Entralling Bloom

14.) Uneasy Examinations

Rosalind

Albedo and Rosalind arrived at the Church of Favonius, maintaining an uneasy silence as they mounted the final stairs to the entrance. It appeared that Albedo had no further questions and Ros was still processing the scenery before her and the true weight and nature behind Albedo's questions.

The Church of Favonius was a grandiose Gothic cathedral, complete with details Rosalind had only seen in PowerPoints from her college art history classes. Flying buttresses supported the structure from the outside and the roof of the church was capped with small, pointed pinnacles.

Rosalind had only been inside the church once before, but the cathedral was a building that she passed by often. The church was usually the building she ended up at instead of the KOFH when she got lost on her way to work.

During Ros' initial tour of the city, she went to the church for a medical examination because the knights had concerns about her well-being. Concerns that were probably warranted considering the... Unbecoming appearance Ros exhibited when she first entered Mondstadt.

Albedo pushed open the door to the cathedral and ushered Rosalind inside. Then he guided Ros over to the church's deaconess, a young lady named Barbara.

Barbara had been the one to examine Rosalind the first time she visited the church. To the Knight's surprise, Barbara had deemed that Ros wasn't sick or injured,  but merely in need of a meal and a shower.

This diagnosis left Ros relieved and yet a little curious. Did her small stint in the forest truly leave her looking disheveled enough to warrant an emergency medical examination?

I suppose I'm just rather filthy and ugly looking right now, Ros joked to herself at the time.

Nowadays, Ros couldn't be less jovial. Albedo was clearly onto her and she picked up on it with ease. She spent her entire life walking on eggshells for an abusive mother. She knew when someone was annoyed with her.

I'm so stupid, Ros thought panickedly, I went into the forest with one of the Knights of Favonius. Who seemed SO eager to spend time with me all of a sudden. Of course, he was just curious about my background! HOW could I not see that? The real question is if Albedo is curious because he is the curious type or if the Knights put him up to this... 

I need to calm down. The knights let me stay with them and I'm merely their inconsequential librarian. My background means nothing to them. They have no reason to want to know anything more about me than what I told them after my interview...

But at the time of my interview, even after all the studying I did, my knowledge of Teyvat was still shaky. I embarrassed myself a bit when the Grand Master of the Knights came to personally welcome me as a librarian. My mind went blank and I couldn't tell her where I was from. She asked me to describe the scenery of my hometown and I was just desperately trying not to link myself to any country in particular.

Rosalind began to zone out recalling the day she came to the library and Lisa and Jean joyously notified her that she had been hired.

*****

"Rosalind Monet was it," Jean said greeting Ros from across the room as she entered the library.

"Oh!" Ros exclaimed and lowered her head in a small bow to her superior. She was shocked to see the head of the KOF herself at the library.