Chapter Text
"If you could teach me, Master, I will learn."
The small flower in his small hands was pressed to his chest, petals stroking over the fabric of his navy shirt, feeling the subtle in and out of his battered breath.
"Well, well, we will see if you are capable of mastering the art of Khemia.", his Master said, her tone had a strange taste to it, she spoke as if she was taken aback by his request, at least that is what her furrowed brows and slight rasp in her voice were telling him to think.
In truth, the boys request had opened up a question of it's own within Rhinedottirs head.
Was this creation of Khemia truly able to master the art it had been formed by?
With that rather curious thought in mind Rhinedottir had agreed to teach for as long as Albedo would hold up. It also would pose to double as a near perfect test of durability for the small chalk boy.
-
Perfection. Rhinedottir had looked upon the now fast maturing boy with a sense of fulfillment, the way he so eagerly rose to learn everything his Master would be willing to teach was fascinating.
He reminded her of herself, hanging on the skirt of her mother for years.
Any other day, back in her homeland she would have claimed to always miss her mother should fate decide to take her before Rhinedottir but now almost 500 years have passed since the demise of the eclipse dynasty and in all honestly Rhinedottir had far more important things to focus on than her dead parental units.
Cretaceus was one of these important things.
Albedo sat hunched over a ceramic pot filled with some basic soil, to his right was a notebook splayed open and while the boy poked around in the soil he bussied his other hand with scribbling down every little step he took.
Rhinedottir would later examine his notes and the range of success his experiments would hold.
Currently, though, she was taking samples from another artifact found within a domain, Albedo had retrieved for her. Every so often, Albedo would insist on accompanying her these days.
His swordsmanship was still lacking but he had a keen eye for valuables, almost like a magnet he'd find the most peculiar of artifacts and hand them to his Master.
So Rhinedottir agreed to his wishes to follow her into the depths of Teyvats vast domains and hidden dungeons, for at least he wasn't getting in the way.
In moments of silence, like these Rhinedottir felt the emptiness of the air around her all too strongly, it was a gnawing feeling, tense in telling her to focus and keep track of time while doing so.
Time was a fickle thing, soon it would mark the 500th year Rhinedottir has spend away from Khaenri'ah and it felt like it's been minutes yet millenia at the same time.
Alice felt like the only reliable she had. Alice always came and went, stayed and disapeared but she would always return sooner or later. It didn't matter, Alice was a constant and so was her creation, Albedo.
The longest any of her sentients have ever survived without further complications.
The Alchemist stole a glance to her side, Albedo naturally still hunched over his work but she noticed his legs growing restless, tapping the floor he barely reached. Every now and then the boy would brush a wayward strand of hair behind his ear and soon the hand he used to take notes started to absently scribble loops onto the page as well.
Rhinedottir sighed. Boredom.
She had hoped her creation would be free of such unfavorable constitutions.
She pushed herself from her chair and stepped behind the boy.
"Enough. Get up, boy, and follow me.", she said, her tone sending a shiver down Albedos spine.
Did he do something wrong? He wondered.
He turned to face his Master, her ice cold stare boring into his very being, he stares back, eyes wide.
Then Rhinedottir simply turned and walked towards the front door.
"Stop stalling and come."
From a pile of notes, which had been used as a pedest for a vase Rhinedottir pulled a handful of papers as well as a clipboard, pencil and eraser from a table.
-
They had been walking for quite a while, Albedo deduced from the steadily falling sun and he had wordlessly tailed his Master for all of it.
Her steps where wide and he just about managed to keep up until she suddenly came to a halt.
They were now facing a small hilichurl camp, the inhabitants of it had yet to notice them, a flock of pyro slimes was playing at the border and two little foxes were pushing sunsettias into a more or less neat pile to the side.
A little in the distance was a small forest, and a meadow with sweet flowers and mints stretched in front of the hilichurl camp. Butterflies had gathered over it and lilt happily.
Albedo furrowed his brows, why did his Master bring him here?
Rhinedottir pulled the board and papers from where she had carried it under her arm, handing it to the boy.
"Here. Look at your surroundings. What is the first thing that catches your eyes?"
Albedo thought for a moment. He took another look around and his gaze stopped on the fox pair.
"The foxes.", he answered.
"Can you see them well?", Rhinedottir asked, gaze fixed into the distance.
He squinted at the two foxes, they were a little far away but he could make out their silhuetts just fine.
"Not many details, just the outline and color."
"Well, then try to get closer. But be careful, you don't want them to run away."
"What is my task, Master.", asked Albedo carefully. He didn't quite understand what the purpose of all this was supposed to be.
"I want you to draw whatever peaks your interest. How are you supposed to understand the creation of life without understanding life."
"Oh.", was the quiet answer the boy gave.
"You have for as long as you need, but please return as soon as you are done." With those words, Rhinedottir did not wait for an answer and turned to leave. Leaving the boy mildly confused with the clipboard, paper, pens and eraser.
He had seen his Master draw before, she would make sketches of research material in her notes or of alchemical processes. That was normal things, he had done that too, but never had those scribbles reached further dimensions than simple diagrams or crude outlines.
Albedo sat down in the tall grass and watched the foxes some more, after a while he carefully scooted closer until he was about five meters away from them. Both foxes now looked him straight into the face, and he held his breath, shell-shocked, for a second before resuming their doing as if Albedo was part of the environment, just another rock in the landscape.
The young alchemist sighed in relief. He didn't want to scare them away or else he might have failed his assignment before he even had the chance to start.
He begann to shakily bring down the silhuett of one of the foxes, it was far from perfect but he carried on, trying to capture as much of the furs pattern and coloring as possible with only a pencil at his disposal.
A concentrated crease had formed on his forehead and as the hours went, he found, quite shockingly, that this was actually really fun.
-
Back at the shed, now hulled in gentle darkness, Rhinedottir had sat down on the couch to read a book Alice had brought her as a gift from a shop in Liyue. A story book Rhinedottir had first been reluctant to pick up but Alice had looked at her a certain way that made it impossible to say no.
Rhinedottir chuckled at the thought, was the book actually quite interesting.
She had dimmed the lights and opened the blinds as to enjoy the soft light of the white moon. Taking a break did feel nice every now and then, she just had to remind herself of that far too often.
Those moments where the ones she felt the most alife.
-
A small bird landed on Albedos head and started to pick at the strands of his hair.
With a yelp he startled upright, bird flying off.
He had fallen asleep on the meddow and as he looked around he found the sun was just rising above the horizon.
With a yawn he made his way back to the shed, hoping his Master won't be too furious with him.
-
"Your results.", was all his Master said.
Rhinedottir had already resumed her spot at her table and only stretched out her hand backwards for him to place the clipboard into.
She then flicked through the pages worth of wobbly and half finished sketches, nodding her head.
Rhinedottir then turned to face her student fully.
"Can you explain to me what it was I tasked you to do?", she said.
Albedo paused again. Furrowed his browns he said: "You asked me to sketch whatever peaked my interest."
Rhinedottirs gaze stayed iron as she shook her head.
"No", the Alchemist said. "I assigned you to capture and reproduce life."