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Acting grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius Jean Gunnhildr, Dandelion Knight, was more than ready to give her life for the protection of Mondstadt. Wether it was on a battlefield with a sword in her hand or behind the desk in her office during countless hours of paperwork, Jean will fight for the people of the city of freedom with all she has. But here, at a charity ball organised by the Knights for both national and international guests she was hitting her limit.
The ball was being held in the hopes that the copious wealthy people invited would give some of their Mora for the less fortunate of Mondstadt. That, sadly, included socialising. As the Acting Grandmaster she was forced to attend and greet every important guest herself. That however had never been one of Jeans talents so she left most of it to Cavalry Captain Kaeya and Outrider Amber. Even the Captain of the Reconnaissance Company was doing a lot better than Jean since she was used to insufferable rich people. But being the acting Grandmaster, it was one of her duties to interact with them.
Jean had switched out her typical clothes for a dress more fittingly for an event like that. It was dark blue like her coat that she usually wore and just a bit too tight for her liking. That was her own fault since Kaeya had bought it for her when she was too busy with yet another work meeting to go out herself. Jean adjusted her dress and mourned the fact that she didn’t send her sister to buy a dress instead.
The one rich person that was invited to the ball that she was happy to talk to was the owner of the Dawn Winery. Jean and Diluc were old friends and she felt at ease speaking with him. So after being released from a long-winded conversation with a Liyue Qixing she headed towards him, walking around the middle of the ballroom where many, among them Eula, were dancing. Striking up a conversation came, for the first time that evening, naturally and Diluc even had some good news to cheer her up.
„It’s good to hear that you saved some of your famous grape juice for me. I know it’s always sold out fast and when I left my office at night I knew it was too late to buy it!“ Jean said, smiling at him. Diluc knew of the horrible work-life-balance of his friend and was well aware that he was very similar to her in that aspect. „I know that you have a habit of working overtime and that you are too responsible to drink like the rest of your coworkers.“ After saying that he glared at his brother who was standing across the room, coincidentally with a drink in his hand.
Jean smiled. „Speaking of which, I heard my Cavalry Captain and drinking coworker went to the Winery last week. How did you get along this time?“ It was obvious that Diluc did not want to talk about it and he was searching desperately for a way out. He readied himself to distract her with a silly story of the traveler’s antics but lucky for him he did not have to. Even if he wanted to he knew Jean wouldn’t listen to him because in that moment a side door opened and in stepped the Librarian of the Knights of Favonius.
Lisa was wearing a long purple ball gown with a belt around her waist. The dress left her shoulders bare. Her hair was in her usual braid down her shoulder. It was one of the rare occasions where one could see her without her witch hat on. After closing the side door she walked gracefully towards Klee who was waving and jumping to get her attention.
She went over to the little spark knight who immediately demanded to know why the Librarian took so long to arrive. „Oh, I’m sorry sweetheart, I had some work left and before I knew it the party had started without me!“ Klee frowned and thought about it and then immediately brightened up again. „Ok but to say sorry you have to dance with me and Dodoco! Big brother Albedo is the best! He taught me how to do it!“ Lisa smiled, seeing that Dodoco was stuffed in a little bag that hung over her shoulder. He was even wearing a little suit. Lisa giggled, took her hand and pulled her to the middle of the ballroom.
Jean watched with a smile, thinking how cute the two where. Klee was a whirlwind at the best of times but seeing her be so excited to show Lisa her new skill warmed her heart. Still she couldn’t quite shake the slight feeling of jealousy. She too would have liked to dance with the beautiful Librarian but she lacked the childish confidence as well as the sweet and pure happiness Klee had in abundance. Outside of her role as acting Grandmaster, Jean had always been a bit shy. That amplified when she was faced with a beautiful woman so just marching up to her and demanding a dance like Klee had done was out of the question.
Being her friend since childhood Diluc knew exactly what was going on in Jeans head. „You could just go over there and ask her for the next dance, you know? She surely wouldn’t say no.“ Just thinking about that made her blush. „N-no I couldn’t do that. Lisa is so pretty and she knows so many people here! I don’t believe she would lack a partner if she wanted to dance…“ Diluc shaked his head and sighed. „If you don’t ask her you won’t know wether or not she‘ll say no.“ Again Jean disagreed and argued „I can not possibly go over to her and ask! What would she think of me! As Acting Grandmaster I have to stay professional!“
Sighing, Diluc grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes „Just go and ask. You know her, she would not think ill of you even if she doesn’t want to dance!“ Not being able to argue with that without lying about Lisas character Jean accepted defeat. Seeing that Lisa had just finished dancing with Klee she didn’t have an excuse either. “Fine, you’re right. But if she rejects me you have to make some nonalcoholic Cocktails for me. Maybe some Sunset Berry Tea.” Diluc just rolled his eyes and pushed her in the direction of the Witch of purple Roses.
Jean more or less gracefully stumbled over to Lisa and immediately flushed at the sound of her voice. “Oh, dear acting Grandmaster, what can I do for you?” Jean gathered her strength and prayed to Barbatos to please send her the bravery that the old heros that fought Decabarian had possessed. The Archons know she needed it. “Um, I’m not here as acting Grandmaster right now. I wanted to ask you something…” Lisa smiled, surprised but pleased to her that Jean for once considered herself off the clock. “Jean it is! Well, what do you wish to ask of me, darling?” That endearment stopped Jean in her tracks. It was on par with Lisas usual flirting and even the use of it towards Jean herself was nothing out of the ordinary but something in the way that she said it was different.
Before the bravery that must have been a blessing from Lord Barbatos left her she dared to finally ask the question that had tormented her since Lisa entered the ballroom. “Would you like to dance with me?” Fully prepared for a kindly worded but inevitable rejection Jean lowered her eyes and stared at the tiled floor, which was impeccably clean since Noelle had done her best for the grand occasion. What she didn’t expect however, was that Lisa smiled and offered her hand. “I was beginning to fear you would ignore me all evening in favour of the gentleman from the Winery. Of course I’ll dance with you, honey!”
Jean, despite being in shock, took the hand offered to her and lead her to the middle of the ballroom. Being the heir to the Gunnhildr Clan, she was trained in the dances typically being done at balls like this. All that hard and rigorous training since childhood must not have been too obvious in that moment. Lisa laughed kindly “Don’t be so stiff, honey!“ So they began dancing when the music started up again. And at that moment Jean felt like a character in one of the romance novels that were her guilty pleasure, dancing with a beautiful woman at a ball and feeling like every other responsibility had simply ceased to exist.
The dance ended way too quickly for Jeans liking and she wished that the musicians would continue to play forever. But of course, no prayer would be able to stop the flow of time and how most good things tended to go the dance came to an end. Lisa, being a Librarian and a pretty lazy one at that, was out of breath after dancing with the Acting Grandmaster right after the energetic Spark Knight . So, after the musicians stopped their melody, Lisa pulled her to the side. „Let’s take a little break, darling. If I continue dancing like this I’m afraid my little helper will have to carry me out of here. And I wouldn’t want to disturb the honorary Knight while she has so much fun with the others…“
Jean, concerned Lisa truly was moments away from fainting, immediately looked around for a waiter. Finding one near the Cavalry Captain she rushed to get Lisa a glass of water. The situation of course was not that dire but Lisa was still thankful for it and drank it down quickly. Instantly feeling better, she thanked her and smiled. „You’re always so caring about everyone, Jean. Don’t exhaust yourself trying to make things more comfortable for others.“ Jean blushed, nodding but Lisa knew it would not change any time soon.
The evening continued with Lisa and Jean talking with each other and Jean found herself wishing it wouldn’t end so soon despite at the beginning hoping for the opposite. When the first guests started to leave and the evening came to a close, the both of them prepared to go home as well. Channeling the last of the bravery available to her that evening Jean dared to say „Please, let me walk you home Lisa. I would feel better knowing you made it there safely.“ The Librarian smiled at her. „You know I can more than protect myself. Those treasure hunters you arrested two weeks ago weren’t begging to get away from me because I asked nicely, darling!“ She let out a menacing chuckle. „But if you insist we can still gladly go together.“
Shuddering at the sudden electricity in the air, which definitely came from a strong vision user and not just the spark between them, Jean smiled and shyly put her arm around Lisa. Feeling that she was being watched, she looked over her shoulder and saw Diluc who was just about to leave himself. When he saw her looking he gave her a knowing grin and immediately started frowning again, struggling to get his brother, who clearly wished to continue drinking, to go with him.
Lisa and Jean walked out of the Favonius Headquarters together, smiling softly at each other. The night was lovely, not too cool and a clear night sky served as a beautiful view for their way home. In the distance the faint sound of a lyre being played was heard. Arriving at Lisas doorstep the Acting Grandmaster was quite a bit sad to part ways but after being forced into agreeing to drink tea with Lisa the next day she couldn’t help but feel exited for tomorrow. The Witch of purple Roses gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, which made Jean blush tremendously, and sent her on her way. Despite dreading the event for weeks and thinking at the beginning the ball would, after all her victories on the battlefield, finally be were she met her end, Jean could not deny it was one of the best nights of her life.