Chapter Text
Angel’s Share was bustling as ever during the evening. The chatter of patrons mulling about, enjoying their ciders, wines, and beers. And toward the front of the tavern, two figures sat at the bar, the long-haired bartender paying them no mind.
“Rosa… I really think you need to get out more.” The Knight hiccupped, slouching in his stool, “I mean- come on. You’re always so suspicious of... Everything. Look at you, you’re drinking and yet your back is,” he waved his hand at the nun’s posture which was as straight as a rod, “That.”
The nun sighed, “Kaeya, do you trust me?”
A smirk spread its way across Kaeya’s expression, “I trust your intel. And you buy my drinks, which means I’m obliged to say ‘yes.’”
Rosaria drummed her long nails on the countertop, “Good answer.”
“Soooo..?” Kaeya drawled, “What do you need? Some documents? More information on the treasure hoarders? I’ve got plenty of that. An alias? Ohh, or what about-”
Rosaria cut him off, “I need you to watch your Alchemist for a day.”
“Huh?” Kaeya looked up at Rosaria from his position slumped over, “You mean Albedo?”
“Yes, that’s the one. Just trust me. All I need is for you to keep an eye on him for twenty-four hours. And don’t ever let him leave your sights.”
“Twenty-four hours?!” Kaeya exclaimed, sitting up suddenly and immediately regretting it when the whole bar spun around him. He grabbed the edge of the counter with both hands to steady himself. “That’s a really long time, Rosa. How am I going to explain that one to Jean?”
“Doesn’t Jean not care what you do anyway?” Rosaria narrowed her eyes at Kaeya.
Kaeya smiled sheepishly, “Ahah... I guess you’re right.” The cogs turned in his head for a moment before grinding to a screeching halt, “Wait what do I tell Albedo? I’m not just gonna follow him around like a creep. And how will I even find him?”
Rosaria paused. “You can figure the first part out. As for the second… Six A.M. Tomorrow. He’ll be at the alchemy station by the general store. He goes there in the morning before Timaeus shows up to get a small bit of work done.”
She sipped her drink. Kaeya just stared at her, “And how do you know this?”
“We aren’t all afraid to, as you put it, ‘follow him around like a creep.’”
There was a pause. A long one. The tension could be cut with a butter knife. And just as quickly as it came on, it was forgotten. “So are you going to do this favor for me? I’ll owe you.”
Kaeya pretended to think about his answer before a devious smirk tugged at his lips, “Consider it done. I’ll have a report for you in two days’ time.”
“Great. Now, you should probably rest up for your job tomorrow.”
Kaeya protested, “Aw, you’re no fun! One more round?”
Rosaria sighed, relenting, “Fine. One more round.”
Kaeya was up bright and early the next morning, as he usually was. Thankfully, he was still young and had yet to experience a terrible hangover. Maybe if he were a bit older, he wouldn’t drink as much, but he’d burn that bridge when he got to it.
He dressed himself, brushed his hair back, checked himself in the mirror, and made his way right out of his knights’ quarters to head out on the town.
The morning air was crisp and cool against his skin, and was refreshing to breathe in after being cramped in his room. As quartermaster as well as captain, his quarters were considerably larger than many of the lower-ranking knights’, yet it was never a comfortable-enough space. That just came with the job, though; it wasn’t like he spent too much time there anyway.
He strolled through the streets of Mondstadt, enjoying the soft breeze that always blew refreshing new air onto his exposed skin(which there was no short supply of; just how he liked it). Down the cobbled streets, past lampposts that wouldn’t be lit for many hours. Down the many, many steps that the city offered…
Until he found himself in the main square. Seeing as it was early, many of the vendors who usually mulled about were nowhere to be found, or were working on stocking up their goods for the day. The cooking spits at the restaurants had just been lit, and he saw Sara fanning the flames out of the corner of his eye. He was tempted to give her a wave, but she probably didn’t even notice him.
He passed by the fountain, and shifted his gaze finally to the alchemy station. Just as Rosaria said, Timaeus was nowhere to be found. But as for Albedo? He was crouched down, shuffling through something on one of the lower shelves behind the alchemy table.
It was almost like he was taking inventory, but Kaeya wasn’t going to assume he knew anything about alchemy. Nor anything about Albedo himself, his intentions included.
He leaned his shoulder against the sturdy wooden pole that held the overhang over the miniature lab. He put on his award-winning smirk, “Captain Albedo, fancy seeing you here.” His voice wasn’t groggy, but it was deeper from unuse so early into the day.
Albedo merely paused in his shuffling, before he picked it up a moment later. “Captain Kaeya. Did you need something?”
Well, here was the easiest part of the day: lying. “Yeah. Jean asked me to hang out with you today.” Easy enough to believe, right?
Albedo pondered for a moment, his response calculated, “Master Jean? Alright, I’d like to see the documents for that. Especially considering that today is one of my days off.”
Oh. Kaeya hadn’t considered that possibility. “Uh… There aren't any documents. She wasn’t asking it of me for work. Apparently she was just concerned about you.” He shrugged. That was also pretty easy to believe, Kaeya thought. After all, Albedo spent so much time on Dragonspine, worked most of the day(even if on personal projects more so than knight work), and hardly ever used his days off for genuine breaks. It would make sense why someone like Jean might be concerned for him.
There was another pause from Albedo as he seemed to finish looking through whatever it was he’d been sifting through. When he stood up and turned around to look at Kaeya, there was an unreadable smile on his face. One that almost made Kaeya uncomfortable; but if he was, he’d never show it.
“Alright then.” Thankfully, Albedo seemed to, at the very least, be playing along with Kaeya. He didn’t like the energy he was getting from the alchemist, though. “I’ll take you along with me. Though, I expect you to stay out of the way if things get dangerous.”
Kaeya scoffed, offended, “Do you have that little faith in me?”
Albedo hummed, looking Kaeya over. He could feel his eyes combing him, trying to weed out any secrets he might be hiding in plain sight. “No. It’s not that I have no faith in you. Rather, I’m unaware if you’re suited to the kinds of things I’m going to be getting up to today. We rarely talk outside of work, after all.”
Kaeya rolled his eye, “Oh yeah? You wouldn’t call spending time with Klee work, now would you?”
Albedo huffed, “Of course not.” He grabbed a few things off the shelves and put them into a bag that he’d been carrying, making sure it was all organized. “Though, when we’re watching Klee, it’s almost impossible to pay attention to anything else except for her.”
Kaeya grumbled, “Fair point…”
“Now, as for what we’re going to be doing today… I had a few things planned. One which is a lot more.. Interesting with someone else. Though, I can’t say I had originally planned to have a human subject.” For some reason, chills crept their way up Kaeya’s spine. It was irrational, sure, but the way Albedo said it with such little inflection made him unsure of whether it was meant to be taken as a joke or not.
Albedo clasped the bag shut and shrugged it over one of his shoulders. “Come on, we don’t have time to waste. We need to go to Dragonspine.”
Kaeya could have guessed that that’s where they’d be going today at some point, but this early in the morning? Despite having a cryo vision, he still dreaded the bitter cold that would most certainly plague the mountain this early. Not to mention how long of a walk it would be.
Albedo had already started walking away, though. Of course he wasn’t going to call for Kaeya to follow him a second time; Kaeya was the one invading Albedo’s free time, after all. And while sometimes Kaeya liked to be a nuisance, something about Albedo made him think that if he were to purposefully cause him trouble, he’d end up regretting it sooner or later for any number of reasons.
It wasn’t long before they were passing under the great gates at the mouth of the city, the two tired guards watching the entrance giving them a lazy wave. Their posts shifted in about half an hour, and so it was no surprise that they were exhausted. Must have been there since dusk.
But nonetheless, Kaeya waved back, almost unsurprised to see that Albedo had only offered them a curt nod. Must be a regular exchange then, for both parties to be so lax about it.
The two crossed the great bridge over Cider Lake, paying no heed to the small boy who liked to play on it. Thankfully, there were no pigeons to scare off, as both knights knew that if there were, the child would get upset. And no one liked to make a kid’s day worse.
Once they’d been walking along the dirt path for a couple of minutes, Albedo suddenly stopped. Personally, Kaeya had been rather enjoying the comfortable silence between them. It wasn’t awkward, but Kaeya feared that whatever Albedo was about to say would suddenly make it so.
And he was right. “Kaeya.” Uh-oh. That tone seemed almost accusatory. Albedo turned to him.
“Yes?”
“You’re the Cavalry Captain, yes?”
Kaeya nodded, “Yeah? Why?”
“So you know how to handle horses?” There was that sly smile again.
“I do.”
“And you have no horse right now because…?”
Ah. “Well, you know that Varka took them all, so… Can’t really have a horse if there are none in the stables.”
“And if we were to have a horse here? Would you be able to calm it and perhaps even tame it?”
Kaeya shrugged, “Maybe. I’ve always had an affinity for the creatures.” He smirked, “Not to brag, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a horse dislike me.”
Albedo hummed again, “Hm.” And without another word, he wandered off the path to take a seat on the soft grass next to a medium-sized rock. He set his bag down against it, and pulled what appeared to be a journal of some kind from it along with a charcoal pencil.
Kaeya sauntered over as well, curious as Albedo flipped to a page. But as soon as he got close enough to maybe get a glimpse of what Albedo was doing, he brought the journal to his chest to hide its contents. “Ah-ah,” Albedo warned, “This is a surprise.”
Kaeya huffed but sat a few feet away in the grass. Albedo turned his body to be facing Kaeya, back now to the rock.
The soft scratching of charcoal on paper nearly blended in with the soft billowing of the breeze across Kaeya’s ears and the rustling of the leaves in the bushes and trees. It was relaxing. Especially since most of Kaeya’s work altey had been concentrated within the city’s walls instead of out in the open wilderness.
Because of this, he sometimes envied Amber and her limitless freedom to move around Mondstadt as she pleased with her knightly duties. Though, his occasional mission outside of the city was always a refresher; if it wasn’t a reward, he feared he might grow used to it after so much time spent outside.
After what was probably ten minutes of feeling the wind on his skin, Albedo finally spoke up, “Alright. It’s done.” He stood up and Kaeya followed suit. Albedo put his pencil back into the bag and gently tore the sheet of paper from the book.
Kaeya watched, his eye widening as Albedo held the sheet up with one hand, the other extended in front of him.
And he spoke, “Arise,” a bright yellow glow began to emanate from Albedo’s hand, “Lifeless dust of the universe and that within,” particles a similar hue to the geo element began to accumulate around the light’s source, the sky around them seeming to be turning dark, “thou art reborn.”
Kaeya shielded his eye as the light from within seemed to burst out all at once in a blinding flash, engulfing both of them.
And when it settled, Kaeya’s mouth fell agape in awe. In front of them, a few meters away, there was a horse. Its hide was mottled black and grey, like the way charcoal sat on a sheet of parchment. And its fur was thick, almost like the half-cape that Kaeya often wore. It kicked the ground and chuffed.
And as unbelievable as it was, Kaeya simply couldn’t help himself as a grin soon replaced his look of shock, a giddy sparkle in his eye that he couldn’t seem to shake.
“This is..?”
Albedo came over to stand next to Kaeya, crossing his arms over his chest. “Certainly not my finest work, but it’ll do. She’s a sturdy one, that’s for certain; a breed designed to be hardy in cold weather.” He paused, “If you wouldn’t mind.” He gestured toward the horse, “I’m not so certain I’m able to get its trust. I’ve never worked with horses before.”
Although his tone was flat, Kaeya could feel a tiny bit of nerves from Albedo by his side. So he was quick to take a few steps forward, spinning on his heel to face Albedo for just a moment as he continued to approach the horse, only to say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
As it turned out, he did not have this. The horse was completely ignoring most of his calls for attention, choosing instead to loaf around. She didn’t mind him petting her, however, but also didn’t give too much of a positive (or negative) response from it. It almost seemed hopeless. But he wasn’t about to risk trying to hop straight on her back.
So he turned to Albedo, a nervous laugh escaping him. “Uh, haha.. Give me one second. Keep an eye on her, yeah?”
Albedo nodded and watched him go. He almost felt ashamed, embarrassed, for throwing so hard right in front of Albedo. But that wasn’t his fault, right? No, it was the horse’s. The horse that Albedo created.
Holy shit, Albedo created a horse.
He didn’t have time to think about that too much right now, though. Instead he scanned the area until he finally, finally spotted something. A small patch of sweetflowers. Hell yeah. Horses loved sugar. He gathered them up and plucked the stems from them, ending up with a handful of sweet, sweet flower heads. Perfect.
He lightly jogged his way back to Albedo and the horse, the latter of which he should probably start thinking of names for. He held up one of the flowers to it and… Bingo! She immediately turned her attention to him and the food he was offering.
He regained all of his confidence in that moment, and gently fed her the treat, petting her mane with his other hand all the while.
Flower after flower she ate, and eventually seemed sated enough to push and nudge at his hand. Great, the horse liked him now. The only problem was…
“Uh?” He turned to look at Albedo, “Albedo, how are we going to ride her? We don’t have a saddle. Or reins. We don’t even need a saddle, but reins would be great.” He grinned nervously, the horse nearly knocking him over with a firm nudge from her snout.
“Hey, pushy.” He chuckled, scratching the horse’s neck.
“Right, my apologies.” Kaeya slowly began to lead the horse a bit closer to the alchemist as he took out another piece of paper, beginning to sketch what Kaeya could now reasonably assume was a saddle or reins of some kind.
He could see Albedo instinctively tense up, if only a little, when the horse snorted in his direction. Kaeya decided this would be a perfect opportunity for some teasing and prying. “What, do you not like horses? You were teasing me for not having any. And you’re the one who’s nervous now?” He chuckled, stroking the horse’s mane.
“Captain Kaeya.” Oh man, he was busting out the full title, “I have never actually… Ridden a horse before. I’ve seen them, but the fact that I will soon be riding one, even if at your guidance, is certainly nerve-wracking. Well.” He paused, “I don’t think it’s nerves, so much as dread.” Another pause, his lips tightened into a thin line as he avoided looking at Kaeya, “I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I’m apprehensive of the whole situation for personal reasons. I won’t be elaborating any more on that.”
Kaeya put his free hand up in surrender, “Alright, alright, I’ll let you organize your thoughts.” He muttered something about making a saddle as well before leaving Albedo to it.
In the meantime, he had a horse to name and bond with. She was a beautiful one, that was for sure. Elegant and sturdy. She certainly wouldn’t win any awards for grace or obedience, that he could tell just from the demeanor she displayed, but it was, in its own way, rather charming.
So such a stuck-up and dignified lady deserved a stuck-up and dignified name. Hmmm… He looked the horse in the eyes, and she looked at his eye back. And as it came to him, a grin spread its way across his features, tugging his lips up.
“P-”
Just as he was about to say the horse’s name, Albedo also spoke up, “Come into being!” And without warning, there was another flash of light that Kaeya had to shield himself from with a small noise of surprise. The horse whinnied and looked about ready to bolt away, so Kaeya had to employ all of his horse-soothing tactics which included but were not limited to stroking her name and whispering to her in a soft voice.
Albedo walked up a moment later with a bridle and reins in his hand, gently holding them out to Kaeya, “Here, I do not know how to put this on her, but I’m fairly sure I made them accurately to how they’re supposed to be.”
Kaeya took them from him and inspected them. They were leather, and at least close enough to how they should be to be effective at steering the horse. So he got to work putting the bridle on her. She resisted at first, but after a few minutes finally relented. He gave her a pat on the neck and some scratches as he attached the reins to the bridle.
“There we go!” He turned to Albedo who had silently been watching him, taking notes in his head Kaeya was sure. “She’s all good to go.”
Albedo nodded, “Wonderful. We should really get going, then.” If there were nerves behind his words, even Kaeya couldn’t pick up on them in the moment, as much as he suspected they were there.
Kaeya was almost offended that Albedo didn’t ask if he’d named their horse. But if he were to guess, Albedo probably wouldn’t have named it if it were left up to him. He’d probably call her ‘Experiment H0R53’ or something like that.
“And you’re sure Princess here can handle the cold?”
Albedo gave him a look. Unreadable, as most of his looks were, but this one bordered more on intrigue and distaste than any of his previous looks. Did he not like the name? Even if he didn’t, he’d have to deal with it- “Yes, I’m sure. She’s a breed built for handling cold weather and tough conditions, while being able to hold both humans and goods. If she cannot handle it, then we will end up not using her.”
Kaeya nearly sputtered, “And what? Just leave her out to die?!”
Albedo furrowed his eyebrows, “Of course not. I am not so cruel. I would simply give her new purpose.”
Kaeya narrowed his eye, but he believed Albedo to have good intentions. Unlike someone he knew. “If you say so.”
And with that, while it took him a moment, he got himself up onto Princess’ back to get settled. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind him being up there. Albedo did a good job making her, then, even if he likely didn’t have control over her demeanor.
After petting her some more, and getting the reins ready for use, he turned to Albedo who was just staring at him. “You good down there? Come on, get up here.” He grinned, knowing full well Albedo would likely need his help.
“Uhm. Well, if you say so. Do I just…?”
“Sit behind me, yeah. And wrap your arms around my waist, it’ll keep you secured.” He couldn’t help but put on a bit of a teasing tone, bordering on flirtatious.
He watched and silently praised Albedo’s ingenuity as he placed a small geo construct on the ground next to Princess and used it to elevate him just enough to comfortably climb onto the horse, his bag secured onto his shoulder. He heard the soft crunching sound as the construct dissipated at the same time as he felt Albedo’s weight join him on the horse’s back.
And a moment later, he felt Albedo’s arms tentatively wrap around his waist. “Come on, get a little closer. You can put your chest right up to my back if you want. And make sure your hold is nice and tight. I don’t know how fast Princess is going to go.” The teasing lilt in his voice was still there, and he was disappointed he couldn’t see Albedo’s face.
But the way that the alchemist followed his instructions told him that he was probably blushing. Hell, he could nearly feel Albedo’s hands shaking as they clasped together around Kaeya’s middle. Although, Albedo wasn’t the only one in a tricky place. Kaeya could feel his own face starting to heat up.
Which was strange. He’d been on plenty of horseback rides with others. But something about this particular ride felt… Intimate. It wasn’t for any knightly duties, and it was on a horse that had been made just for him. Just for them.
He decided it would be best to ignore that thought and just get them to Dragonspine before one or both of them ended up thinking thoughts that they’d regret.
He gave a light kick to Princess’ flank and she whinnied before beginning a light trot. Okay, this was nice, but they could go faster. So as he steered her onto the path proper, he gave another kick with a vocal signal as well. And to his delight, she picked up her pace, hooves hitting the soft dirt of the path and kicking it up in her wake.
Kaeya savored the feeling. It’d been a while since he’d been able to feel this. Since Varka took all the horses to Wolvendom. He wondered what would have become of him if he’d been with that division. Wondered where they’d gone. But it’d do him no good to think about that.
Instead, he reveled in the feeling of the wind in his hair, the sounds of the world rushing past him. The staggering of riding without a saddle, feeling Princess’ incredible muscles working exactly as intended. And of the feeling of the reins in his hands.
Though, perhaps the best feeling was one he allowed himself the guilty pleasure of. The feeling of Albedo’s arms around his waist. The way he tightened his grip when they began to move faster, the way he could feel his nervous, stuttered breathing from his chest against his back. And the feeling of Albedo’s face buried into his back.
He was tempted to make a teasing remark, but he could tell the other was feeling stressed. So he instead opted to stay quiet and give him his peace, choosing instead to enjoy the moment.
As they continued on their trek, he could feel Albedo gradually relax, his hands stopping shaking, and his head turning to the side to watch the world as it passed them by. Kaeya let himself smile, knowing that he could be the first to show Albedo how nice horseback riding could be.
It wasn’t long before they were almost at the Adventurer’s Camp right on the outskirts of Dragonspine. He tugged on the reins, making Princess slow down gradually to a walk. And as they were at that slow pace, he felt Albedo relax completely, beginning to pull himself away from Kaeya.
He couldn’t blame him, really. It was fairly safe to do so now that they were almost at the camp. He decided to ask, “Do you need to stop here for anything? If not, we can just go straight through…”
Albedo shook his head, but said, “It would be difficult and dangerous to take Princess onto the mountain proper. The path is far too fragmented and broken in places, I fear she’d twist an ankle. Let’s leave her with the guild for now.”
Kaeya nodded, pulling them off the road to the small stables that were set up nearby. He backed Princess under the overhead and let out a long sigh, “Alright, you need to get off first.”
Albedo was still holding onto him, however lightly. He cleared his throat, “Right, apologies.” It took him a minute and nearly falling, but he was able to get himself off the horse fairly easily, unstable on his feet for a moment after he got off.
Kaeya noticed this as he also climbed off of Princess, beginning to get her tied up. “Weak legs, huh?”
Albedo nodded, “Yes, it’s strange…”
Kaeya gave a hum of acknowledgement, “Yeah, that happens sometimes. Makes sense since it was your first time and we went pretty fast.” He shrugged, “You’ll get used to it.” Once Princess was properly secured, he turned to look at Albedo, putting a hand on his hip and smirking, “Not to mention, you were pretty nervous back there.”
He watched Albedo’s expression closely and carefully. He saw his eyes widen just slightly, and his skin pale. He avoided eye contact with Kaeya, and so Kaeya was going to take that as a win in his book. He could tell Albedo thought he was a master of appearing indifferent, but to someone as observant as Kaeya… That facade quickly crumbled to dust.
“Ah, no worries. I get it. I was nervous the first time I got on a horse, too.” He shrugged, walking right past Albedo. Ah, he loved to play these little games. Making him feel certain ways, playing with his expectations. He enjoyed doing it to anyone, but something about Albedo felt special.
Albedo nodded, “Right, well..” He began to follow Kaeya, “We had best get to my camp further up the mountain. I need to make some paint. We can pick up supplies along the way.” He quickly overtook Kaeya on the path, passing right through the camp at a practiced, comfortable pace.
Kaeya just followed along as the bitter cold began to nip at his nose on the way.
Rosaria loathed being up early in the morning, but this was something important. Something that had been bugging her for over a week now.
At night, she’d seen the knights’ Chief Alchemist stalking around the city. Never going to the same place twice, and never in any discernible pattern. It was strange, as if he was lost among the buildings.
It would make more sense if he were new to the city, but he’d been there for well over a year. The roadmap shouldn’t be anything that he needed to discover. Not to mention, he didn’t seem like the type to want to deviate from any sort of routine, either.
Lately, it had been rather quiet. She only saw him on one or two nights that week instead of every night. So she needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was before something bad happened. She could feel that it was nothing good.
So she was up early in the morning to make sure Kaeya was keeping an eye on the man. She watched from the shadows of the building by the old waypoint device. Saw the Cavalry Captain sauntering up to the Alchemist. They exchanged words and greetings and small talk.
And Rosaria was glad that it was Kaeya who was her contact within the knights. He was a smooth-talker, and it seemed that he’d at least managed to convince Albedo that it was important that he follow him around. She was also thankful because she knew he’d keep his mouth shut about their arrangement.
As soon as the two left the city, she got to the real dirty work. She knew there was a laboratory somewhere within the Knights of Favonius headquarters. There had to be. And if she were the one designing the building, it wouldn’t be on an upper floor in case something went wrong and needed evacuation. And it wouldn’t be in the basement, since it was likely that anything smoking would need to be aired out. So it had to be on the ground floor.
That just made it easier for her, and she was quick and efficient in peering into the windows of the headquarters. It only took a matter of minutes before she laid eyes on a neatly-organized lab. Alchemical equipment littered the counters, some with strange liquids or other substances in it, and some emptied and cleaned.
Although, it seemed her mission wouldn’t be one as simple as breaking-and-entering. There was someone in there. A slight girl. Sucrose, if she remembered her name correctly. She seemed to be too absorbed in one of her experiments, though, her ears pinned to the back of her head as she took tweezers to an unreasonably large sweet flower, occasionally pausing to write something in her notes.
She’d just have to go off of what limited information was available, then.
Looking closer, the room seemed to be divided into two sections. There was the section Sucrose was occupying with simple equipment, a small desk, and a considerable amount of plants. And the larger portion of the room was dedicated to the things that seemed more complex and specialized.
So Sucrose and Albedo must have split the lab up to work on their own. It made sense. From what Rosaria knew of the man, he wasn’t one to work with others often. Which made it even more of a relief that Kaeya was able to convince him to spend time with him.
She’d just have to use context clues for now.
Judging from the way things were in the room, it didn’t seem like he’d left in any sort of rush. Everything looked to be organized to a degree, and no equipment was sloppy or messy. It was suspiciously neat.
Suddenly, Sucrose looked up from her work and peered out the window, nearly making eye contact with Rosaria. She cursed under her breath and ducked out of her view.
She’d have to find a lead somewhere else.