Since they started dating, Furina loved it whenever Aether talked about his adventures in the other nations. He never failed to keep her attention whenever he narrated all the situations he'd been in. Maybe it was because they were coming straight from the mouth of the one who went through all that, maybe it was because of the things she's seen and/or played on stage, he actually did, or maybe it was just because she liked the sound of his voice. It was likely a mixture of all three reasons but in any case, she had committed the various names of those who helped him to memory.

Thoma, Kamisato, Kaedehara, Beidou, Sangonomiya… Those were some of those who helped him in Inazuma during the Sankoku Decree crisis. She was already familiar with a couple of them— mainly Beidou as her fame even reached Fontaine —but now that she knew they'd helped Aether, she made a mental note to reward them in some way should any of them visit the Court of Fontaine.

And lo and behold, she just so happened to run into one such individual on the aquabus to the Opera Epiclese accompanying Neuvillette of all people. As promised, she invited Lady Kamisato of the Yashiro Commission to tea and pastries. Though Clorinde remained vigilant, Furina hoped the visiting emissary wouldn't be intimidated by her bodyguard's cautious glares.

"I do hope you'll find Fontaine's finest sweets enjoyable. As this is your first time in my nation, I'd like to make it memorable." And what was more memorable than an audience with her, the Hydro Archon? It was hard enough for her own citizens to book such an appointment, let alone a foreigner. Getting this chance was nearly as rare as winning the lottery back-to-back!

"It is truly an honour to be treated this way by you, Lady Furina but… is there a reason for this?" a baffled Ayaka asked. "I'm just a simple diplomat. There is no reason for me to be getting such treatment."

Furina's response was to make her trademark laugh and tell her there was a reason. "After all, you are a dear friend of mon ravisseur bien-aimé, are you not?"

"Your mon… what?"

"Ah, I apologise, I am talking about my kidnapper," Furina explained what she said in Fontainian. "I've listened to his tales outside of Fontaine and Aether has mentioned you a few times."

At that, Ayaka's eyes widened slightly. "He has? What did he say about me?" She asked without thinking before clearing her throat and regaining her composure. "That is correct, I met and befriended Aether when he first came to Inazuma. And though I am here in a diplomatic capacity, I won't hide that our friendship is a motivator for my current visit."

Her admission made Furina nod happily; she appreciated Ayaka not hiding anything. "Mon amour would be happy to know that you're here. Unfortunately, considering his current detention, I do not think you could visit him at the moment. Even though I am Fontaine's Archon, not even I could break any of the rules lest judgment be cast on me too." And by judgment, it would most likely just be a simple reprimanding from Neuvillette for breaking one of the rules they set for Aether.

A brief frown appeared on her visitor's face but was quickly replaced by a smile. "And what are those rules if I may ask?"

"Oh, nothing that would restrict his freedom too much. Not to the extent he'd be treated as an out-and-out criminal," the hostess told Ayaka. "He's not to be let out with express permission from Monsieur Neuvillette and myself; even then, he requires constant supervision. If you want to see him, you'd have to negotiate with the Iudex." That answer seemed to satisfy Ayaka whose smile became more genuine.

However, before either could say any more— crash!

Both their heads snapped up towards the doors at the noise. Furina, unable to hide her curiosity, stood up and walked towards them where she was stopped by Clorinde. "Stay here," the Champion Duelist instructed both her and Ayaka before stepping out to investigate. A few seconds later, another loud crash came from outside and that was it for Furina.

"Stay here please, I shall return in just a moment," she told Ayaka before following after her bodyguard.

As she stared into her cup of tea, Ayaka pondered on what she should do. A part of her wanted to follow after them too; if there was trouble, she could lend a hand. Granted, an Archon was also out there so if there was a problem, it was already solved. She also knew her motivation for helping would be tainted and not from the kindness of her heart; if she could get on Furina's and the Iudex's good side by helping them with whatever was going on, they'd be receptive to any request she made. If Furina was telling the truth (Ayaka had no reason to believe she wasn't), then Aether should be being treated well despite the severity of his charges.

Still, there was something about the way Furina referred to him. Ayaka didn't know what it was but the way she said mon amour didn't sit right with the heiress. From what Furina then said, she believed it meant "my kidnapper" but that didn't sound right. Oddly, she also said mon ravisseur bien-aimé— a rather long way to simply say "my kidnapper." The two Fontainian words didn't share anything in common (except for mon which she knew meant "my").

Creak.

"Hmm?" Ayaka glanced up from her cup upon hearing the faint sound. At first, she thought she was hallucinating but sure enough, there was a finely dressed man with burning red hair sneaking in through the window. Realising he had been caught in the act, the man made a shushing gesture with the most neutral yet simultaneously most "I'm tired of all this" face she had ever seen before moving to hide underneath one of the wooden desks at the back of the room. Ayaka could still see his shadow through the gap between the panel and the floor but had she not noticed him sneak in, she wouldn't have realised he was there at all.

'Should I…' She wondered who the man was and why he was breaking in but didn't sense any sort of hostility from him. However, since Furina and her bodyguard could return at any moment, she abstained from any confrontation; she could look for him later if need be.

Her instincts were proven right for not even a minute later, the two re-entered the tea room. "I apologise for that interruption, Lady Kamisato," Furina sighed in disappointment as she sat back down across from her. "Some old ropes holding props above the stage finally gave way. It shouldn't interfere with any of the trials later. Now, where were we?"

Ayaka glanced at the desk hiding the intruder; there was no doubt the crash was a distraction so that he could sneak in for unclear reasons. Regardless, Furina resumed talking about the rules Aether had to abide by during his current detention. "Rest assured, even though the charges levied against him are egregious, mon amour is being treated well. Even at this moment, he should be relaxing in his room with little worries," she added.

'I doubt that,' thought Ayaka. Aether was brave but even he would feel unrestful at being held with such rules in place with his trial on the horizon. And why was Furina unbothered by what he did? It was strange to Ayaka that there was no hint of negativity towards the person who reportedly kidnapped her in her voice. Once again, it could be chalked up to her being divine and not having the same morality normal humans did; Ayaka believed there was more to it thought— there had to be. There was also the matter of when Aether's trial would be held despite how large the case was. "And where is he being held? If I'm allowed to know, that is."

"Oh, he's at the Palais Mermonia." …Right, that made sense. Where else would he be held before his trial? "Is there a problem, Clorinde?"

Ayaka looked up in confusion to see her hostess glancing past her. She then heard said bodyguard reply, "No, it's nothing, milady," from behind. Apparently, that was supposed to be confidential information even though it was general knowledge the Palais was where the local police operated out of. 'Another thing I need to look into…' The list kept growing and she knew it would continue to do so the more she investigated. There was still one more question she wanted to ask Furina— "Is Aether actually guilty?"

"On a technical level, yes," the Archon nodded without a second thought. "I can see his verdict going either way but it would be quite the trial to behold, don't you think? Mon bien-aimé is always finding himself in trouble wherever he goes." That was one thing they could agree on.

—knock knock

Their second interruption was answered by Clorinde again who opened the door. "Freminet?" Ayaka heard her say before a boyish voice replied in a meek voice.

"Um… Monsieur Neuvillette told me you were here and… please read this." Fast footsteps running away could be heard after that; Ayaka wondered what that was about but Furina clearly knew.

"My, oh my, Clorinde. I know you have admirers but I never thought one of them would be so bold as to give you une lettre d'amour while you're working, least of all young Freminet. What did he write?" She asked, unable to hide her interest at all. Ayaka sighed at her getting distracted so easily again; while she herself was also interested in the love lett— wait.

Lettre d'amour… love letter… d'amour… mon amour…

"It's not from Freminet himself, it's from his brother." "Lyney? Huh, I didn't expect that. I thought he wasn't interested in wom—"

"Lady Furina?" Ayaka calmly interrupted whatever conversation was going on between them. "You keep referring to Aether as mon amour, is that right?"

"I do. What else would I refer to him as?" The smile she had was innocent; there was no sense of superiority or gloating in it, only blissful happiness. So much so that it gave the answer to the question Ayaka was going to ask.

Yet, she asked anyway. "And… what does mon amour mean?"

"My love." Oh… that explained some things… Ayaka thought she was able to keep face at the information but she must have slipped a little. "Is… there a problem?"

"N–no, not at all," Ayaka replied as best she could. "I am just surprised to hear that. Aether has never mentioned that he was in a relationship with you in his letters." While it had been some time since he last sent a letter— before his first arrest a couple of months back in fact —he did mention the Hydro Archon a lot. Aether did write that he believed he got Furina's attention in that letter;

"Some people have been following me lately. I didn't think much about it at first but Lyney told me Lady Furina has been tasking her personal Gardes to keep an eye on me. Neither of us know why for sure but Lyney assured me it was unlikely anything bad was going to happen," he wrote last time. It worried Ayaka in more ways than one; it was now clear her worries were justified. To think Furina would use her resources to stalk Aether was nearly unbelievable. Nearly.

While Ayaka's mind was racing at what she was learning, Furina continued speaking as if they were friends. "As I mentioned, he speaks about you a lot. I understand you are a dear friend to him and wish to treat you the way mon amour would." She continued joking how Aether might not be able to afford all the luxurious treats she could but her voice was far-off to Ayaka.

A dear friend. Yes, that was what Ayaka was to him, wasn't it? She hoped that would change but that was impossible now. Not when the gleeful Archon before her was so clearly in love with him too. Not when if found guilty, Aether would be stuck in Fontaine right with he— wait.

'Oh, I see.' Suddenly, the fake smile Ayaka had became real as all the pieces fell into place. Furina might be in love with him but Aether's feelings were still unknown. And here she thought someone as divine as an Archon would be able to create a less obvious scheme but it turns out Ayaka was mistaken. For now, the heiress paid attention to everything Furina had to say in hopes of getting more clues that would help her rescue Aether.

Unbelievable. Utterly ridiculous. There was no way any of these tabloids were telling the truth. Keqing refused to believe they were real. The photos had to be fake— good fakes, especially that one taken in a back alley that Keqing may or may not keep, but fakes nonetheless.

The door squeaked open as Yelan returned. Cyno was also with her, most likely done with his own task. Keqing noticed instead of the air of authority he normally had, Cyno's body language was more lax. "Ah, you're already back, Keqing. Have you learned anything?" Yelan asked upon noticing her colleague.

"Give me another hour and I will be done," Keqing answered. "What about you? …And where is Xiao?"

"I've asked him to discreetly follow the reporter Cyno here told us about. I believe we might discover something from doing so," the other woman replied with her usual calculating smirk. "But I've also learned something from Charlotte."

"And that is?"

"Aether and the Hydro Archon might be in love with one another."

"Ah, is that so…" Keqing dismissively replied and went back to her work.

Cyno, meanwhile, gave an amused chuckle. "You heard the same too? It seems while we were all so worried over him, Aether had been courting de Fontaine in the Court of Fontaine."

"…What?!"

A/N: I actually felt bad for Ayaka while writing that section. Maybe I should write some Aeyaka at some point; I do like the ship but never really felt the desire to write for it. Oh well, that'll be after the Aetao idea that has been rummaging in my head that I could never quite picture…

Anyway, we'll see what's going on with Neuvillette and Kaeya next time. Can Kaeya talk himself out of getting thrown into the Fortress? Maybe.

And if you know what that picture Keqing was talking about is, high-five and shame on you… I wanna write that scene…