To Rise, To Fall | genshin impact | ningguang

Night 5: Fatui

Tonight, she does not sit at Lumine's bedside. Instead, she sits in an office, arms crossed as she leans back in her chair and regards the man in front of her: the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers. He sits lazily, slouched with his chin resting on one hand, and unlike many of her business partners, he does not waver under her gaze.

"You wanted to talk," he says. "Let's talk."

Ningguang takes a slow breath; in truth, she wants nothing more than to give his face a good bashing-in with a rock—it doesn't even have to be her own; she'd settle for picking one up off the ground outside. But now is the time for diplomacy, and more violence is the last thing this city needs.

"You ought to be in prison," she says. "The list of your crimes is almost impressively long."

He smirks. "We can do a trial by my peers in the area. I'm sure you can pick a decent jury from a pool of a few thousand."

Heat rises in Ningguang's chest, a burning anger that fills her mouth with a sour taste. A few thousand Fatui at the ready in Liyue? After everything, he sits here, blatantly threatening her. She isn't sure whether that makes her afraid; anger is the only thing she feels, but maybe those two emotions come closely linked.

She gives a tight smile and says, "I don't think there will be any need for that. Let's talk reparations instead."

"Of course," he says. "The Fatui are prepared to make a generous donation to the harbor's rebuilding effort."

"Generous," Ningguang repeats, rolling the word around her mouth. She cannot help but scoff, the reality of the situation sinking in. "Got it."

"Believe me, I know this is a tragedy," the harbinger says, and Ningguang narrows her eyes at the hint of sincerity she hears. Is it all an act? He continues, "So much could have been avoided, if a few people did things differently."

"What do you mean?" Ningguang asks. "Was it not your orders that summoned the ancient god? Was it not your soldiers who attacked our line of defense?"

"Sure," he replies, but before he can continue, Ningguang speaks again.

"I am still not convinced you are not responsible for the slaughter of our archon."

His eyebrows perk up at that, and a look of annoyance flashes for a moment before an amused smile takes over. "Not much to be responsible for there," he says.

"Stop speaking in riddles," Ningguang says, pressing her hand into the desk with such force that the ornaments on her fingers gouge scratches into the wood. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I didn't kill him," he replies with a shrug. "Maybe no one did."

"Archons don't fall out of the sky of their own accord," Ningguang says, voice rising.

"Who knows?"

She shuts her eyes, resisting the urge to sweep the contents of the desk onto the floor. Dealing with the Fatui has always been a headache—always been her least favorite part of the job—but this one is a step above the rest. His flippant manner and childish mind games veil a deadly interior, and yet he is so young. What must the Fatui do to their recruits to turn a young man so vile so quickly?

The harbinger speaks again, interrupting her thoughts. "How is Lumine?" he asks.

When she opens her eyes, the expression on the harbinger's face has changed completely; gone is the sly smirk and act of innocence. In its place, she thinks she sees genuine worry.

"Does her condition concern you?" she asks.

The harbinger chuckles, but it lacks his usual mirth. "I'm trying to find out if it should. Last I hear she's collapsing, and now you've hidden her away. Sounds familiar, so I'm just trying to figure out if that's Qixing protocol for corpses."