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Animula Choragi 1: Le Misérable

Water washed over Furina, hiding her tears, and despite herself, she sucked in one final breath. So it was over. She had failed. Five hundred years of torment, and all for naught. She’d played upon the grandest stage, and in the end, the Prophecy had still come true.

Something within her began to dissolve into the waters, and her form began to merge with her tears. So I will dissolve back into the Primordial Sea like the rest. In the end, I was just a mortal. What folly, to think I could play the role of a god…

A wave of power hit her, and Furina tried to gasp, only to find she had no lungs to breathe. She opened her eyes, and beheld her reflection, staring back at her. Only… it was slightly different. She was wearing a long white dress that showed off her non-existent bust, and her hair was longer and held back in only a loose braid. She blinked, and her reflection started in shock. Slowly, the reflection put her hand up to the mirror, tilting her head to one side.

Furina? That voice…was it hers? It sounded a bit like her but richer and more regal.

Hesitating for a moment, Furina slowly mimicked the gesture, placing her own gloved hand against the mirror.

No, not like that, I think. Reach out, my child. You’ve done so well.

How can you say that? Furina demanded silently, tears falling down her cheeks as she withdrew her hand to hug herself. I’ve failed! They’re dead! All dead! First those poor girls, then all those people in Poisson, and now, all of Fontaine! I’ve failed completely! I’m as useless as they say!

Oh, Furina. Open your eyes. See.

Gentle hands reached out, cupping Furina’s cheeks, and she started in shock, her eyes flying open. The apparition had reached through the mirror, ghostly hands that were strangely warm tenderly brushing away Furina’s tears. Tenderly but firmly, the apparition turned Furina’s gaze away from the mirror to behind her. She started in surprise, her jaw dropping open.

A great ship, captained by Wriothesley, churned atop the waves, retrieving men, women, children, and schools, great schools of people from the waves. Navia led a flotilla of smaller boats as the Spina de Rosula did the same thing, rescuing Furina’s people from the depths. The twins and Paimon zipping over the waves, the strangers from afar lifting up survivors to place them on their little boat, while the tiny fairy gave out blankets and food.

And above it all, Neuvillette, his head bowed, hands resting on his cane.

“Your sins… are forgiven,” he whispered. He looked up, a pained gleam in his eye as a single tear traced its way down his cheek. “You should have seen this, Furina. It was your most magnificent performance.”

Jaw dropping open, Furina watched as she floated below the surface of the water, incredulous at first, but even as she floundered to fully comprehend the success of her actions, a giddy sense of joy overwhelmed her. She laughed and cried, doing a little jig in the water and twirling about.

I did it! I actually did it! Oh, Focalors, if only you could see me now! Your plan worked! Your people are saved!

Yes. I am sorry, Furina.

Furina turned back to the apparition, starting in shock. Instead of the woman in a dress, she saw only an oceanid, floating within the mirror, a crown upon its head. When Furina looked down at her hands, she saw only watery blobs, and she realized she was nothing more than a Hydro Phantasm now.

Of course. My purpose is complete. Perhaps, now, at last, I can rest. Furina thought to herself, closing her eyes and letting herself drift upon the current.

Is this what you truly wanted, my daughter? The voice in the mirror asked softly.

Yes, Furina said, but after a moment, softly admitted, but… I think… just once… I would have liked to just be me… if only for a little while.

She closed her eyes, and felt her body, now made solely of Hydro energy, slowly dissolving into the waters of the Primordial Sea. She had bought salvation for her beloved Fontaine, but at a price. Still, she was just a worthless girl, an actor upon the stage, nothing more. Who even was Furina de Fontaine really?

Why don’t we find out? The gentle voice whispered.

Wouldn’t that be nice? But it’s only an illusion, washed away in the rains…

Everything swept away, and Furina knew nothing for a time, perhaps an eternity, or maybe only a moment.

Then, she felt a drop of rain on her face.

Startled, she opened her eyes, shocked that she had eyes again. Above her stretched grey clouds, from which rain had just begun to fall. She blinked in shock as the water touched her face, and lifted her trembling hand to wipe it away.

“C’est qui, cette femme? Connaissez-lui-vous?”

“Non, mais elle semble comme para. Ne l'approche pas.”

Voices spoke all around her, and Furina sat up, looking around her with eyes growing ever wide her. She was sitting on a metal bench of some sort, a gravel path before her, with a lake stretching out in front of her, the surface rippling as the rain fell on it. A couple was passing by her, whispering, and looking sideways at Furina.

“Merde, il pleut! Allez, éloignons-nous d'elle.”

“T’as vu d'où elle venait? C'est comme si elle est sortie de nulle part.”

Their language was odd, as were their clothes. The style was nothing like that of Fontaine, with the designs rather simple, and the woman’s long pants clinging to her form rather tightly. It was flattering on her figure, but rather shocking, and with none of the frills or buttons that Furina was used to seeing. The man was dressed in a jacket with stripes and an odd logo, with symbols on it that Furina thought were words, but she couldn’t understand.

“Il faut appeler la police, ou peut-être les Mousquetaires?”

“Tais-toi! Elle nous regarde!”

The couple was walking away rapidly now, and Furina saw a mother hastily shepherding her children away from where they’d been feeding the waterfowl, shooting frightened looks at Furina all the while. Their clothes were equally odd, as were their hairstyles. The woman had some sort of odd device she’d pulled out and was putting to her ear, even as her little girl pulled at her hand and pointed.

“Maman, maman, regarde! C'est une héroine! Est-ce-que elle est comme l'éclair de la Princesse Ami?”

Timidly, Furina raised a hand and waggled her fingers at the girl, who eagerly waved frantically back, a huge grin blooming on her face. Her mother, however, tugged on her hand even harder, trying to speak into that little box and herd her daughter and juggle a toddler in the crook of her arm as well.

Wincing, Furina turned back around. Wherever she was, apparently they’d already heard she was a fraud and a charlatan. She took a few moments to get her bearings, just enjoying the sensation of the cold rain upon her skin. She even took off her hat, turning her face up to the sky, letting the water splash upon her cheeks.

I’m sorry I cannot give you more. For now, this is the best I can do. Remember: I’ll always be close to you.

“Eh?” Furina stood, looking around, but there was no sign of anyone near her. The park was rapidly emptying out as the rain intensified, and the people who had seen her were moving away from her as fast as they could. Furina even went so far as to kneel down and check under the bench, as silly as that was. She got her knees wet and scuffed on the gravel for nothing, however, as obviously there was no one there.

A sudden sense of vertigo struck Furina, and she collapsed back into the bench, one hand going to her chest as she struggled to breathe for a moment. Sensations and images rushed through her mind, a torrent of sudden knowledge and power. She could feel the rain. Sense it falling through the sky, landing on the ground, forming into puddles, into streams, into little rivers. She could sense the lake, feel how artificial it was, formed by human hands, but still containing the power of fresh water within it.

And more. She could feel the distant tug of larger bodies of water, impressions of lakes, rivers, and even the vast and endless deep. It was all too much, and she cried out in pain, clutching her head in her hands.

“Enough! Please, enough! I don’t want this! I just want to be Furina!”

If that is your wish…

It all stopped. Even the rain, which suddenly petered out, the clouds overhead slowly breaking up. Furina sat there, soaked to the bone and gasping for breath, her eyes wide as she tried to fathom what had just happened to her. What was going on? Where was she? What had that… feeling been?! It didn’t make any sense!

“Salut, bonne journée! Alors, il fait bon aujourd’hui, non?”

With a start, Furina looked up to see a smiling face looking down at her, green eyes framed by bright red hair. She jerked back, putting a hand to her chest. “Charlotte?! What are you doing here?”

The other woman tilted her head to one side, standing up from where she had been leaning down to put her face in front of Furina’s. She was dressed in tight red clothes that showed off her tight and muscled belly, as well as a modest bosom that Furina still envied. Even after 500 years, she still wasn’t over what nature had denied her. Not that she’d ever had time for that sort of thing, but, well, to say she had several insecurities was to say that the Marechaussee Phantom employed only a few melusines.

“Charlotte? Non, c’est pas moi! À bon, je suis désolée, mais je ne peux pas vous comprendre. Parlez-vous français? Ou l'anglais, par chance?” the woman said with a laugh and a smile. She said something else, but Furina was slowly realizing something.

She could understand the woman.

“You’re not Charlotte,” Furina said slowly, carefully enunciating the words in this new language that was similar to Fontainian, but subtly different. “But you want to know if I speak…what was it? Angle-ash? I’m afraid I don’t know what a French is.”

The other woman laughed, showing off a bright and cheery smile, the antlers on her head bobbing up and down slightly. “Why my dear, you’re speaking it right now! Though with a bit of a bumpkin accent, I have to say. Where are you from? Somewhere in Aquitaine? The Loire Valley?”

“From Fontaine. I’m… I’m Furina de Fontaine,” she said, and held her breath, not knowing what would happen.

“Fontaine? Never heard of it! Are you quite alright? We got a few calls about a strange woman in a cape costume sitting on a park bench, and I was in the area so I came over to investigate. Do you need help, or perhaps legal representation? Are you a para?”

“I… have done legal work on occasion,” Furina said slowly, picking up her bedraggled hat from beside herself on the bench and frowning at it. A role. This woman was expecting something. She hadn’t reacted at all to the name ‘Furina de Fontaine.’ So, she was far away from Fontaine. She needed to play a role, to find out what was going on.  “I am… somewhat new in town. I don’t suppose you could direct me to, ah, the nearest… theater?”

“Ah, so you’re an actor!” the other woman chuckled, slapping her side in amusement. “I see! Well,  you gave everyone quite a fright. They said you appeared on that bench out of nowhere and dressed up like that, well…”

“Ah, well, I do a bit of stage magic,” Furina said, standing up and settling her hat on her head. “One has to keep one’s skills up to snuff, of course. What was your name, again?”

“That depends, is there cape trouble, or legal trouble?” the other woman asked, her green eyes suddenly flashing with amusement. Furina studied her, but she didn’t see a Vision on her. These capes…were they players of some sort? Actors, or fighters? People had seemed worried about that… well, she didn’t know anything about these ‘capes’ but she did know a great deal about the law.

“Legal trouble. My last employer… well, let us say that we did not part on the best of terms,” Furina hedged.

Quick as a flash, the other woman whipped out a card and pressed it into Furina’s hands. It had bright red lettering on a cream-colored background and had the image of a deer’s horn wrapped in flames on it.

“In that case, I’m Yennefer Lustitia! Attorney at Law! I represent clients in all kinds of cases! I actually handle a lot of employment law. You wouldn’t believe how many parahumans and Vision Holders have trouble with employers. Everything from discrimination in the workplace, to unlawful termination, to the withholding of wages…I think I can help you out!”

“Er, yes, that sounds helpful,” Furina agreed, studying the card. She could read the words on it, to her shock, even though the characters looked nothing like modern Teyvan script, or the more ancient runes early Fontainians had used.

Yennefer Lustita, Practicing Attorney

Specializing in representing Capes of all kinds.

If you need a lawyer, call upon the Antlers of Justice!

“Why don’t you come with me to my office? It’s just a short bus ride away,” Yennefer offered, gesturing broadly into the distance, through the trees and along the gravel path. “I know it’s not glamorous, but being a part-time Musketeer and part-time lawyer doesn’t pay as well as I might like.”

“Ah, yes, of course, I’ve always thought they should pay public servants more,” Furina said with a titter, making a desperate gamble that a Musketeer was some kind of Garde unit, or that being a lawyer was a public servant of some sort here.

“Yes, well, we make do with what we have, don’t we? So, tell me about your troubles,” Yennefer prompted as they walked along the path towards what sounded like a road with heavy traffic of some kind.

“Oh, well, you know, it’s a similar story to what I’m sure you’ve heard before,” Furina said by way of trying to say as little with as many words as possible as she stalled for time. “I was living out in the countryside, keeping much to myself, occasionally doing a few small performances with some of the skills I’d picked up…and I…I…”

Furina swallowed and very nearly missed a step. Great vehicles emitting some sort of horrendous smelling fumes were puttering by, in a myriad of shapes and sizes. People were just walking along the side of the road, ignoring them, and she could see that there were more people inside. Since no one else was paying any attention to them, she did her best to pay them no heed, along with, well... everything else.

Now that they were out of the trees, Furina realized they’d been in a park of some sort. There were all sorts of buildings in the distance, some of them truly enormous. She’d thought the Opera Epiclese was about as large as it was possible for a building to be, but unless she was very much mistaken, she could see dozens of behemoths of glass and metal that dwarfed it in the distance, and a dozen more close by that were much larger than the vast majority of Fontainian constructions were.

“... I decided to move to the big city, since there was no real opportunity in the countryside,” Furina declared, giving a theatrical sigh. “I packed what little possessions I had, since my former employer stiffed me on my last paycheck, and came here, hoping to seek my fortunes at the theater.”

This had to be a big city. It looked enormous, and the number of people splashing through the puddles and hurrying along the streets was shocking. One of them, a man with his hands shoved in his pockets, a few days' growth of dark stubble on his cheeks, and an incredibly foul-smelling thing of some kind dangling from his lips, leered at Furina and Yennefer.

“Ah, such pretty girls! Why don’t you stop playing at being capes, and come have a drink at the cafe with me?” he said with a wink.

“I do not make a habit of consorting with those lacking manners, nor do I make myself friendly to men whose breath would offend even a vishap,” Furina sniffed, tilting her chin up in disdain.

“Ah, if you see such a lout, let me know, I will chase him off!” the man declared, spreading his arms wide. “And what could be sweeter than a shared cigarette over wine? Come, bring your pretty friend too, you might need her if there is a case for sexual harassment.”

“Perhaps you have time to drink wine and ruin your lungs in the middle of the day, but some of us have work to do,” Yennefer said with an equally disdainful sniff. “Run along, or I’ll light more than your cigarette for you, fool.”

The man called after them, but Furina and Yennefer hurried along, most of the other people giving them a wide berth, though most of the men still leered at them.

“Disgusting pig,” Furina muttered, shaking her head in distaste. “Most men have better manners than to come on to one such as I so directly.”

“Oh? Were you someone of note in your small town? I’m afraid the men in Paris are a boorish lot, and wouldn’t find any country fame to be anything but something of interest to notch on their bedposts,” Yennefer commented.

Cold sweat washed over Furina, and realized she made a horrible mistake. She was still playing the role of Focalors, as she did as naturally as breathing, and had done for hundreds of years. But she wasn’t Focalors, the God of Justice, Hydro Archon. The Prophecy had been duped, and Furina had taken her final bow upon the stage of Fontaine. Wherever she was now, she wasn’t playing the Hydro Archon now. She was just Furina.

The only problem was, she didn’t really know who Furina was.

“Ha ha, oh, you know I jest. Surely a woman such as yourself must put up with insufferable louts who leer at you all day. Most consider me rather plain, and well, lacking in womanly attributes,” Furina said, gesturing self-deprecatingly to her rather modest, or well, entirely absent, curves.

“Ah ha, I think you underestimate yourself, and the Parisian appetite for beauty! You are a fine looking woman, I am certain that many will come to see your performances!”

Blushing, Furina looked away. She’d been deemed “cute” by the Steambird and other publications, consistently ranking amongst the “most adorable members of society” and nearly at the top of those lists, save for the few biased in favor of Sigewinne. Not that Furina minded, she found the little nurse of Meropide to be completely charming herself, and she’d never thought she was particularly good-looking. Especially not with her horrible eye, which at least typically identified her as the Archon.

“Well, one must cultivate one’s good looks as they can, but attracting bottom feeders such as that was never my intention. I’d sooner kiss a blubberbeast than a ruffian like him. But tell me, I am new to Paris. I’ve heard stories of course, but what is it really like?”

Yennifer seemed happy enough to chatter away until they came to a sign with the word “BUS” atop it, and various numbers that utterly baffled Furina along the sides. People were standing on the sidewalk as more of those odd vehicles went by at frighteningly fast speeds, some of them waiting under a little shelter close by, others talking with friends or looking at various publications. One young man was tapping away with his thumbs at one of those odd little boxes, while a woman had one to her ear and was talking into it. A communication device of some sort? Furina hadn’t seen anything like it before, but this was clearly a strange land.

Furina chatted with Yennifer, doing the best to deflect any questions with jokes or vague answers, and trying to get as much information without looking she was probing as she possibly could. She had a lot of experience with it, and she had Yennifer talking about the “French Legal System.” It sounded rather fascinating, and didn’t really work at all like the Opera Epiclese had.

Though Neuvillete was the Iudex and the Maison Ordaile was responsible for writing all the laws, in her role as Focalors, Furina had carefully researched every law on the books of Fontaine, even the particularly obscure or silly ones. She knew how everything worked, from how the Garde enforced the law, to how investigations of the Marechaussee Phantom played out, and of course, how cases were tried and prosecuted. She had, of course, acted as prosecutor and defense herself on many occasions, either for cases she found especially dramatic, or when one had particularly roused her rather overdeveloped sense of justice.

Play a role long enough, and you started to become it, after all.

After only a few minutes, a particularly large vehicle with a bored looking driver pulled up to the curb, and the doors hissed open. Several people got out, and many of the waiting people began to board.

“That’s our bus! Come on,” Yennifer said, and stepped aboard. However, as she made to follow, Furina noted that people were either showing some sort of pass to the bus driver or dropping some change into a box.

Hanging back slightly, Furina made a great show of patting herself down, as if searching for a wallet. That was, of course, pure fabrication. Furina didn’t carry something so base as actual mora with her. She’d made the mistake of attempting to pay for things only very early in her career. People had been either offended or suspicious when she had, as by their logic, gods didn’t pay for things. So, naturally, she just ordered people to give her whatever she wanted, or simply took it and if they looked concerned, told them to bill the Palise Mermona. Neuvillette and her staff handled such things.

She did feel guilty about it, and did her best to control her spending. The one area she let herself indulge in was sweets and pastries, and she consoled herself that businesses competed fiercely to be able to say that Furina de Fontaine had sampled their confections, and chefs from as far away as Inazuma had come to prepare her daily delicacies. She did still have to go on occasional overly indulgent shopping trips, of course. She had a reputation to maintain, and naturally, all of Fontaine looked to their Archon as the trendsetter. Her current outfit was only a few months old, and she’d have had to get a new one made in a new style shortly, just to maintain appearances.

…She wouldn’t have to do that anymore though. None of that now, actually. There was no need to play a facade now that the play was over. She could… Well, she supposed she could still go buy sweets and pastries. What would it be like to actually pay for something?

“Oh, goodness, I must have dropped my wallet, I’ll have to go back and look for it, I’ll meet you-” Furina began, but Yennefer grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the bus, dropping some change into the box as the driver glared sullenly at them and pulled on that horrible cigarette in his mouth. Such things could not be good for one's health, and it really did smell vile. In fact, the whole bus stank of unwashed bodies and that wretched smoke, making Furina want to gag slightly.

“You didn’t have a wallet with you, and there was none on that bench you were sitting on,” Yennefer said, pushing Furina into the seat closest to the window then sitting down herself. Furina paled slightly and opened her mouth to come up with a story, but Yennefer gave her a pitying look. “You don’t have any money, do you?”

“No,” Furina said, her voice very small as she shrank in on herself.

“Spent all of it on that costume, didn’t you?” Yennefer said with a heavy sigh. “That looks custom, and expensive.”

Horrendously so, Monsieur Jaque le Couturier himself had designed the outfit, and his services ordinarily ran into the millions of mora. Furina knew for a fact that he hadn’t charged a single mora for it, as he’d been begging her to wear another of his outfits for three years, and that Jaque had seen a tenfold increase in sales from the day Furina had premiered the outfit, which had been, of course, when Lumine and Aether had arrived in Fontaine. She’d heard about their coming, and what they’d done in the other regions in their quest for a way home.

The moment that Lumine had eagerly agreed to face Furina in combat had been her biggest fright in centuries. Aether had just looked bored at the prospect, but that deadly gleam in that Outlander’s eye… perhaps the rumors that the Travelers had faced the Raiden Shogun herself in single combat were true after all.

“... yes. I…I realized too late I shouldn’t have bought it, but by then my last coin was spent, and that wicked salesman was already laughing at having deceived an ignorant country bumpkin,” Furina said, putting just the right amount of scorn and shame that a duped peasant who’d been tricked into buying finery would have. “They are such lovely clothes though…”

Yennefer let out a heavy sigh and put a hand on Furina’s shoulder. When Yennefer spoke, her accent was subtly different, and it had a distinctly unrefined quality to it. “It’s OK, I get it. I’m from Lozère myself. More than one city slicker looked down their nose at me and tried to have one over on me before I figured things out. You really are from far out in the sticks, aren’t you?”

“Would you believe that before I came to Paris, I had never ridden on a bus before?” Furina said with a sheepish grin. It was true enough: While she had, of course, ridden on water buses, they were nothing like this.

“Well, it’s all the more important that we recover your lost wages then!” Yennefer declared, folding her arms over her chest and grinning. “Trust me, I’m an expert at that.”

“I… don’t know if that will be possible,” Furina said carefully, her mind stretching back to various rather boring and trite disputes she’d heard at the Opera before. “There was no formal contract, only a verbal agreement, and I think I violated that regardless by not giving sufficient notice to my employer that I was quitting to come to Paris. Plus, it’s rather far away, and I doubt that whatever we could recover would even be worth your fee.”

“Ah. That does make things difficult,” Yennefer admitted, frowning and leaning back in her seat. “I don’t like it when people try and cheat others just because they’re a parahuman. You are a parahuman, aren’t you?”

“M-maybe?” Furina squeaked. She really had no idea what a parahuman even was, and she hadn’t picked up nearly enough context to figure it out yet.

That earned her a frown from Yennefer. “You know, someone like us, who has powers. Not a Vision, of course, but most Vision Holders don’t have obvious physiological signs like you. Plus, I’ve never seen one with a teardrop symbol like you have in your eye. Are your powers water based?”

Furina blinked at Yennefer, then against her will, a giggle escaped her lips. Then next thing she knew, she was clutching herself, crying hysterically at the same time as she laughed uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face.

Even here. She found herself in a strange land where people didn’t even know who Furina de Fontaine was, and even here, they expected that she had some sort of incredible powers, and water based ones no less. The truth, of course, was as tragic as always.

“So, uh, is that a yes? Or a no?” Yennefer asked, frowning at Furina with obvious concern, and clearly more than a little offended.

“I, I am sorry,” Furina hiccuped, drawing out one of her lace hankies and trying futilely to clean herself up. Her makeup was running everywhere, there was snot dripping out of her nose, and her cheeks were now red and puffy, and she was willing to bet her right eye was bloodshot while the left had gone all swollen and stormy.  “It’s just…my whole life, people have been assuming that because of my eye, I did have some sort of strange powers. But it’s nothing but a curse. A twisted birthmark fate cursed me with.”

“Oh! I am sorry. I’m, ah, sensitive about such things,” Yennefer admitted, touching her horns absently with one hand.

“Ah, that. Are you some sort of er…” she wracked her mind for a phrase. In Fontaine she would have been called Beast Blooded, but that was often used as a derogatory term for those who lacked purely human ancestry. She vaguely recalled hearing of a woman from Liyue who had antlers, and was a practitioner of the law, actually, and ventured, “Adeptus?”

“Is that what you call parahumans? You’ve looked at me like a poleaxed cat every time I say the word,” Yennefer said with some amusement back in her tone. “And yes, I am a parahuman. I triggered some years back after a friend and I had, well, a bit of a falling out. It was a dark time in my life, but I came through it!”

“Ah, yes, well, I’m afraid unless simply having an oddly colored eye makes one a parahuman, I am not. I have no extraordinary powers, unless you count being the most charming and talented performer in the history of Fontaine,” Furina said, forcing a laugh at the end.

“Well, I’m sure your little village is very charming, and has produced many talented actresses. Ah, we’re here!” Yennefer declared, and sprang out of her seat, ushering Furina off the bus before her.

They were in another part of the city, with yet more great buildings all around them. There were a great many people on the sidewalks, and Furina took a moment to look around, trying her hardest not to appear like the ignorant out of towner she so painfully was.

“My office is on the third floor, but when was the last time you ate?” Yennefer asked, nodding to a building half a block away.

“I…” Furina’s mind blanked on that. When was the last time she’d eaten? She’d felt too sick to eat since she’d heard about Possone, and after that, everything had moved so quickly.

As if to betray her, her stomach gurgled at just that moment, so loudly that Furina blushed furiously and prayed that Yennefer hadn’t heard it.

“That long, huh?” the other woman laughed, clapping Furina on the back. “There’s a wonderful Chinese place on the bottom floor, why don’t we stop there and have a bite first.”

“You’re sure?” Furina asked hesitantly. “You’ve already been so kind, I don’t have any way to repay you…”

“Ah, it’s fine! One of the duties of the Musketeers is to see to the well-being of all the citizens of France! And what sort of hero would I be if I let a damsel in distress wither away without my help?” Yennefer said, taking Furina’s arm and guiding her towards a building with a sign that depicted some sort of fire-breathing bear of some kind holding a pepper of some kind, with characters that read “Wanmin Restaurant.”

An oddly distorted warble played as they entered inside, and a young woman with dark Liyue features popped up from behind a counter. “Hello! Welcome to Waimin Restaurant! How many in your party today?”

“Hello,” Furina said absently, looking around at the various tables and decorations. There were lots of black and white bears, along with dragons and various banners that declared good luck and good food to be had. “Just two of us, I think.”

“Hey, Ling! It’s just me and a friend,” Yennefer said, coming in behind Furina. She frowned at Furina slightly, which made her wilt. Had she said something wrong?

“Yenny!” Ling said happily, hurrying out from behind the counter with two menus. She was dressed in an apron with a red blouse and those tight blue pants everyone seemed to wear, her short hair pulled back in two curved braids behind her head. “My favorite customer! I have some special ingredients today! Think you can handle them? How about you, my new friend!”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be delicious, I’m famished,” Furina said with a smile. “What do you recommend?” It was always best to ask a chef what they recommended, they almost always knew best.

“I have some slime condensate, imported fresh from Germany, along with whopper flower petals! I’ve been using them to make a special new sauce! Wanna try it!?” Ling asked excitedly, coming right up to Furina, her eyes sparkling.

“Er, that does sound…exotic,” Furina said uncertainly. “I’ve never had slime condensate and whooper flower petals before… uh, since this is my first time at your establishment, perhaps a more conventional dish? What do you recommend, Yennefer?”

Yennefer gave Furina a blank look, which was rather puzzling. She’d been watching Furina while she spoke, and she just drifted off? That didn't seem like Yennefer from the brief time Furina had known her.

Ling laughed. “She doesn’t speak Chinese! What do you think, Yenny? Wanna try my slime and whooper flower sauce?”

With a start, Furina suddenly realized that Ling had started off speaking a completely different language to her, but then switched halfway through back to French. Her empty stomach sank all the way down to her knees when Furina realized she’d been chattering away in Chinese, responding to a greeting Ling had given her. The exact words were… Ni Hao? But, how had she done that? She spoke Teyvan and Fontainain of course, but she was only passable in other languages, never having been very interested in learning them, as there was only time for her endless pursuit of foiling the prophecy.

Which you did. You succeeded. It’s over.

“I think I’ll pass. We’ll have the lunch special. I’m more fond of vegetarian dishes myself, how does the vegetarian mapo tofu sound?”

“Wonderful,” Furina said, trying and failing not to blush at her little slip. As a country bumpkin, Furina most assuredly did not speak Chinese or any other languages aside from French.

Ling agreed, looking rather dejected at the refusal of her insane culinary offering, but shouted to the back, “DAD! TWO VEGGIE MAPO TOFUS! MAKE IT AUTHENTIC, THIS ONE ACTUALLY SPEAKS CHINESE!”

“Oh, we got a customer from back home?” a middle aged man with a clean shaven face and lots of smile lines around his eyes stuck his head out of the back, and he spied Furina sitting with Yennefer, the only customer in the restaurant at the moment. “Her? She’s got blue hair, but she looks like a foreigner. What makes you think she speaks Chinese?”

“I, ah, I have always been very interested in other languages,” Furina said, giving the man a hesitant wave. “Though, er, if by ‘authentic’ you mean ‘extra spicy…’ I would beg that you be gentle with me. I am afraid my tolerance for such things is somewhat lacking.”

She didn’t have to try. She just thought ‘This man’s tongue’ and she was speaking Chinese, or whatever this language was, as easily as she did Fontainian, or, well French now for that matter. When had she picked up such a facility with languages?

A god speaks to the soul of the mortal, not to their mind. To us, the tongues of men are as trivial as breathing.

Where had that thought come from? If there was one thing Furina had learned in five hundred years, it was that she was no god.

“You speak many languages?” Yennefer asked casually, and this time, Furina caught what she really said. Du sprichst viele Sprachen?

Now to gamble. That language somehow made Furina think of Mondstadt. And, well, Mondstadt shared a border with Fontaine…and French reminded her of Fontainian. So, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Furina to know it, but was Aquitaine near Germany? A compromise.

“Ich spreche es wenig. Chine lerne ich fleißig, als…als… er…Erholung?” Furina said, stumbling over the words and mangling the pronunciation slightly. “Mein Onkel, er hatte ein paar Bücher.”

“Not too bad,” Yennefer said, relaxing slightly. “Too bad you don’t speak Japanese. There are tons of legal documents that need translating to and from Japanese these days with how much they’ve taken over the manufacturing sector.”

“I’m afraid that escapes me, but I’ve always had a knack for languages. Perhaps with a little study I could learn,” Furina offered.

“Here’s your tea and soup!” Ling said happily, setting a steaming hot tray down on the table with two small bowls with what smelled like a delicious egg soup, and a small teapot and two cups.

“Thank you,” Furina said, making herself say “Merci” instead of “Xiexie.”

“Thanks be to Barbados, let’s eat!” Yennefer said happily, picking up a bowl of soup. She paused, eyeing Furina, who realized she was giving the other woman a wounded look. “What? Don’t tell me you don’t believe in Ventism.”

“Er, no, I just, well, I’m more traditional,” Furina sputtered. “I didn’t realize that the Church of Barbatos had spread to this land.”

Really. Barbatos, instead of Focalors? In the past, she’d felt extremely awkward when people had said prayers to her, but for some reason, this felt…wrong. Like she should be the one receiving this woman’s prayers. That was silly.

“Barbados. Not Barbatos,” Yennefer corrected, sipping some soup out of her spoon.

“Er, yes, quite,” Furina agreed, letting it pass. Maybe it wasn’t the same religion, after all. This place hardly seemed like Mondstadt, and the Church of Barbatos wasn’t exactly evangelical.

“So, you’re the good sort of girl who goes to mass every day and twice on Sunday?” Yennefer teased as Furina began to inhale her soup. It really was absolutely delicious, and she was starving.

“Mmm, not quite,” Furina said, resisting the temptation to run her finger along the inside of the bowl and lick it. She wasn’t normally a fan of savory dishes, but this was quite good. The tea wasn’t bad either. “I, ah, well, I did grow up rather religious, but, well, I’m trying to leave that life behind me. I’ve had enough to do with gods for now, I think.”

Mass? What did the weight of something have to do with religion?

“Well, let me tell you, the Church of Barbados is way more fun! It’s not very popular in France, but I know some people from Germany, and you did see the Tone Deaf Bards in Eurovision, didn’t you?”

Furina gave Yennefer a pained smile and shook her head. Tone deaf bard? Hadn’t Paimon made some reference to a Tone Deaf Bard from Mondstadt? Surely it couldn’t be the same person.

“Seriously!? At least tell me you’ve heard some of their songs! No!? What kind of music do you listen to, then?”

“Ah, well, I enjoy the opera,” Furina said, wincing slightly when Yennefer gave her a disbelieving look. “It’s true! I wanted to become an opera singer!”

“Really? Can you sing?” Yennefer asked dubiously, scraping the bottom of her bowl with her spoon.

That actually offended Furina. “What?! Of course I can sing! I told you, I’m an actress! I’ve been trained by the best!” When Yennefer gave her an indulgent smile, Furina harrumped and stood up, putting one foot onto her chair. “I’ll prove it to you!”

A song came to her, a performance by a small theater troop some months back. She’d been looking forward to more from them, until their director had been one of the girls to go missing. That made Furina tear up slightly, and she closed her eyes, stretching one hand forward.

If I could only return to the water's embrace

Wouldn't the world be a lovelier place?

Dear Mother, would you be able to forgive?

Her memory of the play came back to her, and Furina felt the passion of the Little Oceanid, Cilo. How she had sacrificed herself for her people, and her lover, giving everything for the cause of justice.

As the dancing water flows, so too we would live

The city it would nourish

And you too, my dear, would flourish

The music from the past swelled within Furina’s mind, and she found herself dancing to it, easily stepping around tables and chairs as if they were a part of her stage, the flow of the dance coming naturally to her. At just the right moment, when the music swelled within her mind, she continued,

But love alone could be to no avail

Only farewell, I fear, would prevail

Thus are our lives filled with joy and sorrow

I'll be here always, forever and tomorrow

To behold the world's undying beauty

And that shall live on in perpetuity...

Sinking down as the actress on the stage had done, Furina swooned as if dying. Then she opened her eyes, feeling the wetness on her cheeks. She was that Little Oceanid. She had given her life, and the land would flourish on without her, she hoped. Was this just a final dream, the last, desperate gaspof her mind before she merged with the Primordial Sea, and was swept away?

Life is always a dream, my beloved child. But you no longer shall be swept away in its currents…

Shaking her head, Furina stood, and realized that four people were watching her. Yennefer was on her knees, her mouth open, tears running down her face, her hands clutching her breast. Ling was crying into the shoulder of her father, who was trying manfully not to cry but was dabbing at his eyes nonetheless, while another woman, a little older than Ling but with similar features, was standing with her hands over her mouth.

“Oh! Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Furina managed, blushing slightly. “I guess I got caught up in the moment.”

“That was… beautiful!” the unknown woman gushed, rushing forward and seizing Furina’s hands in her own. “You were incredible! Who taught you how to sing like that!? I’ve been training all my life, and I could never hope to match that!”

“Er, well, it’s just something I’ve been blessed with, I suppose,” Furina stammered. Had it really been that good? She had a decent enough voice, but she couldn’t help but think people usually praised her more for her supposed position than her actual talent. They loved Focalors, not Furina.

“T-that was the most incredible thing… but it was so sad!” Ling sniffed, using her apron to dab at her eyes. “I couldn’t understand the words, but your song… it was perfect!”

Oh. She had been singing in Fontainian, hadn’t she?

“It was Old French,” Yennefer rasped, still on her knees, her voice raw with emotion. She pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose, her eyes glittering. “I recognized some of it, but… my God. No wonder you wish to sing at the opera!”

Slowly getting to her feet, Yennefer came over, putting one hand on Furina’s shoulder, and the other on the woman who was still clinging to her. “Julie, I’d like you to meet Furina de la Fontaine. She’s just a country girl with a dream, but… I know you’ve had some roles, surely you could help her out a little?”

“I would be the most honored woman in all the world to be able to introduce such talent,” Julie agreed, nodding her head hastily. She gave Furina a quick hug. “They will love you, Furina! I’m Julie Yu, and though I’m really only a part time actress… I think I know just the place for you!”

“Your lunch... it’s free,” Ling’s father said, his voice gruff. He put two plates on the table, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. “If you’re ever hungry… come by and sing like that. We’ll have a meal for you. My niece, she’s a good singer too, you should give her some lessons.”

“I-I don’t know that I’m qualified,” Furina stammered. “But I’ll do my best!”

Ling and her father, Mao, along with Julie, ended up sitting with Furina and Yennefer as they ate, asking her excited questions that Furina had no real answers for.

Still, as she chatted and laughed with her new friends, she realized something.

These people didn’t know Focalors. They only knew Furina. But they seemed to like her anyway.

Maybe this is a role I’m cut out for after all…

Author’s Note:

This is, of course, only a preview and a draft of things to come. It will be quite a while before Furina’s storyline begins in earnest, but, well, I need to figure out what that role will be, and writing a POV chapter for her is the easiest way. Much like Nahida, Furina will be the major POV character in her own arc, largely because while Venti and Raiden’s arcs are external, Nahida and Furina’s arcs are largely internal.

PHILO (Before Editing. Still stuck at Mondstadt): She’s probably like Discount Aqua. It’s going to be a comedy for once.
PHILO (After Editing): WHEN WILL SOMEBODY HUG FURINA!?

OCTOBER: I wonder how long it’ll take Furina to catch on that the French are adding the “la” to her surname…