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Varka takes his seat at the purple chair. It was a sunny day out and the umbrella overhead managed to cast some much needed shade upon him. Across the table, sat an angel.
“Sorry I was so late. Jean’s been trying to ease me back into work.” A teacup slowly floated towards him to which he took.
“No, if anyway should apologize it should be me. I’m sorry for not being able to meet with you sooner, the other mages send their regards,” Nicole said (thought?).
Varka took a sip of his tea. It was bitter, but bitter was good. Bitter was sobering and sober Varka could trust himself not to say the wrong thing. “It’s no problem. I’m just happy to see you.”
She smiled. “I’m happy to see you as well. I’m sure that is a sentiment shared by all of Mondstadt.”
Varka laughed. “Isn’t that the truth. I’ve been so busy visiting and getting visited I’ve barely had a chance to slow down. Honestly, I’m incredibly lucky that Jean is still helping me with work as Grand Master. There’s just not enough hours in the day.” He watched carefully as Nicole lifted the teacup to her lips. “How about you? What have you done since the Doctor’s defeat?”
“I’ve been dedicated to my artistic pursuits. The Traveler helped me make some statues and I’ve penned a few new stories. My most recent work involves a Seelie detective and…” she had such a carefree expression as she rambled on about this and that.
Varka averted his eyes and chose to stare at the cookie tray instead. There was spitzbubens, schackrutors, and snickerdoodles. What a weird assortment and why did they all start with S?
“What do you think L stands for?” He blurted it out.
She tilted her head ever so slightly. “As in the letter?”
Varka nodded. “Yeah, like the letter L.”
They both grew silent as Nicole took the chance to think. Varka was never one for silence and took to drumming his fingers against the table.
“I think, that’s a subjective question. There’s many possible answers depending on who you are and what you’ve experienced. In my case, I would say L stands for love.”
“Love, huh?”
She nodded. “Love. I think it’s fitting considering my position as an angel.”
Varka never payed attention when it came to history so he had no idea what that was supposed to mean. One thing was clear regardless, L could never mean love in the way he oh-so wanted, and he wanted it strongly. The same way a moth wants the warmth of a flame. The only difference being Varka wasn’t willing to burn for the sake of desire. He was far more responsible than that.
“How about you? How do you interpret the letter L?” Her voice rang crystal clear in his mind.
The answer was straightforward, but just subjective as she implied.
***
It was only maybe a few days ago when Varka first got his answer to this question. He was supposed to swing by the Knights of Favonius office, fill out some boring paperwork, and then head out. That was the plan until he caught wind of a little rumor.
“Klee is in solitary confinement again.” The knight’s exasperation echoed through the hallways.
The fellow knight on shift laughed. “Fish blasting, I presume?”
“Nah, this time she set off a few bombs in Wolvendom.”
Ah, that would be a problem. Klee was exactly like Alice, he laughed a little at the thought. Alice would be over the moon if he told her that. Can Mondstadt handle another Alice? Whatever, it was a future issue.
He turned the handle and pushed open the door to be greeted with the sight of Klee kicking her feet as she colored a picture. Multicolored lines of crayon decorated the floor.
“Hey there, kid. What are you drawing?” Not wanting to crouch down to look, he choose to slide down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.
Klee turned to look at him. “Varka! Oh, Master Jean said I had to call you Mr. Varka.”
“It’s fine.”
She picked the paper up off of the ground and showed it to him. Clear on the paper was a crudely drawn image of a stick figure throwing a red circle into a blue scribble. He could only assume this was her attempt at an artistic recreation of fish blasting.
“You know, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. While I don’t mind the fish blasting, you have to be careful where you choose to play with Jumpy Dumpty.” He tried his best to use a stern dad voice, but was clearly failing.
Klee looked at him with guilt obvious in her eyes. This is why he wasn’t cut out for discipline, he was too soft when it came Mondstadt. “I’m sorry, I was playing with Razor and I felt sad that Jumpy Dumpty couldn’t join in.”
“How about this? You do two things for me and I’ll get you out of here early. Since you apologized so nicely.”
“Really? I’ll do whatever you say.”
Varka held up a single finger. “One, you have to promise me you won’t play with Jumpy Dumpty in Wolvendom anymore.”
“But-“
“No buts,” he cut her off, “promise.”
“I promise, Mr. Varka.”
He held up another finger. “Two, you have to tell me what you think of when you hear the letter L.”
Klee childishly put a hand to her chin to act as if she was thinking. “Lisa told me that L stands for the lake where I do my fish blasting.”
Klee was still young, both by human and elven standards. It was only natural mnemonics would he the first thing to come to mind. Maybe it was deeper than that. To Klee, the lake was still a special place.
He chose to laugh it off. “Oh yeah? What else did Lisa teach you?”
***
Varka got his next few answers from a rather familiar place. The sounds of gossip as drinking glasses clinked together. The smell of booze and a long day’s labor. Yes, there was no place more familiar or comforting than the tavern.
“What a fascinating story, I might just have to write a verse about it.” Right, he had just finished telling Venti all about his expedition.
He laughed a hearty laugh. “You can call it Boreas Knight’s Eve.”
Venti winced. “We can work on the name.”
Choosing to ignore how Venti disregarded his brilliant idea, Varka once again asked the question of the hour. “You’ve been around for a while, so I want to ask you in all your wisdom. What does L stand for?”
“I certainly wasn’t expecting that. The letter L, huh? That’s easy, L stands for lyre,” he spoke without an ounce of hesitation.
“Really, why’s that?”
Venti smirked. “Isn’t it obvious? A bard is nothing without his lyre. The feeling of overlooking Mondstadt as a gentle melody plays in the breeze. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Although, this could just be because we were talking about verses,” he slid his drink towards the bartender. “What do you think it stands for, Diluc? I know you’ve been eavesdropping.”
He huffed as he filled up the mug. “Light. I tend to wake up early, and as a result, I get to watch the first light of the day.”
Lyre and light. Both fitting answers considering who gave them, but neither one felt right to him. Maybe none of this mattered. Maybe there was no point in asking such a vague philosophical question when it would mean nothing in the end. And yet, he persisted.
“My family heirloom is a lamp, so I’d have to go with that!”One of the bar patrons loudly declared.
“Oh! For me it’s land because of how flat Mondstadt is.”
“I guess lemonade since it’s my favorite drink.”
After all, even if it amounted to nothing in the end, people were still having fun. “Next round is on me!” Varka’s shout was met with a cheer from the very drunk patrons.
***
Varka stood in the grandmaster’s office standing across from Jean. She was droning on about this and that. Honestly, Varka had no clue what she was talking about. Obviously it was something to do with the knights, but his head was pounding so badly he was lucky if he could pick any of it up.
“Grand Master, did you get any of that?” There was a clear look of concern on her face.
He had been caught. “Uh, no. I’m sorry.”
She sighed setting the paperwork back on the desk. “It’s fine. You were away from Mondstadt for a long time. You deserve to take a break. Any work that needs to be done we can ease into.”
“Thank you. For the past few years, you have been Mondstadt’s guiding light. I don’t know what I would’ve done without all of your help.”
Jean blushed. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just doing what any other knight would. If anything, I’m not doing nearly enough.
Oh Jean, always the humble one. If only she knew how hard she really worked. He wondered if she would have a good answer to his question. With her hard-working and selfless nature, she might just.
“What does L stand for?”
Jean paused with a pensive look on her face. “I’d assume it would stand for liberation. That’s what Mondstadt was founded on. It’s a word that’s important to me as well.”
A knightly answer befitting a member of the Gunnhildr clan. Varka couldn’t help but laugh at it all.
“Was that the wrong answer?”
He shook his head. “No, it was perfect.”
***
The following day, Varka realized the fatal flaw in asking his question at the tavern. While he got plenty of answer, they led to answers that were too thought out. The appeal of springing a sudden question at someone is that they don’t have time to think. This was what he learned after being ‘confronted’ on the street.
“You! Did you really think you could ask all of Mondstadt such a foolish question and then skip me? Vengeance will be mine.” Eula put her hands on her hip as she stared Varka down.
Varka only smiled. “What’s your answer then?”
She broke eye contact. “You’re lucky I had time to think this over. L stands for Lawrence. Even though I hate them, it would be wrong of me to ignore the affect they had on me. My time within the Lawrence clan is still a part of who I am. That’s why L could only stand for Lawrence.”
Varka stood silent. Eula still managed to have such a personal answer even if the question wasn’t as random as Varka would have liked. Still, it was a beautiful interpretation of the question.
“Eula, you may have been a Lawrence in the past, but now you are the Knights of Favonius’ Spindrift Knight and I am honored to have you.” Yes, there was no better person for the title.
A small smile appeared on her lips, though she tried to hide it. “In exchange for my answer, I’d like a chance to spar against you.”
“You’re on.”
***
Varka trudged through the woods of Wolvendom. His question had gained far too much popularity in town than he would have liked. At first it was a vague rumor that Grand Master Varka was asking a vague question, then it turned into hearing the exact question verbatim in the passing breeze. What gets word out faster than a group of drunkards?
That was the sole reason he wound up in the woods of Wolvendom. There was someone here he had yet to hear an answer from. Stopping his tracks in front of the gaping hole in the ground he waited. There were a few small (obviously man-made) piles of dirt filling the crater. He could hear the footsteps behind him as someone appeared from the bushes.
The person sniffed the air. “Big steelclaw?”
“Heya, Razor. Long time no see.”
Razor smiled brightly as he walked up to Varka. “I am happy.”
Varka looked down at the small pile of dirt Razor held in his hands. “Do you need help with that? Klee caused quite a mess.”
He shook his head. “No, my dirt.” Varka watched as Razor walked to the crater and tossed the dirt in.
It wasn’t very efficient, but if the boy was happy he guessed there was no harm. “I wanted to speak to you about something. What so you think L stands for?”
Razor tilted his head like a lost puppy. “L? I no understand.”
“Try sounding it out. I know Lisa taught you this one.” Last he heard, Lisa’s language course had a similar curriculum for Klee and Razor.
“L-L-Lu-Lupical?” He was spot on with his assessment of Lisa’s teaching.
Rather than force Razor to figure out the rest, Varka filled the blank in for him. “Lupical means family, right?”
Razor nodded enthusiastically. “Lupical means family. Lupical very important to Razor. Big steelclaw is lupical.”
Varka smiled at the boy. Razor has grown a lot since the day his parents entrusted him to Varka. He’d have to thank Boreas for all the help in raising the kid.
Varka pointed to the crater. “How about I treat you to lunch and you can figure this out later?”
If Razor had a tail, it would have been wagging.
***
To Varka, none of the answers given to him were in alignment with his interpretation. Lake, lyre, light, liberation, and lupical were all positive words. They were all a sign of hope and life to those who believed in them. Even Lawrence was a positive as it represented growth in Eula’s case.
For Nicole, L stood for love. It stood for such a beautiful thing and yet Varka still couldn’t believe in it. The reason why was much more straightforward the question itself. He looked back at Nicole. L could never stand for love, because when L stood for love…
“L stands for loss.”