#there are a lot of gaps where he just infers things or doesnt say shit which i think makes the line of reasoning kind of wonky but hopefull

[welcometoteyvat]

Xiao stops by Qingce Village from time to time on his nightly patrols, for the restless spirit of the old chi is not easily quietened. He can feel it sometimes—a sickening heat in the air, agitated whispers in the earth beneath his feet, an oppressive heaviness gathering around the edges of his vision. When the thrumming of violence starts ringing louder and louder in his ears—here, here, come here—he must chase it to its source, slay it, devour it whole—

Xiao inhales sharply. He forces the karmic binds to subside.

Qingce is a quiet little place, and it does not deserve to be tainted by an old god’s hatred.

Tonight, it is peaceful. Crickets chirp in the terraced fields, accompanied by the murmur of water from the slowly turning mill. A half-moon hangs in the sky, bathing the terraced fields in its soft, blue-white glow. Everything is as it should be. And yet…

It feels different— strangely lighter, almost, but Xiao knows that is impossible. It must be something else.

There’s a disturbance by one of the small houses near the outskirts of the village—the chi’s doing? Xiao teleports into a tree on the hill leading down to the fields, makes sure that he is hidden, and listens. There’s a muffled thump from inside the house, and he makes out the movement of shadowy figures against the light of a lantern.

“A-yun? Chongyun, can you hear us?”

“He’s passed out.”

Someone sighs. “His yang energy… what are we going to do, Zitian?” Wait. His… yang energy? Is that why—

“We can discuss that in the morning. Let him rest for now; I’ll get some water for him to drink when he wakes.”

Scuffling noises, and then footsteps growing fainter. A small figure is settled into the bed by the window. It is apparent that nothing dangerous is present—no spirits, no chi—but Xiao is distracted by something else. Because it is unmistakable now; he does feel lighter—freer. The constricting heaviness that weighs on him has lifted, as though a thousand years of karmic debt have been wiped cleanly away. In its place is the gentle night breeze, summer’s touch on the bare patch of skin on his back, the faint fragrance of qingxin in the air.

(He could, perhaps, grow used to this impossible feeling.)

He looks back at the house. There is a blue-haired boy lying in the bed, cheeks slightly flushed, his otherwise pale face illuminated by the soft white moonlight. One skinny leg sticks out from underneath a light blanket as he sleeps, dreamlessly.

So, this is the mortal whose overflowing yang energy must have temporarily rid Xiao of his karmic debt. He looks incredibly unassuming. Xiao cannot remember another human with such an imbalance of yang, even after many centuries of serving Liyue. The condition is rare, and his involvements with mortals rarer still—he may never have met the few other bearers of this peculiar gift. It is impressive, he supposes, that someone so young could have such an effect on curses so old. It is also unlikely, he knows, that he will ever see this boy again. That would be best for both of them; even a unique constitution is far from enough to withstand the nature of Xiao’s karma, and for Xiao, this brief respite has already been enough.

If it is fated, they will meet again.

He slips away before the moon is halfway across the star-speckled sky.

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author's notes time! a) I have a headcanon that chongyun's family owns some kind of small house in Qingce that's convenient when they're on long trips. b) Zitian is a random name I chose for Chongyun's dad—there's no deeper meaning, I just thought it sounded nice. the 2 ppl talking are Chongyun's parents. c) this scenario wouldn't happen in my head actually LOL. I think if cy were to take a trip out when he's young, he would get sent with an older cousin or two, his parents would probably stay in their mt tianheng residence (wherever it is). idt you need a full set of parents to just bring a kid to tag along on some spirit exorcising d) rather unsatisfied with this ngl but it took me 1 week and I want to be Done with it so here you go. e) probably made up some lore in this take things with a grain of salt f) the most important thing to know about me is that i fucking love writing descriptions and inner monologues and I hate coming up with plot

ok thanks for reading !! <3

also on ao3

#biting winds drabbles #chongyun #barely.... sorry my boy #xiao #xiao genshin #genshin xiao #genshin impact #genshin #teyvat thoughts #i daydreamed a whole headcanon dynamic w cy and his parents for this dialogue and you can't see any of it shown #pov everything's all in my head #also god idk if any of this really makes much sense because imo xiao's the type of person to just jump from conclusion to conclusion like #there are a lot of gaps where he just infers things or doesnt say shit which i think makes the line of reasoning kind of wonky but hopefull #all his thoughts make sense.......... would be really embarrassing if this is just word vomit #also i can't shut up! hopefully this was fun to read if you made it this far in the tags <3