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There are statues of a dead man in the city. It’s a bit of a thing, to Venti. Mondstadt is the city of freedom, of all things fleeting like dandelions quickly blown away by the wind, not lasting even a season, like wine, quickly drunk from the barrel and gone. Mondstadt loves things that are there one moment and gone the other, like the breeze.
For them to commit a love to stone seems almost blasphemous.
Venti remembers a time the breeze was eternal, though, when the storm clouds over the city never left. Whenever he walks the streets and aches with this memory not a single mortal alive shares with him anymore, he is happy they get to be free from the knowledge that even wind can be a cage.
Idly humming a song that sounds like threatening thunder in the summer sky coming closer and closer, Venti makes his way through the city. The statue plaza is in sight now, and he sighs as he makes his way to it. It truly is huge. The Cathedral behind it is impressive, but there’s something about the statue that just catches the eye, especially when the sky is overcast like today. He hums on as the dark clouds gather. Several passer-by’s look up to the greying heavens, worried looks on their faces as they start to walk quicker. In no time, the plaza has cleared. It starts to rain, drops of water falling from above, first slowly and then harder and harder, until Venti’s clothes are drenched. Still, he can’t bring himself to move from his place in front of the statue. The chill is a fleeting thing as well to an archon. It will pass.
‘’Hey, are you alright?’’
Venti blinks at the voice beside him, finally looking away from the statue. It’s Barbara, hugging herself as if it will protect her from the rain. She’s a bit out of breath, like she ran all the way here from the church doors, the rain only just starting to drench her clothes.
Venti shakes his head, trying to smile at her. ‘’What are you doing out in this weather without a cloak? You’ll catch a cold!’’
Barbara gives him a look. ‘’I could say the same to you! Come on, at least take shelter underneath the eaves of the cathedral.’’ And without waiting for an answer, she takes his hand and drags him with her as she hurries towards the church. Once at the doors, she lets go of his hand, both of them huddling under the eaves. The rain doesn’t touch them anymore, but the sound of it is still overwhelming, streams falling off the church roof and streaming down the stairs towards the plaza. The statue is still clearly in sight.
Barbara is wringing her skirt out when Venti turns back to her, the heavy rain having drenched her as well before they managed to get back. The water splashes down, turning the few stones that hadn’t been touched by the rain a deep grey anyway. ‘’What were you doing there anyway? You could gaze upon the lord Barbatos any other day, no need to do it in the rain!’’
Venti shrugs, trying for a cavalier attitude. ‘’I don’t know. The mood just struck me today.’’
Barbara laughs. ‘’Ah, I see! A star that outshines me, huh? Well, if it’s the lord Barbatos I suppose I can’t blame you!’’ She looks down at her hands, sobering up a bit. ‘’I wish it’d be so easy to let go in other instances, though.’’
Venti wants to cheer her up, but he’s not sure how to. The silence stretches on for a bit, before Barbara slaps her own cheeks. ‘’Oh, I shouldn’t get so down about it! My time to shine will come, just you wait!’’
This time, Venti’s smile comes out more genuinely. ‘’Hmm, I bet it will! A true performer can recognize that kind of thing, you know? As a bard, I know all about star potential!’’
Barbara beams at him. ‘’That’s what I’m an idol for!’’
Venti is silent for a moment. His eyes search for something in her. He doesn’t know what, but he does know it when he finds it in her determined gaze. She’s so upbeat, so lovely, the kind of person he’d wanted to protect by taking down Decarabian. She reminds him of the Bard, whose name has been lost to time. The one whose statue is in the plaza below. Venti’s very first friend. ‘’It was because it looked like he was crying.’’
Barbara frowns. ‘’Huh? What?’’
‘’The statue,’’ Venti says, ‘’with the rain, it looked like it was crying.’’
Barbara looks down at the statue consideringly. ‘’Maybe he was. I mean, even archons must feel down sometimes, right? Maybe the sky cries for him when he can’t.’’
A wry smile twists around Venti’s mouth. If only she knew. ‘’I guess. I always saw Barbatos as a happy god, though.’’
Barbara nods. ‘’Hmm, that’s why Mondstadt loves him so much. Besides the fact he gave us freedom, of course. It’s the very reason I do my prayers extra nicely on days like these!’’
‘’How peculiar, for a city that loves the fleeting to love something as eternal as an archon.’’ Venti says, but his heart has already been lifted.
As he smiles, the sun breaks through the clouds, the rain slowing down to a soft pitter-patter. The brilliant light makes a rainbow right overhead of the statue as the last clouds go.
Barbara claps in her hands excitedly. ‘’He stopped crying! How wonderful!’’
The smile on Venti’s face is soft, a tender thing. It has no need of exuberance just yet, though it will return quickly. For now, he can just stand next to the deaconess of the Church of Favonius, look at a statue that many will tell you is the Lord Barbatos, but Venti knows to be a dead man.
And the very best of men besides.
It is, after all, not his own face Venti looks upon, for it is not even his own face that he is wearing. He may have worn it for many lifetimes longer than the bard got to live, but he never quite forgets. It’s the curse as well the joy of being an archon, he’s found.
Still, Venti thinks his friend the bard would have liked the city as it is today. With people like Barbara carrying the city’s ideals forward, how could he not?