Chapter Text
Neuvillette had always liked collecting things he’d found on shipwrecks—things that used to belong to the surface dwellers. His collection was mostly made up of mini trident-looking items or short metal rods that were sometimes round at the edge; just some weird relics, he thought. If he was lucky, he’d find books where he learned he had collected coins, pocket watches, musical instruments, and even weapons.
But he had never seen anything like this before.
It’s a statue of a man sitting on a throne. His hair is short like most human males’, and he wears clothes Neuvillette doesn’t quite understand the style of, but the man’s toned pecs are exposed, his clothes appearing too tight to hold them. A scar sits below his right eye, but it only adds charm to his handsome face. His eyes and the smirk on his lips are playful. His hair looks too soft for stone.
It’s not like the sea dwellers didn’t have statues; there were some, but they were only of the Hydro Sovereign, Focalors, and her predecessor, Egeria. It’s just that this was his first time seeing another one and of a human at tha.
This figure was made for this man to be remembered… why? Neuvillette thought.
For whatever reason, Neuvillette found himself always coming back to the statue, lingering longer every time he visited.
“Monsieur Neuvillette has been visiting that stone gentleman for a while now. He barely even visits his hidden cavern anymore,” one of the Melusines, Cornelia, said as they watched Neuvillette read a book while sitting on the statue’s lap.
“Right. He always comes here after completing the tasks Lady Focalors gives him,” Laume added.
“Maybe he’s fallen in love!” Flo concluded.
“Fallen in love?” Neuvillette had overheard. He looked up from the book he was reading to the statue’s face. He thought for a while before speaking.
“This person seems to have been a dignified man. He is handsome too. I’m sure he had many people fall in love with him.”
“You mean you’re not one of them?” Flo asked as the group of Melusines swam toward him.
Neuvillette let out a soft laugh. “No, my dear. I’m simply fascinated by this figure. You know how I always am with humans and their laws.”
He caressed the statue’s cheek, removing the growing moss on it—too little to even be noticed.
“Well, I regret to say that you shouldn’t stay here much longer for now, Monsieur Neuvillette. Lady Focalors sent us to escort you back to the Palais.”
Focalors is the current Hydro Sovereign. She holds authority over all waters—at least for now, while the Heavenly Principles allow it, or at least until the seven sovereigns decide to wage war against them.
Focalors and Neuvillette’s lineage are of dragons, and though the seas are vast, they’d rather not wander around in their massive forms, so they remain in what they call their mercreature forms: human upper bodies with tails like fish for their lower halves.
Other than governing the waters, Focalors’ main duty is to manage the Primordial Sea —the ancient underground origin of all life in Teyvat.
“Neuvillette! There you are.” Focalors exclaimed, yet made no effort to swim from her seat in the middle of the Palais’ court toward him.
“Lady Focalors, you called for me?” Neuvillette bowed in greeting.
“Yes. I can feel the Primordial Sea shaking again. It looks like it’s calling for another storm in Fontaine’s seas.” She sighed dramatically, leaning back against her throne’s armrest with the back of her wrist pressed to her forehead. “Would you be so dear as to make sure the storm does not go overboard again this time? I heard a large vessel carrying important goods almost sank last time.”
“Certainly, I can do that. But I can’t help but think you’ve been giving me more tasks these days. Not that I am complaining —I truly am not. But controlling the rain and storms is usually your responsibility, Lady Focalors. It is your duty as the Hydro Sovereign.”
Focalors looked at him. “Consider this your training. You are taking over my place eventually, right, love?”
“I’m afraid not for another few thousand years. I don’t think the Heavenly Principles would want that either—and pardon me, but I just realized that storms would be better handled by the Hydro Sovereign, as storms are a combination of water and wind, and you could even do it while sitting here whereas—”
Focalors cut him off. “My baby brother, my head aches. The storm will approach sometime today, but I need to rest. I just arrived from the surface as Furina.”
Right. Focalors loved her duty as Furina. Furina was another one of her forms when she visited the surface, and she seemed to spend even more time as her nowadays. But was it truly for overseeing the waters on land? Neuvillette couldn’t tell.
“Handling a storm should be a piece of cake for you,” Focalors added.
“As you wish then, Lady Focalors.”
It was all Neuvillette could say. It’s not like he had anything else to do anyway.
Neuvillette swam away from the Palais toward the location where Focalors said the storm would hit. He wanted to stay by the handsome human’s statue longer and finish the book he had been reading.
That statue oddly makes a good seat, he thought.
The water became warmer and brighter. Neuvillette confirmed he was near the surface when he spotted an anchor nearby.
This was bad. A ship was here.
He was about to swim closer to see how many humans were aboard, but realized he didn’t need to when he could already hear the noises of people cheering and laughing, music playing, and footsteps creating a strangely harmonic rhythm.
Neuvillette knew that once he became the next Hydro Sovereign, he would eventually need to spend time on the surface. But for now, Focalors had strictly forbidden him from showing himself to humans.
At first, he couldn’t understand why, but an event from the past had made him realize that humans were all different and never of the same character.
“All as mischievous as the last,” he remembered Focalors once telling him.
He shook the memory away, not wanting to dwell on such an unpleasant thing during an important mission. Even so, Neuvillette couldn’t help but peek his head above the water just enough for his eyes to see. He told himself it was merely to gather information on the humans or to eavesdrop if necessary.
Many people on the deck were dancing, most with drinks in their hands.
Neuvillette gasped softly. He finally saw how the instruments in his cavern were played—and what sounds they made.
“That’s a violin… What a splendid sound it makes,” he told himself.
He could also see those mini trident things and strange little wands placed beside… food?
“Are those edible? I would use them on my hair,” he said, chuckling quietly to himself.
Standing at the very front of the large ship’s deck, he spotted a man. He wasn’t dressed much differently from the others, yet Neuvillette could tell he held a different status judging by the way people greeted him.
He waited until the man was finally alone before swimming a little closer to see his face.
“Your Grace. You needed me?” Another man stood beside him. They just couldn’t leave this man alone, could they?
“Yes, Captain. I just heard this was where the cargo ship almost sank, right?”
“Oh, yes, Your Grace! Losing your precious statue in the process too. Such a magnificent thing, lost to the sea.”
Neuvillette’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Forget about that. I wanted to ask about the wind. Isn’t it a little too cold? The sky looks rather dark too, almost like a storm is coming.”
The captain downed his drink and shook his head. “Another storm hitting the same place within such a short period of time isn’t possible. It’s only cold and dark because night is approaching —or perhaps the Anemo Sovereign, Lord Barbatos, is feeling down again, haha!”
Neuvillette dove back beneath the sea. He could already tell they weren’t leaving the area anytime soon.
He understood the captain could be from Mondstadt, but he couldn’t afford to be so carefree. Neuvillette sighed and briefly considered cutting the ship’s anchor loose so they’d have no choice but to sail elsewhere, but that would likely create another problem altogether.
In the end, Neuvillette settled on waiting for the storm and simply doing what he came there to do; to stabilize as much water as he could from the rain and sea, and pray Lord Barbatos was sober enough to blow the raging winds away.
It was late into the night, almost dawn, when it happened. Humans hurriedly pulled up the ship’s anchor; the hull swung back and forth along with the people operating it. Neuvillette was able to stabilize the sea enough for the ship to move forward at least, but the wind was too strong—to the point that he saw a small boat drop from the ship and several people jump into it.
The people had decided to abandon the vessel.
And so, with the Hydro Sovereign’s permission, he commanded the waters once more to help the small boats sail away from the storm. Two, then three more boats dropped from the ship, making a total of six. From what Neuvillette could see, it should be enough for all the passengers.
The winds calmed slightly as well, and thankfully the Electro Sovereign, Ei, did not decide to join the party by sending down lightning strikes.
Just when Neuvillette had started to feel at ease, he heard a loud explosion above —a large part of the ship had caught fire!
Panicking, Neuvillette swam upward to get a closer look and check on the humans, hiding behind debris he guessed had been sent flying by the blast.
“Your Grace, we’re all here now! Please board this boat at once so we can leave this catastrophe!” a man shouted.
“No! I can’t leave Cerberus!”
Neuvillette recognized the voice as the man of high status. He seemed to be searching for someone named Cerberus.
With the storm nearly gone, the only remaining problem was the fire rapidly spreading across the ship, caused by who knew what. Explosions still rang out every now and then. Neuvillette once read that fire spread quickly when it came into contact with flammable substances, and apparently, this ship carried more alcohol than humans.
He summoned rain once more, though far less than before due to the limited Hydro authority granted to him by Focalors. If he were the Sovereign already, he could have produced the water himself.
If only Focalors were here!
Neuvillette swam around, searching for someone called Cerberus, though he was certain no humans remained aboard the ship anymore.
But then—
“…A small beast?”
Neuvillette stared at a furry brown-and-black creature standing on four legs, staring back at him with its tongue hanging out as it panted heavily.
Thinking the beast didn’t seem hostile, he cautiously swam toward it. The creature trotted closer as well, and now that Neuvillette was nearer, he realized it almost looked like the beast was smiling.
“Are you Cerberus?” he asked.
Surprisingly, the beast jumped excitedly and made a loud sound.
“Woof!”
“Cerberus!”
Neuvillette heard the high-status man calling for it. It was only when Neuvillette turned around that he realized most of the boats were already sailing farther away.
Right. When he commanded the waters, it meant the boats would not stop until they safely reached land.
“Come now. Your friend is looking for you.”
Neuvillette guided the dog through the water toward the voice.
Finally, he saw them reunite. The man embraced the beast tightly, repeatedly asking if it was hurt. Neuvillette watched until they reached the nearest boat and saw the man carefully toss Cerberus toward the humans aboard, who caught the beast safely.
Neuvillette quickly dove beneath the water again, afraid of being seen, but just as he did, another explosion erupted, far larger than the last and the force pushed the smaller boat farther away.
More debris flew across the sea, and Neuvillette could no longer summon rain.
From beneath the water, he watched the boat carrying Cerberus sail farther into the distance. Although Neuvillette understood it was the most rational thing to do, it broke his heart to see them leave the burning ship behind while the man remained there.
His heart ached for him.
The man had risked his own safety to save that little beast and probably the other humans too, considering he had suggested leaving earlier when he suspected a storm was coming.
Neuvillette muttered words of apology to his god for breaking a rule.
He was swimming back to the surface to search for the man.
Pushing debris aside, he swam and swam, searching desperately. The ship was sinking quickly, as broken vessels inevitably did. The wind had calmed completely now, and the fire was slowly being extinguished by the waters consuming the remains of the ship.
He searched until he finally found the man lying motionless atop a floating platform.
Never in his long years of living had Neuvillette shivered but now he did. Was he afraid of finally being seen by another human again? He wasn’t sure.
Yet the thought of the man already being dead terrified him even more, though he couldn’t understand why.
With trembling hands, Neuvillette gently touched him and realized the man was only unconscious. His heartbeat was faint, but still there.
From the man’s chest, Neuvillette moved his hand upward, brushing wet strands of hair away from his face, only to discover blood dripping from his forehead.
The man was injured.
Crossing through the waves, Neuvillette swam until the sky turned bronze. For the first time in many years, he reached land once more.
The sun was almost rising now, just bright enough for Neuvillette to realize he had arrived on the shores of Fontaine, the very same ones he had seen through the magical mirror-like shells Focalors once showed him.
Struggling with his tail, he managed to carefully lay the man upon the warm sand.
Only then was Neuvillette finally able to properly see him.
The man’s hair was black with streaks of gray. His body was larger than Neuvillette’s, and probably taller too if Neuvillette did not have a tail instead of legs.
And his face was handsome.
Very handsome.
Neuvillette couldn’t help taking a moment to observe the man lying beneath him. This human’s chest, thighs, and face looked remarkably similar to the statue.
“Oh yes, Your Grace! Losing your precious statue in the process too. Such a magnificent thing, lost to the sea.”
He recalled the captain saying those words to this man.
Neuvillette gently brushed wet strands of hair from the man’s face and traced the curved line beneath his eye. It was the same scar the statue had.
He traced the bridge of the man’s nose, his plump lips chapped from the cold, and the scars scattered across his neck, chest and arms—details the statue had never captured.
Nevertheless, Neuvillette was certain now.
This man’s name was…
“Wriothesley,” he softly called.
A smile spread across his face, and he felt a tear slip from his eye. He had just saved that very same man.
Neuvillette liked the sound of Wriothesley’s name on his tongue.
“You have to wake up, Wriothesley.”
So he said his name once more.
He was about to place a hand over Wriothesley’s chest and use the little remaining power Focalors had lent him when he suddenly heard a familiar bark.
“Woof!”
It was the little beast from the ship.
Cerberus ran past his unconscious master and leapt straight onto Neuvillette instead.
Neuvillette couldn’t quite understand it, but the beast wasn’t attacking him. If anything, it seemed to be clinging to him, licking him all over while its tail wagged enthusiastically.
Neuvillette couldn’t help the ticklish feeling spreading across his scales, and a laugh escaped him.
“Cerberus, you adorable beast. Stop that,” he said between soft laughter.
The little moment didn’t last long before he heard people approaching.
“The Duke is here! Sir Cerberus found him!”
Long before they arrived, Neuvillette had already slipped back into the water, watching from afar as the humans rushed toward Wriothesley and tended to him.
Neuvillette stayed for a little while longer, at least until they had all left.
He waved goodbye to the little beast, who still seemed to be calling for him from the shore. The adorable creature, whom the humans addressed as “Sir,” had to be carried away because it kept trying to return to the water.
It seemed this little beast held quite the high status too.
Neuvillette smiled at the thought.
“I pray to Celestia for your swift recovery, Wriothesley,” Neuvillette finally whispered.