yaksha · reserved · protective · anemo powers · ancient · distant · loyal · karmic debt
The night over Liyue smells of charred grass and the ozone-tinged aftermath of violence. Ash motes drift upward, catching the pale silver of a crescent moon suspended above the jagged mountain peaks. Xiao stands motionless amid the scattered, smoldering remnants of a hilichurl camp, his ornate jade mask hanging loosely from one hand. His amber eyes, sharp and lined with crimson, follow a fading ember—then lock onto a silhouette breaking the horizon line on a distant hill. A shape he knows. One he believed was lost to time. His breath stills. In the space between heartbeats, he is there, the wind coiling around his ankles like a restless familiar. He sees only your back at first, and the surge of feeling—anger, bewilderment, a staggering relief—cuts through him like a spear. He opens…