The Court of Fontaine greeted me with stone beneath my feet, and I nearly became religious.
Not because the city was beautiful, though it was. Not because the towers rose like some arrogant architect looked at the sky and decided it lacked enough drama, though they absolutely did. Not because the waterways gleamed beneath polished bridges and carried the whole city's reflection like Fontaine was admiring itself in a mirror, though that also felt painfully accurate.
No.
I nearly became religious because the ground did not move.
After the Waverider, after the Aquabus, after the smooth water trauma that had turned my internal organs into a poorly organized rebellion, the simple act of standing on stable pavement felt like receiving a divine blessing from the Geo Archon himself. I stepped off the Aquabus, placed one hand over my chest, and whispered with absolute sincerity, "Ground, my beloved. My loyal, unmoving queen. You would never betray me."
Lumine stepped beside me, looking far too composed for someone who had just escaped Fontaine's public transportation system. "Please don't flirt with the street."
"I'm not flirting. I'm appreciating stability."
"You called it your queen."
"That's diplomacy."
Paimon floated down after us with a half-eaten pastry in her hands, cheeks puffed like she was trying not to laugh and failing on purpose. "Paimon thinks the ground can do better."
I slowly looked up at her. "After everything I have done for this party, you attack my relationship with pavement?"
"You puked on someone's shoe earlier."
"That was a maritime incident."
Lumine crossed her arms. "That was seasickness."
"That was Fontaine's waters committing psychological warfare."
Nilou stepped off the Aquabus with a grace so unfair that the entire vehicle looked less cursed simply because she had used it. She glanced at me with gentle concern, though the corners of her mouth were trembling with laughter she was too kind to release immediately. "Are you really feeling better?"
Because the Goddess had asked, I straightened my spine and attempted to look like a warrior who had not spent the last ride bargaining with his stomach. "Perfectly. I survived the Aquabus. My legend grows."
Greg, perched on my shoulder, flicked his tail against my neck once.
I turned my head. "Do not fact-check my legend."
His tail flicked again, firmer.
"That was not barely survival. That was tactical endurance."
Another flick.
"Greg, I am begging you to respect propaganda."
Charlotte descended behind us with her notebook tucked under one arm and the satisfied smile of a reporter who had discovered enough social ammunition to fuel The Steambird for several issues. She had promised not to twist the serious things, but the rest of my existence was probably already doomed to public record.
"Thank you again for letting me ride with you," Charlotte said brightly. "I expected a normal commute, but this was much more memorable."
Paimon immediately pointed at her with her pastry. "Don't write anything too embarrassing!"
Charlotte's smile sharpened with professional innocence. "Define too embarrassing."
"Anything involving shoes," Lumine said without hesitation.
Nilou nodded gently, but there was steel hidden beneath the softness of her smile. "And please keep our personal matters private."
Charlotte looked at Nilou, then at Lumine, then at me sitting between the two fiancées who had apparently formed a protective media wall around my dignity. Her eyes glittered, but she placed one hand over her heart. "I promise to be respectful."
I narrowed my eyes. "That sounds like something a respectful devil would say."
Charlotte laughed and gave us one final wave. "Then I'll try to be one of Fontaine's better devils. I hope we meet again soon."
Greg lifted his tail once in farewell.
Charlotte immediately brightened. "Ah, Greg approves."
"No, he does not," I said.
Greg flicked again.
Charlotte beamed. "A second confirmation. Thank you, Greg."
"Stop giving interviews!"
Lumine covered her smile while Nilou finally let out a soft laugh, and Charlotte left us behind with the swift steps of a woman chasing the next story. I watched her disappear into the Court of Fontaine with the deep caution of a man who had just survived a reporter and knew survival only meant the article had not been published yet.
Paimon floated closer to Lumine, squinting after Charlotte. "Paimon likes her, but she's dangerous."
"She's a journalist," I said. "That is a socially accepted danger class."
Lumine glanced at me. "You knew her."
"I knew of her."
"That distinction again."
"It is one of my safest technicalities."
Nilou looked around before Lumine could start prying the truth out of me one careful question at a time. Her eyes softened with wonder as the Court of Fontaine opened before us, grander from within than it had been from the Aquabus. Towers rose around canals and plazas, bridges arched over clean waterways, and mechanical systems moved with quiet confidence, as if even the gears had rehearsed before turning.
"It's even more beautiful up close," Nilou said. "From the Aquabus, it looked like a performance. Here, it feels like the audience is standing inside the stage itself."
Paimon nodded eagerly. "And bigger! Paimon feels like we could get lost here for days."
"We could," Lumine said, studying the streets with that traveler's instinct of hers. "The layout is different from every other city we've visited."
I let the noise of the city wash over me for a moment. Fontaine was alive in all directions, filled with footsteps, conversations, bells, water, metal, and the distant rhythm of law and performance moving through daily life. "Welcome to the Court of Fontaine," I murmured. "The city where architecture is dramatic, transportation is my enemy, and even casual conversations sound one objection away from becoming a trial."
Paimon tilted her head. "That actually sounds accurate."
"It usually is," Lumine said.
Nilou glanced at me with a small smile. "You sound excited again."
"I am. Terrified, nauseous, and emotionally burdened by forbidden historical knowledge, yes, but excited."
Lumine's eyes narrowed. "Forbidden historical knowledge?"
I smiled innocently. "Tourism facts."
"That is not what tourism facts sound like."
"Fontaine tourism is intense."
Greg tapped his tail against my neck, and I chose to interpret it as support instead of judgment because I was emotionally tired and deserved one delusion.
We had barely started moving when familiar figures approached from the walkway ahead. Lyney raised a hand in greeting, smiling like the city's theatrical heartbeat had personally appointed him ambassador, while Lynette walked beside him with the calm expression of someone who had already calculated our group's nonsense level and decided to conserve energy.
"Ah, there you are," Lyney said. "I was starting to wonder if the Aquabus had been too much for some of you."
Paimon pointed at me immediately. "It was too much for him."
I placed both hands behind my back and stood straighter. "False. I conquered it."
Lynette looked at my face. "You look pale."
"I am naturally luminous."
"Unconvincing."
Nilou stepped closer to my side. "He did better near the end."
"That is because I was holding your hand," I said solemnly.
Nilou's cheeks warmed. "Shigeru…"
Lyney's eyes flicked between us with amused curiosity, then to Greg, who lifted his tail in greeting as if he had not spent the entire ride betraying me to journalism. "I see the trip was eventful. I hope Charlotte didn't trouble you too much."
"She interviewed Greg," I said.
Lynette blinked once. "Greg gave comments?"
"Tail-based comments," Paimon said. "Very professional."
I pointed at her. "Do not encourage his public career."
Lynette's gaze rested on Greg. "He appears composed."
"Do not enable him either."
Lyney laughed lightly before turning to Lumine. "Since you've arrived, I was hoping you would allow me to show you where Lynette and I are staying. It isn't far, and after that, we can continue with preparations. Our performance at the opera house will be our premiere, so things are a little busy."
Lumine nodded. "That's fine."
Paimon floated closer to him. "Your home is nearby?"
Lyney gestured ahead. "Yes. This way. It won't take long."
I raised a hand before anyone could start walking. "Important question. Will reaching your home involve another boat?"
Lynette answered immediately. "No."
I exhaled like a soldier spared from execution. "Excellent. Lead on, magic boy."
Lyney laughed openly this time, and Lynette's mouth twitched just enough for me to consider it a national achievement.
We followed the twins through the Court, and Fontaine unfolded in layers. Lyney pointed out streets, shops, and landmarks with practiced ease, speaking of the city like someone who loved its stages but knew where the trapdoors were hidden. Lynette added shorter clarifications whenever he became too decorative with his explanations. Lumine listened carefully, Paimon asked enough questions to power a courtroom interrogation, Nilou absorbed the city with the eyes of a performer studying an unfamiliar stage, and Greg sat on my shoulder like a tiny royal inspector reviewing urban design.
"So that building is court-related?" Paimon asked, pointing at one structure that looked too important to merely be an office.
"Not exactly," Lyney replied. "Fontaine has many administrative offices connected to its legal system. The main trials, however, are held at the Opera Epiclese."
Paimon blinked. "An opera house and a court?"
"That is correct."
I nodded solemnly. "Justice with stage lighting."
Lynette glanced at me. "An oversimplification."
"But not wrong."
"No."
I pointed at her. "See? The cat validates me."
"She did not validate you," Lumine said. "She merely refused to reject the premise."
"In Fontaine, ambiguity is admissible evidence."
Lyney smiled over his shoulder. "You adapt quickly."
"I was born for theatrical nonsense."
Lynette looked at me again. "That is believable."
Paimon laughed. "Lynette keeps defeating him with short sentences."
"She wounds me efficiently," I said, placing one hand over my heart while Nilou covered a smile. "Honestly, I respect it."
The walk to Lyney and Lynette's home was not long, but Fontaine had a way of making even a short walk feel like a guided tour through a country's beautifully dressed anxiety. Every arch, canal, and water-lift looked designed to impress, yet beneath the polish I kept noticing small signs that matched what we had seen at the harbor. Waterproof document wraps. Magic Pockets tucked discreetly into belts. A woman checking the clasp on her bag twice before crossing a bridge. Children laughing around a fountain while an older sibling pulled them back a little too quickly when the water splashed high.
The prophecy lived here. Not loudly, not always, but it lived in small habits, in careful glances, in the way people joked about rain and water like jokes could sand down fear until it became manageable.
Nilou noticed too. She did not say anything at first, but her smile grew quieter, and her eyes followed the people more than the buildings. She was not judging Fontaine. She was listening to it.
When we reached Lyney and Lynette's place, Lyney slowed near the entrance and turned back to us with a warmer smile. "This is our current abode."
The words were simple, almost casual, but hearing them in person made something strange move through my chest. I remembered this quest. I remembered these steps. I remembered dialogue boxes, character animations, and the comfortable distance of a screen. Now the door was real, the rain-heavy air of Fontaine was real, Lumine and Nilou were beside me, Greg's claws rested lightly against my shoulder, and the line between memory and reality had once again decided to step on my throat for fun.
The door opened before Lyney could say more. A young man stepped out carrying a bag of materials, his pale hair slightly messy, his posture quiet in a way that immediately made the city's noise feel too sharp around him. His gaze moved from Lyney to Lynette first, then to the rest of us, and the moment he realized there were strangers present, he held the bag a little closer.
Freminet.
I already knew him. Not in the way Lyney and Lynette did, not in the way I knew the weight of someone's daily life, but enough to understand that the quietness in front of me was not emptiness. It was pressure. It was the kind of silence that came from a boy who preferred the sea because the world above it made too many demands.
My idiot brain immediately supplied one useful command.
Soft diver boy detected. Protect.
Lyney smiled. "Ah, Freminet, you're home."
Freminet blinked. "Oh… hello."
Paimon floated forward with her usual friendliness, though to her credit she had lowered her volume a little after seeing his nervousness. "Nice to meet you! Paimon is Paimon, and this is Lumine."
Lumine gave him a small nod. "Hello."
Nilou smiled gently, her voice soft and warm in a way that made even introductions feel less threatening. "I'm Nilou, from Sumeru's Zubayr Theater. It's nice to meet you."
Freminet glanced at her, and his shoulders relaxed by one careful breath. "Nice to meet you too…"
I placed one hand over my chest. "And I am Shigeru. Professional problem, recent survivor of the Aquabus, and firm supporter of introverts everywhere."
Freminet stared at me.
Lyney stared at me.
Lynette looked like she had expected exactly this.
Paimon slapped her forehead. "Couldn't you introduce yourself normally just once?"
"No. My brand integrity is important."
Freminet looked confused, but not frightened, and that counted as victory. Greg lifted his tail from my shoulder, and Nilou immediately added, "And this is Greg. He's part of our group too."
Freminet's gaze moved to Greg, and something in his expression softened with immediate curiosity. "He's… cute."
I felt Greg's ego inflate before it physically happened.
"No," I warned. "Do not let this happen."
Greg's tail rose higher.
Freminet looked more interested. "Is he friendly?"
"To good people, yes," Nilou said.
"To me, debatable," I muttered.
Greg flicked his tail, and Freminet's mouth curved into the smallest smile. It was tiny, almost invisible, but it was there. Lyney noticed too, and the warmth in his expression deepened.
"Allow me to introduce my little brother, Freminet," Lyney said. "He is a phenomenal diver."
Freminet immediately looked embarrassed. "Lyney…"
Paimon's eyes lit up. "A diver? That's amazing! Paimon can't even imagine going underwater for that long."
"That is because Paimon is built for emergency snack flotation," I said.
Paimon turned on me. "Paimon is not a flotation snack!"
"You are very buoyant."
"That's not the point!"
Freminet lowered his gaze, but I caught the way he relaxed at the nonsense. Good. Sometimes stupidity had practical uses. Formality could make shy people feel like they were standing under a spotlight. Nonsense, used carefully, gave them somewhere else to look.
Nilou looked at Freminet's diving gear with genuine curiosity. "Do you dive often?"
He nodded faintly. "Yes. It's easier for me underwater."
Nilou's expression did not pity him. It only understood. "Sometimes it feels easier when the world grows quieter."
Freminet looked at her again, surprised by how precisely she had touched the feeling without forcing it open. After a pause, he nodded. "Yes."
Lynette's eyes moved briefly to Nilou, and there was a small approval in them. Lyney noticed as well, though he hid it behind his performer smile. Nilou, of course, did not look proud of herself. She just smiled gently, like she had only said what anyone would say.
But not everyone would.
That was the point.
Lyney turned toward Freminet. "Where did everyone else go?"
"They went out a moment ago," Freminet answered quietly.
Lyney's expression changed almost imperceptibly. His smile remained, but I saw the careful adjustment beneath it, the way his eyes sharpened around one unspoken topic. "I see. Everyone is getting busier now that Father will be returning soon. I suppose that can't be helped."
Father.
The word landed softly, but I felt it strike the room like a blade hidden in velvet. Paimon tilted her head, not understanding yet. Lumine noticed the shift. Nilou noticed the tension. Lynette was already still.
And me?
My brain did what it rarely did in public.
It behaved.
Because I knew exactly who that word meant. Arlecchino. The Knave. The House of the Hearth. Fatui masks, children raised under duty, affection twisted into structure, loyalty sharpened until it looked like survival. I knew enough to say the wrong thing and detonate a room full of secrets. So I did the most unnatural thing in the world.
I shut up.
Greg's tail brushed my neck once, almost like approval.
Do not get used to this, lizard.
Freminet glanced at Lyney, then lowered his voice. "Lyney… could you come here for a moment?"
Lyney's concern hid itself behind calm. "Hmm? What is it?"
They stepped aside, and I pretended not to watch too closely. Lumine, however, turned toward me immediately. "Something wrong?"
"Maybe," I said quietly.
Paimon hovered closer, lowering her voice. "You know, don't you?"
"I know enough to be annoying."
"You're already annoying."
"I know enough to be dangerous."
That made Lumine's expression sharpen. Nilou looked at me with quiet concern, and I softened the tension before Paimon could start panicking. "Not dangerous to them. Just dangerous if I open my mouth at the wrong time."
Lumine studied me for a moment, then nodded once. "Then don't."
"Look at that. Positive reinforcement for my silence."
Paimon crossed her arms. "Paimon never thought she'd see the day."
Nilou smiled faintly. "You're trying."
"For Freminet? Yeah." I glanced toward the shy diver as he spoke quietly with Lyney. "He's the kind of person you don't rush."
Paimon looked at him, then seemed to decide something for herself. "Paimon will try not to be too loud."
I looked at her with genuine pride.
She immediately pointed at me. "Don't make it weird."
"I wasn't."
"You were thinking something emotional!"
"I was thinking I'm proud of you."
Paimon blinked, then puffed her cheeks. "Oh. Well… good."
Lumine's smile softened, and Nilou's hand lightly brushed mine, warm and quiet.
When Lyney returned, he carried himself as smoothly as before, but the carefulness behind his eyes had not vanished. "Sorry about that. There are always small things to handle."
"Family things?" Lumine asked.
Lyney's smile stayed gentle. "Something like that."
Lynette stepped beside him. "We still have preparations."
"Right," Lyney said, turning back to us. "Before the performance, there are materials for Magic Pockets that need to be delivered to Beaumont Workshop. I was hoping to handle it myself, but with preparations becoming busier…"
Paimon pointed at us. "You want us to help?"
"If it isn't too much trouble," Lyney said. "You've already helped distribute the pockets, so I feel a little guilty asking."
Lumine looked at the bag, then at Freminet. "We can help."
Nilou nodded. "Of course. If the Magic Pockets are important to the people here, then helping with the materials matters too."
I raised a hand. "I also volunteer, as long as Beaumont Workshop is not located across a body of water."
Lynette answered without hesitation. "It is not."
"Fontaine keeps showing mercy."
Paimon crossed her arms. "You say that now, but knowing you, something weird will happen anyway."
"Paimon, I am offended that you assume weirdness follows me."
Everyone looked at me. Lumine, Nilou, Paimon, Lyney, Lynette, Freminet, and even Greg leaned forward enough to join the collective judgment.
I lowered my hand. "Okay, fair."
Before we could leave, the sky changed.
It did not darken violently like Inazuma's storms, nor did it gather with the desert's heavy oppression. Fontaine's clouds moved in quietly, dimming the light as if someone had lowered the brightness over the city. The air cooled, the scent of water sharpened, and the first drops touched the stone with delicate precision.
Nilou looked up. "Rain?"
Paimon blinked. "It came so suddenly."
Lyney glanced toward the sky. "It often rains on days when trials are held at the opera house."
Paimon frowned. "Really? That's oddly specific."
"Fontaine is built on oddly specific," I said, though my eyes stayed on the clouds.
Freminet looked up at the rain, and the shift in his expression told me what was coming before he said it. I had heard this before. I knew this story. I knew the truth hiding beneath the children's rhyme, and because I knew, the rain did not feel mysterious to me. It felt personal.
"When I was little," Freminet said softly, "my mother told me a story. She said that if I wanted to go outside and play, I should yell toward the sky…"
He paused, and then spoke the words with the fragile familiarity of something remembered from childhood.
"Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry!"
The rain continued falling.
Paimon looked up at the clouds. "Hydro Dragon?"
Freminet nodded. "The story says the Dragon of Water once lived in Fontaine. No one knows where it went, but when it weeps, the sky clouds over and rain falls."
There it was.
The old children's song, dressed as a harmless legend.
Cute on the surface. Devastating if you knew who was actually listening.
I already knew the answer. I knew the Hydro Dragon had not disappeared in the way people thought. I knew the man standing at the heart of Fontaine's court was not merely a judge with an elegant voice and suspiciously ancient sadness. I knew that Neuvillette carried grief like rain carried reflections, and that every drop falling around us was not just weather if you knew where to look.
And I knew none of them were ready to hear all of that from me yet.
Paimon floated upward with sudden determination. "Let Paimon try something!"
Lumine blinked. "Try what?"
Paimon cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted toward the gray sky, "Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry!"
For a moment, we all waited. The rain continued to fall, pattering softly over stone, railing, roof, and waterway.
Paimon lowered her hands. "...Huh. It didn't work."
Lyney chuckled softly. "It is just a legend, after all."
Lynette looked at him. "You might be more popular as a magician if you understood romanticism."
Lyney placed a hand over his chest as if wounded. "Cruel as ever, Lynette."
I raised my hand. "For the record, I support romanticism."
Lumine looked at me. "You support anything dramatic."
"Correct. But emotionally."
Nilou looked up at the rain, letting a few drops gather in her palm. "Maybe the words don't stop the rain because the dragon does not need to be told not to cry."
Everyone turned toward her.
She smiled softly, a little sad. "Maybe it needs someone to understand why it's crying."
For a moment, even Fontaine's rain seemed to quiet around her.
Freminet stared at Nilou, surprised by the gentleness of the thought. Lyney's expression softened. Lynette's calm gaze lingered on Nilou a little longer than before. Paimon looked from the clouds to Nilou, trying to process the idea.
I looked at Nilou and felt that familiar ache in my chest.
Goddess behavior.
Absolute goddess behavior.
I did not say it out loud this time, because sometimes even I knew when not to decorate a sincere moment with idiocy. Instead, I looked up at the gray sky and thought of Neuvillette, of a dragon who had been taught to judge a people he did not fully understand, of a nation born from stolen shape and inherited guilt, of Focalors' plan turning slowly beneath everything like a mechanism no one could see until it was too late.
I knew the history beneath Fontaine's water. I knew enough about Egeria, enough about Oceanids, enough about humanity born with sin, enough about the Archon who performed and the dragon who judged. I knew enough to understand why this rain mattered.
But knowing was not the same as being allowed to speak.
So I said only, "In Teyvat, bedtime stories have a nasty habit of being historical records with softer wording."
Lyney's smile faded slightly.
Lynette's eyes sharpened.
Freminet looked down at the rain touching the stone.
Paimon's eyes widened. "Wait… so you think the Hydro Dragon is real?"
"I think," I said carefully, "that Fontaine has spent a long time turning painful truths into beautiful stories because beautiful stories are easier to carry."
Lumine looked at me, and I knew she heard what I was really saying. Not the full truth, but enough to understand I was not guessing. Her eyes narrowed with that familiar suspicion, but she did not push in front of Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet.
Nilou's hand found mine gently. "And you already know which parts are true."
I squeezed her fingers once. "Some."
Paimon hovered closer, voice lower now. "Is this one of those things you can't tell us yet?"
"Yeah."
"Because of the plot?"
"Because of people," I said, and that answer made even Paimon quiet. "Some truths belong to the person who has to face them. If I throw them out too early, I'm not helping. I'm just stealing the moment they need to understand themselves."
Lumine's expression softened by the smallest amount. She still disliked being kept in the dark, and honestly, fair. But she understood the weight behind the choice.
Lyney watched me for another second, then seemed to decide not to press. Wise magic boy. Very wise. He adjusted the bag of materials and handed it to Lumine.
"In any case," he said, his performer's ease returning carefully, "the rain shouldn't delay us too much. Beaumont Workshop isn't far, and Estelle should be expecting these materials."
Lumine accepted the bag. "We'll bring them."
Freminet stepped forward slightly, as if to offer to help, but Lyney placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. You should rest for now."
Freminet hesitated, then nodded. His eyes shifted to us. "Thank you."
Nilou smiled. "We'll take care of it."
Paimon gave him a cheerful wave. "Don't worry! We're good at errands!"
I nodded. "Elite errand specialists. Across four nations, we have delivered medicine, food, letters, suspicious artifacts, political consequences, and emotional damage."
Lumine deadpanned, "Mostly emotional damage."
"Still delivered."
Freminet smiled again, just a little.
Victory.
Lyney stepped toward the street with us. "I'll show you the way first, then Lynette and I will return to prepare."
Lynette gave a small nod. "Time is limited."
As we began walking through the rain, Fontaine changed around us. The city did not lose its beauty under gray skies. If anything, the rain made it stranger and softer. Water slid over stone, gathered along canals, and turned every surface reflective. The Court of Fontaine looked like it was remembering something it could not say aloud.
Nilou walked close to me beneath the rain, her hair catching droplets like tiny jewels. Lumine carried the materials securely while Paimon hovered under the edge of nearby awnings whenever possible, complaining about dampness despite technically floating above most puddles. Greg tucked himself closer to my neck, clearly deciding that my collar counted as shelter.
"You're using me as an umbrella," I muttered.
His tail flicked once.
"I am not waterproof infrastructure."
Another flick.
"Fine, but pay rent."
Paimon glanced back. "Greg says no."
"Why do you understand him only when it hurts me?"
"Because that's when he's clearest."
Lumine smiled despite the rain. "That's true."
Nilou looked toward the sky again, then back at me. "Shigeru, the dragon story bothered you more than you're showing."
I looked ahead. Lyney and Lynette were walking just far enough in front that they could pretend not to hear if they wanted, but close enough that I still needed to be careful. Freminet had stayed behind, yet his story followed us through the rain like a soft echo.
"It didn't bother me because I didn't understand it," I said quietly. "It bothered me because I do."
Lumine's gaze sharpened. "The judge?"
I gave her a small look.
Paimon froze midair. "Wait. Shigeru, are you saying the Hydro Dragon is—"
I lifted one finger before she could finish. "Not in the open."
Paimon clapped both hands over her mouth. Lumine's eyes narrowed, Nilou's hand tightened slightly around mine, and Greg's tail rested still against my neck. I didn't need to say more. They understood enough to keep walking.
Lyney stopped at the corner ahead and pointed down a street where the sound of metalwork rang faintly through the rain. "Beaumont Workshop is that way. Estelle runs it. She's skilled, though the workshop occasionally attracts troublesome customers."
"Troublesome customers?" Paimon asked.
I inhaled.
The rain smelled like stone, metal, and foreshadowing.
And ginger.
Not literally, of course. I could not actually smell him from here. But memory had its own scent, and mine had just thrown an orange-haired warning sign directly at my face. Beaumont Workshop. Estelle. Confrérie. And then, like every recurring boss disguised as a friend with a wallet problem, Tartaglia would appear because fate had a sick sense of humor and apparently refused to let us enjoy a new nation without importing one of our old headaches.
Lumine noticed my expression immediately. "What's wrong?"
I looked down the street. "Nothing."
"Shigeru."
"I can smell ginger."
Paimon froze. "No."
I nodded gravely. "Wallet problem approaching."
Nilou blinked. "Childe?"
Lumine's grip on the material bag tightened. "Already?"
Paimon threw her hands up. "Why is he always nearby when things are about to become complicated?"
"Because he is a combat-related recurring event," I said. "Some people bring umbrellas when it rains. Fontaine brings emotionally unstable dragons and our favorite ginger menace."
Lyney looked between us with polite confusion. "You know someone at the workshop?"
Lumine sighed. "Unfortunately."
Paimon crossed her arms. "Very unfortunately."
I grinned despite the rain, despite the prophecy, despite the dragon crying above us and the goddess smiling somewhere under a burden no one else could see yet. Sometimes fate was cruel. Sometimes fate was tragic. And sometimes fate was a ginger maniac with a wallet, a thirst for battle, and the worst possible timing.
I rolled my shoulders and started down the street. "Well then, let's go greet our unpaid dinner sponsor."
Paimon blinked. "Unpaid dinner sponsor?"
"He owes us emotionally."
Lumine sighed, Nilou laughed softly, Greg flicked his tail, and Lyney watched us like he was beginning to understand that letting me take it from here may have been his first mistake in Fontaine.
The rain continued falling over the Court of Fontaine. Somewhere far above, the Hydro Dragon cried, and somewhere ahead, trouble waited with orange hair.
_______
End of Chapter 185
Quests Completed:
Successfully arrived at the Court of Fontaine without kissing the ground.
Survived the Aquabus aftermath and regained partial dignity.
Escaped Charlotte without confirming a romance headline.
Reunited with Lyney and Lynette without exposing their suspiciously complicated background.
Reached Lyney and Lynette's current abode.
Met Freminet, the soft diver boy.
Allowed Greg to receive official cuteness recognition.
Introduced Nilou as a dancer of the Zubayr Theater and let her emotionally disarm Freminet in
under one minute.
Heard the legend: "Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry!"
Confirmed internally that Shigeru knows exactly who is crying, why the rain falls, and why nobody is ready to hear it yet.
Successfully kept your mouth shut about Arlecchino, the House of the Hearth, Neuvillette, Focalors, Egeria, Oceanids, and Fontaine's actual ancient mess.
Accepted the Beaumont Workshop errand from Lyney.
Detected the incoming ginger wallet problem.
Rewards:
+1 Ground Appreciation
+1 Lumine Suspicion Stack
+1 Nilou Gentle Insight Moment
+1 Paimon Volume Control Attempt
+1 Greg Public Cuteness Buff
+1 Freminet Tiny Smile
+1 Lynette Silent Approval
+1 Lyney Concern Hidden Behind Performer Smile
+1 Hydro Dragon Lore Restraint
+1 Shigeru Braincell Activation
New Passive Unlocked: "Forbidden Archive Pretending to Be an Idiot"
New Party Skill: "Not in Public, Paimon"
Warning Added: Rain in Fontaine Is Never Just Rain.
Future Encounter Loading: Ginger Wallet Problem: Beaumont Workshop Edition.