Furina was on her way to Cafe Lucerne, deep in thought.

A lot of things were going on in her mind. One was the cakes Lyney brought her from time to time. As per him, it was part of an apology from Arlecchino for fake assaulting her to test if she did have Gnosis or not, and all the other times she was harsh towards her without knowing anything.

Lyney also said something about asking them, or her if she needed anything as a show of support.

Another thing that was going in her mind was Aether. He wouldn't forever be with her. He had to move on and go to other regions to find his sister. As much as she wanted him to, she couldn't ask, or expect him to stay in Fontaine.

She also had her own thing. Even though she was back in the world of acting and performing, she still wanted to learn more.

She wanted to expand her horizons, beyond what she knew, beyond what she could do, beyond Fontaine.

'Wait a minute... RIGHT!'

Her face brightened as she rushed to the cafe. After all, she had to contact Lyney after that. If the Knave had said that she could ask her for help or a favour, who was she to deny?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Arlecchino was sitting in her office, going over the initial prep of Project Stuzha, when Lyney came knocking on the door.

"Father, may I come in?"

She closed the file and approved, as Lyney came in.

"Father, Lady Furina asked if you had some free time for a few days. She clarified that she wasn't asking for whole free days, but a few hours here and there," he said as she furrowed her eyebrows. Didn't she try to fake assassinate her? People didn't typically like to see their assaulters very often.

"I suppose I could find some time as long as it doesn't interfere with the matters of the House of Hearth. But why?" she asked as Lyney shrugged.

"she didn't specify. She just said that if we were willing to favour her, she'd like to meet you. So I should tell her that you agree?" he asked and she nodded.

'Hm... interesting. What is it that she wants so much that she is willingly asking me out of all the people?'

---------------------------------------------------------------

Furina was standing in front of Arlecchino, staring at her with a little bit of nervousness, fear, and awkwardness, while Arlecchino was just awkward.

She was trained for many things, but being welcoming to a former adversary she traumatized was not included.

"Well..." she started as Furina flinched.

"Miss Furina, did you like the cakes the children of the House made for you?" she asked, trying to ease the tension, and Furina immediately nodded.

Arlecchino sighed as Furina gulped.

"Miss Furina, let me apologize for the things I said in our last meeting, or the time I tried to assassinate you. I assure you that there were no ill intentions behind the words spoken back then, nor was I actually trying to hurt you during the attack. I know you must realize that behind my actions, the only motive was to save Fontaine. However, it was also insensitive and scary, so please accept this apology," she said as Furina looked at her, surprised.

She then took a deep breath and composed herself.

"H-hello, Miss Knave. I g-guess it's fine, it's all in the past. Though it still gives me nightmares..." she muttered the last part nervously chuckling. The next moment she saw Arlecchino reaching into a bag and started panicking, readying herself to apologize.

"Would you like some cake?"

"... Huh?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I... yes I would."

They both sat on the beach chair, as they were on the beach Northwest of the Marcotte station.

"So... why did you ask to meet me today?" Arlecchino asked as Furina gulped down the cake, now considerably calmer.

"Right... well, uh... I have a favour to ask you. C-could you train me in combat and Vision control?" Furina asked nervously, surprising Arlecchino.

"Wait... while I am flattered, why me?" she asked, amused. Furina sighed as she took another bite.

"Well, you aren't the only one. To be exact, I asked both you and Clorinde, since you both won't have much time individually. But I asked you both because you both are probably one of the strongest Vision holders in the whole of Tevyat. And I want to become stronger, much stronger, quickly," she said.

"Oh... may I inquire the reason behind such hurry that you had to ask someone who most likely traumatized you?" she said as Furina looked down before looking into her eyes with a determined glare.

"I want to join Ae- Ae-Traveller on his journey."

Now Arlecchino was taken aback, though positively.

"I see..."

"Yeah. I want to travel with him, experiencing different cultures and art forms across Tevyat to use them in my plays and performances."

"Oh, so that's what it is about," said Arlecchino nodding.

"But I also want to help him. Traveller... he isn't from Fontaine. He isn't even from Tevyat. Still, he stuck his neck out for us without asking much in return. He went to Five Nations searching for his sister, yet they dumped their problems onto his shoulder. Yet, he has no answers. I don't want him to go through that alone. He may have Paimon, but he practically has no backup. I... I want to be his backup, and not a liability. That's why, please, train me!" Furina said, bowing in front of her, making her eyes go wide briefly.

To bow to her after everything, Furina's sincerity was something to be admired.

"Alright, Miss Furina, I will train you. However... doing it in return for nothing would mean you'd owe the House of Hearth a favour..." Arlecchino said as Furina gulped again in nervousness.

"Well, I owe you an apology and my children are also indebted greatly to Traveller. So I will teach you combat. But I must warn you, I'll be extremely harsh on you, and you might not like it, especially considering your past trauma. Are you sure about this?" she asked, letting out her killing intent and a little bit of power, watching her reaction carefully.

Furina initially took a step back, slightly scared, before closing her eyes. When she opened it, all the fear and nervousness were gone, and what was left was confidence, as she unconsciously leaked her elemental energy, which surprised Arlecchino.

'To have such strong elemental energy while being untrained! Didn't she get her vision a few days ago? If I train her, I might create a formidable enemy for the Fatui...' she thought, before smiling dangerously.

'Well, if she was to kill Dottore, she'd be doing us all a favour.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Furina was sitting in Cafe Lucerne, slumped onto the table.

"Uh... Miss Furina? Are you alright?" asked a waitress as she nodded, looking like a corpse with all energy sucked out of her.

"Y-yeah... just tired. Could you bring me a Club Salmon sandwich, a Pain au Chocolat, and a Mochaccino?" she tiredly said as the waitress nodded, and left.

"Huh? Traveller, is that Furina?" she heard the voice of Paimon as she excitedly perked up and looked in the direction of the voice, seeing Traveller who smiled at her.

She had spent the past two days training consecutively with Clorinde and Arlecchino in that order, and she was extremely fatigued, but as soon as she saw him smile, all that fatigue vanished as she jumped to her feet and waved at them.

"Furina!" said Paimon rushing towards her as Aether followed her with a big smile on his face.

"Nice to know that you're getting out of your house, and not just to buy groceries," Paimon said as Furina pouted playfully.

"What, did you expect me to act like a shut-in, Paimon?" she said as the said emergency food sweatdropped.

"Uh... no... Paimon just thought you wouldn't like getting out that much after everything," she said as Aether shook his head and then smiled at her.

"That is rude Paimon. I am deeply hurt by how you view me," she said dramatically making Aether chuckle and Paimon frown.

"So... how should you make it up to me?" she said pretending to think, before acting like she got a brilliant idea.

"How about you give up your share of whatever you were here for to me! I mean, you coming to a cafe means that you must be here to stuff your face with food, knowing you," Furina smugly said as Paimon wailed in distress.

"ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

Aether chuckled before smirking.

"I agree. And if Furina doesn't feel full after that, we always have our Emergency food at hand," he said eyeing Paimon.

"NOT THAT AGAIN! PAIMON IS NO EMERGENCY FOOD!"

Both Aether and Furina giggled as Paimon angrily floated around.

"Okay okay, I was joking," Furina said wiping her tears of laughter.

"THAT WAS MEAN OF YOU BOTH! GANGING UP ON PAIMON LIKE THAT!" she ranted making both of them smile.

"Alright Paimon, how about you order something now?" said Aether as she angrily glared at him.

"PAIMON WANTS A DOZEN MACARONS, TWO WHOLE CHOCOLATE CAKES, THREE PAIN AU CHOCOLAT! AND ALSO A POISSONCHANT PIE!" she angrily yelled as the waitress who had come to take their order sweatdropped.

Realizing what she did, she immediately turned to the waitress.

"Ah sorry! Paimon wasn't yelling at you!" she apologized as she nodded and wrote the order.

"Here she goes, troubling even the staff," Aether dramatically sighed making her hit his chest.

"OOF!"

"DON'T MAKE PAIMON ORDER MORE FOOD!" she comically whisper-yelled.

'... This feels so nice. I wanna join him already,' Furina thought with a smile, watching their banter.

"Alright both of you, this meal's on me," she said with a smile making Aether open his mouth to protest. But before he could, she put her hand on his lips.

"Shh, I am not hearing a word from you. Treat me next time," Furina said making him blush.

"B-bu-"

"NO BUTS!" she sternly stated, making Aether blush and Paimon smirk.

"Traveler's whipped," she muttered under her breath loud enough for Furina to hear, but not Traveler. She let out a small laugh making PAimon grin before leaning back in her chair.

"Don't worry Aether, I've worked on some scripts and directed a few plays here and there, so I do have a decent bit of excess money, and I wanna spend it on you, you know. Not to mention that Neuvillette has some sort of pension aside for me," she said, before grumbling "I swear, that money could have been used in a better place."

She shook her head to remove such thoughts and looked back at him with a gentle smile.

"So anyways Aether, let me treat you today."

==================================================

Alright, everyone, so few people might find Arlecc a little out of character in this, which she might be. I mean after listening to Arlecchino's voice lines and playing her story quest, I do feel like she'd act like this if the scenario led to it, but still, some people might find it weird. Who knows. But anyway, if you find it weird, sorry.

Also, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. If you did, please vote, comment and share. I'll get my AO3 Invite tomorrow sometime, so I'll be uploading this there too.

As for now, piano2099 out