Chapter Text
"Furina? Are you in there or has the last brain cell finally fizzled out?" Furina blinked, then shut her gaping mouth. Estelle's gloved hand waved multiple times in front of her face, and then she registered her words.
"Haha." she mocked, glaring at her. The smith rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. The sky was overcast, merely giving off some unnerving diffuse light, and she struggled to pinpoint what time of the day it must be, disoriented, before the whole of her mental capacity kicked back in.
"What's gotten into you? It's taking you forever to finish that sword." Furina looked down at the half-undone metal rod she clutched in place through a sturdy pair of pincers — it looked comical, sharp at the top and blunt at the base. Most importantly: it was completely cold. No amount of hammering was going to get it into the right shape at that temperature.
"I told you- it's been a while since I last had to forge something." she tried to lie; it was true that it had been a while, but it was impossible to forget years of skill and muscle memory overnight. After all, at the very least she had had to forge parts for the Oratrice whenever the need arose, and that wasn't so rare as an occasion with her tight self-imposed maintenance schedule. As much as it was more convenient to commission the pieces, she had quickly become paranoid about the wrong people getting their hands on some inscrutable intel contained in the metal that she herself had failed to extrapolate, and had deviated from that practice. It sounded silly now.
Well, she also supposed she had lied because after so long, it was the natural thing to do.
Unluckily for her, Estelle seemed to see right through her excuses, "Right. Just like those other swords you whipped out yesterday."
Furina glanced at the full weapon rack behind her and blushed in embarrassment when caught in her obvious lie, but, hands full as they were, she couldn't relieve the nervousness in any way.
"Should you be hassling me when I'm the only thing keeping your shop open right now?" Furina tried to attack instead, turning around to shove the metal back in the furnace mouth — that part of the forging machine was still working fortunately.
"First of all, I made it clear it was fine if you wanted to take some days off." Estelle theatrically put a hand forward, defending herself, "And I'm asking out of genuine concern. Forging is not one of those things you can do with your head in the clouds."
Furina rolled her eyes, then sighed, "Right..."
"Can I make a wild guess about what has you wistfully gazing out onto the street?" Estelle tried to steer the conversation, and Furina retrieved the sword. Hopefully the heat would hide her blushing and the hammering would drive her away.
"No." she answered curtly, then lifted her hammer. Estelle put her hand up against her elbow, making it impossible for her to strike down. Furina groaned.
"Have you spoken to Miss Lynette yet?" Estelle blurted out quickly, looking way too invested in her private life and giving her no room to wiggle away from the topic, "Come on. Please. I'm bored at the counter."
"I could always teach you how to forge so you can help." Estelle groaned, frustrated.
"Can't. Noodle arms, remember?" she squeezed her own non-existent bicep shamelessly, demonstrating that she didn't have any muscle.
"Right. I know it's tough to believe but I started that way too. Maybe you should-" Estelle made another distressed noise, interrupting her.
"Tell me. Tell me. Come on. I can give good advice." she pestered her, and Furina finally gave up. She released the sword on the anvil and left the hammer and the pincers beside it. This sword was going to be so brittle it would turn straight to dust at the first swing. She took a deep breath under Estelle's curious stare, and awkwardly started fidgeting with her gloves.
"I did... I guess..." she started in a whisper, looking at the ground and shifting her weight between a leg and the other.
Estelle let out an excited noise, leaning over, "And?"
Furina mumbled something under her breath, which Estelle strained to hear and failed.
"What? What did you say?" she asked, and Furina's blushing deepened. "...we're dating. In a relationship." she tried again, stilted and only fractionally louder, with her voice cracking in some places. Estelle was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in.
"Really?!" she started, grabbing Furina by her shoulders, "Great job! Ah, I'm so happy for you, Furina!"
She was suddenly smothered into a quick hug before being released, her thoughts still buffering. Yes. She was dating Lynette. She had... a girlfriend?
"You're spacing out again..." Estelle snapped her fingers a couple times to grab her attention, "Shouldn't you be over the moon about this?"
"I... am struggling to believe it." Furina confessed sheepishly, "It sounds out of this world. But I- I am. Happy."
They fell in silence, both absently staring down at the anvil between them, where the sword lay and had turned, as foreseen, cold.
"... Wow." Furina finally spoke, stunned, "I'm... I'm actually dating her."
"How did you do it? Not that I don't believe in you..." Estelle asked, elbow propped up on the anvil for comfort. "We... we went out to eat and then we were taking a walk around the city walls — I learnt how to walk on water, by the way — so we walked around the sea for a while, and, you know, danced a bit..." Estelle stared at her with deep interest, mouth agape, and she felt her face warm up again. She took off her gloves to try to cool down. Her hands were sweating and her skin felt like it was on fire. She was going to give herself heatstroke at this rate.
"...you can walk on water...?" she wondered, then continued, this time incredulous, "You took her to dance over the sea?"
Estelle stared at her and she nodded sheepishly.
"Wow... you are better at this than it looks!" she finally settled on some double-edged encouragement under Furina's critical eyes, shooting her a thumbs-up, "And then?"
Furina's edge withered again as she blushed and looked at the ground, wringing her hands together. It took her a while to gather the resolve to speak again, but luckily for her she didn't have to in the end.
"Good morning, Estelle-" captain Chevreuse walked closer, clearly distracted with tinkering with her musket.
"The forging machine's broken." Estelle immediately cut her off and waved her hand in dismissal, but never turned away or tore her eyes from Furina.
"Oh, uh, that's unfortunate. What happened?" the smith finally turned around, annoyed with her customer's insistence, but lightened up when she recognized her.
"Captain! It's good to see you — well, you know, the risks that come with upgrades..." Chevreuse closed her only eye and hummed in understanding.
"Do I..." she took her hat off and brought it to her chest, commemorating who knows how many muskets she must have laid to rest in her career, "I was only looking to browse your wares, however. Good morning to you too, director."
Chevreuse teased her, and Furina groaned her dissent, "You need to stop calling me that..."
The captain chuckled heartily, "You really are forging for the smith these days! That's a bit shameful, Estelle."
"Alright, alright, quit hating on this poor engineer... what's the director bit about?" Estelle accepted and then wondered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Do you live under a rock?" Furina asked harshly, earning a glare from the smith and a laugh from Chevreuse.
"I starred in the movie she directed for the Fontinalia Film Festival. And, I discovered Furina likes to surf! I quite enjoy swimming, so we make the trip together sometimes. Training is more stimulating in company!" Chevreuse explained easily, falling at rest with her hand under her musket, letting it fall against her front. Furina shivered for a second — Chevreuse's 'training' was no light endeavor...
"You starred in a movie? Wow! Lots of things happened while I was busy figuring out what parts to order for the machine... all the way from Mondstadt..." Estelle grimaced when the memories of her struggles resurfaced, then shook her head free of the gloomy thoughts.
"By the way, I'm planning to go and take a swim around Marcotte station after lunch. Care to join?" Chevreuse addressed Furina this time, and she shook off her earlier grievances to pay attention to the current topic instead.
"I'll see about it — you'll find me there in case." Furina allowed, unsure of the rest of her day herself. Sure, she could forge some more at Estelle's, but they were nearly stocked for a week already. Unluckily, Lynette had left a note that she would be busy in the following days, so hanging out with her would not be a possibility for a while...
"My, is someone having a party in this workshop?" the three of them turned around to find Navia walking towards them — she had her parasol hanging by her arm and was missing her usual lackeys.
Furina tensed up.
"Ah, Miss Navia, what brings you? The forging machine is out of commission at the moment." Estelle also sobered up a bit, earning an elbow to the arm by Chevreuse.
"Why so tense? It's nice to see you, Navia." she greeted, more comfortable than the other two put together.
"Likewise, captain! I was actually looking for Furina — I was heading for her house in the start." the latter felt a grimace coming on, which she suppressed expertly, but she couldn't stop the sweat uncomfortably rolling down her forehead after being close to the furnace all day.
"What... can I help you with?" she asked shakily, tucking her hands back into their gloves just so she could have something to do. Chevreuse squared her up quietly but didn't intervene, and Estelle was too busy with her own uneasiness in front of the woman that practically controlled the entirety of the neighboring city of Poisson to notice or care.
"I would rather we speak in private if possible." Navia explained with an unfaltering smile, but this was knife number two being stuck between her ribs. Furina swallowed around a dry mouth.
"Sure, just let me... let me get rid of the gloves and the overall." she stepped back from the anvil, letting the three women pick another conversation topic in her absence. She took the pair of gloves off again and threw them on a stool and the thick apron quickly followed. She struggled to untie the knot in front of her with her shaky hands, then when she was free she reached into the water barrel next to the stool and leaned over, submerging her arms to the shoulder.
The cold snapped her out of the panic attack she was about to get herself into and she exhaled over the water surface, watching the liquid ripple around her breaths. After a minute, the shaking subsided. She stood up straight, wringing her sleeves, and then washed her face before turning around and making her way back.
"We can have some tea at my place, if you wish." she politely offered, earning another pleased smile from Navia. It was unnerving her. Did she hate her or not?
"Perfect! Are you sure you're fine like that?" She asked, letting her eyes wander down her body — Furina acknowledged her shirt looked stupid, dirty with ash, wet around her arms and sticking to her either because of the water or because of the sweat.
"It's fine, I've been forging all day and I needed to cool down. I'll change at my place." Furina excused herself, and thankfully Estelle came to her rescue.
"That's what the average day looks like: ash, grit and a barrel of cold water in the workshop so people working close to the furnace can cool down quickly and avoid overheating." Navia hummed with interest, clearly unfamiliar with the concept, but Chevreuse also nodded.
"We do something similar during training in the summer, even though the weather rarely gets too hot around here." Furina appreciated that the focus was shifted away from her, so she busied herself with retrieving her coat.
"I guess I'll take the rest of the day off, Estelle. Are you going to be fine?" she asked, a bit skeptical. She had had to tear the woman from her forging machine a couple times since last week — not that Furina didn't understand. She was familiar with having to deal with nagging problems that couldn't be solved in an expedited manner, and she was also familiar with the consequences of such stubbornness.
"Yes, I promise I won't get myself into trouble. See you tomorrow, Furina, thanks for everything." Estelle duly promised and then waved her off.
"I'll see you later, I suppose. Bye!" Chevreuse joined her, and Navia and she both crossed the street to enter her apartment.
She hooked the coat on the hanger by the entrance and walked further inside, pointing Navia to the dining room, "I'll be right back, just give me a second."
"No problem!" the woman started walking around the room, curiously looking at what little decoration Furina kept in her house. After her buying spree, she had mostly tossed everything superfluous away, or donated to the passing troupe that needed props.
As a result, her house was quite meager.
As soon as she was in her room she pulled her shirt off and tossed it in the laundry bin, then retrieved another one and pulled it on. She rearranged the room a little bit, unused to having guests and suddenly feeling self-conscious about the disarray in her bedroom.
When she was satisfied, she walked out and into the living room, finding Navia sitting on the couch and cooing over her spoiled cat.
"I see you've met Bacon." she stared at the orange cat purring placidly in the blonde's hold, thoroughly enjoying the scratches under his chin and languidly exposing his belly.
"Oh, he's such a sweetheart... I didn't know you had a cat!" Navia cuddled him some more as he fully entered rag-doll mode.
"He's a recent addition... I'll get you a cup of tea." Furina announced, disappearing into the kitchen before Navia could protest. She brought the water to a boil and then poured two cups, letting the teabags soak in before reaching the table and setting them down.
"Thank you!" Navia exclaimed when the cup was sitting in front of her, and then Furina sat down and they were in silence. The tension came back and she started fidgeting around the cup of nearly boiling water, which probably wasn't optimal. Finally, Navia sighed and put Bacon down beside her, and Furina felt like her soul was about to leave her body.
"Okay, I don't want to make circles around it so I'm going to just ask." she started, picking the teabag out of the cup and taking a timid sip of her tea, "Do you think you could come to the Palais to check on Monsieur Neuvillette?"
Furina stilled, letting the words sink in. They somehow managed to be better than what she had expected and worse than anything she could imagine.
Navia caught up on her reaction and continued, while dumping an unnerving amount of sugar into her cup, "I know I'm asking you a lot... but the situation is starting to get out of hand. Clorinde doesn't want to ask you for help because... well, I just thought that even if it might upset you you should know and make the choice for yourself."
Furina pondered her words quietly, turning them in her head as slowly and as calmly as she could, "... what happened?"
Navia sighed, "You know the Iudex... he's impeccable in the Opera Epiclese but he's not the best when it comes to personal relations."
"... and? That's no news." Furina tried to pull some more information from her, and Navia grimaced.
"I'm sure you're aware of the Synthe trafficking picking up — you wouldn't believe how many people are after them. My men, the Special Surveillance and Security Patrol, I believe the Knave has many of her operatives on the case as well... Monsieur Neuvillette is starting to lose his patience, or... I'm not sure. He wants to... 'join the hunt', much to Clorinde's dismay." Furina frowned, confused. When the conversation had started this was definitely not where she had envisioned it going.
"Neuvillette? He wants to deal with them himself? Where did he get the idea, did something happen with the melusines?" She asked, but Navia seemed just as stumped as her.
"We're not sure. It's quite confusing." she replied simply, clearly hoping that Furina would have more insight on the matter.
"I get it, he's in your way." Navia looked away guiltily, but nodded, "There's no need to look sorry about it. He might be powerful but he's not an officer of the Maison, he doesn't know the first thing about how to handle cases like this."
"Clorinde has managed to keep him away until now. I'd understand if this was only a case of the Maison, but right now? With so many factions involved?" Navia explained, letting her frustrations bubble over.
"It's okay, Navia, I understand. I know he's as stubborn as a mule." Furina put her cup down, a bit calmer. This was still far from her preferred way to spend her free time, but it could have been worse, "Listen, I'm not sure that I'll be able to talk sense into him..."
"I'd already be eternally grateful if you tried. I can't deal with this many headaches at once." Navia confessed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I'll... I'll try to swing by in the evening." she finally concluded. If she had to suffer, she might as well be done with it right away.
"Thank you, Furina, you're an angel..." Navia answered, letting herself deflate against the couch, then went back to cuddling Bacon. He had not moved from where he had been laid, of course.
Furina took another sip of her tea, also relieved that the conversation was behind them.
"I nearly forgot. I must ask another question." Navia started, looking even more somber than she did before. Furina shrunk into her spot on the couch, "I haven't managed to get a hold of Lynette yet — how did your date go?"
Furina stared blankly at her, barely breathing, "I..."
Navia kept staring at her with little stars in her eyes and a grin. She swallowed, feeling the heat rise to her face again.
"It went... well." the woman's grin fell, then morphed into a frown of annoyance.
"'Well'? That's it?" She mocked, crossing her arms over her chest with a glare.
Furina glared back at her just as intensely.
"Why are you mad now?! What was I supposed to say?" Furina complained half-heartedly, shrinking down in place even more.
"Well, first of all you should have said something like, 'Navia, she was so beautiful! Her dress was lovely!'" the blonde shut her eyes, joined her hands together next to her cheek and made a bad impression of her voice.
Furina simply blushed and looked away.
"See, I can tell you're thinking it!" she thrust a finger at her accusingly, "I sure hope you weren't this boring during the date. You told her she looked beautiful, right?"
"The date was fine!" Furina reiterated, and then let the question fall unanswered when she failed to recall complimenting Lynette about her dress. She felt her stomach sink. Navia stared at her in disappointment.
"No! 'The date was amazing! Navia, you wouldn't believe how wonderful it was!' Have you started mincing your words all of a sudden? With something like this of all things!" Furina buried her face in her hands, distressed. She let out a tired groan. "What is it?" she asked, and when Furina finally lifted her face she was crying her eyes out, "Furina? What's gotten into you? Uh, the date wasn't actually a disaster right...?"
Furina shook her head, and Navia stood up so she could sit beside her, "No, it was great!"
"I- well, why are you crying then?" Navia urged her on, rubbing a hand over her back. Furina flinched at the sudden contact.
"I- It's just-" she started, burying her face into her hands again, "I didn't even think I'd last a month on my own — and now I'm- I have a girlfriend?"
"You have a girlfriend?!" Navia repeated a bit too earnestly, then tried to contain her reaction. Well, Lynette didn't waste any time once she had her eyes set on the prize, "That still sounds like a good thing, Furina."
"What if it's all just a fluke? What if I mess it up? I- I mean, what did I even do to...? I don't..." Furina asked the teacup in front of her, her agitation growing. Navia felt her stomach sink.
"Hey, take a deep breath, okay?" she tried to soothe her, but she was clearly out of it. She wondered about what she could say, but came up with empty hands a couple times, "I know this new life is an adjustment, but... it's okay, just because you didn't think it could happen doesn't mean it's not real."
Furina swallowed, trying to ground herself in the moment. Real, it was real... there was a hand on her back. Bacon sidled up to her and put his front paws on her knees — when she picked him up and put him in her lap he started purring. That was real.
"R-right..." Navia studied her, she could feel her eyes on her temple.
"Are you okay?" before she could stop herself, Furina laughed bitterly.
"I'm fine. I'll be fine." she answered sourly, and then she felt the fatigue start to set in. She was always tired, "I think I'll get started on my lunch, Navia."
The woman looked lost for a moment, caught in the crossfire of the hurt of being shut away so harshly and feeling like she should find a way to help. Her mouth opened, then the inadequacy won out and she closed it again.
"Of course, I'll take my leave... I'll warn Clorinde that you'll be dropping by. Take care, Furina."