The Cathedral of Mondstadt was quiet, cloaked in the hush of reverence and the scent of herbs. Stained glass filtered the sun into soft hues that spilled across stone floors. Healers moved gently between beds, speaking in whispers, letting the silence carry the weight of those who hovered between life and death.
Boris was one of them.
Laid out on a cot near the end of the infirmary, his body was broken in a way that was hard to look at. Bandages wrapped across his ribs and torso, his chest rose and fell slowly, every breath measured. His left arm was splinted and resting across his chest. Burned skin peeked from under gauze where healing hadn't quite taken. His face was pale, dotted with bruises, a deep gash stitched beneath his jaw.
Beside him sat a tall woman in a black coat lined with grey fur. Her arms were folded, back straight, chin slightly raised. Her boots were still speckled with snow from the long road she had traveled. Her expression was cold, eyes hard as steel, but her gaze hadn't moved from the boy in the bed.
Alexandra.
Her presence didn't fill the room—it quieted it. She was the type who walked into a space and made people instinctively lower their voices. A natural force of control.
But now, alone beside her brother, she seemed a little smaller. A little more still.
A healer passed by and whispered gently, "He should be waking soon. He's stable for now."
Alexandra didn't answer. She just nodded once, and the healer moved on.
She exhaled slowly. Then leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees. Her gloved fingers curled tight, betraying tension she didn't show in her face.
"You never make things easy," she murmured, more to herself than to him. "But I didn't expect this."
Her eyes traveled over him again, reading the damage. She had seen worse, had done worse—but not to him. Never him.
"I should've gotten to you sooner."
Her voice was soft now, flat but not cold. Beneath it was something more dangerous than grief—regret, buried so deep it sounded like anger.
A twitch.
She saw it—his fingers moved.
She stood sharply, boots clicking on the stone, and moved beside the cot just as Boris's breath hitched and his eyelids fluttered open.
He groaned softly. Blinked. His gaze was unfocused, then sharp with pain.
"Easy," she said immediately, crouching down to meet his eye level.
He looked at her.
At first, no recognition. Then a crease in his brow. His lips moved.
"…You."
She nodded.
"…I know you."
He looked confused, blinking as if trying to clear fog from his mind.
"You're… Alexandra?"
A flicker of something passed through her eyes, quickly gone.
"Yes."
"You're… my sister."
"That's right."
He looked away, ashamed. "I didn't remember at first."
"You were half-dead," she said plainly. "Don't blame yourself."
"I don't remember your voice. Your face. Just your name."
He said it like a confession.
Alexandra stared at him for a moment, then took a slow breath. Her hand moved—hesitated—then touched his. Lightly. The back of his knuckles. The coldness of her skin still present, but not unkind.
"You remembered enough."
His fingers twitched under hers. Weak. Barely able to hold.
He whispered, "I thought you left."
"I never did." Her voice was a little harder now. "I was working. Far. But I didn't forget."
He swallowed.
Alexandra rose and reached behind her to unbutton her coat. She folded it over a nearby chair and came back to him—not cold anymore, but still composed. She sat beside him on the bed, leaned in, and without ceremony or dramatics, pulled him gently into a loose embrace.
Boris didn't react at first.
Then, slowly, his head lowered against her shoulder. She held him—not too tightly, not long. Just enough. Her hand, for once ungloved, ran through his sweat-dampened hair once before settling on his back.
"I'm sorry," he said, so quiet it might've been a breath.
"I know," she replied.
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Boris' thoughts.
It was all pain, agony. Every twitch of my body hurt, like standing up would kill me.
Usually, when people get concussions, they forget things, the opposite happened to me.
Life in this world isn't so easy, another friend dead.
Something is wrong with sword, it's strange...
It feels like I am connected to the abyssal dragon, it's trying to talk to me.
The sword's got some connection with the dragon.
Maybe it's because it was exposed to it for 500 years? Who knows.
The more concerning issue or thing at hand.
I have a sister.
New memories just keep resurfacing, but this one didn't just resurface, it came alive and it is with me.
In this life, I had a mother, and have a sister.
From what I can telll, she is also a member of the Fatui.
Alexandra.
My mother. She died, leaving me with her from what I can assume.
She has the same white hair as me, long and beautiful. She is tall too, I guess that's in our genes.
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Alexandra pulled him closer, "We are connected by blood and fate, I'll always help you. It caused me great pain, to be away from you, when I heard that you nearly died, I was shocked and distraught, I got here as fast as I could. What were those rascals thinking? Sending someone as important and as young as you to a mission like that." Her voice was stone cold, yet still carried a sense of care for him.
Boris closed his eyes and relaxed, choosing not to say anything.
The infirmary remained quiet save for the soft shuffle of boots and the low murmur of healers exchanging notes. The sun had shifted now, painting the stone walls in a gentler amber. The worst had passed—but only just.
Alexandra hadn't moved.
She stayed beside him, her arm still around his shoulders, steady as iron, warm only in the way a fire might be behind glass. It was protection without coddling, the way she'd always been—strict, distant when duty called, but present in the moments that mattered.
And this mattered.
Boris's breathing had steadied, though every now and then a wince passed through his features. Alexandra caught each one like a trained observer, but didn't comment. He needed calm, not questions.
Eventually, she pulled back slightly—not away, just enough to meet his eyes.
"Now," she looked into Boris' eyes with a gentle look, "Tell me, what is the relation between you and the Traveler."
Boris sighed feeling tired, "I met her when I arrived in Mondstadt, I helped her avoid the knights who were hunting her, it seemed that she took a liking to me, we meet every now and than."
"Hmm, took a liking to you, huh?" Alexandra continued pondering about something, "And about your relation with the acting Grand Master? I learned how she took the responsibility to take care of you while you recovered after you incident with Knights, how she would visit you everyday. Tell me about that."
"Hmm... I met her while returning from a mission, it was in the middle of night, so I had to lie to her, it led to me to go to the Dawn Winery and a little encounter with Master Diluc. Eventually, she found out, but didn't seem to bear any sort of anger or hatred towards me. After the run-in with Eula, who was her friend, she felt responsible and managed my card and looked after me. She would visit me everyday, I guess those dandelions on the desk were left by her."
Alexandra nodded, "It seems you've built quite the connections with powerful people in here, the Traveler, the Acting Grand Master, that Ragvindr, and most of all..." She looked down at Boris, "The ancient God of Storms, Andrius."
"Ahh.... Yes.... It was during a official mission.... It's quite a long story... Not an interesting one, basically, I found this strong wolf and defeated it, nearly dying myself, the wolf wanted me to be it's summoner, so it took me to the spirit of the God, where he created a summoning pact between us."
"Is that so..." She hummed while caressing his hair, "The new power of yours, it's quite interesting."
Boris slowly nodded his head, already against her chest.
Alexandra slowly stood up and placed him on the bed, "Stay put, I'll go get some food for you."
Alexandra walked away towards the door.
---
Boris' PoV
I looked up at the ceiling and sighed, I felt too tired to do anything, it was too painful to do anything anyway.
Some time passed before I heard footsteps getting close to me.
I opened my eyes and looked up. What I saw was something I didn't expect... But it also felt like I expected it. It was strange.
There she was, Fey, holding a bouquet of flowers, her eyes filled with sadness, her belly showing she was expecting soon.
"Fey..." The words came out of my mouth, as I tried to sit up.
I had met Fey once before, when I dropped off Vlimir home after he got very drunk, that was the first time I met Vlimir as well.
"No No no... Please relax... It must be painful for you." She got closer and pushed my shoulder down gently.
"Ok..... Fey..... I was gonna come to you onc-" Boris tried to speak but was interrupted.
"No, No, it's okay... I understand.... The healer girl told me you nearly died, she came by my house today, to tell me you woke up. You see, I actually wanted to meet you...." She looked down at the flowers.
"Do you need help with something?..."
Boris asked.
Fey shook her head, "No.... They told me you were with him when he died, when he died fighting the monster...."
"Yes...." Boris nodded slowly.
"Did he... Did he say something to you? What were his last words..." Fey asked, on the verge of crying.
Sadness filled my heart, I looked up at the ceiling, "Yes.... Before... He stopped breathing... He told me to take care of you and the kid.... He talked to me about a bank account in the Northland Bank and his mission payments and death compensation..."
"Oh...." Fey said, "Did he say anything else?...."
I nodded, "Yes..." I looked at her enlarged belly, "He told me that if is girl, he wanted you to name her Arya, and if it was a boy, he wanted to name him."
And she couldn't take it in anymore, she was strong, but she couldn't keep it on anymore.
Fey clutched her mouth and sat down on the chair and started crying.
I didn't say anything, I couldn't say anything. Nothing I could do would bring back Vlimir, nothing I could do would stop her from being a widow, nothing I could do would stop her child from growing up without a father.
Vlimir was gone.
I could barely hear the sound of Alexandra's footsteps approaching over Fey's crying
I looked up towards the door and saw her walking in with a tray of food, she stopped beside the bed and laid the tray of food on it.
Her eyes locked on Fey and then on her belly and then narrowed down at me, "Who is she?".
I raised my eyebrows, confused as to why she was bei- Oh, "No No No, it's not like that. Not what you are thinking, she is Vlimir's wife."
Fey looked up and wiped her tears and stood up, "I am sorry for intruding-".
I shook my head and signalled her to stop, "No, No, No. I owe my life to Vlimir. I'll do anything help him."
Fey wiped her face and smiled, "It's ok. You rest now." And then turned around to leave.
"Wait." I said and Fey turned around and looked at me, "When?" I didn't have to say much.
"The doctor said it's close, two months maybe, might be less." There was still a sad and worried tone in her voice.
I nodded, "Don't worry about anything. I'll help with whatever you need, if something happens, just come to me. I promise you, once I get out of this bed, I'll do everything to help you. The house you two lived in was rented, right? Any financial problems?"
Fey shook her head, "No.. nothing right now, I had some money saved up, I'll last for some time."
I sighed, "Well, did you receive Vlimir's payment for the mission and the compensation for his death?"
Fey nodded, "Yes, one of the men from the organization came to my house and gave me the mora."
I nodded, "Well, the Northland Bank and his Liyue properties are far away, you stay here and take care of yourself. I'll handle that once I am out of here. Do you have anyone to help you while you are alone?"
Fey shook her head, "No... I wasn't expecting to be alone... It all just happened... So suddenly...".
I looked down and nodded, "Okay, I'll try to get one of the sisters to come and help you, getting the help of the normal citizens is impossible because of us being Snezhnayan. You go home safely, it's dark, ask a knight to escort you to your home. They get paid to look after people, even if it's a Snezhnayan."
Fey nodded, "Ok... Bye, get better soon." She turned and nodded at Alexandra before leaving.
Alexandra looked at the retreating figure of and sat down on the table once she left the room.
"Poor woman..." I clutched my hand, "so shaken up, distraught, alone..."
Alexandra looked at me as she scooped up some broth and brought it to my mouth, "A pitiful condition. Young and already a widow, add to the fact that she is going to be a mother soon too."
I drank the broth and looked out the window, "Yes.. They had just gotten married, Vlimir kept talking to me about his kid and wife when we were in Dragonspine. He was going to retire after that mission, be with his family."
Alexandra narrowed her eyes, "Why do you care so much about here? There are hundreds if not thousands of women like here out there."
I looked at Alexandra, "Vlimir is dead because of me, he died saving me. I owe my life to him, to Fey. Looking after her is the least I can do."
Alexandra snorted, "It seems you've developed a sense of honor and kindness, you remind me of the Captain. Her future can be discussed later, eat." She said as she brought another spoon to my mouth.
Alexandra finally rested against her chair, her sharp features softening for a moment, "You've changed. You are taller, you talk different, your face is different, more sharp, handsome. You are nothing like the boy I once knew, I suppose change occured in both of us."
I finished the broth and opened my mouth again, Alexandra chuckled and leaned forward and started to feed me.
Having a sister will help, being alone can be a bit hard sometimes.
Who is she exactly? Is she a high ranking Fatui member?
How does she know everything, even the things I didn't tell the Fatui?