Chapter Text
“O ite, he-ede hoiday
Oh go,This is my fate
Hoste dikthino borinos
Cast in a northern net
O ite, hode kahine-e
Oh go, Here I remain alone
Monahe, menosihing se ne”
Awaiting for you
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Something that Varka learnt early on, if you aren't alert at all times, you are vulnerable. Due to this he learnt how to listen to any and all changes in his environment while he slept - whether it would be during an expedition or at his office, he always could hear the smallest shifts around him. In his office, he only awakens when he hears Jeans heels clanking towards him. During expeditions is a different story.
At the first stroke of the lyres note, Varka jolted awake, summoning a claymore in hand.
The song was distant, it seemed to be shifting around him - coming from his left and then to the right, and then what seemed to be echoing from a ruin that he could barely see in the distance.
He was surveying the area around them. Nothing had changed from when he fell asleep, Boreas was fast asleep with seelies resting along his fur and Nicole was still wrapped up in his jacket, he stood watch over the group, waiting for something to come.
The song was short and had long left Varka’s ears and, yet, he stood alert with his claymore point resting on the ground in front of his feet and his hands clasped along the grip.
His mind shifted between his state of absolute vigilance and half focused - half lost in his thoughts.
As the stars shifted to bring some light to the abyss, he thought about his future. He saw his fate in Barbeloths scryglass and fulfilled his duty, so what now?
Well firstly he needs to help Nicole and get out of the abyss, and after? No idea.
Protecting Mondstadt and being a part of the knights is his life, he never really thought about his personal life outside of helping the various children he manages to find - ‘How are so many children alone?’ he questions remembering how when he first met Aino, oh how worried he was! Only to be reminded of a lesson he learnt with Razor, children will find their own way to grow up.
Everyone finds their own way in life and ,if altering fate taught him anything, change in life is necessary. Change may be scary but so is staying the same.
He has watched how much Rosaria has grown since they first met, initially she cried while asking him “Why did the knights have to change everything? It was my home, my family.”. It was tough for her and yet, her growth never fails to make him proud.
If my knights hadn't wiped out those bandits, who knows what could have happened and what danger could have happened to her if things stayed the same.
His mind wanders towards Nicole, once an angel and a mage now, living through every ebb and flow in the ever so wild tides of Teyvat.
He feels so intrigued by her. The life she lives is beyond what he can comprehend as a regular man. From what he has learned, her existence in Teyvat is against the heavenly principles.
He realises, ‘Nicole is the coolest being I have ever met! Ooh! I need to know more.’
He heard slight movement coming from Nicole’s direction.
‘Good…morning’ She wills herself up into a sitting position, still trying to comprehend that she is awake.
“Morning Nicole! How did you sleep?” His shoulders relax, and a small smile creeps onto his face seeing her wrapped up in his jacket.
‘I slept rather well, I dreamt that we were in Nod-Krai in my garden - oh! You should definitely come by, I have been working on these sculptures with the traveller.’ The thought of Varka seeing her garden filled her with anticipation,
‘Maybe I could tell him a brand new story with new sculptures! Or I could make a new garden, perhaps near Mondstadt!’ She thought to herself
‘hm, why are you awake and so.. Serious?’ She pointed to his odd stance.
“Well,” Leaving the sword in the ground he sat next to Nicole. “A few hours ago, I heard the strumming of a lyre and the same song I heard being sung in Amsvartnir. I thought the abyss was playing a game with me and so I stood watch if something did happen.”
‘I see…do you remember the direction in which the song was sung?’
“It was all around me, but it kept its distance. I believe that at one point I heard it coming from a ruin not so far from us. Sorry I did not investigate further, it came for a few minutes and I didn't feel comfortable leaving you and Boreas alone.”
‘Thank you, I did have a rather good sleep.’
“Oh yea? You said you had a dream of me, what were we doing?”
‘I don’t remember the specifics other than we were at the Frostmoon Scions and we were helping Lauma with feeding the deer, until you made one angry and it chased you all around Hiisi island’ Nicole smiled - forgetting to mention that before they fed the deer, they also danced near the ocean.
“Ahaha! Well for your information, I have fed one of the deer at Hiisi island, it didn't chase me - it bit me! Lauma had to apologise to me on its behalf! Speaking of animals, I will wake up Boreas.” he stood up and shortly felt Nicole's hand holding his arm.
‘Wait!’ She stood up ‘Thank you for also letting me sleep in your jacket’
“No problem” she took it off and gave it to him.
He walked to Boreas and put it back on. She could have slept without it and been fine with a slightly dirty dress and she could have kept herself warm, Varka knows that and he still chose to give it to her.
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The group made their way towards the ruin Varka mentioned. It was broken down with light blue triangular structures appearing to hold it together.
Before they entered, a soft voice was echoing, it was quieter and less distinct. It sounded like a bell ringing underwater. All three heard it, it was not a seelie but a woman. Nicole looked to Boreas. His ears perked and he had a small swing to his tail, like he recognised it.
She took the lead following it, as Varka told her earlier, the voice was hard to follow.
Nicole opening a door, which she assumed the voice was coming from. Almost like a domain it engulfed her and Varka, completely ignoring Boreas, sending them to a familiar place.
“I think I am going to be sick with the amount of portals we go through,” Varka shook his head. “Wait a minute, this is the Favionious Library?”
‘We may have different problems’ Varka stopped looking around them and instead to Nicole.
“You’re Blueish!? Like the Phantoms from Nod-Krai!?”
‘You too!’
They both paused for a moment, Varka studied his translucent arm and Nicole brought her hand to her face to make sure she was solid and things couldn’t move through her.
Both reached the conclusion that everything was the same, they just looked like phantoms.
“I hope this is not permanent,” Varka spoke.
‘I assume we just have to find a way out of this domain and we will be as good as new.’
The library of Favonious that they were transported to was dusty, and unkept with books unorderly organised with a children’s book about fae lying next to a book about ‘10 Ways To Tell Your Mother About Your Stabwound (Knights Edition) which lay next to a Liyue Cookbook.
‘Tch, in whose right mind puts these books in such a disorderly manner! I can’t believe it! And look at that dust!’
“Hah! The last time I saw this library like this was before Lisa came in, way back before I was even the grandmaster.
…if Lisa was not here, then in this domain, it could be that I am not the Grandmaster.”
‘The way the books are styled, they are modern enough but due to the thickness of the print, I would suggest that we are not in our current timeline. Rather we may be in the past before you became the Grandmaster’ Nicole closed the book she was studying and cringed when she had to place it into a random place.
In the room next to the library, loud chatter could be heard. Several footsteps get closer to the entrance of the library.
Nicole and Varka hide behind a bookshelf.
A boisterous laughter could be heard coming in.
“Please there is no doubt in my mind! I definitely got in!” A voice spoke, sounding like a less rough version of Varkas.
‘Is that you’ “Is that me?” The pair said while quickly looking at each other and then back to the scene in front of them.
A young blonde girl, red haired boy and a scarless blonde boy all walk down the stairs and sit down at a table, each holding a letter.
“Frederica and Crepus!” Varka whisper shouted to Nicole.
‘And you! So young and so uncanny?’
“Uncanny?!”
‘You, just look different! From what I can see, you don’t have your scars, shorter hair and less muscles’
“You’re right, it is uncanny! Wow, me with no scars…I must say that I definitely need to gain more muscles, at this stage I must have been using only one claymore.”
‘I must say, you look better with more muscle.’ Nicole said while looking at the Varka next to her.
“You aren’t wrong” he turned towards her, quickly flexing his arm to both show off and to compare him now. Just to remember what was in those letters. “Oh no”
‘Hmmm, what?’ Nicole snapped back into the present and averted her gaze from his arm back to his eyes.
“Those letters…oh no, I can’t have you watch”
‘Watch what?’
“Me getting rejected from the knights!” Still trying to keep his voice to a whisper, unlike Nicole he couldn’t speak into people’s minds.
‘You were rejected! How?’
“Long story”
‘Oh I have to see this!’ Nicole snuck behind Varka and slightly closer to the handrail to get a better view - Varka ,of course, followed her and did not stop her because he too wanted to watch his reaction first hand.
“Okay, how about we open them at the count of three” younger Varka said as the trio all got their letters in their hands, eager to tear it open.
“One…two…two and a half…three!” He shouted and all three raced to open theirs.
A moment of silence past through the group.
“Yes! I got in” Fredirica jumped up.
“I did not.” A deflated Crepus sighed.
The pair that watched from above both held their breath, Varka knew how he reacted when he got that letter, Nicole didn’t but she now learnt the results from the letter.
“Sorry Crepus” the younger Varka patted his red haired friends back “But I did! Haha! From now on, I will become the greatest knight known to all! Bards shall one day sing about this day!”
Proudly showing off his letter of acceptance with a bright proud smile, a little too proud for Varka's taste, ‘was this how I was like back then’ he cringed a little at that thought.
‘I thought you were rejected?’ Nicole felt disappointed that she couldn’t witness Varka's alleged rejection letter.
“But I was. This story is all wrong, afterwards I was supposed to ambush Grandmaster Valentine.”
‘You did what!’ Nicole felt ecstatic with all these random facts involving Varka.
“I will tell you the full and true story, later”
‘You better’
Varka studied the scene again and noticed something lingering moving near another door on the bottom level of the library.
Nicole was also looking at the scene, rather at the three friends, thinking about how time shaped them. She didn’t know Frederica but she knew what happened to Crepus and time definitely changed Varka, making him more ‘refined’ is the word that she would use.
Varka touched Nicole’s chin, gently moving it to direct her gaze towards the slight movement in the corner.
Squinting her eyes she saw ‘A seelie!’
Varka shot up and threw himself off the first floor down to where the group sat.
The three stared at the being who interrupted the younger Varka's declarations to be the hero of Mondstadt.
He held his hands out, motioning Nicole to jump down into them, Nicole interested in what Varka was doing, complied.
Catching her flawlessly and putting her down with care. She curtsied as a thank you.
The younger Varka looked at his older self with his jaw dropped.
“Gain some more muscle and you will be able to do stuff like that.” He spoke to his younger self “shall we?”
Nicole nodded and walked towards the hidden seelie.
The two followed the seelie when a voice spoke “Wait! Stop! Are you…me?”
“Of course! Who else?” The older Varka replied to the younger
“Well did we become… a hero?” He looked slightly embarrassed to ask
Nicole was opening the other door for the seelie.
“Ha! No!” He looked at the still shocked and somewhat saddened version of his younger self and heard a burst of laughter from Frederica and Crepus.
“Word of advice, find your own reason to be a knight instead of wanting to be in a bard's tale.” The older Varka advised, waved off the group and followed Nicole through the door.
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“You have to tell me - I know you know! Come on, it is important” A muffled voice yelled.
“I am sorry! I do not know!” Another voice replied
The scene was similar to the one prior, a library, except this was grander, high stone shelves with small golden inscriptions. Each story is placed carefully with stone engravings portraying different characters watched from the library's ceiling.
Nicole knew this place, the recognition made her stop following the seelie.
“Is everything okay?” Varka asked.
‘We are in my library…in Hyperborea.’
Varka masked his shock, going back to his past felt like nothing but going to somewhere that no longer existed felt eerie. What is worse, this is a place which Nicole once knew.
She shut her eyes and reminded herself that it was temporary, just a domain, it is not reality. Just the abyss playing with her.
Just like when they went through the first ruin, Varka's hand was on her shoulder, grounding her more than her thoughts. She turned to him, his eyebrows were furrowed with concern.
“We just have to follow the seelie”
‘Just follow the seelie’ she repeated and started walking again.
The seelie took them to the heart of the library and hid the pair behind a column overlooking a different Nicole who sat at a round table, being patronized by a tall hooded figure.
“I have read every travel report, given you every map and outlined passages in various folk stories that have some kind of reference to your ‘Irminsul’ tree. But I struggle to find its location, I am sorry that I can not guide you to it.”
Taking off his hood, revealed himself to be the same starry eyed kid she once helped.
‘Thats Koitars husband’
“Woah, and that is you, yes?” The lady looked like Nicole but as he had never seen another angel he assumed they looked similar.
‘Yes, just with a less refined style’ she joked as her counterpart was wearing a plain white chiton.
Varka rushed to place his hands to his mouth to contain his laugh to Nicole's jab to her other self.
“Please you have to do more, we are so close. Koitar and I have all angels on our side and have the models sketched for the fae.” He whacked his journal on her desk and frantically flipped through it.
“I understand however I can not guide you as I do not know where this tree is. It may not exist!”
“No!” he shouted “You are working with the heavenly principles, aren't you!”
“What? No, my duty is to help humanity.”
The seelie that once stood stationary next to the pair, started floating towards the desk.
“Would you like to follow?” Varka whispered.
‘Of course’ taking a deep breath, something clicked in Nicole sending a sudden wave of confidence and excitement.
“Hello, how may I help you..?” the younger Nicole stopped talking when she saw the seelie.
‘We do not require any help.’ The phantom Nicole said which startled the angel behind the desk and the agitated man.
Assuming the seelie was speaking, the young angel continued “How interesting, I do not think that I have seen your species before”
Nicole, followed by Varka revealed themselves. ‘Oho, it's not the seelie speaking.’
The man and angel were at a loss for words, trying to figure out how there were two Nicoles and one was blue
“Who is speaking?” the man asked, looking at the three.
“She is” Varka pointed to Nicole “Ohaha, yea the whole speaking through minds thing did throw me off at first but after a minute you are completely fine with it.”
“I speak, I mean, she speaks into our minds?” Younger Nicole asked and received a nod form her other self.
“Do you know where the Irminsul tree is, other Nicole?” the man grabbed his journal of the desk and took out his pen.
“Sheesh, straight to business” Varka remarked.
‘Yes i do, however that is no way to ask someone for help, a simple please would go a long way.’
“Hah! Listen I don't know what your deal is” The man sounded arrogant, placing his journal and pen into his pocket. “Nor do I know who you are, despite looking like Nicole you do not speak like her, she would help me immediately without any arguments"
‘I was not aware that I was arguing’ Nicole teased. The seelies glittery noise alerting them of its movement towards another set of doors next to the desk where the other Nicole still sat.
“Yes and you have some nerve telling a lady how she should speak.” Added Varka as he shook his head.
Nicole spoke only to Varka ‘Lets continue to follow the seelie’
He bowed his head to the man and followed Nicole to where the seelie stood waiting by the door, as Nicole's hand lingered on the doorknob, she heard a rush of footsteps running behind them.
“Stop!” Varka turned to the man, who now had a sword drawn, running towards Nicole.
Summoning his own claymore, he shielded Nicole.
A loud crashing sound filled the library. “Where is the tree!” the man shouted.
“Didnt you hear her, she said she would tell you when you ask nicely.” Varka pushed the man back.
“And who are you! Listen, my wife and I need to know where that tree is.” The man spoke while adjusting his stance to strike again
“Enough!” The younger angel stood up, obviously fed up with the argument. “Why can you not say please!?”
Swallowing his pride, the man dismissed his sword and looked up, making eye contact with the other nicole who had her hand on the door knob.
“Please tell me where the ‘Irminsul tree’ is located.”
‘Hm, no!’ She said and opened the door as quickly as she could, the seelie floated into the darkness the door held followed by Nicole rushing into it. The man started running towards Varka and Varka started running away from him into the door as he entered he closed the door behind him.
They found themselves out of the ruins' domain, with a Boreas slowly walking out of the enterance with another seelie floating above him.
“Hahaha! Wooh that was hilarious, I thought you were going to tell him!”
‘I realised the same thing that you did, whatever happens in that domain did not matter so I thought that some fun would not harm anyone!’
“Hey, and we aren't blue anymore.” turning to Boreas “Did you see anything in there?” ruffling his head.
‘And would you look at that?’ Nicole knelt down to inspect an inscription written before the arch. ‘It says “desires of the past”, this domain must have shown an alternate reality, a part of our past we may have desired to be different, like how I used to wish that i did not know where the tree was.’
“And how I used to wish that I was accepted into the knights on my first try.”
The two smiled at each other, relieved that they were no longer transparent.
Before they could relax the voice, now slightly clearer but still far, started singing once more sending them onto another trip.
This time when they followed it, they were taken to a ruin domain, rather they followed it towards what appeared to be the Favionious keep in Nod-Krai.