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K,
Wind carries the rose southwards. We are expecting a few friends to join us, with supplies to last for a few weeks as we make all the necessary preparations for what we believe is about to come.
Training has been going as well as could be expected. Jean and I are incorporating some of your suggestions into the regiment, but we both hope those possibilities will not come to be. Some days it feels like hope is all I have.
Hope, and you.
When Windblume comes around, I hope I get to see you without armor.
D,
I’ve read the latest reports. Glad to hear of the wind blowing in your favor, although I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised—the rose has thorns, after all, and can be very convincing when she needs to be.
As for the little surprise you attached to your letter—I don’t know how you managed to find the time to press flowers in the middle of launching counterattacks, but I suppose you’ve always been an overachiever, huh? Future historians are going to run out of ink before they can write down all your achievements properly, and I can’t blame them for that.
Since you find my previous tips useful, here’s another one: alcohol is good for morale. I know, I know, you don’t like its aftertaste and you’ve dealt with too many drunkards even before everything went to hell, but there are very few things in the world better than a glass of dandelion wine at the end of a very, very long day. Trust me on this.
We don’t have wine here, so I find myself having to resort to other activities to entertain myself. Maybe, once everything is over, I’ll be a painter comparable to Master Crepus himself.
Windblume is in a few months. I’ve never pegged you as an overly optimistic person—or do you simply miss me that much?
K,
I’m not sure if the person in the painting is supposed to be me. If it is, then I’m not sure whether to be flattered or insulted. But thank you.
The wind hasn’t brought with it any news from the south. The fighting continues. We lost two infantry platoons and half a dozen scouts from an ambush. I wish you’re here with me to advise me—you have always been a better strategist than I could ever be. But we’re still holding on.
When this letter reaches you, I will be at the borders, freeing a small town the enemy forces have taken over. I will succeed—there is simply no other option. We will drive them back and regain what was ours. What was yours.
I will make sure of it.
D,
How's the bedrest? I’m sure there’s nothing I can say that the others haven’t said to you already, and I would kill to see our beloved dandelion yell at you in person. Unfortunately that’s not possible, so I suppose I’ll just demand a reenactment in the future.
Still, I’m glad you’re alive.
I wish I could bring you some good news, but it seems to be in short supply these days. Our reconnaissance teams return empty-handed, and some of the newer recruits are starting to whisper doubts among themselves. I’m still confident that it’s only a matter of time until we find it, though, and then everything will be over. If not by Windblume, then—next summer, perhaps?
K,
The rose has returned. She’s taking over your old office, said it’s the late payment fees she hasn’t collected from you, plus interest. The alchemists are with her, too, trying to see if there’s a way to replicate the mechanisms capable of pushing those enemy forces back five hundred years ago.
I asked Elzer to bring a few crates of wine from the winery to celebrate her return. I had a glass of Death Afternoon because it reminds me of you but I never did manage to develop a taste for it. How unromantic of me, I know. You can make fun of me for it in person later.
You told me once there is no sea in Khaenri’ah—I wonder if that’s the reason you love summer so much. I went to the Falcon Coast today because the healers told me regular long walks would help my injured leg, and I picked up some—well. I thought you might want them. I know you still keep the ones we used to collect a long time ago.
D,
I hate to break it to you, but those healers are definitely just trying to get away from you for a few hours, Mr. Worst Patient Ever. Thank you for the gift, though. It’s…nice. But you’re only partially correct—there’s another reason why I love summer. Maybe I’ll finally be able to tell you about it once everything is over.
The attacks have been getting increasingly relentless. We are holding on, my people are used to surviving on almost nothing, but every day there are more and more graves to dig. More and more people to bury.
The reconnaissance team found a chamber that once might have been a library a few days ago, but there’s nothing of note inside. The bough keeper offered to lead the expeditions himself, to see if he could map out the area from his memory. I let him.
I think he and I both know we are running out of time. In one way or another, for five hundred years, Khaenri’ah has been running out of time.
This means I’ll be on the frontline more often, but do not worry. I will be fine. These are my people. This is my home. We will march on.
K,
We are preparing for a siege. They think they can squeeze the life out of us, but they are wrong. The dandelion is leading a charge in the east, and she has asked me to lead the troops guarding the city on her behalf. The alchemists are placing wards around the perimeters and monitoring them around the clock.
None of us is getting much sleep these days.
I miss you terribly. I cannot wait for summer to come.
D,
I heard the news. I’m so sorry. She has done so much for the city and for us and. I’m so sorry.
You’re not to blame for her death. It’s not your fault. I know you don’t want to hear those words right now, but you need to hear them. You’re not to blame.
We won’t let her death be in vain. We will put an end to this war, one way or another, for her sake and everyone else’s too. We will win, and we will meet again.
K,
We buried her three days ago.
I wish you were here.
D,
Summer, remember? A few months, and I will be there. I promise.
The bough keeper informed me that he might have found a lead to what we have been looking for. He needs some time to decipher it, but these days I welcome any sliver of good news I can get. I will inform you of any development.
Please hold on for my sake, too.
K,
The wards are weaker than what we initially predicted. We have begun evacuating some of the younger knights out of the city, although some have stubbornly chosen to remain. The youngest among them is thirteen. I will be keeping her as far from the frontlines as possible, I have too much blood on my hands already.
I will be leading an attack soon. We are hoping to push their forces back long enough to allow the evacuation to commence without a hitch, as long as needed. After that, well. We still have a city to defend. Mondstadt is our home, is it not?
Summer cannot come soon enough.
D,
I’ve asked the bough keeper to write the assessment attached to this letter. I beg of you to please read it carefully. I know you will disagree with what he has written, but it’s the truth. For five hundred years it was buried with the rest of our history, but it is in our hands now. We have to utilize it. There is no other way.
On that night, all those years ago, I told you I’m my nation’s last hope. I understand its true meaning now. I have accepted it. I hope you will learn to accept it too.
I do not make this decision lightly. I know what it will cost me—but more importantly, I know that it will be able to save the world as we know it. To save you.
Please send everyone my regards.
Kaeya,
I’M COMING THERE. DON’T DO IT. DON’T. PLEASE. I BEG OF YOU. PLEASE.
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Dear Diluc,
If you’re reading this, it means the plan has succeeded.
There is no universe where I wouldn’t have chosen to do what I had done in a heartbeat if it means saving your life, and others’ too. It is what I was born for, what I was raised to be. And I know, if you were to know of this beforehand, you would have told me that there is another way to save the world.
But, Diluc, there is no other way.
And so I hope you’ll forgive me for making this decision. Please know that I do not regret it, although I think I am going to miss the summer I do not get to see, in the end.
So when the season comes around, enjoy it to the fullest for my sake too, okay? The clear sky, the sun shining down on me—summer has always reminded me of the everlasting warmth that is you. I think I learned to love it as I came to love you, and those precious hours we spent by the sea are burned into my memories the way your kindness is.
Sometimes, you’re too kind that it hurts you. So please allow me this one last act of selfishness to stand between you and that pain, for once in my life.
For dawn to come, there must be those who dare to pierce the darkness with their light. I remember you telling me that. Your light is the brightest I have ever known, Diluc, and it, as always, will harken the coming of dawn. I know it will, just as I know that summer will come. That I love you.
Yours, for eternity,
Kaeya