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"Why are you here?"
Neuvillette was the last person Furina expected to see in the training arena of Zapolyarny Palace. She also stares at the people behind him, a small frown forming on her face. She did not expect to see the three of them either, and frankly, two of the three were not people she felt like talking to or entertaining at the moment.
Behind her, Skirk and Childe were still sparring. Furina should be watching them to take note of Childe's progress, but she was interrupted, unfortunately by their sudden appearance.
Furina taps her food impatiently, but Neuvillette ignores her obvious annoyance. She didn't feel him activate the hydro mimic finches she created for the two of them to communicate, so how did he know she was here? It couldn't be coincidence he came here all of a sudden, and without any reason to.
"I was curious."
Furina snorted at Neuvillette's so-called reason for coming here. A simple excuse that was reasonable, but one that will not work on her. Last she checked, sparring matches did not interest the illustrious Iudex of Fontaine who preferred to keep bloodshed to a minimum.
"Or rather, we were curious. Right, Clorinde?" Wriothesley, the administrator of the Fortress of Meropide had cut in with a easygoing smile, nudging Clorinde, who nodded slowly before stepping a little closer to Furina
"Yes. It's been a long time, Lady Furina. How have you been?" Clorinde asks, and Furina did not know how to answer her. It was a little awkward between them, given Furina had ignored all of Clorinde's attempt to visit her, until the champion duelist had given up after being stonewalled for an entire year.
"I have been fine," Furina decided against ignoring Clorinde, because that was just asking for trouble when she was going to be trapped in the same Palace as Clorinde for at least a month. She turns back her attention to Skirk and Childe, who were still fighting like their lives depended on it (though it was really just Childe that was struggling).
Though, it was hard to focus with Neuvillette standing over her. She turns back to him, all four of them, with a frown.
"Are you just going to stand here?"
"Is my presence bothering you?" Neuvillette asked back, as Furina sees dark stormy clouds roll over them. She looked away from him, feeling a little bad now. Maybe she was being a little too snappy at him. The weather was a reflection of Neuvillette's emotions, and dark, stormy clouds were not a good sign, especially in an open-air training area...
"No, what I mean was, that you...never mind, just sit down. You are here to watch, right?" Furina said as she patted the space on the bench next to her. Neuvillette does not waste time in doing as she said. He sat down next to her with the grace he had always naturally possessed, and Furina felt her heart did a somersault when his arm accidentally brushed hers.
Her body felt so unnaturally stiff, so nervous she might do something wrong or make a blunder of herself like elbow Neuvillette in the face if she wasn't careful enough or turn red like an apple if she accidentally brushed against him again-
"What do you think of the sparring match, Lady Furina?"
Huh? Furina blinked, turning in the direction of who just had spoken to her. Beside Neuvillette was Navia, who had addressed her with a solemn look in her eyes.
Miss Navia from the Spina di Rosula. Alongside Aether (who had been watching the match from the opposite side), she had been the other person that helped to mount the pressure towards her when she stood at the stands as the defendant. Naturally, as the defendant who was found guilty by the prosecutor(s), it was impossible for Furina to not hold a grudge against Navia.
"It's interesting."
Furina answered politely, but her response was clipped enough to indicate subtly her lack of interest in talking to Navia. However, she couldn't concentrate on the sparring either, no matter how she stared at Skirk and Childe's figures.
Only useless, intrusive thoughts filled her head instead of concentrating on the match, like she was supposed to do. She had wanted to see how Childe had improved after she had pointed out the flaws in his fighting strategy last week, but it seemed she would not be able to give a complete assessment at this moment.
"I never thought you would be interesting in a sparring match," Neuvillette had said suddenly as he turns to Furina. Furina turns to him with a raised eyebrow.
"I could say the same for you." Neuvillette does not answer her little quip at him. Instead, his gaze falls to the open notebook in her lap. On the pages were hastily drawn sketches of a few fighting stances, words written all over the page illegibly.
"You've been taking down notes of them sparring."
Neuvillette stated matter-of-factly, as Furina nodded.
"I have."
"What for? You seem very invested in their sparring, for some reason."
Furina's eyes narrow in their gaze towards Neuvillette. Her palm gently sweeps over the pages, and she wished she had closed her notebook before the nosiest dragon in the whole world had the chance to peek at it.
What could she tell him?
'Oh, it's nothing much. I'm just assessing Childe's progress. Why you might ask? Well, because he will be joining the IAD to assist Skirk, his master and the vice-chief. Did I mention I'm the chief that has been MIA for over 500 years?'
Oh aeons, she could not tell him that.
"Watching them spar gave me inspiration," Furina lied skillfully, faking a thoughtful look as she looks down at the pages. Hopefully, he couldn't read the words and see the true content in the pages...
"For a new play?" Neuvillette asked after a while, a hint of genuine curiosity in his voice. Furina nodded, a little relieved he bought the lie, and even given her an excuse to play to her advantage.
"Why, yes. But ah, it's a work in progress," Furina snaps the notebook close, just as Skirk and Childe had stopped their sparring. Furina notes Childe's currently beat-up state with a hint of admiration. Childe was a strong fighter. Given how young he was, it was impressive he managed to hold himself against many other skilled warriors far older and more experienced than him.
But what truly set him apart from others, in Furina's eyes, was his tenacity and (close to insane) daringness. Not often had she met another person that had such a strong will and ambition, so much so that she was impressed by it.
Perhaps that was why he caught her attention enough for Furina to help him improve his fighting skills. Raw strength could only get you so far, after all.
Fighting was not just about brute strength, or how agile you are, or how fast your attacks were. Knowing your weaknesses, your strengths, analyzing your opponents to identify their weakness and strengths, how to play things to your advantage, strategy could change the outcome of a fight, even if you were not physically capable as your opponent.
Furina wasn't the strongest, fastest or the most agile fighter out there, but she made up for her weaknesses with her out-of-the-box thinking and ability to think on her feet.
"Miss Skirk had beat up Mr. Tartaglia rather badly. Though, he doesn't seem to mind."
"From what I observe of them, Tartaglia relishes in fighting. It would be more accurate to say, if Skirk held back, he would mind more," Furina said, slightly amused as she watches Childe quickly bounced back on his feet, pestering his master for a re-match after dinner. Skirk just ignored him. Instead, her friend was looking in their direction, clearly surprised by the new audience.
"Never thought I would see you here, Hydro Sovereign," Skirk saunters up to them, placing a hand on her hips as she looks up at Neuvillette. Neuvillette nodded at her.
"Miss Skirk. I heard you were here for the negotiations."
"Correction, I'm here to witness them."
"I heard. The Tsaritsa told me you were affiliated a faction that was of Teyvat's defense against a hostile force before the cataclysm," Neuvillette had said with a nod. Furina was little surprised of how much Neuvillette knew, it seemed Bronya did not let her dislike of Neuvillette keep him from being well-informed of the cosmos.
Skirk sighed at Neuvillette's words.
"It seems that Bronya has spared no effort in telling you everything. So, how much do you know about my faction?" Skirk asked with a glint in her eyes, her eyes trailing to Furina, who frowned slightly at her.
Furina hopes Skirk knows what she's doing, and that she wasn't taking it too far.
"It's called the Interstellar Alliance Defense Force, the IAD for short. Mainly, you oppose the Antimatter Legion, the followers of the Destruction and do rescue missions for the worlds they ravaged," Neuvillette responded.
"Wow, she really told you a lot. But yes, the IAD is, or was active opposers of the followers of Nanook," Skirk said with a grimace, and Furina understood how she felt.
She had been working against the clock to locate their former key members, but some were dead, and even more were missing. A few had moved on by now, and Furina didn't want to drag them back into the fighting when they had been leading peaceful lives all this while.
Despite being set back to square one, Furina was determined to travel the stars again to fight against the Antimatter legion. The way of the trailblaze was to explore and connect the worlds. The Antimatter, set to follow Nanook in their blind faith, destroyed these worlds.
Furina didn't know how, but during her travels across the stars on the Express, she slowly started to get more and more involved against fighting the Antimatter legion, even going toe-to-toe with a Lord Ravager.
The more times the Express went to a world that was filled with destruction caused by Nanook's followers, the more Furina began to actively opposed the Destruction, as did her former comrades.
Because of that, within the Nameless, a sub-faction opposing the Destruction was eventually formed, what now would be called or known as the IAD.
Akivili had mysterious disappeared without a trace over a millennia ago. The Express had fallen into disrepair soon after, and her former travel companions had scattered afterwards.
Though, Furina has heard that the Express was still currently travelling across the cosmos after it was founded and repaired. She was certainly intrigued, and hoped she would be lucky enough to meet the new Nameless, and give her thanks for continuing the way of the trailblaze.
"So you are the vice-chief?"
Huh? Furina had tuned out of Neuvillette and Skirk's conversation long enough to miss whatever that they had been talking about until now. She immediately gives Skirk a pout. Skirk just grins at her.
"Oh yeah. Usually, chief is the one who handles all those matters. But she is busy handling stuff right now elsewhere, so I have to take her place during the negotiations as the representative," Skirk said with an exaggerated sigh, faking a look of exasperation as Furina glowers at her.
Oh for the love of...
"I see. Well, I hope she would return soon, to alleviate your burdens," Neuvillette said politely in return to Skirk's words, completely oblivious to the impish look on her face, or the indignation Furina was feeling.
"Oh well, I do hope she does decide to return quickly. Who knows? You might even get the chance to meet her," Skirk said, looking like she could barely contain her laughter as she pretended to cough into her fist. Furina felt her eye twitched at Skirk.
Okay, her little joke is getting a little too far now.
"Most certainly, I would like the chance to be able to discuss such matters with both of you," Neuvillette agrees with Skirk. Furina looks away at his response.
Oh, Neuvillette, you silly, idiotic dragon...
Furina winces. She knows she would have to tell Neuvillette, a secret like this could not stay secret for long, after all.
She just hoped when he finds out, the expression on his face would be just understanding as it was right now.
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