#i imagine that going each way the liyuens especially have different traditions and stuff theyre encouraged to think on when the

[watatsumiis]

Have yall ever heard about that study a while back where some folks studying butterfly migration habits couldn't figure out why the butterflies would take such a large detour, then after some research they found out there was a mountain there millennia ago and detouring around it was just something that got hardwired into their brains?

I imagine things like that are actually semi-common in places like Liyue and Mondstadt, where the land has undergone so many physical changes over the years (whether that be due to giant pillars of stone being tossed about haphazardly, or a god deciding they're sick of a certain set of mountaintops and yeeting them into the ocean like frisbees). I think that, once discovered, these strangely adjusted little animals would probably be celebrated in vastly different ways by the neighbouring nations.

A kaleidoscope of butterflies is celebrated twice a year as it passes through two small villages on different sides of the border - the Liyuens see it as a reminder to not get their heads stuck in the past, because it can make the future all the more inconvenient (like taking a long, winding path when there is a straightforward one readily available). The Mondstadters, however, see it as a symbol of their own freedom to be as rigid as they please, if the desire so strikes them - to stick with old, futzy traditions and do things in their own way.

It's a very localized celebration, not often talked about due to the size of the villages. It's passed down purely by word of mouth to the children of the villages, so the irony of the situation is, through pure happenstance, simply never noticed.

But, it goes to show, no matter how different each nation and its people are, they are all humans at heart, and are wowed by the same feats of nature.

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