Guizhong, the walking encyclopedia

"That was interesting" Yae said with a pondering face, followed by a red-faced Makoto.

"Please, don't tell Kenshin I told you all that" Makoto begged.

"Why would Kenshin care? You only told me your kinks, nothing special compared to what I'm being forced to read on a weekly basis" Yae rolled her eyes. Makoto thought she was the 'dirtiest' girl in Teyvat when her kinks were just common ones. The ones she had to read in some slips in the shrine were terrifying, so she wasn't going to get scared by anything at this point.

"Hello" a woman with black hair and dice-shaped earrings approached.

Yelan saw the Head Miko of the only Shrine in Inazuma come to the Harbor and quickly stepped forward in case she needed Ningguang for something. She didn't know who the other embarrassed-looking woman was, but judging by the familiarity between them, she was probably important.

"?" Yae only looked at Yelan approaching. "Do you need something from us?"

Now Yelan had to face the embarrassing situation. It was almost like returning a wave to a person who wasn't greeting you in the first place.

"What does the Head Miko need from the Harbor? Do I need to contact Ningguang?" Yelan asked with a twitch in her eyes. She didn't like exposing her identity as Ningguang's 'errand girl', but an unannounced visit of the Head Miko was important enough for her to reveal her identity.

"No. Not yet at least" and Yae quickly left, intent on finding Guizhong, leaving behind a pondering Yelan.

'So they are going to Mondstadt, or they know someone as important as Ningguang in the Harbor, probably an Adeptus..." Yelan was very close to the truth, but remembering the man who... Anyway, she wasn't going to poke her nose in these things again beyond what was strictly required.

.

.

.

Yae looked curiously around and smiled when she saw the person she was looking for.

"Hey, grass-muncher"

"Nooooo!" Ganyu threw the important-looking papers she was carrying and crouched on the floor.

"....." Yae and Makoto looked awkwardly at the gentle Adeptus shivering in fear. "Ganyu, it was just a joke".

"U-Uhh?" Ganyu slowly opened her eyes and saw a bitterly smiling Yae. "Y-Yae, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, didn't expect....that reaction" Yae didn't know what to call it. "Did Kenshin do something to you?"

Ganyu's face slowly turned green remembering something.

"Bleeergh!" and puked on a nearby grassy ground, remembering how she had consumed meat after confounding it with a mushroom. "Just tell me what you need, I'm going to be very sick for the next week".

"We are looking for Guizhong, we need to talk with her" replied Yae, thinking that she needed to have a talk with Ganyu later.

Under a pale Ganyu's direction, they finally arrived at a humble-looking house.

Knock knock

Yae touched the door while Ei came forward again and wore a blank face, resembling that of the puppet.

Morax opened the door, and curiously looked at the 2 women outside his house.

"We need to speak with Guizhong" Yae went straight to the heart of the matter. "We have a problem that requires her knowledge and expertise".

"Hmmm" Morax hummed and gestured for them to enter, wondering what kind of problem would require the former Archon of Eternity to appear in his house. Was Kenshin finally clashing against Snezhnaya? Why would they look for Guizhong who didn't know how to fight?

"Who is it?" Guizhong, who was always wearing a happy smile, came from the upper floor. "Yae!"

"Hello" Yae smiled and returned Guizhong's small hug. They talked a lot of times during her stay in Inazuma during those 7 years, so they had a deep bond.

While Ei only nodded in greeting, ready to collect intel for her mission, while Makoto hid, not wanting to alarm Morax with her 'revival'. This was the main reason she couldn't get a body of her own, as that would attract the attention of some beings she didn't want to get caught by.

The Heavenly Principles the first one.

"They need your help" Morax said, and gestured towards the table. "I will brew some tea".

"Thank you" Guizhong sweetly said, and sat with a smile. "What do you need? I will do anything I can do to help, and Morx will help too"

"Hmm" a hum from the kitchen expressed the Geo Archon's agreement.

"No, the one we need is you" said Yae, glancing at Ei only to find her extremely focused. "You see, we have found ourselves in a tricky situation, and we think your experience will come in handy".

"Well, I am older than you" nodded Guizhong, but looked at Ei with confusion. "But the God of Eternity should be as old as me. Unless it's about mechanisms or artefacts, I don't think I can be of much help".

"I need your knowledge" Ei spoke with an intensity that scared Guizhong a little. "I heard you are pregnant".

"Yes, I am" Guizhong happily replied, caressing her belly absent-mindedly, making Ei speak again.

"I am too"

CRASH

Ei and Yae looked at the kitchen, where Morax was still brewing tea as if nothing happened, but the fragments of a glass were all over the counter.

"You are....pregnant?" asked a shocked Guizhong.

"Yes" Ei nodded seriously. "So I'm in need of intel to devise a battle plan".

"What she means" Yae tried to overwrite her friend's strange choice of words. "Is that as a novice and a completely ignorant person in this area, we would like to ask you a few things about a God's pregnancy".

"O-Oh. Yes, yes of course" Guizhong answered after stuttering for a while.

"The tea" Morax came back with a plate where 4 glasses of tea were resting, his face a mask of impassibility.

"Thank you" Yae politely bowed and gratefully took it.

"When did you know about this?" asked a still rattle Guizhong. She had been with Kenshin for 7 years so she knew all there was to know about him. But she didn't expect....this.

"A week ago" replied Yae calmly. "Ei went through a denial stage, but she is now ready to 'face the enemy' as she will probably call it".

"But how did this happen?" insisted Guizhong. "I don't know a lot about souls-, well, I do. Being with Kenshin made me an expert. But the only reason I got pregnant was that Kenshin used his 'soul energy' as he puts it during the process of crafting the body, at least that's what I think. But your friend shouldn't have come into contact with his soul to that degree".

"My sister did" revealed Ei.

CRASH

Morax had now a broken glass in his hands, but he didn't seem to care.

"Your sister" he slowly said. "Baal".

"Yes" Ei nodded, not seeing the necessity to hide it.

"Kenshin already explained everything that happened to me" Yae, who knew the Contract between them, quickly reassured Morax before he could unleash 'the Wrath of the Rock'. "And he didn't break your promise, and there was no risk for Teyvat, only to himself and Ei".

"What Contract?" asked Ei with a frown.

"Shut up Ei" Yae said with a frown. "Better yet, let Makoto come out".

Guizhong and Morax looked at Ei, and saw her frown quickly change into an elegant one, one Morax recognized from the occasional meetings between Archons.

"It's been a long time" Makoto graciously greeted Morax in their first meeting for 500 years.

"Indeed" Morax said, looking with a stone face to Makoto. "I saw you die, please explain how are you back".

"I didn't die" Makoto started, but stopped thinking of something. "Well, I did, but I arrived at Inazuma to say goodbye to my sister. I left a wisp of my soul in her sword, and somehow Kenshin was able to put my soul back together".

"Your soul" Morax repeated slowly. "The soul that according to Kenshin's book should have been into the Being".

"Yes" Makoto replied, but sensing Ei's agitated emotion she spoke again. "Let's leave it at that. Even my muscle-headed sister is still terrified of remembering it".

"The sister who only wanted to fight strong enemies?" asked Guizhong curiously. "No, I don't want to know, let's just ignore it".

"That would be for the better" Yae nodded gratefully. "So now you know why it happened".

"..." Guizhong looked blankly at Makoto, who kept her serene and elegant smile, but the glass in her hand was shaking. "Which one of you fucked?"

CRASH

Now it was Makoto who held the broken glass. But no one could blame her.

"Does it matter?" Makoto's smile twitched.

"Both" Yae answered Guizhong's question with a teasing smile. "One after the other".

"MIKO!!" Makoto's shame started materializing, and clouds charged with electricity started appearing over Liyue.

"Uhhhhh" Guizhong didn't know what to say. "So you are both pregnant with the same child".

"It was an accident!" screamed a red-faced Makoto. "And I can't just get a body for my own!".

"Indeed, you can't" Morax spoke with authority. "Should you do that, the Heavenly Principles will order not only your death, but Kenshin's too. And they might move personally to ensure it".

"Is Kenshin that important?" asked an uneasy Yae. "Makoto, let Ei come out for now, we will set some fields in Inazuma".

Makoto knew what the Heavenly Principles moving meant. The last time it happened a whole nation disappeared, Khaenri'ah. And the remnants of those cursed people are the hilichurls populating the whole continent of Teyvat.

"Yes, he is" Morax said with seriousness in his tone. "That Being is one of the reasons the Heavenly Principles is so scared of manipulating souls. There are an infinite amount of worlds out there, and there are many beings we can't face. The Heavenly Principles can manage some laws to a certain extent, but there was one it couldn't manage no matter what".

"Souls" nodded Ei with a worried expression.

"Yes. That's why the Vision system was implemented, to control the fate of the strongest souls so they wouldn't rebel, making them unable to go against the world" Morax revealed, making Guizhong and Yae, the ones not in the know, pale. "And Kenshin's ability is extremely strong and equally problematic. For the Heavenly Principles who control all laws except for one, Kenshin is the biggest danger and the most troublesome existence. We could argue that he doesn't want to harm anyone, but by reviving Baal he has gone directly against the commands of the Heavenly Principles. And they are not going to listen to excuses".

"So my sister shouldn't come out at all" muttered Ei, feeling devastated that her sister would need to stay in the Plane forever.

"No, she can come out" Morax's words, made Ei have a light of hope. "But she can't interact with the World. She can eat food, wander the town and even sing in public. But she can't alter anyone's fate or get involved in any important happenings that may shape the future. Any changes altering the preordained fate will reveal her existence as an anomaly".

Everyone fell silent, but Guizhong clapped, gaining everyone's attention.

"Well, lets leave that aside, Baal can only come out to play. Now we need to talk about the pregnancy" Guuizhong redirected the conversation.

"Just leave aside the obvious problem" Ei said with a grimace. Sharing a body in this situation wasn't that good.

But who would they be able to be with? Wouldn't it be better for them to be with the one they liked, who was also the one in the know?

The sisters had been slapped by the so-called 'fate' so many times that the only thing they wanted now was to be happy. And they were Gods, not humans, no one should be able to question them on this.

"Of course" Guizhong nodded. "But I don't think you should care that much. The only Gods remaining from our era are us 4 and Barbatos, and we won't judge you. I don't think there is anything bad at adapting to the circumstances. All of us deserve to have our happiness, don't you think?"

"Yes, I do" Ei nodded a bit relieved that someone as old as she shared her view. Miko always supported her but she was too young and Guizhong was a contemporary of them. Maybe Ei and Makoto, deep down, were searching for some validation that what they were doing was not an error.

"Are you going to tell Kenshin?" interrupted Morax. "He will probably realize. There is no way he won't notice a small amount of 'soul energy' leave him to form the baby's soul.

"Yes, I am going to" Ei firmly said. She was still scared to find out what Kenshin thought of this, but she needed to step forward.

"Wait for him to come" Guizhong suggested. "He will come in a few days to check on me, he is such a worrywart sometimes. Just wait for him here, and I will help you break the news to him. I've been with him the longest after all".

"Thank you".