The heavy, unspoken tension from the meeting lingered in the house long after they returned. Ganyu was quiet and withdrawn, her thoughts clearly still churning with the Harbinger's audacity and the lingering fear for Ren's safety. She stuck even closer to him than usual, a silent, ever-present shadow.
That night, after a quiet, subdued dinner, Ren and Ganyu were sitting together in the living room. The heater hummed its familiar, comforting tune, but it did little to dispel the chill that had settled in their hearts. Ren, who had been watching his sister's troubled expression, finally decided to ask the question that had been circling in his own mind.
"Big sister?" he began softly. "Why was Lady Ningguang so… agreeable? In the meeting, I mean. You and Master were really angry with her, but she didn't even argue. She's the Tianquan. She's the leader of Liyue. Why would she just… back down like that?"
Ganyu turned to look at him, her amethyst eyes full of a deep, ancient seriousness that he rarely saw. She sighed, a long, weary sound, and seemed to be choosing her words with great care.
"Ren," she said, her voice a low, thoughtful murmur, "you must understand the true structure of Liyue. It is not as simple as the Qixing giving orders. Lady Ningguang is indeed the Tianquan. In the world of mortals, in matters of commerce and law, her authority is absolute. She is a brilliant and powerful ruler."
She paused, her gaze becoming distant, as if she were looking back through the mists of time. "But Liyue was not built by mortals alone. It was forged by a contract between our Archon, Rex Lapis, and the adepti. For thousands of years, the adepti have been the silent, eternal guardians of this land. We are its foundation."
She looked down at her hands, at the Vision that rested at her hip. "Lady Ningguang is powerful, yes. But the adepti are… a force of nature. We are the direct subordinates of the Geo Archon himself. We are a revered, sacred power that no one, not even the Tianquan, would dare to provoke or disrespect lightly."
Ren listened, captivated. He knew the lore from the game, but hearing it from Ganyu, from someone who had lived it, gave the words a profound, tangible weight.
"Keqing speaks of humanity forging its own path," Ganyu continued, a hint of sadness in her voice, "and she is not wrong. That is the future we are all moving towards. But the present is still built upon the past. The adepti's authority in matters concerning the fundamental well-being and safety of Liyue is… undisputed. It is a power granted to us by Rex Lapis himself."
She then looked at him, and he saw a flicker of the immense, ancient power that she so often kept hidden beneath her gentle, hardworking exterior.
"I am a half-adeptus," she said, her voice quiet but ringing with an unshakable authority. "But I fought in the Archon War. I stood beside Rex Lapis and the other guardians to defend this land. In the hierarchy of Liyue, my role as a secretary is my job. It is the work I choose to do. But my position… my legacy… is something else entirely."
She gave him a small, sad smile. "Lady Ningguang may be my boss in the Yuehai Pavilion. But if I were to make a decision, a declaration, on a matter I believed was vital to the future and safety of Liyue… if I were to speak not as Ganyu the secretary, but as Ganyu the adeptus, the follower of the Prime of Adepti… then my word would carry a weight that could rival, or even surpass, her own."
The revelation was stunning. He had always seen Ganyu as his sweet, kind, sometimes flustered big sister. He had forgotten that beneath that gentle surface was a being of immense power and staggering authority, a veteran of divine wars who had walked beside a god.
"Even Keqing," Ganyu added, "for all her skepticism and belief in human potential, is not foolish. She saw our anger today. She understood what it meant. She would never challenge a unified front from the adepti on a matter of Liyue's core security. To do so would be to challenge the very foundation of the nation."
Ren finally understood. Their anger in the meeting hadn't just been the fury of two worried guardians. It had been a political, almost spiritual, check on the Qixing's power. It was a reminder, a quiet but unyielding declaration that while mortals may govern the day-to-day, the ancient guardians were still watching. And when it came to the safety of the child they had taken into their care, their vigilance was absolute, and their authority was not to be questioned.