Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunset settled over the Dawn Winerys grounds as the day called to an end. Crepus Ragnvindr sat awake in his office, filling out and checking through assorted business files and forms for this month's sales, and for a moment, nothing was amiss. Business had been thriving as autumn had come in, the winery had hired more staff to up their production rate, and his boys had been excelling in their knight training.

The wine tycoon found himself smiling alone at the thought. His two, young sons, aged 14 & 15 respectively, currently lay in their beds across the winery, blissfully unaware of the hurried footsteps of one of the house's most trusted butlers as he strode with a determined speed to the housemasters office.

Three firm knocks at his door brought Crepus’ attention away from his current files (and wandering thoughts), immediately curious as to what the meaning of a disturbance so late into the afternoon was for.

It was almost an unspoken rule in the house to not disturb Master Crepus with new business so late into the night and to instead wait until morning to bring it to his attention- so he felt little hesitation to accept the interruption, curiosity hitting him as to what message could possibly be waiting for him.

“Hm? Come in..?” He called out, remaining sat at his desk and closing the current business file he held open.

The door knob twisted and entered Elzer, grasping two slightly crumpled pieces of paper within his hands. He silently closed the door behind him and walked forward to stand before Crepus’ desk wordlessly.

Elzer was undoubtedly one of the most reliable and level headed members of the family's staff, which is why Crepus couldn't shove the slight anxious feeling that crept up his neck seeing visible apprehension hidden in his butler's expression.

“Sorry for disturbing you at such an hour, Master Crepus, I hope I'm not interrupting much at this moment” he began as his grip on the two pieces of paper grew tighter.

The wine tycoon simply shook his head and folded his arms together in a lighthearted move, shaking his head dismissively with a peaceful smile to his lips, “of course not, simple business transactions is all. Is everything alright, though? You look rather… nervous?”

Elzer blinked for a moment before clearly attempting to compose himself, slightly embarrassed he had been caught out in his nerves, “Ah! Nono, i’m alright, my apologies. It’s just… I have received news from two separate informants in the last 30 or so minutes about a certain… man, they have spotted recently entering and wandering Mond over these past few days.”

That certainly got Crepus to raise his eyebrow, a suspicious man entering and wandering around Mondstadt?

It wasn’t the most out of the ordinary thing to hear of, all cities were prone to strange travellers coming in and out of the country, but why report this to him?

His informants mainly only reported to him for business related reasons- informing him of local threats that may affect trade or if there is a sudden sway in the general publics feelings that may play a factor in wine sales. A suspicious man seems like something much more suited to be reported to the Knights Of Favonius.

Elzer paused to gauge Crepus’ reaction, making sure he had the space to continue before following himself up, “the reports claim this man mainly wanders the wilderness at night and is scarcely seen in the day, but the informants have noted a pattern in his frequency to visiting Angels Share every few nights."

Elzer paused once more to glance down at the papers gripped in his hands, as if reassuring himself that whatever was written on the paper had actually been inked down and not some figment of his imagination.

“Forgive me for interrupting,” Crepus spoke in a cool tone, “but you seem far too anxious to just be informing me of a peculiar man visiting our establishment? Are there any explicit signs he seems to hold a threat to business?”

The young butler paused for a moment before shaking his head with a decided determination, “no- it’s not that, I don't believe. It’s just…” he paused once more, whatever words he needed to get out were clearly causing mild distress in his mind based on his unusual restlessness while trying to convey his point, “both of the informants have reported this to you after both of them noticed that this man's eyes… they look just like Young Master Kaeyas.”

A beat passed over the room. Elzer clearly felt more relieved to finally have spoken the message while Crepus had barely processed it.

“As in…?” the master questioned with a furrowed brow, demanding clarification to make sure this wasn’t some horrific miscommunication.

“As in,’ Elzer continued, “he holds the same star-shaped pupils the Young Master does.”

Slowly, the implications of the words crashed over Crepus like a wave.

Years ago, when Kaeya had first been adopted into the Ragnvindr family at age 8, Crepus had finally started to notice and question some of the peculiar things about Kaeya.

Such as how he had an aversion to praying to any of the 7 Archons, usually ending up going along with it while the apprehension was clearly still in his body, or how he knew survival skills no child should know and yet didn't know the simple pleasures in life such as the beach and crystalflies.

These questions found themselves frequently bothering Crepus’ mind, but he never pushed. Kaeya was by-and-large a shy child, and it was learnt very quickly that bombarding him with questions never led to anything productive and usually only freaked the boy out, especially questions about his heritage.

So it was almost another unspoken rule in the household to not question such things. But Crepus had never found himself unable to shake the worry and curiosity that stemmed from this estranged child. And one question he found himself always asking- what was with Kaeyas eye?

The boy almost aggressively guarded his left eye, refusing to allow anyone, not even Crepus or the maids to look under the bandages he had wrapped over it- eventually getting them to concede and stop their questioning, accepting it and providing him with eyepatches to make him feel comfortable.

And despite his secrecy, he wore his right eye out like there was nothing amiss. As if the pointed star that reflected in his eye was nothing to feel concern or curiosity for.
Crepus recalls once he attempted to subtly ask what was the cause of such a unique eye but Kaeya had been stubborn in his refusal to give the man anything.

And no matter how much Crepus wished for answers to understand his son better, he knew better than to push. The boy was allowed to keep some secrets, especially if thinking about them brought back negative memories for him.

Crepus wasn’t that much of a fool to ignore the obvious signs of trauma the child tried to suppress.

Despite not having known the boy for much more than a year at that point, Crepus already knew his choice. He would not allow the mere factor of curiosity get in the way of Kaeyas safety.

If ignoring the problem and forgetting was what he needed to do to heal, Crepus would do all he could to build a new childhood for him.

But still, for a time period, he wished there was more he could do to help. Which is how, years ago, he had found himself sending out a specific request to all of his informants, to keep an eye out for any people or any information about the star eyes.

The request had been sent to his nationwide informants, the request even reaching those he hired in Natlan and Fontaine, but nothing. There never was. Not one hint of evidence for a reason his son's eyes shone differently, nor any trace of a group of people who had held this trait. It was almost as if any possible hint had been erased.

It had been years since he sent out that request, finding he had almost completely given up on the question. It no longer pertained to his nor his sons lives. Diluc and Kaeya were now teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them, it felt almost silly pondering on this old question.

Yet still, when the confirmation had left Elzers mouth Crepus couldn’t stop the shockwave of realisation that fell over him. There were others.. Or atleast one other. And the second realisation almost made him feel sick as the feeling of vertigo washed over him.

“I.. Is it his..” Crepus began before getting cut off.

“It’s not his father,” Elzer immediately reassured with determination in his voice, letting his fond protectiveness over the Young Master show before composing his voice to a more level-headed tone, “I mean- it doesn’t seem to be. Both of the reports separately included a description of the man and his traits don’t seem to line up with Master Kaeyas.”

The butler reached his hand out that held the two pieces of paper, offering them for Crepus to read.

The dizzying shock could still be felt over Crepus’ mind as he took the letters, not feeling enough care to read them in thorough and only choosing to skim over the notes his informants wrote to reassure himself.

Blonde hair… star shaped pupils, colour an aqua blue… dressed in all black… intricate details on his clothing…

The first note read.

His eyes are light blue with a star shaped pupil… pale skin… short blonde hair… black outfit with a cape.. Outfit details in purple and gold…

The second note backed up.

Blonde hair and pale skin..? Almost an exact opposite of Kaeyas appearance.

Crepus let out a breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding. Unsure why the feeling of dread filled him so much at the prospect of Kaeyas biological father returning for him, but he didn’t feel as if he had the time to dwell on it currently.

He could feel some of the initial panic he held fall away as he attempted to rationalise his thinking for the moment. This didn’t sound to be a biological relative to Kaeya, and yet even so, he may be Crepus’ only hint to finding out about the issues that plague his sons past, if the eye truly is a trait born of a specific nation of people.

The wine tycoon found himself closing his eyes as he dragged in a deep breath before turning his attention back to Elzer. “I trust noone else in the Winery is aware of this information?”

The butler shook his head in response, “I have been the only one to read through these notes, and by the sound of it the general public isn’t too aware of his presence either, based upon the fact he seems to mainly operate at night and only enter the city for brief stops in the tavern.”

“I see..” Crepus paused, bringing a hand up to his chin to ponder, “you said the informants had noted a pattern with his visits to the tavern? Have they included predictions for when he may next visit?” His spare hand gripped to one of the sheets of paper, attempting to read the decently thorough blocks of text this time instead of briefly skimming it.

“I believe that information is detailed in one of the notes, yes Sir.”

“I see.. Well in that case, do me a favour and make sure my schedule is completely clear for the next night he is expected to show up, I would like to pay this man a bit of a visit,” he spoke with another raised eyebrow, his voice adopting a low tone while he pondered how to approach this issue.

“Of course, right away, Sir,” Elzer spoke as he turned his back to exit the room, only stopping when Crepus raised his voice to speak again.

“Oh, and Elzer.. Just making sure,” for the first time this conversation his voice raised to one with a serious undertone, “do not allow these rumours to reach Kaeya. I don’t want him to know.. Not yet atleast.”

Elzer was swift to nod his head before turning again to exit, shutting the door silently behind him and leaving Crepus alone again to think this through.

With a drawn out sigh, he rubbed his forehead with his hand, trying to suppress the anxiety he could feel bubbling inside of his chest.

He should be happy, he tried to tell himself, he may have finally found someone Kaeya can relate back to in terms of wherever he came from, and yet he felt no such excitement.

It wasn’t the fear of them taking Kaeya, no- Crepus had legally adopted Kaeya years ago, no force in Teyvat could argue that he wasn’t his legal guardian.

It was more so an unshakeable anxiety about what this could mean for Kaeya. Crepus had thought that whatever traumatic events Kaeya lived through as a child no longer plagued his mind, he didn't flinch at loud noises like he had when he first arrived nor were his nightmares so frequent.

He had grown from the scared and shy 8 year old Crepus had found shivering in the rain into a confident and mischievous 14 year old, nearly 15 in a month.

A young knight who somehow always had a perfect strategy when he and his knights went out to clear camps. A best friend to many others in the city, such as his close friend Jean. And of course, he was a brother to arguably his best friend in all of Teyvat, Diluc. He had a life for himself here, one far away from whatever dangers tormented him as a young child - Crepus could never erase any of the memories that bothered Kaeya from before his stay in Mond, but he could try and cover them up with new, happier ones.

That’s what he had always tried to do for his sons. And this new wild card in the pile may very well pose a disruption to the life Crepus so carefully built for his sons to thrive in.

If he caught even the slightest hint that this strange man posed a threat to either of his sons, he would never allow them to live to do it again. But for now, such violent thoughts seemed too preemptive. One step at a time.

And the first step seemed to be a schedule change.

Chapter Text

“ ▇▇ ! Can we please go to the gardens! Pretty please! “

“My prince.. You’re meant to be in your tutor currently.”

“I knowww, I know…”

“ Pst.. Kaeya”

“It’s just so boring.. And the tutor doesn’t like me! She’s always glaring..”

“If your teacher is mistreating you, I can arrange for a new one, my prince. But the lessons are still important.”

“Please! Can we just visit the gardens briefly! I promise it won’t take long, I want to see if the inteyvats have bloomed yet.”

“Hey.. Kaeya!”

“Ah.. if you promise not to dawdle too much, perhaps we can take a brief walk.”

“Yay! Thank you so much, ▇▇ !”

“No need to thank me, my prince.”

“Kaeya! Wake up!!”

A dull  light flickered into Kaeyas eyes as he sluggishly woke up. Vibrant red filled his vision as he peeled his eyelids open, greeted his brother's excited face.

“H-huh..Diluc..?” His voice was barely above a whisper, still groggy from the abrupt wakening. A quick glance out the window told him it couldn’t have been that late in the day, gentle light beams still barely just peaking over the horizon. “Archons… what time is it..?”

“Time for you to be awake, sleepyhead!” Diluc responded with an infectious grin on his face, moving to sit on the edge of Kaeyas bed. His response was being levelled with an unamused glare from his little brother. Their brief stare-off failed to last long as Kaeya chose to not enable this little game while he was still tired, dragging the duvet above his head .

“Hey wait!” the red head called out as quietly as he could to not disturb the entire household, grabbing the quilts edge before Kaeya managed to fully disappear under it, “fine fine, its 6:20 but-”

“6:20!?” Kaeya exclaimed in his hushed, sleepy voice, “Diluc it’s our day off, what possible reason do we need to be awake at this time..”

“Ahem, I was gonna get there before a certain someone interrupted me.”

A challenging silence filled the air. It would have been so easy for Kaeya to just close his eyes again and succumb to his sleep, but the excited look that shone in his brother's eyes was too much of his weak spot. He would hate to ruin Dilucs mood for the day, even if he was too energetic for his own good. With a short sigh, Kaeya found himself giving in, pulling himself up into a sitting position. 

A smirk found its way onto the eldests face, “ok so basically, yesterday at the ordo I overheard some of the reconnaissance knights talking really vaguely about ‘creepy stuff’ happening in wolvendom right?” He didn’t wait for a response, “They kept talking about how when they went over there they felt like they were being watched and that the hilichurls over there were acting more defensive and skittish, sooo.. I thought me and you could head over there and check it out?”

Kaeya made a non-commital noise, “Dad doesn’t like us going there without the cavalry with us.”

“Well the company didn’t mention encountering anything more than hilichurls! And we can turn around if we get too close to the wolf of the north?”

“Hm.. I dunno..”

“Pleasee Kaeyaaa, I’m sick of not knowing if those reconnaissance knights are always just making stories up to seem cool or not.” Diluc put on a dejected frown as he furrowed his eyebrows, “you know they're always trying to one-up the cavalry team in terms of stories from the field!”. Kaeya thought he really hasn’t changed much since he was a kid.

A sigh, and a beat passed, “fine.. We can go after breakfast..”

It was almost comical how Dilucs face brightened in a split second, jumping up from where he was sat. “I knew you’d say yes! Hah, master negotiator Diluc wins agai-” his prideful ramblings were quickly silenced by a pillow square to the face. 

“Yea yea, whatever, now get out so I can get changed.”

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Kaeya had never really been one to remember any of his dreams that weren’t nightmares. When he was younger, the issue bothered him much more persistently due to the constant surge of upsetting dreams that would make him wake up in a cold sweat. Was it because his nightmares were just more memorable than the good dreams? Or was he just not having any good dreams to remember?

He pulled himself out of bed eventually and over to his dresser, selecting clothes appropriate to be wearing outside in the autumn weather. Simple white button up, long trousers, thick socks; he’d grab his jacket later, he decided.

Kaeya had stopped thinking about his dream dilemma as he grew up, with his nightmares lessening it also meant he more or less stopped remembering his dreams all together. Yet for some reason, the fragments of what you could call his dream last night pestered his mind as he moved around his room to change. Large portions of it were too fuzzy for him to make out. Any faces were too blurry to remember and any names seemed redacted in his head. The mention of inteyvats… he hadn’t had a dream set in his homeland in awhile, much less one that isn’t painted in red and coated in the screams of innocents. 

Walking over to check his outfit in his mirror, the teen reached out to open one of his jewellery boxes and pick out something. He wasn’t overly fond of wearing lots of shiny accessories, failing to enjoy the attention it would bring him. But still, after years of staying at the Ragnvindr mansion he’s accumulated a nice collection of small pieces. Some he bought himself, most gifts from others. Every piece had a little story behind it that tied it close to his heart, forged with a variety of gold, silver and sentimentality. 

A thin, band ring with a tiny red gem forged into the gold from Jean, given after they had found it in a river and she had gotten it polished for him; an intricately weaved friendship bracelet made with strands of red and blue wool that he made himself, one half of a whole set, Diluc possesses the other one ; a pair of stud earrings gifted by Adelinde after he had inquired years ago about her collection of them and where he could get his own.

He held each of these pieces in such close regard to his heart, never forgetting the story held behind each and every one.

Memories of his homeland were far and few, repression having taken the wheel in his life and buryinga lot of distressing memories, and subsequently, this also came at the cost of a lot of good ones too. Despite this, a small bank containing fragments of a calmer time remains untouched near the back of his head. A bank he needs to put effort into reaching out to if he wants to reminisce. But, not one memory he can currently pull on gives him any clue as to who that man speaking with him was. Younger Kaeya had spoken like he trusted this mysterious man, and the unknown person certainly spoke like a caretaker of his but… no recollection of a man that was close to him surfaced in his brain.

As Kaeya continued through the jewellery box, he slowly made his mind up on what today's accessory would be. With gentle hands, he picked out a thin, silver necklace with a dark blue, teardrop shaped gemstone hanging from it in a silver casing. It was simple, but also one of his favourites. It had been a gift from his father last christmas, and Kaeya utterly adored it. Not only was it beautiful, but with it came the stored memories of that happy holiday. Plus, it was long enough to tuck under his shirt so it didn’t dangle out.

The more Kaeya tried to push at the memory-dream the more a headache began to creep up his skull. It was frustrating, his brain was trying to tell him to give up, that the dream was nothing more than a stray longing for his past manifesting into an abstract scene , but his heart felt like it was crying at the very notion. He should remember who that man was… he had to have been important to Kaeya, someone dear to him. The knight bit the inside of his lip in frustration, this wasn’t going to stop bugging at him, was it?

He brought his hands up and connected them behind his neck to attach the necklace clasp. A light sigh fell out of Kaeyas lips, bringing himself through the rest of his routine as he picked up his hairbrush and a hair tie. His brows furrowed as he internally lamented how well his child brain attempted to shield him from his traumatic past and in turn hid him from any other people he had known. The Khaenri’an had found himself wondering sometimes, how many people had he known outside of his mother and father who are now locked away as ghosts of the past to him? 

Logically, this sorrowful reminiscing wasn’t good for him, he knew that, but he also hated how he didn’t know, how he felt he should know.

He hoped the man, whoever he was, didn’t suffer too much when he died in the fall of their nation…

⭑✧✦✧⭑

“Good morning, Kaeya!”

“Ah, morning father” Kaeya smiled as he joined his family at the dinner table, sitting across from his brother and taking a small sip of his water.

Master Crepus felt himself let out a gentle sigh of relief seeing both of his sons together, it was a comforting image, one that never failed to warm his heart up. Words could never convey how proud he was of his boys. The tycoon smiled warmly as the brothers fell into their scheduled bickering and chattering. Kaeya was fine, Diluc was fine, they were all fine. It’s not like this strange man was going to have broken in overnight and hurt his sons, Adelinde did always say he had a flair for obsessively worrying over small situations that really weren’t worth the trouble.

Settling back into the routine sense of normality allowed him to, at least for a minute, calm himself down.

“You two are dressed early?” He began, giving a polite nod to the maid as she placed down the freshly made pancakes to the table, “Have somewhere to be today?”

Diluc gave an affirmative hum, stabbing his fork into his food, “we’re going to go up to windwail highland later!”

“Is that so?” Crepus responded with a fond chuckle, one slightly too strained in his cheeks, “alright, well don’t go too far.”

The brothers made eye contact for a split second, conveying a thought unknown to their father.

“We won’t, don’t worry dad,” Kaeya interjected, for such a neutral tone he certainly spoke in a reassuring way.

“Yea! Plus, we’re official knights, father! We can handle ourselves.”

A very subtle, almost unnoticeable shift of the tension of the room bled into the air as Crepus opened his mouth to speak again, words coming out more serious than intended. “I know boys, but promise me, please be home at a reasonable time today. And, if you see anything- or anyone weird while out today please don’t go trouble seeking with them, ok?”

The brothers shared another quick glance, clearly looking shocked at their fathers turn to seriousness.

“We always are responsible-”

“Diluc please, I- just this once promise me? I'd like to hear you say it ?”

The boys didn't even try to hide the confusion painted on their faces, Crepus hasn't acted this explicitly worried since his sons were much younger and much less strong than they are now. 

“Of course, dad.. we promise we'll be safe,” Kaeya spoke up with a reserved smile, you wouldn't be able to hear the confusion in it if you weren't watching his face at the same time. At the extended silence that followed, the younger brother reached out his leg to kick Diluc under the table, prompting him to join in.

“Oh uh- yea, we promise!  We'll stick with each other the whole time,” Diluc nodded with a smile, hoping to kill the tension surrounding his father, “don't worry, we've got each other to keep us safe.”

A beat of silence.

“Is everything alright, father…?” Kaeya placed down his fork gently. Ever since he was a very young child, he’s known the tell tale signs of deception and hidden truths. But to him it didn’t seem like his father had anything bad hidden behind his words, moreso a caution and a subtle fear? 

The question seemed to have brought Crepus out of whatever troubling mindset his thoughts were drowning in, snapping to attention and brightening his smile. “Oh yes- of course, you’ll have to forgive your old man. You see, you’re both still my little boys, I could never stand to see you two get hurt or lost out there.”

Dilucs huff of half-hearted indignation filled the room and immediately raised the atmosphere. “Father, please! We’re almost- well.. I’m almost an adult.”

“Sixteen is not an adult, Luc,” Kaeya rolled his eyes, “and I'll be fifteen before you’re sixteen so don’t act like I'm a baby.”

“Well.. you are my baby brother so-”

“Hey-!”

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Gentle footsteps crunching against the fallen autumn leaves were the only noises to interrupt the serene ambiance of nature. Two brothers follow each other's footsteps to hike up a cliff path and get to higher territory. It wasn’t as if they completely lied to their father, they had gone to wildwail highland. It also just so happens they failed to mention they’d be walking the further distance, now approaching wolvendom territory. Hushed chatter followed the pair as they stalked through the trees.

“Do you know what you’re gonna wear this weekend yet?” Diluc questioned, gently hopping over a small water stream in the ground.

Kaeya shrugged indignantly in response, following after his brother, “hm, not sure.”

The redhead rolled his eyes playfully, tilting his head to look his brother in the face, “don’t tell me you forgot about it?”

“No, it’s not that! It’s just.. I’m not that enthusiastic about going.” Kaeya shrugged as he kicked a stone deeper into the woods, scanning their surroundings as he did. He wasn’t about to completely discard his fathers words of warning, still making sure to keep an ear and eye out for any dangers in this unfamiliar territory.

So far, nothing unusual was standing out to him, neither in the category of Dilucs worries or his fathers. A squirrel climbing a tree. The bristle of the bushes. It was almost a sixth sense ingrained into Kaeya at this point, listening for even the smallest out of place rustle of greenery or snapped twig. You'd never know how sneaky treasure hoarders or even hilichurls could be once they put their minds to it, and Kaeya would rather be safe than sorry in a medical bed.

“C’mon Kae! You’ve never even been before!” Diluc walked ahead of his brother at a casual pace, “the last time they had a knights ball was when we were ten! And we weren’t even knights then! I promise it’ll be fun!”

The youngest chewed his inner lip, flexing the joints in his fingers rhythmically - an action of nerve he subconsciously practised when deep in thought. To his left, the sound of the wind brushing the tree branches, and to his right the sound of a fox squeaking to its companions. “It’s just… a lot of people and crowds in one place, not just knights either. A bunch of the nobility always show up… you know they don’t like me very much.”

A sad truth, many of the stuck up noble families of Mondstadt remain deluded in fantasies of the past, outraged at the very idea of the richest family in the city not only adopting a child that has no Ragnvindr blood in him, but one who wasn’t even born to Mondstadt land. 

“Ok and?! Anyone who tries to pick issues with you is an absolute loser!” Diluc passionately defended, a more enthusiastic jump in his step noticeable, “whatever scene they try and cause with you i’ll start an even bigger scene! Just to get the attention away from you, that’s a promise.”

Kaeya couldn’t conceal the chuckle he let out, “not sure dad would be very happy you started a scene at the Favonius ball.” Above him, the echo of a birds call with the harsh flap of their wings, and under him the noise of cracking leaves on dry soil.

“I’m almost certain father would let it slide if he knew what it was for, especially since we’re the ones that made you go.”

“Hey, I haven’t agreed to going yet,”

“Oh trust me,” Diluc spoke with a smug undertone, “you will.”

A shared look of fond exasperation was shared between the siblings. A wave of silence fell around them, and inside of Kaeya, the feeling of comfort swelled. 

“Thanks, Luc…” he expressed honestly.

“Of course, Kae.” he responded sincerely.

As their venture into the woods continued, the scenery around them shifted to become clearly more wolvendom specific. Largest give-away being the fallen wolfhook berries that slowly began to scatter the ground near bushes and fallen logs more frequently. Even Kaeya had to admit, it was a much quieter area in general, having to strain his ears even further to make out the taps of natures residents walking their land.

 “Can I ask you something about father and that whole.. thing.. that happened earlier?” Dilucs voice simmered down to a more serious tone, slowing his walking pace so they could walk side by side. 

Kaeya raised his eyebrow, “oh, sure?” 

“Do you think he… knows about the wolvendom rumours?”

Huh.

“Huh?”

“He isn’t usually this serious about us going out,” He continued to elaborate, “plus, that weirdly ominous tone about not engaging with ‘someone or something’? I think he’s heard about the weird stuff going on over there and was trying to give us a warning!”

Kaeya had to blink very slowly to process what Diluc just said, “I- excuse me? How would that rumour even reach him?”

“I dunno, he’s got alot of employees, maybe one of them told him. Orrr…” Diluc stopped walking to turn and face Kaeya, he was wearing that same expression he always had when he just thought of something stupidly hilarious & hilariously stupid to say,  “maybe he heard it through the grapevine?”

The brothers didn’t even need a second to think about their next actions, breaking into a sprint as Kaeya chased his big brother through the trees, both trying and failing to suppress their laughs at the stupid joke. Running up hills and jumping over logs, the moment caught them up in it. The breeze was rushing through their hair, heartbeats hammering, as if an alarm bell to announce their joy in life. Their constant giggling didn’t help how breathless they felt but it didn't matter. Not right now. In this moment, all that mattered was them. The winds of Barbatos pushed them forward. The world was silent and yet also speaking so loud to them. Even after they slowed down their running after archons knew how long to stand in a clearing and lean on each other, it did nothing to diminish their joy. 

“T-that was so stupid, Luc!” Kaeya laughed out, wiping a tear from his eye that had welled up. 

“Hey! It was a great joke actually!” Diluc playfully pushed against his brother's shoulder, “It came to me in the moment, I'd be stupid to not take the opportunity.”

Their halfhearted back and forth continued with no real bite to any of their words, all the while they began to take in their new surroundings. The clearing they were in was decently spacious, but it was shrouded in a circle of thick shrubbery and trees, hard to look through. Rays of the morning sun continued to flicker through from the sky above, but to a lesser degree now the conifer branches held thicker plants on them. 

A sudden uncomfortable feeling began to prick at the back of Kaeyas nape at this new surrounding, feeling the  hairs at his neck stand on end and an uncomfortable feeling shiver down his spine. He frantically turned around to face behind him, it was the type of feeling he got when someone was staring at him, but he couldn't hear any noise. No breathing, no shifting, nothing… 

“The reconnaissance team really weren't lying when they said it felt like someone was staring at them ..” Kaeya commented in a gentle tone, not about to test the limits of whatever was in the area and their tolerance with noise complaints.

“And yet we haven't encountered a single hilichurl over here?” Diluc responded sceptically, vision pulsing at his belt in tandem with his heartbeat,  “maybe they all got so skittish they left?”

Kaeya furrowed his eyebrows deeply, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword in precautious anticipation, “unlikely.. Hilichurls are a stubborn breed. They usually prefer to die on their land then move away to new territory.”

Following in the steps of his brother, Diluc summoned his claymore between his hands, moving to a defensive stance in Kaeyas blind spot, “so you're suggesting someone got to them before us?”

“Or took them by force…?”

The statement wasn't given a lot of time to settle in the air between the two brothers, it was like a switch flipped in Kaeyas brain; he heard it. The light scratching noise on the soil. The undertone of abyssal aura that polluted the air. The growl .

Chapter Text

A piercing shiver racked Kaeyas spine, spinning around immediately to face the noise. His mind was racing, he could hear it- them. Two heavy breaths and deep humming, they were behind fuzzy bushes to obscure their view. Kaeya wasn’t oblivious to the snake in the grass either, the stench of the abyss permeating the air that was practically invisible to a person who hasn’t walked a path with the abyss before. These weren’t wolves, they were rifthounds; that made things a whole more complicated.

Wolves were rational beings, they functioned through years of instinctual and evolutionary knowledge on how to survive, they don’t start fights for nothing and if they have a reason to be angry at you you’re usually able to negotiate your way out through shaky logic. Rifthounds don’t have that, they didn’t need to evolve to be the beasts they are. They were created as an alchemical fluke with too much power for their underdeveloped brains. They’ll bite the hand that feeds them and poison the entire body to consume it whole. 

“Huh- Kae? What’s wrong, are you-” Diluc didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Kaeya jumped into action, using the hand not held on his weapon to grab into Dilucs arm and force him a few steps back, clenching his grip on his sword hilt twice as hard.

“Shh, don’t take your eyes off of them,” Kaeya lowered his voice to a hush, letting go of Dilucs wrist so he could slowly summon his claymore into his hands. Plus, the quieter the voices the more Kaeya could keep an ear out for their movements.

“T-them? You mean wolves?” the redhead was visibly shaken and disturbed by the attitude change between them, squinting his eyes hard to try and look into the shrubbery, failing to make out any significant shapes.

Kaeya gave a small head shake, mostly to himself, “worse, Diluc. They’re rifthounds..”

Diluc didn’t even get the chance to process the claim before the proof presented itself to him, muscles tensing as the deep growling became louder. A murky fog began to build up in front of them, emitting an aura that made him feel his heart simultaneously sink and jump into his throat at once. As if they appeared out of the growing smoke, two rifthound whelps made themselves present. Sharp eyes glowing an electric violet, rustic claws glinting as they float detached from their main body.

Diluc took a protective but small step forward, wanting to get infront of his little brother whilst not seeming too aggressive to the trigger-happy wolves. “Kae, you up for a fight with these two?” his low voice asked with a protective tint.

Kaeya made a noise of contemplation, “they’re only angry cause we’re in their territory. If we run we can avoid a fight,” he explained, not loosening the grip on his sword despite. 

“Kaeya, these hounds can literally teleport into those weird portal things,” Diluc could feel his vision heat up at his hip as he kept strong eye contact with the wolves, “we can’t outrun them, they’ll just jump in front of us.”

Kaeya chewed on the inside of his lip harshly, his brother's words were logical but they only needed to focus on dodging and running to avoid any injuries for either parties if they chose to run. A fight almost promises blood. “I don’t-” his words were interrupted by a sharp snarl as one of the rifthounds began to float closer, purple mist almost looking as if it was dripping down their fangs. They still had just over two metres of space between them, enough to make neither side feel cornered. Between the hounds in front of them right now, it was clear one was more aggressive while its counterpart was defensive, taking a weirdly similar stance to the two brothers they stood in opposition to; one stood infront of the other with a hardened expression while the other loitered back slightly with a more calculating expression. If they weren’t literal rifthounds Diluc probably would have found that a fun comparison.

It was as if the world around Kaeya was deadly silent at this moment, everything directly around him heightened. The hounds' ragged breaths felt like they were panting down the back of his neck despite their clear distance. Suddenly their dads words echoed in his head as a reminder this was an avoidable situation. The stand-off grew a thick, palpable tension in the air, Kaeya couldn’t tell if it was hard to breathe because of that or the abyssal stench. 

A sudden, loud twig snap from behind them broke the silence, and everything lurched into action. Diluc snapped his head attentively to check what it was, foolishly letting his eyes stray from the immediate danger. Kaeya didn’t even have time to call out to his brother as he watched the aggressive wolf pounce at him , leaping in his defence and raising his sword to parry the hit. Diluc turned back to the scene before them at the clashing noise just in time to see the wolf get thrown back from his brothers hit, Kaeya instantaneously going in for a second hit, then a third immediately after, shoving the creature back and making sure to add push to his hits to get it further away from them. He wasn’t quite in the mood to deal with a corrosion wound today.

Despite the high pressure situation, the brothers found themselves falling into tandem rather fast. Kaeya continued to throw stabs and then dodge with the originally aggressive hound while Diluc turned his attention to the quieter wolf as it joined in, utilising his pyro to infuse his weapon and add extra punch to his hits. Diluc, of course, remained on Kaeyas blind side to provide the reassurance that came with it. The fight was going on for longer than a usual battle with hilichurls would take, but as the two highest ranked members of the cavalry they had quite the proficiency in being on the aggressive side in a battle. 

Swipe, swipe, doge, parry, swipe, parry…

Diluc had managed to get his hound backed near a thick tree as the beast limped with a weak constitution, still refusing to relent and put away its fangs. Snarling and snapping with as much voracity as it could muster up. Flames licked the claymore's metal as the eldest raised it above him, ready to thrust it down into the chest of the feral beast at his feet. 

Raise, aim, and…

Before the claymore made impact with the beast's flesh, a familiar cry caught his attention and made his hair stand on end. Whipping around to the scene behind him just in time to witness the other rifthound swipe its claw at Kaeyas neck and catch onto his clothing. Diluc couldn’t see any blood from where he was, but he could certainly see the torn fabric by his brother's collar. 

“Kaeya-!” Diluc yelled at the top of his voice, loud enough to echo through the forest as Kaeya stumbled over to the floor, hand over his neck and collarbone area. Diluc saw red in that moment, still not from Kaeyas clothes, but from a combination of the burning flames pouring up his claymore and the pure fury behind his eyes. The abyssal beast didn’t get a chance to take his second opportunity with Kaeya before it was violently slammed against the nearest tree from the impact of Dilucs hit. A resounding crack echoed across the area from the collison, but he didn’t stop there, swiping his claymore hard and heavy into the chest of the beast as a tainted purple blood oozed out from the wound. A weak yelp escaped its lips but quickly died out. Any remaining struggle was quickly put out by another harsh swipe. He could feel his heart squeeze tightly at the final, weak whimper the animal let out; it was so reminiscent of a regular wolf cry Diluc found himself needing to focus on the gross abyssal aura leaking from the body to be reminded it wasn’t an innocent creature. Once he was sure the wolf would no longer be an issue, he rushed over to his brother's side to find Kaeya hunched over on the floor with heavy breathing, hand over a small area between his collarbone and neck and dripping with blood.

“Kaeya oh my archons-! I- are you ok? Let me have a look, is it corroded?” The questions tumbled out of his mouth at a rapid speed, getting on Kaeyas level at the floor and placing his claymore down to be able to reach his hands out and assist with the wound.

It took Kaeya a moment to regain his bearings but eventually he cleared his head and raised his eyes to meet Dilucs, gently pulling his hand back to show the wound. “I, uh- no i don't think it’s corroded…” he spoke gently, tiny winces audible in his voice, “it doesn’t burn like corrosion does, it just stings a bit.” As Diluc leaned forward to inspect the wound, his nerves began to calm. All things considered it looked less messy than all the blood would have you believe. Two surface level cuts, no more than 3 inches in length let a gentle amount of blood seep out onto Kaeyas hand, most glaringly obvious detail being the lack of the typical purple skin deterioration caused by a rifthound swipe.

“It really doesn’t look infected.. But how? I thought rifthound claws always gave that weird, rotting effect..” Dilucs question provoked a certain look on Kaeyas face, one Diluc could never quite figure out the meaning of. Forced neutrality mixed with a look as if Kaeya was hiding something, but it wasn’t explicit enough for Diluc to be able to ask about. It wasn’t a common look Kaeya had, but it also wasn’t the first time he saw this expression either.

“The scratches were probably too light to put corrosion in my blood,” he reasoned, followed by a gentle sigh, “sorry you had to kill both of them for us.” Kaeyas words slowly tapered off in Dilucs mind and got blurry.. Had he killed them both? No, he hadn’t. Then where was -

The realisation washed over both brothers at the same time as it happened again, to their left a thick smog of murky abyssal smoke began to collect, faster and stronger than last time. The world passed so slowly but so fast at the same time, dark purple swirls spinning to create a larger form, a portal. The claws emerged first as if the hound was digging its way out, then its snout, visibly snapping its jaw as if ready to bite anything and everything in its radius. Neither brother had time to push the other out of the way, and both had abandoned their weapons on the ground to talk with eachother. Oh fuck.

Finally, at the climax of the wolf heaving its body through the portal, a spark of white was seen from inside the leaden gateway, like a blinding slash - two of them in fast succession, to be precise. The rifthound corpse fell to the floor, unmoving and unbreathing. Two clean slices cut it through at the chest and neck, pouring dark blood out that burns into the grass with its poison, not even a twitch accompanying the body.

It was clear as day both brothers were in shock as their eyes shook at the sight of the beast, feral one moment and utterly docile the next. Diluc took responsibility to kick them back into action. He un-summoned his claymore in hundreds of small dust particles and picked Kaeyas sword up with one hand, using the other to get a tight grip on Kaeyas wrist. As fast as he could, he heaved his brother up and began to run back into the darkness of the woods, hopefully in the direction they came from. He could hear Kaeyas' heavy panting from having to run with such an injury but couldn’t risk letting them loiter in a place where more could be hiding behind every dark corner. They ran and ran and ran until the scenery around them cleared up, more familiar trees and terrain led them to a familiar area in windwale highland again, they were safe.

“W-what the fuck was that,” Diluc heaved, finally letting go of his iron grip on his brothers wrist, “I- it had- it just dropped dead?!” 

“I have no clue, that was.. Definitely freaky..” Kaeya agreed, removing his hand from where he had held it over the cuts, the bleeding had slowed down and the beginnings of a scab were in the process of organising. “Did the wolf accidentally scratch itself or something?” Dilucs dumbfounded expression was on clear display as he handed Kaeyas sword back to him.

“I don’t think so. The cuts were really sharp and clean, those rifthounds are known for being really messy attackers,” Kaeya hummed in contemplation, returning his sword to its scabbard, “It looked like someone attacked it from inside the portal but, is that possible?”

“I mean, maybe? I can’t say I really know the logistics of anything they do.. Maybe all their portals are connected and some other, bigger wolf killed it!”

Kaeya let out a low chuckle under his breath, “dad would absolutely go grey if he knew what we did today.” he joked, causing the brothers to make specific eye contact before they spoke in sync, “don’t tell dad.”

The youngest sighed and brought a hand up to rub his neck in a soothing manner before freezing at the touch, or more specifically, the lack of touch. He cursed under his breath with wide eyes. “Kae? What's wrong?” Diluc asked with a tilted head.

“Shit Luc- when the wolf scratched at my neck!” Kaeya tried to frantically explain, “it ripped off my necklace! The one dad got me for christmas, I left it over there I-” more soft curse words tumbled out of the younger's mouth as dread covered his heart, one of his favourite gifts from father, gone like that. “I need to get it back I- shit, i need-” “Kae calm down!” Diluc interupted, placing a reassuring hand on his brothers shoulder and squeezing, “dads not gonna be mad, and we can come back another day or send the reconnaissance to look for it. But we can’t go back right now. We’re both tired and you’re hurt,” 

“It’s barely a few scratches.”

“We need to go home,” he said with more conviction in his tone, “it’s gonna be ok, ok?”

A beat of silence, “Ok..”

“Let's go home, maybe we’ll make it in time for Adalinde to make us lunch.”

Chapter Text

Crepus huffed inaudibly as his foot tapped repeatedly against the polished wood of the Angel Shares storage room. Ever since he left for work that morning he’d felt restless. Of course it was just his luck that the man his informants had noticed would be predicted to visit that night. At the very least, that eliminated the factor of uneasy anticipation from his life. Having had a day full of exhausting paperwork while feeling restless wasn’t doing him any good right now. He had just arrived back into the city from returning home to have dinner with his boys, waiting until the meal had ended and they’d scurried off to their rooms to make his leave. And now here he stood, in the backroom of Angels Shares, waiting for Charles to come and inform him if the man had arrived or not. 

The master felt so unbearably fidgety as he leant back against the wall, having to occupy his hands by gently rubbing his wedding ring in circles on his finger. It didn’t help his nerves to have gone home earlier and seen Kaeya with a large square bandage peeking out from above his collarbone. The boys had reassured him it was simply the result of Kaeya getting scratched on a tree while climbing it, and logically he knew it was unrelated to today's endeavours, but it did nothing to ease his racing mind. All he wanted was to protect and understand his boys, he would stop at nothing to complete that mission.

Crepus hated not knowing things, and the fact of the matter was he knew almost nothing about this stranger, no new news had found its way to him after the initial letters. But what he did know, was right now he had an adoptive son at home, one who had needed years of acclimatisation and reassurance to feel comfortable being close with people, who flinched at loud noises or sudden movements, and who constantly feared ‘stepping out of line’. Crepus had never gotten any definitive answer from Kaeya, but he was no fool to ignore the trauma that had plagued the boy. No matter what circumstances mystified his son's past, to him it was clear he was not protected as a child. The adults around the boy had failed him in their obligation to shield the child, and he wasn’t about to carelessly ignore anything that had the chance to revive his trauma.

“Master Crepus,” a voice interrupted his contemplation as they entered the back rooms, “the man is here. Came in 15 minutes ago and ordered some dandelion wine, took it straight upstairs.”

“Thank you, Charles,” the tycoon spoke, straightening himself out  and taking a deep breath in, “I'll be out in a moment.”

A brief nod was his only response before the bartender made his exit quietly, leaving the master in his own silence again. He simply had no time to continue his contemplation. A job needed to be done, for the safety of his boys, and he’d be damned if he missed this opportunity. Faintly, his delusion thrummed in time with his heartbeat, hidden in his jacket pocket.

With little more hesitation, Crepus pulled himself together and entered the main tavern floor, loud and jovial conversations immediately filling his ears. The familiar overlapping sound of a bard's tunes and merry laughter helped ease himself back into the atmosphere. He made sure to act casual as he made his way across the tavern floor, waving and greeting the different crowds of people gathered in his establishment. He entertained them with barebones conversation, enough to appease their drunken minds while not getting him too caught up.

The second floor was much emptier in comparison, there were maybe about three full tables of friend groups having gathered to drink together. And in the far corner of the room, positioned right next to the balcony door, a lone man sat with his tankard, staring with a hard and yet wistful glare into the wooden table.

Crepus wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, especially since he only had such a vague description, but the sight of the man definitely made him pause. Ragged blonde hair framed his face, the one visible eye Crepus could see from his position right now looked as if it was glowing with an aura Crepus can only describe as sending shivers up his spine. His face was youthful, barely a few wrinkles to give away he’s in his thirties, at most. But those eyes… they looked older than his body would ever give away.. It was almost unsettling. His outfit was also certainly not the standard, deep black with accents of purple and gold plated elements. It vaguely resembled a casual set of soldier armour, Crepus off-handedly thought. Seeing the mysterious stranger with his own two eyes, weirdly, seemed to help eliminate alot of his nerve, instead replacing it with a vivid determination.

As Crepus worked his way slowly through the small crowd, not wanting to act too brashly to cause a disturbance in his own tavern, he craned his neck ever so slightly to try and get a more direct view of the mans face. He was staring intently at something down on the table, obscured by his large wooden cup. Possibly papers? Or maybe a note, he would probably be able to atleast see part of it if it was a full sized piece of paper.

His evaluation was interrupted by an unknown voice calling out to him, “Master Crepus! Good to see you out tonight!” The voice slurred as Crepus turned to face them. An adventurer with a recognisable face but an unfamiliar voice, the type of man Crepus has definitely seen frequent his tavern but not interacted with enough to be casual with. “Ah, good afternoon, gentlemen!” He responded in polite conversation, addressing the entire table, “I trust you’re all doing well tonight? Satisfactory drinks I hope.” An indistinct chorus of agreements flooded out from the table, only a handful of pleasantries continued to be exchanged before Crepus deemed it enough customer service for the day, he wasn’t even scheduled to work that night so he was definitely doing more work than he was being paid to (if you ignore the fact he doesn’t get paid for working the tavern floor as the owner anyway).

After making sure that group was dealt with, he turned around, satisfied, back to the table in the corner. The blonde man was staring right back at him. Crepus’ eyes winded a fraction, staring right at those piercingly dead eyes he felt the stars in them couldn’t be any more prominent. It felt as if their stare off lasted an eternity, when only a few seconds had passed. Right before Crepus took his first step forward, the stranger beat him to it, rising to his feet and shoving whatever he was staring at on the table into his pocket. He averted his gaze and went straight for the balcony door, swinging it open. That certainly knocked Crepus into action, taking speedy steps as he rushed across the tavern floor.

“Excuse me, sir?” He called out in a loud but stable voice, still trying not to cause a large disturbance to alert other patrons. By the time he made it to the balcony door, it slammed in his face. Crepus winced at the creek that followed, he really should replace the old wood on that door. Nevertheless, he didn’t have the patience in him for that either right now. 

As he swung the door open himself, he raised his voice with a scowl on his face, “Sir! I-” Crepus found his words lost as he took in the surroundings behind the door. Noone was there. The tycoon ran to the bannister in confusion and began to scan the surroundings of the city. No figures in the night, no sound of rushed footsteps through the cobbled streets, not even a disturbed animal could be heard chirping in the deep night. There was no way that man just disappeared like that!? Crepus had been directly behind him, and he hadn’t heard the distinctive loud noise of someone hauling themself off of a damn balcony onto a stone floor. So what in Barbatos’ name just happened.

“Did you know that guy?” A voice appeared behind him.

Crepus whipped his head around, possibly risking whiplash with that sharp movement. He’d been so deep in thoughts he hadn’t even heard someone approaching. Behind him, closing the balcony door to lean near was a visibly inebriated Cyrus, a curious expression on his face. 

“Woah! Sorry aha, didn’t mean to scare you there, Master Crepus,” he apologised with a humorous laugh.

“Cyrus! Ah no, my apologies. I should have heard someone approach,” Crepus shook it off as he regained his bearings, straightening himself out, “and I suppose you could say I know that man. I guess a more appropriate claim would be that.. The winery has business with him.”

Cyrus had a sudden look of understanding on his face, as if that claim suddenly clicked a puzzle piece in his head, “ohh, so i’m guessing you’re that ‘old friend’ he mentioned.”

Crepus could swear he audibly heard a record scratch in his brain at that, “wait- you spoke with him?” Cyrus gave a mindless nod at that, as if he didn’t understand the implications that having spoken with this mysterious stranger held. Well, to be honest, he probably definitely didn’t know, especially due to his clearly drunk state having dulled his sense for danger.

The adventurer gave a proud nod, “yep, he seemed lonely, and kinda sad, so I approached him to try to get him included in the social atmosphere! Let me tell you though, he is not much of a talker. Wait- I guess you already know that if he’s your friend.”

The winery owner immediately straightened up at the news, this night may not have been pointless after all, “would you mind sharing what you spoke about with him?” Crepus took immediate note of the hint of hesitance in the guild owner's eyes, now allowing this opportunity to slip from him, “there’s a free drink on the line if you do.”

Cyrus paused for a moment before bursting out in a boisterous laugh, “oh Master Crepus, you really do know how to get a man to spill his lips huh.” The man continued his chuckling for a moment before bringing up a hand to scratch his beard, “hm, it wasn’t really much, sadly. I asked who he was and the response to that one was just ‘a passing traveller’, then when I tried to ask him why he was visiting Mond he said he ‘had a job to do and needed to look for an old friend’ so I got the vibe he really didn’t wanna talk to me. I kinda backed off after that one, hah. Sorry it wasn’t more.”

Crepus felt a pinch of upset that the answer wasn’t more specific, but at his rate beggars can’t be choosers. It was more information than he had at the beginning of the day. A gentle sigh fell from his lips before forcing a small smile, “I see… thank you, Cyrus,” he approached the balcony door and placed his hand on the adventures shoulders, giving a tight squeeze, “if you remember more when you’re sober do send me or Elzer a letter. I’ll go inform Charles about your free drink now.”

“My pleasure Crepus!” He smiled in return and pat Crepus’ shoulder, perhaps more forcefully than needed, “I’ll keep an eye out for him!”

With a brief nod, Crepus entered the tavern again, mind racing at the new information to process, he didn’t even know where to begin with it all. Barbatos give him strength.

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Cool air breezed in through an open window in the calm nation of Mondstadt, peaceful and tranquil the night was. Curtains gracefully danced in tune with the wind. All was quiet, only interrupted by weak tossing and turning in silken sheets. Small whimpers could only be heard by the omnipresent wind as the claws of a time long forgotten desperately scratch at a teenager's slumbering mind.

“D▇n! Please please tell me what's going on! You can’t just shut me in my room, it's not fair!” The child passionately complained, glaring at the large figure blocking him from exiting his bedroom, as if he glared long enough it may make the guard topple over and get out of his way. The adult had a sympathetic expression painted on his face, but his resilience was unrelenting, no matter how much the child complained.

“My Prince, you know I can not do that,” he shook his head, clean cut blonde hair moving in rhythm with his actions, “there is nothing you need concern yourself with right now. The palace is simply… not the calmest right now. Your father doesn’t want you getting lost in the crowds of people.”

Despite the perfectly logical explanation, the young prince was still not happy. With as strong of a glare as a seven year old could muster, he crossed his room and sat unhappy on his bedsheets, arms folded across his chest in defiance.

“It’s not fair! I have you to look after me, don’t I? You can keep an eye on me out there!”

The guard raised his eyebrow, whether from attempting to subdue the prince's defiance or in slight shock at the bargaining skills possessed by such a young kid not even he knew the answer to that. While he would never outwardly express these thoughts, the knight could feel his heartstrings get tugged ever so slightly at his prince's words of confidence in his abilities. He could still remember the days of the past where his original task had been to be the personal retainer for the pregnant queen. It hadn’t been planned, but as time progressed and she delivered her beautiful son, he naturally found himself taking on the duty of the young prince's personal guard. And if Lord Irmin would allow him such a selfish claim, he was glad he ended up with the role.

“I am eternally grateful for your faith in me, My Prince, but I still can not disobey your fathers orders.”

At the failure of a plea, the young royal clenched his fists in anger, slamming them down into his sheets in what could only be described as a temper tantrum. “This is stupid! I hate how all you adults are trying to hide stuff from me-! I- I don't-” words began to fail him as frustration began to bubble over, taking fistfuls of his hair and tugging. The sight of the action kicked the retainer into action immediately, lurching across the room to carefully take ahold of the boys hands to prevent them from causing anymore harm. 

“Hey, hey..” the blondes voice softened into a comforting tone, crouching down to the kids level, “I understand the palace is… a bit chaotic right now. But it’s not because people are trying to hide things from you, it’s just… adult issues.” The prince pouted deeper.

“You’re too smart for that to be a satisfactory answer, huh?” A chuckle followed his words, “You must understand, it’s not my personal wish to conceal the truth from you. But your father has deemed this the right choice, and it is not my place to argue those commands. I’m sure the palace will clear up by lunch time. Then we can go explore the gardens, if that’s satisfactory with you, My Prince?” 

The prince felt the grasp on his hands tighten in a reassuring squeeze, feeling his frustration fade away as the rational words sunk in, becoming replaced with mellow sorrow. A silent, choked sob escaped his throat, “b-but, I know there's something big everyones hiding from me, fathers been so tense recently. I-.. I’m scared, D▇n..”

“My Prince…  I swear on all integral to my soul, I shall be with you and protect you no matter what. Please do not fear.”
A weak sniffle, “y-you promise?”

“I promise.”

Somewhere across the peaceful land of Monstadt that night, a young teenager slept a bit less soundly in his home.

Chapter Text

“You really should get to sleep soon, Master Crepus,” a gentle voice scolded, closing the door quietly behind her as she entered her bosses office, “you look positively exhausted.”

“Tch, I’ll certainly take that into account, Adelinde,” Crepus chuckled a bittersweet tone in response, cradling his forehead with one hand while using the other to lift a cup of lukewarm tea to his lips, “yet I could say the same about you being awake at such a time.”

The sound of the clock ticking in the room seemed to grow louder at those words, reminding both of them how early in the morning it was. Very soon that familiar ticking will be drowned out by the prolific chirping of birds as they greet the new day, a reminder to the tycoon of how his sleep tonight has evaded him.

His crimson eyes trailed down to the maids hands, perking up at the sight of a very small rolled up letter between them. He raised his eyebrow at the item, a weak smile gracing his lips, “you rebuke me, yet you still bring me important letters to look at at such a time?”

The maid simply shook her head with a tut as she approached the master's desk, “if it was up to me, i would have buried this letter at the bottom of a lake and dragged you to bed by your ear just to make sure you rest, Master Crepus. Yet sadly I have no such authority, so I must take Elzers word for it when he says this is a letter you must see at your earliest convenience,” her pale hand outreached to pass along the letter, “he claims it was delivered by one of the adventurers guilds carrier pigeons.”

Now that certainly caught his attention, taking the note from Adelindes hands, “is that so? Hm.. thank you, Adelinde. You’re dismissed for the night, go and get some rest.”

An exasperated sigh filled the room, “what shall I ever do with you, Master Crepus. If you come down for breakfast later and fall asleep headfirst into your coffee I will show no sympathy.”

“How cruel!”

“Hmph,” was the only response she dignified him before she gracefully swept her way out of the room, as if she had never been there in the first place.

The tense smile that graced the master's face slowly fell off as he felt the tiredness creep up him, cracking his hand and rubbing his thumb over his knuckles in a soothing action. An adventurers guild pigeon? Seemed Cyrus really did think of some extra information, and now Crepus certainly had his work cut out for him, it would seem.

⭑✧✦✧⭑

The bustling streets of midday Mondstadt flowed through the city. Bakers put out their freshest pastries as the bards hymns echoed down streets, each singing the song of freedom. Cats perched high on boxes, teasing the dogs that sit under them, too short and un-agile to jump up and catch them, and the warm rays of sun beating down on the civilians as everyone proceeded with their day.

A pair of footsteps blend in with the crowd, a determined and only mildly tired father making his way through the city, searching for a specific someone until his legs led him there. If Cyrus’ scribbled letter had any merit to it, then a certain someone in the city should hopefully have an anecdote to offer Crepus regarding this mysterious stranger.

No matter how much he tried to distract his mind, things kept straying back to the events of the following night.

The shared glance as they met eyes… the man must have known who he was. If he was willing to allow Cyrus to approach but not him, that means the blonde knows he has business with the wine tycoon, yet doesn’t want to confront it yet it seems. This cat and mouse game was appearing to be less one sided than Crepus originally found himself believing. Sometimes when the master closed his eyes, he could envision those piercing blue eyes staring right through him.. Gosh, Adelinde was right. He really was more tired than he thought.

Despite being lost in thought, he found himself infront of exactly the stall he was looking for after only a handful of minutes spent walking. 

“Master Crepus, what do I owe the honour,” a deep, gruff voice greeted him between heaved breaths.

“Afternoon, Wagner,” Crepus politely greeted, taking a moment to examine what the blacksmith was working on. The heavy thuds of a hammer echoed through the space as Wagner continued away at shaping what seemed to be the blade of a sword, a rather fancy one too, if Crepus does say so himself. “I hope I'm not bothering your work right now?”
“Course’ not,” the blacksmith shook his head, “what kinda’ blacksmith would I be if I couldn’t have a little chat while working?”

“I apologise if our conversation is quite brief today, I just need to ask you a quick question before I get dragged off into the endless mountain that is seasonal work.” The two men shared a chuckle between them, Wagner raising his brows as if to ask him to continue, “you see, there's currently a traveller in Mondstadt I have business with, yet he keeps evading me no matter how much I try to approach him, and I heard rumours he was expressing interest in your fine establishment here. I simply came to ask if you’d seen him - blonde hair, the type with a vaguely dark aura?”

Wagner hummed a moment, pausing his flattening of the molten hot iron to raise his fist and wipe beads of sweat off of his forehead, “yea that description rings a bell. A fella like that came over just this morning with some weird request.”

“Weird request?”

“Yea, started off the conversation askin’ how many metals I know how to work with, then presented me a chunk of some dark ore i’d never seen before,” as he continued his story, he took a step back into his workstation and sorted through a handful of drawers til he found what he was looking for, “cut off a tiny chunk for me to ‘ave a look at, and asked if I could forge with this stuff.”
Reaching across the workbench, Wagner held out a small piece of cloth with a small rock sat in the centre, “I tried to have a look at its properties, but I swear on Lord Barbatos i’ve never seen anythin’ like it.”

Cautiously taking the fabric into his hands, Crepus brought the unknown rock to his eyes. It was almost fully black and felt almost crystalline in nature, as the light reflected onto it hues of purple shone. Wagner was right, it certainly was a unique metal of some kind, nothing he’d ever seen before.

“Told the man I wasn’t gonna work on a mineral I don't know the properties of, that sent him off on his way. He was murmuring something about finding another blacksmith on his way out. Good luck with that, i’m wishin’ him, ours is the only blacksmith shop in Mond I know of!”

As the story came to a close, Wagner picked back up his hammer and resumed a few final whacks onto the metal, all the while Crepus stayed entranced by the ore in his palm. Mind running a million a minute trying to put all these random pieces of information together.

“I see… that all?” Wagner responded with a dismissive shrug to Crepus’ question, “well, thank you, Wagner. I really do appreciate you taking your time out for me. If we can ever pay you back, the Dawn Winery is happy to help.”

The blacksmith simply responded with another rough chuckle, “don’t worry about it. Hey, you can keep that little rock if you’re so fascinated by it, Master Crepus! God knows i’ll just forget about it.”

“You’re certain?”

“Absolutely.”

A  humble handful of more pleasantries were thrown around before Crepyus finally made his leave, walking back off through the city again until he found himself a quiet, less busy section. His thoughts were already loud enough right now, and none of this was piecing together in his mind. 

A mysterious, blonde stranger with possible dark ties to his sons history rocks into the city one random day, drinks at his tavern, avoids him, and carries around unknown dark metals with him. Not to even mention his comment to Cyrus about being in the city to look for an old friend? 

Crepus leaned up against the wall of the city gate, raking his fingers through his scruffily combed hair. He really needed to get himself together soon. If only this mystery would unravel itself already…

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Sets of gentle horse trotting filled the ambience of the Mondstian scenery as groups of horses made their way across the countryside at a calm pace. Three separate groups travelled in near proximity with eachother, distanced with a generous amount of space between each of them. Captain Diluc and ‘temporary lieutenant’ Jean (standing in for lieutenant Kaeya while he was stuck at the ordo doing paperwork) travelled in front of the group, while three knights staggered about 10 metres behind them, followed by another group of two lagging behind another 15 metres. Their distance was no critical issue, they were only on a simple patrol so spaced out distance was a welcome form for the group of knights. It was a calm day in the forests of Mond, giving unofficial permission for the knights on duty to indulge in friendly conversation with one another.

“Yeah, sadly. My mother doesn’t want me wearing a suit for the Knights Ball,” Jean spoke with a wistful sigh, bringing her horse down to a slower trot as the scenery around them turned more into a clearing. Diluc turned his attention to staring at her expression, desperately trying to decipher his friend's emotions.

“Gosh your mum's such a control freak,” he muttered in a low tone before raising his voice, “well it should be up to you! Do you want to wear a dress?”

The blonde's face contorted to contemplation as she carefully thought through her words, “I mean… dresses aren’t that bad. I just prefer the way suit trousers are on my legs, you know? Plus I prefer the flexibility.”

“You don’t need to justify it to anyone, Jeanie. Wear what you want to wear!” The captain gave a bright smile, so bright that Jean found it almost contagious.

A small smile crept onto her expression, “ah, i’ll think about it. What about you? How did convincing Kaeya to come go?”

“Well he hasn’t outright said it but I'm pretty sure I convinced him to come at dinner last night!” he recounted, remembering the intense bargaining and pleading it took to persuade his little brother for a definitive answer, “Now we’ve just got to sort an outfit out for him, oh! Maybe all three of us could go suit shopping tomorrow!”

Jeans smile turned bittersweet at that, her internal dilemma still clearly showing, “I’ll definitely consider it.”

A peaceful silence sunk in between the two of them as they continued scanning the relatively quiet woods, only until that peace was disrupted by a growing bickering from behind them. Both knights whipped their head around at the same time, pulling their horses to a stop. Now about 15 metres behind them stood the group of three stationary knights, all facing towards eachother with clear upset and anger on their faces as they raised their voices.

Oh goody, their own knights were arguing with eachother now. 

Just as Diluc furrowed his brows and began to approach the group on horseback, he felt Jean reach out her hand to rest on his arm.

She seemed partially hesitant to speak her mind for a second, before gathering her nerves, “if you wouldn’t mind, Captain, may I go and attempt to resolve the issue… by myself? I’m not usually placed in a leadership role when we’re out on patrol with knights and I just- would like a bit of practice?”

A beat of silence passed before Diluc found himself chuckling, “You’re so formal, jeez! Go ahead, Jeanie.” They exchanged a glance of gratefulness before she nodded and took off.

Diluc sighed inaudibly as he watched Jean stride off, humming gently as he stroked the shiny coat of his mare, Neva, to soothe her. The refreshing breeze travelled through his hair, a welcome sign of autumn. All Diluc could make out from behind him was the muffled sound of Jeans authoritative voice speaking out to their subordinates.

As the seconds began to pass by and Jean was yet to return to their formation, he slowly noticed the ever growing antsy nature of his horse companion; continuous head tossing as she impatiently stomped onto the fresh grass, taking restless steps backwards. The cavalry captain furrowed his brow at this behaviour, his mare was usually so well behaved? She wasn’t the type to get stroppy or fussy over having to stand in one place for a period of time. What on earth was she reacting to?

“Hey, hey,” he tried to soothe, halting his stroking motions to instead move to directly face her, “whats wrong girl?” The words of consolation did nothing to comfort her though, only seeming to grow more and more disturbed as she seemed to have her eyes locked somewhere further into the trees while her ears continued to twitch.

A quick glance to the clearing across from him told him Jean was still caught up with the other knights, far too distracted to even offer him a glance. Only a moment more of pondering before Diluc took a deep breath in and let the impulsive teenager in himself take over. He grabbed a hold of Nevas' reins and calmly led her closer to the other knights before stationing her by a tree and climbing off of her, making sure she was in full view of his team if they were to go looking for her. She had clearly begun to calm down now she was no longer in eye view of whatever she was looking at.

“You stay here, Neva, i’ll be right back,” he spoke, giving her a reassuring pat on the head before going on his way. If he had any real indication there was a big danger somewhere before them, Diluc tells himself he would have waited and gathered his team to go together, but Neva was a relatively new horse. She was younger than many of the others and had only just completed cavalry training, not fully used to standing her ground against anything and everything. Rather, she was still more sensitive and jumpy to a handful of things - one of the reasons why Diluc decided to take her out on such a casual patrol, trying to get her more experience. Overall she was well-behaved, simply still had some jumpy nerves like horses usually do.

With one final stroke to her mane, Diluc headed off in the direction Neva was glaring. After taking enough steps away he could no longer hear the squabbling of the knights, Diluc stood still and closed his eyes. It was a technique he’d seen Kaeya use alot on their patrols when trying to figure out if something was amiss. Sometimes peoples eyes can blur together important details because they’re so small, leading to crucial information being missed. So Kaeyas strategy seemed to be closing his eyes all together to rely on his hearing, which became much more sensitive when the sense of vision is taken out. 

A minute seemed to tick by as Diluc tried to keep in tune with the environment around him; leaves brushing against eachother in the wind, chirping of birds, the only footsteps belonging to squirrels who pattered up trees. He almost considered it a lost cause, thinking whatever had spooked Neva had already walked off, until his ears caught the sound of a familiar hum. 

His heart jumped into his throat in a split second as his eyes widened in shock. That was the same humming noise that started to manifest when he and Kaeya almost got mauled to death by a damn rifthound! Had more wolves found out about their fallen pack members and were now encroaching much closer to civilization in anger and retaliation?!  Shit , he thought.

With silent but swift footsteps, Diluc approached the direction of the low hum, feeling it get louder and louder in his ears. Before he went to grab his fellow knights, he wanted to do a bit of reconnaissance to check what the sound actually was, and evaluate how many wolves were there. If there was a very large group, it would do them best to retreat and call in backup before dealing with such a volatile fight.

The noise was so close now. Peeking out from behind a tree to get a closer look at what was going on, Diluc wasn’t expecting to see what the situation was. There were no abyssal creatures lurking around, only an unfamiliar man stood infront of a growing portal - definitely the same type of portal that the hounds used to sneak up on the brothers. And the man wasn’t moving away from the obvious danger infront of him!
In a split seconds decision, Diluc summoned his claymore into his grasp and charged forward. “Out of the way!” he yelled as he used his spare hand to grip onto the strangers arm and throw him away from the portal. But when he turned back to the issue at hand, it was rapidly fizzling out before his eyes. Disappearing into thin air in only a few seconds, like it was never there in the first place.

Confusion still palpable in his face, the Captain turned around to face the stranger, who stared at him with a disrupted and slightly shocked expression in return, “you shouldn’t have been standing so close to those,” Diluc began to lecture in as much of an authoritative tone as he could muster up, “those portals are abyssal, sir, I mean- strange but respectable traveller!” 

Now he had a moment to actually take in the strange man who seemed oblivious to danger, he felt something twist inside of him with an undetectable emotion. Something about the man seemed… off.

“....Knight of Favonius?” His deep, almost raspy voice spoke as if he was the one judging Diluc now, eyes narrowed in critique.

“Yes, Cavalry Captain Diluc Ragnvindr,” the red head pronounced and straightened his posture out, “civilians shouldn't meddle or stray too near to any abyssal anomalies.”

The man scoffed at that, his blonde hair peacefully flowing in the wind greatly juxtaposed his sharp eyes, “a captain? You're a mere child, you have no business being such a leader.”

“Excuse me?” Diluc felt himself hackle up in defence at the uncalled for aggression. The blonde man simply raised his eyebrow in response before sighing and speaking with clear reluctance in his tone, “I… thank you for your service, Captan Ragnvindr , but I’m fine, i’ll be on my way now.”

Diluc hardly had time to process this man's actions and speech before he made a grand turn away, dark cape swishing with his movements and beginning to walk off - kicking Diluc out of his stupor and into action as he swiftly trailed behind.

“Hey! Don’t just walk off!” The captain scolded, “I’ve never seen you around before, you’re not local are you?”

“What a profound observation,” sarcasm seeped in through his voice as he kept his vision forward, avoiding eyecontact, “i’m simply a passing traveller, one who is now heading to Liyue. So consider me out of your way, captain .”

“Well why are you even in Mondstadt in the first place? If Liyue was your destination, you surely should have passed through there on your way here,” Diluc could feel his vision warming as his temper very slowly grew, not happy with this strange mans attitude towards him, “did you come here to visit family?”

At that statement, the man let out a gruff scoff, one that could have easily been mistaken for a grunt, “the word ‘family’ is not one associated with me.”

“What are you talking about? Everyone has a family, even if you don’t get to see them much,” Diluc tried to reason as he took in their surroundings. He couldn’t quite pinpoint where they were in Mondstadt but all he knew for certain was this wasn’t one of the common paths to take to Liyue. Just what strange path was this man taking him on?

“Your naivety is pitiful, Ragnvindr,” the dark clad man spat out, “such an attitude will only hinder you in your futile attempts to protect your said ‘family’”

“Do you have an issue with me you’d like to air out, sir?” Dilucs voice had an ember of a growl in it as he spoke, this man was treading a fine line with his audacious attitude, and now to bring his family into it?! “I will protect my family with my life, so don’t you dare make such claims against me!”

The teenager almost didn’t catch himself in time to prevent himself from stumbling as the strange man infront of him abruptly stopped walking - standing rigidly still. The sudden tension in the air sat thick for a moment, Diluc too confused to say anything and the blonde looked to be dwelling in deep thoughts.

Finally, he spoke again, voice unnaturally even and sending an uncomfortable shiver up the red-heads spine, “you are foolish to believe that is enough to protect your sibling ,” he spat out the word like a disgusting poison, “someone who was truly devout to their family should be prepared to do much, much more for them. Your ignorance saddens me as it does disgust.” His deep voice reverberated around Dilucs head as he processed the words, he felt… stunned. And still fucking confused!? Diluc opened his mouth to speak a response yet no words escaped him, what on Barbatos’ green earth is he meant to say to this random civilian he met 10 minutes ago and is now grilling his morals and ethics?

“I didn’t even mention to you that I have a sibling! But for your information since you have so much audacity to be involved with my family life-” the teenager barked at the stranger, “I am a great big brother! And I protect Kaeya with everything I have! Now mind your own Goddamn business!”

 “You-” “Diluc!” A female voice interrupted whatever the hateful stranger was going to say, calling out from somewhere behind them. Whipping his head around Diluc frantically began searching for the origin of the familiar voice, unable to see her yet, “Jean!” he yelled back.

Turning back around, ready to scorn his new enemy for getting them to stray so far, his eyes widened. The man was… gone? Into thin air?

“What the..”

“Diluc there you are!” his lieutenant called out from where she emerged, “why are you all the way over here, Captain? Running off without us now?”

Unable to think of a humorous response while still so strung out, the teenager smily found himself mumbling an apology before beginning a lethargic walk back to his horse and the others. Who on earth was that man..?

Chapter Text

The repetitive ticking of the second hand on the clock felt like it was digging deeper and deeper into his brain with every click. He tapped his pen on the desk in an asymmetric rhythm to the clock, letting his hands take on any action other than continuing to write out these papers. Soothingly rubbing his knuckles, itching his collarbone plaster, dragging his fingers through strands of hair - it was really growing much longer recently. None of it was working to allay his antsy boredom. 

“Goddamn it…” Kaeya muttered under his breath to no one specifically, “why’d I agree to desk duty today..?” The question was all but rhetorical, usually he’s great at getting through the paperwork - certainly much faster than Diluc can get through it. But today he just felt so off for some reason. Some mix of underlying anxieties since he lost his necklace and exhaustion. As of the last few days, his dreams have been acting up again, waking him up at early hours with such an adrenaline rush he can’t expel enough energy to get back to sleep after. They always leave him confused and slightly disoriented.

It was like every night he was drowning, the intense emotions of trying to stay above the current flooded his veins, but whenever he made it to shore the memory of the dream washes away in swift tugs from the water, leaving only the adrenaline in its wake.

It frustrated the knight to no end that his own mind was being so elusive recently, only leaving behind fragments. A glimpse of a blonde man, his face too fuzzy to make out the details of, he was tall… or was that just because Kaeya seemed to be a child in his minds eye? The answer felt like it sat right on the tip of his tongue. A certain puzzle piece rested in his hand, all he needed to do was reach out and slot it into the puzzle. But for the love of Barbatos, he didn’t know where the empty hole was. If he could only just focus a little more…

…

Yea, this wasn’t working.

Kaeya raised himself up from the desk, briefly organising a few of the stray papers he was writing on into neater piles out of habit before carrying himself outside of Dilucs office. The corridors of the Favonius Headquarters were never too loud, but the gentle murmuring of idol knights certainly helped to fill in the silence of Kaeyas thoughts.

I was due a break anyway , he thought to himself as he strolled outside, giving a brief greeting to the knights he passed, maybe I should head to Saras for a late lunch. ‘ Late’ being used heavily liberally, if Diluc or god forbid Adalinde heard he was having his lunch at 3:30pm he would never hear the end of it for certain.

His internal debate between a satisfying salad or a portion of hashbrowns was cut unexpectedly short, finding his attention being grasped raptly by something in the corner of his eye. It would be a lie to tell himself he wasn’t immediately distracted in an almost unnatural way by the view he turned to look at, but Lord, if lying and denial wasn’t what he was best at.

For to admit that his mind felt almost entranced by the sight of… a patch of lily of the valley, felt almost absurd. 

While it was true the flower was almost unheard of growing inside the city's greenspaces, it was more than common outside of the city walls of Mondstadt. Perhaps someone had decided to bring a bunch inside and plant them, not that outlandish of an idea. Their angelic whiteness seemed to glow in the dim hues of the patch of shade they sat in, almost working to wash out the shadow itself.

There was no need for him to waste time checking his surroundings to make sure he was alone in this oddly intimate moment with himself, his uncanny senses already reassuring him of his isolation. 

The security of being alone, the comfort of silence, any typical noise from the city was so far away it blurred into a low hum behind his brain.

Everything around him seemed… fuzzy almost.

The gentle creek of a door opening.

“... so sorry.... forgiveness…”

“...i promise…”

Young and exhausted voice whispered.

“Ragnvindr? Are you there?” “Hm-?”

Kaeya felt like cold water had been doused on him, immediately turning around, “Ah- Captain Meyer!” He straightened his posture up tight as he came face to face with the reconnaissance captain himself.

“Woah- at ease, kid”,” his voice carried a lilt of pity with it. Why pity? “You seemed out of it there, are you doing alright? I know Dilucs out in the field today, he hasn’t left you with too much work, has he?”

Kaeya felt his brain take a moment to catch up with the conversation before slapping on a shy smile to his face, “oh- no I apologise. He’s done nothing of the sort, I just find myself a bit tired is all.”

The sceptical look on Meyers face was hardly disguised, “you sure? I’m not scared to give him a talking to for it,” humour carried his words as he chuckled, “but seriously, how have you been? Haven’t had the chance to catch up with you in a while.”

A silent sigh, “you know how the work gets this time of the year, never seems to end.”

“Hah, ain’t that the truth,”

“Oh, actually, Meyer-” Kaeya felt his attention spiked as he remembered, “did you just get back from your Wolvendom patrol?”

“Quite right ya are, kid. I was on my way to write my report at the ordo before i saw you here.”

“If you don’t mind me asking..?” He paused, Meyer raised his eyebrow as an indication for him to continue, “did you or any of your men find a necklace out there today? In the area nearer to the Wolf of the North's arena?”

A deem hum sounded as Meyer raised his hand to itch the scruff of his chin, “a necklace? Can’t say we did, an’ none of my men are quite the klepto types, especially not for some jewellery.”

Kaeya tried sincerely to conceal the disappointment in his expression but couldn’t help as parts of it shone through.  “Why’d you ask?” “Oh, it’s just.. Mine. I lost it around that area yesterday and haven’t had the time to go back and search yet.”

“You lost it? Didn’t think the Cavalry had been assigned to go over there yesterday?” At the underlying sheepish expression on Kaeyas face, Meyers face twisted further, “although.. We did find something strange. Two dead rifthound corpses on the forest floor. They were bleeding pretty heavily, yano? Their bloods so toxic it started to kill all the grass under their rotting bodies.”

“Is that so? How… strange,” Kaeya answered with fake curiosity, finding himself awkwardly shifting as the bandage on his collarbone seemed to itch. The two knights' eyes met in a stand of, of types. No thick tension filled the air, a serious tone absent from the moment. Meyer didn’t seem angry or confrontational, just… curious. Their gazes unwavering, til eventually the reconnaissance captain gave in with a sigh.

“Welp, I've got to be on my way to write that report so I can figure out what possibly went on with those creatures,” a sly smirk adorned his lips as he spoke with humour, “but Kaeya?”
“Yes?”
“Stay safe out there, kid. And i’ll send a message to ya if I hear about any necklace.” With a firm pat to the shoulder, Meyer was off on his way.

The air around Kaeya seemed even thicker than before, too much to reflect on at once. With a deep breath in, he slowed his thoughts. For now, he just had one thing to ponder… salad or hashbrown?

⭑✧✦✧⭑

23 hours, 59 minutes and 57 seconds.

58 seconds.

59 seconds.

24 hours.

An entire day, he had spent alone.

No sudden rush of sadness, outrage or devastation overwhelmed him like he had been expecting. It was almost worse. Watching his clock hands make an entire orbit, and all that stuffed his brain was an uncomfortable numbness. 

The prince felt almost foolish for having hoped for more, he wasn’t foolish. He wasn’t allowed to be. He had noticed how he had slowly become invisible as the days had passed, blending in with the walls of the palace til he was nothing more than a superficial attachment to it. He hadn’t seen his father in weeks, nor mother in months. He was told she was too sick to have visitors, and no matter his pleading she found no time to make an exception for him.

And Ď̶̢͍̕à̴͇̪͑ĩ̵̬͘ń̸̜̉… gods, Ď̶̢͍̕à̴͇̪͑ĩ̵̬͘ń̸̜̉ had left on an expedition days ago. He was told it was an emergency, of course no further details were specified to him, he couldn’t have expected more. He shouldn’t have…

With his three primary ‘caretakers’ all absent from his life, the colour of the world when he woke up seemed ever so slightly dull. All he had left to be consistent in his life was the tutor and training lessons he had to occupy himself. He wasn’t sure the right word to describe it but… things in his life seemed sharper now.

His language tutor spoke to him tersely and no conversation was made outside of strict academic lines. Phrases like ‘how are you?’ and ‘are you ok?’ were foreign to this language they spoke between eachother. His sword training teacher fought him with such a motivated determination it was as if she was utilising their time together to get practice in for herself. Underhanded cuts and swipes left mottled bruising rippling down his skin, and all she comforted him with was a scoff each time. The prince told himself it was better than a scorn. 

The routine formed in these last few days wasn’t pleasant, but he couldn’t argue it was something unreasonable. To argue with these adults that take their time out to care for him would be ungrateful. Ungrateful children aren’t good children.

But to wake up on this day, one with an empty schedule and no one expecting him. Was this ungratefulness? Was this freedom?

Nobody had come to wake him up in the morning, which was fine. He had a good internal body clock anyways and it's not like he couldn’t get changed by himself.

Noone came to alert him that breakfast was ready and when he made his way to the kitchen by himself it was found unnaturally empty, which wasn’t a big deal. He knows where the stepping stool is, and he can cut up fruit for himself and get himself a cup of water.

The time had read 8:34AM, and the palace seemed like a ghost house. For a moment he found his brain creating almost absurd explanations, that somehow all the palace's inhabitants disappeared overnight in some viral mystery, whisking them away before they could even blink. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be next. Maybe this was where his father had gone, or why his mother didn't want to see him. Maybe if he could find a way to help her then he could be allowed to see her again. Maybe-

A tight squeeze could be felt around his heart, closing tighter and tighter until…

A boisterous laughter could be heard outside the kitchen window. It cracked. 

The young boy finished the final fruit piece off of his plate and walked over to the window in a fast gait - his father would normally scold him for rushing, but his father wasn’t here right now - peering outside to see what the sound was. If anyone accused him of being disappointed at the sight of a group of knights casually conversing with the gardeners he would adamantly insist he was just still a bit tired. 

Of course, ever the fool he was to imagine an entire world shattering event rather than just accepting the fact people were busy and didn’t have time to coddle him anymore. One of the few things he can remember his mother telling him was he clinged to her too much, and he didn’t even learn from that. 

Was this maturity, at the age of seven? The ache of loneliness looming over him, disguised as independence, ready to shatter more than his heart on a second's notice? Any mist in his eyes was immediately blinked away.

The day passed by like an impenetrable fog, nobody ever greeted him or said hello to him that day. The hours felt like aeons, blurring by him til he wasn’t even sure how he made it to his room at the end of the day. Yesterday, he had said goodbye to his last tutor at 6:29PM, and as the clock struck 6:30PM of the new day the ache oozing from his shattered heart filled his brain til all he could feel was a mellow numbness in his chest that felt heavier than gold and yet lighter than air. He knew this day was coming eventually, he saw all the signs building up to this moment of solitude, and logically The Prince tried to argue with himself that this was an overreaction… they’d come back eventually, they had to.

Any attempt to distract his brain through reading fell flat as the words jumbled into nonsense before they even processed. Before The Prince knew it, the final hours in the day passed him by, artificial stars and city lights outside of his window dimming to a low hue. He changed into sleep clothes on autopilot and tucked himself into bed, imagining his hands were the larger ones of his father, reassuring and unwavering. Was it childish of him to want? Selfish to need?

When he hugged his stuffed toy close to his chest, the one sewn by his mother upon his birth, he longed for his toy's heart to beat in tandem against his. He ignored how the fabric felt rougher than usual to embrace. 

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Groggy, confused, and unsure what time or what day it was, was a pretty concise description of Kaeya right now. The small rays of sun that were coming through the window were not a welcome visitor upon his sensitive eye. He remembers… going to Good Hunter and ordering some Fishermans Toast before going back to HQ to get some paperwork done, and then… oh. He never went home. He’d fallen asleep on his desk again, an oddly mellow feeling now settled in his chest.

Good Barbatos, what time was it?

He began straightening himself and his paperwork out, looking for where he had left off at. Was it this paper? Or…

An unexpected doorslam interrupted whatever thought process he was currently working through, making him jump out of his damn skin.

“Kaeya! There you are!” A familiar, brash and loud voice greeted him, “why are you here still? Why aren’t you home, dads worried!”

“Hello to you too Diluc,” Kaeya grumbled, rubbing his forehead, “hm.. what's the time?”
“What’s the time?! Its time for you to stop working, actually- it was time for you to stop working an hour ago!” He spoke with a fuel of energy, making his way round the desk to get Kaeya up and off of the chair, “Have you been sleeping?”

Kaeya sighed and stood up on shaky legs, rearranging the paperwork into neat and sorted piles while he still could, “sleepings too comfortable of a word. I would say ‘passed out’ sums up how I feel more.”

Diluc acted as if he wasn’t even in his own office, showing no care nor attention to any of the work around them and instead grabbing Kaeyas hand and his jacket off the back of a sofa, “you’ve been sleeping really weird recently…” he led the two of them out of the stuffy office, obviously very intent on getting the two of them home as fast as he could. “And don’t even try to deny it, cause you always go to sleep really early and then wake up looking like you didn’t actually sleep a wink?”

The ordo was mostly abandoned at this time of the afternoon, only a few high ranking captains remained tucked away in their office doing paperwork while any common knights still on duty were out on the streets getting their patrols in, so the corridors were empty enough for Dilucs loud ramblings. 

“I don’t know?” he lied, “maybe it’s just a teenager thing to sleep a bunch? Addie said we’d get more tired from knights work the more we grew up?”

“Hm… yea but i’m not like that! And-” the pleasant chit chat filled Kaeyas brain as the brothers slowly made their way home, distracting Kaeya from the floaty feeling that infected his body all day. He certainly felt much more grounded. Grounded enough to feel Adelindes scolding him for overworking when he got home, that’s for sure.

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Swift footsteps echoed through the large corridors, uncaring of anyone hearing and being disrupted at such a time of night. The heavy steps carrying not the burden of the blood seeped into its cracks and crevices but the burden of absence. Yet as he approached closer to his destination he quietened down in hopes to avoid a specific unwanted disturbance upon a specific soul until his steps were but hesitant shuffles closer to the door. A stiff hand raised to the doorknob, bones aching in exhaustion and skin insisting the blood spilled on them continued to stain his flesh despite rigorous scrubbing. He would never wish to dirty His Prince's door with blood of the accursed. 

Guilt already chewed at his soul like maggots to a corpse over the fact he had left so suddenly almost an entire week ago without time to say goodbye to His Prince, having one of his subordinates relay the message of his departure instead. Some guardian he was if he couldn’t even keep His Highness informed, especially so soon after he had been confided in about his fears of being kept in the dark.

He truly didn’t wish to have to expose His Prince to the current underlying warfare and political tensions Khaenri’ah currently held with Celestia and Teyvat, wishing to preserve his innocence even longer. He was firmly against making such a young child worry about the adults dilemas. But the child was too smart, too empathetic with others around him to not pick up on everyones mood shift and anxieties. Lying to him about things had the same effect as stating he didn’t trust or deem him efficient enough to bother to inform.

A silent sigh breathed out into the chill night air, The Knight shook his hands one final time to expel the anxious energy gathered in his veins - typically he would wait until the stroke of morning to visit His Prince, but he was all too aware of how lonely things may have gotten in the recent week. As much as he respected the Palace workers, it would be a stretch to claim many of them are good with children at all. Call it a selfish need, but The Knight needed to see the child with his own two eyes just to make sure he was safe. Carefully, he grabbed and twisted the door open, cautious not to make any noise with it as he passed the threshold.

The unusual chill hit him immediately, attracting his eyes to the open window accepting the late winter's frosty air. His Prince was never too fond of the cold, he remembered. Years of experience in espionage and missions taught him to tread silently, nevertheless, the gentle sound of his movements followed him as he pulled the window to. 

The captain had never had a family of his own, a few flings in his gentle youth flickered out as life passed by. He had never pictured himself as a husband, a father even less so. As someone whose life is constructed on brittle sword hilts and a pile of bodies, half his own and half his victims, the stability never presented itself to him. In the passing brief moment, where he is his own witness to the swirling emotions in his chest at the sight of His Highness curled asleep in bed, he indulged his mind in the picturesque. Perhaps in another life he’s been gifted the reprieve to be a dutiful father, but for now…

The knight settles himself down into the bedside chair, a small frown adorning his lips. The little light that there was in the room helped to camouflage them, but he was not so oblivious to the faint teartracks staining the child's cheeks.

“My Prince… I am so deeply sorry,” he whispered under his breath, cautiously bringing a hand up to brush some hair from the sleeping royals face, “I have no right to beg for forgiveness ... I shall make this up to you.. I promise …”

An unheard promise whispered with enough conviction to win a trial. No God stood as a witness to his claims, yet The Knight shall carry this promise as a rock on his shoulder, in companionship with every other promise ever made to the youth of his life.

“I promise”

A whisper carried by the wind, passing the words on to the rocks of the land to engrave it as a contract in stone. Never to be broken until death.

The lights of Liyue never extinguish no matter the time of day, a constantly glowing city illuminating the life throughout it. Bustling crowds in the day reduced to humble gatherings at night. Among the nightlife stands a lone warrior, the lights of the city seem to almost dance around him, taunting him yet never touching him as he meditates in a dwelling of his thoughts.

In a handful of hours, this familiar stranger to the world will be back on his road to travelling, active mission on his hands not giving reprieve from enough stress to last him five lifetimes over. But for tonight, for this humble moment, he allowed himself to remember. To feel. To reground himself in his promises made so many years ago. 

For a moment that refuses to fleet, he remembers the duty of a knight.

Chapter Text

 “Listen boys, back here by 6;30 at the latest, ok?”

“Yes Addie”

“You two need to be back for dinner so you can get an early nights sleep. We cant keep having you two continue this streak of exhaustion you’ve got going on.”

“Of course, Addie”

“Your fathers already worried enough about all the running about you two do all day. For all of our sakes please don’t make him develop anymore grays. Diluc- I don’t see whats so funny?

“Nothing,” the young master spoke between giggles, seemingly amused by the idea of his fathers hair developing light streaks. It was only when the head maid leveled him with a deadpan glare did Diluc finally quieten down and speak a low ‘yes Addie’.

A gentle sigh fell from Addelines mouth as she closed her eyes and shook her head, “what am I to do with you two troublemakers, hm?” Slowly she opened them again to face the children, taking on an almost expectant look, “well? Off you go then.”

That was all the reassurance the brothers needed, speaking rushed ‘thank you’s’ as they bolted out of the front door of the manor house and onto the streets of Mondstadt.

“So, which shop are we stopping at first?” Kaeya gently asked as he trailed a step or two behind his brother leading the way through the busy streets of Mondstadt. An absolutely smug grin plastered on the red heads face as he looked over to his brother. It had only taken weeks worth of convincing but he had finally gotten Kaeya to agree to come to the knights ball with him. Not only that, but near the end of their working day yesterday, just before Diluc dragged Kaeya all the way home, Jean had pulled the brothers into a quiet area to discreetly request if they could go and pick her up a suit so her mother wasn’t aware of it. Diluc and Kaeya hadn’t even found themselves hesitating a second before agreeing & being slid a bag of mora and a slip of paper with detailed body measurements and suiting sizes so they could get her an exact fit. Needless to say Diluc was giddy.

“Huh? Don’t we just have one shop to stop at? I thought we were going to the one near town square” Diluc asked aloofly.

“Diluc! Were you even listening to Jean yesterday!” Kaeya scolded, “she very specifically asked us to go to the one near the edge of the centre and by the housing! The one owned by that Liyuan woman, you know?” “Ohhhh” “It’s just you that wants to go to the one by town square for our suits.”

“Sorry, Sorry!” Diluc chuckled sheepishly, bringing up a hand to scratch the back of his head, “I guess i was too excited by her actually asking us and just forgot.”

“Honestly Diluc,” Kaeya scorned lightheartedly, a gentle smirk on his lips, “for someone that claims to be such a good elder sibling you sure never learnt the sibling trait of sitting calm and listening. What would you do without me by your side, hm?”

“I-”

“Someone who was truly devout to their family should be prepared to do much, much more for them”

 “I am a great big brother! Now mind your own Goddamn business!”

The words seemed to flash through his brain before Diluc could even think to stop them, echos of that mans raspy but sharp tone cut through his thoughts like a sword. Confusion mixed with anger filled his brain at the memory of that interaction, he never did mention to Jean nor Kaeya that encounter he had on the path to Liyue.

“Kae, can i… ask you something?” Diluc stopped in his tracks to turn to his little brother, gazing into his reflecting blue eye. Diluc had always thought his little brother had such a cool eye, the way they seemed to reflect a galaxy of stars even in the middle of the day was the most fascinating thing to a young Diluc for the longest of times.

The perplexion on Kaeyas face wasnt hidden at all, clearly caught off guard by the sudden tone switch. “Of course you can, is everything alright, Luc?”

A halfhearted nod was thrown back in response, “yea i’m fine, it’s nothing honestly. I was just- I’ve been thinking these last few days about some stuff and- I just wanted to… uh.” Archons, he was never the best with words, was he? Diluc very intentionally left all of the work that required linguistic eloquence to Kaeya for this exact reason. All Dilucs reports, his speeches, his motivational pep talks to the cavalry - Kaeya had a hand in writing and proof checking every single one of them.

It was such a far shot off when they were younger. Memories of sitting cross legged in their livingroom floor as Diluc attempted to teach Kaeya the Mondstidian alphabet and phonics, helping him learn their grammatical system so they could play together. Kaeya seemed to pick it up as if it was nothing, only needing to be told the rules once before adapting to the language so fast it would be tough to figure out he wasn’t a native speaker. Diluc remembers Crepus was so fascinated by it that he eventually decided to let Kaeya sit in on a few of Dilucs Liyuan lessons, and of course suddenly Dilucs 2 years of lessons were caught up to in less than a few months. He remembers hearing their father and Elzer discuss it in the office, whispers about how Kaeya clearly had a very deep academic potential but they were reluctant to push it in fear of overworking the child or creating an expectation for greatness. They never forced Kaeya into any other classes he didnt elect to sign up for after that, but they did little to prevent his significant potential from showing. 

Rather than attempt to catch up to Kaeyas natural academic ability, Diluc instead focused himself with the passion of fighting. It was not only a freeing feeling, but also a deeply satisfying one. He was always told he was miles above his peers in regards to combat skills, most clearly exemplified by his admittance as the Cavalry Captain at such a young age. But the other day… the rift hounds. Diluc was meant to be the strong sibling, the one who could protect his baby brother from anything and everything, yet he couldn’t even stop Kaeya from getting sliced at by the feral wolf nor keep an eye on the secondary animal as it attempted to maul them both.

“Kae, am I… actually a good big brother?” he spoke in a diminished tone, averting his gaze as a sudden wave of shame fell over him. The silence was palpable in the air, every second seemed to drag on for an eternity, the bustling noise of the city blurring into almost a static tone. 

A beat passed, and then, a chuckle.

Diluc couldn’t help but whip his head up at the unexpected noise only to see Kaeya covering his mouth with his hand as he gently laughed, meeting his brothers gaze with an amused look.

“Aha, you got me so worried for a second there, Luc. Hm? Don’t look at me with that confused face,” Kaeya responded with such a light hearted tone that Diluc almost wanted to ask again if he had actually heard him correctly.

“I don’t get- why are you laughing? I meant what I asked, Kae!”

To that, the blue haired knight raised an eyebrow and smirked, “I'm laughing ‘cause I think it’s a silly question. I’ve never known you to question your integrity as a good big brother. Was it not you who attempted to pick a fight with some kids because they implied that you didn't keep an eye on me, and then when you noticed that I was actually missing you spent hours by yourself running around the city just to find me?”

Diluc remembers that day vividly. He had been talking with some fellow knights in training outside the Ordo and they'd started to joke that Diluc was so unobservant that he couldn't even keep an eye on his own brother. He, of course, didn't take their teasing lightly and found himself very prepared to yell at the fellow kids until one of the boys made a snide comment to draw attention to the fact that Kaeya actually wasn't anywhere near them. Needless to say that set Diluc off, immediately running away from training to search across the city; yelling Kaeyas name, searching in and behind crates, asking shopkeepers if they'd seen a small, blue haired boy around. After hours seemed to have passed and they sky grew dimmer in shade, Diluc still hadn't found his baby brother. His childlike mind refused to go and find help in the knights in fear that if he stopped searching for even a second Kaeya would slip away from him. In the end, it was the knights who had come to find him, discovering a borderline hysterical Diluc searching around an abandoned alleyway with tears welled in his eyes. The Knights ended up taking Diluc home against much protest from the child, only to have him immediately quelled when they walked through the door to his manor to see Kaeya being cradled in his fathers arms, the younger clearly also in distress judging by his puffy eyes. Diluc still remembers how both brothers kicked out of their respective adults grasp to run at eachother in embrace. 

As he later heard, it turns out Kaeya hadn’t run off into the city but had actually just gotten nervous having to wait around by himself, so out of his on youthful fear he snuck off into the Ordo HQ to sit in the library until it was time to go home. Diluc still recalls that time as one of the scariest moments in his life, the sickness and fear that made his heart sink thinking that he had failed his father and little brother.

A light blush creeped up on Dilucs face at the memory, “I-! Yes but I mean- does that not just prove my point? That I wasn’t looking after you enough and let us both get lost as a result!”

Kaeya simply shook his head, “not at all. You had no control over me running off without saying a word, but when you found out about it you went on an entire search all by yourself with the sole mind to find me. I don’t think it’s about what you can or can’t do, Diluc. To me, I find value in your intention.”

“What i’m trying to say, Luc, is you can’t judge yourself based on all these external factors you can’t help. It’s not your fault I ran off as a kid and it’s not your fault I got scratched the other day, ok? And for what it’s worth,” he gave a string smile and moved forward to take ahold of his brothers hand, holding it reassuringly, “I think you’re the best big brother.”

“I-”

See? Kaeya always was the more eloquent conversationalist.

“Now c’mon, Jeans suit certainly isn’t going to buy itself?” 

⭑✧✦✧⭑

“Adelinde… uh… I’m unsure if i was unclear earlier,” Master Crepus spoke tentatively as he glanced down at the cup of warm herbal tea that had been placed down upon his desk with a bit too much force. He was almost certain this was not the drink he had requested but a few minutes ago.

The head maid simply responded with a huff and a shake of her head, “oh no, I heard you quite clearly Master Crepus. But as it is currently 6pm and dinner is to be served in around an hours time I believe the working day of yours should be coming to a close now and not prolonged through any more cups of coffee.”

If this were any other member of his staff, Crepus would be shocked by the audacity of them to disobey his requests to his face. But this was Adelinde… so all Crepus found himself able to do was send a desperate glance to Elzer who was currently stood by the side of his desk, a stack of papers in hand. The butler seemed to find himself transfixed by the papers, eyes glued to them and absolutely refusing to involve himself in this stand off. 

“I do appreciate your help Adelinde but the Knights Ball is in two days now and there's still paperwork to be done to ensure proper catering.”
“Nothing that can not wait or be sorted by your employees who are specifically paid and scheduled to work late?” she retorted

“It honestly will not take me much longer to get these documents sorted, Addie.”
“Then why the need for the coffee? I thought a cup of fresh lemongrass tea would be a perfect drink to calm you down and take you out of your working mind?”

Archons, why did Crepus have to have such an intelligent and caring head maid, it’s both the best and worst decision of his career. Before the low key squabble could persist any longer, the sound of the downstairs doors unlocking and opening stifled the conversation as eager footsteps made their way across the house. As perhaps the entire room suspected, it was only a minute later when the anticipated guest entered with a new pep in his step.

“Young master Diluc,” Elzer greeted in politeness, bowing his head in sync with Addelinde. “Hi Elzer! Hi Addie!” the red headed teenager smiled and gave a short one handed wave, his left arm occupied with carrying two garment bags that hung over it, “hello father!”

Before he was even aware of it, a soft smile crept onto Crepus’ face at the sight of his son, “Hello Diluc, I trust your suit shopping with Kaeya went well then?” he raised his eyebrow, eyeing the bags as Adelinde automatically moved to take them from the young masters hold. “Yep! I can’t wait for you to see the ones we got, I can't wait for us to wear them!”

“Well we can’t wait to see you two in them, i’m sure you’ll be as dashing as always, young master,” Elzer chimed in, straightening out the papers in his hands and placing them down with a fond smile, “is your brother downstairs? I hadn’t heard him come upstairs with you.” The statement was said more as a conversation starter than anything else, everyone already aware that you couldn’t hear Kaeyas gentle footsteps anyway. That boy was all too sneaky for his own good.

“Oh, no. Kaeya had to drop something off at Jean's house so he won’t be home for a couple more minutes now. He shouldn’t be too long, though!”

Small pleasantries continued to pass between the room, and eventually with little more words but swift bows of respect, Adelinde and Elzer found themselves filing out of the room; Adelinde to begin dinner and get the boys suits cleaned before the ball and Elzer to pass on any excess paperwork to assistants of the winery to get started on. The eldest Ragnvindr son simply slid into the comfy chair opposite his fathers desk as he eyed the assorted items laid across the table. Mostly just pages and pages of paper, boring.

Crepus sighed at the newly quiet atmosphere, slowly bringing the teacup to his lips, gently blowing the steam away before taking a sip. Archons, Adelinde truly was a wonderful tea maker. He should make sure to give her her proper dues later. Glancing across the desk to view his eldest son, Crepus couldn’t help but frown. All that energy Diluc seemed to have had as he entered the room appeared to be all but cut in half, his energetic smile less than half a side smile now.

“Son?” Crepus spoke in his deep, baritone voice. 

“Yes, father?” Diluc glanced up, hesitance glazed his eyes as he straightened his back and fiddled with his hands. He had certainly calmed down more from earlier after the kind words Kaeya had given him, but for some reason that archon-damned man and his words were still plaguing Dilucs thoughts.

“Is something the matter, you seem reserved?” he lowered the cup back onto its saucer, “you and Kaeya are both well?”

“Oh no, it’s nothing, we’re both fine. It’s just…” Crepus allowed the silence to sit, hoping the time to think would allow Diluc to process his thoughts and vocalise them, “you talk to alot of strangers, right?”

“Of course, son. It’s part of a winery owners job is to create a social atmosphere for any possible clients afterall.”

“What about… uh, what if you meet someone you’ve never seen before and they start… saying weird things to you. Like, personal almost?”

Now that set off Crepus’ paternal instincts, straightening in his seat as he tried to rationalise what Diluc was trying to open up about, “personal in what way?”

The young red head was now chewing on his lip trying to sort out his thoughts, maybe he was just overreacting a bit but nothing about the situation was making sense to him. Why did this man seem to have a personal grudge against him, or how did he know details about his family that Diluc never mentioned to him?

“I just mean- the other day on patrol I was off by myself and found this… stranger? I’ve never seen him before in my life but when i tried to talk to him to warn him about danger in the areas he was so cold? He seemed so upset that I was a favonian captain and he somehow knew I had a sibling? He just seemed so upset with me and then when I turned my back to him for like a second he just disappeared?”

That certainly made Crepus’ brows furrow in upset at the words, a stranger has been hostile to his son for a seemingly unknown personal grudge.

“That… is unusual. He didn't threaten you or anything of the sort?” His father asked apprehensively, feeling his nerves twitching at the thought. Crepus was far from oblivious to how publicised their family was so alarm bells didn't go off based on the sole idea that a stranger knew who Diluc was and knew his family tree. But due to how prolific their family business was, caution always needed to be exercised in regards to someone who seems hostile to the very idea of a Ragnvindr.

“No I don't think so? It honestly just seemed like he was scolding me for being too young to be a captain.”

“Scolding you…? How old did you say this man was again?” Crepus hummed in contemplation, bringing up a hand to scratch his stubble as Diluc visibly pondered. “Um, I'm not sure , maybe 30? He didn't look too old.”

Crepus wasn't sure why, but he could feel his heart skip a small beat at that, fist clenching under the desk to try and tense and de-tense his muscles. “Diluc, do you think you could describe this man for me?” “Hm, sure? He was this really tall guy, maybe even taller than Elzer, and his hair was dirty blonde and short but kinda unkept?  I've never seen anyone dressed like him either, he was in all black and had some pointy cape on, he didn't look local at all, really. The clothes weren't of any place I recognise.” 

! 

“Shit,” Crepus spoke before even stopping to think, too distracted by the adrenaline spike to even register the shame of swearing infront of his child. Diluc clearly was not on the same page though, visibly concerned by his fathers sudden outburst. He opened his mouth to speak and ask if his father was ok but was quickly interrupted by Crepus, taking on a much more urgent tone.

“You said he mentioned you having a sibling, Diluc? What exactly did he say about Kaeya?” Crepus’ eyes took on a reflection of urgency and fear as his mind kicked back into action, no need for coffee anymore now he had a natural energy boost. 

Diluc stammered over his words a few times before he spoke, “um, he said some stuff about how I was too naive to be someone who could protect Kaeya?”

“He used Kaeyas name?”

“Oh! No he didn't, he said ‘sibling’ I'm pretty sure?” Diluc tentatively answered, staring worriedly at his fathers apprehensive look, “is everything alright, father?”

Rather than answer, Crepus bit his bottom lip in contemplation, “did he tell you anything else important in that conversation? Anything about what he was doing in Mondstadt?”

His son was beginning to feel worried now, had he spoken to someone he really shouldn't have? He didn't mean to worry his father so deeply but the way Crepus was looking at him right now, with eyes that showed a mix of urgency and concern, of pleading and fear, and of upset and anger all at once, it was unsettling Diluc. 

“He uh… mentioned that he was on his way to leave Mondsadt and head to Liyue? Honestly that was it, we didn't talk that much.”

Ok, Crepus tried to rationalise, if this mystery man was heading to Liyue it probably meant he'd be gone for a few days. If he was in fact doing what Crepus expected and on his way to a Liyuan blacksmith with whatever strange metal he had then that also may delay any plans he has of returning to the city of wind with urgency. This man was not near his family now, despite his uncomfortably close interaction with Diluc. He clearly didn't want to harm his eldest. But words of being unable to protect Kaeya?  Was this man planning something & just wanted to taunt Diluc? Barbatos give him strength.

The tense silence sunk into the room as neither father nor son wished to break it. Distantly, the sound of the door unlocking yet again echoed through the building.

“Sounds like your brothers home, Luc,” Crepus’ tone took on a more mellow atmosphere now, audibly taking a deep breath to cool his nerves, “you should go and check on him, alright?”

“... of course father. Is.. is everything going to be alright?” He replied softly, slowly standing up out of his seat.

“Yes, son. I didn't mean to worry you, this shouldn't be something you concern yourself with. I'm sorry I allowed my words to get ahead of me for a minute there,” a strained smile stretched on Crepus’ face, “I'll see you down for dinner in a bit, alright?”

“Alright father, I love you.”

“I love you too Luc, just-” he paused, “if you happen to see that man again, please do not allow yourself or your brother to get near him.”

Feigning an audible response, Diluc nodded and slowly exited the room, the office door clicking behind him as his footsteps slowly pattered off into the manor.

As the silence and the new mellow atmosphere sunk in, Crepus slowly de-tensed his hands that he had been hiding under his desk. He scowled as they trembled for a split moment . This man was starting to get on his final nerve now. The tea Adelinde had prepared was all but cold now as he raised it to his lips.

Chapter Text

Silent footsteps crept through the soft dirt of the manors garden, gently treading to avoid crushing any carefully grown flowers, lest to alert the gardeners that someone was here. A figure hunched as he walked, taking meticulous care to avoid his shadow making an imprint through the open windows. As discreetly as possible, the figure came to a stop below a specific window and held his breath, attempting to listen out for unfamiliar voices around him. 

A brief moment of silence later and he gently raised his fist, letting out three sharp knocks on the manor window while remaining low. Sudden rustling and moving could be heard as the window was slowly pried open from the inside, a familiar figure peering out.

“Kaeya!” she let out a hushed exclamation, smile immediately plastered on her face as the young knight leaned out the window.

“Hi Jeanie,” Kaeya smiled back, currently sat crouching on the ground by one of her gardens flower beds and gazing up at the elder teenager. Held tightly under his arm was a branded designer bag for ‘Silk Flower Tailors’, “I brought gifts,” he chuckled lowly.

“Thank you so much, Kaeya,” Jean pleaded honestly, reaching out her arm to take the bag from him as she peered inside and caught a glimpse of the folded up suit, her smile widening.

“Got the exact one you asked for, I hope it fits well?” he smiled sheepishly, “Honestly you should have seen the shop keepers confusion when she saw two teenage boys enter her all female shop.”

Jean softly laughed at that, “oh yea? I trust you two behaved yourselves then?”

Kaeya gave a playful glare, raising his hand up to his chest to give a mock bow, “oh absolutely, like gentlemen.”

A small eyeroll was Kaeyas response as Jean begun to close up the tailors bag and fold the top of it down to compress it, “one minute,” she smiled before turning back into the room. Peering through the open window, Kaeya observed the knight as she manouvered around her bathroom. 

When they had planned this secret meetup the only location that became a plausible place to meet to transfer Jeans suit became her own house, but due to the obvious factor of Fredericas strict nature it wasn’t a reasonable idea to have Kaeya simply knock up to their front door and hand over the bag. That was almost sure to get them caught. Instead, they would have to find a way to sneak onto the property to transfer it. Handing it into Jeans room was an implausible feat due to it’s location upon the second floor & scaling the side of the Gunhildr manor was almost a surefire way to get caught. Which was how they had settled on the downstairs bathroom window being the safest option.

Kaeya watched silently as Jean begun to open cabinets and pull out various neatly stacked towels, unfolding a smaller sized towel to then wrap around the bag in a very practiced manner. After she was finished, the bag was disguised as if it was a regular folded towel, if not slightly more rounded than the average. Jean seemed to mitigate this issue simply by shoving it to the very back of the cabinet before stacking the others ontop of and infront of it. 

Once she seemed to be satisfied with her work, she turned back to the open window, climbing over the edge to sit on it, her legs hanging inches off of the ground. She repositioned herself slightly so she was comfortable, unable to fully climb out due to her lack of shoes. It would become too obvious to her maids and mother that she had snuck off if she had dirtied her socks. Kaeya, on the other hand, raised to stand and lean against the wall, positioned out of sight of all the houses windows.

“What if one of your maids goes through the cupboard and finds it?” Kaeya asked nervously, glancing over to his friend, only for her to shake her head.

“They won’t start cleaning any cupboards til tomorrow morning, I’ll have the bag removed by midnight. It’s just there until everyone goes to sleep and I can bring it up to my room. Someone would surely notice and snitch on me if I took it out right now.”

“Hm, do you mind if I ask something, Jeanie?” She smiled and tilted her head, inviting Kaeya to continue, “why go through all this effort to hide the suit if your mothers going to see it anyway this weekend? Won’t you get in trouble?”

Jean stayed silent as she thought for a moment, before letting out a short sigh. “I don’t think she’ll be mad at me. She has nothing against girls wearing suits, I just want to hide it for now so she can’t talk me out of it. I think…” the blonde hesitated as she visibly thought through her words, “Barbara was always the more girly of us two, and even though mother won’t admit it I know she misses having someone she could dress up like that. Barbara hasn’t been around too much since she left to stay with father. I just think… she’s a bit hesitant to let me grow into myself, you know?”

Kaeya gave her a pitiful smile, sympathy clearly apparent. Jean hadn’t spoken much about the divorce since it had happened, prefering to work through things by herself. It was tough because it’s not like nobody saw it coming, Seamus & Frederica had always been a shaky couple. Kaeya could tell she missed seeing her little sister and father, the longing in her attitude whenever they discussed them being one all too familiar to Kaeya. Kaeya had never even stopped to consider how everything would affect her parents - it wasn’t really the type of thing a teenager thought about. 

“I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be,” Jean shrugged, turning to face the Mondstadt sky as it begun to set, gentle purple hues fading into the view, “it’s just one of those things. I know it’s tough for her even if she won’t tell me about it, but I wish she would realise it’s not what I want. I know it would be easier to just talk to her but-”

“No, I get it.” he spoke up quickly, catching Jean off guard, “it’s not always easier to speak to your parents. Sometimes you just need to ‘do’ rather than ask. Avoids a drawn out conversation, you know?”

“Yea… I know what you mean. But I didn’t think Master Crepus was much alike to my mother? They certainly aren’t the closest of friends, atleast.”

“He’s not. Father is… father’s wonderful.”

It took Jean a moment but the impliacture caught up with her, making a small noise of recognition. Kaeya had barely spoken about his biological parents to anyone, the most he gave being short and vague statements about their life together. The younger knight was always so defensive about his past that nobody wanted to push on anything in fear of scaring the poor child. It seemed to be a general consensus that as he grew and adapted to his life as a Ragnvindr son, his history just became less relevant. Honestly, sometimes Jean forgot that he wasn’t a biological Ragnvindr and that he had a life before Mondsadt.

Kaeya seemed to be avoiding her gaze, choosing to observe the sunset instead with a bittersweet smile. 

“Well, that reminds me. I was going to ask, where’s Diluc?” she switched topics.

“Ah, he took our suits home. We were talking about it on the way over and realised that trying to sneak both of us into your garden with three bags between us would risk a bit too much attention.” 

“Makes sense, he never was one for being discreet was he now… um,” Kaeya turned inquisatiely at the sound of his friends hesitane, “Has he… been doing alright lately?”

“Hm? I think so. I mean, he has been a bit unnaturally nervous recently but honestly our fathers been acting the same. I just assumed fathers anxious energy was rubbing off on him. Why, did something happen?”

Jeans eyebrows lightly furrowed at that, “nothing big or specific, no. He just became a bit anxious yesterday during patrol out of nowhere. I tried to ask him about it but he just brushed me off. I was wondering if he was worried about something specific in the forests, is all.”

“In the middle of patrol? Well,” Kaeya lapsed into silence at that, mind running through memories of the days prior, “there’s maybe one thing? But if I tell you, you can’t tell anyone else?”

“Of course!” She exclaimed in a low tone, clearly intrigued, “I promise!”

“Ok, and you also can’t get mad at us either?”

“... now i’m worried.”

“Just promise me!”

“Alright, alright,” she nervously giggled, “i promise I won’t get mad at you two.”

“A couple of days ago, me and Luc went off into Wolvendom by ourselves after Diluc had heard weird rumours about activity in the area, right? But while we were over there we ended up walking into a couple of rifthounds.”

“HU-” “Not so loud!” Kaeya whisper-yelled at his friend as he quickly slapped his hand over her mouth to silence her yelling, “I told you to not get mad!”

“I- I’m not mad Kae I- i’m just- rifthounds!? What were you two thinking! Did you get hurt?”

“Nothing serious,” he hedged, “we managed to kill one of them while the other kind of just… dropped dead?”

Saying that Jean looked as if her eyes were about to pop  out of her skull was putting it lightly. Kaeya was sure he and his brother had singlehandeldy shaved 10 years off of Jeans lifespan by their shenanigans alone. “Rifthounds don’t just drop dead, Kae.”

“I know! But honestly I swear it did! It bled out, we ran immediately home after, you’re the first person we’ve told.”

“You think maybe that’s why he’s been acting off? Did it stress him out that badly…?”

“That’s what i’ve been thinking, I feel really bad about it. I let the wolves get really close to me, I didn’t mean to make him worry this much,” he paused tentatively, hand gently reaching up to rest on his covered collarbone, still able to feel the itch of the scabs underneath them. 

The entire situation had freaked Kaeya out in more ways than one, being so close to animals of the abyss that he hadn’t encountered in years, only having vague memories of being taught to absolutely fear them, and coming close to a situation where his predisposition as a Khaenri’an of esteemed blood was almost revealed to Diluc. 

One of the reasons his family was so valued back in the homeland was to do with their genetic immunity to certain afflictions. One of such being corrosion. Due to the purity of his blood against the coruption of abyssal powers, corrosion was unable to latch onto his cells and destroy them as they would for the regular commoner. If Kaeya were a regular person, the ‘small’ scratches he received on his body should have hospitalised him. Although as life continued to remind him, no matter how hard he tried, he simply was not normal.

The topical shift of conversation led Kaeyas mind to drift, slowly zoning out as his vision blurred while gazing upon the slowly darkening horizon. He remembers being taught to fear the rifthounds, he’s sure of it, being taught never to turn your back to them, but also how to deescalate a situation with them.

“My Prince, you must assure me that you understand. Abysal Rifthounds are not an enemy that should be treated lightly.”

An image of silky, blonde hair flickered into his minds eye. An incredibly tall figure. Strong eyes. Kind eyes. A face still too blurry to get a good look at. 

That man. He was familiar, Kaeya knew he was. Every time he tried to desperately picture the mans face a raging headache took over. Simultaneously, he couldn’t leave Kaeyas mind. Thoughts plagued by this familiar stranger, blocked off by a defensive mind desperately trying to protect Kaeyas psyche. They must have been so close… was he a caretaker of Kaeyas? He didn’t remember having too many of those.

For the first time in many years, Kaeya found himself desperately trying to remember Khaenri’ah. His heart contracted and ached in a strange way, suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of melancholy. Frustration bubbled under his skin, making the desire to scratch open his scars grow in intensity. For the first time in ages, an almost childlike feeling of upset welled up within him. The kind of ache children feel when they feel something so deeply but don’t have the words to communicate it. A helpless frustration.

It was weird, even when Kaeya was a child living with the Ragnvindrs he never remembers feeling that way. The trauma of Khaenri’ahs fall seemed to have forced him to learn sole independance before he was ready to. It left a sort of emotional stagger for the young boy. He never cried when there was something he couldn’t get, nor when he was left alone for extended periods of time.

But in this moment, in the culmination of the knights emotional turmoil & frustraions, he just felt helpless. As if something was missing, but he just couldn’t remember what he needed.

This man… he must have been so important to Kaeya. And all that remains was a foggy idea of a person. The feeling of nondescript guilt chewed incessantly at him. Invisible tears felt like they were welling up against his will.

“Kae, you did you hear me?”

The concerned voice snapped him out of his thoughts, blinking a few times to clear his mind up. Jean opened her mouth to say something else but was quickly interrupted.

“I think I should head home now, Adelindes expecting me.” He quickly shut down, almost seeming as if he was in a rush to leave.

“Oh… alright.”

“I’ll see you soon, Jeanie.”

“Mhm, see you soon Kae,” her sweetly concerned gaze followed the boy as he begun to trail his footsteps to leave the garden, just as sneaky as ever.

With a sigh, the young knight climbed back inside her window, wondering if Kaeya was aware of the oddly reflective glaze on his eyes as he left.

⭑✧✦✧⭑

“Sounds like your brothers home, Luc,” Crepus’ tone took on a more mellow atmosphere now, audibly taking a deep breath to cool his nerves, “you should go and check on him, alright?”

“... of course father. Is.. is everything going to be alright?” He replied softly, slowly standing up out of his seat.

“Yes, son. I didn't mean to worry you, this shouldn't be something you concern yourself with. I'm sorry I allowed my words to get ahead of me for a minute there,” a strained smile stretched on Crepus’ face, “I'll see you down for dinner in a bit, alright?”

“Alright father, I love you.”

“I love you too Luc, just-” he paused, “if you happen to see that man again, please do not allow you or your brother to get near him.”

Feigning an audible response, Diluc nodded and slowly exited the room, the office door clicking behind him as his footsteps slowly pattered off into the manor.

Slowly making his way downstairs with an uneasy feeling settled in his chest, Diluc caught sight of his little brother, crouched by the door to remove his boots before further entry. Seeing him brought a low smile to the redheads face, he hated the weird amount of worrying he had been doing recently. In Dilucs opinion, he was much too young for any of this stress - before he knew it his hair would be going gray in sync with his fathers. Or even worse, he’d be matching with the naturally silver haired Elzer. A chilling thought.

“Kae!” He exclaimed, wandering up to his little brother, “did Jean get her suit alright?”

Before Diluc could further question, he felt himself pause in his tracks as Kaeya looked up to him. Lightly puffy undereyes and a mellow look stared back at him.

“Hm.. oh yea, I got it to her fine. Nobody noticed me,” the youngers voice matched to his expression in that moment, a worried voice that sniffled every couple of words.

“What happened, Kae!?” Diluc immediately approached, taking ahold of his little brothers hands to inspect and give him a once over. He didn’t seem injured at all, just upset, “you sure you didn’t have to talk to any of her manor staff? I know her maids can be scary sometimes but they didn’t mean whatever they said, i’m sure!”

“Nono, it’s not that, I promise, I didn’t  talk to any of them,” he sharply breathed in, bringing one of his hands out of Dilucs grasp to dab under his eye, wiping away tears yet to fall, “I don’t know why i’m so upset. I just, think i might be a bit tired and over emotional, is all.”
Diluc gave a hesitant look in response, attempting to scrutinsie his brother to detect any deceit in his words. It was always so hard to read his little brother, even when he was so clearly emotional. No tears were actually falling from his eyes, only the impression of a face of sorrow remained. Kaeya never had been one to sob.

“You sure…? If someones said something to you, you can tell me!”

“I’m sure, Luc. Thank you though,” the younger leaned forward, giving his brother a brief hug which was automatically reciprocated, “Addie was right, I really need to sleep early tonight…”
A small hum fell from Dilucs mouth as he pondered a moment, not wanting to pry. Taking a tighter grasp of Kaeyas hand, he begun to drag him further through the manor, “let’s go read a story in the library, ok? Til dinners ready. That should get you in a better mood.”

“I’m not a kid, Luc. I don’t need a bedtime story,” the blunette responded with no true animosity in his words, silent chuckles falling from his lips.

“Well lucky for you it’s not a bedtime story! It’s a pre-dinner story. Don’t go falling asleep now, or Addie will get mad at you.”

Diluc may not be the most adept with his words, or the strongest Knight in the favonian ranks, but to him those things were trivial. He’d learn and improve with time. There’s little doubt in the teenagers mind that he will become the strongest knight one day, taking the role of the Grandmaster, and maybe only a little doubt that one day he’ll become linguistically gifted. But one fact Diluc is becoming certain of as every day grows, a fact no archon could ever deny him of - the fact he will do whatever he can to keep his little brother happy. And aslong as his purehearted intent guides the way for him, this fact will shine as eternally true as the statue of the Anemo Archon.

As much as he hates the turmoil caused by this mystery man in his life, Diluc can atleast be thankful for the strangers help in perpetuating the fire ignited in his heart. Rage, passion, love. They all burned, scorching the young knights soul as they drove forward his commitment in life. Barbatos as his witness, Diluc Ragnvindr swore the comitment to protect Kaeya Ragnvindr til his vision flickered gray.

Chapter Text

“Good morning, Master Crepus,” Elzer greeted from where he sat at the kitchen table, paper and pen in front of him while he sipped on a piping hot cup of coffee. It was too early for breakfast to have been served, so the butler was simply working through some quick work before the table would need to be vacated to be prepared for the family. 

“Good morning Elzer, I trust you’ve slept well?” the master of the house responded, exhaustion clear on his face.

At the sight, Elzer raised a cautious eyebrow, “like a baby. Did something disrupt you last night, Crepus? I hope you’ll excuse me for saying as such but you look quite tired?”

Feigning a direct response to the question, the tycoon simply released a sigh that spoke for itself, “Archons help me Elzer, once we get to the bottom of this whole fiasco I will be able to rest much more soundly.”

Elzer glanced back with an expression of sympathetic pity to his boss, placing his pen down and turning his full attention, “are there new developments that cause worry?”

“Perhaps,”  Crepus said as he moved to sit at the head of the table, “according to Diluc, he had an encounter with this man whilst out on patrol a few days ago. The man appeared slightly hostile..”

“Hostile?” concern seeped into the butlers voice, “Is Young Master Diluc alright?”

“Nothing got physical, I believe the slight argument those two engaged in just mentally disturbed him is all. Honestly Elzer, the only peace of mind I have right now is that apparently the man has left for Liyue, so he should be out of our hair until at least the knights ball is over.”

The butler responded with a noise of contemplation briefly before asking, “I see, I shall send letters to some of our connections over there then to try and keep an eye on him, in that case.”

“Much would be appreciated.”
“Do try and take it easy today, Master Crepus. The only thing you have scheduled for today is having to check up on preparations for the Ball over at the winery, but if you feel too tired I am sure I can arrange for others to work through it on your behalf?”

Archons, Elzer really was an absolutely reliable hire. He dreads to think what state the winery would be in if not for his diligent thinking and assistance in planning.

“Thank you for the offer, but I believe I should be alright. Perhaps a short walk should help my mind relax a bit.” A gentle smile edged onto his face as he spoke, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Thankfully, Elzer immediately picked up on such and responded in kind with a smile.

“Of course, you’re only expected to arrive around lunch time so there will be plenty of time to see the Young Masters before they leave for training.” Taking the final sip of his coffee, the silver haired man began to stack up his pieces of paper and tuck them under his arm, raising from his seat with an empty mug in hand, “I shall begin drafting those letters then, if you’ll excuse me,” he bowed. 

Short pleasantries were exchanged as the butler made his way out of the room, presumably to return the mug to the kitchen before starting on that work. Elzer was right, Crepus thought, he should try and just take today easy whilst he knew he could. Any extensive worry was unneeded, at least until they received their next letter that indicated the strange man was on his way to return to Mondstadt. 

A peaceful half an hour passed by as the master of the house poured himself some coffee and browsed through the articles within the morning newspaper. His attention was only dragged away upon the sound of two sets of footsteps patterning down the stairs and closer to him. Glancing up, he was greeted by the sight of Diluc leading Kaeya into the dining room, their hands intertwined as they approached the table. Both boys looked less than alert, Kaeya still visibly rubbing his exposed eye with his other hand whilst Dilucs eyes just reflected a sight of inattentiveness. Moments like these always succeeded to make Crepus smile as youthfulness reflected in his boy's eyes. 

Parents would always tell stories of the heartache that comes from watching your babies grow up into independent people, and Crepus was no stranger to this. Watching Diluc grow up from a babbling baby to an independent child was tough enough, and then came along Kaeya who had also had to watch grow up into a young boy alongside Diluc. Honestly, as much as it aches to have to go through it, Crepus had always desired the chance to have witnessed Kaeya grow from a baby to the boy he is today.  The memories would be worth the ache.  Soft snippets of moments like these were ones Crepus had learnt to savour.

The two brothers settled down at the dining table together, apparently choosing to sit next to each other rather than across, a detail which piqued Crepus’ interest. This was how the boys had elected to sit together when they were much younger, it being a sign of the clinginess they had developed. Whilst they had generally grown out of such a habit, it was not unheard of for them to fall back into these occasional lapses of wanting to stick by each other's side so closely.

“Morning, boys,” Crepus cleared his throat and greeted, taking note of the soothing feeling that seeing his boys brought over his soul.

“Morning, father,” they responded in tandem, very audibly holding back yawns, some more successfully than others. Comfortable silence began to settle in the manor as the tycoon folded up the newspaper, maids falling into their usual routine as two cups of chilled fruit juice were placed in front of the teenagers.

Strangely, Crepus noticed, whenever he made eye contact with his eldest it didn’t seem to last for long, Diluc instead choosing to stare intently at the dinner table as he sipped on his grape juice. His father had been hoping that the conversation they held last night hadn’t disturbed Dilic too badly, but judging by his current demeanour and his clinginess to his younger brother, it may be too late for that. He’d need to apologise for that outburst of his later tonight, preferably when Kaeya wasn’t here.

Before Crepus could formulate an idea for the correct thing to say, in came his saviour in the form of Adelinde, pushing along a breakfast cart with her. Conversation always seemed to flow more freely when she was present, especially with the boy’s, who were more than eager to greet her and praise how good her breakfast looked.

“We’ll i’m glad to hear such positive reviews,” she smiled kindly as she settled all the plates on the table, the smell of freshly baked pancakes simmering in the air, “but I must be honest, I’m more glad to see you two looking much more rested this morning.” She praised but with a slight teasing undertone to her words, one which visibly made the boys blush, “truly, you can only imagine how worried I was this morning when I entered Young Master Kaeya’s room to find it vacant, only to find you settled quite peacefully in the next room over.”

At such a bold call out, Kaeya seemed to trip over his words, “I-” “I was the one who suggested it,” Diluc interrupted, seemingly quite happy in himself, “I mean, it used to help when he was younger and struggling to sleep!”

“That it did,” Adelinde chuckled as she shared a prideful glance with Crepus, “and I must say, it certainly seems to have worked. You both look wonderfully rested.” She commented with a smile, moving to gently pat the boy's hair, unable to stop herself as she subtly rearranged Dilucs mess of hair. His thick locks of hair had never failed to put up a fight every morning.

A few more minutes of Addie bustling around the dining table, placing dishes and refilling glasses until she deemed everything satisfactory with a prideful but gentle smirk. 

“I hope you enjoy, masters,” she smiled and excused herself with a bow, once again setting the dining room into a silent atmosphere. 

“So..” Crepus spoke up before the silence could get too thick, taking the first cut of his pancake, “I take it there were no nightmares tonight?”

“Thankfully, no,” Kaeya responded in a hushed, still sleepy tone, taking a much smaller bite of his food, “I hope that means the end for all of them.”

“Well if you want, you can share my room again tonight?” Diluc perked up.

Kaeya smiled shyly in response, “ah, i’ll see how I feel later?” That answer seemed to satisfy his elder brother, who began to happily dig into his food with a grin. 

“I’ll be out at the winery during lunch today boys, alright?” their father said, “if you end up needing anything, Addelinde and Elzer will remain here for you both, ok? But I hope training today goes smoothly.”
“Yes, father,” they responded again, this time with more energy, the mention of knights training seeming to raise the mood. 

The rest of breakfast flowed much more authentically than before, the family as a whole in a much calmer mood, only scattering off in their own directions after a substantial period of time to get ready for the day ahead.

Outside the manor, the warm Mondstadt sun glowed with a welcoming delight. A comfortable day awaiting the family.

⭑✧✦✧⭑

Calm gusts of air brushed across Crepus as he trotted down the calm Mondstadt roads, en route to the Winery with his trusted stallion. He had departed the city at around 10 sharp, and apart from a short stop in Springvale for a short discussion with Draff he was making good time, easily making his way through the Windwail Highlands. He had occasionally complained in the past about the convoluted distance between the Winery and the city, but truly in his heart of hearts he knew he didn't mind it. Frequent knight patrols left the areas devoid of disturbances from monsters, and this path was generally less travelled in comparison to others in the area - mostly being used by merchants instead.

Briefly reaching into his coat pocket to check his pocket-watch, Crepus noted how he was in fact actually ahead of his scheduled time, at this rate he’d arrive much too early for anyone at the winery to be expecting him. Whilst it was still his property, it felt rude to arrive early with no justified explanation for his dear staff. Plus, it wouldn’t do any harm to take a short detour. He’s sure Adelinde and Elzer would agree that some extra fresh air would be good. 

Swiftly making up his mind, Crepus gently tugged on the reins of his horse, directing him towards a much smaller and less noticeable path that led up Windwail HIghland. The path was much neglected apart from those local to the area, the only significant area it led to being the statue of the Anemo Archon that watched over his winery. 

Crepus had often found himself coming to this statue, especially in his youth, for moments of peace. Due to its generally secluded nature it provided a space for the younger man to reflect with nobody but the gaze of Barbatos to witness him. He certainly hadn’t visited this statute to reflect in quite awhile. 

After Dilucs mother had passed during the birth of their first child, Crepus felt like he had absolutely been thrown into the deep end of life with no warning. It had taken years of working through grief and the constant support of his wonderful staff and friends to help keep him afloat through it all. Aurora had been the absolute light of his life, they were childhood sweethearts through and through. He had never even had the chance to think of what a life without her would look like before she was gone. 

Whilst he had slowly learnt piece by piece how to deal with learning to move on in life, pangs of pain still tugged at his heart when he thought of the life they wanted to live. Aurora had always told him she wanted a comfortably sized family, one with multiple children who would all run around the house together, play and protect each other. The absolute fondness and adoration she spoke of her dream with rubbed off on Crepus tenfold. 

He had come to this statue one summer night after Diluc had asked his father such a naive but painful question.

“Da, why can’t I have a little sibling?”

Any explanation Crepus tried to offer the child was lacking. Eventually, Adelinde had to distract a young Diluc with the exciting offer to allow him to ‘help’ her to cook (his role primarily being to stand on a stool and hand her items).

As hard as Crepus tried to provide everything he possibly could to Diluc, the question had resurfaced a wave of guilt. A reminder that Crepus was still powerless to the whims of the archons and fate, and no matter how hard he worked to be a good father he still couldn’t provide everything.

It was that night he allowed himself to sit under the gaze of his archon and let his tears fall.

It was 7 days later that a horrific storm hit the city of Mondstadt, a storm which would bring wind that guided the winery master to a young boy near his property. A young boy called Kaeya.

The fond reminiscing brought a subtle smile to the winery owner's lips as he continued on his trek. Whether his pleas to Barbatos that night were to thank for the winds guidance of Kaeya into his life or not was irrelevant - all Crepus cared for was the opportunity he had been given. A chance to create the family he and Aurora had always dreamt of. And for that he was more than grateful for the whims of fate.

As the Statue of the Seven came closer into view, Crepus dismounted his steed, allowing the horse to settle by a larger patch of grass near some stone ruins. Stroking his mane a few times, the horse clearly picked up the hints that it was time to relax, almost immediately lowering its head to graze on some grass and sweet flowers by it’s hooves.

Once he was sure his stallion had settled, Crepus turned up hill and continued the short hike to the statue until he stood directly below it on the short raised ledge, allowing the tender hum of anemo energy to fill the air. He allowed his eyes to close as the fresh breeze fell over him, and in the overwhelming peace of the moment, he found himself simply wishing for everything to be ok. For Dilucs forgiveness and for Kaeyas safety. If Lord Barbatos could be generous enough to grant him this simple wish.

Reciting a short prayer to himself, Crepus gave a short bow of his head to the statue before resolving to open his eyes once again. Turning his gaze to the nearby cliffside that overlooked the winery, his attention was grasped by the sudden movement of a shadowy figure in his peripheral. He hadn’t even heard anyone approach, nor had he heard any noises from his stallion to indicate nearby monster presence. On high alert now, Crepus felt the buzz of delusion from his pocket pulse in time with his beating heart as he slowly and silently jumped down from the statues short ledge and closer to the cliffside. 

Craning his neck to see past the trees, the winery owner silently stalked nearer to the dark silhouette , one that seemed to be standing precariously close to the cliffs ledge. 

Any air Crepus had in his lungs was immediately knocked out at the sight that greeted him.

Stood perhaps 5 metres in front of him, stood on the edge of the Windwail cliffs which looked down upon the Dawn Winery was the blond stranger.

The man he had tried to speak to  in the tavern. The man who ran into and intimidated Diluc. The man who is supposed to be in Liyue right now. 

To say Crepus ran through a thousand emotions in a second was an understatement. Anger. Shock. Fear. Excitement. Satisfaction. All possible thoughts ran a mile a minute through the tycoons brain. 

The very man he had lost so much sleep and peace over was within reach. And archons be his witness, Crepus was not about to let him get away so easily this time.

As the redhead opened his mouth to speak, a foreign voice cut through first. Slightly soft yet deep and raspy, the words cut through the silence in the air, “So, you’ve finally found me, Master Ragnvindr,” he spoke, slowly turning to glance over his shoulder as he made eye contact with Crepus.

Those damned blue eyes seemed to pierce through Crepus’ very soul, causing his heart to stammer as he met sharp-cut diamonds in the stranger's eyes. They were much too polished and jagged to resemble familiarity to the gentle stars that painted Kaeyas eyes. They reflected some hostile mix of disdain and defensiveness, pairing up to match the tones in his voice.

“You certainly haven’t made that an easy task for me,” Crepus retorted, forcing a stone-cold persona upon his words, banishing all weakness and fear from his demeanour, “I believe it would only be common courtesy for me to be given your name then, sir?”

For a moment, silence filled the air as the stranger resumed staring down at the winery, an action that made Crepus’ skin crawl. The idea that this man was in the middle of an attempt to stalk his family made him feel sick to his core. Crepus could feel anticipation bubbling at his fingertips, becoming acutely aware of all of his surroundings as he tried to predict this mans next move. 

“Dainsleif,” his voice cut through the silence, finally fully turning to face the winery owner, “you may call me Dainsleif.”

“Dainsleif…” Crepus tested out the name on his tongue, not oblivious to how he failed to exactly replicate the pronunciation that it was spoken as, clearly hinting the foreign origin of such a name, “I take you’re finally feeling brave enough to talk with me now rather than bother my eldest son?”

Dainsleif grimaced at that comment, “I’m unsure how that encounter was told to you, but it would do you good to take note that your son made the choice to pursue me. I have little business with you Ragnvindrs.”

“You have little business with us and yet here you are, observing our house from afar? Not to mention you seem to feel quite comfortable making threatening comments to a child. Whether you wish to admit it, it appears to me you have an underlying issue with us? I would rather hear such complaints personally before they reach my sons.” Crepus had to clench his first to stop too much hatred from leaking into his demeanour. The callous nature of Dainsleifs words only fuelled the raging fire in his heart. 

The blonde appeared to scowl at the statement before he let out a grim laugh, “your words make me wonder. For someone who seems to take offence to your young child being spoken to like an adult, you have no misgivings about allowing him to be a captain in the knights?”

“Yet again, Dainsleif , I believe you should note that a stranger such as yourself has no space to have opinions on my children.” The itch under the winery masters skin was only growing, slowly becoming aware of the growing heat in his coat pocket as the burn of his delusion flared at his emotions. Indecipherable whispers could be heard at the back of his mind, murmuring dangerous nothings into his brain. He had to stop himself from subconsciously grasping the delusion to calm his nerves.

At the subtle fidgeting of the winery masters hands, Dainsleifs eyes seemed to somehow sharpen even further before realisation flooded them, “...ah- that’s what it is…” he seemed to gasp in shock before rage filled his face.

“I’m sorry?” Crepus raised his eyebrows.

“That sensation of abyssal presence… I had been trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, but it’s you ,” he accused, “I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed it sooner… the aura of the Abyss is so potent from yourself.” Dain let out a scoff of shocked amusement, looking as if he was analysing the winery masters very deepest soul as he did so, “to think even such a righteous man would bow to the whims of the greed for power.”

Feeling the hairs at the back of his neck stand up at such an abrupt call out, Crepus finally gave in to the call. This man was emitting nothing  but a threatening aura and words, and despite the fact that he was the one standing by the ledge, Crepus felt like a cornered animal. Slowly pulling out the burning delusion from his inner pocket, he fixed it onto his wrist and hand without breaking eye contact. “You do seem to love sticking your nose in situations you have no business in, don’t you?” Dainsleif only seemed entertained by such a threatening move, which only served to motivate the red head more.

“Those who only listen to the circle they’ve surrounded themselves with often find misfortune to accompany them. So as an external voice, allow me to ask you such. Do you truly believe it safe to have two, young children enrolled in such a dangerous profession, only to go home to a household owned by a man who willingly enrolled himself in a contract with uncontrollable Abyssal powers? Do you believe those children to be safe?” The pure vitriol in the blonde's voice grew and grew with every word until it was almost dripping off of his unsettlingly calm tone. Never once did he yell or scream, but that was barely important when Dainsleifs scorn felt like countless knives all skimming past Crepus’ heart. 

Crepus had always been an anxious father. The idea of hurt coming to his children was enough to freeze his heart with fear, but the idea of being taken away from his children was equally as fear inducing. The delusion was bad, he knew that. But it was some what of an addiction, he felt shaky and uncomfortable if he ever got into confrontations without it, it’s voice plaguing his mind if he got too far away. He knew he was guilty, but he would allow the archons to pass their judgement on him when the time came. For now, he would do what he deemed fit to protect his children. And that would stop at nothing.

As quickly as his reflexes could manage, Crepus raised his fist with an extended motion, in the blink of an eye sending links of chains hurling forward. Their dark aura infected the atmosphere around them. Archons, it was probably blasphemous to use this power so close to a statute of the seven. Just another sin he would need to atone for when the time came.

Aiming directly for Dainsleifs neck to hook around, Crepus felt himself stumble as he was suddenly tugged at. Before he could even process it, he felt himself get dragged forward.

As he regained his bearings, he was still plagued with confusion. Somehow, in that split second, Dain had grabbed ahold of the abyssal chains as they hurled towards him, wrapping them around his fist as he used unnatural strength to drag the Ragnvindr forward, sidestepping as he did so to reverse their positions. If Crepus were to even inch back slightly it would send him sliding down the cliffside. The only thing keeping his balance even was the firm grasp Dainsleif had on his delusions chains. 

Virtually, Dainsleif had him hanging off the edge of this cliff.

“Crepus Ragnvindr…” his voice almost growled, “it would do you good to listen to my questions, you know? This attitude is hardly becoming of a nobleman. So let me rephrase it slightly. Do you honestly believe that you could protect Kaeya if something were to threaten him? Because from where I'm standing, it seems like you haven’t even considered. Perhaps because you seem to be blind to the threat that you yourself possess, hm?”

“Y-You… will not touch my sons, Archons be my damned witness-!” Crepus spat out, clearly not the response Dainsleif wished to hear judging by the glare on his face, “if you even look at Kaeya-”

“You’ll what? End me? How foolish,” a rough chuckle fell from his lips, “you can’t even fend me off after selling your morality for a blasphemous weapon. You’re a laughable guardian, Crepus Ragnvindr.”

Dainsleif seemed to give up waiting for a response after that, as with a simple move of his arm he manoeuvred Crepus away from the cliffside and dropped him unceremoniously to the grass below. With one final glance down to where he threw the man, Dain merely turned his head up and slowly began to move towards the forest trees. “Next time we meet,” he spoke, voice returning to a much calmer attitude, “don’t bother getting in my way like this again.”

Crepus frantically raised his head to stare into the greenery before him, desperately scanning to see if he was loitering anywhere. Just like the time at the tavern, he disappeared into thin air in the blink of an eye.

It was hard for the winery master to hear much of anything as the blood rushed to his ears and his heart thrummed against his ribcage. Adrenaline and fear were so palpable he felt like he could taste it. It felt like forever that the tycoon sat on that forest floor, trying to piece everything together. As much as his mind was in shocked confusion from everything that just transpired, more than that, he felt a sense of urgency. Dread entrenched itself in his soul as the man's words repeated in his head. This was no longer a situation of his parental paranoia, this was a genuine danger to his family—a self-admitted threat. 

Pulling himself up to his feet frantically, Crepus rushed back down the trail path until he found his horse who seemed to be happily sunbathing and grazing on nature, trying to act swiftly but not with so much urgency that he spooked him.

As fast as possible, he remounted the steed and set a path back towards Mondstadt city. Damn the winery and its preparations, Elzer was right when he said someone else could deal with it. He would send a letter to explain everything. But for now, Crepus needed to get back, and he knew who he needed to talk with.

─ ⊹ ⊱ ⭑✧✦✧⭑ ⊰ ⊹ ─

“What do you want?”

“Ah, why the rush? Can’t two siblings just have a catch up now?”

“You’ve never been one for small talk, let alone with how busy I'm sure you are recently. Being one of his majesty's personal advisors surely can’t be an easy job.”

“Oh and how right that is, dear brother. Things are quite hectic as of late. But don’t underestimate yourself either, I can’t imagine adding babysitting to your job description is an easy fit. Hm? Why do you frown-so at that statement?”

“I’m not a babysitter.”

“Aha, maybe not in print. But even our regent majesty was only speaking to me the other day about what good of a job you’ve been doing taking care of his son.”

“If our majesty is so aware of the extra job i’ve been taking on then I’m led to wonder why he is not communicating with me when I try and ask about returning the young lord to his original carers. He deserves the appropriate attention.”

“If looking after our young lord is such a burden on you, I’m sure I could hire a babysitter from the city to take him off of your hands?”

“Surely that’s not a serious suggestion? To hand over the young royalty to whatever person you find in town?”

“Don’t be so silly, I’d make sure they have qualifications to look after children first, of course.”

“And then what? The country is the most politically tense it’s been in years, and don’t even act like you don’t know that. Leaving royalty unattended in the city is just asking for harm to come to him.”

“Aha…”
“...I fail to understand why you’re laughing.”

“It’s just slightly humorous, is all, little brother. You come to me claiming that taking care of such child is not in your job description but you tense up awfully at the suggestion of finding an alternative. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re attached.”
“... My job is strictly professional, to guard the young prince until otherwise ordered. I am simply being active in my duty.”
“Hm, well whatever you say. I do mean it when I say to not get overly attached now, though. Truly I shouldn’t be mentioning a word, but just because we’re such close siblings I’ll let you in on this little secret.”

“...”
“His majesty is not overly optimistic about our current position in regards to our relationship with the nations of Teyvat. I’ve been hearing… whispers, about the involvement of your dear prince in these plans. Oh, come now. Don’t wear such a shocked expression. Afterall, maybe you needed a reminder. You’re not his actual guardian, you know? You don’t get a say in how these plans will turn out. If one day, our majesty orders the prince to be an active participant in the conflict, you have a duty to stay true and assist in getting him involved, no matter your personal misgivings. Alright, Dainsleif?”

“ . . . “

“I understand.”

“I knew you would.”

Chapter Text

Mondstadt had always been a gorgeous city, if he did say so himself.

Flocks of birds nested between houses and sung the songs of old times gone, their tunes carried by the wind across the land. 

In slower moments like these, he always loved to let the cool breeze whisk in through his open window and hear their music. That was, until the sound of a distant ruckus seemed to be ever approaching his office door.

“Hey- you can't-...”

“Varka-!” 

A familiar voice called as his door slammed open, revealing an out of breath Crepus, an almost dangerous panic in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, GrandMaster Varka! We tried to stop him at the door but he just barged through!” Another voice appeared, revealing one of the knights that guards the Ordos doors standing panicked and confused behind him, “He-”

“Woah now, let’s calm down,” Varkas strong voice spoke up, calm and reassuring, as he rounded the side of his desk, “is everything alright, Master Crepus?”

“N-no It’s not,” the masters voice came out in gasps, ignoring the knight that continued to try and placate him, “I need to talk to you now , I can not postpone this, Varka.”

As uncommon as having somebody burst in through your office door was, Varka can’t say this was a first for him. Panicked parents looking to report a missing child with an unnatural urgency, heart broken family members hearing about their arrested relatives, or even on the odd occasion an escaped prisoner looking to yell at him. All of these situations come to the end quite quickly after a few comforting words, allowing the knights to safely escort them elsewhere. 

But this wasn’t any random situation. He and Master Crepus had always been quite close acquaintances and had become quite familiar with each other. And if Varka knew anything about his friend, it’s that the panic reflected in his eyes was not some obscure fear. 

Crepus was genuinely scared.

“It’s alright, return to your station,” Varka nodded to the knight before placing a firm hand on Crepus’ back and gesturing for him to sit down in front of his desk.

With mild reluctancy, Crepus sank into the chair as Varka rounded his desk again to his seat.

The tense atmosphere that was so ramped up slowly dissolved under Varkas careful gaze. “Now , Master Crepus, you have my full and undivided attention now,” he spoke jovially as if Crepus didn’t look like a mad man in his office.

Strangely, Varkas upbeat tone did little to appease the winery owner as he continued on, “Varka please! The knights ball tomorrow- my boys- there’s danger- y-you can’t let them,”

“Master-”

“They’re going to get hurt, he told me he’s a threat and he’s going to-”

“ Crepus .”

Varkas harsh and stern tone seemed to do the trick, snapping Crepus out of whatever spiral he was sending himself down.

“I can’t even imagine what’s got you in such a stress right now, but I can not help you unless you calmly explain to me what’s going on, ok? Who has threatened you?”

For a moment, his only response was silence. As the redhead tried to take a deep breath in and figure out how to explain this.

“I apologise… for being so unkept and abrupt in my entrance, Grandmaster. But it’s just… I believe there has been a man following my family, and I also have reason to believe that he wants to go after my boys.”

Thankfully, Varka had always been the type of man to listen to any of his citizens' concerns. Even when everyone else thought somebody was spouting crazy nonsense and ramblings, Varka was always there to hear them out. No matter the time or day, if he could lend a helping hand he would. Truly, there was no better pick for Grandmaster.

“I see,” he hummed, scratching his beard, “that is quite the concerning issue. Would you mind telling me more, who is he and how is he interfering with your family?”

“He… his name is Dainsleif. I don't know where he comes from or why he's here, but for the last week I've repeatedly found him near my family. In the tavern, finding Diluc whilst he was on patrol to intimidate him, and just now I found the man stalking the winery grounds. He argued with Diluc,  and when I confronted him he only doubled down on it…”

“So he had a verbal confrontation with Diluc?”

“Yes, Diluc came home one day telling me how on patrol he spoke to a lone wanderer who knew who he was, and knew of Kaeya. I don’t know the specifics of what they discussed but Diluc came back incredibly stressed out that this man knew of our family and questioned his worth as captain. Then today, whilst on a journey round the winery I found him standing by the Statue of the Seven and we got in another verbal confrontation that turned physical.”

At that, the Grandmaster raised his eyebrows in shock, “physical? Are you harmed, Master Crepus?”

“I- No, it wasn’t like that- it was..” Crepus paused briefly, trying to hold his tongue before he revealed details of the fight he really shouldn’t have, “ I took a step too close to him and he didn’t seem to like that, he grabbed me by my collar whilst talking and threw me to the ground when he was done.”

“Hm, enough to constitute an assault charge if you wished. Am I correct to say you said he gave some kind of verbal threat alongside this?”

“Yes-! He.. Varka, he told me I couldn’t protect Kaeya from him if he were to try anything. I- I can’t let him hurt him, Varka. I can’t-”

“I understand how stressful this must be for you, Master Crepus,” Varka spoke steadily, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out two small glasses and a miniature whisky bottle, emptying it’s contents into the cups and pushing one towards the redhead, “let’s try and keep our cool now, alright? Now, do you know why he may be targeting your family? Any past grudges or transgressions with this man.”

Reaching out for the whisky glass and taking a large sip, Crepus felt part of his nerves cool as the liquid burned down his throat. Varka had always been close with his family, he was old friends with Crepus’ late wife and was one of the first to meet the newly born baby Diluc. Not to mention he was the first man Crepus called after finding Kaeya out in the drenched storm. Due to this, he was involved in  the search for the father who had abandoned his son. 

Varka was there for it all, to witness the signs of fear and neglect in Kaeya, to see how he flinched at any strong movement from adult men, how he didn’t ever search out comfort from people as if asking for it was an outrageous concept.

Varka knew better than anyone what Crepus thought of Kaeyas biological father , which is why he didn’t speak lightly when he responded.

“I believe this man is an ally of Kaeyas birth father.”

The air in the room sat heavy as the words sunk in, Varka taking a small sip of his glass as he processed that.

“That is quite the predicament… can you be certain this man has connections?”

“I told you, he was threatening my ability to protect Kaeya and I- I just know it, Varka. I can’t explain it but I know that's who he works for and that’s what he’s here for. I came to you because I know he is going to try something and I can’t just ignore it because I don’t have written proof of his intentions! I won’t just wait around until it’s too late and something bad has happened to my boys!”

Varkas gaze reflected a certain level of pity as he watched Crepus lash out. He understood to a certain degree that lashing out may not be the best approach but Archon-damn-it he’s panicking.

“Well, I won’t try to argue a fathers intuition now, and I agree that this is the kind of situation you shouldn’t let simmer til it’s too late, so I agree we should get something done. But what that actually is… I’ll speak with a group of knights about keeping an eye out for this man entering the city. If you provide the description, I can put a warrant out for him to be brought into custody upon sight for the alleged assault on you. We wouldn’t be able to arrest or detain him but we have authority to bring him in for questioning. Unfortunately, this would only be against you and not Diluc, if they only had a verbal spat as you said.”

“I- What about the Knights Ball tomorrow? What if he shows up for that and sneaks in and-”

“The Knights Ball already has organised security, I’ll personally make sure all of them are aware to keep an eye out too and that the man is not permitted inside under any circumstance. Alright?”

Hearing Varka take his concerns seriously began to put something in his heart at ease (alongside the whisky working it’s magic). Once all the Knights on security became aware, Dainsleif could no longer sneak through the city with little care. He could no longer get to his sons without being noticed.

“... alright… I apologise, for such an abrupt entrance, by the way,” the master belatedly apologised, having enough sense to look bashful.

Varka simply responded with a hefty laugh, “ it’s quite alright, Crepus. You know I'm always here for your family. It really is an understandable concern, and I promise you as a friend that I will do my best to keep your family safe. They will be perfectly fine.”

With that, the two whisky glasses slowly emptied.

Chapter Text

“Hm…? I don't remember calling for your presence,” a weak, raspy voice spoke, barely above a whisper.

“His Highness requested I check on you, Your Majesty.”

Her Majesty's face was hardly joyful as of late, thinness seeping into her flesh while her tanned skin took on a paler tone. Her long blue hair was growing more brittle and thin by the day, split ends making it appear frizzy and dry.

The masses were very unaware of this degradation of the Queen's appearance, it was quite a hush secret , mainly kept thanks to her reluctance to go out in public.

A certain sadness seemed to settle in at the words as she turned to face the royal guard, “I see, still doesn't care to visit me himself, then?”

“His highness is preoccupied at this moment in a meeting with miss Rhinedottir, he sends his well wishes.”

“Of course, how foolish of me,” she scoffed, climbing out of her bed and making her way over to the window. It did not elude Dainsleif how she wavered as she stood, her health had been rapidly deteriorating recently , leaving her with little muscle mass to sustain her.

Some days she would be bedridden for weeks at a time , yet her stubbornness never kept her down for long, much to the doctor's dismay.

“Why would he bother entertaining his unwell wife when that oh-so important alchemist is prancing around out there?” She all but stumbled over to the windowsill, leaning heavily on it as she leaned out the open window, “I've got half a mind to publicly accuse her of home-wrecking just for the sake of tanking her reputation. But I doubt that would stop her power craving, now.”

Dainsleif tried his best to not shift awkwardly. This had been happening a lot lately, her majesty lashing out in frustration and sorrow at the growing deterioration of everything in her life. She seemed to place a lot of blame on Rhinedottir, and yet no amount of convincing could get through to her that her husband was not cheating on her. Somedays, Dain felt as if she wanted the cheating rumours to be true, just to at least have an explanation for his distance.

“Your Majesty, I must recommend you stay sitting, you appear to be swaying.”

“Ohh, what does it matter, Dain? Even if I did faint I wouldn't get a visit, let a woman get some fresh air, hm?”

“.... as you wish, Your Majesty.”

For a moment, silence simmered in the room. Dain stood dutifully near the Queen just in case she did begin to collapse, but allowing her the moment she so desperately wished for.

Truly he did feel pity for her. Years ago, she was torn between two lovers, a highly noble knight and a handsomely intelligent mage. After years of the two pining for the Princesses' love, she finally made her choice. The knight had won her over, and thus came the marriage. It was happy for a while, until her pregnancy occurred around the same time tensions between the nation and Celestia began to grow. Her Majesty had fallen ill during the pregnancy and never fully recovered from the toll it took on her , while her husband took over the dominant role as the King and prioritised power and duty over his family. 

Now here she was, by her lonesome. Dainsleif knew she could hardly bring herself to look at her son, even if he had her dark hair and olive skin, she could never quite get over the young prince's eyes. They looked just like his fathers.

“Tell me, Dainsleif,” the Queen gently spoke up, still not looking him in the eye, “why are you here? Usually, you send a subordinate or a maid to check on me, it's rarely our head guard himself. Unless… you have something else to discuss with me.”

He could hardly restrain a flinch as he felt called out. It was true. As guilty as he was to admit it, usually he had little time to check on her personally. The reason he had decided to come himself was the same reason he was yet to leave her to her lonesome.

“I wouldn't dare to ask something of you so presumptuously, Your Majesty…”

A sigh, “I've never much enjoyed all these platitudes when we are both aware you're only loitering to ask something. I'd much rather you get it over with and get on your way.”

“I understand, and I apologise for disrupting you for too long… it was just… the young Prince has been asking to visit you repeatedly, with growing intensity, My Lady. I believe it would do him much good to be allowed to see you for an evening-”

“Of course, I should have known it would be this.” A subtle scowl settled on her eyebrows at this topic, as if all of her previous wistfulness was gone at the mention of her son. “I believe we had this discussion a handful of months ago, Dainsleif. I have no interest in feeding into his clingyness. His father is so insistent on controlling his routine that I don't see why there's any need for me in it.”

“I know, I understand- I just believe the Young Lord is feeling like you're punishing him for his fathers-”

“You shall not change my mind, Dainsleif. Your arrogance and audacity to speak on our family has been growing as of late, don't think I haven't noticed.”

“Your Majesty-” desperation began to seep into the royal guards' tone at the rejection. He had promised Kaeya he would try to get him permission to enter his mothers room, just to speak to her once. His father was growing stricter by the day, and Kaeya had been increasingly missing that maternal presence.

Of course, due to being shut out from his mothers life, Kaeya was unaware of the bitterness and spite that was growing in her heart. He was none the wiser as to why his family was rejecting him in every way. It was tearing the knights heart apart to see it develop in real time.

As his duty to keep the Prince happy, he simply had to try.

“I don't want to hear another word of it, Dainsleif. That's an order.”

His jaw clicked shut at the command. He could hardly hide the displeasure on his face. He knew this was unbecoming of the head of the royal guard, insubordination to the regent family would logically result in demotion from his position.

He should know better. He didn't.

Without waiting for dismissal, Dainsleif bowed and turned away from Her Majesty, “... I shall bother you no longer, My Lady.”

For a moment, she said nothing. It was only as Dainsleifs calloused palms touched the door handle to leave did she speak up once more.

“Do be a dear and tell me, Dain…” she finally straightened her posture, looking over her shoulder as her long hair gently waved with the breeze, “how is Mage Pierro doing, nowadays? He never responded to my final letter to him…”

“... I believe he has found a lady to settle down with, a scholar from the city. She is due in the third month of next year.”

No more words were spoken, only the echoing sound of Her Majesty's bed chambers door closing behind him. It would only be in the late hours of the night that her attendants would claim to hear the gentle sounds of sobs from deep within her room.

┊         ┊       ┊   ┊    ┊        ┊

┊         ┊       ┊   ┊   ˚★⋆｡˚  ⋆

┊         ┊       ┊   ⋆

┊         ┊       ★⋆

┊ ◦

★⋆      ┊ .  ˚

           ˚★

“Captain Dainsleif,”

“Your Royal Highness,” he greeted in polite, lowering himself into a bow.

“I'm glad you came so quick to my summons.” The King strangely praised.

“I… of course, My Highness. I’m at your whim.”

That response seemed to satisfy whatever The King was looking for in Dainsleif, humming in approval before turning to sit at the head of the round table, turning his attentions to the small stack of parchment before him.

“Now, I know there’s quite a bit to discuss on the defensive side. As I hear there have been some issues on the Snezhnayan front… but before we get to that i’d like to discuss a few personal things.”

His Highnesses voice was unwavering as he spoke, pure confidence and self assuredness laced his tone. His face was mature, perhaps too mature for only being in his mid 40’s but it was a role he was willing to fill nonetheless.

He subconsciously scratched his stubble before moving through the paper pile, “I trust you checked upon my wife?”

“Of course, yesterday eve I paid Her Majesty a visit.”

“And has her… state changed much?”

A delicate question. The implications sat heavy between the two men, silently exchanged. It was well established that the Queens mental state had been deteriorating alongside her physical, but speaking such out loud was scorned upon.

“She appears to still be in… some form of emotional distress. She does not rest in bed when she otherwise should be.”

Dainsleif knows she would much beg for him to ask the King on her behalf to please just pay her a visit. To let him know just how much she craves it, and how his absence accelerates her deterioration more and more each day. Dainsleif also knows the King would find it childish.

He bites his tongue.

The King hums as if in contemplation at this before letting out a small huff, “I’ll get the doctor to check on her later,” he hardly sounded concerned before he was quick to move on, “the other thing I wanted to bring up. I’ve been doing alot of contemplation amidst these trying times in our country and as such I've decided Kaeyas previous routine is no longer appropriate for what will be expected of him. “

Dainsleif flinched to attention, taken aback by this sudden statement. “... I’m afraid I’m not aware what changes you mean, My Lord.”

Kaeya was currently already running on a very heavy schedule. A child of his age should really only be taking language and mathematics lessons, maybe the occasional basics of alchemy, alongside a lot of leisure and creativity time. Instead, the young prince had all his leisure time filled with fighting lessons, learning to wield a sword, dagger and melee fighting, alongside ‘practical’ lessons where Kaeya was taken into Khaenri’ahs forests by a teacher to learn things like scavenging and how to survive through nature.

In Dainsleifs opinion, it was already too much.

Across the last few months, as things were getting worse, Dain was noticing Kaeya becoming a shade of himself. His outward enthusiasm, creativity and wonder was only a whisper of what it had been. The royal guard feared any more intensity on the Prince would risk breaking him.

“What I mean is I believe we are in a very unique time, and this causes for very unique changes. I have been discussing with a royal advisor, your brother to be specific, and we have decided that it is going to be a necessity to dedicate a minimum of 21 hours a week to a new form of training for Kaeya. The training lessons will be completely ran by an old companion of mine, and it will specialise Kaeya for the future Khaenri’ah needs of him.”

“My Lord- Prince Kaeya does not currently have 21 hours of spare time in his schedule?” His voice shook.

“Mhm, it is no stress, his language and mathematics lessons will have to be lost. His free periods can also be shortened, Vedrfolnir assures me it will be doable, I trust him to smooth out the details.”

His callous tone, the way he still was not looking up from his papers, it made an itch form at the back of Dainsleifs throat. A small, nagging itch.

The mention of his brother's name brought back memories of weeks prior when he had told him; the King may be planning something with the Young Prince. Planning to get him involved in the conflict.

“If one day, our majesty orders the prince to be an active participant in the conflict, you have a duty to stay true and assist in getting him involved, no matter your personal misgivings. Alright, Dainsleif?”

How stupid he was… he was being warned .

A strange feeling bubbled in his chest, starting low and bitter. Something forbidden and dangerous, the culmination of all his feelings pushed down for the sake of being the perfect guard. Slowly, almost silently, it seared. 

“You’re glaring, Captain.”

“I-”

“Silence.”

…

With rigid and sharp moves, The King stood from his chair, standing to the side and gesturing to the now-empty chair.

“Please, sit.”

Even a second of hesitation was too much, Dainsleif hardly opened his mouth to question before The King snapped again.

“I said, be silent and sit.”

The tension in the air had quickly turned ugly and rigid. Dain cautiously obeyed his commands, for what else could he do?

“Vedrfolnir and I have been having many discussions recently, and it’s come to my attention that perhaps I’ve been quite lenient with you. I’ve always had gratitude for the role you take in watching over my son, sincerely  But it appears you’ve gained a sense of comfortability that’s let you forget that he is my son.” he leaned over Dain, stone cold face not betraying any deeper emotions, “For my own advisor to come to me and tell me that you've been developing some misguided sense of parental responsibility for my child, you can only imagine how appalled I felt.”

That Bastard…! 

Vedrfolnir always had a way to twist words and stories against his little brother to paint him in a bad light, ever since childhood. It was stupid to forget he would go this far.

“Your Highness, if I may…” Dainsleif interjected, desperation hinting on his tone, “my brother has a way of horridly bastardising conversations and interactions. I can assure you, wholeheartedly, that my loyalties lie nowhere except you and your judgement. I couldn't dare to overstep.”

Staying silent, The King simply stared, giving him permission to continue.

“That does not change the fact I shall admit, that I greatly care for your sons wellbeing, yet still,” vaguely , Dain became aware of the bile simmering in his oesophagus, “I feel nothing but patriotic duty to protect the Heir to our glorious nation. My emotions end there.”

Was that the correct way to say it…? It was all Dainsleif could question as the empty air prolonged between them. Trying to keep his rage under wraps, his rage at the routine change, his rage at his brother and even slightly at The King, was pulling at his seams. 

He couldn't view the Kings face from this angle, unable to tell how his words were received.

The Captain could only keep his head down at the stone table before him, vaguely registering that all the paper was turned facing down.

A firm hand was felt cupping Dainsleifs shoulder, its grip assured and heavy. It squeezed.

“It's wonderful to hear you say it, I knew you would.”

Dain wasn't sure if he believed that, he wasn't sure the King believed himself either.

The hand released, reaching forward to turn over a stack of the papers. It revealed what seemed to be a report, detailing a schedule. Dainsleifs fingers twitched under the desk.

“Now that we're on the same page, Captain. Let's get you acquainted with how things will run around here.”

⋆⭒˚.⋆°‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡⋆⭒˚.⋆

He did not enjoy this.

Bones ached, trying to straighten himself only made his muscles seize up even tighter.

He had expected to find Dain waiting for him at his lunchtime training, he knows because he only gets to be trained by Dain once a week. He knows it was today because it's always the highlight of his week.

Why wasn’t he there? 

A different man waited for him, one vaguely familiar. The type of man his father befriended.

He hated how they fought. There was no ease or patience.

He felt confused. 

The man had told him to get used to this, that he wouldn't wait up or guide him through it.

He had asked where Dain had gone. He had got no response.

It hurt. So bad.

The man told him not to cry - it was a waste of time. He had to get over it, for his own sake.

He didn’t want this. He wanted to go back.

Go back to when…? 

He couldn’t remember a time when his parents were happy together. Sometimes, he felt the guilt gnaw at him. Sometimes, he wanted to go back to before he upset his parents' lives. He wanted to say sorry.

Mostly, he wanted these lessons to stop.

Curling up in bed even tighter was meant to make him feel safe.

Why didn't it?