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‘What was she doing?’ Was the thought running through Linnea’s head right now—though admittedly, it was extremely difficult to compose any coherent thought at all when the Vice Captain of the Knights of Favonius’ Fifth Company himself was breathing down her neck while she was staring down the sloping metal roofs of Nasha Town’s shops.
Their first time meeting, and he decides to make the encounter its most memorable by half pushing her over a guardrail on the highest point of Nasha Town with every potential to just drop her off the side?
…Well, it was a good thing Lumi had been left behind in her room at the Flagship and wouldn’t have to witness any of this horror.
Simple enough, really. It had just been a friendly game of Roulette Showdown.
———
“And next to take the wheel… is our newly returned Adventurer’s Guild most beloved advisor and naturalist!” announced Demyan excitedly, ushering Linnea to the table.
The pointer landed on a spirit of intensity 2. She boldly chugged the thing down, the alcohol hitting her veins and replenishing all the energy she had lost that afternoon getting chased around to-and-fro by slothsheep. They had her and Lumi tumbling down hills!
“Two points to Miss Linnea! Feel free to ask anyone with less points than you a question now.”
“Right! Then I pick…” she looked around, making a show of choosing a target, then flitted right back to face him.
“You, Demyan. Spill the beans, how much Dendro slime condensate do you need to bump up a drink’s alcohol percentage by 5%?"
“M- Me?! Well, maybe 10 milis, give or take?" Demyan cleared his throat and continued the game. “And our next contestant is Vice Captain Lohen! An honor to have you here!”
Linnea turned to look at the man next to her, and wound up admiring the perfect picture of confidence. A dark minty head of hair, a proud smile—but what really struck her were those dusky, dull eyes. Like blood on a rock? That was just uncouth! Bloodstained steel, perhaps. A bloodstained knight…
So dreamily dangerous looking, just like the men described in those inazuman light novels. She might’ve blushed in embarrassment for using that as a comparison, though.
“Well, I can’t wait to see how the Nod-Krai taverns hold up to a Mondstadtian palette. Even if I don’t boast much about my own tolerance, still!”
The wheel spun, landing on intensity 3. Linnea watched in slightly bleary awe as he raised the cup to his lips, smoothly downing the glass in one.
“Three points to the Vice Captain! You know the rules.”
Lohen seemed to look around, searching for a suitable recipient to his question, and a chill ran down her spine when his eyes locked on to her.
“A question to you, Missus. I’ve heard about you frequently up in the north island. You’re a fae, right? Can faes… die? If a fae were to jump off a cliff, what would happen? If you jumped off a cliff?”
He made a show of slapping his palm downwards to his other palm, like a falling something—maybe someone—landing on the ground.
Well. She’d heard rumors around the Knights’ camp before about how crazy this guy was, but she hadn’t expected him to show it so openly, and nearly sprang out of her seat by the question. Linnea couldn’t help darting her eyes around, squirming under his anticipation. Even the other contestants seemed shocked.
His eyes really did just shine eerily, kinda like the blood moon she recently saw in Fontaine that made her brain toot every siren aboard.
“Well—can I really be the one to judge that…? You know there are so, soooo many kinds of fae out there. I’m sure there are some who don’t adhere to the laws of gravity. Or mortality,” she answered, choosing to give the most neutral answer possible, grinning sheepishly and hoping he’d let it be.
Unfortunately, Lohen was not having it.
“I’ll be more specific, then. If what I’ve heard is true, then you can… fly, can’t you? If those precious wings of yours fail you one day, what gives?” He gave said wings a pointed, curious look, not missing the way they twitched at how absurd the words that came out of his mouth were.
Yet just as she was about to retort, a rustling sound came from behind her. The two of them had scarcely turned to look at the source of the noise before Lumi was leaping out in indignant rage, freeing herself from her cozy spot in Linnea’s backpack and diving in on Lohen.
“WAIT, LUMI! DON’T!!” Linnea made a desperate jump to catch Lumi in the air, not quite wanting to bludgeon a knight in the head and catch a case. Even if that knight was being an intrusive little shit.
“YA…HO!!!!” Was Lumi’s furious battle cry, cut short when Linnea managed her diving lunge and brought the both of them harshly sliding across the tavern floor, Lumi in her arms, narrowly avoiding crashing against a sofa.
She rose up to a crouch, patting away any dust on Lumi, when the sound of heavy soles making their way over scrap metal caught her attention; she turned around.
Lohen had walked over to her, offering his hand in assistance. She took it hesitantly, slowly getting up and brushing the dust off of her clothes and Lumi; his grasp on her hand was gentle in comparison to his outlandish attitude from earlier.
“Quite the unfortunate turn of events! I hope you’re not all the worse off from that slide?” asked Lohen, seemingly checking after her well-being.
“No worries, I can manage. I’ve had worse falls in the back alleys of Nasha town!” Linnea chuckled sheepishly, cradling a very discontented Lumi in her other arm.
She tried to sit back down at her bar stool and act as if nothing had happened, hastily dismissing any questions of concern. Lohen had returned to his seat as well, merciful enough to not pursue an answer again and instead focused his attention on a discussion with the Ratnik in the next seat over.
The sounds in the background all blurred into an unintelligible mess while Linnea shuffled on her stool, hugging Lumi and replaying that mortifying moment over and over. Eventually, she got up.
“I’m so sorry, but I don’t think I can stay for the rest of the game. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my room!” she bowed slightly, before scuttling out of sight. She tried not to get even more worked up when she noticed Lohen’s gaze following her out.
Out of sight, out of mind. Linnea took a relieved breath in the hallway once the door had closed, making her way to her room and sinking down on a chair.
“Ya-ho?” Came Lumi’s worried question, and Linnea patted her reassuringly.
“It’s okay, Lumi, I’ll be fine! I definitely had more embarrassing moments back when I was still hanging out with the Conch Gang.”
———
Illuga watched Linnea practically beeline to the inn rooms, before turning back to Lohen. “You’ve taken quite an interest in her, huh?”
“It’s not everyday you get to meet a fae. A well-respected one at that! And… quite pretty. It’s a pity she left so soon. There was still so much I could’ve asked.” Lohen propped his chin between his thumb and index finger, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes.
“...You’re half the reason she left, Lohen. What kind of first impression does it make to ask someone if they could die?”
He shrugged. “A strong first impression. It’s a question I’ve been ITCHING to ask ever since I learned about the existence of fae! What better chance was there than this? She is a naturalist, after all.”
“Still, you could’ve worded it better. Or give some sort of warning beforehand. This is why I’m not surprised people here,” Illuga gestured around the tavern, “were second-guessing joining Roulette Showdown with you involved.”
“Harsh. Say, I never really did get my answer. What if I just.... Make a visit later?” Lohen jerked his head in the direction of the inn rooms.
Illuga sighed, shaking his head in obvious disapproval. “Do whatever you want, since you’re definitely just making up some excuse to satisfy how smitten you are with Miss Linnea. But if you still have ANY rational thought in your head, you’ll know better than to be pushy and ruin your chance at future conversations.”
Then, he shot Lohen a stern look. “I know you’re not exactly the soundest person in the world, and I may be your friend, but it’s still my responsibility to ensure that the people of Nod-Krai stay safe, whether it be from the Wild Hunt or otherwise. And if I find out you ever do something to her that crosses the line, I won’t be holding any bias and deal with it as is.”
“You’d fit right in with the Knights, with how valiant you are. Relax, I’m not that cruel with innocent civilians,” assured Lohen, turning on his stool and leaning back against the bar.
“And yet this is the first time I see you have a crush. The saying goes that ‘love changes people’, and there’s zero history to go off of on how you behave in that state.”
“...the first time? Zero? Are you so sure about that, Illuga?” questioned Lohen, who was suddenly staring increasingly unnervingly at him.
“What’s that even supposed to mean?!” asked a very thrown-off Illuga, whose face was heating up uncomfortably at the implications.
Lohen drew back. “Never mind. So, what’s that girl’s name again, Jahoda? Maybe tone down on borrowing the inazuman literature with her.”
Illuga sighed again. “I can assure you, I’m basing my suspicion on more than just light novels. Just—I don’t want to hear anything about this.”
“Sir Illuga! It’s your turn to the wheel,” called out Demyan, forcing Illuga to leave his seat and end the lecture. Lohen took the chance to slink away and head over to Linnea’s room.
———
Linnea was jotting down some notes in her journal—well, less notes and more frantic scrawlings about her situation barely ten minutes ago—when she suddenly froze at the sound of knocking on her door.
“Who is it?” she asked, slowly getting up and approaching the door and sincerely hoping it wasn’t that knight from earlier.
“Vice Captain Lohen at your service. But if you think that title’s too long, just drop the formalities,” her visitor responded, quick and snappy.
Linnea slid the door a quarter way open, feeling an absolute sense of dread pitting in her guts; she toughed it out anyway. Not like there was much of a choice.
She must have seemed so silly to him, peeking out from behind the door like a fledgling hiding behind its mother.
Lohen’s expression was completely vacant of any signs of remorse for his earlier behaviour—heck, she could see his lips curve up just enough to tell he was finding this fun—yet he still held a hand to his chest and the other behind his back, giving her a polite, knightly bow.
Linnea fiddled her hands restlessly.
“Right, so… Sir Lohen, then? Why the visit?”
“I figured I was rather rude with my earlier question, so I thought,” he extended his hand towards her, just as before, “I could make it up to you, if you would be so gracious; I’m sure you are, with how fond everyone is of you here.”
Her fidgeting paused to take in the sight before her, then she quickly checked his face. His smile had morphed into something far more pleasant, a cordial invitation to come with him and follow along with everything he had in mind.
She had a feeling she’d only be allowed back to her room after he said so.
The second Linnea fully slid the door open and took his hand, she was immediately half-dragged away, stumbling and struggling to keep in step. They crossed through the tavern area with stares left and right, and Lohen spotted Illuga watching their retreating form with mild alarm. He flashed him a reassuring grin, and Illuga grimaced in unease.
Linnea didn’t notice much about where she was being taken, simply following meekly behind him while she felt the warm leather wrapped around her bare hand tighten its grip ever-so-slightly. What was one even supposed to do when they were being dragged off by a crazy knight?
She had to put in more effort when they reached a flight of stairs northeast from the Flagship, continuing until they reached a… lift. The one leading all the way up to the platform of the town’s cannon.
“Are we even allowed to be going up here?” she asked, deciding to break the silence.
“Most likely not. But hey, if no one sees it, did it really happen? No witnesses, no evidence.” That was Lohen’s cheery, albeit slightly morbid, answer.
“I’m not seeing how going up here helps with making up for anything,” retorted Linnea.
He didn’t reply, choosing to adjust his gloves and just stare up at the sky. Infuriating, in her opinion, and it was a relief once the lift had finally reached its destination. Lohen beckoned her over to him, where he had gone to lean against the safety railing. She chose to do the same, leisurely laying her arms over it and enjoying the city view she was met with.
“I’m assuming you grew up here, in the city?” inquired Lohen, kicking off the conversation this time. He had turned to casually twirling a dagger around his hand, which was by no means comforting, though he seemed to notice and sheathed it with routine precision.
She tried not to breathe a sigh of relief that the blade was out of sight, aware he’d jump at any opportunity to rid himself of the mask of neutrality he was putting up.
“Yeah, about right. I was raised like any other kid for a good while, before my parents had to go on a trip for… reasons. I was entrusted to the people at the Speranza to take care of me.”
He didn’t need to know about the whole changeling business. She’d tell him another time—if there even was another time. She pointed in the direction of the restaurant, gazing fondly over it.
“It's the reason whenever someone asks what the best spot to go to is in Nasha Town, I always tell them to check it out! I'm kinda biased, but Katya’s recipes really are one of a kind.”
He looked over curiously at the place, nodding.
“I'll be sure to give it a try sometime.”
Somehow, the thick atmosphere seemed to have lifted. She had someone to listen to her story, someone who seemed like she could learn to get along with. An unlikely friend, perhaps? That first conversation had been a bit rough, but Linnea was sure they could—
“Oh, hey, we’re forgetting something.” Lohen’s cruel, cruel voice rang out, snapping her train of thought in half without a care in the world. And with the most innocent smile on his face, no less; if his reputation didn’t precede him, she was sure everyone in the nation would buy it.
“Where’s that answer you still owe me?”
Linnea stood up straight, no longer leaning, and looked at him warily. “That question again? I’ll just say that I… I don’t—mmpf?!”
She halted before her admission finished, a hand flying up to touch her lips that wouldn’t part, then to her throat that suddenly felt like it was suffocating her, locking up.
There were many, many different types of fae. And all of them had their own myriad of traits, characteristics, and strengths. Yet despite all their variety, most fae shared two things in common.
One, an aversion to metal.
Two, the inability to lie outright.
Linnea was good friends—or to be more accurate, good foes—with the first, as it more often than not got in the way during her research or daily life.
But she effectively never had to confront the second. Her childhood had been cozy, and she was surrounded by good, kind, caring people. Why would she need to lie? Even when she was hiding her true identity of a fae, all she had to do was zip her lips. Questions could be dodged by making some excuse or pretending to have been distracted.
Thus, Linnea never bothered to learn the tricks of the trade. Never bothered to practice that sleight of tongue like the rest of her kin. Why would she? Her deception went merely as far as concealing herself. She had never needed to lie to get herself out of misfortune.
The flowery words, the round-about statements—they were foreign things to her. To someone who grew up comfortably. And yet, as she stood side-to-side with this… unhinged knight, who somehow made her heart pound both out of unease and awe, Linnea suddenly wished she hadn’t been so negligent of those skills.
If only so she wouldn’t have to admit the vulnerability of her own mortality in front of him, while they were all alone, at the tallest platform in Nasha Town with none aware of their presence but themselves. Everything was screaming at her that it would be an awful idea.
But he was gazing at her expectantly with those dark, near abyss-like eyes that she could drown in for hours on end. Her innate curiosity and fascination won over her good sense, as it usually did.
The explanation Lohen was granted was by someone who decided she might as well go out after doing what made her happy—explaining the wonders of the world. Linnea cleared her throat.
“Alright, I would. If I just fell flat on my face, I’d be just like any other human. But with my wings… though I’m not sure exactly what species of fae I am, I’ve found out at least that it’s a rarity for most of us to live longer than a regular human lifespan. But, we are more resilient than most humans as a baseline, and especially so with a vision.” Linnea laid her answer out the same way she would if she were teaching a lecture. He’d definitely get off her back now!
She glowed in satisfaction when he nodded and listened along like an eager attendee. Maybe this will turn out well.
“Oh, I see! Then, I really have to wonder…”
Before Linnea could offer a reflex acknowledgement of his inquiry, an arm had snaked around her knees and a hand had clamped over the back of her tie. She let out a yelp of surprise when she felt herself being lifted off the ground, then a pained, muffled groan when the hand pushed down and folded her at the waist over the railing. The sudden surge of pressure on her stomach made her almost retch.
“Then you should be fine if you drop off from here, right? You’ll survive somehow.”
“Hey, you—! Let– me– GO!!!” demanded Linnea, frantically flailing her legs to make some space to breathe, trying to reach an arm back and hoist herself to safety, but that attempt was short-lived; Lohen went and hooked a leg around hers, before shoving his hand down again.
The force of the handrail squeezing up on her stomach yet again was NOT at all welcome, tossing in more nausea in her already adrenaline-addled brain. Lohen got his intended effect, since the threat of an acid reflux was seemingly enough to subdue her—an awful reminder that she had, in fact, been drinking beforehand, and all of the alcohol was definitely gonna come up if he pressed down any harder.
It’s a good thing her body couldn’t fold completely in half, or her face probably would’ve slammed against the bars by now and have her wind up with a broken, bloody nose in addition.
So, ‘What was she doing?’ was the thought that ran through Linnea's head as she stared down at the sloping metal roofs where the vendors of Nod-Krai spent so much of their time under. Hey, she was sure she’d get out of it unscathed—albeit traumatized for life, but we don’t talk about it—right? Not when she suddenly felt an absence of contact with any solid object.
“Shh... nighty night, birdie."
———
It wasn’t that Illuga didn’t trust Lohen to keep his word that caused him to burst out of the Flagship and run around Nasha Town in search of where he had gone when Illuga had found that both him and Linnea had vanished from the Flagship; Lohen always made sure that his promises were delivered in the end.
No, it was because he knew that Lohen did an awful job of perceiving how far the extent of ‘tolerable’ actions actually spanned—or maybe he did know, and simply didn’t give a flying fuck.
“Aedon, go!” he called out, summoning his trusty companion. It would be a pain to crane his neck up the whole way, so he’d leave it to Aedon to notify him of anything above while he scouted the land.
A smart plan, seeing as Illuga had barely stepped into the town square when Aedon was batting around his head and directing his attention up to… the cannon?
His steps started out casual, picking up the pace when Aedon blew some wind into his face, then finally breaking out into a sprint when his ear was nearly screeched out. He ran until Aedon cried out again, directing his gaze upwards.
He was horrified to spot Lohen and Linnea up on the cannon's platform, and his shock doubled when he realized a disoriented Linnea was being dangled halfway over the safety rails, and—
Oh.
Lohen just shoved her over.
———
In retrospect, Linnea was honestly embarrassed at being thrown over so easily, barely kicking up a fight for her own life. But that wasn’t relevant at the moment, when the acceleration of the dive was rushing throughout her whole body in a sensation that she’d never felt in her life.
Or maybe she had, when she was just a wee little cheerful baby who was thrown up and away in the air by her father, always promised a safe landing.
While she had no such guarantee this time around, she was still determined to keep this beating heart racing with fresh experiences, new discoveries and the like! And fate seemed to answer her prayers when she spotted a soft, glowing yellow spot of light near the ground, illuminating the familiar figure of that Ratnik she had seen earlier.
The wonderful feeling that came when her wings emerged—proud and iridescent, stirring up a gust as she stalled her landing… dissipated once her feet touched the ground and the fresh shock of everything came crashing down, and she stumbled next to Illuga.
“Miss Linnea!! Please, just lean on me—”
“Ri- right, thanks.”
Linnea’s legs felt like lakkaberry puree with the adrenaline rush wearing off. She graciously decided to lean against Illuga, and he held her up.
Illuga did manage to catch a glance of Lohen’s bored gaze observing the interaction, yet Lohen immediately turned away and retreated when he spotted Illuga turning his head around.
“I am so sorry you had to experience that. I take responsibility for not supervising him more closely,” assured Illuga, patting Linnea on the shoulder.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine! Thanks for the concern.”
Linnea drew back, taking a deep breath in relief that she was finally out of danger. Recalling the soft glow she had seen from above, she looked around for it.
“Wait, it’s a bird? A KUUVAHKI bird?! Could I take a look? Please please please PLEASEEEEE—!” She jumped up in joy, her sights locked on to Aedon like a starving cat and her mouth drooling. Before Illuga could even utter a single word, she was already sprinting laps around him while chasing Aedon.
Aedon, terrified out of his mind and squawking like an indignant crow instead of the elegant nightingale that he was, chose the easy way out and dove right back into Illuga’s lamp.
“Miss Linnea, NO!!”