Chapter Text
“Ah, there it is!” Mona’s heels clicked against the polished tile of the ballroom’s floor as she beelined her way towards the refreshment table. Trays of food neatly lined the table, from tiny triangular sandwiches to platters of meats, one could not say that the palace’s party lacked any food. Food, that were free for all guests. And that was all it took to summon the appearance of one newly anointed royal astrologist. One very, very, hungry one, judging by the way her stomach rumbled, and her fingers quivered as she loaded her plate. She would have felt shame if there was any shame to be found in trying to live well. She told herself it would be fine; the food would go to waste anyway if no one else touched them for the night. If anything, she was doing the palace maids a favor. Less food to clean meant less work to do when the event came to an end.
Technically, she was not doing anything wrong. And this was by far less wrong, than the time she plucked mushrooms in the middle of the night at a local park.
The bottom of her dress swept the floor as she picked up her pace. A few smiles were spared towards the few that sent a greeting her way. As impolite as it was, she had a task at hand and no one was going to stand in her way.
She was doing the right thing, Mona decided as she took stock of the presented food, she was also a guest, thanks to the intervention of her pesky master. Not that she had needed much convincing for this event. The promise of free food was what had called her to the ball in the first place.
“And just a bit more…” Stacked high on her plate, the delicacies waited to be consumed. Turning on her heels, she dodged around the eager couples waiting to dance, and squirreled her way towards the doors leading to the foyer. Now that she had her prize, she had decided it was best to make her escape. Almost there… casting one last look around, Mona soaked in the merriment of the hall before slipping out into the warm summer air.
Even outside she could hear the muffled bugle of a horn before the introduction of another aristocratic member. While they may have the benefit of being introduced, the majority of today’s attendees were the commoners. The families that lived in Mondstat had been invited. It was not often the palace held an event of this size but with the summer solstice coming to an end and the final harvest of summer ending, the palace had always celebrated the auspicious day.
The comforting breeze wrapped around her. The sweet scent of flowers from the seemingly endless gardens drifted up from below. In the gentle heat, Mona felt that small tension she felt for her petty not-crime ease away into nothingness. On such a quaint night, it was hard to be bound by the fleeting discomfort. Grinning to herself and eying her plate with the eagerness of a child with their hands in the cookie jar, Mona felt giddy. If she were smart about this, not only would she sleep with a full stomach tonight, but she may also just have enough for breakfast in the morning.
Mentally divvying up her loot, Mona decided that she would have at least a third of her plate and save the rest for later. She was hungry but she was not that hungry. She would be fine.
Really…Right?
Her stomach growled, sounding very much like it was passing judgment on her for missing both breakfast and lunch today. Eying her plate on more time, she amended her earlier thought. Perhaps finishing it all was the best course of action. She could always go back to get some more. With her mind made up, Mona scurried down the nearby marble steps that lead into the gardens. Tonight, was almost too perfect to waste eating on a cold stone floor.
If the gardens had looked beautiful from above, walking through them was akin to stepping into a dream. The scent of cecilias was stronger down here, their white petals lined the undergrowth of dark green hedges, looking very much like stars upon the ground. Just a bit beyond that lamp grasses danced beneath the pine trees as they were rustled by another breeze. Their soft glow provided lights for the small foxes and squirrels darting about. Fireflies flitted through the air and the occasional twitter of a bird can be heard beyond the sound of Mona’s footsteps.
It reminded her of the stories she would listen to as a child. Where a princess would meet her dashing knight, of fairytale-like palaces of white, of curses so terrifying yet weak, that a single kiss of love would be enough to undo. The cry of another passing bird broke her out of her reverie. With a quick shake of her head, she swept away the childish thoughts and turned to look at the moonlit path that led deeper into the gardens to contemplate if she would go further. While there were people here, lingering on the benches and chatting softly away with one another as guards ran their patrols, it still felt too crowded. As if she was trespassing on the intimate moment of others. It was not like she wanted to eat on the grass, in full view of a couple exchanging tender words and heated glances.
She would like to enjoy her meal, not choke on it, thank you very much.
A glance at the two men to her right had her making her decision. The way they were pressed together, without a single ounce of light between them, brought the heat to her cheeks. There was a time and place for making out and this was not one of them. Though Mona mused, what did she expect, there were enough rumors and love stories born out here to fill a novel. If her master had seen her just now…the teasing she would have to endure made her almost pale.
With red cheeks, Mona scuttled along, down the path and deeper into the grove. She spared the patrolling knights a small wave and a smile. Some face more familiar than others flitted by until her only accompaniment was the stars that were shining brightly above.
They were her company tonight and she did not mind. They were the eyes to her picnic tonight and the witness for her upcoming gluttony. It was not like she would be embarrassed if someone saw her like this, at least that was what she told herself.
Nestling herself on the grass, her fingers plucked up a bite-sized sandwich and her cheeks began to fluff as she shoved them in one by one. Like a squirrel, Mona continued to gorge, lest her stomach began to complain once more about the abuse she put it through. It was not like she did it on purpose, it was not her fault that her passion cost quite a bit of investment. With her sandwiches polished off, Mona began to tuck into the chicken skewers. Around her, the winds continued to carry birds upon its breeze, rustle the grass with its gentle touch, and send the sweet scent of flowers scattering. Nearby, she could hear the soft burbling of water as it lapped against the shore of the grandiose lake and the boats that rested upon its bank. It was comforting to be blanketed in this peace.
That was until she took another bite, and the sound of her chewing chicken replaced the singing of crickets. “This is so much better than just mushrooms.” Anything was better than the semi-daily diet of pilfered and grilled mushrooms. But beggars can not be chooser and Mona were not the pickiest eater out there. Her eyes drifted close as she savored another skewer. She made a mental note, to grab more of these before she headed back to her humble home.
Deep into her meal and feeling bliss from it, the astrologist failed the detect the presence that lingered just beyond the cropping of trees that fringed the lake.
It was the crack of a branch – a loud piercing noise -that finally alerted her to another’s presence. With her cheeks full and the bitten clean skewer in hand, Mona’s swiveled her head around. She felt heat rush to her cheek at being caught. Beneath the scattered moonbeams and bright fireflies, the stranger looked equally surprised as they stared back.
Prince Albedo had expected, anticipated even, quite a bit of thing to look forward to on his escape from yet another -much longwinded -tedious conversation with baron Cyrus and the adventures of his youth, but this had not been one of them. The prince had intended to hide away for a bit in the gardens, to sketch in the relative silence but what had greeted him was quite the opposite. Though not quite unwelcomed on second thought.
“U-uh…hi?” Mona whispered with a wave. Fringed by moonlight, the boy’s hair was seemed to reflect the same shade of white as the moon.
He is pretty. Was her first thought, the second was the mortifying realization that this person had caught her at her worst. The heat flooded her cheek and if it were not for the fact that she would drop her precious meal, Mona would have like to bury her face into her hand and wish this would all go away. To be caught gorging like a starved squirrel was not one of her plans for the night.
“Hello,” he replied, the hint of confusion tinged his tone though if she tried enough to decipher it, there also seemed to be…amusement? As the light shifted, she could make out the finer parts of his features. He looked around her age yet held a serene air. The book in his hand rustled when he shifted. The branch he had stepped on earlier cracked once again as he moved his foot off it. The gold lapels on his clothes gave her enough of an indication of his status. There was no way a commoner could afford even one of those buttons.
All she could do now is swallow -her food and shame -before holding up her plate in a semblance of a peace offering. “May I bribe you for your silence?” Mona said mildly. “Please kindly wipe this scene from your memory.” At least it was just one person, the mortification that would come with one more than that, was unthinkable.
The small huff that parted the stranger’s lips, the softest laugh he gave…even that is pretty. Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire. If Mona had lived in Mondstat for more than just a few months, she may have had an inkling of just who she was speaking with. However, that was not the case, and the fact that she was in the presence of a prince never crossed her mind.
The grass shuffled as Albedo moved, parting beneath his feet as he took a tentative step forward and then another. “I apologize for intruding. I simply wanted to sketch the lake; I did not think someone would be here at this time…” And he had not, especially with the party at its climax. Most were inside dancing and talking the night away amongst friends. The former of which he was also trying to avoid. After making himself comfortable, Albedo took an offered cookie off the plate before letting silence blanket them.
A very awkward silence if he was, to be frank.
One that was equally awkward to his sudden guess if the amount of shifting she was doing was any indication. To solve this issue, Albedo opened his mouth--
“So, what were you doing?” and regretted it almost instantly. She did just ask him to banish the memory and he had accepted her bribe. Social niceties were not his strong suit. Chit-chat was hard, much harder than explaining to his two apprentices the enhancement properties found in ley-line branches and their other applications. “I mean—”
A snort only brought up the sinking feeling of despair and the brief thankfulness that the darkness for the most part hid the way the tips of his ears were turning red.
Mona choked on her muffled laughter as her shoulder relaxed. “Stargazing?” she quipped before looking up at the sky. The stars twinkled as it amused, the clear summer night a canvas of dark velvet only made them seem brighter. This boy was strange, but she could not quite say it was a bad thing. “To be frank, I am just hiding here for a bit, it was getting a bit much to be inside.” That much was true. It had been a tiny bit stuffy and a little bit overwhelming. The noise that slipped from him, Mona could only take as one of understanding. Placing the plate between them, Mona spared a small smile as she stretched her legs. The layers of her dress shuffled with the movement and she let out a contented hum at the unladylike way her spine cracked into place.
He blinked at her, face deceptively blank and hair ruffled, before cracking the barest hint of a smile. A silence blanketed them again but this time not as stuffy as the last. Reaching for a cookie now, Mona wiggled her toes as she let the sounds of the evening wrap around her again, this time accompanied by the sound of shuffling paper and the awareness of a body just an arm’s length away. Mona shook her head, her free hand fiddled with the clip at bangle at the end of her hair.
“What do you like to draw?” she asked after a long period of silence.
The sound of charcoal against paper stopped. “This and that, sometimes it is people, sometimes it is the local fauna…and other times a masterpiece in three strokes.”
“Just three?” she echoed.
“Three.”
“Do you happen to have that masterpiece inside that sketchbook of yours right now?” Mona asked. She was never one to mince her words, much less when she was interested in something. Undeniably she was curious, how could she not with a mystery like that dangling just right there.
“Here,” he responded after a minute of flipping pages.
After a quick swipe of her fingers against a napkin, Mona took the offered book, upon the crisp white page was a circle, a line bisected it, and another one created what looked like… “an eyepatch?” Mona’s head tilted to the side, her muffled laughter made her shoulders shake. This ‘masterpiece’ was simple, but it was uncannily familiar…
“Is t-this…sir Kaeya?” One of the knights that patrolled around the area, but if she recalled correctly from her brief tour of the castle, he was the head knight.
“You guessed correctly.” Albedo took the sketchbook back. His hands moved once again to finish the piece he had started working on earlier. From the corner of his eye, he peered at the strange girl, not quite sure if she simply did not recognize him or was pretending not to. He watched as her brows furrowed slightly as she looked up at the skies once again, searching for something he could not see. Between bouts of companionable silence, the two conversed with idle questions about their interests, the stars their only witness.
Somewhere in the castle, the grand bell began to toll.
He wondered what was going on inside her head to make her concentrate so.
I liked the skewers, and the sandwiches were okay…Mona looked down at the plate between them that was now polished clean. She was busy trying to decide what she would take when she left. In the upcoming days, she was going to be busy—
The loud twelfth toll of the bell ripped her out of her thoughts. Blinking owlishly at the sky, Mona hurried to stand as her haphazard thoughts came crashing down on her. “Oh no.” She stumbled as she stood, teetered precariously as blood rushed down her legs, leaving them on pins and needles. “ow, ow…ow…”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine! I just remembered I have something to finish, lest that crazy bat ends me.” A slave driver was what she liked to call her master.
Mona gritted her teeth, as she took a step and straightened her dress. “You’ll have to excuse me; I have to go.” If she wanted to grab some food before she left, she would have to go now.
“I’m sorry.” Sparing him a regretful smile, Mona pulled the flow of magic around her tight, before zipping away, in a trail of water and starlight.
From his spot on the ground, Albedo blinked once, and then twice. The sudden use of magic and abrupt exiting threw him for a small loop. He had been caught off-guard. Shaking his head, the prince too stood. He took a step back to the castle, following the path of his unnamed companion, only to pause as a sparkle caught his eye. Bending down, he picked up a bangle and a small star-shaped charm next to it. The broken clasp looked as if it had seen better days. It was the possibility that it belonged to the odd girl that kept him from chucking it away. The realization that he did not know her name nor did he ask for it hit him then.
Albedo began to walk again. Finding her would not be an issue, for nestled in his sketchbook was a quick drawing of her. He would simply have to ask Kaeya to find her for him tomorrow morning.
Mona mentally screamed as one hand flipped through her water astrolabe, the alignment of the stars and constellations continuously spinning as she adjusted the coordinates. Her other hand, scribbled relentlessly against the page as she pushed herself to fill out her paper faster. A nearby candle’s flame flickered as she continued to work. In her quest for food, she had forgotten that she had yet to finish this week’s write-up. A task that was given to her to organize the readings for the week and the predictions for the upcoming days. She was not going to get paid if this was not done.
The task would have been easy, if not for the sudden changes that were obscuring the readings, she was sure she had noted down earlier this week.
In her fervor, she failed to notice the blue flash outside her window and it would not be until noon that she would notice anything at all.
Nestled in the soft confines of her chair, a woman frowned as she watched her golden compass spin. The astrolabe ticked quietly in the dark as it adjusted itself, the cog that had never once moved no matter how many times she had looked at it, finally clicked to life. She tapped her fingers against the cushion of her chair as she watched fate work.
“It has begun.”