YanLan

YanLan is the femslash ship between Yanfei and Yelan from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
We hear about Yelan for the first time in Yanfei's voice-overs about her. She says that Yelan works for the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and that she is grateful to her for helping her solve a complicated fraud case so she invited her to dinner. Yanfei says that she feels that Yelan always knows what she is thinking and that she must make sure not to count her as an enemy in the future.

at Yelan's release as a playable character, we had access to her voices-over about Yanfei. In it, Yelan says that she likes Yanfei a lot but she "doesn't talk about their friendship" which has fueled the ship a lot. She also says that she likes to collaborate with Yanfei because she always has some invaluable leads in return. She finished her line by saying that she thinks that Yanfei respects her a little too much.

Their first on-screen interaction is shown in the archon quest "Perilous Trail", at Yelan's release. The two are on good terms and frequently step away from the group to think together. In most cases, they have the same deductions and agree just by exchanging a look. The two often tease each other like when Yanfei proposes to Yelan to come to drink a tea with her or when they exchange looks in certain situations when they understand something at the same time or to warn each other. When Itto provokes Yelan, Yanfei whispers that it is not good to provoke her and that he should be careful.

Yanfei is also Yelan's accomplice, since it is said that Yelan does not appear anywhere in the Civil Affairs records, and claims to work for them, but Yanfei says that she works for them anyway. She also says she can't say too much about Yelan's true identity, implying that the two know each other very well and trust each other. Basically, they stay together throughout the archon quest before separating at the end, and are often seen in the background thinking together or even in most interactions with one, the other is always nearby.

When they agree to finally get out of the mysterious place in which the team is trapped (Traveler, Paimon, Xiao, Yanfei, Yelan, Ushi, Itto and Kuki Shinobu), Yelan tells Yanfei that she will have to be ready to stay near her when necessary. During the end cinematic, they fight together against the evil spirits while Xiao contains his power in the Fantastic Compass, before the traveler joins the fight.

Quotes
"I like Yanfei a lot. And I'm not talking about our friendship — as a high-profile legal consultant, important intel in Liyue Harbor is constantly flowing in her direction. Whenever I help her out, I always get some invaluable leads in return. I gotta say though, sometimes I think she respects me a little too much."

- Yelan about Yanfei.

"Yelan is an employee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs — she once helped me crack a tough accounting fraud case. I treated her to dinner afterward. The only thing is... I feel like she's able to read my mind at any given moment when talking to her... Yes, in the future, I need to make absolutely sure I don't get on the wrong side of her."

- Yanfei about Yelan. "Oh, you're looking for Yelan? Hmm, I'd like to suggest that you treat her as an ordinary person, but if you do, it's easy to lose control over negotiations. There are some things that really depend on her impression of you."

- Yanfei, on Yelan's Official Introduction.

Fanon
The ship sailed as a result of their canon interactions in 2.7 Archon Quest "Perilous Trail". Editors and shippers like to put forward Yelan's line "I like Yanfei a lot. And I'm not talking about our friendship", liking this line very much and interpreting it as a confession. Most shippers started to ship it after 2.7 and the archon quest, but some were already shipping because of Yanfei's voice-over about Yelan. Their gameplay also fits together as Yelan is hydro and Yanfei pyro, Yelan's elemental skill makes wet, and with Yanfei's elemental skill or ult, it makes Vaporize, doing more damage.

YanLan rivals are YanTao and Shenlan, which have been around for much longer, despite them currently not having any interactions in the story.

Currently on AO3, YanLan has over 40 works in its romantic/femslash tag, and over 15+ in its platonic/general tag

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Trivia

 * Yanfei is the person who introduces Yelan on her announcement as a playable character.
 * During Yelan's first banner in patch 2.7, Yanfei was one of the featured 4 stars.