fic: the measure of love

[vvitchsdesire]

ao3 || wattpad || ffnet

Title: the measure of love
Fandom: Genshin Impact
Rating: G
Wordcount: 973
Summary: Barbara always knew when it was Bennett coming for her: his skin smelled like warmth and fresh wounds, even from far away. He always hung out in shadows, waiting for her to have a free moment, and sometimes, fainting before that.

Barbara always knew when it was Bennett coming for her: his skin smelled like warmth and fresh wounds, even from far away. He always hung out in shadows, waiting for her to have a free moment, and sometimes, fainting before that.

People tended to ignore him. Barbara didn’t like that - was it his fault Barbatos had decided his fate would be harsher than others? No, no, it wasn’t, so she always wrapped things up with a neat bow and skipped to him with a warm smile on her face.

Forgive me, Lord Barbatos, for not finishing this prayer, amen. She rose from the pews, dusted her skirts, and walked over to him. He seemed relatively healthy - no bones jutting out, no holding onto his stomach so his guts wouldn’t spill -, so Barbara wondered what brought him here, so late at night, with a storm raging on Mondstad. He was soaked to the bone, too, which meant that, whatever it was, it was an urgent matter.

“Bennett! What brings you here?” She asked, and he bit his lower lip. “Is everything alright?”

“Sorry, it’s, uhm, one of my dads.”

Oh, yes. Barbara was aware, at some level, of the strange community, for a lack of a better word, that there was within the Adventurer’s Guild. A group of unmarried men who dedicated their lives to traveling and adventuring with each other, only stopping with old age, and even then, not leaving each other? Very curious, but who was Barbara to contemplate it further? They came to mass and were respectful to her and the church, so she might as well extend the courtesy offered to her.

“Is there something wrong with them?” She asked. Bennett fidgeted in place. “It’s okay to ask for help, Bennett. Lord Barbatos wouldn’t have allowed us to meet, hadn’t it been his will.”

He relaxed his shoulders, but only a fraction. Barbara guided him to sit on one of the pews, one hand on his shoulder.

Maybe it was his Vision, but she always found him too warm. That was a nice comfort, though, compared to her Hydro Vision, which always left her just a bit colder than others. At least it wasn’t Cryo; being the Deaconess would be harder, were she a Cryo user, burning people with her touch.

“He’s sick, and today is… A bad day, you know? All the rain’s making his wounds hurt, and I don’t know what to do anymore because nothing seems to work, and I thought, maybe…”

Barbara smiled, pressed her hand against his shoulder in a tentative to be comforting. He looked at her, eyes full of tears, and tore his gaze away.

“Let me visit, then.” She said, and Bennett seemed wild-eyed at that. “Oh, come on! I barely leave the church, let me have this. Please? As a friend, to another friend?”

“We are friends?”

Barbara cocked her head.

“Of course we are! Now let’s go, your dad must be waiting.”

---

The Adventurer’s Guild house was a surprisingly clean place, she couldn’t help to notice. There were things strewn all around, yes, but there was an order to it that, while she couldn’t inherently grasp, she could see: trophies in high shelves, books in piles, pieces and bits of minerals as paperweights.

Bennett guided her to a smaller room in the back, where the usual contingent of old adventurers she saw around the church hung out. There was a crease of worry to their brow, a fervent prayer in their lips, a surprise in their eyes when Barbara cheerfully greeted them.

“Benny, you got Barbara?” One of them asked, baffled. Bennett scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. “Deaconess, I am so sorry our son had bothered you so late at night. Please, can we offer you some tea, perhaps?”

“It’s alright, Leitner, I insisted on coming over.” She chirped. “May I come in? Poor Gerard must be waiting.”

There was a mumble from the crowd, a general nod, so Barbara entered the room with Bennett on her trail. There was a man in the bed, coughing a storm, his joints swollen, and Barbara sent a quick prayer to Lord Barbatos, begging Him to grant this man relief, if even for a moment.

Well, she supposed she was there for a reason. Bennett sat on the ground, grabbing his father’s hands as Barbara worked on him. To her, it was a prayer, and her Vision reacted, shining in all the colors of the rainbow, illuminating the small room. When the light faded, the man did not cough as much, and his hands had returned to a normal size.

“I feel…” Started Nathaniel, slowly. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever felt better. Thank you, Deaconess.”

“Anything for the people.” She could sense a hub-hub behind her, and Barbara figured these men, who all loved each other as much as she loved Lord Barbatos, wanted some privacy to be able to express the relief they felt at their partner being better. She turned to Bennett. “Benny, how about we go and grab something from the Good Hunter? I can pay!”

He jumped to his feet with a nod, and Barbara let him lead the way, smiling at the way his shoulders seemed relaxed, and at the happy crying the men were doing when her back was turned. Could she understand it, this love? Sure. A few of the nuns had their own little formations, like this one, and everyone respected it. This was just another facet of love, and Barbara did not mind it. They had banded together, they had raised Bennett, and that was all she had to know to be sure it was alright in the eyes of Lord Barbatos for it to happen. Surely He wouldn’t have let it happen for so long if He did not approve.