Chapter Text
“Neuvillette? Isn’t he at his office?” Paimon asked, looking skeptically at Katherine.
“Monsieur Neuvillette takes one day off every other month. However, it’s imperative that he be found and contacted by the evening. An urgent request has been made to us and who better to take the mission than one of our best adventurers,” Fontaine Katherine said.
“Doesn’t someone at the office know where he goes to relax?” Aether asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Katherine said.
“You can’t let him have one day?” Paimon said.
“The matter is urgent,” Katherine said.
“Okay, so where do we start the search?” Aether asked, crossing his arms.
“Monsieur Neuvillette’s subordinates assume he’s gone to visit the young lady who has tea with him weekly.”
“Great, where do we find her?” Paimon asked.
Katherine’s expression was telling.
“What’s her name, then?” Paimon tried. “Does she live near the court or in the Beryl region or?”
“I’m given to understand the young lady is an old friend of Monsieur’s, but it seems that his subordinates don’t have much information regarding her. I’ve been advised to pass on to you the suggestion to ask Monsieur Freminet.”
“All right. Let’s find Freminet,” Aether said and they were off.
Gentle waves lapped at the beach rocks, blubberbeasts lazing on warm sand as a song coasted through the air. A woman sat in the shade of a tree, some paces away from the shore, and plucked a cetara gently, humming a tune, barefoot in a light blue slip dress.
“Mm, m-mm, mmm.”
Her hair flowed like water down her back in loose ringelts. A light breeze caressed her smooth cheeks as her fingers danced on the strings and she watched bubbles rise to the surface of the water before a diver ascended. She smiled at him as he waded through water, taking off his helmet.
“Welcome back,” she said softly and put her instrument aside. “Freminet.”
“Freminet? What for?” Lyney asked, tossing his hat in the air with a flick of a wrist.
“We’re looking for Neuvillette. Supposedly, he visits an old friend on his day off and Katherine said Freminet might know that lady,” Paimon explained.
“Oh, her,” Lyney said. “Yeah, Freminet likes her a lot. He’s pretty shy with people, but she’s grown on him. Invited him to be leisure buddies.” He chuckled. “It’s exactly the type of thing Freminet would like—each doing their own hobby, but together. Let me think.” Lyney rubbed his chin. “She sits with him while he’s drying off after a dive—practices music while he explores, Freminet said—and I think his morning dive was . . . I could mark an approximate location if you have a map with you.”
“Yes! Thank you,” Aether said and pulled out the map.
“Sorry, it’s not much . . .” Freminet trailed off, drying his hair with the towel she’d handed him.
“Don’t say that, mon chéri.” She gathered the Tidalga Freminet had brought and transferred them to a wicker basket. “It’s more than enough. Two pastes’ worth, in fact. Thank you.”
“T-There’s no need . . . I mean, I was going to dive anyway. It didn’t put me out of my way to get some algae.”
“Still, I appreciate your effort.” She reached over the basket and got a cookie tin. “Here,” she said, taking the lid off to offer him colorful, shell-shaped madeleines. “You should replenish your energy.”
Freminet blushed. “You d-didn’t have to . . .”
“Freminet,” she said sweetly and Freminet pulled the towel over his red face. “Don’t be humble. The least I can do is bake a treat to show my gratitude. You’re always getting me ingredients and I love to play when it’s sunny and bright like this. I haven’t had a leisure buddy in a long time. I appreciate you.”
“M-Me too,” Freminet said quietly and accepted a cookie. He looked out at the never-ending expanse of water, the serenity of early morning, and sun rays warming their feet. “Isn’t today your home day?” he asked, struck by a recollection of a conversation they’d had.
Freminet’s leisure buddy—a kind-hearted musician of ambiguous origin—took one ‘home day’ every other month. She hadn’t given the details and Freminet was not one to pry, but he figured it was an appointment with family, though he’d never heard talk of any, living or dead. She was sunlight personified, as far as Freminet was concerned—a gentle, mellow person who had more patience and compassion in her body than Fontaine had water.
He’d heard her music after a dive that had left him feeling dizzy and had surfaced near her, only to pass out momentarily. She’d taken him to her blanket, spread out on the grass, and had given him lemonade and sweets from a picnic basket to help him recover. Freminet had been embarrassed at first, but the woman had a sisterly air about her and a way of making him feel comfortable,
She played music, but never as part of a performance, and was liked by the Melusines who made no references to her private life. Lyney had said she was known by people only as the old friend who visited Chief Justice Neuvillette every week like clockwork. Freminet learned from her stories that she liked taking walks through Elynas, where she had a charming cottage Freminet had once visited to bring her a gift of new strings for her cetara, and napping by the edge of the waterfall near Romaritime Harbor. Something about the deafening sound of rushing water made her calm.
“You remembered my home day?” she asked happily.
“J-Just so I would bother you—Oh, I shouldn’t have called you out—”
“Freminet.” She giggled. “It’s all right. My home day starts in two hours.” She drew the cetara into her lap. “I wanted to come out and play for a while. And I have yet to make the paste.”
“I can help,” Freminet offered, though he had no experience making skin care products. He wasn’t sure why she made it herself, but given that she had a garden at her cottage and often went foraging, it wasn’t out of character.
“It’ll take about half an hour,” she said.
“That’s okay.”
“Thank you, Freminet.”
She put the basket between them—the algae, some flowers, slime concentrate, and the tools. After dividing the ingredients, she slid one mortar over to Freminet and handed him a pestle. Water dripped from her open palms into the bowls, clear and cool.
By the time the paste was done, Freminet’s hair was dry and they were both ready to pack up.
“Thank you for keeping me company. I hope you have a good home day,” he said before they parted.
“Thank you, mon chéri. I’ll play something new for you next time.”
Freminet watched her go, the skirt of her dress fluttering in the wind, fading in the sunny haze. He wondered where—or who—her home was.
Monsieur Neuvillette took a ferry to Elynas, watching marine life float by, and then a walk to a cottage near a mountain creek. He found an old friend sitting on the smooth rocks by the creek outside, applying the aqua paste she made to her legs. They got dry when she stayed on land long.
She didn’t look up, but her lips curled in that smile that warmed his heart. Neuvillette sat across from her and seized an ankle gently before dipping into the pot of aqua paste.
“Thank you,” she whispered as he began working the paste into her shins and calves.
“The air’s been drier lately,” he said, massaging her skin with gentle hands.
“I have enough.” She smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. Neuvillette looked up. Their eyes met. “My skin only broke once. It looked more painful than it was.”
“I don’t want to see your blood spilled. Not even by your own heedlessness.”
“Ah, I’m being scolded,” she mumbled sheepishly.
Neuvillette hummed but made no comment. He fell into old habits around her. The youngest of nine naiad sisters and the single survivor of an ancient family, she was a comfort to Neuvillette. Someone from a different time. A constant he always returned to. He pulled his hand away from her ankle and pressed a kiss to her knee.
“Thank you, Neuvi.” She giggled, no doubt remembering the sisters who would’ve scolded her for using his name with no title. He’d been Lord and Master once. He was happier to be Neuvi. “Shall we go for a stroll? I’d like to check on that umbrellafinch I told you about. He took some seeds but wouldn’t come close. I’m worried about his wing.”
Nodding, Neuvillette was about to stand up when she extended a hand to the creek and a sphere of water formed above her palm. A swirl of it dipped out to take the paste residue off her fingers and she offered it to him for the same purpose. The Chief Justice obeyed, flipping his palms up, and she manipulated the water to wash them.
“All good now.” She watered the plants at her side with it as he got to his feet.
Neuvillette offered a hand and she took it, blushing ever so slightly. He pulled her up with strength that had her bumping into him as she teetered over, laughing. Before he could apologize, she threw her arms around him in a loose hug. Neuvillette wondered if humans thought to themselves, when a precious person held them, that it was odd how close a man can come to melting.
“Shall we?” she asked, peering up at him.
Her sisters had often been cross with him for spoiling her, though themselves guilty of the same crime, but Neuvillette could not withhold any joy that was within his power to bestow, when he knew how kind a heart beat in her ribcage. She’d been a bright, cheerful soul in the circle of her sisters, with him most endearing and childishly joyful. Neuvillette had been smitten from their first meeting—an introduction by her eldest sibling who’d been an intellectual and a tough chess opponent—with her lively eyes, the elegance of her posture, the beautiful music her fingers played.
“Neuvi?” She was pouting, chin jabbing his breastbone as she watched his expression.
“Yes,” he said and cleared his throat. “Lead the way.”
She grinned and his heart lurched, wanting to fly into her hands. A troublemaker, that spoiled youngest, yet a sanctuary for living things—birds and squirrels and Melusines and fish and himself. She could only be that mischievous child he knew, by his side. She felt safe at his side. That was all that mattered.
Her warm fingers slid through the spaces between his. Neuvillette brought them to his mouth and kissed her knuckles as she told him about her human friend who was coming out of his shell slowly and had gathered ingredients for her paste.
“He seems so happy when he’s diving,” she said as they walked up a narrow path through a thicket. “I wished to go with him, but I didn’t want to spook him with that form.” She tilted her head to the side and glanced at Neuvillette. “Do you ever go back to your other form?”
“It’s not necessary.”
She shrugged. “I like all your forms.”
Breath caught in his throat. How casually she said things that could short-circuit one’s brain.
“You should take an hour to swim,” he bit out, loosening his collar. “Your skin will start to split if you keep away long.”
“I know.” She bumped his hip with hers gently. “You’re such a worrywart.”
“You must take care of yourself.”
“Is that my verdict, Your Honor?” she asked, beaming. “Guilty of not taking care of myself?”
“We’re not in court.”
They came upon the bird in question and Neuvillette leaned against a tree, watching as she first called out and tried to get close, then negotiated, then begged a little, and in the end caught the finch, apologizing profusely, to dab ointment on the injured wing. He was reminded of days past, when she was careless and loud and loved to play and be a menace to anyone, chasing fish and making castles out of shells, sneaking treats to land animals while their owners sunbathed on beaches and styling her sisters’ hair for the smallest occasions.
Taking care of others was her love language.
The one time she’d broken a possession of his as a girl, she’d cried until she was blue in the face and then braided his hair as an apology. Neuvillette had allowed it, not because he’d needed his hair styled, but because he’d had a suspicion that she would not stop crying unless he let her make it up to him. The broken ornament had not been a prized possession, but her guilt over having broken it would’ve made one think she’d taken an arm off him.
“Sorry Mr. Finch,” she said as the bird got free of her hands. “I won’t do it again! You’ll be better soon.”
Neuvillette smiled to himself. She had not changed. Beyond the details age had altered about her appearance and the maturity she showed in her dealings with others, especially young humans, she was the same soft-hearted flower he’d fallen for back in the previous Archon’s time.
“What?” she asked, raking a hand through her hair as she turned to him.
“Nothing.”
“I made tasses ragout, if you’d like to stop for lunch before we go.”
Neuvillette came close to her, driven by a desire to dote on her, and stroked her hair.
“First I get scolded and now I’m getting spoiled,” she mumbled, getting on the tips of her toes to chase his hand when he went to remove it.
“Come on. We’ll be late for sunset at this rate.”
“She lives in Elynas, but . . . can’t it wait? It’s her home day,” Freminet said hesitantly.
“It’s an emergency,” Aether said.
“What’s a home day?” Paimon asked.
“I . . .” Freminet shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I think it’s a day for family.”
“They are old friends,” Paimon said, looking at Aether.
“To Elynas. We’ll ask for directions there. Thanks, Freminet!”
“Can I braid your hair?” she asked when they sat in the grass of a little island near the edge of the waterfall, east of the Romaritime Harbour. Neuvillette had carried the picnic basket, telling her about his day in a low voice. They’d rolled out her favorite blanket and sat side by side to wait for sunset. She liked to see it from that spot, where water reflected the sky’s changing colors.
He nodded to the question and she scooted to sit behind him, pulling the bow from his hair carefully. His eyes fluttered shut when her fingers sunk into his hair, massaged his head, and combed through long silver strands. He waited for her to get halfway to lie down, his head on her lap.
She worked on the remaining half of his hair, humming a tune that could lull him to sleep. “Do you want the bow at the end?”
“Whatever you want.”
A knuckle grazed his cheekbone. Gentle. “You’re very obliging today.”
Neuvillette blinked his eyes open. “Would you prefer I wasn’t?”
“No,” she said softly. “I like to take care of you. It’s usually the other way around.”
Neuvillette reached up, touched her jaw, her cheek, and she leaned into his palm. “I promised I would protect you.”
“Is that why?”
He swallowed. “It’s not the sole reason.”
“Hmm? Interesting,” she sang, poking his cheek teasingly. “Besides, I made promises too. That I would live long,” she said and placed a hand on his chest, “and be happy . . . That we’d both be happy.”
“You are . . . happy?” he asked quietly.
She chuckled. “I am. I’m really happy, Neuvi.”
“Good.” He lifted his torso and slotted his lips against hers. A touch that set him aflame, the flowery scent of her skin clinging to his nostrils. When she smiled into the kiss it was his undoing—the equivalent of all the water in Fontaine overflowing in his chest.
“Neuvi . . . “ she said as he returned his head to her lap.
“Yes, flower?” The nickname came tumbling over his tongue when he was at ease.
Her cheeks colored. “Thank you for spending your day off with me.”
He took her hand, laced their fingers, and held them both over his racing heart. “It’s the best way I could spend it.”
Having found the cottage empty, Paimon and Aether had searched all around the place and learned from a Melusine that the lady of the house liked to go to the waterfall’s edge at sunset. They went from one side of the Romaritime Harbour to the next and finally found the Chief Justice.
In a field of blue flowers on a small patch of land, he lay with his head on a woman’s lap. She plucked the strings of an instrument, a song piercing through the deafening flow of water as they watched the sun set on the horizon. Before Aether or Paimon could call out, the man they’d searched for stirred. As if he’d sensed them approaching, he sat up, exchanged words with the woman briefly, and pressed a kiss to her temple. Neuvillette got to his feet and came to meet the adventurers.
“I assume it’s an emergency,” he said in lieu of a greeting.
“Yes. Sorry to interrupt,” Paimon said.
Aether launched into an explanation and the woman kept playing in the background, her eyes never leaving the sunset which burned brightly in them. Paimon thought she was perfectly at ease. There was a measure of magic to the sight, but no time to dwell on it, as the Chief Justice agreed to leave at once.
Freminet’s words came to mind and, as they departed, Aether wondered if they’d taken with them that woman’s home.
Thank you for reading! I have so many Genshin WIPs and then this wonderful man comes along with Levi's voice and here we are. A spur-of-the-moment one-shot. Edit to plug my new Childe x Reader fic~
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