Work Text:
Childe regrets this
He truly does
"this" being the millions upon millions of sand before him
But let's not get ahead of ourselves, how did he end up in such a situation?
In the middle of the desert?
Without even a bit of bread to eat?
Scratches all over his body looking like he just came out of a tornado created by Barbatos himself?
Well.....let's just say that after he fought his master's pet for days on end, the doctors didn't let him get into fights to satisfy his 'hunger'
So when he got an invite from his friend Sethos-
who he might have met once or twice before-
inviting Childe to his wedding,
let's just say that the 11th harbinger didn't shy away from using that as an excuse for his doctors to travel to Sumeru
Said unfortunate doctors reasoned within themselves that Sumeru was
not that far away from Fontaine, if one were to travel by boat
Travel by boat?...HA! Jokes on THEM!!
Childe was going to go to Sumeru by the DESERT
walking and fighting all the way there
He, of course, didn't tell this to the doctors, but he did excuse himself to the knave saying that his good 'old' friend Sethos lived in the desert hence it would make sense!
And fight his way he did!
He fought a very majestic battle with a dragon-worm-snake green monster of Sumeru
and countless ermites on the way
That being said, he must have lost said way somewhere in the middle.
The primary plan was simple,
walk straight
Which in hindsight wasn't that good of a plan.
But Childe has managed worse.
The solution to the issue was simple, after beating any group of enemies he came across he would ask for directions in exchange for their lives
Unfortunately, it had been a while since he saw the last of them
But he wasn't worried, maybe there wasn't much food left but he had plenty of water and the mora in his bag was untouched
???:
"HEYYY"
Tartaglia turned around, and on the top of a group of tall rocks
stood what seemed to be a woman.
her hair reminded him of a lion's mane
she also seemed feminine judging by her chosen outfit and dangling earrings
She smiled seeing as she had caught his attention and then waved him over, rather confident
She had no weapon in sight so Childe also put his bow away to stand with her on common ground
Although vision users can call upon their weapons on will alone, Childe doesn't think this particular woman has thoughts of fighting in mind
He also doesn't want to seem like an enemy since she is the only person he has seen for hours on end
After approaching, he took a break to water his mouth, he hadn't talked for hours if not days
The woman didn't move to attack him as he was drinking water, so he decided that was good enough reason to befriend her
CHILDE: (plainly)
Hello there
He would surely add more excitement to his tone if it wasn't for the sand in his shoes and that the sun was currently trying to burn his head
???:
You are Tartaglia, right?
The knave, 4th of the fatui harbingers commissioned me and my group to find her college- aka you
she seemed pretty agitated if not a bit worried,
in all accounts, you have indeed been IMA to the world for a prolonged period of time"
CHILDE: (with a bit of panic)
The knave commissioned you after she set foot in Sumeru, right?"
???:
"mhm"
Child worry was profounded
The travel from Fontaine to Sumeru takes four to five days
If one considers that Arlechino might have made some dilly-dallying for a day or so before commissioning,
6 days
Plus Dehya taking a few days to find him-
CHILDE(panicked)
"Uh- what date is it today?"
???:
"you are worried about if you missed the wedding huh?
Don't you worry, you still have 4 days left!
I would know, I'm also invited to the wedding
My name is Dehya by the way..."
CHILDE (in relief):
Thank the Traritsa
DEHYA (leading childe through the desert):
"Will she also be at the wedding ceremony?"
CHILDE (confused)
"Huh, no I don't think so..?"
Then Childe remembered that he was also invited even tho not that close to Sethos
Wait....he didn't even know what Sethos did for a living-
Well....better ask now than never
"This wedding sure is a big thing huh"
DEHYA (breaking into laughter):
"Tell me that, I told the groom point straight! That if he needed me to go across the whole dessert for him, I would!
And you know what he said?"
CHILDE (indulging)
"No, what 𝘥𝘪𝘥 he say?"
DEHYA (mimicking):
" 'Don't worry Dehya, in Fontaine I will deliver the invitations myself, two months in advance!!,
I just need you to invite every other-allogene that Sumeru has! ' "
CHILDE (a bit baffled):
"sheesh, our guy sure knows a lot of people,
where will the wedding take place?"
DEHYA (casually):
"In the 'Temple of Silence' of course, it would be weird for the leader of it to get married anywhere else, right?"
Childe smiled to himself, that is some really valuable information and paints a clearer picture
CHILDE (acting curious)
"And his bride? Also from the temple, I would presume"
DEHYA (with tears from laughing too hard):
"loud AND wrong my guy, Sethos is marrying a man from Inazuma, but I see where you are coming from."
Childe wanted to speak but Dehya seemed to recall something
"oh, by the way, when I was searching for you I ran into the groom himself who was also searching for you"
CHILDE (tilted his head, truly confused)
"Me?"
Childe was a rather distant guest, why would the groom, who was going to get married in 4 days or so - inquire on his whereabouts?
DEHYA:
"He told me to pass this message to you, full with the wedding preparations and knowing how dangerous the dessert is,
The groom wanted to ask you the favor of protecting the bride throughout it all,"
Seeing as she had caught the childes' attention she continued
"You see, the guests are all coming into groups with merchants protecting them
but Sethos is afraid that even with the temple's passive demeanor, someone would try to attack the bridal sedan"
CHILDE
"So he is asking me to join the bridal party?"
DEHYA
"He said that the bride doesn't care if there are 5 or 10 people at his party, also it would greatly reassure Sethos of his lover's protection if you were tagging along"
CHILDE(putting up a happy front)
"Of course, I don't see why not!"
Childe had no idea where the temple of silence was, so tagging along with the bridal party was an amazing opportunity
The rest of the dessert walkthrough went into comfortable chatter, with Dehya orienting him on some parts of Sumeru city
Also telling him where The Knave was staying so they could meet up.
She also gave him where he could find multiple people from the bridal party for further information, overall meeting Dehya was truly a gift from the tsaritsa.
....
...
..
Childe entered the sanctuary, or more like a palace because of how huge it was
Dehya had told him that since they were harbingers, the dendro archon had seen it fit to invite them into her sanctuary with multiple rooms.
It was also favorable for him since the bride lived there.
It pictured Childe's attention as to why the bride lived with the dendro archon,
but Dehya only shook her head, saying that the bride was close to the archon but she didn't know where he even came from
no one seemed to know
and no one seemed to care
So Childe, seeing no reason for Dehya to lie, saw fit to not push the inquiry
As he stepped in he was immediately hit in the head with a sharp object
ARLECHINO [THE KNAVE] (agitated holding a scythe)
"Childe, prey you tell, did you have fun in the desert?
CHILDE (messaging his head):
"hey come on now, I just got lost for a bit "
The knave didn't speak further but she had that look on her face that seemed to say 'I should have let you be so'
before she sat on the long table with the dendro archon, her three closest children and her plus one, the ex-hydro archon.
CHILDE(taking a seat):
"So, is the bride coming?"
BUER (making a negative sound)
"I'm afraid he is making preparations with the flower girl and the designer from Fontaine at the moment!"
THE KNAVE:
"Designer from fontaine? Might that be-"
Childe tuned the discussion out as he tried to make himself look presentable.
They were talking about some designer from Fontaine named Chiori, with whom the knave seemed acquired since the designer had created the clothes of her twins.
On the other hand the dendro archon seemed to know her since the mother of the bride had commissioned her for the wedding attire.
From that alone he assumes that the bride must be rich,
having the most famous designer come to Sumeru to make your dress?
the same designer who made the clothes of the children of a 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧?"
living with the dendro archon no less?
Not to mention that he is marrying the leader of a temple??
.......
....
...
..
.
Despite what Childe had previously believed, he did not see the bride for the following 3 days
Only when the wedding was a single day away did Childe decide this was becoming embarrassing for him, fast too.
He didn't know the bride.
He hardly knew the groom-
and if he continued to only talk with the hearth children and Arle, he would go crazy real fast.
So he decided to AT LEAST meet up with the bridal party and chit-chat with the groom if he came across Sethos.
..
..
.
So first things first, Dehya had said that one of the people at the bridal party was Nilou, a dancer of the Sumeru theatre.
She was said to be around the town square or something.
Once he arrived he found her immediately
Blazing red hair, hydro allogene, in a special kind of dress
she stood out like a golden feather on a pile of straws
wait
A golden feather...?
it's weirdly a familiar concept to Childe,
but his fellow hydro allogene took his attention from that train of thought
beckoning him closer
NILOU(excited):
"You must be Childe!! Dehya told me about you. I wanted to thank you for accepting to accompany us "
CHILDE (slipping out of the daze):
Hahaha, don't mention it! It is my pleasure !"
Something felt off
h̶e̶ h̶a̶d̶ n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ t̶o̶l̶d̶ a̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ i̶n̶ s̶u̶m̶e̶r̶u̶ t̶h̶e̶ n̶a̶m̶e̶ C̶h̶i̶l̶d̶e̶
N̶o̶t̶ D̶e̶h̶y̶a̶
a̶n̶d̶ c̶e̶r̶t̶a̶i̶n̶l̶y̶ n̶o̶t̶ t̶h̶e̶ g̶r̶l̶ b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ h̶i̶m̶
NILOU :
I am ordering the flowers to pick up with us, tomorrow morning.
Not that we will be the ones to pick up the flowers, of course, we will already have our hands full with the dowry-
ah- not that I will be holding any of it. I wanted to help but they refused, saying it would be too heavy"
The girl before him giggled, clearly being carried away by the festivities.
Childe was surrounded by actors and dancers, merchants minding their business.
But for some reason, he felt too exposed.
He couldn't pinpoint as to why.
..
..
....
..
.
..
Childe thought Nilou probably found him the silent type and seemingly didn't mind walking in silence.
Although that is not entirely true, he does appreciate the though process, it gave him time to pull himself together
.
Before he knew it, they stopped before a brown-haired haired, clad in a kimono woman and next to her was-
CHILDE & ??? :
ITS- YOU!?