Chapter Text
Jean has never enjoyed the sort of receptions and parties that politics require. She can't help but chafe at the the restrictions, at the polite doubletalk and the delicate maneuvering, and in this case at the tight dress uniform that was tailored to her a year ago and she hasn't had a chance to refit for the new muscle in her shoulders. She almost envies Lisa's beautiful formal gown, with only the badge of the Knights pinned at her shoulder to show her allegiance.
At least tonight there's no menacing Fatui Harbingers making demands in the middle of what should be a diplomatic event. A few Fatui diplomats are hanging around the edges, of course, and shouldn't be ignored, not when their recent aggression is the reason the Knights are reaching out for allies. But the stars of the night are the delegation from Sumeru, visiting in response to Mondstadt's invitation.
Fortunately, most of them are scholars enough that Jean can entertain them by asking them about their own areas of study. Not one of them so far has been able to resist that bait. It's almost like listening to Lisa, though none have had her charm.
Lisa, of course, is making great inroads with the Sumerans, every one of whom she seems to know. While Jean has been formally representing the Knights, and Kaeya has been keeping an eye on the Fatui guests and the local notables, Lisa has been flitting from one old friend to another all evening. Her warmth and delight are audible even from across the ballroom each time she recognizes a familiar face. Everyone she greets seems to respond with equal affection.
Jean can't help but watch Lisa over the shoulder of her current conversational partner, the Magister Pari, as Lisa sweeps about the room. She's as stunningly beautiful as ever in that close-cut violet gown, her hair pulled back in some ornate way that somehow emphasizes the sharpness of her cheekbones and pinned with green gems that bring out the emerald of her eyes. It makes Jean's chest hurt just a little to see Lisa pull yet another old friend into a close and lingering embrace, doubtless giving them the full benefit of the rose-scented perfume that Jean had caught just a hint of as she and her Knights were introduced at the start of the reception.
Magister Pari, who had been chattering at her about ley line patterns, pauses when she notices her distraction. Jean's been able to keep up with her until now, but she'd fallen silent when she heard Lisa laugh a moment ago. The tiny old woman turns about, craning her neck until she sees what Jean's looking at, then looks back at Jean and smiles. The expression carves deep lines into her wrinkled face.
"I see our Lisa is more interesting than I am. Not that I can blame you. She studied under me for a year, you know, so she could probably tell you everything I know if you asked her."
The 'our' there catches Jean's ear, and she has to struggle not to bristle. "I'm sure she doesn't have your breadth of experience, Magister Pari. I'm sorry for my distraction."
"No need to apologize. I'm sure you're only making sure one of us doesn't scoop her up and sweep her off back to the Academia." Magister Pari cackles, her eyes gleaming with mirth.
"I do worry sometimes that we aren't presenting her with enough of a challenge in the Knights of Favonius," Jean says, trying to join in the joke, though it comes out more seriously than she'd intended.
The Magister seems to catch that, for she cocks her head, her laughter fading. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that. Lisa's written me, you know, and her letters are full of praise for how much she enjoys working with you."
"They are? That is, I enjoy working with her, too. She's a tremendous asset to the Knights. And beloved to all of us personally, as well," Jean adds quickly, lest it seem like her only care for the magister's former student is a professional one. "Time with her always makes me feel refreshed, and I can carry on more gladly knowing that she's there at my side. Everyone is glad to have Lisa with us."
"Everyone?" Magister Pari smiles again, strangely knowing. "I'm glad to hear it. Now, should I stop boring you with my chatter, so you can go let her show you around?"
Jean's face heats. "No, of course not, Magister Pari. I am honored that you're willing to share your research with me, and I would truly love to hear more."
"Such a polite young woman you are." Magister Pari reaches up to pat Jean's arm. "And well-informed, for someone who's not a scholar. I would love to tell you more, but first, do you happen to know anything about your local ley lines?"
"As a matter of fact, as part of my training, I learned that the ancient temples of Mondstadt are placed directly upon the ley lines. That's all most Knights know, but we've been engaging in more detailed study lately, if you'd like to hear about it. Under Lisa's supervision, as I'm sure you could guess."
"Go on," Magister Pari encourages.
Jean deliberately turns her full attention back to the Magister, smiling down at her as she starts to outline the intermittent project. She shouldn't be staring at Lisa like that in any case, even if her old teacher was forgiving; it's not her place to jealous of Lisa's old friends. Lisa has every right to be glad to see her fellow students again. Jean has no claim on her besides that which she has on any of her knights as their Acting Grand Master. And that claim is of loyalty and duty, nothing more.
It wouldn't be right or fair of Jean to ask for more. Not when she's so busy, bound so tightly to her vocation. Few Grand Masters have had families. A loyalty split between city and hearth cannot truly be dedicated to either one.
Sometimes she thinks that it would be different if it was another knight, someone else who shared her loyalties.... But it's still so terribly much to ask. And Lisa deserves more out of a lover than Jean could possibly give her.
Quickly enough, she is genuinely engaged by the conversation, discussing how the ley lines empower Abyss Mages and samachurls. Magister Pari seems to think it would be possible not only to chart the ley lines in more detail, but to use that to predict Abyss Mage activity. Jean can't help but be intrigued. Sumeru may or may not become an ally against the Fatui, but Mondstadt can still forge useful bonds during the delegation's visit.
On the downside, Magister Pari is a little too energetic, eager to work out plans for this research that Jean is hesitant to agree to without talking to the other senior knights. Just as she's running out of polite ways to put the woman off, unexpected rescue appears.
"My apologies, Magister Pari," Kaeya says, manifesting beside Jean with a respectful bow for the old woman. "But I'm afraid I have to borrow the Acting Grand Master for a moment."
"Oh, of course," Magister Pari says, smiling and patting him on the arm. "Don't let me interrupt your business."
She shows no sign of leaving, listening with cheerful interest, and Jean turns to Kaeya with an apologetic grimace. "Is anything wrong?"
"Not at all," Kaeya says, still smiling. "But I saw an old friend leaving the party, and wanted to go catch up in private, if that's all right with you?"
Jean catches the significance of his tone, the faint tilt of his head, as he says 'old friend.' Fatui activity, he means, and something he thinks he should keep an eye on. She trusts him to make that call.
"Of course. We can handle the rest of the event without you, if you get too caught up with them."
"Good. I might be a while. Though before I go, I think Lisa might need some rescue from her own old friend over there."
He tilts his head off to the right, and Jean turns to follow his look. Lisa is still on the other side of the ballroom, standing slightly apart from the other guests, with a man in Sumerun robes holding her arm. It seems no different from the friendly, intimate closeness she's shared with all her other Academia friends--except even as she thinks that, Jean is taking in the subtler cues of their body language.
Lisa is holding herself stiffly, leaning back from the man, her arm out from her body as if she's trying to push his hand away. The man is leaning in, talking animatedly, his other hand waving in large, emphatic gestures that make his intensity clear. Lisa has her lips pressed together, and her eyes are narrowed. Jean hadn't realized what was happening at first only because usually, at this point, Lisa would already have let a burst of lightning go.
But of course she can't do that to a diplomatic delegate, not at their official welcoming celebration. Jean looks back at Kaeya and nods.
"Thank you. I'm sorry, Magister Pari, but I think I need to talk to Lisa for a moment."
"Oh, I see," the wizened old woman says, with another knowing smile. "She can handle young Vidal, I'm sure, but I can't blame you for wanting to step in. She's always been a bit explosive."
"Keep an eye out in the dark," she cautions Kaeya as she turns to go, though she knows it's useless--he'll take whatever risks he deems necessary. She can only hope that, as usual, he'll have contingency plans in place to help him break out of any traps he springs.
"Good luck with that rescue," Kaeya says, with a strange twist to his smile that she can't quite read. Then, without bothering to acknowledge her word of caution, he heads for the edge of the ballroom and vanishes into the shadows between one step and the next.
Jean smiles and nods at the people she passes as she makes her way across the ballroom, but they part remarkably easily in front of her. No one even tries to catch her arm and slow her down. Jean arrives at the far end just in time to hear the Sumerun finish some kind of heated declamation.
"-now that I'm in Mondstadt, there's no reason we can't at least exchange notes! It's not as if any of these small-minded pariochals can appreciate the ramifications of your work."
"Lisa," Jean cuts in, using her command voice to carry over his words.
As soon as she speaks,Lisa spins towards her, smiling with open delight and just a hint of relief. The motion allows her to finally break away from the man's hand on her arm, and she steps in towards Jean instead. Even knowing that it's the rescue Lisa is glad for, Jean finds herself momentarily breathless at the sheer brilliance of Lisa's smile, the way her eyes crinkle at the corners and her lips curve in an utterly unfeigned happiness.
"Jean, I am so glad to see you."
She takes another step closer, reaching out a hand. Jean reaches back for it without even a pause for thought. Lisa grasps her hand, pulls it towards her, and turns about to tuck her arm into Jean's and snug up against her, shoulder-to-shoulder. Jean is awash suddenly in the sweet rose scent of her perfume. Lisa turns her smile back onto the man she'd just escaped, the relief and sincerity draining out of it and leaving it sharp.
"Actually, Vidal, some of my fellow knights are much more intelligent than you seem to think," Lisa says. "Jean, this is Magus Vidal Kloysen, a classmate and research partner of mine at the Sumeru Academia. Vidal, this is Jean Gunnhildr, the Acting Grand Master of the Ordo Favonius. I assure you, the Ordo fully appreciates and supports my research, and it would be a betrayal of that support not to give them exclusive access to my work."
Jean isn't sure what she's just walked into, but she's glad to be able to give Lisa backup, whether she needs it or not. "It's lovely to meet any friend of Lisa's, Magus Kloysen. She's told you that she's our best potion-maker, as well as our Librarian, hasn't she? Don't be deceived by the title, either. The Ordo's Librarian is the guardian of the Knights' most valued treasures, and it is a position of considerable trust."
"Which is why, as I said, I can't take the risk of sharing my research," Lisa says, her smile going even sharper.
Vidal's face twists, for just a moment, in frustration, before his expression shutters. His hands clench into fists at his side. Knightly training makes Jean look him over quickly for weapons. While he doesn't have the book or gem of a catalyst visible outside his robes, the brown stone of the ring on his hand is clearly that of a Geo Vision. Jean draws a little straighter.
"A pleasure to meet you," he grits out. "I am afraid we don't have much to discuss. I don't converse often with those who aren't fellow scholars. But I am glad to meet one of Lisa's... friends."
Lisa's hand tightens around Jean's. "Actually, I think you'd find a conversation with Jean quite informative. The Gunnhildr clan knows secrets of Mondstadt's history that even the Academia doesn't, and she was quite a diligent student of that history. I always enjoy speaking with her about it."
"Yes, but that is still not my... area of interest. Good day, Lisa, Acting Grand Master." Vidal says it through clenched teeth, then turns and strides away, his shoulders high and tense, his gait stiff.
Beside her, Lisa slumps slightly, a tension going out of her, but doesn't let go of Jean's arm. Jean can feel her hand shaking, just a little, where it's intertwined with her own. Is she frightened?
No, looking at her face, Jean is certain she's not. Frustrated, perhaps, but also.... "What did he do to make you so angry?"
Anger flutters in her own breast. Anyone who can draw that look from Lisa, her mouth twisted tight in frustrated ire and her eyes narrowed in deep dislike, must have earned it. Remembering the way his fists had clenched, she wonders if he might have ever gone so far as to offer her a fight. That makes her hand tighten around Lisa's, makes her want to run him down, call him out, issue a challenge here and now in front of everyone at the ball.
She cages the impulse, trapping it behind her ribs like a frantic, fluttering bird. Lisa was clearly going out of her way to avoid a diplomatic incident, or else she would have electrocuted him herself. Jean can hardly spoil that by disrupting the evening on mere speculation.
Lisa only sighs, deep and heartfelt. "There are several reasons that I left Sumeru, and I won't dignify his behavior by saying that he was one of them. But he certainly didn't provide me with any reasons to stay."
"Will that be enough to put him off?"
"Vidal? No, of course not," Lisa says. And then she pauses, lets go of Jean's arm at last, which Jeans takes pains not to be disappointed about, and turns towards Jean with her smile warming once again. "Thank you for coming to my rescue, my dear. I was very close to doing something rash."
"I don't understand how they included someone so rude in a diplomatic delegation. I was ready to do something rash myself."
Lisa laughs as if she thinks Jean is joking. "That's Sumeru for you, I'm afraid. Intellectual pursuits are all that matter to them. He doesn't have any interesting work of his own that I know of, since he was doing his best to leech off my research the whole time I knew him, but he's one of Magister Goha's senior students. Since Goha is here, of course he came, too. It wouldn't occur to most of the Magisters that their students' attitude would matter at all."
"I suppose it would work against us to make a complaint against one of them on their first day here." Jean glances across the ballroom at Vidal, now sulking in a corner with two other Sumeruns and a glass of wine in hand. He meets her eyes and glares. "I know you can take care of yourself, but would you allow me to walk you home after the reception is over?"
"How noble of you, my dear," Lisa says, the warmth in her smile gentling the teasing tone of her words. "Bravely stepping in to protect every one of your knights, as usual. But that is a good idea. Having another person with me might head him off, and then I won't have to do anything that might have unfortunate diplomatic ramifications."
"That's what the Acting Grand Master is supposed to do, isn't it?" Jean says, smiling back at her. "Preserve her knights from failures of diplomacy."
"I wouldn't expect anything less." Lisa glances around the ballroom, eyes sparkling. "Despite the impression Vidal might have given you, some of these people are perfectly lovely. Let me introduce you to more of them."
"I'd love to meet your old friends," Jean says, suppressing another twinge of jealousy. She should be honored to meet the people Lisa remembers fondly from her student years. "Lead the way."
She expects Lisa to let go of her arm, but instead Lisa keeps her hand there, twined with Jean's, and draws Jean alongside her as she sets off. Jean tries not to squeeze too tight or to bump against Lisa as they move, but their shoulders nudge together anyway, a little spark of Electro leaping between them. Jean takes a deep breath and tries not to shiver. It's going to be a long night if she stays this close to Lisa, arms twined together, swimming in the sweet scent of her perfume. Yet she can't quite bring herself to break away.
***
Magus Kloysen's rudeness aside, the reception seems to have gone better than Jean expected. She's barely been in her office for an hour the next morning when Noelle knocks on her door and enters, bearing a missive from Magister Pari. Jean opens it up to find the expected polite gratitude for the night before, an unexpected apology for Magus Kloysen's rudeness, and and even more unexpected request to visit Jean and further discuss the research on Mondstadt's ley lines that she had proposed last night.
'As one of Lisa's teachers, I would be glad to assist someone she values so deeply in better understanding the arcane energies she works with,' Magister Pari adds, which is... confusing, but kind nonetheless. She had said that Lisa had been her student at the Academia, hadn't she? Perhaps that personal bond is simply how one makes progress with Sumeruns. With the Fatui so active, Jean will take any leverage she can get.
Before she can do more than choose the paper and ink to pen her answer with, another knock on her door interrupts her. She gladly sets them aside when she sees Kaeya enter, though the bottle of champagne he sets down on her desk makes her frown.
"Your investigation last night went that well?"
"That would be nice, but I don't have anything actionable yet," he says. "Only Magister Goha from the Sumeru delegation and Mikhail of the Fatui strolling together on a balcony for a few minutes, talking too quietly for me to make out. I'll write you up a full report by noon. This is for you."
He uncorks the champagne with a flourish and pours it into the two goblets he'd set down beside the bottle. Jean watches in growing puzzlement.
"It's not even real champagne," he coaxes, seeing her frown. "It's dandelion wine cut with fizzy water. I couldn't get Klee drunk on this. Your faculties won't be impaired a bit."
Jean feels herself justified in eyeing the goblets warily nonetheless. "Just what are we supposed to be celebrating?"
"Your new relationship, of course." Smirking, Kaeya pulls up a chair and takes the nearer goblet. "I'd be hurt that you didn't tell me earlier, but in hindsight, I should have already known."
"My what?" Jean shuffles frantically through her memories of last night, trying to recall any unwise promises she might have made, or statements that might have had some unfortunate implication that she missed.
"Your new relationship with Lisa. Or not so new, if you've been keeping it quiet all this time."
Kaeya raises an eyebrow at her, but his smirk ruins the innocence of his feigned confusion. He'd expected exactly this reaction, damn him. Jean can feel her face heat. Knowing that he was angling for it only makes her flush hotter at being so easily flustered.
"We don't have a relationship! That is, we are good friends, and of course I am her superior in the Knights, and she's a valued member, but...."
Chuckling, Kaeya leans forward, setting his untouched goblet back down. The smirk fades away, and suddenly he looks serious again. "That's not the impression that the Sumerans had last night, as I understand it. I spoke to a few of their magi this morning at Good Hunter. They seemed quite definite that they'd been introduced to Lisa's girlfriend at the reception."
"They think-" Jean feels a chill pass over her as the heat drains out of her face. Reaching for Magister Pari's missive, she unfolds it and looks again at the most confusing line, then offers it to Kaeya. "Would you take this to mean that this Magister thinks so, too?"
He takes the letter, scans it, then hands it back to her.
"I'd say so. The good news is, it seems like this could play to our advantage. She seems to think it's a favorable sign, and the magi I spoke to all said you seemed clever and well-read." Kaeya smirks again, though his gaze is calculating. "I think that's the Sumerun version of 'nice.'"
Jean can't deny that Kaeya's right. If the Sumerun delegation thinks the better of the Knights because of this, that is something they could take advantage of. Perhaps should take advantage of, given that the Fatui are clearly pressing their suit with the Sumeruns as well, right here in the middle of Mondstadt. And yet, there's so many ways it could go wrong. Innocent honesty foremost among them.
"It would be useful, if it were true," she says regretfully. "But unfortunately it's not. Unfortunately because that removes the advantage of it, I should say."
"Jean." Kaeya raises an eyebrow. "You don't have to play coy with me. I've seen you pining after her. It's been, what, a year now?"
"Half a year," Jean corrects him, and then realizes what she's saying and goes crimson. "You- how did- was I that obvious?"
"We've been friends for how long? I've watched you pine after Diluc, and Blanche, and Sister Rosaria, and that bastard Konrad. I wouldn't say it's obvious, but I think I know what it looks like."
"Oh." Jean can feel her cheeks burning all over again. "But then, you see why we have to make the situation clear to them. I couldn't ask Lisa to lie to her friends in the first place, simply for the sake of the advantage it would bring the Knights. I even more can't ask her to do that when I.... It simply wouldn't be appropriate."
"We're talking about a bunch of scholars and researchers, you know," Kaeya says. "Devoted to discovering truths. It might be that they're only seeing what is there. You don't want to make it sound like you were misrepresenting yourself to them, do you?"
Jean knows better to answer that question. "It's not misrepresentation to correct a misperception."
"No, but it's also not misrepresentation if you actually start dating." Kaeya smirks at her like he's just won a point. "It seems to me like that solution would be to everyone's benefit."
"Kaeya! You can't just- just set us up so that we can win considerations from the Sumeruns! Never mind that this would involve Lisa, too, and it would be out of the question to ask her to participate in something like that."
His smile is less intent this time, even rueful. "I do sound opportunistic, don't I? I didn't mean it that way. But come, now, it doesn't hurt to ask Lisa what she thinks about a little masquerade. Let me get Noelle to go find her."
Before Jean can stop him, he's up out of his chair, leaning out into the hall to call an order to the apprentice knight. Jean sits helplessly at her desk, staring at the untouched goblet of champagne in front of her, and takes a deep breath. She doesn't have to worry about Kaeya's scheme. Surely Lisa will refuse.
***
"Oh, I think that sounds marvelous," Lisa says, smiling over the edge of Jean's goblet, which Kaeya had handed her as soon as she came in. "I've been talking to some old friends this morning, and it sounds like the Fatui have made some distressing inroads with many of Sumeru's ruling councils. Added to what I already knew about some of Magister Goha's connections when I was studying there.... Anything we can do to balance that out and form our own ties with members of the Academia would be beneficial."
"We will be lying to them, though," Jean points out. "And not only to them. It sounds like they're out and about in the city, so they'll be speaking to the people of Mondstadt. We'll have to make everyone believe we have a relationship."
"We already take tea together almost every day, don't we? Add in a few dinners out together in the evening, and it's not as if anyone can prove otherwise. You even walked me home last night. I know people saw us. But I understand if it's too awkward for you," she adds, more gently, looking at Jean with soft-eyed concern. "Your honesty is one of the admirable things about you."
Realizing that she's been shifting uncomfortably in her chair, Jean folds her hands in her lap and makes herself sit up straight. "It's not only the lie, though that is difficult for me to accept. There will be ramifications afterwards. I don't want anyone to think I might show you favoritism, or have misapprehensions about the time we regularly spend together."
"Or think we've been dating all along?" Lisa's eyes go hooded and distant for a moment when Jean nods.
"That's easy enough," Kaeya breaks in. He's back to smirking, smug that Lisa is on his side and willing to buy into his ridiculous plan. "Start going to dinner, and holding hands on the street, and make up some ridiculous pet names. Act like you've only just started actually dating. Then, once the delegation from Sumeru leaves, wait a week or two and stop. You can tell anyone who pries that you've decided you work better as friends. People get together and break up quickly all the time, you know."
"We're both too efficient to waste time on a relationship that isn't working out," Lisa agrees. "And we can act normally on duty. Nothing has to change, even our teas. No one would be surprised if we say that you wanted to insist on staying professional at work."
"No," Kaeya agrees, tipping his goblet Lisa's way in acknowledgement. "That would suit our Acting Grand Master perfectly. And it cuts down on the amount of time that she actually has to act."
"I'm not incapable of deception," Jean says, irritation scratching at her throat. "I simply dislike dishonesty. The truth usually serves better, even if it's not what we most wished to know."
"Wise words," Kaeya says, the smirk going pointed as he turns it on her. "Ones you intend to live by in this circumstance, though?"
Jean meets his gaze, fully aware of what he means. But if there's ever a time to admit her feelings, it certainly isn't here and now. "Not in this circumstance."
Kaeya shrugs at her. "I'm sure, as our illustrious Acting Grand Master, you'll know when the right moment comes for the truth. And as the Ordo's expert in covert operations, I'll fill in for now with any help you need concealing it."
Lisa is looking curiously between them, but at that line, she straightens up and smiles at Kaeya with just a bit of an edge. "That seems like something best arranged between Jean and I, don't you think? Perhaps at the Cat's Tail, tonight, to start us off."
"Oh, that would be wonderful." Jean smiles at the suggestion, her unease fading away. "And maybe later this week we could go to Good Hunter, since we're trying to be noticed."
"It seems like you have this well in hand," Kaeya says, conceding to Lisa with a nod. He stands and picks up the bottle of watered-down champagne, still two-thirds full, then heads out the door. Jean realizes too late that he's left his half-drunk goblet behind.
Following her gaze, Lisa smiles and holds it across the desk to Jean. "A drink to our plan, my dear? To thwarting the Fatui, if nothing else. It really isn't much more than fizzy water."
"And to allies in Sumeru," Jean says, unwilling to refuse when Lisa looks so earnest. She raises the glass to meet Lisa's, and can't help but add, "It will be nice to spend time with you outside of headquarters."
"It will be," Lisa agrees, her smile deepening. "I'm looking forward to it."
Even as they clink their glasses together, there's a knot forming in Jean's stomach. Is this plan really the best way to win the Sumeruns over? Or did she only agree because Lisa was involved? Just the thought of being free to put an arm around her whenever she wishes, to have an excuse to glare at the importunate suitors so often drawn in by Lisa's flirtatious manner, to be allowed to take and hold her hand... it all makes her heart beat faster. That's a terrible reason to agree to this.
She should tell Lisa that Jean's motives aren't nearly as pure as Lisa seems to think they are. But that's tantamount to a confession, and that would make the plan impossibly awkward to carry out. Jean will simply have to remain objective about this. She's a Knight of Favonius and a Gunnhildr; she can treat this like any other tactical ploy. It will be nothing more than a facade.