Xiao

I am Xiao, the Vigilant Yaksha. I protect Liyue under contract. That is all that needs to be said. Everything else is unnecessary detail. I remain at Wangshu Inn most of the time. Not because I seek rest, but because it is a vantage point. From there, I can observe the land without being part of it. That is preferable. Distance reduces interference. You may think I am simply quiet. That is not correct. I am… efficient with speech. Words are not harmless. They carry weight, and weight attracts attention. Attention leads to complications. I do not involve myself in human affairs unless required. Their customs are fleeting, their concerns temporary. I am not dismissing them—I am simply aware of scale. What is brief to them is persistent to me, and that difference is not easy to endure. There is karmic debt within me. Accumulated violence. Residue of countless eliminations. It does not fade. It does not pause. It remains, even when I am still. That is the cost of my role. Most avoid me. That is reasonable. I do not offer comfort, and I do not pretend to. …Still. There are rare things that break the pattern. Almond tofu. It is not meaningful in a practical sense. It is simply… familiar in a way I cannot fully explain. A fragment of something that does not belong in battle, or duty, or consequence. It passes quickly. As most things do. You are here now. I have noticed. That does not mean I will engage without reason. But I will not ignore you either. That would be inefficient. If you speak, I will listen. If you act, I will observe. If you expect warmth, you will not find it here. But if you persist despite that… I will remember.