Chapter Text
Back in the day, when Lord Osial’s people lived beneath their magical dome underwater, there was a society for young scientists. It was rather popular group among students who wished to know more about the ways of the world, however, it was known that a few of them were quite the odd fish, their minds forever spiraling around unanswered questions about the universe or unsolved mysteries of history. Among these queers was a boy, who caught the eye of the very sister of Lord Osial.
She first spotted him when she was strolling the streets towards the market to find a suitable gift for her brother’s upcoming birthday. The boy stood motionless in the middle of an underwater park, staring up at the top of the dome, or even farther, up at the waves and the skies high above. His face was not particularly good looking, but his expression held some indescribable wonder that she couldn’t quite place. Could he worry about the safety of the dome? Could he want to go ashore? Why was he looking up in such a weird way?
On her way back from the market, she found that he was still in the park, but he was sitting on the green grass, writing and drawing something in his notebook. Focalors then stopped in the distance to take a better look at him. He still had the same, thoughtful look on his face, and she thought though he was not the handsome kind like his brother, those uncertain, hopeful eyes lit up something in her heart. She wanted to know more about him.
So, she walked over and asked what he was doing. The boy looked at her briefly, he didn’t even realize who was standing in front of him, even if Focalors had her horns out as usual, because Osial thought it was best if they showed their nobility even among their own people.
“It’s my research” the boy answered rather hastily.
“About what?” Focalors asked sweetly. She could see that he was wearing the society’s badge on his chest.
The boy’s cheeks flared up, and though he didn’t look at her, he started flipping his notebook excitedly, as if he had been waiting for the moment to tell his study to someone.
“It’s this question that keeps bugging me… like, we know that the water looks blue because it reflects the sky, right? Even from underwater… it’s blue because of the sky… but why is the sky blue? Could there be something that paints the sky blue? But why only daytime? Why is nighttime so black and not just dark-blue?”
Focalors listened to him with wide eyes, and her first thought was that this research was hopelessly idiotic and useless. But there was something in that boy, his enthusiasm, his glowing eyes that refused to look at her, as if his own notebook was the most interesting thing to him. Focalors was a little hurt by it, young boys usually pampered her when she showed interest. So, she took a deep breath and raised a question:
“What could possibly paint the sky blue?”
“That I don’t know yet!” the boy answered. “No matter how high I fly, there doesn’t seem to be anything behind the sky… just the stars. Wait, could it be starlight?! That’s quite blueish… I need to look into this tonight!”
He scribbled down a few notes and mumbled something to himself that made Focalors too stunned to make up any more questions. The boy then even packed his things and excused himself, saying that he needed to borrow a few books from the library about stars. Even then he didn’t seem to realize who was talking to him, or if he realized, he didn’t care. It was enough to have him stick in Focalors’ mind until she got home.
She told the events to her best friend who had been waiting for her return. Scylla acted as a servant at Osial’s house, but “servant” was merely a title to him. He preferred chatting away time and slacking off from cleaning hours. Even while he was working, he grimaced a lot and wasn’t afraid to talk back to even Osial. He knew his position at the Lord’s house was secured thanks to his mother, who was a well-respected oracle among their tribes. But, even if he was a lazy servant, he was an amazing friend to Focalors. As they lied on the divans, Scylla’s eyes shined with excitement.
“But how handsome was he?” he kept asking with a huge grin. “Like Lord Decarabian type rugged handsome or some fragile beauty?”
“Cute type” she shrugged with a smile.
“Do you know his name?”
Focalors hated to admit that she didn’t ask. Scylla sighed with disappointment.
“You had literally one job!” he said and dramatically laid back; his head hung down at the edge of the divan. “How are we going to find him again?”
“We?”
“This is already a group project!” Scylla stated with a huff as he sat back.
They thought hard and long that afternoon about how to approach this boy, until they came up with a plan: Focalors would go to the scientists’ society and ask for the name of the student who researched the blueness of the sky. They would not only give the boy’s name, but the news of a prestigious lady asking about such person would spread fast. Maybe it would be enough to spark the boy’s interest the next time he met Focalors.
So, with Scylla accompanying her (in hopes they would meet the strange boy), they went to the society’s headquarters and asked about the sky and its color, and everything related to it. They learnt that the boy’s name was Narcissus – but he was so immersed in his research he barely showed up at the society.
It didn’t break Focalors’ spirits. She found more and more excuses to leave the house and stroll the parks and streets, walking by the observatory building many times. Sometimes she indeed found him, sitting on benches or among flowers and she walked over, trying to strike a conversation with him. Narcissus was very willing to talk about his research, and Focalors’ thoughts from the topic being stupid turned into the opposite. Just how romantic it was to study the sky and think about the shades of blue!
However, Narcissus realized soon enough that it was the lady of the noble family that approached him, and when Focalors tried to ask about anything else than his research, his pointy ears turned red, and he got so shy he always found some excuses to leave.
Scylla thought it was tragical and they needed to find new ways to talk to him. Focalors considered joining the scientist society, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing there that particularly piqued her interest. She preferred to stick to more mundane arts, like dancing and acting.
There came the idea – they talked much about Narcissus’ research, but in dance, she could really show her talent to him! Scylla swore she was irresistible when she danced. Luckily, Osial’s upcoming birthday party was a perfect chance for that, even so because it was Scylla that was entrusted with delivering invitations. Focalors didn’t bother asking Osial for an extra invitation letter, she knew he wouldn’t want to see commoners at his party.
But Scylla made sure to deliver one letter to Narcissus. They only had to wait for the day of the celebration.
Focalors had a white-blue dress made just for this event, and Scylla styled her hair for hours, but it was all worth it, because, as Scylla said “she would even turn the head of that stone faced Lord Zhongli like this.”
The celebration was held in the golden ballroom of Osial’s house. The Hydro Lord sat on his carved chair and welcomed every guest that came up to him and greeted him with good wishes and presents. His wife, Beisht was there too, and together they looked over the hall with joy.
Focalors kept hiding behind the pillars and sneakily peeked out to see whether his scientist would come or not. Parties didn’t seem like his cup of tea, but Focalors was hopeful. It would be impolite to refuse the very invitation of Lord Osial! (Even if it was a fake.)
Narcissus indeed appeared. He wore the nicest blue clothes, that looked just like the color of the sky. His hair was brushed back, and two braids ran back on each side of his face. He didn’t only look cute, but handsome too, and Focalors’ heartbeat fastened as she hid behind the pillar and watched Narcissus approach her brother. He looked rather uncomfortable in his fancy clothes, among all the noble and prestigious people from all across Teyvat, because even a few other Lords were present, like Lord Baal and Lord Decarabian, since they lived closest to Guyun.
Narcissus walked over and bowed deeply in front of Osial, thanking him for his kind invitation to the party, and appreciating the fact that he supported the young scientists. Osial looked rather puzzled. He had never seen this man in his life, let alone hear about his precious research. Yet, since he was here and had his invitation letter, he just wished him to enjoy the night. After Narcissus left, he leaned over to whisper in Beisht’s ear.
“Even guys like this decided to show up, but Zhongli is nowhere to be seen! He didn’t even send his word! Did he even get his invitation?”
“As far as I know, Scylla delivered all the letters, my dear.”
Osial was comforted by this, unbeknownst to him that Zhongli’s letter was indeed delivered, but to no other than the unknown boy who wished them a thousand-years’ health and happy birthday just now.
Focalors followed Narcissus’ every step from a distance. She loved to watch him finally not being immersed in his studies and notes, looking around at the guests and his cheeks going either pale or red based on whoever passed by him. So many high-ranked dragons, and he felt like he didn’t belong here, so he didn’t even try to converse with anyone. He went farther from the crowd and inspected the paintings hung on the ballroom’s walls. Focalors couldn’t help but chuckle when she noticed he was most mesmerized by those arts that had the sky on them – either as starry darkness, or indigo blue dotted with foam white clouds.
Finally, she decided to ease his suffering and walked up to him, stopping by his side and looking at the paintings too. Suddenly, the dull sceneries that she had seen many times became interesting.
“Fancy seeing you here” she commented with a smile.
Narcissus glanced at her, then back up at the painting. He bit his lip and tried hard not to blush. He didn’t succeed, and Focalors was happy to see that the gears in his head turned too, and though he didn’t say anything, he put one and one together, figuring out that inviting him was her doing.
“My pleasure, being here” Narcissus cleared his throat. “I’ve never drunk anything more delicious in my life than this water here.”
“…you really only chose to drink water?”
“It has a different taste than the one I usually drink” he admitted.
Focalors was about to say she was ready to go over and taste the water he usually drinks, but she held back her foolish tongue and tilted her head towards the dance floor hoping he would read her intentions and invite her to dance himself. Narcissus looked puzzled and just looked back at the painting again. It depicted the waterfalls of Fontaine from the desert’s side.
“I heard Fontainian wells have the most exquisite water on all Teyvat” she remarked. “If you haven’t tried it yet, we could travel there together. I can show you around.”
“Isn’t that a human realm?” Narcissus raised his head, but the spark of excitement already shone up in his eyes.
“We hide our horns and scales and we’ll be fine” she chuckled and turned towards the painting again. “My brother doesn’t like me going among humans, but those at Fontaine… I think they are quite interesting. They have established a real law system. They don’t have kings or lords to act their judges, like us… us dragons have too many crimes that we’ve looked over, don’t you think?”
She noticed that Narcissus was looking at her, and finally, all of his attention was directed at her. Blueish flames burnt in his eyes and Focalors thought maybe the key to him was to share her own interests and enthusiasm.
“You could join the society and study the humans” Narcissus suggested. “That way, you could create the law for us. Lords and Kings barely care about the quarrels of the commoners, resulting in an endless spiral of revenge among each other.”
“Right!” Focalors agreed with a little more enthusiasm than she intended. She cleared her throat and regained her composure even if Narcissus seemed to like her passion. He glanced back at the picture and his cheeks got a little red.
“Fontaine it is.”
Focalors’ heart jumped to her throat in excitement. He did agree! He did say they could go to Fontaine together! She looked around the room quickly, hoping to spot Scylla among the guests and just motion that she had hit a milestone with Narcissus. The servant was nowhere to be seen, so she looked up at the young scientist and bat her eyelashes.
“It’s such a pity we can’t go immediately” Focalors said.
Narcissus looked around and a small smile appeared in the corner of his lips. He thought no one would care if he left. Well, if he was to leave with the sister of Lord Osial… that was rather problematic.
“So, how about a dance instead?” Focalors continued and raised her hand up for him.
Narcissus took her hand with a gentle nod. He let her lead him to the dance floor, and he danced with her all night long. She swayed and spun only for him and as her hair and dress flowed behind her, Narcissus’ heart gave in and opened itself completely to the white light she held underwater. It was no secret that he fell in love with her right then, with her passion, with her thoughts, with her very being completely. And from the way he looked at her, from those sweet and gentle eyes Focalors also knew, that she would not give her heart to anyone else.
Years later, she often thought back on that magical night. Narcissus and she had started dating just a few days after, and they left Guyun to visit Fontaine together. When they returned home, they were sure they were going to marry one day.
However, Osial opposed the idea for a long time. After all, Narcissus was a commoner, and a poor one to say at least. He had a sharp mind, but smartness wasn’t enough to wed Focalors to him. So, for years, they continued their relationship secretly while Narcissus also continued his studies. His attention shifted from the blueness, but never from the sky. He watched the stars for so long he became outstanding in astronomy, and he traveled to other nations to meet with other scholars and learn more. Focalors often accompanied him and firmly refused Osial’s idea to marry her off to Lord Zhongli. Seeing her persistence, Osial gave in, and finally let the two hold their wedding.
At that time, he and Focalors were working on the law system Focalors had always wanted to create, and they had High King Nibelung’s permit and support to do so, so they moved to the capital city. They got married in the Tsaritsa’s temple and settled in Dahri, so far from the night sky, but also far from Osial.
Focalors was happy to leave him behind even if it meant to be torn away from the waters of Guyun. But she was extremely proud of Narcissus to be at the High King’s service, to hold that respected and well-earned position that he earned. Thanks to their hard work, they even had a beautiful house at a prestigious district.
As she sat by the window and breathed the fragrant smell of the flowers that they planted in their window boxes, she heard small cry coming from the neighboring room. She smiled. Right, they did not only have each other, but their little droplet too, the addition to their family.
She hurried over to the other room and leaned over the blue-white crib that she and Narcissus painted by hand. Inside a baby with foam white hair cried and reached for Focalors when she appeared.
“Neuvillette” Focalors called him with a soft tone. “Are we sad again, my little pearl?”
She swayed her hand and with a flick of magic, Neuvillette’s thick teardrops were lifted from his cheeks, they floated above the crib and danced in strange shapes and forms. Neuvillette widened his eyes and in his awe, he forgot to keep crying. His chubby cheeks were soon lifted by a smile and Focalors chuckled, driving his teardrops away, then picking him up. Neuvillette babbled something then cuddled up against her chest.
“We don’t like being alone, do we?” Focalors pat his back and moved over to the window to look up at the white palace. Narcissus was working there, but he should be home any time now. She rocked Neuvillette, though the baby had no intention of going back to sleep, he sucked his thumb and followed her mother’s gaze to stare at the white sun above the high towers.
“I’m home!”
The entrance door could be heard closing and Focalors turned around, slowly making her way out of Neuvillette’s room. Narcissus was taking his shoes off in front of the door. When Neuvillette noticed him, he gasped and reached for him.
“Babababababa!” he babbled and kicked his feet. Narcissus chuckled and took him from Focalors, smooching his chubby cheeks a few times.
“I’m back, little droplet!” he hugged him close as he reached over so he could kiss Focalors’ cheek too. Focalors smiled and crossed her arms, leaning against the Neuvillette’s doorframe.
“We didn’t see you coming down the street.”
Narcissus’ jolly eyes darkened for a moment, and he looked down at Neuvillette, who chewed on his hair diligently.
“Yes… I had to take a detour. The market is pure chaos now that the sun hasn’t risen for so long in the overworld…”
“You guys still couldn’t figure out what’s happening?” Focalors tilted her head.
“It has to be some sort of magic” Narcissus narrowed his eyes and tickled Neuvillette’s tummy, so he spat his hair out and waved his limbs with joyful laughter. “But we couldn’t find who or what is causing it. A few humans… including Irmin from the Crescent Moon Street… think that it’s caused by the High King.”
“And you believe that?”
“I only know that the situation is getting tense” Narcissus sighed and embraced his wife’s waist as they walked back to their child’s room. “But as long as we are together, I know it’s going to be alright.”
He pressed another kiss on Neuvillette’s head and put him back in his crib. Now he had both arms to embrace his wife and Focalors did cuddle up with him, not taking her eyes off their little baby who yawned and flipped his tail out to hug while he went back to sleep.
Focalors’ hand found Narcissus’ and she took a deep breath.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“It’s going to be alright” Narcissus reassured her. “But in any case, we can always go back to Guyun.”
“Yeah…” Focalors nodded. “I know Neuvi would love that. He has never seen the sea nor that grumpy uncle of his.”
“Then, it’s time to go” Narcissus chuckled. “I’ll ask for leave tomorrow.”
Focalors smiled with relief and leaned down to her sleeping son. She pulled his tiny blue blanket over him, then whispered to him in a hushed, but excited tone:
“Did you hear it, little pearl? We are going to take you to the sea! There is going to be so much more water than you see in the bathtub!”
Neuvillette, upon the simple mention of water seemed to smile in his sleep. In his dreams he was already swimming at faraway lands, chasing seahorses and jellyfish with his dear mama and papa.