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A boat docked late at night in the Romaritime Harbor. Crates were unloaded and put onto the pier as Maison went through and checked the products for problems. Once they passed inspection, a harbor worker transported the crates to a storage facility to be picked up in the morning. All except two massive crates of tea from Chenyu Vale. He took those further down the dock and loaded them onto a cart and pulled it onto the aquabus to take them into the city outside of the Court of Fontaine. This was a special delivery to a special man.
The harbor worker stopped the cart in front of an opulent building and began unloading the crates and taking them around to the back of the house. Once unloaded he rang the little bell above the back door then went back to his cart and returned to the harbor. A few moments later the door of the building opened and a few men brought the crates in through the door and down a flight of stairs and were settled down in a dark basement room. A man waited in a chair, smoking an expensive cigar.
“Open it.” He said and the men began using their crowbars to pull the nails from the crates. The front soon gave way and a wall of leaves tumbled out followed closely behind by two naked girls who collapsed onto the cold concrete floor. He smiled and the men lifted the girls up and dragged them over to him where he gently ran his hands over their soft flesh, fingers lingering on the areas he liked the most. He couldn’t believe how tender they felt under his fingers. Her forced open their eyes to see coal black irises, dilated by the drugs used to keep them pliant. They were perfect.
“Take them to the bed and have them chained together. Twins need comfort from each other in these trying times.” He said and the men obliged him, chaining them to the bed by their necks like dogs before leaving him alone with them. He sat in his chair and smoked his cigarette as he looked at them. They were pale with dark hair and exactly alike in every way, totally perfect for him. He took another drag on the cigar and breathed out letting the husky smoke fill the room as he waited for his two sweet brides to wake up.
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Freminet sat on the boat as he rode between Fontaine and Liyue looking discontent. It had been a long time since he had to do a mission alone, but it had to be done. Father had approached him earlier that morning and discussed the situation with him. Bodies had been turning up in Fontaine that were clearly victims of some kind. The Maison had theories but since there was no evidence on these theories then nothing could be done. Father had managed to finally get her hands on one of the bodes and found that she was from Liyue and from the wounds on her body it was obvious what had happened. She had been trafficked.
It was kind of an open secret that the nobles of Fontaine used the adoption process for trafficking, but after Father had become the head of the House of the Hearth that slowed to a crawl. She took in orphans from everywhere and once a child was in the house they didn’t leave in the hands of someone who would hurt them. No, Father taught all the children well how to protect themselves and they only left once they were capable. Many, of course, never left and joined the Fatui under her cause. Freminet was one of those kids who grew up and became Fatui. Needless to say, access to transients had grown impossibly thin and the Nobles weren’t happy about it and Father was certain that they were pulling from outside of Fontaine for people to enslave. The girls that were found were all from Liyue so it was very likely they had a connection there that was supplying the Nobles with fresh meat.
Which is why Freminet was sitting on this boat going to Liyue. Initially when Father approached him, he was confused. Lyney, his older brother, was usually chosen for matters of such importance but Father had shot this down.
“For this mission, discretion is of utmost importance. Lyney is… very noticeable in crowds given his predisposition for dramatics and showmanship. Any other time I would have sent him, but we can’t have anyone in Liyue notice you.” She said and Freminet nodded but then asked, “What about Lynette?” inquiring about his sister as well.
“She would blend in easy enough however, given her history and the subject of this mission, Lyney wouldn’t let her go alone. He’s already against you going alone as well, imagine if it was Lynette instead.” She said and Freminet hummed, knowing she was right. Lynette was once a victim of trafficking herself so it’s a fearful spot for Lyney. All in all, Father was doing her best to get the job done while also making all of her kids as comfortable as possible. Freminet was clearly the only option. So he went.
The boat swayed and jostled him and he looked up to see the port of Yilong Warf coming into view. He sighed a long and heavy sigh as his anxiety boiled under his throat. He knew what to do. He was prepared. And yet, he still felt he wasn’t ready for this at all. Some dreadful gnawing ate at him as he watched the warf grow closer and closer. Something about this whole situation made his skin prickle and feel cold. He looked over the side of the boat and into the water and pretended he was under its comforting waves.