. ]
[ Jing Yuan: Rest well, Nameless. ]
[ sender has gone offline. ]
Stelle blinked at her phone.
The General was quite the peculiar man.
He invited her out of the blue to his home?
A woman he barely knew…
Stelle frowned a bit upon reading his messages.
[ Jing Yuan: Nameless, have you safely reached the Astral Express? ]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[ Jing Yuan: Rest well, Nameless. ]
Nameless.
It set off a mildly foul taste in Stelle’s mind.
Perhaps the visit could be her excuse to make him remember her name.
“What’re you looking at?” March tried to peek into Stelle’s phone.
Stelle flinched a bit in surprise, nearly forgetting that she was in March’s room.
“Hm? Nothing.” Stelle mumbled.
“You’re frowning.” March intently observed.
“Hm… I wanted a day off tomorrow, but Master Gongshu asked me to take care of three more space anchors.” Stelle quickly flipped through the messages.
It wasn’t a lie. Technically.
“That so?” the pink haired girl pursed her lips. “You’re busy.”
“I’m sorry. We’ll go somewhere after I’m done.” Stelle dejectedly sighed. She was genuinely upset about ghosting March.
“N-No! It’s fine! I’m not upset,” The girl shook her head. “If anything, Dan Heng’s asked me to maintain the archives in his stead until he’s settled back down, so I’m pretty busy too.”
Stelle nodded. “But a girls’ night out is in the cards.” She smiled, lifting herself off the plush bed.
“You bet it is!” March giggled as Stelle left the room.