Violetgrass

Little Qiqi

"It's an emergency!" said Gui, running in with Qiqi in his arms.

Chaoxing looked up from her scrolls, and Baizhu looked up from whatever he was writing. "Did she burn herself again?" he asked calmly.

Gui nodded, and set Qiqi gently down on the bed. For someone who burned herself, she seemed awfully indifferent. Gui seemed more panicked than her. Chaoxing watched as Baizhu vanished through the door to the storeroom, and then came back with a set of herbs. He ground them into a paste, put them on her wound, and then bandaged her.

It seemed almost routine for them.

"You should really be more careful with the cauldron, sweetheart," said Baizhu.

"Sorry..."

He shook his head, warmth in his eyes. Feeling as though she shouldn't be intruding on this, Chaoxing headed outside with Gui, wondering if there was someone at the reception.

Turned out it was Lady Keqing. "Is Baizhu here?" she asked, looking around.

"He's... currently occupied," supplied Chaoxing.

"Good," said Keqing, turning her attention to Gui. "The usual, please."

Gui sighed as he held up a bottle. Keqing reached for it. "You know, this is a temporary fix."

Chaoxing looked at the bottle, which had a swirling, delicate blue liquid inside. "Mist flower extract?"

Gui nodded. "Lady Keqing is a regular. She refuses to sleep and takes mist flower as a substitute."

Chaoxing still looked at the bottle, mesmerized at the colors. "The best cure for a lack of sleep is sleep though."

"Do say that a little louder so she hears you better," said Baizhu, walking in.

Keqing groaned. "You should've just stayed occupied."

Baizhu smiled. "It's not as though I'm going to chase you away, Lady Keqing."

Chaoxing watched the exchange happen, wondering if there was some complicated relationship between them. Gui noticed.

"Baizhu is just annoyed that Lady Keqing isn't taking better care of herself," he whispered to her. "It's been like this for years." Handing the bottle to Keqing, he leaned over to her again. "But for all he scolds Keqing about not sleeping, he's done it himself before."

"Really?"

"Yep. I've seen him stay up all night making medicine or testing it before."

"Wow. Hypocritical."

"Who's talking about us behind our backs?" asked Changsheng, as Baizhu came to stand behind Gui, a slightly scary look on his face.

"Eep!" Gui vanished behind the desk, and Chaoxing held her hands up in surrender.

"Was he spreading rumors about me?" asked Baizhu, his eyes on where Gui was standing seconds ago.

"Er..." said Chaoxing, wondering how to get out of this without any homicidal attempts. "He didn't say anything that he hadn't seem himself, I guess?"

Baizhu opened his mouth to say something, but something else caught his attention. "Qiqi, what are you doing?"

Chaoxing turned to see her pulling something out of a shelf.

"Making medicine..."

"For who exactly?" asked Baizhu, stepping towards her with long strides. Chaoxing followed.

"You didn't sleep last night."

Giving Baizhu a pointed look, she said, "So it was the pot calling the kettle black."

He gently pushed her head down, and then pulled the herbs out of Qiqi's hands. "Do you really think I'm letting you near the cauldron when you have a burn?" Chaoxing watched with slight amusement as he gently scolded Qiqi for a while.

"Haven't you ever stayed up all night before?" asked Gui, popping up out of nowhere.

"Used to a lot. Now I don't really compromise on sleep. It's not worth the insanity that comes with it."

He gave her a sideways glance. "You'd have to skip sleep for ages to go crazy from it."

Chaoxing smiled as she watched Qiqi reach for the herbs Baizhu held out of reach. "Isn't that the truth."

***

"You look tired," said Chaoxing, waking up randomly in the middle of the night. Baizhu was leaning over his desk, writing by the candlelight. The soft glow of the candle illuminated his features, his hair hanging loose around his shoulders. "Is this something you need to finish by tonight?"

"Unfortunately, yes," he whispered, gesturing to the snake sleeping on the pillow. Chaoxing understood what he was telling her. "Actually, not really, but it's for a patient."

Chaoxing tiptoed over to him, taking a look at what he was writing. "Medicine for a girl in Sumeru... stomachaches?"

He nodded. "Liyue herbs don't come cheap, so I'm trying to replicate them with Sumeru herbs. But they're not ones I'm familiar with."

"If it's Sumeru herbs, I can help," said Chaoxing brightly, glad that she was getting something out of her days there.

He smiled. "I'd be grateful."

Chaoxing listed out a number of herbs that could be used for treating stomachaches, and they debated the quality and workings of each one. Baizhu was much faster at coming up with combinations than she was. Had it been her alone, she would have had to spend days doing it. Somehow, the thought left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Done within the hour, Baizhu tumbled onto the bed to sleep. Chaoxing sat next to him for a while, reminiscing about the hours spent in the library. It really hadn't been worth it after all.

Baizhu tugged her arm, pulling her down. "Enough thinking," he muttered. "Go to sleep."

And so she did. He woke up earlier than her the next morning, and the gentle touch of his hand on her hair woke her up.

"Morning," she muttered.

"Good morning," he replied. Her heart fluttered slightly at the sound of his morning voice. But something shut that down in seconds—a dark emotion.

Qiqi walked in seconds later. "Qiqi wants coconut milk."

"I'll get it," she said, hopping out of the bed, with the sudden desire to forget the comfort she'd felt waking up next to him. She didn't deserve that kind of peace.

Following Qiqi, she wondered where the coconut milk was stored. Qiqi gestured to the top of the shelf in the storeroom, and Chaoxing grabbed a bottle for her.

"Thank you..."

"No problem." Chaoxing looked at the talisman on her head. It was definitely a sensitive topic. She watched silently as Qiqi left the room, happy with the milk in her hands.

"Are you curious?" asked Baizhu, following her line of sight as he walked in.

"A little. It'd be rude to ask though." She shivered. "Sometimes she doesn't even feel alive."

"My little Qiqi isn't," he said softly. "She's trapped in the space between the living and the dead. An adeptus' gift to someone who died too young."

"So... she's essentially immortal."

"I can hear the accusation, you know," said Baizhu, looking away. "Do you think less of me now?"

"You call her 'my little Qiqi' and 'sweetheart.' She likes you, and you do too." Chaoxing shrugged.

"Thanks."

Chaoxing waved a hand absent-mindedly. She looked out the door again. Did Qiqi even want to stay alive like this?

************************************