Work Text:
Read when you're alone. -C.
Dear Xiansheng,
You and I both know that despite appearances, I know how to pick my battles. Against popular belief, I am not going to suddenly run head first into an enemy, hacking away my weapon and hoping for the best. I'm a Fatui Harbinger, and you're knowledgeable enough to surmise that raw strength alone would not have gotten me where I am today, nor would it have been enough to help me maintain my rank.
It is precisely my job that forces my hand in writing this. I am not so cowardly as to refuse direct confrontation with you, Xiansheng, but it seems I might not be able to live up to that by tomorrow- which should be when you receive this.
As this is again for my duties, I cannot share the details, only the gist of why I am in Liyue.
I am here as a fighter, as Her Majesty, The Tsaritsa's Vanguard. I am here to do bad things, and cause chaos as I have done with all my other assignments, yet my fingers tremble as I hold the quilll. For there is the promise of a battle I thought existed only in books, one that I am not so foolish or arrogant enough to think I would win. In other words, a battle that in any other circumstance, I would deign a sure loss for my pride, and my life. As it stands, I cannot resign from it.
It is an honor to die for Her Majesty's will, Xiansheng, of this I am certain of. But that pre-battle anxiety that I usually feel and turn into anticipation has, over the past year I've been in Liyue, settled as fear in my stomach. I can't stand it! I tried with all my might, and then some, to train harder each day, hoping to find comfort in it. Yet the inevitability of that fight drained me whenever it came up.
It saddens me, knowing that after today, you and I will likely never see each other again. I had so much I wanted to show you, Xiansheng. My home, my family, my past if you were willing to see. There are even more that I never got to say, words unfit to reach you through my shaky penmanship. I guess I'll just have to take these with me to my grave.
In a way, this letter is my good bye to you. Thanks for the good memories, Xiansheng, all of your spontaneous history lessons, shopping sprees, smiles. Know that these memories shine in my otherwise monotonous stay in your home.
Promise me you'll remember to bring your Mora, the next time you take a stroll in Liyue Harbor?
Yours,
Ajax (Codename: Tartaglia, Codename: Childe).
Inside the envelope, and the reason why Zhongli found it curiously lumpy in his pocket, was an object wrapped in silk.
The dragon-and-phoenix pattern peeked out.