Chapter Text
(Set a little before the second scene of the first chapter — when Furina initially "confronts" Neuvillette about the Melusine in the city.)
Circa 400 Years Ago
A forkful of cake at her lips, Furina stilled.
She was at one of her favorite bakeries in the Court of Fontaine. It was still relatively new — only having had its grand opening a handful of years ago; however, it had quickly caught her eye with its unique cake decorations and occasional experimental flavors. With her indirect support, the bakery had even managed to include a part-time café, putting a few tables on their patio for customers who wished to eat their sweet delights then and there.
But never mind that. Neither the cake nor the bakery was what had made her pause. No, underneath the ambient bustle of the city, Furina could hear someone crying.
It wasn't the loud cries of scorned lover, nor was it the body-wracking sobs of grieving mourner. This was much, much worse than that. These stifled cries belonged to someone scared for their life.
Furina slowly set her fork down, tipping her head slightly as she listened in on the sound. The crying was clear enough—to her, at least—that it couldn't have been someone indoors. An alleyway, perhaps? No one was stupid or brave enough to try committing a crime in broad daylight with all of the guards and meks patrolling the streets.
That didn't mean there weren't still blind spots.
Furina stood from her seat and started walking to where the muffled crying got louder. Although she was currently in disguise as a 'regular' citizen (she didn't feel like putting on a show today, let alone getting harassed by some nitwit), the bakery was familiar enough with her usual orders to keep an eye on her seat and cake. It was one of the main reasons she truly loved this bakery; the owners were of the few who were truly grateful that she was their archon.
The ends of her cloak fluttered around her feet as she swiftly made her way over to what she now recognized as… Well, it wasn't quite an alleyway, but it was certainly a darker corner of her city.
Nearing the shadowed opening, Furina peeked around the edge of the building. She mentally tsked when she couldn't see anything and reluctantly switched to elemental sight. Furina wasn't bad at using this technique. It was just that with how the city ran on all sorts of different energies, sometimes it was still hard to make anything out with elemental sight because almost everything glowed with one energy or another.
However, it seemed that fate was in her favor today. They were faint, but Furina could make out the shaking shoulders of someone crouching behind a stack of crates. She didn't see anyone else, but she knew better than to assume that no one else was around.
Furina widened her senses, listening instead to the other sounds coming from this darkened space. The tapping of leather-soled shoes on tile as people passed by around them. Both loud exclamations and low murmurs from those same people. The creak of wood inside the building as someone shifted their weight… There! A sharp metallic clink of something tapping against stone—the wall?—steadily nearing them.
Furina bit the inside of her cheek, caught in a moment of indecision. She should call the Garde over and have them handle this. But what if the crying person was injured—or worse, killed—because that took too long?
She mentally shook herself. Come on, Furina. You're the Hydro Archon. What are the chances that this person is a competent fighter, let alone an allogene? Worse comes to worst, you can just grab the crying person and run.
Done with her self-directed pep talk, Furina leaned around the corner of the building once more and then slipped around the edge to step into the shadowed space. The person with the metal object wasn't immediately in view, but Furina was careful to keep her steps quiet as she made her way towards the crying person. By the time she was finally at the stack of crates, she could make out the shape of the crying person — or rather, the crying melusine.
Of all the— Furina inwardly swore. It was blatantly obvious to her what was happening.
Now she was rather glad that she had chosen to come in here first. There was nothing in Fontaine's laws that protected the Melusines' rights at the moment. Calling the Garde would have been pointless. It would have been like reporting someone threatening another person's dog. A solution in the short-term, but for the long-term? Nothing was truly stopping the person with the metal object from coming after this melusine—or others—again.
Furina really needed to talk to Neuvillette about these little creatures he'd brought into the city. How long had it been since she'd first caught sight of one of them? It couldn't have been more than a few weeks. She purposefully hadn't said anything about them to him yet, but she would've thought that Neuvillette had put in some laws about them by now.
Well… he had — just not about this yet. It was already difficult to establish laws that weren't directly made by Furina herself, let alone laws pertaining legalizing a 'new' species. As far as she could tell, he was trying to slowly integrate the Melusine into Fontaine society, but this clearly wasn't working — not as intended, at the very least.
Maybe it just hadn't occurred to him yet that humans could be disgusting to other creatures, not just themselves.
Furina quickly made up her mind. If Neuvillette still didn't get it after she gave him a 'reminder', then she could put those laws in herself. It wouldn't be the first time that she'd done so (and had Neuvillette in mind while doing so).
Taking a moment to check if the melusine's attacker had figured out where the little creature was hiding, Furina created a tiny bubble of hydro and floated it over to catch the melusine's attention. The little creature startled slightly but—thankfully—managed to stay quiet as they looked around. Tears welled up in their eyes once they caught sight of Furina, and she held a finger up to her lips before they could cry any louder.
The melusine nodded, watery eyes closing as they wiped at the tears collecting there. Furina took that as a sign that she could come closer. She carefully pulled the melusine into her arms, wrapping her cloak around both of them and hiding them further from view.
Furina frowned to herself the moment she realized the metallic clinking had stopped. As much as she wanted to get a look at this asshole's face, she wasn't about to risk the melusine's—and her own—life for it. She was just going to have to rely on the melusine being an eyewitness as the victim.
Hmm… Actually, that might not hold up in court. Melusines weren't considered 'people' yet. Furina wouldn't care either way since the Melusine were sentient and therefore capable of giving testimonies, but the humans wouldn't see it that way. Furina would have to come at this from a different angle.
But that was a matter for later. Right now, she needed to get them both out of here.
"Have you ever been teleported before?" she asked quietly.
The little creature blinked owlishly up at her and then nodded once.
Good. Hopefully that meant they wouldn't freak out too much.
Furina teleported them to the Statue of the Seven next to Palais Mermonia. She let the melusine go, mindful of the way they wobbled as Furina set them down. The little creature looked around, eye widening once they realized where they were, and then they burst in to tears.
Still crouching next to the melusine, Furina recoiled at the emotional outburst but forced herself to pat the little creature's head in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "There, there, you're safe now."
That piece of shit probably thinks he can get away with murder just because the Melusine aren't human. Well, think again, scumbag, Furina thought furiously as she waited for the melusine to stop crying. I'll have your ass arrested for interrupting my leisure time and then pin you down for whatever other crimes I bet you've committed.
After all, scum like that didn't just start with killing sentient creatures, and the way they had been hunting the melusine had been too drawn out — as if it had been on purpose.
Furina's cake was definitely a lost cause though. Between continuing to comfort the melusine and reporting the incident, the cake would probably in the trash by the time she got back to the bakery — respected customer or not. She'd have to explain that it wasn't the cake that made her get up and leave.
"Hey, what's your name, hmm?" Furina asked the melusine, who sniffled but had finally stopped crying.
"My— My name is Aeife, Lady Furina," the little creature answered around another sniffle.
Furina was somewhat taken aback. "… You know who I am?"
The melusine—Aeife—nodded, wiping at her cheeks to dry them. "Monsieur Neuvillette told everyone about Lady Furina. You are very important to him."
Fighting back a blush, Furina stammered out: "W-Well, of course I am! As the Hydro Archon, I should hope that I'm held in high regard by my Chief of Justice…" Furina turned her head to the side, hoping to hide the red in her cheeks that she'd failed to keep down. "And as his friend, he also means a lot to me."
She cleared her throat, shoving her embarrassment deep down to think about never. "Now, tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out, understand?"
I can't wait to see that scumbag squirm in court, she chuckled viciously inside her mind. Outwardly, she put on a warm smile for the innocent melusine, who dutifully began recounting everything they could remember about the 'strange person' that had been following them for the last few days.
(Set during a nebulous time between the end of the first chapter and the Archon Quests.)
"Neuvillette… If you lag behind any further, you'll end up back in your office," Furina called back to her friend.
Neuvillette wasn't actually all that far from her, but he maintained a sedate pace while she had skipped ahead. Well, she supposed it couldn't be helped. Neuvillette didn't often travel far from the Court of Fontaine. In fact, she was fairly certain this was his first time outside of Fontaine at all.
Furina had been mindful in picking which of the neighboring nations to take Neuvillette to. She hadn't spent months deliberating over it, but it had certainly been longer than she usually took to decide a matter as trivial as the location of a vacation. And she had determined that the best place to take her dragon friend was Liyue.
Though she wasn't overly familiar with Morax, Furina could say that she was on decent terms with the oldest archon, who wouldn't mind another god visiting his territory as long as they didn't cause any trouble. Besides, Neuvillette had shown interest in tasting water and other drinks as of late. Therefore, Qiaoying Village and its famous teas made for an attractive destination.
She and Neuvillette were currently in the area of land between Fontaine and Liyue that was technically unclaimed, though most people assumed it belonged to Liyue. It was a fair assumption. After all, Furina had no interest in the lands beyond the sheer waterfalls that made up the borders of Fontaine, even if they were the bodies of water created by aforementioned waterfalls.
Furina wasn't actually sure why Morax hadn't claimed this land for himself. A buffer territory was the most likely reason she could think of. That, or he had forgotten about it. There wasn't really of note—let alone anyone living in this area—since all of the fertile land was closer to Qiaoying Village…
Furina stopped in her tracks. She blinked once, twice, and then she spun on her heel. Huh? Where'd Neuvillette go?
It took a moment, but Furina eventually spotted him kneeling next to the river nearby. "Don't just disappear like that! Are you trying to give me a scare?" she exclaimed.
Neuvillette glanced over his shoulder, giving her an unimpressed stare, before he looked back down to where his hand was submerged in the river's water. "The water here is different than in Fontaine."
"Well, of course," Furina huffed, crossing her arms and resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "We're practically in the Land of Geo now. The ley lines are different here, so the elemental energy throughout the land and water will be too."
"I hadn't thought of it like that," Neuvillette murmured in a mildly fascinated tone.
Furina sighed quietly to herself. They weren't even at the village yet, and Neuvillette was already collecting water. She made a mental note to buy several jars of water to send back to Fontaine.
Hmm… Should she invest in water imports? It would look weird on an expense report (especially since water should be an export—not an import—in Fontaine), but it could make for a nice present for Neuvillette, who rarely bought or did anything for himself. In fact, most of his personal items were gifts from herself or the Melusine.
Honestly, this guy— Furina really needed to find a way to build his self-confidence more. Neuvillette was too modest and humble for his own good. It wasn't something she could just tell him either. This was one of those things someone had to figure out on their own; he simply wouldn't believe her otherwise.
It especially didn't help that Neuvillette was somewhat slow to pick up on certain changes around him. The most he kept up with trends—fashion or otherwise—was whenever Furina ranted about them to him. As fond as she was of him for it, she could see it being a problem later on.
This was why she tried to get him to go out more. Making new friends—especially human ones—was important if he was going to keep with the times.
Was she being a hypocrite? Absolutely. But she didn't still think that it was normal for people to be met with prejudice for being in a same sex couple. Furina had worked tirelessly to change the people's opinion on that years ago! Neuvillette simply didn't pay attention to such things unless they showed up in a law book.
Which was the other reason why she'd forced him on this vacation to Liyue. Furina wanted him to see just how much of the world there was — that there was far more of everything beyond his office and the courtroom, beyond Fontaine. If that meant making odd excuses, then so be it.
Though… Furina was this close to just kicking Neuvillette into the river.
"Come on, Neuvie," she whined, pulling at robes. "Taste test later. Village lodging now."
"You can't possibly be tired already," he remarked, standing.
Furina huffed. "I'm not, but I'd like to see civilization again before nightfall."
(Set during a nebulous time between the end of the first chapter and the Archon Quests.)
Furina tilted her head in thought as she stared out at the skyline. She closed her eyes for a minute and opened them again just to be sure. Hmm, those were definitely storm clouds. But she had seen Neuvillette not even an hour ago, and he'd seemed perfectly fine then. Meanwhile, these clouds had been building all morning.
She blinked, shaking her head. It had been a while since she'd seen storm clouds naturally gather in Fontaine's skies. Roughly estimating where the clouds were building up and the direction that the wind was blowing, Furina noted that the storm would end up over the Liffey region—north of the city—before heading east. That was more than fine.
Natural storms tended to grow exponentially if they made it to the great lake around the Court of Fontaine. As long as the storm stayed in the north or east, where most of Fontaine's land mass lay, it would peter out on its own before the day's end.
Ah, but Neuvillette had yet to experience a natural storm, hadn't he? A thunderstorm at that.
Furina clapped her hands together in delight. This could be so much fun. She just had to convince Neuvillette to go the Liffey region with her — or maybe to the Institute of Kinetic Research. Yes, that would do nicely.
It wasn't hard to steal Neuvillette from his office. He rarely ever said no to her.
(When they got back, perfectly dry despite the torrential rain they had walked around in, he admitted that he had thoroughly enjoyed the experience.)