Chapter Text
There was a knock at the door.
“Enter,” Kaeya said absentmindedly, chewing the end of a pen, legs propped up on his desk. Paperwork was kicking his ass at the moment, so any distraction was a welcome one.
The door opened, and the old wooden floor creaked with age as Jean made her way into his office. She held a stack of papers in her hands, but surprisingly, it wasn’t immediately deposited onto his desk. “The Adventurer's Guild is short-staffed at the moment, so we have to take on a few of their commissions. Do you think you could spare some time?”
Kaeya smirked, happy to get the hell out of his office. “Of course, Acting Grandmaster. What commissions are available?”
Jean carded through the papers, reading them aloud as she went through them: “Escorting a transport balloon, assisting Ellin, helping Flora with her flowers, food delivery, delivering letters…”
The Cavalry Captain huffed in annoyance. “Are there any interesting commissions, or are these just the simple errands the other Adventurers didn’t want to do themselves?”
“I’m afraid not. Sorry, Kaeya. Although this one looks interesting,” she says, grabbing a commission out of the pile. “Ella Musk needs an assistant for her Hilichurian research.”
“Her? You want me to do a commission with Ella Musk?” Kaeya groans, throwing his hands up. “Please, anything but that. She’s, how do I put it… weird? Strange? Just give me the Ellin commission, please, I beg of you-” He was cut off by a stern look from the Acting Grandmaster, clearly not amused with his antics.
“Come now, Jean, don’t give me that look. Isn’t the Traveler supposed to be doing these, anyways? I’m sure young Ella Musk would be devastated if Aether didn’t accompany her!”
“For your information, the Traveler has business in Inazuma. And I’m sure Ella will appreciate someone helping her find out more about the Hilichurls, even if it isn’t Aether. Which is why, you’ll be the one accompanying her,” she responds, sliding the details of Ella’s commission onto his desk. “I’ll be on my way, now that that’s settled. Don’t forget to finish your paperwork, and write a report for this commission, as well.”
Jean pretended not to notice the cry of anguish that escaped the Cavalry Captain as she shut the door.
“Mr. Cavalry Captain! Over here!” Ella Musk quietly called out to Kaeya. “Thank you for helping me communicate with the Hilichurls! This will most definitely aid in my research!”
The two were stationed just outside of Stormterror’s Lair amongst the ruins of the old city. It was around noon, and the blinding light of the midday sun was shining directly into Kaeya’s eye. But besides that, it was a beautiful day with the wind blowing lazily through the grass, and puffy clouds drifting through the sky.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Kaeya exhaled as he pinched the bridge of his nose, sensing a developing migraine.
“Alright. Could you find me a Hilichurl to practice with in the camp?” Ella asked.
“Sure, let me go drag one out for you.”
“I- what- no! Who taught you how to go bashing Hilichurls like that?”
“I’m a Knight of Favonius, that’s my job.”
“Ok, well, you have a point. Oh, Look! One seems to be awake over there!”
The girl ran off towards the camp with an annoyed Cavalry Captain trailing behind her.
Ella Musk took a worn-out notebook from her satchel, flipping to one of the pages. “Olah! Muhe mimi, nye, eh…”
It was by then that Kaeya had decided to zone out, resorting to pushing back his cuticles with his fingernails to pass the time. He was all about the pursuit of knowledge, but he doesn’t see the benefit of attempting to communicate with the strange, masked, bipedal rat-like creatures that roamed Teyvat. And even if the Hilichurls could hypothetically understand what Ella was telling them, there’s no way that one of them would actually respond…
To his shock, the Hilichurl responded.
To his horror, he could clearly understand what it said.
“What are you doing?”
The Calvary Captain’s breath hitched. It couldn’t be. It’s impossible. Maybe he misheard- yes, yes, he just didn’t hear it right, must’ve been his ears playing a trick on him.
He continued to listen. Every line exchanged between the two, between the girl and the beast, was another nail in his coffin. Some words were mixed up or completely omitted, but there was no denying that the Hilichurl was coherently speaking to the child in his native language.
“Look, Mr. Cavalry Captain! The Hilichurl had given me a steak! Looks to be inedible, but it was still a very nice thought!”
By this point, the sun was peeking out from the mountaintops and the two were making their way back to Mondstadt. The evening light was doing an excellent job of hiding Kaeya’s unnaturally pale and sweat-coated face. He didn’t have the heart to respond to Ella. He felt numb.
“Well, thank you for taking me! My Hilichurlian has improved a lot. Maybe we could do this again sometime!” Ella exclaimed, clearly satisfied with the outcome of this little adventure.
“Yeah… yeah, definitely…” Kaeya managed to choke out.
The Hilichurls could speak Khaenri’ahn.
His people were monsters.