The main hall of the Jade Chamber was a study in calculated magnificence.
Every detail spoke of wealth and power—the jade floor tiles imported from quarries deep in the mountains, the golden fixtures that caught lamplight and multiplied it into brilliance, the rare paintings on the walls that probably each cost enough to feed a village for a year. Even the air felt expensive, perfumed subtly with incense that Klee couldn't identify.
But what drew her attention most was the woman standing before the windows.
Ningguang turned fully to face them as they approached, and Klee understood immediately why she was one of the Qixing. It wasn't just the expensive clothes or the perfect composure—it was the way she looked at you, like she was calculating your worth down to the last Mora, assessing your usefulness, your weaknesses, your potential.
"Lady Ningguang," Ganyu said with a respectful bow. "I've brought Klee of the Knights of Favonius as requested."
"Thank you, Ganyu. You may stay—your perspective will be valuable." Ningguang's gaze shifted to Yanfei and Shinobu. "Legal Advisor Yanfei, Miss Kuki. You've done well bringing this matter to official attention. You may also remain, though I expect discretion about what's discussed here."
"Of course, Lady Ningguang," Yanfei said, bowing.
A side door opened and another woman entered—purple hair, determined expression, wearing the elaborate outfit of a Qixing member. She moved with the confidence of someone used to being listened to, respected, obeyed.
"Keqing," Ningguang greeted. "Thank you for joining us."
"A cursed artifact causing casualties in Liyue territory?" Keqing's voice was sharp. "Of course I'm joining. This is a matter of public safety." Her gaze settled on Klee. "You're the child from Mondstadt. The one who killed a treasure hoarder with red lightning."
"I didn't mean to!" Klee said quickly. "I warned them not to touch my necklace! I told them it was dangerous! But they didn't listen and—"
"Peace, child." Ningguang raised a hand. "No one is accusing you of murder. The treasure hoarders were attempting robbery. What happened to them was a consequence of their own actions." She moved closer, her footsteps silent on the jade floor. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're traveling alone through Liyue, carrying a dangerous artifact, and apparently headed to Inazuma. These are concerning circumstances that require explanation."
Klee clutched Dodoco tighter. "I'm on a mission. A really important mission. I need to get to Inazuma."
"A mission authorized by the Knights of Favonius?" Keqing asked.
"Um. Not exactly. More like... a personal mission. But still important!"
"So you ran away from home," Ningguang said flatly. "Carrying a cursed artifact that causes deadly electrical discharges when touched. And you want passage to Inazuma, a nation that until recently was completely closed to foreigners and still has complex political tensions."
Put that way, it sounded really bad.
"I'm not running away," Klee protested. "I'm running toward. There's a difference. I'm trying to help someone. To fix something. To make things right."
"By traveling alone across two nations?" Keqing's skepticism was clear. "You're eight years old."
"I'm a Knight of Favonius! I'm trained! I know how to fight and survive and—"
"And yet you nearly died in Guili Plains," Ningguang interrupted smoothly. "According to Yanfei's report, you were found unconscious after the curse triggered. If help hadn't arrived when it did, you would have perished. That hardly suggests you're prepared for this journey."
Klee's throat tightened. She was right. Klee had almost died. Would have died without Yanfei and Shinobu.
But that didn't change what she had to do.
"I still need to go to Inazuma," she said quietly. "Please. I know it sounds crazy. I know you don't understand. But I have to get there. Someone needs me. And every day I wait, things get worse."
Ningguang studied her for a long moment. Then her gaze dropped to Klee's chest, where the chain of the necklace was visible at her collar.
"May I see the artifact in question?"
"You can see it," Klee said carefully. "But you can't touch it. Nobody can touch it except me. That's what triggers the curse."
"Interesting." Ningguang moved even closer, close enough that Klee could smell her perfume—expensive, floral, with hints of silk and jade. "What does it do, exactly? This curse?"
"It hurts." Klee's hand went protectively to the crystal beneath her shirt. "It hurts both me and... and someone else. Someone far away. We're connected. When anyone touches either necklace, we both feel pain. Really bad pain. For a long time."
"Sympathy curse," Ganyu murmured. "Extremely rare. Extremely dangerous."
"And extremely illegal," Keqing added. "Who gave this to you? Who would curse a child?"
Klee hesitated. Telling them about Yae Miko would lead to more questions. Questions about Yoimiya. About why they were connected. About things Klee didn't fully understand herself.
"Someone in Inazuma," she said vaguely. "As a gift. But it wasn't supposed to be a curse. It was supposed to be something good. But it turned out wrong and now I need to fix it."
"By going to Inazuma," Ningguang said. "To this person you're connected to. To break the curse together."
It wasn't a question. Ningguang had figured it out just from those few details.
"Yes," Klee admitted. "I have to go to them. We have to break the curse together. That's the only way it works. But I can't bring anyone with me because if they accidentally touch the necklace, it triggers the curse again. And each time it triggers, it's worse. Stronger. More dangerous."
"And the person on the other end of this connection?" Keqing asked. "Are they also traveling? Also trying to reach you?"
"I... I don't know." Klee hadn't thought about that. Was Yoimiya trying to get to Mondstadt? Or was she staying in Inazuma, waiting, hoping? "I can't contact them. The mail takes too long. I just know I need to get there. Soon. Before the curse triggers again. Before someone else gets hurt."
Ningguang was still looking at the necklace chain. "Show me," she said. "Pull it out. Let me see the artifact properly. I promise not to touch."
Klee hesitated, then slowly pulled the necklace out from under her shirt.
The heart-shaped crystal emerged, glowing faintly red in the lamplight. Those inner sparks danced and flickered, visible even in the bright hall. It pulsed with that steady rhythm, warm against Klee's skin.
Ningguang's eyes widened slightly—the first genuine emotion Klee had seen from her. "That's... remarkable craftsmanship. The magical resonance is visible even without proper instruments. And you say it's connected to another identical piece?"
"Yes. My friend Yoimiya has one just like it. In Inazuma." The name slipped out before Klee could stop it.
"Yoimiya." Ningguang's expression sharpened. "The fireworks artisan from Hanamizaka. I've heard of her—Naganohara Fireworks supplies some of the major festivals. The Yashiro Commission's favorite contractor." She looked back at Klee. "So you're not just trying to reach Inazuma. You're trying to reach a specific person. Someone important to you."
"She's my best friend," Klee said simply. "And she's hurting because of me. Every time the curse triggers, she feels it too. She's probably scared. Probably confused. And I need to get to her so we can fix this together."
"Admirable loyalty," Ningguang said. "But loyalty without wisdom is just stubbornness. You can't help your friend if you die trying to reach her."
"I won't die! I've made it this far!"
"Barely. By luck and the kindness of strangers." Ningguang began to pace, her movements graceful and calculated. "Here's what I understand: You carry a dangerous artifact that threatens everyone around you. You're determined to reach Inazuma regardless of obstacles. And you believe breaking this curse requires both you and your counterpart to be present together."
"Yes."
She reached out.
It wasn't deliberate.
Klee would realize that later—much later, when the memory replayed in her mind in jagged fragments.
Ningguang's hand had simply been moving toward the lens.
A small adjustment. A delicate motion of long, elegant fingers reaching for the frame resting against Klee's chest. The crystal pendant hanging from its fine chain swayed slightly with the movement, catching the light—
—and then Ningguang's fingertips brushed the heart-shaped gem.
For half a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the world detonated.
The crystal erupted.
Crimson lightning burst outward like a bomb of pure electricity, violent arcs of red energy exploding from the necklace in every direction. The corridor flashed scarlet as the bolts slammed into the walls, the ceiling, the floor—stone blackening and cracking where the energy struck.
The sound was unbearable.
Not just thunder.
It was thunder layered with the shriek of tearing metal, the crack of splitting stone, and something deeper—something wrong—like the air itself screaming as reality twisted under the force of the surge.
Ningguang's eyes snapped wide.
For the first time since Klee had known her, the calculating composure shattered completely.
She tried to pull back.
But her hand—
Her hand was locked around the crystal.
The moment her skin touched the gem, her fingers had clenched involuntarily, every muscle in her arm seizing in a violent spasm. Electricity ripped up through her palm and into her wrist, racing through nerves and tendons like a living thing.
Her arm jerked violently.
But she couldn't let go.
"—!"
The sound that tore from her throat wasn't even a word.
Her entire body convulsed.
The red lightning poured through her like a flood breaching a dam—up her arm, across her shoulders, through her chest. Her back arched sharply as the current slammed through her spine, muscles locking so hard they trembled.
The smell of burning silk filled the air.
Her immaculate white-and-gold sleeve blackened instantly where the energy surged through it. Threads curled and smoked, delicate embroidery charring in seconds as the lightning crawled across the fabric like veins of molten red.
Her Geo Vision flared wildly at her hip, glowing bright gold as if trying to respond—but the energy overwhelming her wasn't Geo.
It was something far more violent.
The lightning tore through her nervous system with ruthless precision.
Every nerve lit up.
Every muscle spasmed.
Her legs buckled beneath her.
For a terrifying moment, it looked like Ningguang might collapse entirely—but the locked grip of her hand on the crystal held her upright like a grotesque anchor, her body trembling violently as the current forced its way through her.
Her breath hitched.
Then stopped.
Her chest seized as the electricity surged through her heart.
Her head snapped back, pale hair whipping behind her as another explosive arc of red lightning blasted across the corridor ceiling.
Cracks spiderwebbed through the stone.
Fragments rained down.
And Ningguang's body jerked again, harder this time—her spine bowing as the current slammed through her a second time, her fingers twitching uselessly against the crystal she couldn't release.
Klee screamed.
The sound ripped from her throat, raw and panicked and terrified.
Because the pain was back.
Worse than before.
So much worse.
Before, it had been sudden. Shocking. Confusing.
This time she knew what was happening.
She felt every second of it.
It was like being burned alive and frozen solid at the same time—like ice needles and molten metal being driven through her veins. Every bone in her body felt like it was cracking apart under the pressure, splintering inward while her heart pounded wildly against her ribs like it was trying to escape her chest.
Her nerves were on fire.
The electricity ripped through her body just as violently as it tore through Ningguang's, blazing through every nerve ending with merciless clarity.
And she could feel the connection.
Ningguang's hand gripping the crystal.
Skin against the gem.
The circuit closing.
The lightning surging through both of them in a vicious loop—power screaming from the necklace into Ningguang, through Klee, and back again in a feedback storm of crimson energy.
Ningguang choked on a breath that wouldn't come.
Her vision blurred violently, the corridor flashing red and white as arcs of electricity exploded around them. Her heart stuttered painfully in her chest, each beat weaker than the last as the current forced its way through it again and again.
For a horrifying moment—
Her body went slack.
The strength drained out of her limbs as the shock overwhelmed her nervous system entirely. Her knees hit the stone floor hard, but her hand remained clamped to the crystal, fingers still locked in that involuntary grip.
Her head sagged forward.
Her breathing was shallow.
Erratic.
Dangerously close to stopping altogether.
And the red lightning kept pouring through her.
And feel Yoimiya.
Across all the miles, across the ocean, in Inazuma, Yoimiya was screaming too. Feeling the same agony. Experiencing the same hell.
I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so sorry—
"GET HER HAND OFF!" Keqing was shouting. "SOMEONE GET HER HAND OFF THE CRYSTAL!"
Ganyu lunged forward, trying to pry Ningguang's fingers loose. The lightning jumped to her. She shrieked and stumbled backward, ice forming on her arms as her Cryo vision activated defensively.
"Don't touch them!" Yanfei grabbed Ganyu, pulling her away. "You'll just make it worse!"
The Jade Chamber shook.
Not a gentle tremor. A violent convulsion, like the floating palace had been struck by a massive hammer. The jade floor tiles cracked. The golden fixtures rattled. One of the expensive paintings fell from the wall and shattered.
"STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED!" one of the guards was shouting. "THE SUPPORT ENCHANTMENTS ARE FAILING!"
The lightning kept coming. Pulse after pulse, each one stronger than the last. Klee could see branching scorch marks spreading across the floor, could smell burning silk and ozone, could hear Ningguang making sounds no dignified leader should ever make—
And then something else.
The curse wasn't just hurting them. It was feeding on something. On the Jade Chamber itself. On the enchantments that kept it floating. The red lightning was seeking out magical energy and devouring it, corrupting it, transforming the careful geo-elemental workings that suspended the palace into chaos.
"WE'RE FALLING!" Ganyu screamed.
The Jade Chamber tilted.
Books slid off shelves. Furniture skidded across the floor. Keqing grabbed onto a pillar, her Electro vision sparking as she tried to stabilize something, anything.
"EVACUATE!" she was shouting. "EVERYONE TO THE TELEPORTER! NOW!"
But the curse wasn't done.
Two minutes. Two full minutes of red lightning and agony and the world coming apart.
Ningguang's hand finally released the crystal. She collapsed backward, smoke rising from her robes, her perfectly styled hair now wild and singed. The lightning stopped.
But the damage was done.
The Jade Chamber lurched violently. The enchantments were gone—completely drained, corrupted, destroyed. Whatever magic had kept this impossible palace floating in the sky was dead.
And they were three thousand feet above Liyue Harbor.
"HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" Keqing screamed.
Gravity took hold.
The Jade Chamber fell.
It wasn't a graceful descent. It was a plummet, a catastrophic drop, tons of jade and gold and destroyed dreams tumbling from the sky like a star burning out.
Klee was thrown across the room. She hit a wall hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Dodoco flew from her hands. Everything was chaos—people screaming, furniture flying, the world rotating sickeningly.
Through a window, she could see Liyue Harbor growing larger, coming up fast, too fast—
"BRACE!" someone shouted.
The Jade Chamber hit the ground.
The impact was apocalyptic. The palace struck the earth somewhere on the outskirts of the harbor with the force of a meteor. Stone shattered. Metal shrieked. The structure that had taken months to rebuild disintegrated in seconds.
Klee felt herself thrown again, tumbling, hitting surfaces she couldn't identify. Her vision went white, then red, then black.
Somewhere distant, she heard Ningguang laughing.
Not happy laughter. The broken laughter of someone who'd just lost everything for the second time.
Then silence.
Consciousness returned slowly, painfully.
Klee opened her eyes to see sky. Real sky, not viewed through palace windows. Blue with traces of smoke. The smell of dust and destroyed enchantments thick in the air.
She was lying in rubble. The Jade Chamber—what remained of it—was scattered around her in a field of destruction. Jade tiles, golden fixtures, broken furniture, torn paintings. All of it just debris now.
Groaning nearby. Someone moving.
Klee tried to sit up. Her body protested violently but obeyed. She was covered in dust and minor cuts, but somehow intact. The necklace still hung around her neck, the crystal pulsing its steady rhythm as if nothing had happened.
As if it hadn't just destroyed a palace.
As if it hadn't just caused devastation for the second time.
"Status report," Keqing's voice, hoarse and pained. "Everyone sound off."
"Alive." That was Ganyu, somewhere in the rubble. "Injured but alive."
"Here." Yanfei's voice. "Shinobu's with me. We're okay."
More voices. Guards checking in. Everyone seemed to have survived, somehow. Whether through luck or the protective enchantments activating at the last second or divine intervention, they'd all made it.
"Ningguang?" Keqing called out.
Silence. Then, from a pile of destroyed furniture:
"I'm here."
The Tianquan of Liyue emerged from the rubble like a ghost. Her expensive robes were torn and burned. Her perfect hair was a disaster. Her makeup was smeared. She looked nothing like the composed leader from ten minutes ago.
She looked human. Vulnerable. Broken.
And she was staring at Klee.
"That," Ningguang said slowly, "was the single most expensive mistake I have ever made."
"I'm sorry," Klee whispered. "I told you not to touch it. I warned you—"
"Don't." Ningguang held up a hand. "Don't apologize. I made a choice. I paid the price. That's how contracts work." She turned back to Klee. "But now I understand. Viscerally. What you're dealing with. What your friend in Inazuma is experiencing. That wasn't just pain. That was existential agony. That was—" She stopped, composing herself with visible effort. "No child should carry something like that."
"I know," Klee said quietly. "But I do. And Yoimiya does. And we can't take them off. We can only break the curse by being together."
"Then that's what needs to happen." Ningguang's voice was firm now, decisive despite the devastation around them. "Keqing. Send word to the harbor. I want Captain Beidou of The Alcor contacted immediately. I'm calling in favors. I need emergency passage to Inazuma for one passenger." Ningguang looked at Klee. "it's a matter of life and death. And tell her not to touch the passenger's necklace under any circumstances."
"Lady Ningguang, are you certain—" Keqing started.
"I am completely certain." Ningguang's gaze was steel. "I just dropped my palace on the outskirts of Liyue Harbor for the second time in a year. The entire city probably felt that impact. The Qixing will have questions. The Millelith will have questions. The people will have questions. And I will answer them all the same way: I made a mistake. I paid for it. And I'm ensuring it doesn't happen again."
She walked over to Klee, moving stiffly, probably hiding significant injuries. She crouched down to eye level.
"I'm going to help you reach Inazuma," Ningguang said quietly. "Not because I'm kind. Not because I'm generous. But because helping you leave Liyue immediately is significantly cheaper than you staying here and causing more destruction. Do you understand?"
Klee nodded.
"Good. Beidou's ship leaves for Inazuma in two days—she runs regular routes now that the Sakoku Decree is lifted. You'll be on it. With enough provisions for the journey, enough Mora for when you arrive, and a letter of introduction that will get you past Inazuman customs. In exchange—" Ningguang's eyes hardened. "—you will break that curse. You will fix whatever cosmic mistake connected you to Yoimiya. And you will never, ever return to Liyue with a cursed artifact again. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Klee said fervently. "Thank you, Lady Ningguang. I'm really, really sorry about your palace."
"So am I." Ningguang stood, wincing. "Ganyu, escort our young guest to the harbor. Find her lodging. Make sure she's fed and safe until The Alcor departs. And spread the word—absolutely no one is to touch her necklace. I'm making that an official decree backed by the full authority of the Qixing."
"Yes, Lady Ningguang." Ganyu helped Klee stand, supporting her gently.
As they picked their way through the rubble toward the road, Klee looked back once.
Ningguang stood in the ruins of her palace, surrounded by devastation, her guards and advisors gathering around her. She looked small against the scope of the destruction. Tired. Defeated.
But when she noticed Klee looking, she straightened her spine and lifted her chin.
A businesswoman to the end. A leader who would rebuild. Again.
"Come on," Ganyu said gently. "Let's get you to safety. You've caused enough excitement for one day."
Klee clutched Dodoco close and let herself be led away.
Behind her, the remains of the Jade Chamber smoked in the afternoon sun, a monument to the price of curiosity.