Chapter Text
Sometimes you just sit in your chair and wonder: is that really it? Is this how your life is going to be till the end of times? Nurturing someone else's kids, trying to find meaning in old texts that weren't written for you and never will be, waiting until some old farmer finally decides to woo you through the mutual understanding that no one will ever want you besides him.
And sometimes you`re okay with thoughts like this. You never reached for the stars, you never even wanted to just look at the sky with the thoughts of different lifes and different countries that you might have lived in another life. You weren't very ambitious and working as the village`s only healer was stressful enough that you would never want life to be even more difficult. With interesting lives also comes chaos and consequences of living freely – so you never wanted a life like this.
Even though, on days like this you seem to find yourself in a position of still wanting more – but you also can't even imagine yourself living a bigger life than you are now. Having money, fame, and a family with a rich history and plenty of wonderful kids that will be your pride and joy till the day you will quietly pass away in your luxurious bedroom. It all seemed so…hard. Rich life and rich demands of your future husband – maybe all you ever wanted was freedom and some Mora that will help you not to die from hunger.
But still, you are just a healer – a Vision bearer, yes, but nothing more to it. You never pursued learning any other kind of magic than healing, and was perfectly fine with a quiet flow of water that helped you flush away the pain of others. Maybe it's in your nature, as Hydro bearer, to just quietly go with the flow – and maybe it's just because of your density and morbid fear of disagreeing with others. It's not in mortal`s position to question the deity – and you don't want to commit blasphemy just because you don`t think of yourself as someone who is worthy of a Vision.
– Hey! Are you going to finish this?
Oh.
It seems like, once again, you went too deep into your thoughts and couldn't even see what was going on in the world around you. It's surprising that your vision isn`t anemo, since you`re such an airhead! The Great Archon War could happen in mere centimeters from your eyes, but it's most likely not going to catch your attention whatsoever.
– Hey. I just asked if you are going to finish it! Is everything okay?
…and again, too caught up in your mind to hear anyone.
You finally raise your eyes and get a good look at the person who is trying to grab half of a sliced apple from your hands. It's just a village kid – you can't exactly recall his name since Sneznaya`s pronunciation is so darn difficult for someone like you, but you remember how you treated his cold once. Poor thing barely survived in such cold weather, until you finally came around and healed him. Maybe that's why he has such a big smile on his face, contrary to the usual mischievous grin that lots of boys his age have.
The locals love you – even if you`re not so fond of yourself.
– Yes, yes, of course everything is okay. I was just…thinking.
– Well don't mind if I do get this apple…
– Oh, it's okay, You can take it, I`m not hungry.
Kids need fruits in such harsh environment – winters are terrible in this country and, if you`re not lucky, you won't get such thing as fresh fruit for at least five months – you only had this apple because it got perfectly saved, while burying in some ice-and-snow melt that was left from Crio slime. Maybe, hiding fresh food from the other people in your village was selfish – or maybe it's a cruel world and you have to sacrifice others to save yourself.
But, it's just an apple. And the boy is already chewing on it, with an even wider smile on his face, which you can`t help but to mirror.
– Hey, I just remembered?
– What's the matter? Do you need help?
– I`m fine, but the headman Petrov asked me to find you. The army is staying in the village!
– The army? What do you mean?
– Sometimes I forget that you are older than me! I mean the army, like our protectors?
– Like…some Knights?
– It's better if you would run to the main square. We can't make heroes wait!
He is clearly disappointed in you – even if you are trying your best to come as the local, it's still clear that you are not from around here. You are never accustomed to harsh climate, cold people and such strict government control of everything – and, of course, it's still hard for you to comprehend that lots of people are actually wanting to join the armored forces and travel other lands for expansion of any not taken grounds. Of course, you heard about Shogun forces or Adeptus of Liyue, but they all were in small numbers.
And you certainly weren't ready for a whole bunch of fifty tired men and women, grunting and painting in the snow of the main area of your small village. To say that you were stunned would not be enough – you were borderline terrified of the raw feeling of power and pain that radiated from this crowd.
But still, you are a healer. And your Vision is practically glowing from the feeling of pain that was floating around you. Luckily, you can't sense any serious injuries that would require a special medical attention and lots of hours to even try to heal them.
Still, considering that you are the only person who is capable of helping those people, it's going to be pretty hard. Very hard for the person who peaked on her power when she was patching scratches and bruises. Not deadly or semi-deadly wounds that are likely to come with the life of a soldier. But it's not like you have any choice.
– I`m the healer of this village. What help do you need and how many wounded are there?
Some village girls come to you, whispering and chatting about what is happening before their eyes – you don't want to listen to their, honestly, rather annoying and loud chattering, but it's another thing that you can't choose. And besides, these girls are the only help that you`ve got – they are at least capable of passing healing potions to you and bringing clear cloth for the open wounds.
– There are 10 soldiers with mild injuries…oh, but there is so much blood on them…perhaps it`s Mitachurl`s wounds!
– Mitachurls? But we haven't seen them around the village…oh no, are there hilichurls camps somewhere near the village?
– What if hilichurls are already here?
– But what are we going to do?!
And like that, before you could even say something, they began crying and chattering even more, running between sitting soldiers like a bunch of panicking chickens. That's why you never really liked working in a team – yes, a certain amount of help from others can come quite handy, but when someone starts yelling…
– Girls! Quiet, please, we have patients to heal. Zofia, can you pass the clean clothes? We have to do lots of cleaning before the injuries will become infected.
Maybe, you shouldn't think of yourself as a doctor, who can heal anyone literally in the field. It's more effective and fast to use your Vision and let the magic do the work, but moundain ways are far more comforting to you and your constant lack of energy in these deserted snowy terrains. Of course, you still use your powers to heal actually bad wounds, but it would be inefficient to use the power of Gods to just wipe away some scratches and mild burns that can be dealt with the help of mist flower powder and tiny bit of mint leaves.
Girls around you are still panicking a little – but it's far better than this annoying chatter that you had to deal with earlier. Even if hilichurls really camped near your village, you are almost certain that a military group wiped them off successfully. It's the point of the army, to protect the innocent, right?
At least, that's where you hopes lies.
– I`m sorry, but it's going to hurt. You can scream, it's usually helps sease the emotions.
– It's okay, lady. Our captain is way more harsh on our training, so a few scratches from these damned hilicreatures aren't a problem!
You can`t help, but smile a little – hearing such an alive voice coming from dark and scary armor really helped you become a little bit less tense. Sometimes you forget that Fatui is humans, and not some weird monsters that crawls under your bed at night and wants to kidnap you into their horror lairs. Monstad clearly laid its mark on you and your opinions of the biggest Sneznaya`s organization. And you should clearly work on that if you really want to blend in.
The boy – well, not really, since he sounds older than you – let out a muffled hiss when you started applying healing mix on his wounds. You start whispering – the simplest way to activate your Vision without yelling about your next actions like some warriors do, and put a tiny drop of magic to seize his pain. No one deserves to feel such an enormous amount of ache just because they got used to it. After all, your job is not only to heal their bodies, but to also try to help their minds not go crazy because of sheer agony that war can bring.
– Thank you, mam! To be honest, I thought we were doomed when we stopped at this village. We didn't know that they have such an amazing healer.
You are blushing.
Because…because of the cold weather! It's chilly and the wind is pretty cold so of course your cheeks are red! Definitely not because you like this compliment and leaning to any attention that you can get.
– It`s nothing. You needed help and I also have like dozen of your comrads to heal so, excuse me…
– Oh, right, right! Thank you anyway! Our Captain is certainly going to pay you lots of Mora for your service.
Money? It's not like you were poor or, on the contrary, had an enormous wealth so you can spend your days working on improving your healing skills and not actually working in the field, but…you loved citizens of this village, really, but they having a tendency of not paying your – not with money, at least. Food, medicine, clothes – parents gave your not very big body clothes which were too small for their kids and made sure that you always fed and hydrated. But ever since you moved to this country from Mondstadt, you were quite short on Mora. Thanks to the isolation of Sneznaya and this village particularly, you don't really need to be wealthy.
But even so, the payment seemed nice. Maybe, you could even try to travel to some different place? Just like the Folks say, you need to see a Zapolarny place at least once in your life. You might make a good tourist.
You proceeded to the next patients, a quiet man and woman, who only grunted in pain and thanked you for your help. Sometimes their injuries were quite serious, and you would have to use the full power of your Vision to stop it from bleeding. Some of them left a scar, like an eternal reminder of their fights. They had a lot of them already – and you can't help but to feel bad that your magic isn't strong enough to make all of the imperfections and memories of pain disappear. Maybe someday – when you`ll finally stop beating yourself over improvment.
And finally, the last one of the injured soldiers was healed – you can barely see without exhaustion of using your Vision way too much in the past hour. But gratitude in their eyes was real – and it helped you not faint when you sat on the nearest chair in the biggest house of the village, where all of the wounded soldiers were placed.
Speaking of gratitude…you still haven't seen the captain of this group. Some of his people talked about him, and expressed how violently he fought to protect his troops from getting killed by this enormously big group of hilichurls, but none of them actually said where is him. Isn't it strange, if the feared and strictly devoted military arts man would be absent from his people, when they needed him most?
But suddenly, you started to feel…weird. Your vision lit up, now glowing in the brightest light blue color than you have ever seen, and it felt like there was another person who was in need of your help – but you are certain that every last one of the soldiers got their injuries healed already. Might it be that you have missed someone?
You turned back, decided to look for someone else who might need your assistance – and then you found someone…large.
It's not like Fatui soldiers were small – almost every one of them was taller than you and other village people, so you usually had to lift your head very high in a desperate attempt to not like like some tiny long-neck weasel. But this…you can't actually suggest their gender since their armor was too large and locked to see any resemblance of the body inside, but, according to soldiers, who immediately stopped whimpering and moaning from the last pain, this person might be their captain. Cruel, strict commander, who single-handedly killed a whole tribe of hilichurls and helped his people escape from death.
And, since you are not prone to trust just your instincts, but also what your brain and Vision is telling you, you can tell that he is injured. At the first glance he seemed fine – and since you're such a scaredy cat, your heart is telling you to run away from this dangerous person. Who knows, how cruel can he be, if he decides that your job wasn`t enough or you somehow injured his soldiers in any way? There are a lot of people who do not trust Vision bearer healers – especially in such a conservative nation.
But that tiny dot of Hydro magic is telling you that he is in pain. And needs help, even if everything in your body tells you to leave immediately.
You can't always trust your heart, after all.
Sometimes you need to do what you have to, and don't bother about your fears.
– I`m sorry, sir, but can you let me examine you? I can feel that your also have been injured, but I can't say how bad it is because your armor is on the way.
He is not responding. Rude.
– Sir, please. I can sense that you are in pain, and I just want to help you – just like your soldiers.
He is still silent, but at least moved his head in your direction. This closed helmet and terrifying void in the place of a face definitely did not calm your nerves. You might just start wondering is he has any fays to talk about – since one of his accessory chains seems to go directly into his head.
– Okay, I`m sorry, but let me just…
Maybe he doesn't want to get undressed here. It's totally normal that he might not feel safe enough, and since his armor is looking so heavy, it might be hard to take it off by himself. The main pluc of Hydro is that it's not even require direct contact with your patient – or a victim. Water can take any form and flow into almost any place with a slight bit of a room, and you could at least try to heal him without actually getting his whole body set off.
You draw your hand to his armored chest, fingertips slightly pressed against cold metal. And that's how you started to feel it.
Sheer pain that struck your hands as you felt all of the feelings that he did. How can he still walk with such traumas? And how is he not showing his agony?
You tried to at least since his pain. let the water flow inside of metal components and warm him up, washing and duliting his suffering from multiple wounds that were scattered across his body.
And the next thing that you felt is his hand, tightly squeezing your palm in an attempt to not show his true feelings. when his wounds started to stitch themselves and vaporize because of your healing powers. This process can be slow and painless or fast and agonizing – and since none of your actually had a lot of time, you just bit your lip and proceed of using your Vision.
It's not something that you immediately noticed, but his soldiers scattered across you, quietly observing what you were doing, as if they was afraid that their captain might kill you because of your arrogant attempt to help him even if he did not want you to.
But the very next second you finally stopped, feeling like a dried apple, since his wounds took all of the remaining power. You are not used to this amount of Vision using – and you certainly will need lots of sleep right after this.
– I`m sorry for the audacity of my doing, sir, but I did what I had to do. And you weren't answering for my pleas, even though you clearly needed my help, so I took the means in my own hands. I`m sorry if I insulted you in any way.
Finally, he actually looked at you – you felt how his piercing eyes were glancing at your face, as if you were nothing but a shiny piece of accesuar or some exotiq animal that he wanted to buy. You shaked nervously at this thought.
– I believe that promotion will be sufficient as a a gratitude for your work.
You really don't want to admit it, but his voice, deep and cold, really did something in you. You liked it – a lot, actually.
– I do not understand, sir…
– It will be insufficient to let such a talent rot in some Tsaritsa forgotten village. You are coming with us, to the main palace of Fatui`s army. My home.
– But…
– You will not be foolish enough to deny the words of Harbinger. Healer.
– I won`t, sir.
– You may call me Capitano.
What exactly did you sign up for?