The Righteous
🍁☂️
Much to Kazuha's adversity, he had to leave more than half of his mora to pay for the meal. He had forgotten through time how the inflation in Inazuma due to the prince's recent escapes had caused more than his home nation to increase prices. Even so, he was glad to share a proper meal with Scara, instead of just the fish he cooked for them.
"What do you think of Fontaine so far? It's my first time travelling here as well."
"I like it here. I think Fontaine has a nice style. Definitely, not something you'd find in Inazuma," Scara responded, almost in a daze as he listened to the music of a band they passed, though he hadn't noticed how his veil tilted one way too much.
"Hold on," Kazuha said as he paused and came closer to Scara, lifting a hand up to adjust the veil for the other before he smiled.
Scara froze for a moment as he stared at Kazuha. If he had a heart, it would have dropped to his stomach with dread. What would even happen if his veil fell off in such a large crowd?
"There." Kazuha was rather close to Scara, but he backed away to a respectful distance before he continued on down the road as if nothing happened.
"Thank you very much. I was in my head and didn't notice," he hesitated a bit but found a smile creeping up onto his face. Why is he so intrigued by a wanderer who he just met? It's so confusing to him.
"No problem." It was growing difficult to manoeuvre around, so Kazuha couldn't help but get closer to Scara.
"What's it like in Liyue? I mean, I travelled through there with you, but I've never seen anything past the harbour."
"I'm glad you asked," he glanced at Scara. "It's the land of law and golden prairies. It has its fair share of land and sea, both soothing to the soul. Everyone is rather suspicious of us Inazumans because of our prince's recent troubles, but they are welcoming with elegant cultures and literature. I quite like it."
Listening to Kazuha talk about Liyue made Scara think about how calming it must be there. Hearing about the beauties he could have witnessed made him feel a bit regretful about not spending more time there, but he didn't have a choice if he wanted to escape--fast.
Until Scara heard the last part.
Oh. So word has already spread. He should have predicted this.
"Ah, the prince has troubles again? What happened?" acting oblivious, Scara looked around to avoid eye contact with Kazuha. He knew from his studies of humans that the eyes were like a gateway to the soul. Truth, lie, emotion, and almost anything could be found in the eyes, so he wouldn't risk it even if he might not even have a soul to begin with.
"All I've learned of so far is that he is missing again. News travels fast with the Liyuens."
All of the people bumping into Scara started to build up some irritation within him. Up until then, his temper was under check, but this was all too much for him to just put up a smile for.
"This way," Kazuha suddenly said as he pulled Scara away from the crowd.
"Huh?" Kazuha suddenly taking hold of his hand snapped him out of his head. It was dark for a moment in the alleyway, but once his vision cleared, he saw a group of treasure hoarders in the middle of mugging another traveller. How pathetic.
Kazuha hesitated for a moment before he set down their bags, "Hold on."
"Regardez qui nous avons ici? Tu essaies de causer un problème ici, gamin?" [["Look who we have here? You trying to cause a problem here, kid?"]] one of the hoarders laughed as he approached the two. Another kept the traveller stuck in place only to watch as the third hoarder counted stolen mora with a wide grin.
"Êtes-vous des gars qui se sont cassés pour voler une personne au hasard?" [["Are you guys that broke to rob a random person?"]] Scara chuckled as he placed his hands on his hips. "Comment amusant." [["How amusing."]] It was nice to let off some steam with a couple of idiots laid out for him now. Thank an archon Kazuha didn't know what he was saying. Wait, but why did he care?
"Tch. The one behind you has no manners for his elders. Let me fix that for you," the leader said, though his accent was too strong for Kazuha to understand. But after the leader came closer with a dagger, he understood the man wanted to fight.
As the leader of the three treasure hoarders approached them, Kazuha held a hand on his sheathed blade. "Return the traveller's goods." He never liked to resort to violence, but hopefully, his bluffing would make them back down.
The hoarders only laughed and mocked him, "Or what? You're going to report us? You better scram before we take your shit too."
When the leader swung the dagger out to Kazuha, he moved aside in a swift movement and knocked him out with the pommel of his sword. It was like Kazuha had predicted every move of the treasure hoarder.
When the leader fell to the floor with a thump, the two others hesitated and mumbled amongst each other.
"Ce mec est bon.." [["This guy is good.."]]
"Peut-être qu'on devrait juste s'enfuir." [["Maybe we should just make a run for it."]]
"I'll give you one last try before I come after you next," Kazuha called out as he shifted his feet to a better stance to take them on.
Scara watched in awe at how Kazuha moved. His swift movements made him swoon. Wait. Swoon? Anyway- He might ask Kazuha to teach him some self-defence.
Turning his head to one of the treasure hoarders, Scara began to smile and laugh, "Perdre face à un vagabond, Comme c'est boiteux ! Vous ne venez pas d'en voler un ? Mais n'hésitez pas à m'approcher, je suis faible et je ne peux pas vraiment me protéger. Alors vas-y, attaque-moi." [["Losing to a wanderer, how lame! Didn't you just steal from one? But don't hesitate to approach me, I'm weak and can't really protect myself. So go ahead, attack me."]]
The two remaining treasure hoarders were going to back away, but after hearing what Scara said, they charged collectively after the both of them.
"Petites merdes irrespectueuses!" [["Disrespectful little shits!"]]
"Vous paierez pour ce que vous avez dit!" [["You will pay for what you said!"]]
Kazuha shifted and glanced at Scara, wondering what he said, but there was no time to think about that. He met the treasure hoarders halfway up the alley so Scara wouldn't get caught in the crossfire, striking them down with his sheathed blade.
It wasn't all too difficult to beat the remaining of them up, but after carrying the bags around for a while, Kazuha was tired.
There were now treasure hoarders on the floor, some groaning. The female traveller approached Kazuha and Scara, hesitant, but thankful. She took hold of one of Kazuha's hands and held it with tear-filled eyes, "Merci beaucoup! Je n'aurais pas su quoi faire s'ils avaient volé mon mora..." [[" Thank you so much! I wouldn't have known what to do if they stole my mora..."]] The girl seemed a bit too interested in Kazuha for Scara's liking.
Kazuha was confused, so he turned to Scara and smiled meekly, "What is she saying?"
"De rien, mon ami le dit aussi. Mais attention, il est facile de se faire agresser dans une foule immense." [["You're welcome, my friend says so too. But be careful, it's easy to get mugged in a huge crowd."]] Scara replied to the girl with a small irk in his smile.
"She said thank you, and I replied for you."
The girl exclaimed 'thank you' over and over before handing Kazuha some mora and running off down the road. Kazuha was too dumbfounded to respond in time and ended up having to accept the girl's money.
He sighed and looked over at the knocked-out treasure hoarders. What went wrong in their lives for them to resort to this? Instead of being angry at them, he felt sorry.
"You take the lead this time, I'm not good with directions if that's alright with you," Scara said as he looked out of the alleyway into the streets. He didn't wanna admit he wanted him to take the lead to get behind him. The crowd was a bit too much for him.
Kazuha nodded at Scara and picked up the bags again. His mood seemed a little ruined by the incident. "I'm glad no one was too hurt, at the very least." He led the way through the alleyway to another street.
"Oh, I really do like the way you fight though. It was like the wind guided you. In all honesty, it's mesmerizing."
"I really didn't want to resort to violence, but they charged at me first," he said in response to Scara's compliment with a small sigh. "I'm glad you think of my sword mastery that way, but it's important to always wield a sword without valour."
Even if Scara did provoke the treasure hoarders a bit to attack first, he did feel a bit bad. Kazuha was a guy that didn't like holding a sword up to someone, which is why he might have admired him so, but it was a good chance to test the swordsman.
The streets ahead were also full of people but instead were filled with inventions that aided in battle and weapons of fine craft. Kazuha couldn't help but stare off into shop windows with shining swords and charming daggers.
The crowd started to overthrow Scara's eyesight, making him lose sight of Kazuha, especially with the tall people and their damned tophats. What a great day to be short.
Trying his best to push through the crowd, he finds Kazuha's hand reaching out for his. He took it without hesitation.
"Let's get out of here before it gets any more crowded."
"Thank you so much, Kazuha," Scara sighed in relief.
For some reason, Kazuha's hands felt nice to him. Is it because Kazuha is a decent human and isn't like the others? Or is it because his hands are just that way? Either way, he didn't care. It undoubtedly calmed Scara down from the mess of the crowd they were in, even if it was the slightest bit.
Soon enough, Kazuha found their way to a village on the outskirts of Fontaine City. There, it was peaceful and also full of life and the afternoon passerby sold fruits and small gadgets. It really was interesting how Fontaine-folk always seemed to be searching for business and profits, though Scara could hardly pay attention to their surroundings as he held onto Kazuha's hand even though they no longer needed to. He was thankful for his veil, otherwise, it would have been very obvious of his expression then. It seemed Kazuha had completely forgotten.
"Looks like we'll have to spend another night in Fontaine," Kazuha said as he looked around for any signs that might suggest an inn was nearby. It seemed that another day was about to pass, and the border between Fontaine and Snezhnaya was still a way to go.
Hearing the news from the other, Scara forgot about the hand-holding and grew excited. He wanted to see more of Fontaine, comparing it to the places he had been through in Liyue and Inazuma just to see if his studies were accurate. And then, just maybe, he could get his mind off of the time when they go separate ways.
He slipped his hand away from Kazuha as the thought crossed his mind. "I don't mind at all, I think it would be nice to see what an inn looks like here."
Kazuha only realized he was still holding onto Scara's hand when the other began to slip away from his grasp. He oddly felt disappointed, but he carried on with Scara's enthusiasm. Even if Kazuha was always attuned to his thoughts and emotions, he had trouble describing what he had begun to feel with Scara, or perhaps, for him. It was as if he was suddenly left with a new array of emotions when he looked at Scara. Maybe it was a sign from the Archons that they were destined to meet and journey together.