"Are you sure this is a good idea, Navia?" Aether doubted this infiltration plan was going to go as swimmingly as his partner had hoped. After all, this was the Palais Mermonia they— or rather, he —was breaking into. There was no way he wasn't going to end up arrested and thrown into the Fortress for a second time. While it was night, it didn't mean the patrolling guards would be any more lax, especially since the room Navia wanted him to break into and investigate was Lady Furina's personal study.

"Just trust in me, partner," Navia assured him as they approached the Palais. "Silver will help you get into position and stand by at your infiltration point. The second there's any trouble, run back and he'll extract you. Isn't that right, Silver?"

"As the President says, you can count on me, Sir Aether," the younger of Navia's two attendants said.

Navia added, "And in the meantime, Paimon will be staying with me. I adore her but she's not the best for a stealth mission like this." And that was the plan— or the plan Aether was led to believe to be exact. As he would soon learn, Navia had ulterior motives for sending him alone…

"So you broke into this very penthouse at the behest of this Navia," Yanfei commented as Aether told his story. They were both in one of the extra rooms Furina had with, at both of their insistence, no guard supervision. It was a private matter as they explained.

In order to build a defence for her client's case, she thought it would be best to learn the events leading up to his arrest. What she didn't expect was for him to go months back to when he first arrived in the Nation of Hydro. At the same time, she really should have since their defence will hinge on Aether's and Lady Furina's relationship. As such, going all the way back to the start was helpful. She was in the mood for a little story time either way.

So far, Aether had talked about his arrival, the initial meeting with the Hydro Archon, and Lyney the magician's trial. Yanfei recalled reading about that particular case in the Steambird and applauded Aether's work; she wanted to believe her lulling him to sleep with her talks about laws helped but she doubted it was the case. Back on track though, that was the first "big" encounter Aether and Lady Furina had, setting the foundation for their future relationship.

After that, Furina would use her resources to spy on Aether as he so bluntly put it.

"Don't look now but that person's been tailing you." Lyney suddenly approached him on the streets one day and quickly invited him and Paimon to tea at his place. Paimon nearly blew their cover but they managed to get her in check. At the magician's home, he shared his findings with them— "Did you do anything notable as of late, Aether? Lady Furina's been allocating some of the Maison's manpower into following you."

"Really? But Paimon has not noticed anyone suspicious. And how did you even learn of this?!"

"No need to be so loud, Paimon, I'm sitting right here," Lyney laughed at his floating companion's outburst. "As for how I learned this information… I'm afraid I can't say. But as soon as I heard it, I had Lynette and Freminet help me confirm what's happening."

"And?" Aether was curious too. He did feel like something was up but couldn't put his finger on what.

Lyney explained that those following him were working in shifts. One was tailing him for half the day before switching out with another. The next day, another pair would do the same and then a third pair does the same the day after. "Wait a second, how long were you tailing us?"

"Hmm… how long have you two been in Fontaine?"

"WHAT?!"

"I only noticed others were spying on you too thanks to my intel," the magician sighed before taking a sip of his tea. "In any case, your adoring fans were definitely sent by Lady Furina; they work for the Maison Gardiennage's more… secretive division. So then, what did you do to get our dear Archon's attention?"

While Paimon wondered if it was legal for Furina to do something like that, Aether thought about what he did recently. Other than his commissions, he hasn't done much yet that'd warrant any attention from Furina. Maybe Neuvillette would have been interested in him helping out the Melusines in their village but not the Archon herself. There was also him helping out Mary-Ann the Oceanid but no one should've known about that yet. "Nothing that I know of," he finally answered after nearly a minute of thinking.

Lyney pondered what he answered before coming to a conclusion. "Then she must have been keeping an eye on you for far longer than we think. Wasn't she already ready with her grand entrance at the harbour when you first came to Fontaine?"

"Hmm… that is true… Paimon had forgotten about it with everything that happened after."

"So she's definitely been stalking me for a while but for what reason?" Was it because of his previous exploits in the other nations? Maybe but Aether had the feeling that was only part of it. Whatever it was, only Furina knew and short of confronting her themselves, they could only throw around theories.

Yanfei also questioned the legality of Furina using her nation's resources like that. Unless she knew under what justification Furina gave to send her spies to follow Aether, there was really nothing that could be done. However, that was neither here nor there — this wasn't about Furina's spying on Aether, it was about her eventual "kidnapping" by him.

After that talk with Lyney, Aether explained that the next time he and Furina had any meaningful interaction was when Neuvillette asked for his assistance regarding a specific matter: the disappearance of Fatui Harbinger by the name of Tartaglia, otherwise known as Childe, from the Fortress of Meropide. That was when Aether and Paimon were sent undercover to the underwater prison with the cover story of him… eating Furina's cake. It was a crime to do so, Yanfei knew that for sure, but it was never really enforced. Then again, it wasn't something anyone would do in the first place but why did they use that specific law?

The duo spent a couple of weeks down in the prison along with Lyney and his siblings (who were also investigating what happened to their Father's comrade) before eventually being asked to take part in a meeting with the Knave. Yanfei could tell there was more to the story there but Aether didn't seem interested in telling the specifics. Regardless, Aether accompanied Furina in that meeting but told Yanfei he couldn't tell her what they discussed. He then said he spoke to the Knave privately outside the Palais… and also couldn't tell her what they discussed.

"You're not really giving me much to work with, you know." "Sorry, but I really can't say what happened then." Yanfei let out a sigh before deciding to drop that specific topic and move on.

Aether resumed his sentencing much to Yanfei's surprise. "It would raise questions if I was released early, wouldn't it?" He explained his reasoning and continued on. The night he and Paimon were released, they naturally celebrated the occasion with friends at Poisson. Navia had prepared a nice banquet for them and invited Lyney and his siblings among others. Lady Furina's bodyguard, Clorinde, was also there that night and had a hand in what would happen the following night; she pulled Navia away to talk about something in private while Aether and the others were chattering and catching up after dinner.

And at last, the fateful day after he was released from the Fortress. That morning, Navia had asked his help with something rather questionable.

"You want us to do what?!" Paimon reacted as loudly as usual at Navia's request. Normally, Aether would say it was a bit over the top but this time, his companion's reaction was warranted.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Navia tried to play it cool despite her outrageous request. "And I don't want you both to do anything; I only need Aether. Having only one person go in would be safer."

"Navia, I only just got out of prison yesterday…"

"And that just proves how desperate I am," she retorted before sighing. "If there's anything information about the prophecy, surely Lady Furina has it. I only have my nation's best interest at heart." But still, breaking into the Palais Mermonia… "Aether, please. I need you to do this. There's no one else I trust to undertake such a task."

Aether's eyes darted between her two retainers as he wondered what they thought of all this. They were oddly quiet… "Alright, alright. I'll do this, but I better be compensated for it."

"Naturally," Navia smiled with a cheery laugh. "Now then, meet me at the elevator in front of the Palais tonight at, say… 7 p.m.. I'll have everything ready by then."

The plan was simple, or so Aether said. There was an airship not too far away from the city that, for whatever reason, had the Palais rooftop set as its destination. He and Silver would ride it there using the night as cover where Aether would rappel down the sides with a rope into an open window. Navia told him she had someone leave it open for them so he thought nothing of it at first. She also explained that, according to her sources, Furina would spend her time there until roughly 8 pm before retiring to her chambers. That was why Navia told him to wait until then before carrying out the infiltration.

And as it turned out, that wasn't the real plan Navia had. "I have no idea how she set everything up but the room I entered was Furina's bedroom. By the time I realised, Silver had already pulled the rope up instead of leaving it there as we planned," he sighed, burying his face in his hands at the memory. "So there I was, standing in the middle of the Archon's bedroom with no way out. I heard someone coming so I did the first thing that came to mind."

"You hid under her bed?"

"I hid under her bed…"

Yanfei couldn't stop herself from giggling at his admission. While she disapproved of his illegal actions, she still saw the amusement in what he was doing. "Then what?"

"Ah… after that…" Aether went silent again. Like with the meeting with the Knave, Yanfei assumed he couldn't or wouldn't talk about it. "Let's just say she soon discovered me and… there was lots of talking… and… hugging."

"…Hugging?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination." Aether gave her the most innocent-looking smile he could muster before moving on. "And that was how our relationship started for real. Well, actually, you could argue it was the day after when we had lunch together. Either way, we started dating then."

"Truly the romance story of the ages, isn't it?" Yanfei joked but still felt happy for them. "And your relationship only grew stronger then, I hope?"

"I'd say so, yes. I'm still a bit annoyed at Navia for setting me up like that but she had her heart in the right place."

"So she was trying to set you two up."

Aether nodded, "I assume Clorinde's the one who told her about Furina's feelings towards me. I don't see how else she could have found out. I confronted her about what she did and do you know what she said? 'Aether, there's a phrase us Fontainians have— avoir le… avoir le…' something. I really need to freshen up on my Fontainian. Anyway, she told me Furina clearly had that for me and thought the two of us would look cute together."

"I see, I see… So that's how it all went down…" Yanfei muttered, mostly to herself. "And after that, you got arrested."

"It was a couple of months after but yes."

"Hmm… I think that's all I need from you for now. Thank you for being so forthcoming, Aether." Technically, there were some details he was hiding but Yanfei doubted she could get it out of him at the moment. If it was really important, he'd tell her sooner or later. "Now then, if you would excuse me—"

Aether said goodbye to Yanfei as she left. She promised to continue working on his defence and would come by again if she needed any more help. "I'll help however I can. It's my future on the line, after all," he replied semi-seriously before the elevator doors closed. With that nice distraction done, he returned back to his room and resumed writing his letters.

As he did so though, his mind wandered back to the night he broke in. The events were so engraved in his mind that he could have a concussion and still remember every detail vividly. He had hidden underneath Furina's surprisingly small bed just as the doors opened. He recalled the way his breath hitched at hearing footsteps coming towards the bed followed by his complete inability to breathe for a few seconds the bed squeaked as Furina sat on it and he saw her feet dangling over the side.

Most importantly, the way his heart sank when he heard soft crying and whimpering come from the oh-so-jolly Furina de Fontaine, the God of Justice and Hydro Archon. It was very small and nearly impossible to hear in between her sobs, but he heard it…

"So interminable… so lonely… Just how much longer…"

A/N: Finally a 4.2 plot point is here. Nice and painful, isn't it? There's more to come in the near future so hold on tight. In any case, I'm sure you guys can tell what is now the basis of Aether and Furina's relationship here. Does it sound like a forceful retcon from what I've established before? Probably, probably not. I've only stated that Navia's behind it and Aether broke some laws in the process so I say it's not that egregious.

Next chapter… honestly, I have no clue whose subplot I should pick up on next. Probably Lyney and co. but another character along with them would work well too. Give suggestions on who you want to see take the spotlight for a bit.

See you all next time!

Side note, I think playing Persona 5 Royal for the last few days was what inspired this particular chapter…

P.S. WHILE POSTING: I forgot to bring up Paimon. Yeah, she's around and currently hanging out with Navia while Aether's stuck in the Palais