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As a ten-year-old with the energy of a missile, Klee is fond of most things—fishies, fishie blasting, fishie sandwiches, and the pyro slimes near the fishie lake. Even the redheaded Wine Industry Monster looks friendly enough on most days. What she doesn’t like, however, is seeing her big brother Albedo sad.
She supposes he hides it well. To the rest of the knights, Albedo has always been a calm presence. Handsome, composed, and seldom quick to anger. All that is true, but Klee likes to think she knows her brother better than most.
If the cold tea on his desk is still full by the morning, that means Albedo has been too busy all night to sip a drink. If he wears his hair loose for the day, then he’d lost his third hair tie in the week. And most importantly, if he doesn’t hear her calling out to him, it means he’s sick. Or sad. Or both.
“Big bro!”, she tries. When he doesn’t look up, she frowns.
“Albedo!”, she tries again.
This time, he looks up. The first thing Klee notices is the smudged charcoal on his face, surely from his blackened knuckle. She would’ve found it funny if not for his bloodshot eyes. With a shudder, she realizes that Albedo looks a bit like Master Jean, on the days she’d been rather short with Klee.
Albedo blinks, then shakes his head.
“Sorry, Klee. I didn’t hear you calling,” he sighs. “Is there anything you need?”
“It’s alright! I just want to go Cecilia-picking with Albedo!”
Klee has been dressed for the occasion; her signature red cap rests snugly on her brushed hair, and Dodoco’s clipped securely to her backpack. Around her arm is a basket Miss Lisa had kindly lent her (with the promise of a bouquet of her own, of course). She’d even put away most of her explosives for the day, as per the instructions of “Favonius Survival Rulebook” for herb-gathering. Everything is ready to go, save for her travel companion, who looks anything but.
Distracted, it takes Albedo a while to respond.
“Ah,” he rubs his eyes. “Not today, Klee. Sorry, I’m a little exhausted.”
Klee’s frown deepens. “Have you not been sleeping, Big Bro? If you keep doing that, Klee is scared you’ll turn into Jean!”
He lets out a small laugh. “Don’t worry about it, Klee. Say, why don’t you take Miss Lisa out instead? I think some sunlight would do her well.”
Klee thinks some sun would do Big Bro well too.
She pouts, but does not protest. “Okay. Klee will see you later, then!”
Albedo waves her goodbye as she makes her exit. As Klee shuts the door behind her, a new idea sparks in her mind.
I’m going to find out what makes Big Bro Albedo sad! So I can make him happy again!
With a determined grin, she sets out to complete her mission.
***
The first intel she recruits is of course, Sucrose, who she easily located in the laboratory. As always, the alchemist is hunched over what looks to be cylinders of smoky substances.
“Sucrose!!!!” Klee exclaims as she rushes into the room.
“AHHHHH!!!”, Sucrose jumps back in surprise, nearly knocking over the beakers in front of her.
“ Klee! ”
“Oops, sorry!” Klee recovers quickly. “Anyway, Klee wants to know why Big Bro Albedo is so sad lately!”
Sucrose awkwardly pushes up her glasses rim, “Master Albedo? Hm… I can’t say I know much. But...”
“But?”, Klee leans expectantly.
“H-he had been in Dragonspine up until recently. I remember him doing some experiments with the Traveller, he’s been quite troubled since then.”
Lumine? Klee, too, is fond of Miss Lumine and Paimon. They are her best friends! Besides, the two make for a funny pair and Miss Lumine had been kind enough to help Klee retrieve her treasure from Mr. Fluffball. She can’t think of any reason why Miss Lumine could be involved in her brother’s current state, but she has to find out.
“Sucrose! Do you know where Miss Lumine is?”
The assistant scrunches her nose as she attempts to recall Lumine’s whereabouts. Hesitantly, she confesses, “I believe she’s still at Windrise for her commissions.”
Klee’s eyes light up immediately at that, the way they always do at the prospect of adventure. Yelling out her thanks, she dashes out of the laboratory, leaving a trail of sparks behind her and a startled Sucrose.
***
“Lumine, watch out!”
It is a scorching day in Windrise, where she’d taken up a commission to dismantle a hillichurl camp in exchange for some Mora. Katheryne had promised it was nothing but a few hillichurls and their training equipment, so Lumine had not seen it necessary to bring along her party. Besides, Bennett has been missing his dads lately. Xiangling is off gathering herbs in Liyue for her father’s restaurant. Even Oz appreciates some time off translating for his Fräulein. They all deserve a break, and Lumine had been happy to grant that.
But now, as she turns to see a Rock Shield Mitachurl running towards her at full speed, she can’t help regretting her decision. Perhaps, she had been a fool to refuse Zhongli’s offer of assistance because she really, really could use an ex-Archon’s help right now.
Closing her eyes, Lumine braces herself for the impact.
Only it never came.
She is sure that she’d heard a certain “da-da-DA!” before the world erupts in a blaze of heat. Upon opening her eyes, she sees only the burnt grass and a black crystal horn on what had been the Mitachurl's path. Her mouth hangs open in an equal mixture of awe and horror. There is only one person in the entirety of Mondstadt capable of so much destruction, and the tug on her sleeve confirms that.
Klee!
Indeed, the red-hatted girl looking up to her with wide carmine eyes is none other than the Spark Knight herself.
“Miss Lumine!”
Lumine takes a step back out of reflex. “Klee? What are you doing out here?”
Pouting, the little girl says, “Klee needs your help! And Miss Lumine needed Klee’s help too!”
Well, she can’t exactly argue with that. Lumine mourns thinking about what might have transpired had Klee not blown up the charging Mitachurl. She is in no mood to pay another visit to Baizhu Pharmacy, and hates to chip off more of Barbara’s precious breaks. For that, she supposes she owes Klee one.
“What’s wrong, Klee?”, Paimon re-appears in a flurry of constellations, her little eyebrows knitted in concern.
“It’s Albedo!” she wails. “Albedo is sad, and I don’t know why. I’m scared he will cry, and Klee will cry too! I don’t want Albedo to go again...”
Paimon looks at Lumine hesitantly, but she is too stunned to speak.
Klee is worried about her sibling—that, Lumine could understand. Before they’d been separated by the unknown god, Aether and her had been each other’s closest companion in all the worlds. Thick as thieves, their mother would say. Sure, they bickered and fought like any other pair of siblings. But it always saddened her to see her brother down, and she relented most days with a begrudged apology or a freshly baked chestnut pie Aether loved so.
It all feels so far away now, these days of traversing across the realms. Teyvat and its denizens had dug their special place in Lumine’s heart, but even they could scarcely fill the hole left by her twin. It is moments like this, where Lumine is reminded of how much she misses her brother.
Evidently, the strength of her sorrow was enough to alert Paimon, who shot her a sympathetic look as she floated above her.
“Well, Paimon doesn’t know why Albedo is sad. But Paimon is sure we can make him smile again!”
Lumine recovers with a shiver, “I’m also not sure, Klee. But let’s find a way to cheer Albedo up, shall we?”
***
Of all things, Paimon suggests they make Albedo a Sugar Frosted Slime.
She should’ve known by now of her little companion’s gravitation towards food as the end-all-be-all to most things. But Lumine can’t deny that it isn’t unbased, at least not this time. During her rare visits to the Knights’ Headquarters, she could’ve sworn that she saw a cookie crumb or two on Albedo’s desk.
They know nothing about the boy’s affliction, but a little dessert has never hurt a sweet tooth, has it?
With Lumine’s unhinged babysitting and Klee’s knack for gathering about any herb in Mondstadt, collecting the ingredients proved to be a quick job. Despite her uncanny talent for trouble, Klee is by all means a very competent fighter. The speed at which Klee’s Jumpty Dumpty and Lumine’s Palm Vortex vanquished the slimes almost made her consider Klee as a party member—a thought that quickly subsides once the image of a disappointed Jean (that is somehow worse than an angry Jean) pops up in her mind.
“Extra-sweet sweet flower? Check! Slimes? Check! Snapdragons? Check! Now, to the kitchens!”
“Lead the way, Paimon!”
***
After a few hours of vandalizing Good Hunter’s kitchen, the trio finally emerges with a Sugar-Frosted Slime. It looks as presentable as one would expect from a ten-year-old, but is mostly unscathed.
On the trek up to the Favonius Headquarters, Lumine is content listening to Klee’s excited chatter about her most recent exploits.
“Klee went to visit Razor yesterday! He lets me play with his hair! Will you let me play with yours?”
“Sucrose doesn’t know it, but I’ve been using the lab to research my new bombs!”
“Jean bans me from using gunpowders, but my mom and dad sent me some in the mail!”
Lumine gets the sense that the little girl is using her as a confession booth, but she doesn’t mind. She responds to Klee from time to time with Oohs and Aahs and that seems to satisfy the latter splendidly.
Before they knew it, they'd reached the front door of the Favonius Headquarters. Porthos nods at them before opening the door, letting them in.
“Psstt, Lumine!”
Lumine looks down to see Klee gesturing to her. She bends down to her eye level, being careful to not knock over the dessert tray on her hand. Klee hurries to whisper in her ear.
“Everything I said was a secret, okay? Please don’t tell Jean!”
Lumine laughs before ruffling her hair. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re the best!” Klee beams as she leaps up the stairs, no doubt towards Albedo’s workshop.
“Kids sure have a lot of energy, huh” Paimon appears, sighing.
“You don’t even have to climb the stairs, Paimon,” Lumine rolls her eyes. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
***
In all the time she’s spent in the city of winds, Lumine has never been to the second floor of Favonius Headquarters. To her surprise, it is more simple than she’d imagined. Lisa mentioned to her some time ago that the second floor was reserved for offices, which explains the number of doors lining up the wall.
There is nothing of significant interest, so to speak, save for the ornate door at the end of the corridor, where she finds Klee giddily standing next to. Upon closer inspection, she realizes with amazement that the door had been entirely hand-painted. Cecilias marked the borders with elegance, while the center boasts detailed paintings of the faunas of Mondstadt. There are spots where the paint has been chipped—the tell-tale sign of a room well-used.
“Come on!” Klee beckons.
Hesitantly, Lumine knocks on the door.
It takes only three quick successions for an answer from the inside, “Klee, not now.”
From the corner of her eyes, she notices the downturn of a pout on Klee’s lips.
Sighing, she tries again, “It’s me, Lumine.”
There is a rapid series of footsteps, and then the magnificent door opens. “Hey—”
“SURPRISE!!!”
Klee, unable to contain her excitement, immediately goes to hug her brother. She can’t help but to laugh at the girl’s antics as she presents their labor of love to Albedo.
“Paimon’s specialty dessert,” she explains. “We promise it’s edible.”
Albedo, clearly dumbfounded, could only blink in response. Now seeing him at full, Lumine finally understands Klee’s concern. Bags lined Albedo’s eyes and his skin is paler than usual. It is rather out of character for the typically put-together alchemist.
“I am grateful indeed. Though you three didn’t have to--”
“Nonsense!” Paimon huffs. “Stop overworking yourself or Paimon will have to bonk you!”
A silence breaks out, then three of them roar into thunderous laughter.
“Sure you will, Paimon,” Lumine teases.
“Hey! Paimon is serious!”
***
Much to Albedo’s delight, Paimon’s specialty dessert turns out to be very much edible.
He has previously brushed her off as a mere fae companion, no more intriguing than the stray seelies, but perhaps there is more to the little organism than he thought... Perhaps, if he could get Lumine to entrust her in his care, he could...
“What, are you going to experiment on Paimon next?”
The blonde girl looks at him quizzically, a knowing smile at the tip of her lips. The traveller and he have not spent much time together, yet she always knows to read his mind.
He clears his throat. “If you’d let me, of course.”
With her fork scraping the last of the Sugar-Frosted Slime, Lumine sighs, “I’m sure Paimon will say yes if you promise to treat her to some Sticky Honey Roast.”
At the sound of her favorite Mondstadt treat, Lumine’s travel companion stirs in her sleep.
“Sticky…. roast.....” she slurs, eyes still shut.
Albedo and Lumine exchange a glance, each trying to suppress their giggles.
Out of his window, he could see the sun beginning to set, casting a golden shadow on the ever-so-lively city. They’d spent the last couple hours in his workshop, bantering and eating and whatnot. At some point his sister and Paimon passed out from their sugar rush, the two of them sprawled on his little hammock.
“How endearing,” Lumine mumbles beside him.
It is an endearing sight, and he’d hate to wake them up.
“You can use a bit of sleep yourself,” Lumine says, stifling a yawn.
“I have a few things to take care of,” he rises from his seat, patting down the crumbs on his pants. “Feel free to stay, Lumine.”
The Honorary Knight yawns, stretching her arms. She offers a lazy smile, “Don’t be too hard on yourself, hm?”
***
Once he is sure she’s fallen asleep, Albedo spares a glance towards his laboratory, where a vial of blue substance seems to glow in the dimming light; the very substance that has come from the essence of the traveler in front of him. In the morning it was but a small drop at the bottom of the glass. Now it has grown thrice the amount.
Upon his examination, he could’ve sworn it’d swirled into reflections. Dreams , he’d realized with a start. Dreams of eclipses and a world at war. Of the darkness that ravaged even the brightest stars. Of the abyss he dares not to venture to.
Something in him stirs then—something ancient even he knows not the name of. Those born of chalk have the power to breathe life, but they, too, were ticking bombs of destruction.
Albedo knows this well. Lives with the knowledge in every second he spends in the lab, researching all that he could about this strange world. Is aware of it in every fleeting moment with his sister. Knows it now, as he stares into what might very well be the sign of his doom.
He is not afraid of the future, only that his curiosities would not be satiated by the time he meets his end. Cataclysm is nothing but a natural process. After all, it is only from the fallen can the living be born.
Still, when the time comes, could he rely on the traveler to stop him?
As his eyelids grow heavier, Albedo finds himself unable to resist the necessity of sleep. Such are the burdens of a mortal life...
The secrets of the universe can wait. For now, Albedo is content to close his eyes, and fall into a dreamless slumber.