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Klee’s mother knows everything there is to know about Teyvat, and she’s told Klee more important secrets than anyone else ever has, like where to find the best fish-blasting spots, how to get the exact shade of blue of Kaeya’s hair with her crayons, as well as the weight of gunpowder necessary to move a mountain out of the way.
Her mother’s told her many things, but the rest of it she entrusted to Klee through her manuscript, the original copy of Teyvat’s Travel Guide. One day, her mother tells her, when she’s old enough, there will be plenty more secrets for Klee to discover, waiting beyond the gates of Mondstadt.
And Klee, crouched amongst the reeds in Springvale pond, knows that today is the day she’s old enough to discover her first secret.
The secret that the frog in the pond is actually a god.
Klee thinks it’s an ordinary frog at first. She needs it for her latest treasure, blue frogs burnt in blue flames has yet to be tested in her lab, but Klee thinks the results could be good. She wades across the water silently, swiftly! And almost reaches out to grab the frog, but—
The frog vanishes into thin air, and appears a few feet back from where Klee is standing.
“Huh?”
It makes no further move to flee, so Klee crosses the small distance, this time reaching into her backpack for the net she keeps there. With a great, rushing swoop, she brings the net down over the frog, only for it to vanish again, and appear on the closest rock.
Klee knows all about gods. She’s never met one, because Mondstadt’s god is missing, but Klee knows all about them, in theory. There are big ones and small ones, her mother says, and also tells Klee that in a faraway place called Liyue, there are versions of deities known as adepti. They have powers unknown that Klee loves to hear about, beyond elemental visions, and when her mother was still around, Klee would beg for different tales at bedtime each night.
So yes, Klee knows all about gods.
And she knows that this odd, teleporting creature can only be one of two things: an abyss mage, or a god.
She stares at the slimy body of the frog, neither soft nor fluffy, and comes to the obvious conclusion. It isn’t an abyss mage.
“Hello, Mister Frog God,” Klee says with an awkward curtsy, “It’s very nice to meet you. My name is Klee.”
.
The same day Klee discovers the pond god, she is also part of the scouting party that finds the abyss order camp. Although technically, it isn’t so much a scouting party as it is Klee’s great escape attempt.
Klee spends all afternoon with the frog deity, telling it about her experiments, showing it her Vision and asking if it was the one who had given it to her, and shares food from her lunchbox with it.
By late afternoon, Jean has caught wind of Klee’s activities through one of the Springvale inhabitants, and even though Klee has been nothing but a good girl, she decides to leave the pond before Jean can find her.
There’s still plenty to do, after all.
Discovering a god was nice, but Klee needs frogs for her experiment, and it would be a shame to be sent to solitary confinement before she could get the right ingredients.
Jean and Kaeya catch up to Klee along the border of Thousand Winds Temple. Klee’s about to run into the ruins to escape Jean’s wrath, but Kaeya says “Stop!” in such a terrifying voice that Klee’s feet freeze where she stands, without a hint of cryo in the air.
Jean comes up beside them, exchanging a look with Kaeya. To Klee’s surprise, Jean barely looks at her.
“It can’t be,” Jean says. “I was just here a couple of days ago, and the temple was completely cleared out.”
Kaeya nods towards the ruins, stepping up beside Klee and taking her hand in his. “Does that look cleared out to you?”
Klee’s too short to see what they’re looking at, and Kaeya won’t let her move around the column they’re hiding behind. She settles for looking up at Kaeya’s face, at the small furrow forming on his forehead between his brows.
“Barbatos have mercy,” Jean murmurs. “Should we call for backup?”
Kaeya laughs, quiet enough so whatever they’re looking for can’t hear it.
“Jean,” he says, “I’m here, you’re here, Klee is here. What better backup could you possibly find in town?”
Klee’s ears perk up. Every once in awhile, Jean relents and lets Klee on missions, where she gets to blast things to her heart’s content. It’s starting to sound like one of those.
“You’re in a lot of trouble, Klee,” Jean says, instantly recognizing the eager shuffle of Klee’s feet.
Kaeya winks at her, face turned away from Jean so the Acting Grand Master can’t see it. Klee brightens.
“But I was good today,” Klee says, opening her backpack to show them that it’s still full of treasures. “I definitely didn’t blast any fish today.”
Jean sighs, but the contents of the backpack somehow seem to cheer her up.
“I guess you’re right. Let’s clear them out,” She says to Kaeya.
.
Even knowing that Abyss Mages are bad, Klee doesn’t take pleasure in seeing them thrown sky-high in the blast of her explosions. When the battle is over, Klee looks over the wreckage and blinks back tears.
They were so fluffy, and now they aren’t.
Kaeya picks her up in his arms and she doesn’t protest, digging her chin into his shoulder. His fur scarf is soft, and Klee curls her fingers around it.
“You did good, Klee,” Kaeya says gently. “You protected the city and townspeople.”
“I wanted to keep you shielded longer,” Jean says, “But with everything going on now, you have to know that they’re dangerous. Klee, they aren’t friends you can play with, okay? Do you understand?”
“I understand,” Klee mumbles into Kaeya’s scarf.
She doesn’t move from Kaeya’s arms until they reach Jean’s office, and Kaeya sets her down in a chair. Klee’s backpack is light and empty now, only her crumpled illustrations, her mother’s notebook and an empty lunchbox inside it. Klee wraps her fingers around Dodoco.
There’s a knock on the door.
“You called for me?” Albedo’s voice comes from the doorway, and Klee jumps up from her seat. She hadn’t realized that Albedo was back from his travels.
Albedo smiles when he sees her, and Klee suddenly remembers that she never got her frogs. She wanted to show the results of her experiment to Albedo when he got back. Klee kicks her feet back and forth in the air, and looks between the adults, waiting for someone to speak.
“Klee, why don’t you go get something to eat from Good Hunter?” Jean says. “I need to have a word with Albedo and Kaeya.”
Freedom?
No solitary confinement?
Klee is on her feet and running to the door before Jean remembers to ground her.
.
Returning to the Knights Headquarters several hours later with four wiggling frogs in her backpack, Klee stops by Albedo’s office and pokes her head through the door when there’s no sign on the door telling her not to.
Kaeya is there too, and Klee runs up to them, sticking a slimy palm into Kaeya’s face and making him jolt.
“Klee? Where did you go?”
“I caught some frogs,” Klee says, beginning a long-winded explanation of her experiment to Albedo. He listens carefully, asking questions in all the right places, and when Klee is done, gives a grave nod.
“Yes, I do believe your experiment will be very successful,” Albedo says.
“Be sure to only test it outside of the town,” Kaeya adds, not bothering to conceal his slanted grin. “Let me know when you’re finished, and I’ll come see the results with you.”
“Okay!” Klee says cheerfully. She looks down at the table, wondering what they were doing before she arrived. There are papers all over the desk in Kaeya’s handwriting, complete with maps and complicated diagrams. Klee wonders if they’re treasure maps too, like hers.
Albedo gathers the papers into a pile.
“I appreciate the data, Captain. I’ll get started on the tracking potion as soon as I can.”
Kaeya waves off the thanks. “Before you do, how about we grab a bite to eat? I know Klee went to get frogs instead of a meal, and we haven’t had time to catch up since you got back.”
“I wasn’t aware we had much to speak about. I haven’t looked through the details yet,” Albedo says, thoroughly confused.
Kaeya laughs, steering Albedo out the door by his arm.
To Klee’s delight, she gets to spend the evening sitting between two of her favourite people in the world, and even if she has little clue what they’re talking about, it’s a very good end to an exciting day indeed.
.
Albedo doesn’t leave Mondstadt again for awhile.
He explains to Klee that he’s working on a spell for the Knights that will help to track Abyss Mage activity, and the “Experiment In Progress” sign is hanging on the door to his workshop more often than not.
Occasionally, he leaves the four walls of his office and carries out his labwork at the crafting table in the town square, and when he does, Klee takes it upon herself to keep him company. Even though it seems like Albedo barely notices her, she doesn’t mind. She draws in her sketchbook while he works, and this way, neither of them are alone.
Sucrose gets a chair for her after a couple of days, and Klee hardly leaves Albedo’s side after that.
She’s been warned against sneaking out, now that Mr. Fluffball and his friends are stirring trouble outside the city. It’s not just Jean’s orders either, Albedo imparts upon her how important it is to stay within the city walls, and in the brief moments of respite from his work, he sits with Klee and makes sure she’s preoccupied.
When he has the time, even Kaeya swings by, tells Klee how happy he is that she’s staying inside headquarters. He also keeps her updated on the state of her buried treasures, reassuring her that none of the ones she’s hidden have been dug up yet.
While Albedo’s work keeps him glued firmly in Mondstadt, it seems that Kaeya’s does the exact opposite. Klee sees him leave in the mornings and rarely sees him return at all.
The one night she does hear his return, she’s been working late in solitary confinement, building the casing for her newest treasure. Klee hears his boots cross the hallway outside the door, and sticks her head out in time to see him disappear up the stairs.
She barely remembers to turn off the fire at her desk before she sneaks after him.
To her surprise, Kaeya is standing at Albedo’s door, light spilling out from the workshop into the otherwise dark corridor.
“They’re moving too quickly, this isn’t right. I don’t have enough to go on. If you’d let me—” Albedo is rambling, words tripping over one another. Klee can’t see him, but she doesn’t like the way his voice sounds.
“No,” Kaeya says. “There’s no reason for that yet. We tracked a new group of them close to Stormbearer today, I’ll be able to get you fresh energy once we clear them out. That would be useful to you, wouldn’t it?”
Klee doesn’t hear a reply.
Kaeya shifts his weight from one foot to the next, hand resting against the doorframe. “It’s late, you should call it a night. You won’t be able to get much done until I come back tomorrow with the spoils anyway. Besides, Klee’s waiting for you.”
Klee jumps, and Kaeya turns around, smiling.
“Hello, Klee. Hard at work just like your older brother, I see. Why don’t you take him home for the night?”
“Oh, Klee,” Albedo says. He gives himself a shake, the way Klee sees him do when he’s been focused on one thing for too long, and the rest of the world has fallen away. With a slow nod, he retreats into the workshop again, cleaning up the papers strewn across the desk and corking all the open vials.
As the three of them head down the stairs together, passing Klee’s room, Albedo asks, “Did you leave your flame on again, Klee?”
“I did not!” Klee says indignantly.
Kaeya holds the door open for them, and under the shine of the moonlight, Klee finally sees how tired he looks. He has dried mud on the fringes of his scarf, and a faint smear of blood on his jaw.
“Captain,” Albedo says. “You should… too. Rest.”
Kaeya’s responding smile is soft, but bright enough to rival the moon’s glow.
“I will. Goodnight, Klee. Goodnight, Albedo.”
.
While waiting for Kaeya to return to Mondstadt with whatever it is Albedo needs, Albedo offers to help Klee with her project. Klee happily lets them back into solitary confinement and sets her stuff up at the table, the week-old frozen frog legs, the finely ground powder for fireworks, and the shell casing she made the night before that’s cute in all the best ways.
Albedo works in silence, helping Klee to string up the lizard tails by the window to dry. Klee knows better than to interrupt him while he’s deep in thought, so she leaves him to it, humming to herself as she puts the treasure together.
“Klee, does it seem like Captain Kaeya’s been acting strange lately?” Albedo asks, once he’s done with the tails.
“Hmm?” Klee tears her gaze away from the frog she’s toasting, looking over her shoulder at Albedo.
He moves in closer, holding his hand over hers to show her the correct distance from the fire to keep the frog. Happiness bubbles inside Klee when she sees the small blue spark starting to pick up.
“Does Kaeya seem different to you? He’s been hanging around a lot recently, and the way he phrases things sometimes… it’s strange. And there’s the notes too…”
“Is Kaeya leaving you notes?” Klee asks. “He leaves some for Klee too, on the door.”
She points to the drawer of colorful squares beside her painting supplies, where Kaeya’s daily notes fill the compartment, close to overflowing.
“That’s a lot of notes,” Albedo says, approaching the scene with apprehension. He picks up a bright pink one and looks down at it.
“It’s mostly drawings,” Klee says cheerfully. “He’s improved a lot since he started leaving them. But sometimes he tells me to have a nice day, or reminds me what a good girl I am. Does he tell you that you’re a good boy?”
“Ah,” Albedo says, putting the note down. His face is slowly flushing pink to match. “Not quite. Klee, your frog is burning.”
The blue flames work perfectly, and Klee has enough foresight to throw the sparking frog across the room before the whole thing goes out with a crackle and an ominous bang.
.
The very next day, having the ingredients he needs to continue his spell, Albedo returns to the crafting table at the town square, not lifting his head for hours on end. Klee doodles into her sketchbook while she watches him, trying to plan the best way to improve her treasure.
Late-afternoon comes without any signs of Albedo stopping, and the bowl of radish balls Timaeus had brought them a couple of hours ago is empty, without Albedo taking a single bite. Klee sticks a finger into the empty bowl, licking at the fried crumbs that gather on her fingertips.
Before she can decide if she should get more, and maybe this time leave a few for Albedo, Kaeya comes to stand across the crafting table, holding up a plate of pancakes.
“Someone told me you had a sweet tooth. That’s kind of cute,” Kaeya says. “I brought you lunch.”
Albedo stares at him, looking between the plate of food and at the potion he’s carefully working on.
“Thank you, but I can’t take my hands off this. Klee should have it while it’s still warm.” Albedo turns around belatedly, as if wondering if Klee is still around.
Klee peeks out from behind the flowerpots and puts down her sketchbook.
“There’s more than enough for both of you. Look,” Kaeya says, handing Klee a spare plate, proceeding to move half the stack onto it. There’s plenty left on both plates by the time he’s done.
“I… see, but I really can’t eat right now,” Albedo says.
"I wouldn't presume to know the first thing about alchemy," Kaeya says easily. “But if you say you can’t lift your hands, I’ll just have to feed you, won’t I?”
“What? I’m capable of feeding myself,” Albedo protests. His elbow jerks slightly, knocking back into a tray of samples. Still, he doesn’t move his hands, determined to keep working on his potion.
"Yes," Kaeya agrees, "But somehow you never do. Say ‘ah’."
"The shop is just across the street. I can walk over later to get some myself," Albedo says, and Klee looks over at the desperate tone of his voice.
“Chief Alchemist,” Kaeya says, “Just eat the pancakes.”
Klee watches as Kaeya feeds Albedo a small triangle of the fluffy pancake, the way he sometimes feeds Klee when she's too busy making things and her hands are occupied.
Kaeya is good at that, she thinks proudly, helping people out.
But Albedo flushes a bright red and Klee thinks he must choke on the food, because he stumbles backwards and gives Kaeya a wide-eyed look, taking his hands off the very potion that he said he shouldn't.
The whole store goes up in a puff of smoke.
Klee covers her eyes, even though it doesn't hurt, and waves the smoke away. She’s no stranger to small explosions in her experiments.
By the time the smoke clears, Kaeya has placed the fork in Albedo’s hand.
Although Kaeya may be good at feeding people, Albedo isn’t as good at eating the food others feed him. He’ll need to work on that.
“My potion…” Albedo says forlornly.
“…wasn’t going anywhere,” Kaeya finishes. “Don’t think I didn’t see you repeat the exact process three times since this morning without getting any results. Take a break, Sir Albedo.”
Concentration shattered, Albedo cuts into the pancakes without further protest.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” Albedo says, when he looks up to find Kaeya watching him with a satisfied smile on his face.
“You’re a smart man, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“Kaeya,” Jean’s stern voice comes from over his shoulder. “I thought I told you to assist the Chief Alchemist, not cause more problems for him.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kaeya says, and makes a quick escape before Jean can catch him.
.
The day Klee leaves the city walls, she doesn’t mean to.
She’s stayed indoors the entire time and tried her best to be good. The treasure is coming along nicely, and Klee has plenty of new drawings in her room that she’ll need help sticking to the walls once Kaeya is free again. There’s lots to do inside the city, and Klee is sure she’ll find out what those things are one day.
The problem is, when Klee isn’t out blasting fish, her head swims with thoughts of a different kind: of her mother, and how much she wishes Alice would return soon.
Klee’s thoughts are a jumble of her mother, delicious fish, load-bearing points and her mother, again, and when she sees the back of a familiar woman leaving the city gates, Klee isn’t immediately sure what to make of it.
She knows it isn’t Alice, but Klee follows the woman out to the bridge anyway. Her hair reminds Klee so much of her mother’s, and maybe if Klee pretended hard enough, it would look like her mother was setting out for the day, on a little adventure that would take her back to Klee’s side before nightfall.
If Klee could wish for anything…
Klee pauses mid-thought, realization dawning upon her suddenly. She doesn’t know if it’ll work, but she does have someone who will listen.
Chewing on her bottom lip, she looks back towards the Mondstadt gate. She’d promised not to leave, but Springvale isn’t far. If she was quick about it, she would be able to make it to the pond and back before anyone realized she was gone.
The woman at the end of the bridge turns around and smiles at Klee before walking back into the city. Her face is completely unfamiliar, and even though her smile is kind, it makes Klee take a step backwards.
Watching the painfully familiar back retreating once more, Klee hefts her backpack higher and bolts towards Springvale pond.
.
It isn’t quick.
The frog is nowhere to be found, and Klee curls up beside the water, waiting, just five more minutes, just five more minutes. It’ll show up soon.
It doesn’t.
Her mother’s manuscript is in her backpack, and Klee pulls it out, placing it carefully on dry land. Her flowery handwriting is too difficult for Klee to read, the words too many, and Klee isn’t old enough. Klee isn’t old enough to go on adventures with her parents, and she isn’t even old enough to read about the adventures they left behind for her.
With a sigh, Klee sticks the book back into her bag.
A yellow frog comes to rest on her knee, curious about the strange, still, visitor, and Klee gives it a miserable pat on the head.
It’s not the god she’s looking for, but she’s been outside for far too long. The sky is beginning to turn dark, and even though the knights are all busy, she knows that soon, at least one person will start looking for her.
“I wish my mom would come home. I miss her,” Klee says to the non-god frog. “You can’t help me, can you? I wish you could.”
But the frog is an ordinary one, and it leaps away from Klee in fright now that she’s finally moved.
Klee gets up to leave, and at that very moment, the dark sky cracks open into a downpour.
“Oh no,” Klee says, sprinting for cover. There’s a bit of curved rock beyond the pond that lends some shelter from the rain, but wind lashes against her legs, and it’s freezing.
Klee watches the endless ripples that form in the pond’s surface, shaking her head. The rain is too heavy. She could run back to Mondstadt, but her mother’s manuscript would be soaked.
She places it at the very bottom of the bag, beneath all her treasures and art supplies, but even then, it doesn’t seem safe enough. Klee looks up at the sky.
When did it get so dark?
Although not long passes, it feels like an eternity to Klee before she hears someone calling her name. It’s Albedo’s voice, shortly followed by Kaeya’s.
“I’m here!” She says, jumping to her feet. It’s still pouring, and Jumpty-Dumpty sizzles when she dashes out into the rain. She can hardly see through the fog and heavy downpour, but Albedo calls her name again, and Klee shouts louder this time, “I’m here! Brother Albedo!”
Klee sees them appear over the side of the slope, and they both break into a run at the sight of her. Kaeya strides right through the deep puddles and swoops down to pick her up, Albedo close behind.
“Klee, where have you been? Why did you leave? We were so worried—”
“You shouldn’t have gone out like that, Klee, what—”
The rest of their words are drowned out in the rain, but it doesn’t matter. Beneath it, all Klee hears is the relief in their voices, the “Klee, I’m so glad you’re safe”, and she wraps her hands around Kaeya’s back and vows never to do anything like this ever again.
.
The three of them are drenched by the time they return to Albedo’s house, dripping water over the wooden floorboards that Albedo tries to salvage with a too-pretty rug.
Albedo dissolves his shield and places Alice’s manuscript into Klee’s hands, only slightly damp at one corner.
“We’ll see about waterproofing your bag once the Abyss Order business is resolved,” He promises, and Klee gives him a soaking wet hug.
She always has a spare set of clothes in Albedo’s house, and she’s promptly sent off to take a hot shower while she hears Kaeya and Albedo arguing over who gets the other bathroom.
When she emerges from the shower, steam filling the air, the rest of the studio is quiet. She patters out to the kitchen.
Kaeya is sitting at the tiny dining table, damp hair curling around his face. He’s wearing one of Albedo’s looser cotton shirts, the one that Klee singed a small hole in once. There’s a bottle of wine cracked open on the table, and one hand is wrapped lazily around a half-filled glass.
"Are we having a sleepover?" Klee asks.
“It’s still pouring outside, so I guess we are,” Kaeya says, pulling out the other chair so Klee can sit across from him. “Did you know that your brother doesn’t own a single umbrella?”
Kaeya’s house is on the other side of town, but not nearly enough to be too far. If he’d wanted to, he probably could have run for it.
Klee tilts her head and studies him in confusion.
“Klee?” Albedo calls from his bedroom. “Will you come here for a minute?”
He’s sitting on the edge of his bed, still looking uncomfortably wet, but holding a fresh set of folded clothes in his hands.
“Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” Albedo says. “Klee? You know how proud I am of you, don’t you? You know that me— and Kaeya, Jean, as well as everyone in the Knights, you know that we love you, right?”
“Oh. Yes, I know,” Klee says, averting her eyes with a guilty nod.
“I’m sorry we’ve been so busy recently, Klee,” Albedo says.
Klee shakes her head vehemently, shooting up to meet Albedo’s gaze.
“No! I— you mustn’t—” Her words fail her. She’s been lonely, but it’s not Albedo’s fault. She misses her mother, and that’s not Albedo’s fault either. Everyone is doing their best.
Klee will try harder, too.
Without needing any words, Albedo nods, looking at her for a long while. Eventually he stands, smoothing a hand across the folded clothes in his arms.
“Thank you, Klee.”
Klee means to stay up all night with them, because it’s her first time having a sleepover like this, and it’s bound to be exciting! But her eyes get heavier and heavier, and before she knows it, she’s being laid in Albedo’s bed, and someone is tucking the blanket over her shoulders and beneath her chin.
"You're really good with her," Kaeya’s voice says, and the tread of footsteps retreat back to the kitchen.
Klee strains her ears to listen, but she doesn’t make out anything further than the low tones of their voices, conversing quietly in the distance.
And even though Klee misses her mother, she’s reminded that she has other family here in Mondstadt, and it doesn’t feel quite so lonely any more.
.
Klee finishes making her treasure on a clear, sunny, afternoon. She promised to wait for Kaeya before testing it, but she’s sure that it’ll work. The first few ones had been magnificent enough, and Klee put all her love and effort into the final piece, and she’s sure that the explosion will be even grander than the fireworks display at last year’s Ludi Harpastum.
As far as experiments go, this treasure may be Klee’s best yet.
She’s sitting on the desk beside the treasure, still admiring her work when there’s a knock on the door.
Kaeya pokes his head in.
“Are you busy right now?”
Klee shakes her head, brandishing the bomb. “I finished my treasure!”
For some reason, the act makes Kaeya laugh, and he steps inside the room. He makes no move to touch the treasure, but takes a close look at it, bending down to admire the details. “So you have! That’s incredible, Klee.”
“It will be awhile before we can test it, since Jean won’t let me out,” Klee says, “But it’s going to be amazing!”
A thought strikes her. “You should take it, Brother Kaeya.”
Kaeya looks over at her, surprised. “I can’t take this, Klee. Your hard work—”
“You can!” Klee says, pushing it into his hands. She doesn’t miss the way he tenses, but the bomb doesn’t go off. Klee was much more careful this time.
“The explosion is going to be a bright blue, just like your hair,” Klee continues. It was a spur of the moment idea, but now she won’t settle for anything else. “It’ll look really nice if you set it off! And it’s also big enough that I’ll definitely be able to see it from here, so just tell Klee before you use it, and I will wait inside the city to watch, while you go outside!”
Kaeya stares down at the bomb in his hands, bemused.
“Well,” he says, “It’s funny you say that, because I came here to ask you if you’d like to go to Dragonspine with me.”
Klee’s eyes widen. “Dragonspine? Where Albedo is?”
She hasn’t seen him since he packed up and moved to his lab at Dragonspine, claiming he needed the colder temperatures for the final stages of his experiment. Klee will ask to join him one day, when the situation in Mondstadt isn’t so tense. Maybe she’ll try to build a frost bomb instead of a fiery one, and she might give that to Kaeya too.
“What do you say?” Kaeya asks. “We’ll go check on Albedo and maybe test your new creation on the mountain, shall we?”
“Yes!” Klee cheers.
.
The cold wind whips at Klee the second they cross the bridge into Dragonspine. She puffs hot air, beaming at the cloud of white smoke that forms in front of her face.
She’s forgotten how cold it was in the mountains. They’re barely at the base, and Klee’s already shivering, even in the two layers of puffy coats that Kaeya made her put on before they left.
There’s a pile of crystallized snow a few paces away, and Klee bends over to poke a stick into it. Unfortunately, Kaeya grabs her hand before she can light it up and find out what’s buried beneath.
She skips along beside Kaeya as they make their way up, keeping her eyes peeled for a good place to set off the bomb. She hasn’t changed her mind about wanting Kaeya to be the one to use it, and she thinks the icy landscape would make everything look even more incredible. Maybe, if Albedo has finished with his work, he can be convinced to take her to the very peak of Dragonspine.
She lights fires for Kaeya as they walk, and Kaeya squeezes her hand in thanks. He’s looking around too, quiet and wary, but to Klee’s disappointment, there isn’t a single thing to blow up along the way.
“Stay close, Klee. Something’s not right,” Kaeya warns, inspecting an abandoned cooking pot, like the hilichurls who’d been cooking in it had fled abruptly and left their meal to go cold.
Shuffling close to Kaeya for the rest of the trip, she’s near enough to feel him relax as they turn around the bend to Albedo’s lab and catch sight of Albedo’s blond head bowed over his desk.
Kaeya takes a few steps forward and stops.
The workshop is a mess. Every last one of the shelves is broken, and test tubes lie crushed in the dirt, ripped-up pages sitting wetly in the snow. Flasks shattered into fragments of glass glint in the cold sunlight.
Seemingly oblivious to the chaos around him, Albedo continues to work.
Klee tugs at Kaeya’s hand, wanting to go closer.
The crunch of her impatient boots against hard snow finally alerts Albedo of their arrival, and he looks up, blinking several times to take them in.
“Klee? Kaeya?”
“What happened here?” Kaeya asks. He toes broken glass out of the way with his shoe before letting Klee through. It doesn’t make much of a difference though, because the inside of the workshop is even worse than it looked from afar.
Albedo glances them both over briefly. The potion he’s brewing is a deep, vibrant purple, almost glowing in its intensity.
“The Abyss Herald came by last night—” Albedo says, and Kaeya’s face loses all color.
“What do you mean it came by?”
Without looking up from his cauldron, Albedo gestures to the shattered space. “It was hunting, and I guess it was drawn to the lab because of all the Abyss Order energy I’ve accumulated here.”
“Hunting,” Kaeya repeats. Flecks of ice form at his fingertips, and he tucks his hand behind his back.
“Why didn’t you send a message back to Mondstadt? Why didn’t you go back?”
Albedo shrugs. “It didn’t seem important. After it was gone, I managed to get a hold of some of its elemental essence, and I’m almost done with making the exact tracker we need for the Knights.”
“It didn’t seem important?” Kaeya’s voice takes on a disbelieving tinge, and Albedo raises his head, looking taken aback.
“It would have been a waste of time. The potion… I almost have it, Kaeya.”
“The potion, right. Of course that’s more important than the blood all over your clothes.”
Albedo looks down at himself.
“Precisely. It doesn’t hurt anymore, and besides, the cold slowed the bleeding—”
Kaeya spins on his heel and stalks right back out of the cave.
For several long seconds, Albedo stares blankly like he doesn’t understand what just happened. Then he shouts Kaeya’s name louder than Klee’s ever heard him say anything before.
Kaeya doesn’t turn around, and vanishes into the white trees.
“Klee, please go with him,” Albedo says. He looks for another moment in the direction Kaeya had gone, then shakes himself and turns back to the potion.
Klee hurries off after Kaeya.
.
There’s nothing to battle, everything driven away by the Abyss Herald’s lingering presence, and the silence on the cliff is eerie. Kaeya doesn’t say a word when Klee joins him, but he does slow his pace to match hers, walking up and down the side of the mountain with his Vision shimmering brightly at his side.
When the gleam subsides to a dull pulse, Kaeya turns around to face her, smile drawn tight across his skin.
“Let’s go back,” He says, and nothing else.
Albedo is waiting for them in the exact same position they’d left him, the purple liquid now wafting a bitter scent into the air.
“I’m almost done with the potion,” He says carefully, eyes trained on Kaeya’s face. “Give me half an hour, and we can all go back together. If you want to.”
Kaeya’s voice is barely above a whisper, but he says, “I’d like that very much.”
He doesn’t go any closer to Albedo, and moves to sit outside on the ledge, overlooking the snowy landscape, shoulders hunched. Klee stays by Albedo’s side, and he spares her a small smile before suggesting she draw something nice for Kaeya while she waits.
Klee always has emergency crayons and paper in her backpack, so she finds a safe spot to sit inside the wreckage, and starts drawing.
For the next thirty minutes, the cave is completely silent apart from the bubbling of the potion. Every once in awhile, Albedo looks up, glancing over at Kaeya, then Klee, and keeps working.
And then, at long last, he pours the potion into several thin vials, tucks them carefully into his bag, and puts out the fire.
They head back to Mondstadt without further delay, pausing only briefly at the bottom of the mountain for Kaeya to warn the basecamp about the Abyss Herald.
Jean’s in her office when they arrive, the sun just beginning to set in the sky. Albedo hands over the potions with clear instructions on what to do with it, and Jean thanks him profusely for the help. Her eyes flit to Kaeya, standing quietly by the door, and the bloodstains in Albedo’s clothing, and wisely chooses to hold her tongue.
“Klee, why don’t you join me for dinner tonight?” She asks instead, touching Klee’s shoulder.
“Okay,” Klee agrees.
She’s halfway down the steps to the fountain when she remembers the drawing in her backpack.
“Oh no! I’ll be right back!” She calls out to Jean, quickly scrambling in the direction of headquarters.
They can’t have left yet, Klee thinks, running up the stairs to where Kaeya and Albedo’s offices sit, side by side on the second floor. However, Kaeya’s office is empty, and it makes her heart sink. Maybe she can leave the drawing on his desk, and she hopes it’ll make him smile when he sees it tomorrow.
Klee checks Albedo’s office just to be sure that they’re gone, and the door creaks open silently enough that neither of them notice her entering.
“I don’t understand,” Albedo is saying. He’s leaning against the unlit fireplace, staring into the coals, while Kaeya sits at the table, rolling bandages back into a first-aid kit.
“Truly. I’m not trying to make you angry, Kaeya. I just don’t understand why it matters.”
“Of course it matters!” Kaeya says, and cuts himself off. He gives a tired sigh, pressing a palm over his eyepatch. “We’re both a mess, aren’t we? The irony that I’m the one explaining this to you isn’t lost on me.”
He doesn’t speak again, and Albedo turns away from the fireplace to move to Kaeya’s side.
"My prince," Albedo says softly, and Kaeya flinches.
Klee knows about terms of endearments, like the way Miss Lisa calls Klee a sweetheart, the way Mister Diluc sometimes calls Kaeya a nuisance— whatever the word means, it must be nice, because Kaeya always grins when Diluc says it.
Albedo doesn’t use them very often, but once or twice, Klee’s heard him call Kaeya ‘prince.’ Miss Lisa says it’s cute, that it’s old-fashioned the way Albedo is.
But he’s not the first person to give Kaeya that nickname, the woman outside the Favonius Headquarters sometimes calls him that too, Prince Charming. And sometimes Klee thinks, if her big brother is a prince, that makes Klee a princess. And it’s exciting to imagine for a few minutes, but in the end Klee always decides she likes being a knight better.
From the way Kaeya frowns, she wonders if Kaeya likes being a knight more than a prince, too.
“I told you not to call me that,” He says restlessly, getting to his feet.
Turned to the window, silhouette dark against the crimson of the setting sun, Kaeya says, “Let me put it this way. Do you worry when I go out to clear the Abyss Order camps?”
“Of course not. You’re a good fighter and the number of Abyss Mages sighted per camp isn’t nearly enough to cause trouble for you,” Albedo replies at once.
Kaeya gives a quiet laugh. “That’s flattering in its own way, I suppose. Let’s talk about this at my place, okay? I’ll make dinner.”
He blinks, and Klee realizes that he’s noticed her reflection in the glass.
"Klee? I thought you left.”
“I drew something for you.” Stepping into the room, Klee holds out the drawing to Kaeya from across the desk.
It’s her, Kaeya, and Albedo, all holding hands, standing on an icy hill beside the dragon that Albedo tells her bedtime stories about. Klee drew herself the biggest, bigger than all of them, even the dragon, because she is going to grow up strong and big and protect everyone, and make sure Kaeya doesn't have to worry about Albedo going to Dragonspine alone ever again.
"Oh. Klee, that’s…" Kaeya says, seemingly speechless. He turns away briefly, and Klee worries that she’s done something wrong, but a second later, he moves around the desk and wraps his arms around her.
Albedo folds his palm over the top of Klee’s head, gentle.
"How about we all go together next time?" He suggests. "Then we can look after each other."
.
With Albedo’s tracker complete, the Knights leave in full formation every morning, returning only after the sky has turned dark at the edges.
Klee catches glimpses of Kaeya, hears the familiar tap of his boots, sees the tail end of his hair vanishing around the corner, and somehow, never ever manages to get him in person.
Done with his task for the Knights, Albedo wanders the halls absently, starting new projects at the crafting table that he can’t seem to focus on. He draws the same thing over and over again in his sketchbook, three lines of an abstract face, without any features on it.
Klee fills them in for him, giving the round heads Kaeya’s blue hair and broad grin, and Albedo exhales softy when he sees them.
It’s not until Klee falls asleep on Albedo’s couch that she finally catches Kaeya for more than a second. She’s lost in sweet dreams, thinking about tasty fish and fast frogs, and stirs lightly when she feels someone drape a blanket over her.
“It’ll all be over in a few days,” Kaeya’s voice murmurs. “We immobilized the last known camps of the Abyss Order this evening, and the Herald will be forced to face us directly. I doubt it’ll be alone, but we won’t be, either.”
Klee misses Albedo’s response, but the floorboards creak as Kaeya steps away from her.
“I know. I promise,” Kaeya says.
.
Kaeya goes missing on Thursday. The worst part about being young is that when bad things happen, no one tells Klee about it, and Klee spends two days in blissful ignorance, drawing rabbit-ear paintings of the Traveller fighting squiggly-bodied hilichurls.
She’s taping her remaining frog atop the third painting, the one where the Traveller is underwater, when she hears Jean return to her office. Bored, Klee follows her into the room, clutching the frog-painting to her chest.
“Klee, I’m sorry,” Jean says. “Now isn’t a good time. Why don’t you make something fun in Albedo’s lab?”
That’s the first sign that something is wrong. Jean always suggests that Klee draws, or reads, never that she makes things. Jean also knows that Albedo’s lab is off-limits when he isn’t around.
“Albedo isn’t here,” Klee says. “Neither is Kaeya.”
Jean’s expression turns pained. She opens her mouth to speak, but the door of the office is flung open, and several knights pour into the room, one after another, all talking at the same time.
“Not a trace around Starfell—”
“The longer we wait—”
“—who can track Captain Kaeya, is the Captain himself—”
“Signs of Abyss Mages returning around Stormbearer—”
“— no way to know if Captain Kaeya is still alive—”
Jean’s face goes white, and her gaze shoots sharply towards Klee.
The knights fall silent, finally realizing that there is someone else in the room with the Acting Grand Master.
The picture in Klee’s hand slides out from her grasp and hits the floor with an odd splat.
“What does that mean? Did something happen to Brother Kaeya? Is he okay?”
Jean doesn’t reply, and Klee is young, but she isn’t stupid. If Jean can’t reply, it’s because she doesn’t know. Doesn’t know where Kaeya is, if he’s alright, if he’s safe.
Klee stares at the frog taped to the painting on the ground.
The frog god. Klee has to talk to it.
It’s the only one who will know.
“I need someone to take me to the Springvale pond,” Klee announces, and the request is so uncharacteristic and abrupt, that the terrible look on Jean’s face turns to a confused one instead.
“I need to go to Springvale,” Klee repeats urgently, picking the drawing off the floor. “And I know I’m not allowed to go out by myself, so I need someone to take me. Right now.”
It must be the relief from Klee not bursting into tears that Jean gives a slow nod.
“Sir Athos,” She says, “Please escort Klee to her destination and return within the hour.”
The knight in question gives a sharp salute.
“Klee,” Jean says, “I’m sorry. Please don’t worry. I promise we’ll find him.”
Klee nods, already starting out on her own quest.
“Don’t worry,” She calls out behind her, full of determination. “I promise I’ll find him, too.”
.
The asters around the lake pinwheel with enthusiasm as Klee approaches, dull yellow reeds swaying in the breeze alongside. Klee grabs the wrong frog twice and lets it loose again, all the while calling desperately for the god whose name she doesn’t know.
“I couldn’t ask for your help the last time,” She says, cupping both hands to her mouth. “But I need you. Kaeya needs you. Please!”
If Knight Athos thinks it weird, he doesn’t show it.
He also doesn’t notice when a frog materializes out of thin air onto a rock several feet in front of Klee.
Klee stumbles and tips into the water with a noisy splash.
“Mister Frog God!” She says, pulling herself upright. “I need your help!”
The frog remains completely still as it listens to Klee’s troubles, and Klee wrings the edge of her dress anxiously when she’s done. Water drips from her the lace of skirt onto the muddy bank.
“You can help, right? Brother Kaeya made a promise, we still have so much to do together,” She says, and suddenly her eyes are filling with tears. Klee doesn’t think gods are so easily moved by tears, but they drip from her face anyway, despite her best attempts to scrub them off.
By the time Klee gets a handle on her tears, the frog is gone.
Knight Athos is holding a borrowed towel for her when she climbs out of the pond. Freshly dried off, they head back to Mondstadt, and Klee doesn’t say a word the entire time. She doesn’t know if it worked. She wishes she knew other gods. She wishes she could do more.
They’re nearing the road leading up to the bridge when a man Klee doesn’t recognize runs up to join them, huffing for breath.
“Sir Knight!” He says, in between pants. “Are you going back to Headquarters? Can you help pass a message to the Acting Grand Master?”
“Yes, of course. What is the message?”
The man rubs his hands together nervously. “I know the Knights have a lot on their plate right now… but my wife insisted I let Master Jean know immediately. I was mining ores at the far end of Stormterror’s Lair earlier today, and on my way back, the ground rocked as if there was an earthquake.”
“An earthquake? There hasn’t been an earthquake around Mondstadt in centuries,” Athos says.
“I swear it happened. The whole place shook, and I was afraid it would collapse on me, but after a few seconds, everything was calm.”
“Was it the dragon?” Athos presses.
The man shakes his head. “That’s what I thought too, at first. I looked up at the sky, but there was no dragon! It looked almost like fireworks. Blue fireworks, in the sky.”
Klee’s mouth falls open.
“It’s Kaeya!” She shouts, startling both the miner and the knight. She trips over her own feet but rights herself immediately, taking off in a run towards the city, ignoring Athos’ shouts for her to wait.
Klee has never run so fast in her life.
By the time she reaches Jean’s office, the ties in her hair have come loose, and Dodoco is swinging wildly on her back. There’s a visitor standing across from Jean, and for the first time, Mister Diluc is exactly the person Klee wants to see.
“Someone saw Kaeya!” She says, and both Jean and Diluc stiffen. “That’s my treasure that I gave to him! The blue fireworks! You have to go get him!”
Jean takes her firmly by the shoulders. “What are you talking about, Klee?”
“A man saw my fireworks in Stormterror’s Lair! The blue ones that I gave to Brother Kaeya! He has to be there, I know it! You can go save him!” Klee says, grabbing onto Jean’s hands.
“Where is the man?” Diluc asks, striding towards the door and yanking it open. The action reveals two disheveled men standing right outside.
In his surprise at Klee’s reaction, the miner who’d only wanted to pass along the message had come the entire way to Jean’s office. Diluc seems to guess who he is, and grabs the man as though he can physically shake the details out of him.
“They won’t know what’s hit them,” Diluc hisses, once the miner has finished talking. They’re still miles away, but he’s already drawn his weapon, and both Sir Athos and the miner take a terrified step back.
“Klee, you have to stay here,” Jean says, and they’re both gone before Klee can blink.
.
Time seems to drag on forever while Jean and Diluc are away. The few knights at headquarters don’t seem to know what to do with a forlorn Klee, and Klee eventually hides herself in Kaeya’s office to keep them from worrying about her.
She’d tried waiting with Barbara in the cathedral, watching as Barbara prepared the infirmary at the back of the church, but after awhile, Sister Victoria had noticed and sent her away, mouth drawn shut in a tight line.
So Klee is sitting on Kaeya’s chair with her head tucked between her knees, when the news of their return reaches her.
“Someone said they had Captain Kaeya with them! They headed to the church,” Wyratt reports from outside the door. “Spark Knight, are you in there?”
Klee bolts out the door.
“Yes, I’m in here!” She answers, even though she no longer is.
She doesn’t remember anything of her trip to the cathedral, but she manages to yank the heavy doors open and tumble inside, and the first thing she sees is Diluc, sitting in the front row of the church, cleaning blood from his claymore.
“Where’s Kaeya?” She asks, running over on instinct and stopping a few steps away from him.
“Inside with Jean and Barbara,” Diluc says. He looks at Klee, like he’s not sure what he should say, and eventually beckons her to come closer. “He’ll be alright, Klee. We found him in time, thanks to you.”
Klee’s not sure what that means. She hadn’t done anything except give Kaeya the treasure. Kaeya had done all the work setting it off, and Jean and Diluc had been the ones to find him.
Still, she smiles when Diluc spares her one, because of how rare the sight is.
“They won’t let you in for awhile,” Diluc says, nodding towards the infirmary. “Walk with me to Angel’s Share? I’ll get you some juice.”
Klee glances at the closed door, hesitating.
“Kaeya is fine, I promise. He’ll probably like it better if you waited until he was all cleaned up before seeing him too,” Diluc says.
He’s not wrong. Klee knows that Kaeya gets hurt in the line of duty every once in awhile, but the times she’s actually seen it are few and far in between. If getting juice with Diluc and waiting to see Kaeya will make him happy, then Klee can do that.
“You’re sure he’s okay?” Klee asks, looking up at Diluc.
“He is,” Diluc confirms, and there’s something strange in his voice when he says what he does next, “Your brother is really strong, Klee. You don’t have to worry.”
.
Worry Klee does, all the same. Diluc gives her a mug of cold grape juice and sits her down by the door where he can keep an eye on her, and Klee watches the ticking of the seconds on the old clock on the wall, waiting a full hour before she hops out of her seat.
When Klee lets herself into the cathedral, Barbara is the only person in sight, back turned towards Klee as she scrubs something off the tiled floor.
Klee inches past her, sneaking towards the room that she’s only visited once before, when Jean had fallen ill. Albedo’s boots are outside the door, beside a single, mangled shoe that Klee barely recognizes as Kaeya’s.
Leaning forward to peek through the keyhole, it takes a moment of angling before Klee spots where Kaeya is leaning half-upright in the infirmary bed, blue hair loose around his shoulders.
Albedo’s standing by the side of the bed, hands clenched around the bedframe.
“Aren’t you going to say something?”
The bed squeaks as Albedo sits at the edge of it. “You were gone for three days. I went back to Dragonspine and tried to make something that would find you, but with the lab wrecked, I couldn’t do anything. I thought you weren’t ever coming back. Is that what you want me to say?”
“I… don’t cry, please.”
Albedo huffs. "I’m not crying.”
“You certainly look like you’re crying. Is that for me?” Kaeya asks in wonder. Albedo's head dips lower, and a bandaged hand lifts to cup his cheek, finger outstretched to brush away whatever tears he finds on Albedo’s face.
"Don’t,” Kaeya murmurs. “I’m not worth crying over.”
Silence sits for a pause, heavy in the air between them. Kaeya’s hand falls to his side.
"You’re worth the whole world," Albedo says fiercely, and leans in to press his lips against Kaeya’s.
.
"Klee, why are you standing there? Aren’t you going in?" A voice says, and Klee jumps. She backs away from the keyhole, seeing Jean standing in front of her with one hand on her hip.
Klee thinks about the small glimpse she caught of Kaeya, the stark white bandages running up and down his arms. He’s hurt, but he’ll be okay. Everyone who’d promised Klee that he would be fine had been right.
Klee has seen enough, for now. Somehow, pushing the door open seems like the wrong thing to do.
She shakes her head in response to Jean’s question.
Jean is looking down at the boots by the door. "I see. Why don’t you stay over at my place tonight? Miss Lisa left some new books in my house that you might like."
Sometimes, Jean isn't so scary. Miss Lisa always has good taste in books, Klee wonders what they are.
Klee spares a lingering look behind her at the closed door, and trots after Jean, footsteps light.
.
It's a few days before Kaeya comes by Klee's room, smiling from ear to ear. She’s seen Albedo plenty of times since Kaeya’s return, who comes by with sweets and goodies at random times of the day, and apologizes for leaving without telling Klee about it first.
“It’s okay,” Klee says. “I know you were looking for Kaeya.”
She wraps her hand around Albedo’s gloved palm and smiles up at him. “I was looking for him too, in my own way. When Brother Kaeya gets better, let’s go to Springvale! I have something I want to show you.”
Klee wonders what sorts of offerings the pond god would like. She draws illustrations of frogs for the frog, realizing a bit too late that she doesn’t know how to, and draws some fish instead. She makes another treasure, much smaller than the one Kaeya had used, since she’s all out of gunpowder.
And when Kaeya finally comes to her, sticking an orange post-it on her door before letting himself in, Klee throws herself at his legs.
“Are you okay now? Does it still hurt?” She asks, nudging her head against the hand that comes to rest in her hair. She tugs at his other, still heavily-bandaged arm and frowns. He’s not wearing his gloves, or any of his uniform, for that matter. Klee knows he no longer has his boots.
But Kaeya doesn’t seem to care about any of that.
He crouches down beside Klee, squeezes both her hands in his and says, “There you are, my brightest Klee. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you I was going to use your fireworks, but you were right. They were really, really pretty.”
Klee’s so happy the room seems dazzling. She beams, throwing her arms around his neck. Kaeya stumbles a little, surprised by the gesture, but when his knee meets the floor he regains his balance easily enough.
“Don’t be sorry! I’ll make more next time!” Klee reassures him.
She spots Albedo standing by the door, and the day gets even better.
“Klee,” Albedo says. His hand is steady around Kaeya’s shoulder as he pulls him to his feet. “Shall we go to Springvale today?”
.
It takes awhile to track down the frog, Klee splashing water all over the place, and accidentally treading on some calla lilies. Kaeya sits at the edge of the pond, running a hand through the cool water while Albedo helps Klee hunt, not having the faintest clue what he’s looking for.
Klee finally spots the blue frog, unobtrusive and simple, looking up at Klee with the usual blank look on its face.
"There it is!" Klee says.
It doesn't do anything noteworthy, hopping around the lake with the idle superiority of an all-powerful god. Klee thanks it anyway, briefly pulling Kaeya over to introduce him, before laying out her offerings in a row, and burying the treasure that she made for it in the grass a few steps away from where its sitting.
When she’s done, Albedo continues to stare at the frog, head cocked, his brain whirring so loud Klee can hear it.
Klee returns to where Kaeya is sitting and flops down beside him, backpack flung to one side. Dodoco hits the water with a sad plop and Kaeya fishes him out for her with a long twig.
It’s the nicest day of the year yet, the warm sun offset by a cooling breeze, and Klee couldn’t have planned a better day to show her brothers a god.
"You believe me don't you, Kaeya?" Klee asks.
"Of course I do." He's looking at Albedo, who’s standing in the shallow water with his pants rolled up to his knees, still considering the frog with a perplexed look on his face.
A smile pulls at the ends of Kaeya’s lips, and he’s soft as melted butter when his uninjured hand reaches out to tug on Klee’s hat fondly.
"That's the thing about miracles," Kaeya says, "Sometimes you find them in the most unexpected of places."