Chapter Text
The pattering of quick footsteps on marble echoed throughout the building.
Mona refused to admit that she was giddy but it was just one of those days. Albedo was finally free to collaborate—collaborate meaning that she could have full access to the Knights of Favonius' equipment and to Albedo's brilliant mind. This was always a golden opportunity for her research. Being recognized by the chief alchemist of Mondstadt had its perks and Mona couldn't be happier that her intelligence was finally acknowledged in the city. She had enough of people undermining her talents in astrology. Ugh, the nerve some people had.
She rushed up the Knights of Favonius’ headquarters, nearly tripping on the stairs with the stacks of books, maps, and astrological contraptions piled high above her eye-level. Curse Albedo for having his lab on the second floor. If only he understood the pain of carrying your own weight in equipment up a story. Thank the Archons that she was light on her feet, her ability to glide on water proving fruitful even on land.
With a huff, Mona finally reached the landing. Albedo’s room was just a few steps away.
Fully ignoring the "Experiment in Progress" sign on the door, Mona fumbled with the mess in her hands and attempted to open it. After a brief moment of pitiful shuffling, the door creaked open and the astrologist pushed it inwards with her shoulder.
Though she could not see the chief alchemist past her tools, she could hear the faint bubbling and clinking of his experiment. If she listened closer, she bet she could even hear the sound of the gears in his head turning.
"Morning!—I mean, greetings," Mona announced with a cough in between, her excitement unintentionally spilling out. Eager to forget her hiccup, she quickly set her things on the counter.
She turned around. Albedo was across the room, his back facing her, busy with multiple test tubes of varying liquids. By the way his hand moved, she could tell he was sketching something, his pencil strokes long and gentle.
"Hello," Albedo returned the greeting. Short and sweet as always.
She leaned onto the counter and rested her head upon her palm, waiting. The fingers of her other hand began to softly drum on the table.
This was usually how their days together started. Albedo always woke up at sunrise to focus on his own work, completely absorbed into whatever he was testing for hours and hours that it would drag into their schedule. It often took him a few minutes to snap out of it. Mona tended to be impatient in these kinds of situations but she figured going against the generosity of the alchemist would be ill-advised for her future.
"I read your writing in the astrologist column this morning."
Albedo's words brushed over Mona as if they were mere whispers of Mondstadt's signature wind. "Mhm," she answered nonchalantly, the realization yet to sink in. She had mistaken it for simple drabble Albedo frequently directed to himself.
Astrologist column...that's right, she was a dedicated writer for The Steambird's "All Things Astrological." It was her only steady source of income. Speaking of the column, she has yet to submit her monthly piece ye—
Wait a minute—
Mona suddenly pushed herself off the counter, eyes wide and mouth open in pure surprise. "You read my what?!"
She blinked. She couldn’t process the sentence, and instead, found herself leaning forward in anticipation of Albedo’s explanation. Although they were both geniuses, their fields were distinctly different from one another. They may work together in the same lab side-by-side but it was always two separate experiments in front of them. A scryglass and an astrolabe next to beakers and a sketchbook. Even the books they ordered together from the same store in Liyue (through Albedo’s funds, of course) arrived in different packages. Sure, Mona could ask Albedo any astrology question and he would answer sincerely, but he never took the initiative to learn more, often too occupied with his own research. Forevermore, how did Albedo know Mona wrote for the magazine in the first place? There was never a need to reveal it before.
The alchemist didn’t move. “Your piece on constellations for The Steambird. I read it.”
“How did you find it?”
“Hm,” Albedo briefly hummed, erasing a line of his. “Three months ago, I happened to find the magazine laying around so I quickly skimmed it. Interestingly, I caught your name on one of the pages so I read the article.”
“Three months?! You’ve known about it for that long? How come you’ve never asked me any questions?”
The pencil in Albedo’s grip paused. “I didn’t have any. You’re very clear in your writing.”
Despite the shock underneath it all, the compliment raised her head high. Mona was never one to reject praise, especially from someone who she considered equal in intellect. Even so, she could feel the fluster work its way to her face. Though Albedo could not see her, Mona turned away to save face, looking out the window.
A comfortable silence befell them. Albedo resumed his sketching while Mona twirled her hair around a finger, squinting from the sunlight pouring through the window glass. She much preferred nighttime, when all the light in the world simply speckled the sky. Nothing annoyingly blinding like the sun.
Yet, the cerulean of day felt more than a sight hard on the eyes. The color didn’t belong in galaxies but it still brought familiarity, as if she studied it before.
“Hey, Albedo?”
This time, the alchemist’s head turned around at the sound of his name, curiously looking back at the astrologist. She stared. The morning sky was high above her and yet it was just in front of her, too, clinging onto the irises of the Kreideprinz. Though his section of the room was dark, Albedo’s eyes glowed on their own. A gleam unlike the burning light of the sun, but enough to captivate her. Some people liked to point out that you could still see the moon in daylight. However, they foolishly overlook the fact that the stars are also not hidden but simply camouflaged.
In the azure of Albedo’s eyes, she could see them all. Flecks of wonder threaded to construct a constellation.
“Princeps Cretaceus.”
Albedo didn’t break eye contact. “A constellation?”
“Your constellation,” Mona clarified.
“What can you tell me?”
The astrologist cocked her head. His expression was soft and genuine, a reaction Mona didn’t quite expect.
She focused harder on the particles in his irises. For her, the stars read and thread easily like words on a page. “You’re a creation, a product of brilliance. Rather than human blood flowing in your veins, cold chalk pumps your heart.”
Albedo’s mouth parted. Analyzing constellations weren’t exactly methodical but for existences, one’s past, present, and future, to be boiled down into celestial bodies that dot Teyvat’s sky—how could you not find it fascinating? People tend to mistake Albedo as a scholar who was solely invested in scientifically proven topics. It was a common misbelief. Truthfully, Albedo sought to understand the whole world, to not only meet new discoveries but to grasp them. In a wonderfully mystical world like Teyvat, even a supreme chief alchemist must accept that there was more to life than rational explanations. What was the point in limiting his interests? There was still deep satisfaction in learning something new.
He believed Mona had a gift. A gift that many do not treasure enough. Perhaps the countless nights of him on his bed, contemplating his destiny pushed him to be biased towards believing fate.
His destiny. His inevitable end. He wondered if Mona knew about it. Her eyes, a pair of pale seafoam green, stared into him blankly. Albedo was well aware of her adamant belief that fate cannot be changed. Perhaps he was desperate, delusional, or even dependent, but he hoped that when the time comes, Mona would be the scissors to his string of destruction.
“Mona,” Albedo prompted, her name light on his tongue. He set down his clipboard. “Can you use your divination?”
The astrologist’s brows furrowed. Never in her life would she predicted Albedo wanting his fortune told. “You want me to read your fate?”
He shook his head, walking over to her side of the room. “Not mine. The world’s.” Mona, speechless, watched as the alchemist’s features illuminate under the growing sunlight. He stopped right before her, both of them in front of the window panes.
“It’s impossible. Every star in the sky belongs to someone.”
“Is that so? Then, wouldn’t everyone’s fate altogether be equal to the world’s fate?”
Mona shot Albedo an unimpressed look. “I suppose.”
“You and I, we also make up the world’s destiny,” he followed. “And I hypothesize that we’re destined to make the unknown known, to truly claim the world as ours.”
A light-hearted scoff escaped Mona. “Okay, Mr. Chief Astrologist, sure.”
“Will you join me on this path, Mona Megistus?”
Mona meets Albedo’s outstretched hand, holding it gently before giving it a firm shake.
“Only if you buy me dinner.”