"Extra! Extra! A special look into the upcoming trial of the century fresh of the printing press! Get your copy of the Steambird now!"
Charlotte was mildly surprised there were still any copies left when she exited the Steambird. When she looked out the window earlier, there were lines of people outside waiting to get an issue for themselves. It must have been a quick reprint, she concluded. In any case, Charlotte had the rest of the day off after the amount of work she put in the last couple of days. Normally, she spent her rare days off treating herself to a special lunch before going off looking for a new story to investigate. However, due to recent events, she had to meet up with her new co-conspirators.
The trek down to the Fleuve Cendre was not difficult, only tiring having to climb down so many ladders, but Charlotte soon found herself waiting outside the Spina di Rosula building for Navia. She, fortunately, did not need to wait long before the President of the organisation stepped out accompanied by her two attendants and Paimon. "Sorry for keeping you waiting, Charlotte. Let's be on our way."
"…We're going somewhere?" Then what did she come down here for?!
Even if the seller wasn't shouting about how it was a special edition, Yelan would have bought the latest Steambird issue anyway. That fact as well as how they were selling like hotcakes only made it more evident how important getting the newspaper was. And it was a good thing she did as plastered on the front page was the header— "Trouble in Paradise: an In-depth Look into the Trial of the Century"
The article started with a short eulogy about Aether— detailing his exploits in Fontaine and the other nations and his resulting fame. It then mentioned how he had won the attention and hand of "the exalted Lady Furina." At last, the article finally went into details that interested Yelan the most.
"Following her overnight disappearance from the Palais Mermonia, Lady Furina was found the following morning with her thought-to-be beloved Aether apprehended and charged with the crime of kidnapping the Hydro Archon. When asked about a potential motive, the Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol had this to say — "It's not my job to theorise why he'd do this but I am just as shocked as everyone else Sir Aether is the main suspect." Yelan read aloud to Diluc and Xiao, who were accompanying her. She then let out a disappointed sigh but still had an amused look on her face. "That boy. He really knows how to get into the worst sort of trouble. What do you two think?"
Diluc gave a short disinterested huff while Xiao only nodded without saying a word.
In hindsight, asking the two least talkative members of their group for their opinion wasn't the smartest idea. It couldn't be helped though; Thoma had gone off on his own to meet with a local filmmaker who had done some work in Inazuma and would rendezvous with them later. In the meantime, the three of them would scrounge for intel. They were about to split up when Yelan bought the Steambird issue.
Following the main article and quote, there was a long Q&A segment with… Aether and Lady Furina? That was intriguing seeing as not only were they the criminal and victim respectively, but the former should be under heavy lock and key. A lot of favours must have been called in to get an interview with both of them together.
The questions asked were rather standard— what were their thoughts on his arrest, what would happen should he be arrested, but then it went on to ask the duo about their relationship. There could be some important information in it but the earlier questions were more likely to yield such results.
—A: Frankly, I think I'm being set up,
And a few lines later…
—A: The house arrest I'm in is punishment enough. They'll just keep it going. Chances are I'm going to be stuck in Fontaine in the near future.
It seems Aether has his suspicions about his arrest too, Yelan thought. He also mentioned being under house arrest but didn't say where. It was likely somewhere in the city but where was the bigger question just behind how he was handling everything…
"—Achoo!" Aether let out a loud sneeze, making Furina's heart jump whose lap he was lying on. A lazy day was exceedingly rare for Furina but instead of doing anything big (not that they could anyway), they decided to just relax and unwind in her lounge picking up some novels and enjoying each other's company.
"Are you okay?" She asked in concern, putting her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. "You're not falling ill, are you?"
Aether sniffled and said he didn't think so but appreciated her worrying over him. Once the moment was over, they resumed reading their books.
As it turned out, they were going back up to a restaurant to meet up with some informants. Charlotte was still annoyed at going down and up but getting treated to a meal was worth the time. "What's the information your contact has for us?" A curious Charlotte asked as they waited. The restaurant they visited was nothing fancy but the table they sat at was secluded from the others; with Melus and Silver standing guard, there was little chance anybody would listen in on them.
"After what Lyney told us, I thought it would be useful if we knew exactly who we're up against. So I had one of my men… er, let's say borrow a record of Fontaine's recent visitors," Navia explained. "It'll be a long list but with Paimon's help and yours, I believe we'd be able to identify who might be part of this conspiracy to rescue my partner."
"Hehe, leave it to me!" Paimon nodded enthusiastically at being relied upon.
Their food soon came and, a few minutes after that, the informant arrived with the promised documents. "Here you go, Demoiselle. This should have the names of all those that entered Fontaine in the last several days." Other than the names, the list also included other necessary information like age, gender, nationality, where they entered the nation from, etc. but the most relevant to them (or so Navia believed) was their current occupation and reason for visiting. They could mostly ignore those who said they were here for pleasure though it wouldn't be a surprise if their unknown foes used that as a cover story.
The informant quickly departed to return to his job after telling Navia she could rely on him if she needed more intel. That left the trio to look over the long list of people to find the handful of few who were working with that woman. Speaking of whom, her name, as well as her accomplice— Yelan and Xiao if Navia remembered correctly —were the ones she was on the lookout for. After splitting the papers between them, Navia carefully scanned her list for their names and lo and behold— "Voila! Here they are."
From Liyue Harbour, Yelan and Xiao whose occupations were listed as a proprietress and bodyguard; those should be the same ones that met with Lyney and Charlotte. Navia passed her paper around and Paimon confirmed it was them. Charlotte, meanwhile, also noticed another important name right above theirs. "That name…" she muttered before checking their job and reason for visiting. "Yes, this is definitely her. She is in Fontaine too." Charlotte held out the list to show them. "I'd recognise that name anywhere. Keqing, the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing, is in Fontaine too."
"Ah! That is her, Paimon didn't notice her name earlier."
While Paimon knew who they were talking about, Navia wasn't as familiar with whoever Keqing was. She knew what the Liyue Qixing was, but nothing more. "The Yuheng is the committee member in charge of urban development in Liyue Harbour, and Miss Keqing is the one who currently holds that position. I'm surprised they set her here when she's one of the important people in Liyue."
"Knowing her, she probably volunteered herself. She considers Aether as her closest friend after all," Paimon shared matter-of-factly.
"It says here her reason for travelling was as a diplomatic envoy. So she's here in an official capacity…" Charlotte wondered what this diplomatic mission was but could already make a few educated guesses. Her eyes travelled further down the list of names and widened in surprise upon seeing a few more familiar names. "Hmm, it seems Liyue isn't the only nation with a vested interest in Aether's trial. A certain Cavalry Captain is also here."
According to the list, a pair of brothers from Mondstadt arrived at the Court of Fontaine the same day the Liyueans did. Charlotte was already acquainted with one of them and the other was already famed for being the owner of Mondstadt's biggest winery. "Mister Alberich is here for the same reason Miss Keqing is."
"Eh? Kaeya is?"
"That's correct, and so is Mister Ragvindr." Unlike the others, that was a name Navia was familiar with.
"The Dawn Winery's owner?" She asked to which Charlotte nodded. "If diplomats from Mondstadt and Liyue are here then…" They all had the same idea and resumed scanning the documents. Sure enough— "Aha! An Inazuman diplomat named Kamisato Ayaka arrived in Fontaine yesterday morning. Are you familiar with her, Paimon?"
"That's right! Ayaka's a friend of ours. She helped us when we first arrived in Inazuma." Charlotte also added that her name came up while she was writing a specific article about Aether several months back. There were several more Inazuman names alongside hers (which made sense since they would have arrived on the same boat) but only one did Paimon also recognise. "Thoma is one of the Kamisato clan's housekeepers so he would have gone along with Ayaka," she explained.
That was another two names to put on their suspect list. Unfortunately, there was no one listed as a diplomat from Sumeru so they (as in Paimon and Charlotte) would have to take a closer look later. At the moment, they have seven names and— "What?! He's here too?!"
"What is it, Paimon?" From her reaction, it was safe to say she recognised another name. "Is it someone else you know?"
"Err… Paimon thinks things will get even more complicated…"
"Ow…" Venti groaned in pain as he regained consciousness. His body felt numb and it was only a moment later that he remembered why. "So that's how it feels getting struck by lightning…"
It took another moment for him to realise he was in a holding cell. The Gardes must have thrown him in there after he was knocked out. "Is this payback for disturbing you, Aether? If so, this is just petty and disproportionate," he grumbled under his breath before getting up from his bunk.
As he sat up though, a deep familiar voice reached the bard"s ears. "Ah, you're finally awake. You were out cold when they brought you in, Venti."
"Oh, hey Zhongli…" He tiredly waved at his cellmate. His head was still a bit foggy and… wait… "Zhongli?! What are you doing in here?!"
Sitting on his own bunk on the other side was none other than his fellow incognito god and the former Geo Archon, Rex Lapis— otherwise known by his human name, Zhongli. He was the last person Venti expected to run into here in Fontaine, least of all in a holding cell too. Well, there were actually a couple of others Venti didn't think he'd be meeting more so than Zhongli but that was neither here nor there.
Unlike him, Zhongli didn't look hurt in any way and had his normally calm demeanour about him. "It's not that thrilling a tale if I must admit," he started to say. "The Director asked me to do her a favour and do some promotion here in Fontaine. Apparently, she heard that there was a prophecy foretelling the death of Fontaine's people and wanted to "get a head start" in her own words."
"That sounds like her…" Venti mumbled as he thought of Hu Tao's brand of gallows humour.
Zhongli continued, "As for why I'm in here, a couple of anonymous tips were given that I was disturbing the peace and causing unrest by promoting the Funeral Parlour and giving out coupons for coffins. Because of that, the authorities brought me in; I would have only needed to pay a fine but—"
"You didn't bring your wallet," snickered Venti, already knowing where the other man was going. Judging from the look on Zhongli's face, he was right. "Well, it's nice to see a friendly face around. It would have gotten boring if I were here all on my own. So where is the young Director? Did she come along too or did she stay behind in Liyue?"
He opened his mouth to answer but before he could utter a single syllable, a sharp knock on the door to the holding cell interrupted them before it opened. "Mister Zhongli, you're free to go."
"What?!"
"Ah, I forgot to mention, I am only supposed to be here for a single night," Zhongli said before standing up. "Until we meet again, bard. I pray you return home safely."
"Wait, Zhongli?! Don't leave me! How am I supposed to pass the time? Zhongli? Zhongli?!"
BANG!
"Damn you, Morax."
A/N: And done! And now we have our second Archon who was already arrested. Not surprising to learn it's because of Hu Tao and not having enough Mora, is it? Zhongli takes it like a champ tho so all's well that ends well (though it'd probably start raining if Neuvillette learns he missed his chance…). However, that begs the question, which side would Zhongli take in this whole fiasco? And what will he do next? That's for next time!
There were also a couple of references to a few more characters. From her short appearance in Act 1 of the event, I absolutely love Cheveruse and can't wait to see more of her. Of course, knowing my luck, I'll probably end up getting like C1 Raiden before I get her when she comes out (assuming I even have enough Primos by then, I threw all I had which wasn't much at the weapons banner and got the Verdict…). As for Hu Tao, don't read too much, I just wanted to mention who used to be my favourite character until 4.0 dropped. It was also to tell myself to get off my ass and write that Aetao fic. If I beat myself up about it, I'd have to write it, right?
Anyway, as always, thank you all for reading and see you all next time!