Seven Months in Heaven [Zhongchi/Tartali]

Chapter 17 - Seven Months in Heaven

"Zhongli! Zhongli, wait!" Childe tore up the mountainside, Hu Tao close behind. His lungs screamed at him to stop and his legs burned, but all he could focus on was that lone figure on the mountaintop.

He scrambled up a ridge, stumbling and ripping fistfuls of grass from the earth as he steadied himself.

"Childe... oi, lover boy!" called Hu Tao, breathing heavily.

Pulling himself onto flatter ground, he turned to see her leaning against a tree further down the hill, a hand clamped to her side.

"I've... I've got a stitch," she panted. "You should go ahead, I'll catch you two up. Anyway–" she winked, waving him on "–I think he'll want some time alone with you."

"You sure? I can help–"

"Just go, you dummy!"

He didn't have time to argue. Speak to Zhongli, make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid, and somehow return to the harbour in time to catch his ship – that was his sole mission. With a nod, he sprinted up the final hill, looping him back onto the path. A final turn, kicking up dust and stone behind him as he skidded, and he crossed the uneven stones in front of the abandoned clifftop house.

Zhongli remained in the same position, still and silent on a ridge at the far end.

"Zhongli xiansheng!" called Childe.

Zhongli's head turned slowly, almost unsure, until he looked directly at Childe.

"Zhongli..." Childe breathed out, slowing to a walk. "Zhongli... wait."

Head tilted to the side as Childe approached, Zhongli frowned. "That is the activity I have been partaking in, yes."

Childe stopped at the base of the mound, unsure if he should approach and let himself be drawn into that addictive aura of Zhongli that made his heart feel foolish things. Close enough to catch the details on his face, Zhongli's eyes caught Childe's attention – not for their stunning golden hue, but for the way they turned downward at the edges, a frown painted on his otherwise neutral expression.

"Waiting? For what? You've had Hu Tao worried all day after you didn't show up for work!"

"Ah, yes. That is unfortunate." Zhongli folded his arms as he shifted his gaze to flicker across the harbour below. "In truth, my task here was estimated to have been completed before midday, yet that has not come to be."

"I don't get it. What's so important about staring off a cliff for hours?"

Zhongli sighed and spoke quietly, "Childe, may we speak a little closer, if my presence does not displease you? This is hardly the proper manner in which to have this sort of a conversation."

"Uh, sure."

Each step seemed infinite as Childe approached. Zhongli stood as regal as ever, but something about his stance was unsettled, unsure: the slight shifting of weight between his feet, the manner in which his eyes danced from Childe, to the harbour, to a patch of mud on the ground. Childe pulled himself up the lip of rock to stand by Zhongli, so close he could touch if he only reached out.

If only he could.

"So, good enough? Do I get an explanation now?"

"Yes... an explanation – you deserve as such. It is an explanation in the form of an admission: A few weeks ago, the realisation that I inadvertently broke a term of a very important contract dawned upon me. Thus the Wrath of Rock must be imposed, for none are exempt from the laws imbued upon this land."

"Breaking a contract, xiansheng? Thought you couldn't do that when it came to Fatui matters?" The words came out with an unintended bitter sting behind them that Childe immediately regretted.