Chapter Text
“Oh, hello, Monsieur Neuvillette!” Navia chirps happily to the Chief Justice, Iudex, and current Hydro Sovereign of Fontaine (and the only one at that, what a hefty title!), she clasps her hands happily. “Wonderful weather today, isn’t it? What got you into high spirits?”
“Oh, greetings, Miss Navia.” Neuvillette responds back with just the same reverence as she has for him, if not more. He completates on her question for a bit, eyes furrowed in deep concentration.
“If I must say, it must be because of—“ He’s about to go into a frenzy, acknowledging the plight of his hand in ensuring the daily rights of the melusines being considered and so far, no one has intervened. The pronouns were in usage and they were getting more rights by the day, except—
“Help me!”
He recognizes that voice and Navia is startled. She takes out her umbrella in an instant, ready for anything that comes at them.
“Who said that!” She feverishly turns around, scouting on the source that cried for help. “Monsieur Neuvillette, we must attend to them now!”
He gently puts a hand in front of her, “I’m afraid it is not necessary—I think lady Furina is—“ he can’t even get his words out when a familiar figure scrambles to his side, sticking towards him like glue.
“Oh, Monsieur Neuvillette!” She sobs, dramatically, grabbing his sleeve. “Oh, help me won’t you! Miss Arlecchino is chasing me, poor ole miss archon me!”
Navia drops her umbrella and clears her throat. “Oh? But I thought you were in danger, Ms. Furina.” She looks away from Neuvillete’s eyes, ashamed at her over frivolous attitude. “Were you not?”
“Oh, Lady Navia, you do not understand—clearly. Miss Arlecchino is dangerous, look there! Dare I say, a threat.” She shoots a finger towards the direction she came from and surely enough, it’s her.
Unremarkably her with her crisp red heels as she makes her way towards them and suddenly it begins pouring rain. “Ugh!” Furina gives him an affronted look when she continues to hide behind his body as a shield. “Must it be raining now, out all times? It must be because of Miss Arlecchino, isn’t it?” She suggests mischievously and he deadpans.
“No, Ms. Furina.” He says stiffly. “I’m afraid the reason why it’s raining is because of your cowardice and your attempt to use me as a blockade.”
She lets go quickly as he says this, clearly guilty. “Besides, I believe she means no harm.” The lie is tangible on his tongue but he cannot rid of it.
“Right...” Furina awkwardly begins to shuffle away. “Well, duty calls now, tootles!” She runs before anyone could say anything, running away from the harbinger as quickly as possible as she scurries along.
Navia and him exchange confused looks.
“You don’t happen to see lady Furina have you?” Arlecchino suddenly appears in front of and Navia nearly jumps out of her own skin, hand over her chest.
“Oh great Forcalors! Miss…Alrecchino.” Navia acknowledges softly, startled. “And no, I’m afraid not but we have seen her earlier, she left albeit in a frenzy, a bit harrowing.”
“Pray, do tell.” She encourages, leaning in slightly.
“Over there.” She points in the other direction as she gives the Iudex a fretful expression. “I believe that’s where she left off.”
She nods assessing, thanking her. “I see. Farewell then, and good day to you two.” When she leaves, Navia nervously fiddles with her fingers as Neuvillette clicks his tongue in annoyance.
It rains harder.
“Lying, Ms. Navia?”
“It’s only to protect lady Furina.” She sighs solemnly but the undercurrent of her apprehension was there.
“You know, Neuvillete.” Wriothesley begins to toy with one of his bandages wrapped around his arms. “The fourth has been oddly helpful.”
“Really.” Neuvillete responds, though he sounds a little impressed by that. “Helpful as in?”
“Loads of community work.” He pops the word. “Especially with the Fortress of Meropide, I’m afraid she’ll mostly replace the palais guard's absence and we won't have anyone else to hire because of how well she does her job. She’s finished half of all their tasks all this week, thrice more than what the men could do in that time frame.”
Wriotheseley notes, deep in thought. “Though, I’m afraid the only reason why she’s doing it is because she wanted to thank me for treating Lyney and Lynette during their stay. Totally unintentional…”
Neuvillete coughs. “Is that so…?” Perhaps he’ll have to re-evaluate her as a reckless law abiding citizen later. He did recall once that she did mention she was from Fontaine.
Definitely irrelevant, the laws of Fontaine are still upheld absolute even if you’re a citizen or non-citizen alike. “I believe I must check it for myself then.”
“Oh?” Wriotheseley smirks. “You’re doubting my words aren’t you? Well, go ahead, I’m not going to stop you from checking. She’s been a great help anyway since the flood, might you recall.”
“As noted.” He grudgingly concedes, the Knave had been quite helpful, considering her children’s line of work long before the flood (those pouches—magic pouches, was they called?) for the Fontainians to use in case of emergencies.
Even if they were deemed as too superstitious, they had been right this entire time. “Farewell, Monsieur Wriotheseley.” Neuvillette briskly walks away from him, bidding him a farewell.
He heads towards the fortress of meropide, just to check with his own two eyes He’ll admit, there’s still some lingering skepticism around the Knave and despite their hostilities with each other, they’re the exact opposite of each other. While he represents the epiphany of justice, she does not. She’s a black sheep, not normal, unnatural.
Perhaps, he’ll have to put his prejudices aside for now.
He enters the fortress to search for her. He doesn’t understand why he’s doing it, perhaps to reassure her that his friend must be overlooking some details because he can’t fathom her ever being a good person. If Wriotheseley was right however, then…
It takes him a while to find her, after scouring the area for a good hour, he stumbles on the least likely place to be at. The nurse’s office, or rather, Sigewinne’s office.
There she was.
She hovers over one of the patient’s beds, though he can’t really hear the exchange between them, it seemed relatively friendly.
She doesn’t seem to notice as she moves over to the water basin next to her and takes a rag to dip it in, squeezing it out before placing it tenderly on the patient’s feverish head. He groans in relief, quietly thanking her as she sits there.
Sigewinne suddenly pops out, ruining his eavesdropping discretion. “Oh, Monsieur Neuvillette!” She places her hands on her hips. “May I ask what you’re doing here?” Unfortunately, Arlecchino has caught on, swiftly turning her head to face him with an unreadable expression on her face. He feels oddly self conscious all of a sudden.
“Ah, Miss Sigewinne.” He greets back, managing him to compose himself in front of the head nurse and the knave. “I’m afraid I came here out of personal duty.”
“Which includes checking up on me for whatever reason?” Arlecchino sharply interrupts, causing Sigewinne to frown. “I find it odd that you came all the way here just to talk to Sigewinne, unless you’re here for other reasons then don’t mind my comment from earlier.” She gives him a cruel smile and he deflates.
“I apologize Ms. Arlecchino.” He quickly recovers, “you are right. I have come here with the intention of inspecting you but I’m afraid I’ve been proven wrong from time and time again.”
“If it helps,” Sigewinne intervenes. “The knave has been nothing but helpful for the past few weeks. She’s been cleaning up the area, carrying large loads and doing tasks that are otherwise often dismissed. I can vouch for her Monsieur Neuvillete.” She smiles and he’s even more ashamed now.
Arlecchino simply waves him off. “I take no offense, I would not blame you. My reputation has been pitiful—being a harbinger is no easy feat I assure you but there’s other things that make it more difficult.”
“Do tell.” Neuvillette quickly says, “it was bold for me to assume such negative queries, I am merely mistaken for my own faults in my lack of judgment…” considering he was the chief justice, even his own dismissal made him insecure.
“Oh you know, associations with the fatui gives you a terrible rep. People wouldn’t want you to be near them for no reason, I’m a bad association to the people.” She starts to point at herself.
“But I would not blame them, the people of Fontaine have always had a degree of skepticism. Even Ms. Navia has refused to look me in the eye, the head editorial of the steambird Ms. Charlotte has interviewed my protege in place and not me and I have been unwelcomed in Ms. Chioriya’s boutique.
“But surely, it isn’t much of a big deal for you Monsieur Neuvillete. I find comfort in the depths of the fortress and Ms. Sigewinne and Monsieur Wriotheseley have been nothing but amicable to me here.”
“Likewise.” Sigewinne supplies quite merrily. “I’m so happy you’re here to help. Your work here has always been appreciated, Ms. Arlecchino.”
So he had been wrong the entire time, his pale cheeks reddens. “Please forgive me, Ms. Arlecchino. I have been terribly prejudiced and overlooked any issues or personal grudges that might’ve been towards you, is there anything you’d like me to do?”
She sighs, “not really.” She ponders for a bit. “But I do wish that there’s a safe place for my children to live in the near future.”
“Oh?” That caught his attention.
“You see,” she mutters. “I cannot ensure the safety of my children constantly, not when I’m away and since the gnosis has been done, my purpose with the Tsaritsa is finished, she had no need for me. And my protege is interested in taking up my role which I do not blame, he is older now, fairly mature…” she turns to him sharply, the patient next to her forgotten.
“But otherwise I cannot place my blind faith that anything would happen—like last time. Of course, Wriothesley had been gracious enough to offer this proposition but considering that you wrongfully imprisoned two of my precious children here and its lack of habitable environment, I suppose I might look elsewhere.”
“You want to ensure safety measures for your children—the house of the hearth?”
“Indeed.” Came her quick reply. “I am its patron after all.”
“Consider it done.” He whispers, feeling entitled now to at least owe her. Something he would have never considered doing, “anything else?”
She concedes. “That is all. There’s not much that I’m concerned about really.” She sighs, turning back to nurture the patient beside her.
He looks into the knave more, only to find out that there were less than pleasant rumors about her. Rumors circulated among many that she had been a witch (though elemental magic was always abundant in Tevyat, this was connotatively the opposite of what he was expecting).
Among other insults like a ‘nasty hag’, ‘vermin’, and ‘Snezhnayan trash’—that one especially had been wrong.
She wasn’t even from Snezhnaya, she was from Fontaine. They were insulting their very own kin!
When he delved further, it worsened. They had scathing remarks about her outward appearance, which highlighted in her arms, calling them a curse.
It was the same people who praised him for his sovereignty, while they dismissed his own dragonlonic features, they focused on any attributes that may deference the Knave. It was hypocritical to say the least.
He was further aghast when one of the pamphlets had shown a figure of the Knave, clearly getting things thrown at her. Tomatoed, like a clown.
He's never felt so much rage and injustice all at once. Not only that but the house of the hearth was often vandalized, it was his own negligence that had escalated the bias of the Fontainian people which in turn, sought for their own petty vengeance towards the fourth and those that held dear to her.
She had been right, although she had not been outright confrontational, she had implied that she had been treated differently in the fore front, rather mistreated and he had completely turned a blind eye to it, ignored it.
He was no better than those who shunned the melusines out until it was he who implanted the laws in place so melusines could be treated as such—equal but he hadn't thought of others like the Fatui, he thought it wasn’t necessary. Unimportant.
He had been wrong—wrongly prejudiced.
To the wrongful conviction of Lyney, Childe, and now Arlecchino, forcing them to retreat to the fortress in some way, either from an unlawful sentence or the solace from the underground compared to the surface.
He realized where his faults lied and he was ashamed, deeply troubled for his actions. He thought by protecting this nation, the source that came directly from the Fatui itself and he sought to exterminate it.
It was no longer the case, that person—Skirk dare I say, had warned him and even the traveler themselves had informed that it was beyond the walls of Tevyat, it was not the Fatui but rather the abyss. He’s never been so ignorant, he never wanted to represent the very thing he went against.
Now, he was considering himself a terrible person.
He had to make it up to her somehow.
First was to deal with the perpetrators. They were among the few that were bold enough to face the knave but not out right. The knave still managed to face her own fairly well so many of them were not confident enough to show their faces and yet, they harassed her through various forms. Snide rumors that carried around the Fontainian’s high society like a plague, painting a bad picture and…
He promptly decides that he must talk to Navia. When he confronts Navia, her expression mirrored his own guilty one. “I didn’t know.” She shakes her head with regret. “If papa were here, he’d be so disappointed in me. If you wish, I can apologize to her right now and deal with those scoundrels!” She clenches her gloved hands, ready to abide by Iudex’s words and he feels much more relieved.
The first order was out of the way.
Next, he visits Chioriya's boutique, the renowned fashion designer greets him with her usual disinterested and airy tone. “Came here to redo your robes?” She asserts, hanging one of the dresses up for display and he shakes his head.
“No,” he corrects her. “I came here at someone’s expense. The Knave per say, she mentions she’s been shunned out of your line of business in particular.” Chiori quiets, allowing him to talk, nodding in understanding. He mentions her tribulations, the difficulty in adjusting, and the injustices. Chiori’s eyes softened.
“I see. Well, I will admit I have been a bit guarded towards her. I’ll be aware next time.” She gives him a frank bow of her head and she seems genuine so he leaves it at that. “And if anyone mistreats her in my shop, they’ll be sure to be thrown out.” Her eyes are steely and he’s not quite sure if he feels great in confiding to her just now, her methods were usually on the more legally dubious side…
Finally, he makes his way towards the steambird, which he usually doesn’t because of Ms. Charlotte's insistence in bombarding him with the multitude of questions privy to his own personal life that he has no interest in sharing.
But he does not suspect it's Ms. Charlotte who is behind tarnishing the Knave with her words, it would be outlandish—considering she preferred to interview rather than to write.
Then it must be someone within Charlotte’s circle, someone with the ability to publish and write the crude words.
Charlotte, ever so intrigued and overzealous, greets him with an overbearing fervor.
“Well, you’re just on time Monsieur Neuvilette! I was just about to find you and needed to ask you about the latest court case, do you have any personal thoughts you’d like to share…” she goes off, rambling off his ear and he has to calm her down despite her enthusiasm of being approached.
“No, I have not come here for that.” He says gently, “I wanted to ask you Ms. Charlotte, has anyone within the editorial department been single handedly targeted anyone, perhaps the Knave, take for example, for their malicious intent?” He hands her the pamphlet and the color drains off of her face.
“I don’t think so Monsieur Neuvillette.” She reads the papers, gaping as she begins to crumple the paper and toss it. “This is rubbish! Nobody informed me of this!” She cried in despair, mumbling apologies that fell out of her mouth.
“I am so sorry, I will definitely get to the bottom of this and have them quickly removed, this is totally unacceptable.”
“I want you to also have them apologize to Ms. Arlecchino directly. I believe she is owed for what she has experienced so far. If you would so kindly do so.”
“Of course.” Charlotte replies just as exuberantly, seemingly recovered as she brightens. “I will definitely do that, thank you for informing me Monsieur Neuvillette. I might have an idea on who did it.”
Within hours, everything is in order. He sets up the melusines to go on cleaning duty so they can scrub away at the unwelcoming words on the House of the Hearth exterior walls. Charlotte manages to find out the person who had been circulating rumors about the Knave and they’re sent to the
Fortress of Meropide for their indecency. It was a quick and easy trial, one that he did not disagree with the oratrice for its wise decision this time. He still has one more order of business before his plan with the knave is complete.
It took him a while but when he had caught the last of them (the penetrators) and Arlecchino had conveniently appeared at the nick of time. “Monsuier neuvillette.” She greets him, voice low.
“Ms. Arlecchino.” He responds in kind. He still couldn’t understand how she can appear so easily without him noticing but he removes that thought. He must remain neutral, impartial.
“Have you been protecting me, Iudex?” Her voice lights up with a tease but it’s not exactly friendly. “If so, there’s no need. I am personally capable of taking care of myself.”
“I—“ he quickly becomes defensive. Did she know this whole time? He crosses his arms and she cocks her head curiously. She can’t hear his thoughts but it must be something along the lines of how silly he looked. “You must not trouble yourself, I have dealt with the rest.” He assures her instead and she looks less than pleasant.
“Do you take me as a fool, Monsieur Neuvillette?" She questions him.
“No—“
“Then stop this foolery at once. You do not need to feel obligated to grant me a little of your sympathy just because of the way I'm treated, that is my business, not yours.” She threatens, eyes bright and alert, but he is undeterred.
“Ms. Arlecchino.” He tries to speak. “I am doing it all because I feel pity, yes, that is among many reasons but is it not my concern to worry about those who are prone to injustice?” She snorts at this. “I am among many things but I do not want to disappoint you of my faults back then, I am fully aware and will take responsibility.”
“You are a disappointment, Iudex.” She tithers, clicking her tongue in pity. She was jabbing at him. “The inability of your leadership is clear in my eyes and does not remove any of the contempt and utter resentment I feel for you. Now, stop doing this.” She commands, voice unwavering. She holds her head high, regal, despite all the tribulations that come to her. He hasn’t fully appreciated it until now.
“So you are going to continue living like this?” He says incredulously. “Staying in the shadows, shunned by society? Is that what you really seek?”
“I am content with it. I am not wallowing at my situation unlike some others make it out to be.” She snorts derisively. “Just earlier today, Ms. Navia has come up to me personally to apologize and when I demanded who supposedly pushed her to do something that she would not normally do, she kept her mouth oddly shut. Then,” she continues to speak, as if daring him to interrupt her.
“I had Lady Chiori come and tell me that she had a discount for me for her boutique and we have never even talked once before, nor do I have the inclination to shop at such a frivolous shop. And finally—“ she pauses, a bit more agitated.
“I had Lyney shove papers down my throat this morning about some papers focused on me in the headlines!” She cries out.
“Ms. Charlotte has caused such a ruckus featuring me as some ‘hero’ that I now have suitors trailing down my back like a pack of drooling dogs.” She huffs. “Do you understand now? I figured this was surely not a coincidence and decided to investigate myself only for it to lead back to you!”
“I was merely trying to—“
“I do not need your help!” She snaps, cheeks flushing and she puts her hand in front of her face to hide away at the embarrassment. “Just stop this at once, we despise each other. We cannot act like we’re under some mutual agreement regardless, it’s against protocol!”
He ignores her outburst. “But I just assumed that Lyney would take over your role soon after. Am I not wrong?”
“How presumptuous to use my own words against me, do not act like we’re friends.” She hisses, already moving away as her heels click steadily against the floor, leaving the culprit there as he begs for Neuvillette to spare him. Neuvillete just runs after her, he still has so many questions, and very little answers.
She slaps his hand away.
“Listen to me.” It’s less of a demand and more of a plea. “I’m not doing it out of pity or out of kindness that you might find revolting but I care for your well-being, just as I am with every citizen of Fontaine.”
He speaks, ringing out clear, “please allow me to do something for you for once. No one will bother you and I will fulfill the rest of your wishes with the protection of your children.” She doesn’t respond. “Work under me, you will be granted with many privileges as such, no one will dare to question you in my position and you will retain a bit of your control that you seek.”
She’s flabbergasted. “You take me for a fool.”
“I do not.” He admits truthfully. “I care for you, and most importantly I want to give you respect where it is due. This does not just benefit you but your children will. Your pay will be no different from the Fatui and you will be rewarded handsomely.”
The silence stretches this between them.
“If you’re not comfortable then I will fulfill your promise someplace else, if you so desire to get rid of me, then I will respect that.” He says kindly. “I do not wish for you to hold grudges against me because of my lack of trust I had in you—either way, I will compensate you if that’s what you want.”
“No, I prefer the first option actually,” She affirms rather quickly. “The benefits do appeal to me more. Though, I hope you don’t regret any of what you said—I am not an easy person to work with.” She tells him elusively. “But if you’re so insistent, consider it done. We’ll see how long you’ll uphold your promise, Iudex.” She takes out her hand and they shake it out, not out of mutual trust but rather out of obligation.
She turns to leave, not sparing him a glance. “Farewell for now.”
He nods back, solemn as his face stays unchanging. “Farewell, Miss Arlecchino.”