"Did our friendship truly mean so little to you, Aether? How could you forget about me, one of the first people you ever met in Teyvat?" A depressed Venti said on the verge of tears. "All these years of comradery left to rot. I don't think I could ever get over this betrayal—"
"Fine, fine. I'll buy you a drink next time I can," Aether sighed as he finally folded.
Venti's reaction was immediate— his saddened frown was replaced by a perky grin as if it was never there in the first place. "And my faith in you is restored. I knew you'd make it up to me somehow."
The bard's upbeat response made Aether sigh again. He couldn't be annoyed at Venti for it— forgetting to tell Furina about Venti's run-in with the law was on him. Really, his wallet getting a bit lighter was the best way to apologise for letting Venti get locked up for the morning. And if that wasn't enough, Furina was also treating him to lunch for the "misunderstanding" too (they were all currently up in her extravagant dining room). Was it unethical to have her use her influence to pardon Venti? Probably, but Furina didn't mind.
Speaking of Furina, she was still waiting for him to make formal introductions. "Venti, as you may have already guessed, this is Furina. Furina, this is Venti, a bard from Mondstadt," The very lackluster way he introduced them to another made the Hydro Archon scoff.
"You have little sense in making good introductions, my dear Aether," she huffed with crossed arms. She cleared her throat and put on her social face as she turned towards Venti. "But that is correct, I am Lady Furina— Fontaine's Hydro Archon and the God of Justice. Count your lucky stars, young bard, for not many have had the honour to dine with me in this setting."
"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Focalors. We've never had the opportunity to meet before, have we?"
The rather strange and casual way he replied visibly caught Furina off guard, necessitating Aether to share what was most likely the most important thing to know about Venti. "You might know him by another name, Furina— he is also otherwise known as Lord Barbados."
"Ah, that explains it. You're right, this would be our first meeting, Barbados," Furina nodded in agreement. In fact, Aether was confident she had not met any of the other Archons yet. However, her reaction was rather muted for a revelation like that and the two other people at the table gave her a few seconds to let it sink in. "…Wait. YOU'RE WHO!?"
There's the reaction they expected.
If he was honest with himself, Wanderer had no idea what he was supposed to do now. When he followed after the Electro Archon, the last thing he expected was to run into another member of the Seven. At least he knew they were in Fontaine; it was the same as himself— they were here for Aether.
"To even get them to come here…" He thought, rolling his eyes. Aether truly was a magnet for trouble to get even Archons to come to his aide. Wanderer couldn't help but imagine how they (as well as the others teaming up to help the arrested Traveller) would react if they found out what was actually going on behind the scenes.
In any case, he trailed the two Archons along with that Adeptus to the hotel where they went in. He contemplated heading in but decided to wait first; until he figured out whether the two were checking into the hotel, it was best he stayed outside. After a couple of minutes waiting, however— "Any reason you're skulking out here?"
Wanderer turned to see Cyno accompanied by the group of baffoons he allied with. He naturally knew a few of them like the Kamisato heiress but didn't bother to address them yet. "There is," he answered bluntly. "Why are you lot here? I thought you all were busy finding a way to help Aether?"
"We are— we've just returned for lunch," the General Mahamatra replied with an annoyed tone. He clearly didn't like Wanderer's dismissive answer which made him roll his eyes.
'So needy for answers.' "…You—" Wanderer stared pointedly at Ayaka. "There's someone you should recognise inside. Peek in there and tell everyone here who that is."
While she was initially confused, Ayaka decided to follow what he said and told everyone to wait. The group watched her head inside and, a few seconds later, walk out in a hurry with a shocked face. "Why is she here?" Ayaka questioned just shy of actually shouting, mostly directed at the Wanderer.
"Lady Kamisato, would you enlighten us please? Who did you see?" The tanned man Wanderer knew to be from Mondstadt asked with curiosity in his voice.
Ayaka cleared her throat and calmed down at the question. "It's… her Excellency."
"Her Excellency? Is that not what Inazumans refer to your Archon?" Wanderer could tell from their faces they were sceptical about it and he couldn't blame them. After all, why would the Electro Archon be here in Fontaine unannounced? The idea was laughable at best; however, the truth was waiting inside the hotel lobby doing… whatever. They may not believe them now but they will later.
"So what is our dear Electro Archon doing in there, Kamisato?" asked Wanderer. At least she believed him.
"She was talking with a man and that friend of yours," she answered while glancing at Yuheng. "The short one," she clarified.
That little descriptor was enough for the Liyuean to figure out who she was talking about. "You mean Xiao? Then that would mean…" She muttered before shaking her head. Wanderer assumed she also came to the right conclusion as to who the man Beelzebul was talking with. Whether she knew that man was the thought-to-be-dead Morax was another story, however. In any case, they would need to figure out what to do next.
After Furina mentally recovered from the info bomb that was Venti's true identity, it was clear to Aether she was putting on an act— more than she usually did anyway. Her voice was a pitch higher than usual and she was talking a bit faster; it was plain as day she was unnerved by Venti— a statement Aether thought would never cross his mind ever in a million years. It's understandable though, this would be the first time Furina is meeting another Archon. It was only natural she'd be intimated by such a prospect, especially since she was—
"So what brings you to my lovely city, Lord Barbados? As my guest and as an apology for the… misunderstanding, is there anything Aether and I could do to help?" Furina offered a hand to which Venti laughed it off.
"Please, just call me Venti, everyone does!" The bard told her with a cheery grin. "As for why the reason I'm visiting Fontaine, it's for him." Venti gestured towards Aether. "I heard this little troublemaker got arrested for kidnapping a fellow Archon and thought to give him some moral support through his trial. But I got here only to learn that he's been living in the lap of luxury this entire time."
"Na—naturally. An international hero like him deserves to be treated as such despite the seriousness of his charges," replied Furina before quickly adding, "In the event he is found not guilty of them."
"And if he is?" Venti teased, giving both of them a knowing look. "I know little about Fontaine's little underwater getaway but I assume there's a cell specific for oh-so-dangerous criminals such as our dear Aether. Only the worst, most highly guarded cell is fit for someone brave or foolish enough to slight a divine such as u— ow!"
A good old-fashioned wack to the top of the skull was more than enough to shut the rambling bard up. "You're making it sound like you want me to get locked away."
"Anything to teach you a lesson for leaving me high and dry, Aether," he not-so-seriously answered. "I've forgiven, but not forgotten your acts of transgression. I'm sure Zhongli would agree with me."
Aether rolled his eyes at Venti, thinking the former Geo Archon would be fine with leaving Venti in jail for breaking Fontaine's law. After a moment of thought though— "Why are you bringing Zhongli into this? We both know he'd leave you in prison too with the antics you get up to."
When he asked that, Venti's already wide grin got even wider, making Aether regret opening his big mouth. "I'm bringing him up because he's here too, of course."
"...Excuse me?"
"Yeah, I was surprised to see him too. He had a little run-in with the law for distributing disturbing flyers or something like that," Venti shrugged with a sigh. "They already let him out so I have no idea where he could be in the city."
Venti's words mostly flew over Aether's head as he tried to process what was initially said. "What? Wait, step back a second. Zhongli's also here?!"
"Zhongli is the funeral consultant you met in Liyue, right?" Furina asked, recalling Aether's tales from the Nation of Geo and Contracts. As Aether was still in shock at learning another friend of his was in Fontaine, Venti answered for him.
"That's right. Good ol' Zhongli with his long stories," Venti nodded.
"I see…" Furina wondered why Aether had such a visible reaction at hearing this Zhongli was here. After all, with the influx of tourists, it wasn't out of the question that someone he knows was also—
"He's also Morax by the way."
Ah, that explains everything… wait— "WHAT?!"
A/N: Got lazy and procrastinated a lot. I'm not even going to hide it. Anyway, here's the next chapter. A shorty but it should suffice with setting up what's coming up~