The revelation shattered the Fontainer ladies' worldviews.
Even Furina found herself plunged into panic at the thought that her people might not be human. There was no time, however, for her to soothe herself—Neuvillette arrived in a flurry, breathless with news.
The Winter Nation's diplomatic envoy has come to Fontaine Proper. They require your presence.
And—astonishingly—three Fatui Executives have come with them.
Three Fatui Executives arriving together was eyebrow-raising enough. What followed was worse.
The Fatui Fourth Seat—the "Servant", Arlecchino, claimed that standing behind her party were a commander and two aides who outranked typical Fatui forces: the Cangxing Legion's banner, its Legion Commander and two vice-captains.
A Cangxing Legion commander?
Neuvillette, normally composed, visibly lost her composure. She had never heard of any task force above the Fatui's Executives under the Ice-Queen's banner. Yet the aura emanating from that one man and his two companions pressed on her like winter wind through armor. The Legion Commander—Su Xuan by name—wore a courteous, humorous mask that revealed nothing. Neuvillette felt something terrible sealed beneath that pleasant façade.
Why would the Winter Nation send such a showy contingent?
Why choose this moment?
Neuvillette knew that if Furina met them alone, the situation might spiral—Furina's whimsical ways could cause scandal in diplomatic company. So Neuvillette had rushed to warn her: she would accompany Furina to the meeting.
Furina's reaction? She only smiled, then laughed—an odd, large laugh that made Neuvillette break into a cold sweat.
"Neuvillette, you are our Chief Arbiter—if you panic at a small matter, won't others laugh?" Furina chided, waving a hand as if shooing a fly. "I arranged their visit myself. Don't worry."
Neuvillette sputtered. "You invited them?"
Furina nodded briskly. "I'll go and meet them with Clorinde—just mind your own affairs."
"Remember, I am Fontaine's Water God; I stand on equal footing with the Winter Nation's Ice Queen."
Neuvillette stood dumbfounded. Furina—so often unreliable—was suddenly brimming with confidence. If she had truly found a solution for the prophecy in these centuries of seeking, that would explain the change. Neuvillette tried to warn her again—these emissaries' status and power were not ordinary—but Furina waved him off.
"Important is the Legion Commander. The others are merely tags of spectacle." she said, disdaining any further worry.
Neuvillette's brow furrowed. This newfound fearlessness was both welcome and alarming.
In the Palais Mermonia's diplomatic chamber, Furina sat as low as she dared beneath her hat brim, pink fists folded on her lap. Beside her, Su Xuan waited, calm as a still tide. The room shimmered faintly: Su Xuan had cloaked their meeting in psychokinetic seals—no listening or watching from outside could pierce them.
Across the table, Furina found Arlecchino's stare unbearable. Clad in a masculine fashion despite being female, Arlecchino's red, cross-shaped eyes tested her like a predator appraising prey. Furina's skin prickled under that gaze.
Su Xuan, though he had written of "interrogation" in his diary, felt less terrifying in person than her worst imaginings. Furina had combed through long swathes of his diary entries in advance and had found no recorded cruelty toward diary-holders. If he criticized Fontaine's laws, she resolved, she would bow and apologize—he was, after all, a figure of the diary. He would not be needlessly harsh to a diary-holder.
Yet the prophecy—this was the root of her unease. If Fontainers are mimetic, formed by water-spirits, exposed to the concentrated primal sea would cause them to dissolve—would her people be forever at risk? If such a truth became known, the Primordial Belly Sea could be weaponized against them. Furina's mind spun: those missing girls, whose bodies were never found—could the culprit have used that water to dissolve them? The worst scenarios flooded her.
She stole a quick glance at Su Xuan. He looked up and said her name.
"Furina."
"Here!" she snapped to attention, standing so suddenly that Paimon squeaked.
"She startles easily—hardly goddessly," Paimon chirped, fanning her tiny chest.
Arlecchino snorted that Furina's behavior resembled a new recruit drilling with the Fatui. Furina blushed.
Su Xuan's gaze swung to the tall duel agent standing behind Furina—Clorinde. The contrast between Clorinde and many Fontainers struck him. Did Focalors, when she first took human form, channel far more elemental force into her mind than others? Clorinde and Navia seemed to carry a presence that could eclipse petty gods.
"Is she a diary-holder?" Su Xuan asked lightly.
Furina answered without hesitation. "Clorinde is—yes."
Su Xuan smiled. "They're your sisters—don't let them stand like that."
Clorinde's tension loosened at his casual warmth. She had followed the diary's pages for a long time and had expected Su Xuan to be harsh; instead, his manner was approachable. Hope stirred in her chest: perhaps he could shed light on the truth behind past deaths—the vanished friend Navia's father, the suspicious incidents. But now was not the time.
"I can stand," Clorinde answered with composure. "No chair is necessary."
Furina cut in, embarrassed and eager, "No—this is the Great Traveler's courtesy! You must accept." She blurted this with puppy-like eagerness that made Rosaline snort.
Seeing Furina fawn so openly might have been mortifying in another—here it felt oddly natural. Everyone knew the girl was no ordinary deity; against Su Xuan's presence, even an Archon felt small and straightforward. And if Su Xuan had come to Fontaine with a solution… well, flattering him was a small price.
Clorinde hesitated, glancing toward the door as if to fetch a chair, then whimpered, "Could you… lower the psychokinetic curtain a fraction? My stance is awkward."
Su Xuan waved it off. "No need. Sit in Furina's place."
Clorinde blinked. Furina sputtered. Rosaline made a sound like a smirk and muttered that the flattery had reached new heights. Lumine laughed outright at Furina's expression.
"Don't seat her on the table!" Lumine teased. "Though—this table looks like it spins."
Furina lurched back at the thought. If I sat on the table and it circled—the Fontainers would never hear the end of it!
Su Xuan grinned and added, "Also, Furina's tolerance for drink is poor. Put wine in front of her and she'll leap on the table before you can stop her." Laughter rippled through the room; Furina's cheeks flamed.
Su Xuan reached out, patted her knee, and said casually, "Don't bother looking for a seat—sit on my lap."
Furina froze—then before she could reply, Su Xuan scooped her up and set her on his thigh. Her face turned an even deeper pink.
"You shouldn't laugh at Furina's behavior as unbecoming—after all, she isn't truly a god." Su Xuan's voice dropped, and the room fell silent.
The ladies exchanged stunned looks. Clorinde, cup halfway to her lips, stared at Furina with wide eyes. Furina's expression flickered—she had tacitly accepted Su Xuan's assertion.
What he said rang true and could not be refuted: for five centuries the Fontainers had worshipped a Water God who was not what she appeared. If Furina was not the real deity, what was she? If the people were not human but mimetic forms fashioned by water-spirits, then the very foundations of Fontaine were brittle.
"This is… chaos," Lumine breathed. "I need a moment."
"You're saying Furina is fake… the people aren't human… what in the world is real?" Lumine's eyes flipped to Su Xuan.
He bowed his head once. "The prophecy is real."
The sentence landed like a bell toll.
Silence stretched: Arlecchino, Rosaline, Columbina—each held their breath. Even Paimon scratched her head frantically.
"Boss," Paimon whispered, "this might be a bit much."
Su Xuan's gaze swept the room, steady and unhurried. "All the rest may be falsehoods, misunderstandings, or protective shells. The prophecy is the single truth here. Everything else can be handled—if one knows how."
Furina's heart thudded. The weight of five hundred years of devotion, of festival hymns and legal edicts, of a people's private pride—all of it now pressed on the single line of a prophecy. The question remained: could they save their people without tearing apart what made them who they thought they were?
Answers, Su Xuan knew, required action more than revelation. He inhaled, as if preparing to begin the interrogation he had once joked about—but this time, not as threat, but as inquiry toward salvation.
"We will begin," he said simply. "Tell me everything you know, Lady Furina."
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