Springvale is a peaceful, sleepy little village to the south of Mondstadt City. Most of the village's residents are hunters, who provide fresh meat for the entire city of Mondstadt. As hunters, they lived a simple life and often celebrated a good hunt. It was exactly this celebration that awaited Finch after returning from a good hunt near the Brightcrown Canyon. After snagging nearly twenty wild boars, the hunters were looking forward to a grand feast lasting for at least a week or so.
Finch was no stranger to feasts. Feasts in Springvale boasted some of the finest cut meat in Mondstadt, possibly in all of Teyvat as well. As hunters, it was their well-earned reward after a successful hunt and provided comfort to them all till the next hunt began. It was a way for them to celebrate carrying out another hunt successfully, amidst all the other troubles like slimes and whopperflowers that would usually impede their hunts. After the sudden increase in hilichurl activity as well, hunters did not get as many boars as they would have liked. Today's hunt was truly special, making a feast well-deserved indeed.
Despite all this, Finch found himself wandering away from the festivities. Before he knew it, he found himself next to the lake he had sworn to avoid. This lake was no ordinary lake. It held memories of his childhood, back when he was full of imagination. Finch was not born a hunter and did not get along with the rest of his future partners. This led him to isolation near the very same lake as now. He used to make up an imaginary friend to speak to, and this gave him a sense of comfort and also the reassurance that he wasn't alone.
Finch believed his friend was a fairy. All the stories they shared as children were ones he still remembers now. Back then, he used to boast about his friend as well, to anyone who would listen. All these fantasies came to an end after a riftwolf attack on the village. He was now forced to take up his bow to defend his village. Almost half of Springvale's population was injured by the riftwolves, and many did not make it.
After recovering from his injuries, Finch was praised by the whole village and soon gained many lifelong friends. When he eventually returned to the lake, his fairy friend did not respond to him. He spent many weeks waiting for her to return, but to no avail. All the hunters were clueless about her whereabouts and thought she was a figment of his imagination. He tried for many months to find out what had happened to her, but it was as if she had never existed.
He went to Mondstadt City once to ask the Knights for help. He asked everyone he could find, but no one had heard of his friend. All he returned with were dashed hopes and a book the bards made for him – Heart of Clear Springs. At least this way, his friend would not be forgotten. Ever since then, he resolved to live his life as fully as possible and tried not to return to the lake. However, from time to time, he found himself drawn back and then did his best to remember and move on.
This was the same routine that awaited him now. Finch spent some time waiting for the joyous hunters to quiet down and begin feasting. While roaming near the lake, he noticed some seelies glowing near the top of the windmill.
This was odd. In all the time Finch had lived here, he had never seen more than two seelies in Springvale, and now there were six of them just hanging around in a windmill. Seeing that he had nothing better to do, he decided to follow them. They took him around a few houses and chimneys, but eventually all of them ended up near the lake.
Finch was now completely confused. Both the seelie courts near the lake were already full. All six seelies had nowhere to go; would they take him on another chase somewhere else? By now, the feast had started, and Finch was getting late. He prayed that the six courts would be nearby so he could get started with the feast.
As he approached the seelies, all of them went under the water. Finch was now ready to give up. He was not cut out for this. Maybe they had come to see their friends near the lake. Could seelies have friends? Either way, he was not going any further and turned to leave.
He was all the way up till the windmill when he heard the sound of someone crying. It was too young to be a child. Maybe one of the villagers' babies was out in the open due to the commotion of the feast? He had to go and check.
This is how Finch found himself near the lake for the third time today. Sure enough, a baby was near the lake, soaked in water and shivering. Finch could not believe that a baby got all the way into the lake by itself, but questions could wait for later. Maybe one of the hunters forgot about it, but right now, all that mattered was bringing it back to its parents safely.
The closer Finch got to the baby, the more he realised something was off. It was in a blanket near the shores of the lake. No way it could have got drenched when there was no storm in the skies. Speaking of which, the blanket itself was not of Springvale, but seemed to be entirely different from the ones he had seen the other babies use. Did someone leave it here? Speaking of which, even the nearby seelies were gone. Perhaps it was an adventurer?
After thinking about it for a while, Finch took the baby to the feast and informed his friends about the whole thing. They waited the whole night and went for patrols as well, but no one came for the baby. There was no trace of the six seelies as well.
The hunters later felt that the baby had been abandoned. Seeing the baby's soggy and miserable condition, they decided to give it a home in Springvale itself. Finch felt it was a sign from his fairy friend that this baby survived the night. It could have been in any part of the forest, and it could have most likely died. The fact that Finch was there was a stroke of chance, and he owed his friend for it.
The hunters took the baby to Dyana, their chief nurse, who was in charge of taking care of the other babies as well. She told them it was a boy, and he was very lucky that night. Some of the visiting bards decided to give him a name, as he was one of Springvale's family now.
Seeing his drenched state, his name was kept Taron, after the torrential water poured on him, maybe a storm from far away. This is his story.
Author's Note – This is my first story, so review and critique as much as possible. It helps me to understand more about writing a fanfic. Future chapters will be written from Taron's pov and in first-person narration. Future updates will be coming soon. Follow this story if you like it. This story will revolve around Mondstadt lore and timeline, which is not explored much in-game.