Chapter Text
The bright Natlan sun beat down on the two women as they wandered through the local market, while the various locals eyed the two women with a mixture of curiosity and caution. Peruere was assigned on a reconnaissance mission to Natlan, among other things with Mother and honestly the heat was unbearable, even if she didn't show it. She walked through the market as various people sold their wares, while a few people eyed her and Crucabena, trying to see how much money they had and if they were worth approaching.
"Perhaps we should reward the other children. What do you think?" Crucabena asked.
Peruere merely nodded. "If that is what you wish, Mother." Her heart raced as she felt Crucabena's gaze on her. Mother's warm smile was only the surface, and she had long grown accustomed to her sharp tongue.
Suddenly, a woman's scream caused her to turn her head.
"Is this all you got? I need more money for the next race!"
She froze as she turned to see a local stall. A half-drunk man was grabbing a woman who was shaking, one of her eyes bruised, while to her side, a young boy with black hair and green eyes was trying to stand between them.
"Dad, please—"
The man slapped the boy so hard that he fell to the ground, causing the woman to scream as she tried to shield him.
Normally, she wouldn't get involved, but Mother gave her a knowing look. As the man raised his hand to strike the woman again, she immediately appeared between them and grabbed his hand. The man's eyes widened as she gripped it tightly.
"Why, you—" He let out a scream as she effortlessly tossed him to the ground as people around them froze and watched.
"A father should never strike his child," she said, her eyes narrowing on the man with such intensity that he sobered up as he got a good look at her.
Around them, people began to watch curiously while eyeing them cautiously as the man looked at her with fear in his gaze. "I-I-I just needed money," he begged, his body shaking. "My wife didn't give me enough."
Crucabena came by her side and looked at the mother and the boy with a calculating gaze before looking at her with a gaze she knew too well.
Always on the hunt.
She cleared her throat and looked down at the man. "Then be a man and get a job instead of gambling. Now get out of my sight, or my daughter will throw you out," she said with enough threat in her voice to make him get up and run away.
When he was gone, she turned to the woman and child. "Are you alright?"
The woman avoided her gaze, her body shaking. "There was no need… he'll just get angrier."
Her son looked to the ground, his fists clenched while his eyes burned with fury. She looked down at the vegetables strewn along the ground and took out some Mora. "Here. I'll take them all."
The woman's eyes widened. "Ma'am, this is too much!"
"I have a lot of mouths to feed." She then knelt down to the boy. His eyes were a mixture of yellow and green, almost like a lizard. He was young, but he had a gaze that carried much more than a boy his age should, and he was also intelligent. It was similar to the gaze of the children in the House of the Hearth.
"What is your name?"
The boy looked at her with a half-dead yet firm look. "Kinich."
"Good job protecting your mother. Not every father is worthy of having a wife or child. You were very brave." The boy nodded cautiously but said nothing as he looked at her.
She got up and looked at the woman and handed her a card. "If you need any assistance, feel free to come to the Fatui encampment not far from here."
The woman's eyes widened but she nodded respectfully. "Th-Thank you, ma'am."
Crucabena smiled. "As a mother, I know what it's like dealing with children. I deal with many children from rough backgrounds."
Her words were caring, as if she were some therapist in an office. "Just recently, the orphanage took in a child from a woman whose husband ran off because of some debts. I always keep my children safe and raise them to have successful lives. They can go to school and have successful careers instead of being subject to untold abuse."
The woman nodded. For a moment, she looked at her son and back at Crucabena with a bit of hope in her despair-filled gaze. Mother always knows what to say. The House of the Hearth had so many children that she had seen most of the reasons that drove them there, and Mother always knew how to sink her teeth into a situation.
Crucabena handed the woman a tissue. "If you or your son ever need help while I am here, I can see what I can do to make sure you both are safe."
Her words were like a lifeline. She saw the way the woman's eyes almost lit up as she turned around with her son. "Trust me, I've dealt with my fair share of husbands who drink and gamble."
She left with the produce in hand, though she could feel the young boy and his mother looking at her as she left. Such a bright child. It's a pity he has such a brute of a father. She and Mother walked away, and Mother smiled the way she always did when she had an idea.
"We could use some assets here," Crucabena said in a businesslike tone. "Keep an eye out for him or any other potential recruits."
"Yes, Mother."
Mother always took care of the business side of things with strategic ruthlessness. If she saw a kid that looked promising, she'd do all she could to make sure that she was their mother. The House of the Hearth recruited from all nations, but not in Natlan, and she could see the scheming already happening in Mother's eyes at the prospect of cracking the code to a nation that was frequently at war.
She spent the rest of the day observing the city and bought a few presents for the children back at the House of the Hearth before returning to their camp. When she returned, she sat in Mother's tent and reviewed some files.
After a few hours, a Fatui officer came in. "Ma'am, we have a situation outside."
Crucabena frowned and set her documents down. "What is it?"
"A group of locals are attempting to give us a child," the man said as they walked out of the tent and through the encampment.
She frowned, but Mother looked intrigued. "Take us to them."
The House of the Hearth had a reputation that often resulted in people wanting to sell off some undesirable children: the orphans, the bastards, those with abusive spouses who threatened to kill the children. She had seen it all in her time in the House.
At the entrance of the camp, she found her Fatui guards standing in front of a group of villagers who had a sobbing boy with dark blueish hair tied up in ropes as bruises and blood covering his body.
"Is this a custom of Natlan?" Crucabena asked with a bit of practiced indignation. "In most parts of Teyvat, beaten children aren't gifts."
The group of villagers looked at each other nervously. "Lady Knave, we know of your reputation," one said quickly. "This child is bad luck for our people. We tried sacrificing him, but it didn't go through. W-We think it would if he were elsewhere."
The boy sobbed. "Where's Granny—"
He was silenced by a kick to the chest that knocked him to the ground so hard that he passed out, and blood began to fall from the wound on his head. The area went silent as even the Fatui officers stared with a mixture of shock and disgust at the now-unconscious boy, who was being held like an animal ready to be killed for supper.
Her gaze narrowed, and the atmosphere tensed as the guards awkwardly took a step to the side, knowing and awaiting her orders. "You should know that as Snezhnayan diplomats, we have immunity if any accidents happen."
The face of every villager paled, but one stepped forward. "W-We mean no disrespect, but this child has no parents and has been nothing but bad luck. He is a bad omen to our people and nation, and if he stays, he will continue to bring us bad luck. We don't know what else to do with him, please accept him."
They tossed the boy to the ground as if he had a disease. Crucabena looked at the unconscious boy, whose body fidgeted in a pool of his own blood. "Fine. We'll take the unwanted child."
With a snap of her fingers, her guards went to pick up the unconscious boy as his blood fell onto the ground. The villagers looked relieved and bowed deeply. "Thank you!"
They quickly scurried away, not giving one look back to the boy they had just beaten half to death. "See that the boy is given medical attention," Crucabena ordered as they returned to her tent and finished up her tasks before she went to the medical tent. The doctors immediately began to work on him.
"Such a sad and primitive way of getting rid of a child." Mother looked at the boy with a familiar calculating gaze as the boy was bandaged up. He looked almost peaceful lying on the bed, yet she could see the scars of a troubled childhood on him. After a few hours, the boy woke up and Mother quickly put on her nurturing face. "Are you alright? Don't worry, no one here will hurt you. What is your name?" She was the fully caring mother now, the kind that would make any child smile.
The boy quivered. "Ororon." His hair was dark, while one of his eyes was red and the other was blue as they looked up at her with curiosity and apprehension. "Wh-Where am I?"
She knelt down and met the boy's gaze. "This is my encampment. Why did your tribesmen harm you? Do you not have any parents?" Her voice was soft and caring while her eyes were teary. For Mother, this was second nature.
The boy looked as if he were about to break down. "They say I'm cursed," Ororon muttered, his gaze full of tears. "My parents abandoned me, and only Granny Itzi takes care of me, but she got mad at me."
He cleaned his eyes and sniffled. "When she left to see the Archon, the villagers came and attacked me." His body shook. "They beat me when I tried to tell them to stop and forcibly dragged me away."
Crucabena placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as he began to sob. "It's okay," she said calmly. "You're safe here." Standing up, she looked at the boy. She could tell he was bright and had potential for great things. "I've helped a lot of children like you all over Teyvat," she said calmly. "I won't force you to come with me, but if you wish, I could be your new mother and teach you so that no one will ever harm you again. You'll have nice clothes and plenty of food to eat, along with being able to go to school."
Same old playbook.
She was used to it already, the pleasant mother when the child needed it, only to be turned stern after the honeymoon period. Most people would be disgusted, but she was long used to it, along with the look of hope in the young boy's eyes.
Ororon paused. "I don't know. Granny…" He paused and looked down at the bed and began to sob.
"Take your time to think it over," Crucabena said sweetly. "You are free to accept it or leave, but if you accept, I swear I shall be a good mother and help you reach your full potential. I'll try and reach out to your grandmother, okay?"
With that, they left the tent to retire for the night. "We have a new asset," Crucabena said as they looked up at the starry sky. "Natlan shall no longer be hidden from the House of the Hearth." She turned to one of her men. "Look into this boy's background and find out who his grandmother is."
The guard nodded and left. The next morning, as she was overseeing the closure of her camp, she noticed Ororon come up to them. Crucabena immediately put on the mask of the caring mother and began to cry. "Sweetie, are you okay?" She went over and knelt down and hugged the boy. "I spoke to your grandmother. Citlali, was it?" The boy's eyes went wide, and Crucabena immediately sobbed and pulled him in for a hug. "I'm very sorry. I told her you were safe, and she said she wanted you gone and that you were a lost cause."
It shouldn't have hurt. She had seen Mother act this way countless times before, but the way Ororon's gaze broke and the way the tears fell down his face made something inside of her stir.
She watched as Crucabena cried with the boy and hugged him. "I will be your mother, and I swear I shall never abandon you," she said with sweet words. "I won't treat you like your tribesmen did."
Yeah, we'll see about that.
It took all her willpower not to appear disgusted. While she herself helped recruit children, she preferred being honest and building an actual relationship so that they would be loyal members of the House of the Hearth.
This boy will be fighting for his life in a few months, if he's lucky to survive.
"Madam Knave!" Turning around, a guard ran up to them and inclined his head. "A boy was left at our doorstep with one of your cards in hand."
Crucabena gave her a look that didn't need words.
"I'll be right there." She followed the guard to the front, where they found young Kinich sitting on a stone, looking at her with a dead stare in his eyes that were out of tears, the look of a child who was solemn beyond his years.
"Give us privacy." The guards nodded as they retreated into the camp. Kinich stared at her with an emotionless look as she approached him and knelt down. "What happened?"
Kinich didn't respond at first, but in the distance, she could see a figure: a woman with a face etched with sorrow from years of abuse "He got really mad," Kinich started, but paused. "We left last night. She said I would be safer here."
She kept her gaze on the woman in the distance and stood up. "Come. We have a long journey ahead of us." Kinich nodded and didn't look back, but the woman kept her gaze on them and only turned around once they were in the encampment.
Mauvika had never seen Citlali this mad. The Shaman had originally come to talk about some business associated with fighting the Abyss for a few days and returned to her home. However, not even a day later, she came running back to her with a fiery anger in her eyes, pounding on her door in the middle of the night.
"They took Ororon!" Citlali shouted, her voice echoing throughout the halls. "The Fatui have him. We have to stop them!" She kicked a table to the side, causing it to go flying against a wall.
"Hey, just calm down." The Pyro Archon had known that the Knave had visited them on unofficial business, but she hadn't thought of spying on her given the current focus on the Abyss. "What happened?"
Citlali gripped a crumpled piece of paper in her hand, her gaze burning as she stomped on the ground. "My idiot tribesmen gave him to the Knave!"
She clenched the paper tightly and threw it to the ground her eyes burning with fury. "I'm going to kill them when I find them!"
"The Knave is a Snezhnayan diplomat. We have to do this carefully." She turned to one of her men. "Gather all our men and try to find the Knave at all costs."
It wasn't long before a search party had been organized. Citlali stayed by her side as they scoured the nearby areas. "I should have done more," Citlali muttered as they rode across the grassland. "How could my own people be so heartless? He's just a child!"
She never met the young boy, but Citlali had mentioned him in passing, and the look in her eyes was all the Archon needed to know how upset she was. They continued riding towards where the Fatui camp was rumored to be.
"Archon!" A guard ran up to them, and they both stopped. "Archon, we found remnants of a group near the encampment the Fatui were at."
He paused and took a deep breath. "They belong to Masters of the Night Wind. All were taken out quickly."
"Looks like the Knave doesn't take kindly to those that abuse children." She looked up at the dark sky. They could be anywhere if they were even still in Natlan.
Citlali ground her teeth, her gaze burning with sorrow and anger. "Lucky them. If I found them, they wouldn't have met such an easy death."
"Continue your search," she ordered. They continued their search around the area well into the night. Neither she nor Citlali rested as they followed any clue until a messenger from the Flower-Feather Clan appeared.
"Archon!" The messenger nearly collapsed.
Citlali grabbed the man and threw him against the wall. "Where did the Fatui go? What did you hear?"
She placed a hand on her shoulder, and Citlali released her grip, causing the man to fall. "What happened?"
The messenger stood up and took a deep breath. "Forgive us, Archon, but a Snezhnayan ship was spotted leaving our harbor a few days ago. Since it was a diplomatic ship, we didn't think it wise to intercept them. We only heard of your order this morning."
Citlali's gaze broke. The Shaman staggered back and nearly fell over as her gaze grew wet. "Lady Archon… please." Her body shook as she let out a sob.
For once, Citlali looked broken in a way she had never seen her before. "He's just a child… his soul isn't even complete. If he leaves Natlan… who knows what will happen."
A pang hit her heart as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll see what I can do, but if he's in Snezhnaya, getting him back will be difficult."
Citlali just looked at the ground as a tear fell down her face. They quickly went to the Stadium of the Sacred Flame, and she immediately summoned her closest advisors. "I want an immediate investigation into the Masters of the Night Wind and the Fatui."
Over the next few days, delegations from various tribes came over as she tried to find any reports of the Fatui, but there were few, if any clues. Citlali said nothing, but her gaze maintained a cold sorrow as she helped with the investigation into her own tribe. She had never seen the Shaman look so distraught, and the anger in her gaze was worse than anything she had seen from her before as she lashed out at any member of her own tribe who even remotely had dealings with those that sold Ororon.
Later that night, as she was sitting beneath the stars, she heard footsteps approach.
"Lady Archon." She turned around to see an elderly man who bowed deeply. "Forgive me, Lady Archon. I know you are busy."
She took a deep breath and put on a calm smile for one of her tribesmen. "Elder Leik, how may I help you?"
Elder Leik looked her in the eyes and bowed deeply. "There was a domestic disturbance in the Scions of the Canopy a few days ago."
He paused and avoided her gaze. "Forgive me. I know our nation has more important things to deal with, but a boy and his mother, whom I knew, haven't been seen since their father went on a drunken tirade. I fear for their safety."
She sighed. "I'll have men look into it."
The thing was, there were only so many men to go around, especially now, but she still had a duty to all the people of Natlan and the war against the Abyss. Later that evening, she found Citlali. She shook her head, her body shaking as she cleaned the tears from her eyes. Her gaze drifted to the ground.
"His soul… he shouldn't be out of Natlan." Her gaze drifted to the dark, starry sky.
"We'll see what we can do." Being an Archon wasn't always easy, and despite her strength, she couldn't even protect two children.