(Quintessential Quintuplets: True Love Comes In Fives is out now)
.....
"Lars! Lumine!" Amber rushed towards the two as they gently landed on the ground, glider deactivated. They looked relatively relaxed and energized considering they'd just battled with a legendary dragon.
"Are you two okay?" She fussed over them, checking for injuries. Lars shook his head.
"Nah it's fine, Amber. We're not hurt. Though I am feeling kind of hungry." Lars rubbed his stomach. Paimon appeared before them out of nowhere.
"Aw man! Paimon didn't ever get to enjoy the food! That crazy dragon has no sense of timing!" The little fairy complained.
"We should be asking if you are okay, Amber. Stormterror released his Haki on the whole city." Lumine looked at Amber who shook her head.
"I'm fine. A little winded, but it's nothing serious." She reassured. Just then, they heard someone walking towards Lars and Lumine while clapping their hands, as if congratulating them.
"Well done, well done. Truly it was a sight to behold." Amber looked to see that it was Kaeya. The man was smiling at the two who fought the dragon.
"Uh... Who's this pirate wannabe?" Paimon questioned.
"This is Kaeya, our Calvary Captain." Amber introduced. Kaeya only nodded at them, smile still on his face.
" These two are travelers from afar, Lumine and Paimon. And this is Lars, an adventurer from Liyue." Kaeya hummed. He glanced at he Lumine and Paimon, the cogs in his mind already working.
'Is that all we know of them?' The trio, meaning Lars, Lumine and Paimon were all extremely unknown. Even though they have the most information on Lars, but even that wasn't something that enabled them to have an advantage over him.
"So long story short, Lumine and Paimon are here finding their lost brother. I found them outside of the city, and escorted them in here." Amber summarized for them. Kaeya nodded.
"I see. I would have welcomed you three warmly to Mondstadt, but I must say...." He looked at the city full of destroyed buildings, and knights carrying injured civilians out of debris. He grimaced a little as he then noticed some crying civilians, mourning their loved ones who died in the attack. "You haven't arrived at the best of times, I'm afraid...." Paimon crossed her arms.
"Paimon has something to say, instead of talking about the best time to come to Mondstadt, shouldn't we be helping with the rescue efforts. And shouldn't you be with the knights instead of us, being a captain and all?" Paimon questioned, pointing at Kaeya accusingly.
"My thoughts exactly. We can talk about this later, c'mon let's go help." Lars motioned towards a certain area where most of the rescue efforts were concentrated on. Lumine nodded as they walked away together.
"Hey wait up!" Amber caught up to them. Kaeya stared, before he whistled.
"Damn... That little fairy got me..."
...
"Search that area as well, I want every part of this city covered." A blonde woman ordered a group of knights who saluted here.
"Yes, Master Jean!" As the knights rushed off, the blonde then heard cries. She looked and noticed a man whose leg was stuck under a giant piece of debris. The knights were trying their best to lift it but to no avail.
"Step aside." She muttered before placing a single hand on the debris. With a single grunt, she flipped the debris away like she was flipping nothing but a piece of paper.
"Thank you, Master Jean!" The man thanked as the knights carried him away to be treated. She nodded before a knight approached her.
"Ma'am, the Fatui wants to hold a meeting with you right now." He reported. Jean narrowed her gray-blue eyes. "Hmph..." She huffed a little, shaking her head.
"You and me both know what they want. Delay them, make them hold the meeting another time, heck, cancel it if you can, I don't care, right now I have a city to rebuild."
"Yes, Master Jean."
"Always the opportunist, Signora... I won't let you have the last laugh..." She muttered darkly. She had expected that this would be the Fatui's response to Stormterror's sudden attack. And to be perfectly honest, she wasn't surprised. The heartless agents will seemingly do anything they can to increase their influence in the city of wind and song.
She found herself staring at the Goth Grand Hotel, where the delegation of diplomats were currently residing. "Otto, Wait!" She called for the knight that had previously reported to her.
" Yes?" Otto stood in front of her again.
"Get the delegation under lockdown, I don't want them trying anything."
"Master Jean, not to question your decision. But won't it just rile them up? They would probably frame this as harassment or breach of protocol, even if you were acting defensively." Jean sighed at the knight's comments. Being one of her more trusted knights, Jean sometimes listens to his opinions to make her own solutions to certain problems.
"Sacrifices have to be made, Otto. Let them say what they want, I have already accepted the cost of my decisions. Because the alternative was me letting known manipulators wander freely in a fragile city-state." Otto nodded at her reply before saluting.
"Understood, Master Jean. I will have a group of knights assigned to keep watch on the Goth Grand Hotel." Jean nodded as Otto rushed off. She rubbed her head, feeling a headache returning. She seemed to be having more of these day by day.
Well, to her it seemed like she made the right move. Rushed, yes, but when an organization treats diplomacy as asymmetric warfare, she as the nation's acting leader is justified in switching from etiquette to containment. Besides, she's only restricting movement under a declared emergency. In her eyes it's a measured response, not tyranny.
She mostly blamed Grand Master Varka for this, truth be told. In the world he left behind, she didn't have the luxury of purity. Despite the Acting Grand Master's good relationship with the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, to her, he isn't a very suitable leader. I mean c'mon, who the hell takes 80% of the nation's army and all of its horses for an expedition? That's basically leaving Mondstadt defenseless, making it an easy target for organizations like the Fatui.
Jean quickly dispelled her thoughts away before she started cursing Varka. She noticed another group of people approaching her. She can't seem to catch a break couldn't she?
"Amber...and friends..." She smiled politely at them, recognizing Lars and Lumine as the pair that fought back Stormterror. "What can I do for you?" Lars stepped up after her question.
"We'd like to help with the rescue efforts." Jean smiled at his statement.
"Very well then. Let's go together. And travelers, it's probably not the best time but..." Jean looked at the trio.
"Mondstadt welcomes you."
To be continued....
(Be honest, was Jean's actions in character?)
(I feel like her getting furious with Varka and his antics would be in character for her. That is unless she knows what the expedition was for, which according to canon she doesn't.thoughts?)