Chapter Text
It had been 5 days since Eula was suspended from duty.
Normally, this would have been hell for the disgraced Lawrence, as she would be forced to walk day and night in a city full of people who hated her name.
Being a Reconnaissance Captain was a dangerous job, but Eula embraced the fact that it meant she could spend less time in a city she didn't have place in.
But that wasn't true anymore.
Not with the warm cheek of her beloved Amber resting on her chest, quietly snoring away in their moonlit chambers.
For perhaps the first time in her life, with her arms wrapped around the greatest girl in Mondstadt, safely dreaming the hours away in a soft bed...
...Eula was content.
The early sunlight brushed over the Noblewoman's resting eyelids.
Eula lifted her eyes open to find the Baroness staring back, sparkling with admiration.
"...mm... have you found my tangled hair amusing?"
"Nope," Amber replied, pressing her ear into Eula's chest to listen to her heartbeat, "just admiring you."
Eula rolled her eyes before wrapping her arms around Amber's back, placing a kiss on her forehead before shutting her eyes once more.
"What did I ever do to deserve you?"
Amber nuzzled in closer.
"More than enough."
"I don't mean to doubt you..."
Jean leaned back in her chair, looking at the map of Mondstadt Amber had laid out for her. Only three flags had been placed down, each indicating a large hilichurl encampment.
"...but are you sure this is it?"
"I'm suspicious too, Grandmaster Jean."
"Acting, Grandmaster."
"Right, but like I said, I triple checked everywhere. That's all that I could find. There weren't even many small camps that I had to clear out either."
The Acting Grandmaster leaned forwards, placing her fists together to rest her chin atop her knuckles.
"It's not that I don't trust you, Outrider. And this should be good news, less Abyss activity means the city is getting safer."
She glanced out the window to look at the church, then at the statue of Barbatos.
"But, I can't help but feel like something's wrong. Like, the Abyss wants us to lower our guard."
"Then I'll be sure to keep my eyes sharp. You can count on me."
Jean nodded her head, and rose from her chair. Both knights stood straight.
"Thank you, Outrider Amber. You're dismissed."
The Knights saluted each other respectfully, and Amber turned away towards the door.
"Oh, and... one more thing, Amber."
The Baroness paused and turned back, not as a Knight, but as a friend.
"Yep, what is it?"
"How is Ms. Eula doing?"
"Oh, she's..." Amber ran her fingers through her hair. "She's doing alright. Still making trips up to Dragonspine, as usual."
"That's good to hear. I was beginning to worry that I was a bit too harsh with her..."
"Well, if it helps, she told me that she doesn't hold it against you. Which is pretty rare for her."
Amber noticed Jean's shoulders lower ever so slightly.
"Alright, just... keep an eye on her for me then."
The Outrider nodded with a bright smile.
"You don't need to tell me twice!"
Eight symbols glowed brightly as a doorway slowly slid open, a draft of snow-powdered air wafting into the ancient chamber.
Once she confirmed that the room was devoid of movement, Eula sheathed the Waster Greatsword she was embarrassed to wield. Taking out a torch, she reassured herself that she was here to change that fact.
She looked down at the notes Lumine and Paimon had gifted her in appreciation of her attempt at vengeance.
"Light the four braziers..." she muttered, as she looked to the corners of the ancient room. One by one she approached each plate and lit it carefully, keeping an eye on the center of the room.
As the final brazier lit up, the walls began to shimmer with blue light. Eula stepped back, placing a cautious hand over the hilt of her blade. The ground rumbled, dust and rubble shook loose from the ceiling, until the floor cracked open.
The light from the walls swirled around a rising platform. Plunged in the center was a rusted claymore, with embedded shards of ice.
Eula stepped forth and wrapped her fingers around the handle. She felt the old leather crinkle under her touch, but a faint surge of Cryo resonated within the blade.
"Hmm, needs some work..."
With a hefty tug, Eula freed the blade from the ground. The metal hummed, resonating through the Noblewoman's bones. Though the rust had eaten into the exposed part of the blade, the tip of it was pristine thanks to its stone coffin. The Knight ran a finger down the smooth edge, admiring the chilling feel of the cold metal.
"...but you shall suffice. Lest you wish to incur the wrath of my vengeance."
She brushed away a patch of dirt with her glove, looking into her own reflection on the blade.
A heavy impact on the workbench caught Orbin's attention.
Looking over, a faint smirk crept onto his usually frowned face.
"Well, I'll be. Your friend was right."
"She's been right about many things," Eula corrected, "how are you so surprised?"
The blacksmith replied with a simple chuckle before approaching the ancient claymore with anticipation. But then, Eula raised her hand in protest.
"Actually... I'd like to refurbish it myself."
Orbin raised an eyebrow.
"You sure you got all the right-"
A satchel clumped onto the workbench, revealing a plethora of Decabrian tablets.
"I'm sure, Orbin. And don't worry, I won't wreck your workshop like Alice's girl did once."
"Mmhmm..." he grumbled, remembering how much of a hassle it was to replace his anvil.
Eula began by unwrapping the tarnished leather from the hilt. Flakes of dust and rot fell away as the cracked wooden handle revealed itself to the Spindrift Knight.
She then meticulously disassembled the rest of the sword, removing the pommel, hilt, and handle, leaving behind the core of the blade itself. Taking out a flask of diluted acid from Sucrose, she soaked a rough sponge with the solution and tenderly scrubbed away at the rust. Dirt and oxidized metal bubbled up from the layer of acid, leaving behind a scarred yet cleaned surface of metal.
The blade was brought to a grindstone, where Eula proceeded to sand away the imperfections of the blade's faces. A thick layer of sparks flew as she maneuvered the blade around the stone wheel, taking pride in each centimeter of smoothed metal she gained.
Next was to temper the metal, with billowing heat rushing out from the forge into Eula's face. She squinted her eyes and kept the clamps firm on the blade, bathing it in the searing temperatures of the forge. Once the metal was glowing red, she dunked it into a barrel of frigid water, bathing the workshop in hot steam.
Now with a darkened slab of metal, Eula took out the first of many Decabrian tiles to start hand-sanding the blade down, while simultaneously infusing it with the remnants of arcane power in the tiles. Pristine silver shined through with each press the Noblewoman made, as the resonant Cryo core from within began to glow once more.
On the last few Decabrian Dream Pieces, Eula applied a layer of polish to return the mirror-like nature she preferred in all of her weapons. The coarse end of her last piece grinded away at the blade's edge, sharpening it to the last fleck of steel. She stood up straight to admire the newly refurbished claymore core.
At this point the sun was starting to get low, with the fires of the forge now becoming the main light source for Eula's work. With the blade nearly complete, she took the opportunity to refurbish the rest of its pieces. The hilt was relatively easy, only needing to be cleansed with Sucrose's solution and polished down. Though, the old shards of Cryo would have to be replaced, which Eula wasn't concerned about. The pommel only needed sanding and polishing as well.
Last was the handle, which Eula settled to remake entirely to fit her own hand. Taking up a spare block of wood Orbin had forgotten about, she drew in a shape to roughly match the indentation of her fist. Then, she sawed the outline away and took it to the grindstone, replacing the flat sanding wheel with a smaller rounded grindstone. Sawdust flew as Eula meticulously shaped the wood into her desired shape. Finally, with the shape done, she wrapped in fresh black leather, and hammered in a few sheets of silver to rebalance the weight.
At last, she could start slotting the pieces together. Now with a specialized metal adhesive Sucrose was prototyping, Eula hesitantly added a test drop to the end of the pommel to try and stick it onto the handle. Miraculously, the metal touched by the solution became liquid-like for a few moments, long enough for the pommel to meet with the wood and fuse together. With the test successful, Eula continued to use the adhesive for the hilt and the handle, until the claymore was back in one piece.
The claymore was whole again, but something was still missing. Eula drew the sword up, adjusting her grip around the new handle. Closing her eyes, she focused into the feel of the new sword in her hands, searching for what it was asking for.
When it answered, one of her hands drifted naturally over to the engravings on the sword. Her Vision lit up, as a layer of frost started to channel out from Eula's fingers and into the blade. New shards of ice grew out from the hollow slots in the handle, and three lines of Cryo energy filled into the empty channels of the sword.
Eula opened her eyes, seeing her reflection once more in the Snow-Tombed Starsilver.
"Before you go," Orbin waved as Eula finished packing her bags. "Take this."
The Noblewoman's eyes widened as the blacksmith offered her a few sheets of paper, with a perfectly replicated blueprint of Eula's process on the blade.
"In case if you want someone to make it again."
Eula snatched the paper out of Orbin's hand with a huff.
"Plagiarizing a Noblewoman at work without her express permission! Hmmf, you shall pay for this, blacksmith!"
"Fine, we can call it even for using my workshop," Orbin replied, crossing his arms. "And by the way, you're welcome."
Eula pouted her lips for a moment, then took out the old Waster Greatsword to plunge it into the ground.
"Then you'll have to add this to your inventory without charge. Now, this slight against me is settled."
With that, Eula stormed off into the night, a glowing claymore on her back, and a satisfied blacksmith left behind.
"So you made this?!"
Amber looked in awe at the gleaming Snow-Tombed Starsilver in Eula's hands.
"Wrong, I simply refurbished it. The main sword was found in an old ruin I found thanks to Lumine's letter."
The Noblewoman rested the sword against the wall and began to undo her hair.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to draw an ice bath."
The Outrider was busy admiring her own reflection, before the keyphrase 'ice bath' registered in her ears.
"Ooh, make it for two!" Amber shouted as she quickly started undoing her own bow.
"As you wish," Eula replied with a laugh.
Staying at the Outrider's flat was supposedly an 'order' from the Acting Grandmaster, so Amber could ensure that Eula wouldn't do any more 'illicit activities' during her suspension.
In reality, that was only what Amber had told Eula initially, who never bothering to double check with Jean. Perhaps she knew it was a lie, but it was a beautiful one at that.
Now, the two lovers were the bedroom, towels wrapped around their heads to dry their head. Eula was reading the news, while Amber was gathering up their laundry.
"Hmm, so the Darknight Hero is active in the city again," Eula read aloud.
"Mmhmm, Jean and Kaeya were talking about that. They're after the Fatui again."
Eula decided to keep her theories of this being related to the attempted assassination on the Traveler to herself.
"I see. Do we- the Knights, are you planning to take any action?"
"Same as last time," Amber replied as she thoughtlessly picked up one of Eula's bras, before quickly hiding it away into her basket with a blush. "We'll double the patrol and change the guard routes and shift-changes. We'll either deter them, or maybe catch them in the act."
"You can reassign some of the Reconnaissance Brigade to the areas of high activity. Being perceptive is what they excel at."
"Okay... can we talk about stuff that isn't work-related now?"
Eula folded up the newspaper and set it aside.
"Certainly, Amber."
Eula brushed the lounging chair beside her, only to have Amber plop herself directly into her own lap. The Baroness snuck a quick kiss onto the Noblewoman's nose as she made herself snug.
"So, I wanna know more about this fancy new sword you got."
"Hmm, where do I begin..." Eula mused, instinctively running her fingers through Amber's hair.
"Well, to start, it's no Song of Broken Pines. The blade started off too front-heavy, albeit only by a few grams. But, I was able to fix that by rebuilding the handle from scratch..."
She continued to detail how she rebuilt the sword, while Amber ended up drifting away into Eula's sunset violet eyes.
"...believe it used to be named, 'The Snow-Tombed Starsilver.' Though I suspect that is simply a name fabricated for its legend, as me finding it quite literally in a snow-covered tomb seems a bit on the nose, don't you think?"
"Mmhmm..." Amber nodded along carelessly, with a love-struck grin on her face.
Now recognizing the look, Eula grew a slight frown as she sighed briskly.
"Amber, did you drift off again?"
"Maybe... Your eyes are just so pretty though! It's not fair to boring old eyes like mine!"
"Hmmf! Foolish Outrider... You're clearly exhausted from all the work today. If you've already eaten, I insist you go to sleep now."
Without giving the Pyro user a chance to protest, Eula hoisted Amber up and walked over to their double mattress.
"And for the record, I think your eyes are the loveliest shade in Teyvat."
The two shared a tender kiss, before the Noblewoman reached over to turn out the light.
The eighth day of Eula's suspension was when her nightmares began.
Visions of ash-filled skies and charred skeletons in the streets of Mondstadt clouded the Noblewoman's eyes. High atop the burning cathedral would hang a flag. Some nights, it would be those of the Abyss. Others, those of the Fatui.
The nights that robbed her of the most sleep would have the Lawrence Clan's flag.
Eula jolted awake with a violent gasp, for the fifth night in a row.
Her uncle's laugh faded off into the back of her mind. With a sigh, she wiped the sweat away from her head with a blanket. Looking up to the clock in their room revealed it was roughly 3:45 in the morning.
She looked down at her trembling hand and balled it into a fist, before sliding herself into an upright position beside the bed.
But before she could stand up, a hand tugged at the back of her nightgown.
Eula hung her head down in defeat, and looked back at the awakening Amber.
"Sorry honey, I didn't mean to-"
"What flag was it this time?"
A moment of silence passed before Eula broke away from Amber's gaze, discreetly wiping a tear from her eye.
The Baroness pushed herself up to her knees, still holding a blanket around her chest.
"...The Lawrence's?"
The Noblewoman took in a deep breath, and nodded with an exhale.
Amber nodded back solemnly.
"So... if you aren't going back to sleep, what are you gonna do?"
Eula pushed her hair back, looking out the window at the early morning stars.
"Work, probably. I only have a day left of my suspension, and I'm sure Grandmaster Jean wouldn't mind me getting a head start on the paperwork."
Eula tried again to stand up from the bed, but Amber still refused to let go.
"Amber, you don't have to join me. Just go back to sleep. I'll be okay."
"I'm starting to worry about what you think 'being okay' is, Eula."
A slight frown grew over Eula's brow, as she readjusted herself to face Amber fully.
"What do you mean by that?"
Amber moved her hands over to Eula's, brushing her thumb over the bracelet that saved the Noblewoman's life.
"Eula... You work harder than anyone I know to be at your best. It's... part of what made me fall in love with you."
Amber's eyes wavered, a hint of sadness starting to come through the Outrider's golden eyes.
"But, ever since Lumine was... you know... I can't help but feel like you're pushing yourself too hard."
Eula reached up to cup her hand around Amber's cheek.
"I understand your concern, Amber. But our world just took a drastic change for the worse. The Waypoint incident showed that the Abyss aren't only getting stronger, but they're getting bolder too. I... we, need to become better if we want to survive."
"Then that also means you need to be more honest with yourself, Eula."
"What do you-"
Amber then took Eula's hand, and pressed it into her chest. With her own hand stuck between her sternum and Amber's palm, she couldn't help but notice how fast her heart was beating in that moment.
"You're scared, Eula."
Amber slowly released her hand from Eula's, allowing her own truths to sink in.
"And that's okay. I'm scared too. But I'm more scared of watching you work yourself to death. You keep losing sleep to these nightmares, and you won't give yourself the time to recover."
"Amber..."
Moisture gathered at the bottom of Eula's eyes as she looked into Amber's eyes, now remembering the part of her dreams she didn't yet tell her about.
Eula wailed in anguish at the Lawrence Crest, as she clutched onto Amber's lifeless body in her hands.
"...I'm only scared of losing you."
Amber quickly rushed over to embrace Eula, determined to catch her tears from falling.
For the first time in the Noblewoman's pristine life, she allowed herself to weep into the shoulder of someone she trusted.
Amber cradled Eula softly, gently rubbing her back as the early minutes passed by.
"You won't lose me, Eula. You won't lose me."
Eventually, Eula rose back up to recompose herself.
"Alright... Fine. If you don't want me working, what do you propose instead?"
A warm smile grew on Amber's face.
"Dance with me."
"...Dance? Amber, it's almost 4 o'clock in the morning."
"Yup."
"And you have neighbors who live downstairs."
"We'll go outside then."
"You have actual work tomorrow."
"I've worked earlier shifts."
At this point, Eula was running out of excuses. Amber had clearly already made up her mind.
"We... won't have-"
"We'll bring the gramophone Sucrose modified for us. In fact, we'll make it a picnic, so we can watch the sunrise together."
"...Alri-"
"And if we make too much food, we can donate the rest to the orphanage."
"Amber-"
"Or we can invite Kaeya and Rosaria. They usually wake up before sunrise anyways-"
"Amber!"
Finally, Amber stopped her preemptive answering.
"Hmm? Is... is that too much?"
"I was trying to agree with you, Baroness."
With a giggle, Amber leaned in to place a kiss on Eula's lips.
"...But I'm not inviting those two."
The sun crested over the ocean horizon of Starsnatch Cliff, shining golden light over a beautiful waltz of two inseparable Knights.
The Baroness and the Noblewoman swayed along with the gentle breeze, a soft jazz melody guiding their steps.
Amber rested her ear in Eula's chest, while Eula leaned her cheek over Amber's hair.
"Amber...?" Eula asked, feeling the cleansing warmth of the sun on her skin.
"Mmhmm?"
"Did you ever read my letter to you?"
Amber stayed quiet for a moment.
"I... didn't. I'm sorry, I was too scared."
"And you were upset. Rightfully so, I might add, so I won't need to claim vengeance on you for that."
The Baroness leaned back to look up into the Noblewoman's eyes.
"Do you remember what it said?"
Eula smiled.
"Every word."
Amber glanced at the sunrise, then back at Eula.
"...Can you read it to me?"
The Spindrift Knight left a kiss on the Outrider's forehead.
"Anything for you, honey."
"Amber Chai,
At the time of you reading this, I will have already embarked on a dangerous venture in pursuit of the Traveler's assailants. I do not intend to return, until I have rightfully claimed our vengeance.
However, should something go awry with my plans, I wish to tell you now that which I was not brave enough to tell you before.
I love you, Amber.
I find myself incapable of loving anyone else more than you. And though I am jeopardizing the future I wish to spend with you, know that I am doing it in hopes to stop those who dare to take it from me.
I wish that I had been raised differently, so I could have realized my true feelings towards you so much earlier.
Though I may have left my family to restore its honor, I find my goals have shifted drastically. I only care now, for you. I would do anything for you, if it meant you would be happy. Even lay down my own life, which frankly, I am afraid may happen.
In the scenario of that undesirable event, I wish not for you to grieve for me. I leave my equipment as a Knight of Favonius to the one to take my place as Reconnaissance Captain. The rest, I leave to you. Including my heart.
Just know that the reason I fight now, is for you, and you alone.
It has, and always will be, for you.
With sincere admiration,
Eula."