Chapter Text
For the longest time, he slumbered. There was a time in which he wasn't sure if he dreamed, but then—one 'day'—he woke. There was darkness and light and color. There was sound and silence: the rush of water in his ears and the stillness of everything else around him. And then, there was her.
"Hellooo… Come on, wake up, sleepyhead!"
Who…?
"Are you really just going to lay around all day?"
Who are you?
"Me? I'm known as Focalors, but call me Furina, okay? Hmm, what's your name?"
His name…
"Oh, I know! A new village was founded today. That must be a sign, right? I could call you Neuvillette!"
'Neuvillette'…? It could be worse, he supposed.
"Hehehe, I knew you'd like it."
He waited, listening as Furina continued to ramble on about everything and nothing. Then, she paused, and then she asked:
"Hey… Do you want to come with me?"
Where?
"To the surface, of course! You've been sleeping down here all this time. Don't you want to see what's out there?"
Her offer was tempting. However…
"I know new things can be scary for some people, but you don't have to be scared. You've got me~ I can make it a law that everyone has to be nice to my friends."
… Friends?
"We— We don't have to be friends if you don't want to. I just— I just thought…"
Friends… That sounds… nice.
"Really? Yes, let's! Ahem, I mean, I would be delighted to be your friend, Neuvillette."
She moved closer to his head, patting his snout, and he blinked slowly at her as she smiled at him.
"Hmm, I can't exactly just take you into the city while you're like this, so bear with me, okay?"
An odd feeling washed over his body, and he found himself shrinking, shrinking, shrinking until he was only a little bigger than Furina. He looked down at his new hands, inspecting his fingers as he curled and flexed them. From what he could see, Furina had also dressed him in a long, flowing outfit.
"That's better. Can you move around alright? I know it can be a bit disorienting at first, but you'll get used to it pretty quickly."
He nodded once, closing his eyes and lifting a hand to his head when he got dizzy at the movement.
Furina let out a giggle. "Yeah, you'll be just fine. Now, come on. It's a long way up to the surface. Here, just hold my hand — that way you won't get lost."
Opening his eyes once more, he placed his hand in her outstretched one, and she wove their fingers together, holding onto him with a firm grip. He felt… strangely comforted, more so than he had been when she tried to reassure him before.
"Ready to go?" Furina asked, carefully watching his reactions.
He nodded again, and this time he didn't get dizzy.
"Neuvillette~"
Neuvillette looked up from his paperwork to see Furina striding into his office as if she owned the place, which she technically did, though she tended to avoid the lower levels of the Palais Mermonia whenever she could.
"Can I help you with something, Lady Furina?" he asked cordially, preemptively setting down his pen.
Furina tsked at him, waving a dismissive hand. "How many times do I have to tell you? It's just Furina. None of that 'Lady' nonsense," she huffed, crossing her arms. "That's for respectful citizens, not my friends."
"And disrespectful citizens, it seems," Neuvillette mused, allowing a smile to pull at the corner of his lips as Furina let out an offended gasp.
"Hmph! See how you like it, Iudex Neuvillette," Furina fumed, and she smirked as Neuvillette failed to hide a grimace at the title.
"Fine," he relented with a sigh. "What do you want, Furina?"
Furina plopped herself down onto one of Neuvillette's office couches, making herself comfortable by lounging across the furniture. "You're no fun. It's always straight to the point with you," she grumbled.
Neuvillette raised a singular eyebrow at her, and she sat up properly.
"What's with those little creatures you brought into the city — the, uh, Melusines?" Furina asked, and for once, she looked completely serious.
What about the Melusines? Neuvillette had integrated them into the city weeks ago. Furina was rather late, only bringing this up now. He didn't understand where this conversation was going.
"I found them," he answered simply.
"They're not pets, Neuvillette," Furina said in a slow manner, as if she were talking to a small child.
Neuvillette shot her a withering glare. "Of course not. They are diligent, hardworking creatures that I was asked to take care of should they choose to see the world beyond their place of origin—"
"Aww, Neuvie," Furina cooed. "Did you get reminded of yourself and take pity on the little creatures?"
"That's not—" he tried to deny, only to come up short. "That has nothing to do with their presence in the Court of Fontaine."
In fact, Neuvillette had been drawn to the Melusines' "Father" before even talking to a single one of them. Elynas had made a compelling case in convincing Neuvillette to bring the Melusines with him when he returned to the main city. Elynas had wanted to give his "children" an opportunity to safely go out into the world beyond the home his body had created for the Melusines, and Neuvillette hadn't seen any major negative consequences in agreeing.
Furina stood with all the flowing grace of her element and walked over to lean against Neuvillette's desk. "Next time, just tell me if you're feeling lonely, you silly dragon. I'll find you some new friends."
Neuvillette disliked the fact that she was somehow managing to loom over him despite their notable difference in height. It was her hat, wasn't it? And she had recently acquired a pair of shoes with a higher heel than her last pair.
"I am not… lonely," he returned, his lips curling distastefully at the word.
Furina tsked, shaking her head. "When's the last time you even made a friend, Neuvillette?" she asked him, continuing before he could respond. "I made you Chief Justice and got you this fancy office so you could interact with people, and what do I find? You don't talk to anyone but me!"
"I talk to the Melusine," Neuvillette refuted. "I speak to the Gestonnaire when I require something from one of them. I've engaged in conversation with your Champion Duelists before or after one of their battles for—"
"But none of them are your friends, Neuvillette," Furina cut in, shushing him by placing a hand over his mouth. "I'm not trying to push this, but it's getting really hard to ignore the fact that it coincidentally rains every time we come across a difficult case."
Neuvillette frowned but remained silent.
"You're one of the only friends I've ever had, you know. I don't like seeing my friends suffer," she said in a tone he couldn't place.
He looked down, no longer able to hold her unwavering gaze.
Furina let out a soft sigh and removed her hand. "Do you know why I chose you to be my Chief of Justice, Neuvillette?"
"Because you are lazy and often too immature to host a civilized case proceeding in court." The words slipped out before he could stop himself, but Furina only laughed.
"Well, yes, all that," she agreed, still chuckling for a moment before sobering. "But, honestly, that machine — the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale… It's not infallible," she admitted in a hushed voice.
Neuvillette gaped at her. "… What?"
Furina shrugged a shoulder, turning around to push herself up and sit on the edge of his desk. "It's a system that's not only powered by the people's faith but is also based in their belief in that system. That's why even though it's allowed the final verdict, it cannot be allowed to give the only verdict. The Oratrice's fatal flaw is that it is missing a human component."
"But I am not human," Neuvillette pointed out.
"Neither am I," Furina scoffed, swinging her feet. "Humans hardly make any more sense to me than they do to you, though I do find them quite amusing."
"They're not your playthings, Furina," Neuvillette scolded lightly.
Furina stilled. "She used to say that, too…" she whispered, her head bowed.
"The previous Hydro Archon?" he clarified. "I… wasn't aware you were close to her."
Furina shifted to look over her shoulder at him with her teardrop eye. "We weren't particularly close. I didn't know her that long," she said in a stilted tone.
"My apologies for bringing up a sensitive subject—" he quickly backtracked.
"No, no, it's fine," Furina sighed, waving a hand loosely to the side. "You couldn't have known."
Neuvillette hesitated for a long moment before forging ahead. "If I may ask, what was the previous Hydro Archon like?"
Furina let out a thoughtful hum, swinging her feet again as her mood lifted somewhat. "Egeria—or the Lord of Amrita, as the Sumerians call her—was… a people-person. She enjoyed walking amongst her people in the city, watching them go about their lives. She was fascinated by how different they all were."
"She sounds… nice," Neuvillette fumbled for something to respond with.
Furina snorted and barked a short laugh. "Pfft, don't hurt yourself, Neuvie. I still need my grand Chief of Justice for court tomorrow."
Ah, she was changing the subject, and so Neuvillette obliged her. "I will always endeavor to serve out justice fairly. However," he hesitated. "I fear that one day the Oratrice and I may not come to the same conclusion."
One of us will be wrong…
"I am well aware," Furina drawled, leaning back.
Neuvillette frowned, his gaze falling to the side. "Furina, you should consider adjusting the law so that in the event that the Oratrice and I disagree on a verdict, the machine is not the one to give the final say."
It was a selfish request. If that day did come, then he didn't want to admit that he might have made a severe error in his judgement. On the other hand, if the Oratrice was in the wrong, then he didn't want someone to be sentenced with a crime they didn't commit. Either way, it made him feel… uncomfortable.
Furina let out a scoff. "What, you want me to make another court position for a tiebreaker? You do realize how useless that would be, right? This disagreement you're worried about could happen a week, a century, or even a millennium from now."
"It could be you," he suggested.
Furina slid off his desk to spin on her heel, facing him, and slammed her hands down on the surface his desk. "Absolutely not," she hissed. "If it were me, the moment someone notices, people would start assuming that I could just overthrow whatever verdict is passed—"
"Then bury the amendment," Neuvillette told her. "Thousands of papers pass through the Palais Mermonia each year."
Furina squinted her eyes at him. "Are you suggesting something illegal, Chief Justice Neuvillette?"
"Underhanded, perhaps, but not necessarily illegal," he corrected her.
Abruptly, Furina pushed off of his desk, stared at him for an indescribably long minute, and then she left his office.
A few days later, Neuvillette came across an innocuous-looking paper lying in the center his workspace when he sat down in his office that morning. It was the approval for an amendment, he quickly realized, seeing the fanciful signature at the bottom. He slid the paper into the top drawer of his desk to personally attend to… once he finished sorting out the rest of the paperwork that had accumulated overnight.
Furina was in a bad mood.
Neuvillette could tell from the way she had yet to sit upright on her throne, which loomed over the rest of the courtroom.
He had an idea as to why, of course. He had heard the whispers making their way throughout not only Palais Mermonia but also the main city and this very courthouse. A so-called prophecy was circulating throughout Fontaine.
This "prophecy" implied the end of Fontaine and its people, leaving the Hydro Archon as the sole survivor.
It was no wonder that Furina was… upset.
After Furina viciously snapped at a mild offender in court, Neuvillette subtly signaled to the nearest Gardes member that he would be ending today's court session early. The officer nodded their acknowledgement and quickly hurried away to report to the commanding officer in charge of the Opera Epiclese. Returning his attention back to the case at hand, Neuvillette held back a weary sigh at the visible tension in the courtroom.
Furina didn't waste any time upon slamming the door to Neuvillette's office shut hard enough to rattle the stone building. A muted yelp could be heard from the lobby outside. However, Neuvillette could only make a mental note to assure the Maison Gestion later as he ignored the sound in favor of facing his ill-tempered archon.
"Who do they think they are?!" Furina fumed, pacing back and forth across his office floor.
Neuvillette wordlessly sat down behind his desk.
"I want the head of the person who started that— that rumor on a silver platter," she snarled furiously, her eyes flashing the brilliant blue of her element. "The 'Ruin of Fontaine' — Bah! Why are so many people listening to that nonsense anyway? It's not even a good prophecy. It doesn't rhyme!"
Neuvillette inwardly questioned what a prophecy's rhyme scheme had anything to do with its value before taking in a deep breath. "I believe that the people have given this 'prophecy' some amount of weight due to the additional rumor that it is based on 'conundrum' left to you by your predecessor," he cut in.
Furina sharply spun on her heel to face him directly. "What?!" she demanded. "How would they even know about that?"
"Regardless of how, unless you refute this prophecy's claims and leave zero room for doubt, it will not go away," Neuvillette told her.
Furina glared at him and mumbled something not even he could hear properly.
He waited her out.
"It— Some of that… might be true. Egeria did say something like that," Furina admitted haltingly. "But it was mostly warnings about places or things to keep people away from, not— not people dissolving into water," she protested.
Neuvillette frowned. "That complicates matters."
"I know!" Furina stamped her foot on the ground, and then she deflated, her anger dissipating like a drop of ink in the ocean.
"This means that you need to take this seriously," he went on, graciously ignoring her outburst. "You can investigate this matter privately or publicly, but you do need to take measures now rather than delaying any further."
Out of all her possible reactions, Neuvillette had not expected her to hear her sniffle. He froze in his seat as he watched her collapse to the floor, hiding her face in her hands. You were supposed to offer comfort in this type of situation, yes? How did one do that?
"What am I supposed to do, Neuvillette?" Furina asked wetly, her shoulders shaking as she cried. "How am I supposed to absolve an entire nation of guilt?"
Ah, that line of the 'prophecy'.
Every person in Fontaine is born with 'sin'. No matter how the Nation of Justice holds trial after trial, this sin cannot be absolved. Until one day, the water levels in Fontaine will rise, and the sinful people will slowly be drowned. In the end, the people will all be dissolved into the waters, and only the Hydro Archon will remain, weeping on her throne. Only then will the sins of the people of Fontaine be washed away…
Tears continued to fall down Furina's face as Neuvillette failed to come up with an answer.
Nearly a year passed, and Neuvillette still didn't have an answer for his archon.
And then, one day, Furina sat upon her throne in the courtroom with a satisfied smile on her face. She was leaning back with her head propped up by one arm. Her legs were crossed, and a foot lazily kicked up and down in a relaxed manner.
Pausing in the middle of sitting himself down in his own chair, Neuvillette narrowed his eyes at her. Furina, of course, noticed the stare, and her grin only sharpened.
The court session went smoothly — without a single interruption from a certain audience member. In fact, Neuvillette would even dare to say it went too smoothly.
During a short break between cases, Neuvillette cast a glance up at Furina, who looked even more smug than she had this morning.
What is she up to? Neuvillette couldn't help but wonder.
He mentally reviewed the case that would be presented in the later half of the day. He remembered it well because he'd thought the dispute was over something absurdly trivial. He'd nearly thrown the case out on principle but had abstained from doing so after finding a short section of law on the matter that required it be brought to the courthouse. However, oddly enough, he didn't remember this matter being grievous enough to be considered within their law system as of four months ago.
Neuvillette's eyes widened minutely as he realized what was happening. He looked back up at Furina, and she gave him a teasing wave, waggling her fingers at him. Surely she didn't think…
Ah, but it didn't matter if it would actually work, did it? As long as the people believed that these petty crimes were all they were guilty of, it wouldn't matter what their true 'sin' from the prophecy was. There would still be cases of major crimes, of course, but the people would be distracted by the spectacle Furina was making of the courtroom.
Closing his eyes, Neuvillette let out an inaudible sigh. So… this was her solution. Very well.
When Neuvillette opened his eyes again, it was with a conviction he shared with his archon.