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1.
“Welcome to Mondstadt.”
Albedo’s earliest memory of Rhinedottir is of her telling him stories. She had a way with words, wielding them the same way she did Khemia, sculpting her sentences and spinning together details with an ease that dazzled him.
She spoke of Mondstadt often. “Don’t underestimate the City of Wind,” she’d say, face illuminated by the light of a campfire. “Barbatos might be a kind Archon but he’s far from stupid. Mondstadt is built on the bones of revolutionaries.” A sip of her drink. “Nothing is as it seems over there.”
He understands what she means when he gets to the city. The atmosphere is almost unsettlingly carefree, with a scarcity of soldiers and a fondness for a drink, but Albedo notes how it’s nigh impossible to get inside if not through the front gates. One entrance and one exit.
Something is unnerving about the place. Everyone smiles as he climbs the stone steps and three soldiers stop him all eager to offer their assistance. With what, he’s not sure. He feels like someone’s watching him.
Maybe it has to do with the facades and falsehoods that laden every corner. Maybe it starts and ends with the man bowing before him.
“I hope your journey here wasn’t too troublesome,” Kaeya Alberich says, looking at him with an eye touched by forbidden stars.
Nothing is as it seems indeed. “It was fine,” Albedo replies. He is stricken, his mind flipping through all of his stories because his master warned him of cursed dragons and lost civilisations but not of this, of a beautiful boy with venom laced into his words. He can feel the Assistant Grandmaster, Jean he thinks her name is, looking with interest at them both.
“Could I have the pleasure of having your name?”
“Albedo.”
“‘Albedo’”, he repeats, emphasising the first syllable as it was intended. “Such a lovely name. You can call me Kaeya. I look forward to working with you.”
“Likewise.”
Kaeya’s eyes drift to his neck. “You are not the first outsider within these borders,” he continues, but Albedo can scarcely hear him. “The city welcomes everyone with open arms and is a home to those who wish it to be.” There’s a threat in there somewhere. Choose to be a child of Mondstadt, or else.
Kaeya smiles at him, as fake as the mirth in his voice, and Albedo matches it with a smile of his own.
“I’ll leave myself in your care then,” he replies. Kaeya’s face flashes.
2.
Mondstadt is smaller than he expected.
While travelling with Rhinedottir she took him across the entirety of Teyvat. Sumeru overwhelmed him with its endless deserts and countless labyrinths while Inazuma left him awestruck with its natural flora. His new home, comparatively, is not as aesthetically pleasing as the other nations, but what it lacks in decor they make up for in secrets.
The walls have loose tongues and Albedo learns of Mondstadt’s hidden protectors, a dark-clad hero who enacts justice amidst a curtain of flames, a pale-skinned nun more familiar with a dagger than a prayer book. He assumes they do more for the city than the many foot soldiers who hold a sword like they’re scared of it.
Kaeya Alberich, he learns, is at the centre of it all, taking on missions from Varka that not even Jean knows about. He disappears for days on end before returning, looking haggard but satisfied, a wolfish edge tainting his smile. Those are when you are more likely to find the captain at the tavern than in his office, charming thieves and hoarders alike, offering drink after drink and collecting secrets in return.
Albedo can’t deny his curiosity. He burns with an interest that surprises even himself. Often he gets possessed with the urge to ask someone, anyone, about what drives Kaeya away from the city so often, about meetings that can never happen in the light of day. He doesn’t know who to ask and he’ll be damned before he asks the man himself but Archons does he want to know.
‘Kaeya always gets what he wants’, is what everyone says. ‘Once he sets his eyes on you there’s nothing you can do to escape.’
Albedo wonders what it’ll be like to have that attention on him.
3.
Albedo settles in quickly, adjusting to his new role with minimal effort. Everyone gives him a wide berth but it doesn’t bother him much. Makes it easier to concentrate on his tasks.
Then, on a day as ordinary as any other, Kaeya pays him a visit.
“Why, if it isn’t the elusive Chief Alchemist.”
Albedo glances up from his work, meeting Kaeya’s gaze from across the room.
He looks almost the same as when he first met him, the typical knight’s uniform decorated with accessories and trinkets that on another person would look ridiculous but is at home on Kaeya. All exaggerated and loud and distracting. A sword sits at his hip, his hand resting lightly on the hilt.
A part of Albedo is concerned about not hearing him enter. He pushes down the unease.
“Good day, Sir Kaeya,” Albedo greets, bowing his head slightly. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
Kaeya crosses the room with a few long-legged steps. He picks up sheets of paper from the desk before him and observes their contents absent-mindedly. It’s all an act, Albedo knows, just feigning casual, but it does its job of irritating him.
“Easy there, I’m not doing anything.” Kaeya smiles, baring his teeth, and it’s unsettling, just a touch too wide, like a predator about to play with his food. “Can’t we just hang out, captain-to-captain? We haven’t had a chance to chat.”
Albedo frowns and puts down his pen. He stands straighter, looking Kaeya in the eye. “What reason would we have to talk? We don’t know each other. And please,” he adds, eyeing the precarious way his research dangles from Kaeya’s fingers, “stop touching my things. My work can be dangerous – I don’t need you blowing up the lab.”
Kaeya leans forward slightly. “Why don’t you tell me what I’m allowed to touch, hm?”
Albedo resists the urge to step back. “That would be unnecessary. I prefer working alone.”
This sparks a laugh from the man, sharp and bright and piercing the space between them.
“So blunt! One could even call it cruel.” Kaeya flays his fingers across his chest in mock dismay. It draws Albedo’s eyes to his bare skin, and he very deliberately doesn’t stare. “I’m simply a lowly knight, trying to sow the seeds of friendship and camaraderie, only to have my hopes dashed by the cold, cold alchemist.” He pouts. “Why are you being so mean to me?”
Albedo’s ears ring. This is the Kaeya he’s seen around the city, the one who makes mere conversations a battlefield, whose words are layered with intent and traps that make his head spin. He could punch him.
“If you have nothing important to do,” Albedo says, taking the papers from Kaeya and arranging them neatly on the desk, “feel free to see yourself out.” Albedo tilts his head towards the door. “Unlike you, I have work to get done.”
Kaeya clicks his tongue, and for a second Albedo worries whether he has genuinely offended him. “Now that’s a pity,” Kaeya drawls, disappointment dripping from his words like unsweetened honey. “I’m not ready to take my leave just yet.”
It happens in less than a heartbeat. There’s a familiar sound, of metal against metal, and Kaeya’s sword is against his throat. Albedo stills.
“Let’s cut the bullshit, okay?” A soft smile sits on Kaeya’s lips.
The temperature in the room drops, though Albedo can’t tell if that’s just in his head or is a result of the gem on Kaeya’s belt. The sword’s edge is sharp and rests lightly against his neck, splitting his star perfectly in half, and Albedo knows that if he moves even an inch it will cut him. There will be no blood and it will not hurt but the dust that would coat the blade is more damning than any wound.
Kaeya is close. Albedo can count his eyelashes.
Kaeya cocks his head to the side. “You’re awfully calm given the situation.”
His heart pounds in his chest, fake though it is. “Forgive me. Would you like me to scream? I can be quite convincing.”
“Oh so he has jokes,” Kaeya says. The smile drops from his face. “What business do you have in Mondstadt?”
You have really nice lips, he thinks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kaeya barks out an empty laugh. It’s different from the one earlier. “Don’t be coy,” he says. “You’re a smart man. You can’t expect to waltz around with that thing on your neck and expect no one to say anything.”
Ah, so that’s what this is about. Albedo’s voice is dry and purposefully bland when he speaks. “It’s a birthmark.”
“I thought I said to stop it with the bullshit,” he snaps, applying pressure to the sword. Albedo considers wincing but thinks better of it. “Are you here for me?,” Kaeya demands, eyes narrowed into slits. “Why now, of all times? You can tell whoever sent you that I have no business with them anymore.”
Fear. An interesting emotion, though he wouldn’t necessarily associate it with Kaeya Alberich. Albedo likes seeing it on him.
“Stop whatever it is you’re imagining,” Albedo says, because he’s not here to babysit Kaeya’s feelings. “I came to Mondstadt of my own accord,” a lie, “and I honestly didn’t expect someone like you to be here,” a truth. He raises an eyebrow. “You’re the spy, not me.”
It was a guess but his words hit home. He can tell by how Kaeya’s body freezes, how the sword slackens against his skin, the weapon now useless in his hand.
“Watch your mouth,” Kayea replies, but it’s a weak retort.
“No, you watch yours.” Albedo’s voice starts to shake. “You come into my office, wave a sword in my face, and accuse me of things without proof. Guess what?” Albedo leans forward and relishes in the way Kaeya stumbles back. “This star you hate so much? You’re completely covered in them. Will I find another underneath that eyepatch of yours?”
Cryo has accumulated in the air around Kaeya. His exposed eye is wide.
“What exactly are you trying to achieve?” Albedo presses. “Because it looks like you came here to insult me and nothing more. My only crime is being from Khaenri’ah, but you can’t explain that to anyone without incriminating yourself.”
“How dare you-”
Albedo cuts him off. “I asked nicely before. I’m not asking now.” He uses a finger to toss the sword aside. It falls to the floor with a clang. “Leave my office.”
Kaeya stands there uselessly, arms dangling at his sides, looking smaller than his height would suggest. Albedo almost feels sorry for him. Almost. But in this strange city with its strange customs and strange men who hate the star that gave him life, the very star that unites them in a world that sought their demise, all Albedo has to cling to is the familiar. It keeps him tethered. He will not have that vilified.
They stand, face-to-face, two men that should not be living in the City of Wind, defying Celestia and all that it stands for, and Albedo wonders if this is what Rhinedottir envisioned when she sent him here. He wishes he could ask her.
“Okay.” Kaeya’s voice is softer than earlier, like all the fight has drained out of him.
He takes a few steps back, and Albedo feels like he can breathe again. Kaeya bows. “Apologies. My reservations aside, you should not have had to bear the brunt of my… curiosity.” He raises his head and smirks, the gesture as audacious as can be. “I’m sure you understand.”
Albedo watches him, unamused. “I thought I asked you to leave.”
“Right.” Kaeya straightens. “May the winds accompany your journey.”
He says it off-handedly, with no malice attached, but it still rubs Albedo the wrong way. He is not of Mondstadt. “And shall the moon light your path,” he says in Khaenri’ahn.
Kaeya bristles. He nods, short and curt, then hurries off.
4.
Midday at the headquarters means the absence of most of the knights. Expeditions have been assigned and everyone is off completing whatever task they have for the day.
Albedo, whose main job concerns creating potions to aid the knights and occasional adventurers in their expeditions, doesn’t have to engage in fieldwork often. Occasionally he does leave the city to forage for materials, and even then it doesn’t take him out of his office much.
Most of the Ordo are still unfamiliar with him. He doesn’t blame them, not really, but anytime he chances on them they tend to make up for the awkwardness with overly bright tones. All it serves is to give him a headache, so he tries avoiding them when he can.
Now the sun has reached its peak in the sky and he’s free to deliver his weekly report to Jean.
He leaves his room, makes his way over to Jean’s office, and stops just short of her door. It’s left slightly ajar. He’s about to raise his fist and knock when he hears voices filter through the gap.
“There’s just something so off about him.”
He hears Jean’s tell-tale sigh. “You say this every other day Kaeya.”
Kaeya? Albedo hasn’t seen him since their… impromptu meeting. Not that they were best friends before, but usually he’d at least catch sight of him throughout the day. Though, if he’d pulled a stunt like that he’d avoid the other person as well. Now he exists in shadows around corners and in flashes of blue at the corner of his eye.
“But it’s true!” Albedo can almost see him tossing his hands in the air. “He’s a practical stranger yet got promoted to Chief Alchemist in an instant. With a recommendation from Alice?” Kaeya scoffs. “No one’s seen her in months! And Varka made him Captain of the Investigation Team. Do you know how much information he has access to with that title?”
Oh, Albedo realises belatedly. They’re talking about me.
“Those are some serious accusations you’re making.”
“I think they are warranted.”
“You know more than anyone that that’s not enough.” He imagines her rubbing the space between her eyebrows. “I agree that there is some cause for concern regarding Albedo’s origins, but so far he hasn’t done anything to raise any alarms. Are you sure you’re not just being paranoid?”
“When am I not paranoid? You usually appreciate that side of me.”
“Yes. When you have evidence to back it up.” She pauses here. “Honestly Kaeya, you know I trust you, but you have to give me more than ‘he seems off’.”
No one speaks for a moment. Albedo assumes the conversation is over and is about to enter when Kaeya starts again.
“I think he’s dangerous.”
Albedo freezes.
“Dangerous?”
“You heard what I said. That alchemy of his is weird. I visited him and he basically said that he has enough stuff in there to blow me up. That’s a threat if I’ve ever heard one.”
“Wait, back up, what do you mean by ‘visited him’.”
“That’s not important.”
The word echoes through him. Dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous.
“Kaeya.”
“Okay! Fine! I might have interrogated him just a little bit-”
“You can’t just do that!”
“Well I’m sorry, but when he eventually decides to fuck off and destroy the entirety of Mondstadt I don’t want to hear jack shit about-”
Albedo knocks on the door. His fist is shaking.
The conversation stops abruptly. A few tense seconds pass before Jean asks him to come in.
Albedo enters.
Kaeya is sitting on a couch in the corner with his posture deceptively relaxed. Jean sits at her desk in the middle of the room with guilt written on her face.
“Ah Albedo,” she says, and her tone is unbearably awkward. “You wanted to see me?”
“It’s nothing much.” He walks up to her and hands her the documents. “Here’s my report for the week. I was successful in finding a way to double the output when crafting weapon materials. You can drop by my lab later if you want to test it firsthand.”
“That was,” she flips through the report, “incredibly fast. Good job.” She smiles at him, and this is more genuine. “Thank you for your work. I’ll be with you after I’ve looked this over.”
Albedo nods. He turns, about to leave, when he pauses. He faces the man in the corner. “A good day to you, Sir Kaeya.”
“Likewise,” is the one-worded reply.
Well, that’s that then. Albedo leaves the room, all but slamming the door behind him.
“Do you think he heard?”
“My god Jean.”
5.
“This technique,” Albedo explains, crafting another wolf tooth, “is more efficient than the one typically used. Materials are hard to source for so we must make the most out of what we have.”
“That’s amazing Mr Albedo!”
“Just Albedo is fine.”
Sucrose watches his process with wide eyes. He can almost see the gears turning in her head.
He didn’t envision himself having an assistant. Especially not one like Sucrose - all soft-spoken with glasses that take up half her face and who struggles to get a sentence out without stuttering. She’s a brilliant mind, though her interests differ from his.
She approached him one day while he was leaving the Good Hunter. Her cheeks were bright red and she’d stumbled through her words multiple times but eventually asked to be his apprentice. He’d stared at her, unblinking, longer than was socially acceptable, and she’d taken back her request while apologising profusely. He’d eventually agreed, after having to reassure her that no, she had not insulted him and alchemy as a whole.
Albedo was hesitant to work with someone else. He doesn’t want to hurt them the way Rhinedottir hurt him. A brilliant teacher she was, but her methods could be cruel. Sucrose deserves better than that.
“Now you try.” Albedo places three milk teeth on the table and steps back.
She nods, hesitant, and Albedo gives her what he hopes is an encouraging look in return.
A deep inhale. “Earth and water, wind and fire,” she murmurs, gripping the edges of the crafting table, “craft for me what I desire.”
There’s a small flash of light, and the three teeth morph and fuse. Two grey cracked teeth remain in their place.
Sucrose turns to him with shining eyes, and Albedo smiles at her.
The Alchemy used in Mondstadt, and Albedo assumes in the rest of Teyvat, is bulky. Convoluted. Performing even the most basic of transformations requires a core that is similar in composition to what one wants to make. You cannot deviate from its base form and there is a strict formula to be followed for it to succeed.
Three milk teeth make a cracked tooth. Three cracked teeth make a fang, and three fangs turn into a Nostalgia. If you’re smart about it you can use fewer materials or make more of the product, but the base idea is all the same.
Albedo hates it. Just a little bit. This, he thinks, watching Sucrose furiously update her notes, is just another restriction given by the Gods. He wonders what would happen if he showed Mondstadt alchemy as it was meant to be used. Kaeya would love that, he’s sure.
He scowls at the thought.
“Ah! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
He blinks and looks at Sucrose. She looks panicked all of a sudden.
“Are you okay?”
She prattles on without even hearing him. “Something must have gone wrong and I didn’t realise. Oh no, was my technique all wrong? Is the quality of the tooth not up to par? I was sure I followed your instructions perfectly so what if-”
Ah, he sees what’s happening. “No, no, that look wasn’t for you, I was thinking of something else.”
Sucrose keeps talking, apologising more like it, and Albedo is helpless on how to comfort her. This is the most he’s heard her speak at once.
“Is he bothering you?”
Isn’t that just so convenient. Albedo’s scowl returns with vengeance. “Hello, Sir Kaeya.”
Kaeya ignores him, addressing Sucrose directly. His body language is open, inviting. It’s all fake though Sucrose won’t be able to pick up on it. Kaeya’s good at that.
“Are you quite alright,” he repeats, and Albedo wants to smack that faux care off his face.
“Ah! Kaeya!” She looks anywhere but at him. “I’m- I’m not quite sure what you mean.
Kaeya shrugs. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, and you sounded very flustered.” Kaeya looks at Albedo here, out of the corner of his eye, almost like he’s insinuating he’s at fault. Albedo resents it. “I’m just making sure that you’re okay.”
“Oh. Oh!” Sucrose waves her hands frantically in front of her. “You’ve misunderstood the situation! Mr Albedo was just showing me this new method and I got it all wrong! He didn’t do anything.”
Albedo can’t let that stand. “Your work was perfect. My reaction had nothing to do with what you did. It’s impressive you were able to grasp the concept and apply it as quickly as you did.”
Sucrose flushes a bright red.
Kaeya coughs. Albedo glares at him.
“As long as no harm was done.” Kaeya’s smile is cloyingly sweet. “You better watch your emotions better, Mr Albedo. Don’t want to give your poor assistant a heart attack.”
Albedo rolls his eyes. “I have a perfectly acceptable grasp on my emotions. Maybe next time don’t jump to conclusions when you don’t have all the facts.”
And maybe he shouldn’t be as direct as he was, but honestly, he’s mad and he wants Kaeya to know that he’s mad. How dare he come and insinuate that he would do anything to hurt Sucrose. He would never.
“Well, you can’t blame me for mixing up the facts. I’m not as well-versed in alchemy as you all.”
“Stick to what you know then.”
“Harsh words, but I guess I deserve that.” Kaeya picks up the newly crafted tooth, turning it this way and that in his hands. Albedo wants to rip it away from him. “Alchemy is a fascinating thing, isn’t it? We’re very lucky to have someone so well-versed in the art in Mondstadt.”
Sucrose jumps in. “Yes! Albedo is so good at what he does! I would never have made the breakthroughs I’ve had in my research without his expert guidance.”
“Such high praise. You’re lucky to have such a devout assistant.” Kaeya winks at her, a feat only he can manage with one eye. He then turns to look at him, the first time he’s faced him during the whole conversation. “Where did you learn alchemy from?”
Albedo pauses, considering. Kaeya’s tone shifted, though only slightly. This isn’t an innocent question. “My master taught me.”
“How cryptic!” Kaeya gives a crooked smile, cocking his head to the side. “Does your master not have a name? I would love to know the person who mentored our very own Kreidprinz.”
Albedo shrugs. “She’s not very well known, so it would serve no purpose to give you her name.”
Sucrose’s eyes keep darting between the both of them. Kaeya’s posture is all loose and flowy while Albedo feels the exact opposite. There’s a strum of energy running underneath his skin.
Kaeya narrows his eyes. It’s a subtle motion. “Sure, keep your secrets.”
Albedo crosses his arms. “Who said it was a secret?”
Kaeya holds both hands up in a mock imitation of surrender. “Down boy, I’m just making conversation. But even I can tell when I’m not wanted.” He bows to Sucrose, arm behind his back. “Pleasure speaking with you.” He turns and walks away from them, arm raised in a mock salute. “Enjoy the rest of your day,” he throws over his shoulder.
Albedo watches his figure as he leaves, the way he weaves his way through the crowd. Kaeya has a fluidity to his movements that makes it hard to want to look away.
Sucrose coughs lightly and Albedo faces her. She doesn’t look as flustered now, more so contemplative. “I didn’t know you and the cavalry captain got along so well.”
Albedo laughs and laughs.
6.
Alice is a wonder, a whirlwind in the form of a person. Her arrival in Mondstadt is something close to a festival. She knows everyone and speaks like they’ve been friends for aeons.
She takes him aside amidst all the guests she receives. “Gold asked me to check on you,” she murmurs. “She’ll be glad to know you’re well.”
This surprises him. He didn’t think she’d care.
With Alice comes Klee.
“You have a daughter? That you gave birth to?”
“From my very own womb. None of that chalk business.” She winks at him. He gives her a wry smile. “I’ve had her for ages! She’s a loud little thing, but I couldn’t possibly take her with me anymore.” She smiles, all saccharine, and Albedo knows he’s not going to like what she’s going to say next.
“Take care of her for me, won’t you?”
He groans, and she just cackles.
Klee takes up the little energy that he has left. Now he has a human being to take care of - one that eats, one that has to sleep, one who has needs and demands and a tendency for blowing things up.
This last fact causes an influx of complaints lodged by the citizens to the knights. Jean is the one that has to deal with it. Albedo almost feels sorry for her.
“Big Brother Albedo?”
“What is it, Klee?”
“Could I please please have some of the shiny rock from the snowy mountain? Mommy told me they’d make my bombs explode even bigger!” Her eyes are big and wide with her hands collapsed tightly in front of her. Albedo probably shouldn’t encourage this behaviour. Klee needs to learn that she can’t always have what she wants.
He can’t say no to her.
Dragonspine is an enigma. It’s barred from commissions and knights have to be in pairs for any expeditions there, which happen few and far between. Albedo and Jean argue about this.
“I’m quite capable of being by myself,” he says.
“As much as I’d like to believe you, the rules are rules.” Jean looks exhausted, errant wisps of hair escaping from her usually pristine ponytail. Varka went off to who-knows-where with half of the cavalry and nearly all of the soldiers, leaving her as the Acting Grandmaster. All the added responsibility must be taking her toll on her.
“So you’re denying my request.”
“I didn’t say that.” She sighs, loudly, and folds her hands in front of her. “You can go as long as it’s with someone else. Preferably another captain.”
Albedo frowns. He really doesn’t want that. “They’ll just slow me down.”
“Not if they’re competent.”
That’s a high bar to reach. “Who do you have in mind?”
Jean winces and Albedo feels his stomach drop. “Kaeya is available last I checked.”
Absolutely not. “No.”
“I thought you would say that.”
Then she shouldn’t have suggested it in the first place. “He doesn’t even like me.”
And Jean looks, she looks sad at this. Albedo doesn’t understand why. “I think Kaeya has his reservations about new people,” Jean says, picking her words very carefully. “He can be civil if the need arises.”
Albedo raises an eyebrow. “He pulled a sword on me.”
Jean closes her eyes briefly. “And I will talk to him about more effective ways of communicating.” She opens her eyes and looks straight at him. Albedo feels pinned underneath the weight of her stare. “No one is asking you to be friends. Treat it like work.”
“It’s just getting some ore for Klee. It’ll take five minutes.”
“Meaning it should be no trouble to take Kaeya with you.” Jean opens a drawer and pulls out a binder. “I’ll fill in the request and get it approved before the end of the day.” She glances back at him. “Does tomorrow work for you?”
“You’re not even giving me a choice anymore.”
“Astute observation.”
Albedo sighs. “Tomorrow is fine.”
“Excellent.” She signs the bottom of the form and stands. “Now I just need to find Kaeya.”
Albedo furrows his brows. “What if he says no?”
Jean scoffs. “Kaeya doesn’t say no to me.”
Albedo holds in a groan. He is not looking forward to this.
7.
“What are we even here for?”
Albedo doesn’t spare him a glance. “Didn’t Jean tell you?”
Kaeya makes a low sound in his throat. “Would I ask you if she did? All I heard was that there was an emergency Dragonspine expedition and she needed someone to go on short notice. I didn’t even know you’d be here until we met at the camp.”
Ah. So that’s how she managed it.
Albedo had spent the rest of the day before poring over the (admittedly few) maps that showed an overview of Dragonspine in order to create a safe route they could follow. From what he’s gathered starsilver tends to congregate near the edges of the mountain, but he would still like to have the chance to check out other areas while he’s there.
There’s an energy around Dragonspine. He feels it every morning when he looks over from his office at its snow-covered peaks. He swears it’s calling to him.
Albedo straightens from where he was observing some tracks. “We’re on a search for star silver ore.”
Kaeya cocks his head. “Starsilver? Why?”
“That’s none of your business,” Albedo says.
“Hey!” Kaeya nearly trips over a stone but regains his balance. “No need to act so childish. I’m just being curious.”
Albedo whips around to face him. “Do I have to explain why I might not be interested in talking to you?”
Kaeya shrugs.
Albedo stares at him, counts to three, and continues forward.
They walk in silence. Albedo leads them both, clearing a path through the snow while avoiding monsters that lurk around.
Dragonspine is pretty in a sombre sort of way, a sea of white and blue and grey that melts into one another which lends to the harshness of the region. It’s decidedly different from the rest of Mondstadt, with flora and ruins he’s not familiar with. And the cold. Albedo isn’t affected by it but he can still feel it, the way it threatens to seep through his skin and freeze him in his tracks. He wonders how Kaeya is fairing with his shirt that he refuses to button up properly. A small part of him hopes he’s miserable.
“So… Klee.”
Albedo rolls his eyes, though Kaeya can’t see it. “We really don’t need to talk.”
“It’s boring when it’s quiet,” is Kaeya’s reply.
“I heard knowing when not to speak is a valuable skill.”
“What, tired of me already?”
“Yes.”
“You wound me.”
“Sorry if I find it hard to care.”
Silence.
“How is it? Taking care of her?”
Albedo groans. “Why do you want to know so badly?”
“Call me curious.”
A beat.
“She’s.” Albedo pauses. “A handful. And not just because she’s a child.”
“The bombs?”
“The bombs.”
Before Klee Albedo had a very rudimentary knowledge of how bombs worked - their composition, makeup and range of damage. Now, for the safety of Mondstadt, he’s had to become very familiar with the destructive tendencies of those little things, if just so to mitigate their effects when Klee decides to blow things up.
Even with that. He loves her fiercely. There’s a lingering protectiveness that sits next to his heart now, an ingrained instinct to protect and shield her from harm. He didn’t think he had the space for that. It’s overwhelming, this affection he has for someone that’s not himself or Rhinedottir.
Children are such impressionable things. Albedo worries constantly about how he acts around her - what he says, what he does, how he reacts to situations. She’s like a little sponge. Keeping her fed and happy is more draining than he thought it would be.
It makes him ponder on how Rhinedottir felt raising him. Sure, he didn’t have the same needs as a regular child, but he still grew and developed as one until he was physically mature. It couldn’t have been easy.
Missing Rhinedottir is a peculiar feeling.
Kaeya quietens down. They wander around the region, Albedo half keeping an eye out for the shiny ore and half admiring their surroundings. The ore forms in clusters and it takes two of them hacking at it with their swords before they’re able to harvest it. Albedo could easily grab them with his hands but that raises too many questions he’s not in the mood to answer.
Albedo appreciates the quiet. It’s slightly unnerving, though, having Kaeya follow him around without saying a word. Like a live bomb kept underneath your shirt.
Hours pass. The rucksack he brought has slowly gotten heavier as time went by. His elbows and knees are starting to ache, and the chill has found its way to the inside of his gloves.
Albedo eyes Kaeya. He hasn’t complained once during the whole journey even though the cold has to be unbearable.
“How does a break sound?” He offers.
Kaeya looks at him drily. “What, not looking to freeze to death today?”
And he was even feeling nice. “You know you can just say ‘yes’, right?”
Albedo spies a camp a few feet away. It’s scarcely furnished, only a tent with holes ripped into the sides, but there’s a modest campfire that had been previously set, thankfully and miraculously absent of snow. Albedo leads them to it and lights it with some matches he’d stashed in his pocket.
Kaeya lets out a pleased sound as he sinks to the ground, stretching his hands over the flames. Albedo sits a few feet away, making sure to keep a distance between them.
Moments pass as Kaeya warms himself. He dusts away some snow that had gathered on his shoulder. “You didn’t have to stop on my account.”
“Jean won’t like it if her captain comes back half-frozen.”
Kaeya waves the thought away. “It won’t be the worst state she’s found me in.”
Albedo doesn’t know how to respond to that. Kaeya seems to realise the weight of what he said and immediately closes in on himself.
The fire crackles in the background.
Weariness sits in his bones. Truth be told, he’s tired of this tension that exists between them. The initial curiosity that came from having found someone from Khaenri’ah has all but disappeared. What he’d hoped for, he wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t what they have now.
Kaeya, with his fear and paranoia and sharp tongue that sees evil in everything Albedo does, is too much.
“Klee looks so much like Alice, don’t you think?”
And he doesn’t stop fucking talking. “Why are you so fixated on her?”
“I mean it’s Alice the Adventurer. It’s not something I expected.”
“Try again,” Albedo retorts. “There’s something else that’s bothering you, but you don’t want to say it.” Kaeya doesn’t reply. Which means Albedo is right. “Is it me? The relationship I have with Klee? Don’t tell me you’re worried about that.”
Silence.
Of course. Of course. He could feed, clothe, and bathe all of Mondstadt thrice over and Kaeya would still find fault in it.
He’s so, so tired.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Kaeya raises an eyebrow. “I never said I hated you.”
“I’m not dumb, Kaeya.”
“And no one said you were,” he says in that mocking tone that drives him up the walls. “You’re the chief alchemist! Beloved of Mondstadt! Everyone and their mother is obsessed with you. I wouldn’t dare say anything contrary.”
Albedo’s patience, which was already fraught in the first place, vanishes. He’s on his feet before he realises, fists clenched at his sides. “You are so insufferable when you do that.”
Kaeya smirks. “Do what? Pray tell.”
“Purposefully aggravate me! I’ve been nothing less than civil towards you from the moment we met yet you take every opportunity to insult me or insinuate sinister things.”
“Civil? When have you ever been ‘civil’?”
“Maybe you missed that while you were threatening me.”
“Threatening you? You threatened me first!”
Albedo scoffs. “Your perception of reality is skewed.”
“And your humour is refreshing as always,” he snaps.
They’re yelling now, their voices echoing across the frozen landscape. Albedo is the angriest he’s ever felt, and Kaeya is shaking from something other than the cold.
Albedo takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves. It doesn’t work. “Why are you so insistent on engaging with me when it clearly upsets you?”
“News flash, Kreidprinz, someone has to keep an eye on you.”
“But why!” Albedo asks. “I’ve never done anything to you. You keep seeing danger where there’s none, you keep accusing me of wrongdoings with no evidence, you call me a monster-”
“I never called you a monster.”
“You told Jean I was dangerous!’ And oh no, he’s crying now, hot tears running down his cheeks. He refuses to wipe them away, refuses to show any sort of vulnerability in this situation. “Just tell me why. I have a right to know.”
“Why? You’re seriously asking me that? You’re joking.”
“Just answer the question.”
“I- you’re from Khaenri’ah.”
“So are you!”
Kaeya flinches at that. Albedo laughs wetly. “Don’t tell me that’s it? Some complex over a place you haven’t even been to in years? A nation that’s all but been ravaged to the ground?”
“Stop it.”
“Or what?” Albedo says. “What can you actually do, Kaeya Alberich, apart from spitting snide remarks every time you see me? Your hatred of me doesn't change where you come from.”
“I said watch it.”
Unbelievable. “Stop being a coward and stop hiding. You’re doing this to protect Mondstadt? Don’t make me laugh. Be honest with yourself for once in your life, if that’s something you’re still able to do.”
Kaeya stands up, approaching Albedo with an intensity that would scare a weaker man. Albedo stands firm.
“You know it’s true. I remind you of a past that you’re so desperate to run away from. I make you scared.”
“Albedo,” Kaeya says, a warning.
Albedo ignores him. “Are you protecting Mondstadt from me? Or are you protecting Mondstadt from yourself.”
Kaeya looks like he’s been slapped. He stands there, mere inches from Albedo, panic written all across his face.
Everything is quiet but for the sound of their breathing. Albedo’s eyes hurt from crying. There’s a cold chill on his face from his tears and he can taste salt in his mouth.
“Stop running Kaeya”, Albedo whispers.
Kaeya lets out a pained sound before slowly lowering himself to the floor. His head is buried between his thighs, hands wrapped around his knees. Tension sits between them, a familiar friend, but Albedo can feel it slowly departing. A heaviness he didn’t know was in his chest loosens.
Kaeya sighs, long and hard, and Albedo feels like he can breathe again.
“I’m sorry for calling you dangerous,” he says, voice muffled.
“Thank you.”
“And you were right. All of it. I was just projecting.”
“Mhm.”
“I don’t think of you as a threat. Haven’t for a while now.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Klee. I’ve seen how you treat her. You’re kind and patient, and you’ve never raised your voice even when she’s done something wrong. She always seems so happy around you.”
This was the last thing Albedo expected to hear. He feels himself start to flush. “I didn’t know you were watching that closely.”
Kaeya looks up. “I never stopped.” His expression turns dry. “You have absolutely no experience with kids, do you?”
Albedo groans. “Is it that obvious?”
Kaeya chuckles. “Just a little bit. You give in to her too easily”
Albedo groans again and Kaeya laughs even harder.
He really does have a nice laugh, Albedo thinks.
A few seconds pass before Kaeya calms down. There’s a weightlessness to him that wasn’t present before.
“She talks to me about you, y’know.”
“Really.”
“Yeah.” He drums his hands on his thigh. He’s stopped looking at him. “Sometimes I join her when she’s grounded. Just to keep her company or something. It’s not nice for a child to be alone so often. I get why Jean does it, but still. She’s always going on and on about her ‘big-brother Albedo’ who’s just soooo cool and draws her paintings and cooks for her and tells her stories. I can barely get a word in edgewise.” Kaeya is smiling, soft and private as he reminisces. His smile is just as nice as his laugh.
Albedo watches.
“There’s-” Kaeya coughs. “Hm. How do I say this? I trust Klee with you.”
“You’re not in a position to say that.”
“I know, let me just-” he’s cut off by Albedo, who has started to laugh as well. “Oh you sly bastard. I’m ignoring you now.” Albedo keeps laughing. “Incredible. Just incredible.”
“So after everything,” Albedo says between breaths, “all it took was Klee.”
“Children are a good judge of character!”
“Has anyone told you that you’re utterly ridiculous?”
“Never one to pull your punches, are you?”
“You make it easy.”
“Very funny.”
There’s no malice in his tone. A tentative understanding nestles between them. Hope blooms, a small and fragile thing.
Kaeya walks by his side when they go back to the camp.
8.
They get comfortable.
A routine develops without them even realising it. Kaeya waits outside his door every morning to walk him to work. More often than not they have lunch together and they bicker all the way to Good Hunter. Kaeya enjoys popping into his office at all times throughout the day, claiming boredom, no point being a cavalry captain if there’s no cavalry to captain, but Albedo knows it’s just an excuse. He says nothing because he enjoys the company more than he’d like to admit.
Kaeya’s mind is sharp and inquisitive, and Albedo finds himself talking about his research with him more and more. While he doesn’t always understand what Albedo is describing, he asks questions and contributes in a way that makes his heart feel full.
Klee loves him, and Kaeya dotes on her to a fault. All the rough lines and edges vanish when he’s with her. He kneels to her height every time he wants to tell her something and whispers in her ear if he feels it’s ‘not for the grownups to hear’. He gives her attention and smooths things over with Jean when she gets in trouble.
Klee has taken to calling him ‘Big Brother Kaeya’. Kaeya cried when he heard it for the first time.
There’s truly no knowing Kaeya Alberich, Albedo thought, watching them.
Everything is so natural - maddeningly so. Their lives merge and blend together more seamlessly than any jigsaw puzzle. Albedo didn’t know how easy it was to get along with someone else. It’s. Nice. A sharp change from how they were before, but nice.
This is enough, Albedo tells himself.
9.
A knock reverberates through the room.
Sucrose looks up. “Come in.”
The door opens, and Kaeya’s head pops through. “Hi.”
“Captain Kaeya!” She almost drops her equipment but rights herself in time. “I didn’t expect to see you! Albedo just stepped out, he should be back soon.”
“Ah, I know that.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I actually wanted to speak with you. Privately.”
“M-me?!”
“Oh don’t worry, it’s nothing much.” He enters the room fully and closes the door behind him. “I just wanted to ask for a favour.”
Sucrose peers at him through her glasses. “What kind of favour?”
“It’s actually quite embarrassing.” He smiles sheepishly. “I was talking to Sarah about where I could find some sweets, and she mentioned that you’re actually quite a good source for them. I was wondering if I could buy some off of you?”
“Of course!” That’s much easier than she imagined. “And there’s no need to pay for them! I don’t mind giving you some.”
“Ah ah ah.” Kaeya waves his finger at her. “That’s not what I asked. You can’t expect me to take advantage of your labour, can you?”
“But it’s really not a bother!”
Kaeya hums, pondering for a few moments. “Then how about this: you give me the sweets, and I owe you one favour - whatever you like. So that makes things fair.”
Sucrose thinks about this before nodding. “That seems agreeable. Unfortunately, I don’t have any on me right now, but it doesn't take much for me to make some. I’ll have them delivered to you as soon as I can.”
“Thank you so much.” He smiles warmly at her, and she smiles in response. He slips out of the room.
A few days later Sucrose catches Albedo eating from a familiar bag. She doesn’t comment on it.
10.
Jean walks by the open door of Kaeya’s office. She pauses.
Albedo is there. He’s explaining something, his voice so soft that she can’t pick up on what he’s saying, and Kaeya is listening attentively. Most of it is flying over his head, she bets.
Kaeya’s face is gentle. Jean doesn’t remember the last time he looked like that.
She leaves them be. Something warm remains in her chest.
11.
It’s a requirement that the knights are adept in at least one weapon. Albedo chose the sword because it seemed the easiest to learn. Kaeya offers to teach it to him.
Sparring, he’s come to realise, is like an improvised dance. He drills the basic forms into his bones and masters the footwork so it becomes second nature. There’s a rhythm to it that he enjoys, parry-slash-parry-slash. Once the individual parts have been mastered all there’s to it is application.
Kaeya makes fun of him, saying he’s too rigid and needs to loosen up.
Albedo doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to move the way Kaeya does. He treats his whole body like a weapon and is constantly in motion, moving like his feet don’t need to touch the ground.
He tries to keep up with him, but Kaeya has years upon years of experience on his side. A well-placed leg trips him and he finds himself on the ground. A sword is pointed at his throat.
Kaeya looks, for lack of better words, alive. There’s a wild look in his eye that bleeds into his smile, roguish and stretched wide and exposing his teeth. He’d abandoned most of his layers when they started and now his loose shirt is hanging off one shoulder. His hair is slick with sweat and Albedo watches, enraptured, as he pushes it off his forehead.
Albedo swallows. Kaeya, observant, doesn’t-miss-a-thing Kaeya, notices. He smiles impossibly wider.
Albedo clears his throat. “Why do I always find myself at the end of your sword?”
“It’s a lovely place to be, isn’t it?” Kaeya extends a hand.
Albedo swats it away.
12.
“You worry me sometimes.”
“Excuse me?”
“I swear I’ve never seen you eat a proper meal.”
“That’s very rich coming from you.”
“Hey! I eat properly!”
“No, you don’t. Jean tells me these things.”
“The traitor.”
Albedo passes a piece of fruit to Kaeya, who takes it wordlessly. They’re shopping together, Albedo thinks, almost in a haze.
“I’m actually a decent cook,” he says instead.
“You? I find that hard to believe.”
“Klee has to eat. It’s expensive ordering food all the time.”
“Still! The Albedo, cooking? I’d pay to see that.”
“You’d be surprised. I bet I’m a better cook than you.”
“Is that an invitation?”
A pause. Is it an invitation? Albedo was swept along by the rhythm of their conversation. It’s overwhelming, speaking with Kaeya Alberich.
“Would you like it to be?”
“Yes.” Kaeya looks flushed. It’s a nice look on him. “I’d like that very much.”
13.
He’s at their apartment every Sunday. Albedo makes them pancakes.
Kaeya cleans afterwards. He says it’s only fair.
Albedo paints while he does it. He never shows Kaeya the finished work.
He’s happy.
14.
A story Albedo remembers often is one about a little songbird. This bird was kept in a cage its whole life, singing for the one who kept it imprisoned. After a while, the bird keeper tired of the bird and set it free. However, inexplicably, the bird continued to return to the cage time and time again.
“At a base level, the bird views the cage as home,” she’d said, brushing his hair as he sat between her legs. “A part of it will always want to return.”
“Even if it didn’t like the cage?”
“Especially then. A bird that flies free in the sky still remembers the chains it was once bound by. It will never forget it.”
It’s easy, being with Kaeya Alberich. The rhythm of their relationship is written in his bones.
It’s so easy that he makes a mistake.
“What do you think?,” he asks in Khaenri’ahn. Kaeya freezes.
Oh. Albedo thinks. The bird still remembers his cage.
They’re on the steps leading to the headquarters. Jean and Lisa are a few paces behind them, close enough to eavesdrop, though there’s no way of knowing if they can hear them. It’s still too close for comfort.
Albedo slipped up.
Kaeya doesn’t even try to come up with an excuse. He runs.
15.
Albedo finds him at the foot of Barbato’s statue.
The stars wink in and out of existence as the moon above them silently observes their meeting. A slight chill is in the air, brought about by a lingering wind. Faint goosebumps paint his skin. He wonders if Barbatos is watching them.
Albedo sits down beside him.
“I’m sorry,” he says, no louder than a whisper, hesitant to break the fragile thing hanging in the air. “I wasn’t thinking. I should have realised how close they were. I didn’t say it as a dig at you, or to-”
“I’m not mad at you,” Kaeya interrupts. “And you don’t need to apologise. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”
Albedo snaps his mouth shut. He opens it again, and pauses. Decides against saying anything.
Why are you so scared of Khaenri’ah, is what he doesn’t ask.
They sit together, side-by-side, two sinners in the city of freedom.
“My birth father left me near the winery in the rain,” Kaeya whispers. His knees are pulled up to his chest and his gaze is trained carefully on the ground. Albedo has a sudden flash of how Kaeya must have been when he was younger, less settled into this image that he puts on. “I didn't know what I was supposed to do or where I was supposed to go. It was really, really cold.
“I remember he told me that I was his last hope. Their last hope.” Kaeya laughs that empty laugh of his that Albedo hates. “Archons know what that’s supposed to mean.”
Albedo remembers a letter, Find the truth of this world, and he thinks he understands.
“I was so scared, all the time. I couldn’t let myself get too comfortable living with the Ragnvindrs, because of the fear that one day they will come for me.”
“I thought it was all over when you came.”
Kaeya turns to face him. His exposed eye is blown wide, the star within absorbing the meagre light the moon offers. “It was like waking up to a nightmare. A personification of everything I’d tried to avoid for the past fifteen years.” He winces. “Sorry about that by the way. I was a dick when we first met.”
Albedo shrugs. It feels like so long ago. “Don’t worry about it.”
“No, no no. Really. I should have apologised properly a long time ago for that. It’s just.” His voice catches. “I always thought I had my shit together when it came to the Khaenri’ah thing. After Diluc-” he pauses here, restarts his sentence, “I don’t have good memories associated with the place. I can’t help but react. Badly.”
Albedo can see it. A little boy, barely coming to his knees, clutching the hands of a man much larger than he. He imagines the boy being left outside with nothing for warmth, blowing on his fingers, and hate stirs low in his gut.
He pushes it down. “I’ve never actually been to Khaenri’ah,” Albedo admits. “All I know of it is stories my master would tell me. It’s… strange, longing for a place you’ve never been.”
“What kind of stories?”
“Hmmmm.” Albedo plays with the hem of his shirt. “The people. Their families and the lives they lived. Supposedly, Khaenri’ah was so technologically advanced that having to adjust to the rest of Teyvat was quite a culture shock for my master.
“There was no sky. But they had tales of what it would be like. Stars, moon. The sun. All out of reach. Khaenri’ahns were good at dreaming.”
Albedo looks at Kaeya. “I’m sorry it’s brought you so much pain.”
You look at the field tillers, how menacing they are, the lasers they shoot from their eye, their invulnerability to most physical attacks, and you wonder if maybe Celestia was right. Maybe Khaenri’ah was dangerous, something that needed to be destroyed.
But Rhinedottir gave him her stories when she didn’t need to. She gave him a family when she didn’t need to. She gave him Khemia.
Albedo takes Kaeya’s hand in his. His eye is such a nice shade of blue. “Not everything from Khaenri’ah is bad,” Albedo murmurs. “Not me. And certainly not you.”
A familiar fear is on Kaeya’s features. Albedo wants to wipe it away. “How do you know that?”
Albedo hums and leans in close. Kaeya doesn’t move back.
“I know good things when I see them,” he says, his breath fanning against Kaeya’s face. Kaeya swallows. “You are very, very good, Kaeya Alberich.”
Albedo kisses him, closing his eyes. It’s chaste, a press of lips against lips, but it took all of his courage and a prayer to a god he does not believe in.
Kaeya is motionless against him. Albedo's eyes are closed and he loathes to open them. He doesn’t want to see the expression he’s wearing.
Then Kaeya kisses him back.
It’s soft, tentative. Kaeya kisses like he’s asking a question and is scared of what the answer might be. He’s hesitant in his movements, barely opening his mouth, and Albedo is reminded of that vision he had, of a softer Kaeya, a Kaeya who had to watch what he said and what he did in an attempt to feel safe. He reaches a hand to cup his face, his thumb brushing against his cheek, and Kaeya sighs at the touch.
They hold it for a few moments before breaking apart. Kaeya stares at him, slightly dazed, and sucks his bottom lip into his mouth.
“Okay?” Albedo asks.
“Okay.”
16.
Albedo observes the board in front of him. Timaeus had written a proposal for a research topic, and he'd submitted it for approval. There’s nothing of note in it, but Albedo doesn’t want to send it back without having a thorough look-over.
The door opens and closes somewhere behind him. A few moments later arms weave around his waist, and a forehead rests on top of his head.
“Good morning,” Kaeya says, in Khaenri'ahn.
Albedo leans against his back. “Good morning,” he replies.