~𝒜𝓃 𝒜𝒹𝑒𝓅𝓉𝓊𝓈' 𝐿𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒲𝒾𝓈𝒽~ (𝒵𝒽𝑜𝓃𝑔𝒸𝒽𝒾)

Chapter 15: Realizations, Transformations, the Meaning of Home Pt 4

It was tense.

The air inside of Guizhong's usually lovely abode was tense and awkward; a slight movement or a drop of a pin two rooms away could break the eerie silence Ajax found himself being the target of.

Guizhong had insisted on brewing the tea alone in the kitchen, whilst Morax and Ajax sat too far apart from each other on her living room couch.

The couch itself was comfortable, too comfortable even. It was made from good quality materials, most likely built to last, just like pretty much every other thing in her abode. Ajax could see himself dozing off to sleep on the comfortable cushions that were stuffed nicely with what felt to be cotton or wool.

If it were a different circumstance, Ajax would have probably already done so; however, given the tense atmosphere, that would most likely be a bad call on his behalf.

Morax sat on the other side of the couch, staring dazedly at the wooden table below them, decorated slightly by a small incense burner in the center, with small flowers engraved onto the bronze that covered the burner. The table was also nicely decorated, as it was damasked with carved lilies and their leaves on the wood itself, obviously commissioned by a master in such crafts.

Even if Guizhong was not as posh as the rest of the adepti, and had by no means expensive tastes (not unlike Cloud Retainer, who had nearly every other antique and priceless item covering the entirety of her abode). However, that did not mean that she did not indulge herself in such a luxury every once and a while, and so, she too had many priceless items laid out throughout her house.

It seemed as if Guizhong specifically preferred to spoil everyone around her rotten, Celestia knows how many expensive shuhe's her shijie had gifted him throughout his entire stay; each and every one made from the finest materials known to mankind, carefully crafted to compliment his exact measurements no doubt.

Ajax still remembers the day she had dragged him along towards the market, after hearing that foreign salesmen were coming to sell their goods. She flitted to all of the stands, like a butterfly towards flowers in spring, her excitement at full capacity, as she happily chatted with the salespeople with the energy of a thousand suns.

She was naturally a people's person, so, it did not surprise him, but she was even more eager that day to buy nearly everything they had to sell.

She would nearly clear out their full stock of trinkets, if it weren't for the limit of only 2 for one person. She bought nearly every item that caught her eye, which usually consisted of jewelry, incense burners, knicknacks, trinkets, and even weaponry.

It nearly reminded him of outings with Zhongli, where the usually expressionless and composed man got outwardly excited, so much so that he would nearly burst out of his own skin whenever he saw a caught the glint of a shiny object. He was not nearly as energized as Guizhong per se, but he was just as enthusiastic about the item nevertheless.

Thankfully, unlike Zhongli, she actually paid for her items with her hefty wallet, which was a nicely embroidered pouch embroidered with tiny yellow poppies. It looked to be Madam Ping's craftsmanship, as the flowers were detailed nicely and neatly.

Guizhong's craftsmanship was slightly messy and her flowers were always embroidered on big, and brightly colored; just like her personality, Ajax guessed.

Usually though, Dajie would stick with muted colors of blues, violets, and greens in her work. So, Ajax pondered if Guizhong had it commissioned specifically, or if it was simply a gift from his Dajie.

Ajax vaguely wondered if she had begun to properly court her, or if she was going to chicken out like he always did. He was always seeing them fly in circles around each other, like a planet and its moon, always circling each other but never quite touching.