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“Fuck!” You scrabbled for purchase on the snowy bank, frozen fingers tearing at roots and loose rocks.
Great, you were going to slide to your undignified death in the middle of a snowy wasteland. Deciding to risk a glance below, you glimpsed thick swathes of some kind of grass, even the soothing light of a seelie court, but mostly a whole lot of snow. Could it be enough to cushion your fall? You weren't about to fuck around and find out.
Awkwardly rolling onto your back, you slammed your heels into the slope in an attempt to slow your momentum. A fall like this totally wouldn’t kill you. Hopefully. With a jolt your descent accelerated, another jumble of rocks giving and sliding down underneath you. Screw it. You gritted your teeth. Using your fingers as claws, you pressed them into the slope in hopes of slowing further. You’d rather torn up hands over meeting an icy death. You felt every jagged rock in excruciating detail as finally, you reached the bottom, the soles of your feet planting into the snow like they were made to be there.
Thank every archon in Teyvat. Apart from the one that made Dragonspine. The wind was howling, sending great puffs of snow ghosting over the ice in flurrying, sweeping motions. Leafless branches creaked under the weight of icicles.
You couldn't help but sigh as you looked at your hands, blood tricking between your fingers and collecting in the small divots of your knuckles. Besides stinging like hell, you knew you’d have to disinfect them.
All the more reason you had to get to Albedo’s camp. That was why you were on the goddamn mountain after all. You loved helping him out, but his request of 50 valberries was pushing it, and you’d been tempted to tell him to hike up Stormbearer Mountains himself. But, true to your word, in your pack was a small wrapped parcel of the berries as requested. You’d had to remove some of the usual supplies from your bag to make sure the valberries wouldn’t get crushed, leaving you without goulash, warming potions or anything else vaguely useful to your current situation. There was a small med kit inside, but that had been emptied out just a week ago, after a haphazard adventure with Bennett.
Glancing down at your hands again, you lightly prodded at the gravel in the cuts, only to realise it was properly stuck there. After all that had already happened today, you could cry. Still, life goes on, as Qiqi would say and you steadfastly continued towards camp.
Dotted across the rock laden path ahead were small clearings, some of them obviously abandoned hilichurl camps, others just areas of barren land where the soil was too cold and nutrient-poor to produce anything other than a few pitiful weeds. Praying the camps were as abandoned as you thought they were, you pressed onwards. At the end of this path was the broken bridge leading right up to the camp. You were so close you could almost smell the warm fire, the thick tomes, the calming scent of Albedo’s offered jacket. You walked past the last camp, relaxing as you stepped in front of the bridge when you heard an arrow head knock into place on a bow. The faintest sound and yet your panic spread quickly. Spinning around just in time to see the hilichurl archer, you moved to press flat against the cliff next to you, just out of sight. Boldly risking a glance, you saw the archer point another hilichurl in your direction, jumping and stomping its feet as it waved its bow. The other hilichurl seemed to be carrying a club that had been lowered into a fire, judging by the way it was blazing and flickering in the distance. With you stuck between fighting and running, the hilichurl was already about 10 metres away.
You were not in the mood for a fight. Rushing to unfold your glider, you stepped up to the edge of the broken bridge and grabbed onto the bar. Your hands shook something fierce and with dawning horror, you couldn’t react fast enough to catch the glider slipping from your bloody hands and falling straight down the mountain. And you’d thought today couldn’t get any worse. Opting to grasp onto your sword instead, you spun to meet the hilichurl mid-swing, grunting in pain from the shock sent down the sword and into your hands. You couldn’t fight like this, much less with fire involved. Sword stuck out between the two of you to maintain distance, you called out for Albedo, knowing that if he wasn’t in his camp you were done for.
What you weren’t expecting was for the hilichurl to throw its club directly into your shoulder, a dull thud sounding twice as it hit you and then the ground. Now weaponless it snickered and stepped back a bit, clearly sizing you up. Distractedly watching the club sizzle out on the snow, you grasped your shoulder and took deep breaths, the pain hitting in waves.
‘Hello? Traveller?’ Finally. Turning your head and allowing yourself to sink to one knee, you watched as Albedo glided straight across the bridge towards you, sword sheathed on his hip. Thank the Archons above he bought a weapon. Carefully dropping onto the snow he rushed over to you, eyes narrowing as you both watched the hilichurl move away.
‘So all that ruckus was you! Here, Traveller, can you stand?’ You reached your hand up to grasp his before stopping abruptly, realising your hands were still slick with blood. He saw it too, before you could tuck them behind your back. Unexpectedly, his eyes widened slightly.
‘You are injured.’
‘Ah, yes, well,’ you floundered for words, heat pricking at your face as you wondered whether or not to tell him you slid down a cliff of all things.
‘Well, up you get. We can sort this out at camp, if that’s all right with you.’ Like he wasn’t fully intending to drag you there anyway. You must've looked an absolute wreck, bloody hands, a charred shoulder, blinks giving way to tears ever so slightly. You allowed him to herd you towards the bridge, watching as he spelled a platform into existence with the use of his geo vision. Thank god you wouldn’t have to glide. Supporting your weight slightly with one arm, Albedo stepped onto the platform and guided you onto it, ensuring you were on properly before it began to move to the other side of the chasm. Now you were finally almost there, exhaustion began to melt its way into you, settling deep in your weary joints.
‘That’s it, we’re almost there. Would you stay awake a while longer, Traveller?’ You quietly hummed in agreement. Taking more of your weight now, he stepped off the platform and pulled you along with him, wordlessly guiding you the rest of the way into camp.
By the time you stepped in, you were dragging your feet and trying your very best to stay conscious. He lead you over to a small stool and gently encouraged you to sit down, one hand staying on your shoulder while the other firmly gripped your waist. He plucked a couple of blankets from a basket and set them on the bed roll next to you, then stood up to take you in with inquisitive eyes.
‘So, where are you hurt? Apart from the obvious, naturally.’ Albedo asked, eyes moving over you in a way that made you feel utterly scrutinised.
‘Well other than my hands that are a little scraped up, I think I might’ve bruised my shoulder a bit.’ You didn’t have to look up to know he was frowning. ‘It definitely isn’t as bad as it looks!’, you supplied, just digging yourself deeper. Albedo didn’t even bother respond, ducking behind a desk to grab a first aid kit.
You didn’t know why you always felt the need to downplay things like this. The fear of over reacting was somehow far greater than that of letting yourself bleed to death, or something. For someone so dependent on others, you sure overworked yourself trying to maintain a tough façade. But then, you were an adventurer. You couldn't afford to be weak and reliant.
Albedo knelt down in front of you, interrupting your tangent. His gloves were lying on the bench that he’d retrieved the kit from, and you noted that he looked weirdly vulnerable without them. Albedo reached out and gingerly pulled one of your hands out to lay in his lap, bleeding side up.
‘This is just warm water, I will assess the damage before I do anything else.’ He muttered, already focusing on unscrewing the top of the thermos, the one (which you noted with dismay) was the same as the one he used for drinking and cooking. Before you could question how sanitary it was, he tipped a small amount into your palm. ‘I trust it’s not too hot?’, Albedo inquired.
‘Ah, yes, that’s fine thanks.’ To this Albedo only hummed a response, beginning to carefully wipe at the now murky blood with small gauze pads. You couldn’t help but jerk your hand away, the grit moving in the wounds only exacerbating the pain you were already in.
He cleared his throat, ‘Erm, try and hold still for me. I promise I'll be quick, and I don’t want to hurt you.’ With the hand that wasn’t holding the gauze, he cupped your own, steadying you with his cool palm. Casually slipping his fingers between your own, he continued to wipe at the blood, huffing when more only welled out to replace it. You offered him a sheepish grin and reminded yourself that the fact that you were bleeding wasn't your fault. You felt an intense need to apologise regardless.
Meeting your eyes, he said, 'I don't know many people that could smile in a situation like this. I apologise Traveller, I should've come sooner, or went to meet you outside before you arrived. That was quite the errand I had you returning from.' His lapse in concentration caused a bit of bloody water to spill onto his jacket and he swore quietly.
'You don't need to apologise! It's... neither of our faults! Anyway, it could've been much worse, imagine if I'd fallen off the bridge!' You laughed out, and Albedo pressed the cloth into your palm hard and narrowed his eyes at you.
'And that would have been funny, how?' Your eyes squeezed shut with the pain.
'Albedo, ALBEDO!' With a small gasp, he jerked the cloth away and started apologising again. Trying not to grimace at the fresh sting of gravel pushed into your cuts, you could only offer him a reassuring shake of your head. 'It's fine, that was a dumb joke, I'm sorry.' Albedo still looked troubled as he set the cloth aside and picked up a slim pair of metal tweezers. You couldn't help but tense at the sight of them.
'This shouldn't take long...however, if it becomes too much we can always take a break.' You nodded wearily, sweat prickling on your neck despite the cold. It wasn't that you didn't trust Albedo's steady hands, but... 'Deep breaths for me now.' He didn't linger enough for you to finish the thought and you felt the cold metal points nudge just slightly under your skin, grasping the first stone. Deep breaths were definitely a good idea. It felt as though all the blood had drained from your face - it wasn't so much the pain, as the needling sickening sensation.
Albedo pulled out the first stone and placed it on a small cloth that you hadn't noticed was balanced on top of the first aid kit. In just a few moments four more stones joined it and you were desperately trying to distract yourself, eyes lingering on the way Albedo's pink tongue poked out from between his teeth. He was so focused, his eyebrows slightly furrowed and his eyes clear. His face was naturally pale, and you could practically feel the colour leaking from your face to match his.
'Ah, Albedo, Albedo, I think I-' You pressed the back of your free hand against your mouth, the nausea coming in waves and the ringing in your ears becoming more apparent. It was strange, how you could handle so much in combat and yet become so weak in the face of medical treatment. His eyes flitted up to meet yours and he rose to his feet, setting the tweezers down and grabbing a small basin which he hurriedly placed in your lap. He gently rubbed circles into your back, and started drawing in deep breaths you realised you were meant to be following. After a minute, you choked out,'-'m sorry.'
'It's alright.' He soothed. The nausea slowly began to wane and you let your head fall forwards and bump against his chest. 'Have you eaten? Perhaps some food could settle your stomach, something plain?'
'It has been a while since I last ate... I suppose I could manage something small. But honestly, I don't know how much it'd help, you've still got to do my other hand.' He switched from stroking your back to lightly squeezing your shoulders.
'That's true... would you rather eat before or after? When all of the gravel has been removed, it's only a matter of applying salve and bandages. For your hands, at least.' You forced yourself to lean back from him.
'Let's just get it over with.'
'Alright.' He murmured, letting go of you to settle back to his original position. 'If you'd rather, I can work faster. A bit more pain might be worth not prolonging the sensation.' You agreed and he pulled your hand into his grasp again. There were only a couple more pieces of gravel left, and then this one would be done. Swiping it with a fresh piece of gauze to remove the still-welling blood, he quickly plucked the two pieces from the wound, the searing pain overtaking the digging feeling of the tweezers. 'Okay, that's all done.' You meekly offered your other hand to his lap. In contrast to his earlier concentration, you could see him glancing up to gauge your expression this time. His caring allowed a small warmth to kindle in your chest.
Albedo made quick work of the other hand as promised. You were still trembling, but by that point it was more exhaustion than sickness. 'I'll apply the salve now, and then we're almost done.' His working through of the situation was soothing in a way, similar to how he'd always dictate his experiments as he did them. 'Here we go...' He was back to concentrating, his fingers scooping a small dollop of pasty green salve out of the jar. Expecting a burn or sting when the salve made contact, you were instead greeted with a smooth, warm sensation. You were eager to offer your other hand to him, relishing in the numbness the salve seemed to provide.
'This stuff is amazing! Did you make it?' He smiled and paused in his ministrations to look at you.
'Yes, this particular salve is a creation of mine. From the colour, you may assume that it contains the essence of dendro slimes, but in actuality, it is a combination of qingxin leaves and pyro whopperflower nectar. The warmth you are experiencing is not only from the whopperflower, but from the warmth of the plains the qingxin flower grows above.' You were so enamoured with his assured explanation that you hadn't even noticed him wrapping thin, soft strips of bandage around your palms. After securing the bindings, he leaned back and offered you another smile. 'See? All done.'
'Thanks...' You were enraptured by him. The pain of your other injuries seemed to ebb slightly. He cocked his head to the side, as if he didn't know he was the reason for your distraction.
'Alright, now that's done, I'll prepare some food. If I make soup, I can let it simmer while I take a look at your shoulder. Does that sound okay?' Albedo asked, eyes lingering on where your clothes were scalded from the hilichurl's club.
'That sounds great! Let me help, I can cut the veggies.' You made to stand up, only to be hit with a wave of dizziness. Before you could stagger any more than a step forward, Albedo's hands were on you again, gently lowering you down, not to the stool this time, but the bed roll.
'You won't be doing any such thing. Wait here while I prepare the ingredients. If you're really so willing to help, perhaps you could see to your scrapes and bruises while I cook. Just the small ones, mind, I want to have a proper look at anything more.' He didn't need to say why, you already knew he didn't completely trust you to care for your injuries yourself. You couldn't really blame him.
'Alright, alright. I'll do that.' He chuckled quietly and passed over the first aid kit, before making himself busy at the table next to the stove. You took a minute to self assess, scanning your body mentally to see where hurt the most. Your shoulder was an obvious bother, but other than that, your elbows were a bit scraped and your calves were bruised from bumping against the cliff. It didn't take long for you to clean and cover the open wounds, and the bruises you ignored. Instead you listened to the clinking and rattling from where Albedo was working, gathering cutlery and moving ingredients around. You felt a pang of guilt that you weren't able to help. Albedo never seemed to give you a chance to look after him, it was always the other way around. Though, there was definitely a reason for that, concerning your unique penchant for trouble.
'Okay, the soup is simmering on the stove. Did you finish up on your end?' You nodded and turned your arms both ways, demonstrating the messy sticking of the gauze. He flashed you a grin that made your heart melt a little. 'Alright, let's get this off so I can take a look at you.' He poked at your shirt and you raised your hands to fumble with the buttons. They kept slipping against the bandages and frustrated, you tugged at your shirt slightly, wincing when the fabric pulled against the raw skin of your shoulder.
'Here, allow me.' He made quick work of the buttons with nimble fingers, and you blushed as he opened your shirt.
'Mm Albedo, wait, this is kinda...' You shifted to cover your chest with your arms, 'embarrassing.' The Dragonspine chill settled on you much heavier than before, but your face remained warm.
'Oh? What's the issue? It's nothing I haven't seen before.' A quick glimpse to his face showed his composure had shifted too, in spite of what he just said. His teasing was always subtle and you'd noticed he preferred pretending to be oblivious, rather than calling you straight out on being flustered. Despite his words, he pulled a blanket over you, covering everything but your shoulder, with such tenderness it made your heart ache. 'Is that better?'
'Uh huh, thank you.' You snuggled further into the blanket, letting it ride up your chin so your soft breaths puffed heat against your face. Albedo was now absently nibbling on his lip, scanning the injury with concern.
'What caused this burn, exactly?' He inquired, and you explained what happened when the hilichurl decided to turn the fight from a short range to a long range one. 'Goodness, they really are getting smarter...' This seemed to bother him more than you had expected and you vaguely remembered him mentioning the increased intelligence of the monsters, the closer they were to the spine. There was also the cryo infusion, which seemed to grant hilichurls access to elemental damage, which you hadn't really considered before. 'So, was the club lit via pyro, or did it seem to be ordinary fire?' You took a moment to consider that.
'Well, I think it was just ordinary fire, I don't remember seeing any pyro abyss mages around, and the burn doesn't really feel like a reaction more than just a flesh wound.' Albedo narrowed his eyes again and you hazily considered that you were on the receiving end of those looks far too often lately. You really should be more careful.
'I suppose you should count yourself lucky then, considering that this is 'just' a 'flesh wound'.' You averted your eyes. You hadn't even been trying to downplay it that time. 'Still... that does make it easier to treat, considering we don't have to worry about elemental reactions. A simple poultice should be enough, perhaps something hydro imbued.' He trailed off, taking in the disorder of his shelves, cluttered as they were with books, boxes, vials and notes. 'Perhaps I can whip something up.' Because making something from scratch really would be faster than digging through all that. You didn't blame him. He got up to grab a little mortar and pestle and then settled back down beside you. 'If I just...'
You watched in awe as water seemed to spill from the palm of his hand, filling the mortar halfway. An instant later and a flower was blooming in his hand as well, petals unfurling from the bud. It closely resembled the mist flowers you'd seen, even containing one of the corollas you were always gathering.
'Wait, what? Am I just tired, or did I see you summon water just now? You don't have a hydro vision- and, and, that flower, I know you're all about creating life but surely, well, you could've just made the valberries like that? And, is that allowed? I mean you really did just summon water right? Or make it, or-' He pressed a single finger to your lips and chuckled.
'Aren't alchemists allowed to have their secrets?' Once again he left you utterly dumbfounded, removing his finger to start grinding the flower against the edges of the mortar.
'That's crazy...' Your little outburst left you even more tired than you'd been before and you consciously made the tension flow from your muscles again, sinking back against the sheets and pillow with a little huff. Mirth still glittered in his eyes as he finished up his creation.
'Let me just apply this. Then, I'll take the soup off the stove and explain to you over dinner.' That was fine by you. Kinda. Once again, he put some of the mixture on his fingers and carefully spread it over your burns. This time it really did sting and you swore profusely (yet quietly) at the pressure - however gentle - on the forming blisters in the centre of the burn. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just a moment.' You turned your head and buried your face in the pillow. Lying down like this, you felt more vulnerable beneath him. Ashamed, almost, at the tears that welled in your eyes. It was unusual, a touch of his feeling this unpleasant. Usually, you couldn't get enough of his slender hands, yet the relief you felt when he pulled away was palpable. 'There. I'll work on making something more effective next time. Perhaps the addition of a numbing agent would suffice, if I could null the reaction with the cooling properties, to say nothing of the elemental instability within the- oh I apologise, this probably isn't what you want to be hearing right now.'
In all honesty, you didn't mind in the slightest. Albedo placed some non-stick gauze over the burns and stood up, wiping his hands on a handkerchief he'd summoned from some hidden pocket. He muttered something about going to check on the food and you realised he probably felt guilty about the pain he had caused you, not like it was his fault. You felt a pang at that, but more so did you feel the exhaustion creeping up on you like a weighted blanket. It wouldn't hurt to just rest your eyes for a few minutes. You'd surely wake up when Albedo brought the food over, for sure...
Your eyes slipped shut and your last coherent thought was the dread at the lecture you were sure to receive when you awoke. But right then, it just didn't
matter.