Chapter Text
Just because Dragonspine’s cold scarcely bothered Kaeya didn’t mean he actually enjoyed trekking up there.
But he had two errands to finish that evening. To deliver a barely legible letter penned by Klee (currently behind bars) to her older brother who was working up in the mountains. And collect the Traveller as well, potentially getting worked on by said older brother, for a task.
‘Work’ here having different connotations.
Jean’s carrier hawk could have sufficed to deliver both the letters, of course, but apparently it was suffering from an upset stomach and who better to replace a bird with explosive diarrhoea than Mondstadt’s very own, beloved Cavalry Captain?
“I hope I am not interrupting something.” Kaeya smiles, placing Klee’s letter on the desk as Albedo stares up at him from behind the canvas, a rough draft of the blond traveller beating the stuffing out of a samachurl lying on the floor.
“I’ll have to borrow Aether for a bit. Nice work, by the way.” He bends down to pick up the abandoned drawing from the floor, “Especially the noticeably greater effort you have granted to his abdominal mus-”
The snap from Albedo’s charcoal stick breaking shuts him up. Aether pauses from gulping down the soup the alchemist had made him to tilt his head curiously at their shenanigans.
“Never mind. Anyway Aether, would you mind accompanying me to Dadaupa Gorge? There were certain areas afflicted with some strange elemental filth, not unlike the kind you tackled during our quest with our local dragon.”
“You mean the stuff corrupting his tears?” Aether finishes off his meal before getting to his feet, “You want me to purify it, I guess.”
“I’m glad we see eye to eye~”
“Oh?” Albedo looks at the outlander, teal eyes sparkling like the Cider Lake on a sunny day, “May I watch you at work, then? I would like to observe your procedure for purifying Durin’s residue.” He throws a quick look at Kaeya, “For research, obviously.”
Kaeya narrows his eyes.
“Sure!” Aether responds with shameless enthusiasm, “Albedo would be a great help, don’t you think, Kaeya?”
“Of course. It isn’t like he’s doing his job.”
“Well, allow me a moment to prepare.” Albedo nods at Aether before moving out of the camp-laboratory. Aether hops on his feet slightly before turning back towards Kaeya, “Kaeya, could you wake up Paimon for me? She’s sleeping near the bookshelves.”
With that, he bolts after Albedo.
Kaeya definitely had interrupted something.
Well, the pixie was comfortably asleep under one of the alchemist’s spare coats near the shelf. Probably having a full bellied nap, Kaeya smirks as he watches her sleep, dreaming about food. Of course, the more peaceful a nap his unassuming prey enjoyed, the more Kaeya savoured rousing them from it, a habit he frequently employed against the younger squires whenever he caught them attempting to catch a wink during patrols.
Of course, he didn’t expect his classic tactic of pressing a Cryo-covered fingertip against one’s neck to backfire on him that badly.
A deafening screech from the pixie is the only warning he gets before Paimon shoots up into the air, flying around wildly until all Kaeya could see was a blur of white, only stopping when she crashes against the bookshelf.
Tipping it right onto Kaeya.
“Fuck.” The knight hisses, his reflexes quick enough to catch the bookshelf by its sides, wincing as some of the bigger books slip off anyway, falling right on his feet. He hadn’t noticed the bottle of soft pink liquid sitting on the top shelf until it drops down as well.
Right on his head.
Emptying its contents on him.
“What happened?” the sound of rushing footsteps is accompanied by a crash of breaking glass as the bottle rolls off Kaeya’s head and falls on the floor. Albedo stands at the entrance of the camp, strands of blond sticking out of his now almost loosened braids. Behind him stood Aether, hair yet again a mess, lips pinker than what Kaeya had seen earlier.
“Paimon happened.” Kaeya doesn’t like the way his voice drops to a heavier note than he would have liked, a weird shimmering sensation rushing through his body.
“HEY! HOW IS THAT PAIMON’S FAULT?!” Paimon shakes her fists at him, “How dare you wake Paimon up like that?!”
“Paimon, step away from him.” Albedo’s tone turns authoritative, “Sir Kaeya, did you ingest any of the liquid?”
“No-ngh!” Kaeya doubles over, not from pain, but from his own body folding into itself, against his will. He, no something had taken over his body, squeezing and pressing and molding him like clay. The voices around him grow muffled, Albedo vaguely barking out orders to cover faces and Kaeya falls on the ground.
He is a little outraged to note how no one had picked him up or moved him someplace comfortable when he finally comes to, still crouched at the same spot he fell.
Kaeya stands up straight, ready to tell Albedo off for the careless management of his invent-
Kaeya’s eyes were still level with the chair. Aether’s knees. The table's edge, draped over which was another sketch of the outlander, a nude one, with a suspiciously high level of rendering on his nether regions.
Hushed whispers, a gasp from the pixie, and Kaeya couldn’t feel the clothes on his back for some reason. But he was sure he was on his feet . . . had he grown shorter? He looks up around him, and peering down at him were Albedo, Aether and his little companion, faces half covered with . . . Kaeya’s cape? Paimon was gripping her head with her hands in a frenzy.
“Oh-oh no. This isn’t Paimon’s fault, is it?!”
“Fuck. He isn’t going to be like this for life, right, Albedo?” Aether looked like he had just remembered the pies he’d forgotten in the oven.
“What do you mean, ‘like this for life’? What did you do to me?” Kaeya honks.
Honks . . .?
Albedo’s face, as always, deceived nothing about his composure, “This . . . might be something even I may not possess an answer to. Yet”
“Can someone explain what is going on?!” Kaeya squawks, attempting to throw his hands up in the air.
His hands.
He didn’t have hands.
A whoosh sounds out somewhere behind him, because of him. Aether yelps and Kaeya finally cranes his neck around-
“Now would not be an ideal time to unfurl your wings, Sir Kaeya.” Albedo grits, “Lest another similar mishap occurs and Paimon turns into a wart on someone’s penis or something.”
“A WHAT?!”
-to see it. Long, green, soft feathers, streaks of deep turquoise with eyes of yellow, white and blue.
A peacock.
“Master Diluc is going to kill us!” Paimon hisses, now taking Kaeya’s cape to wrap around herself.
“Speak for yourself.” Kaeya sees Aether kneel down before him, finally getting to see his face, “He’ll make a snack out of you specifically.”
“You-YOU WON’T SNITCH ON PAIMON, RIGHT?!”
“Hello?” Kaeya avoids the dramatic flapping of his wings this time, “Can we talk about me, here? About how I am a fucking bird right now?!”
The duo stare at him silently, almost pityingly.
Albedo had returned back to his table, pouring over some of the pink solution he had managed to scavenger from the broken bottle.
“Hm, while I have understood the basic functioning of the fluid, I’m afraid I cannot glean the required information from studying the liquid alone; I shall have to consult Sucrose as well . . .”
“Sucrose made this?” Kaeya waddles over to the alchemist, who twists around, hanging an arm over the back of his chair as he stares down at him.
“I shall have to observe Sir Kaeya as well, to know the limitations he currently faces-”
“Limitations? As in, I’m currently in the body of this feathery fiend? Limitations as in, not having a human body? How’s that for limitations?”
Albedo blinks at him slowly.
“The first of which should be that none of us understand whatever he has been screeching about, of course, under the assumption that they were intended to be coherent sentences.”
So Kaeya couldn’t communicate with anyone either. Fantastic. Assuming he would retain his usual, velvety voice in the form of a peacock was probably not the most intelligent line of thought Kaeya had ever had but considering how his entire genetic structure had been altered within the span of four and one quarters of a second, he probably deserved a break.
Albedo takes out a notebook and begins to jot down stuff in it.
“Is . . . there really no way Kaeya can say anything?” Paimon hovers around him gingerly, “Kaeya . . . won’t you say something? Who else will tell Master Diluc that it wasn’t Paimon’s fault?”
Kaeya had a special mind to get Diluc to release a bounty on the pixie’s head after his current phase of misery passed.
“Talking isn’t necessarily the only way to communicate, right?” Aether strokes his chin in a manner indicative of the disturbing amounts of time he'd spent with a certain alchemist to pick it from, “His . . . responses to what we were saying seemed too well-timed to be random, even if we understood nothing.”
“Is that so.” Albedo continues to scribble away, “Could you demonstrate anything that suggests a smidgen of human intelligence within you, Sir Kaeya?”
Kaeya looks around before walking over to the table and tapping his beak against its edge, where an ink pot sat. Aether hurriedly places the pot and a sheet of paper before him.
His claws were slender enough to slip inside the pot and etch out a wobbly, ‘yes.’
“I see. And would it be too much to assume that only your physical form has transformed here, or do you face any adjustments to your psyche, like a memory loss? My usual methodology here would be to conduct full-scale tests here, but considering that this is a state of emergency, it would hardly be a prudent course of action. The more blatant issues must be dealt with first.”
Kaeya opens his mouth-beak, before shutting it. And then scratches out a ‘maybe’ on the paper.
“I can send a letter to Jean.” Albedo offers as the party makes their way down the mountain, “But perhaps Master Diluc should be informed of this in person, lest he comes storming inside my lab for an explanation, knock over yet another set of experimental materials and transform into, say, a pile of owl droppings.”
“Paimon can do it.”
“NO SHE WILL NOT HOW DARE YOU-”
Everyone stills when Kaeya scampers in front of the group, blocking their path. A raise of his claw towards a stone along the cliffside has Paimon fly over with the ink pot.
‘Don’t. Jean fine. Luc no.’
“You don’t want us to inform Master Diluc?” Aether looks at Albedo in confusion, “But he should be the first person to be informed considering he’s your-”
Kaeya shakes his head wildly.
“Could you offer us an explanation?”
Kaeya considers Albedo’s question. It had been a little over an hour since the mishap and Kaeya was already sick of suppressing his natural instincts to open his mouth and write instead. The complexity of his reasoning for not telling Diluc was no motivating factor.
‘Diluc. Worry. Reckless. No sleep.’
He throws a pointed look at Aether, who should know what he was hinting at.
Perhaps Diluc might go with an air of nonchalance for public view, but Kaeya knew that he would stop at nothing to get him back, to venture into the depths of the Mondstadt underground to seek a solution, even go beat up some Fatui even if they had literally nothing to do with what happened.
To be fair, nothing the redhead hadn’t been doing already for a while, but why incite him into unnecessary recklessness when Kaeya was sure there was a safer, non-violent solution to all of this. Albedo was a genius; a chemical here, a potion there and boom, Kaeya Alberich, human form, back on duty.
Albedo didn’t know how to fix him.
“To be precise, I have received all the relevant information I need from your current form, but,” Albedo stirs dried slime condensate into the pink liquid.
“But?” Kaeya was squawking again, but he was sure Albedo was intelligent enough to get the gist.
“But I shall now have to study the ingredients of the potion to formulate a potential antidote . . . this would be dealt with much faster once Sucrose recovers from her cold.”
Albedo begins to murmur about some ingredients he couldn’t figure out and Kaeya curls up on the makeshift nest of blankets at the corner of the lab. He had briefly considered throwing himself out into the wild; it was not like there was any compulsion for him to be under Albedo’s observation any longer and was quickly humbled by his enhanced mortality as someone who was suddenly incapable of using his sword and Vision. So, Kaeya had naturally assumed he would be spending the rest of his feathery days in the lab.
He just hadn’t considered how often Aether visited and how all of those visits culminated in something that made him crave the limited sentience of a bird.
Albedo employing mad scientist lingo for dirty talking was his final straw.
Scratching a hasty letter on the walls about his next destination, Kaeya flies out of the Favonius Headquarters. The sight of a peacock throwing itself out of a high window raising many a brow was not something he’d really thought through, but surely that show of flamboyance was no different than his usual appeal as a human man, yes?
Visiting the Dawn Winery after ages (two days) was something Kaeya was looking forward to. In his pre-Diluc’s-lover days, such excitement was contained and concealed through hasty retreats and evasive responses; now, Kaeya was shameless. He would fawn over the young heir for everyone to see, internally jumping with glee at how obvious it was that Diluc was enjoying his affection despite the airs of nonchalance.
It is when the Dawn Winery appears in sight that he reminds himself that Diluc doesn’t know that the over-zealous peacock that would soon charge at him was actually his Kaeya.
The redhead was right outside the mansion’s doors, ready to walk inside and Kaeya coos at the sight. Oh, how he had to resist the urge to rush towards him and curl his feathery frame around his legs! Hearing the trill of the bird, Diluc turns around, sights setting on the peacock that was slowly approaching him.
***
“Master Diluc?” Adelinde calls out to him from inside, still holding the door open. Diluc hadn’t realised he’d frozen where he stood, before shaking his head and making his way inside-
The bird squawks again.
Diluc watches it move under the entrance’s light, fully illuminating it. It was indeed a peacock, healthy and well bred, its gorgeous plumage shining under the warm lights.
“Is that a peacock?” Adelinde had followed him outside, tiptoeing over his shoulder, “All the way here?”
“As far as my knowledge of bird ecology goes, peacocks aren’t native to Mondstadt.” Diluc kneels down, an involuntary smile appearing on his face as the peacock immediately draws closer and nuzzles its face into his outstretched palm, “It is oddly friendly towards me, and considering how well-groomed it is, it is hardly likely that it is living in the wild. It is probably domesticated.”
The peacock squawks again before looking up at Diluc, its eyes shining bright. Soft lilac, starry pupils-
Did peacocks have eyes like that?
Diluc blinks, before shaking his head. He was doing it again. Seeking Kaeya where he shouldn’t, in a peacock of all things. Kaeya was away from Mondstadt, sent to join Varka’s forces due to an emergency with their expedition.
. . .
It felt . . . wrong, wrong how Kaeya had left without a word to him, not even a personal letter to him. Was being even his lover not enough to warrant such concern from him? Was Varka’s situation truly so dire? Surely Kaeya had to have made some preparations for the journey up north, yet not once did he return to the winery for it.
The natural conclusion would be that the Knights themselves provided all he needed but Diluc knew Kaeya and the inconsistencies of his behaviour like they were his own.
The paranoid side of his brain provided the more worrying conclusion of Kaeya getting involved in something controversial and that the Knights had something to do with his disappearance. The more rational side of it reasoned that if it were the case, Albedo’s letter wouldn’t have so confidently assured of the temporary nature of Kaeya’s duty and return in 1-2 months-
“Master Diluc.” Adelinde taps him on the shoulder, “You’re spacing out again.”
Diluc shudders again, blinking away the thoughts about Kaeya. The peacock lets out a low trill, tilting its head sideways at him curiously.
“Right. My apologies. Adelinde, have you any idea who could possibly be its owner?”
“Hm, definitely someone . . . with extravagant tastes, that’s for sure. Or a cosmic love for birds . . .” Diluc notes the teasing in her tone, “Now, who could truly have the resources and love to raise such a bird . . .”
“Hmph. Do not think your implicit accusations have gone unnoticed.” Diluc scratches under the peacock’s chin idly, “But this time, I am not guilty of fostering or buying a new bird without your notice.”
“Well then, it is simply too late to find its owner at this hour. It wouldn’t hurt to let it loiter around the fields; they’re safe enough.”
“Right.” Diluc straightens up, smiling as the peacock unconsciously leans towards his retreating hand, “I shall allow you to feast on some of the grapes.”
With that, he walks back towards the house, only noticing the rustle behind him when he grabs the doorknob. Turning around again, the peacock was now standing right in front of the steps of the mansion. Its wings, which had been folded, were slowly unfurling, and the bird gracefully shakes them to their full size.
Diluc watches, eyes wide, as the bird moves around in small, petite steps, in a slow twirl, with the occasional shudder of its gorgeous plumage.
“Is it . . . dancing?”
“It appears so, Master Diluc.”
“Isn’t that something they do when it rains?” Diluc briefly looks up from the peacock’s performance, towards the cloudless evening sky.
“Or when they find a suitable mate.”
The peacock dances around for a while before folding its wings and tiptoeing towards him, its beady eyes fixated on him, glowing hopefully under the warm lights pouring out from inside the mansion, as if seeking praise for its little show.
Adelinde giggles.
“I don’t think it wants to leave your side, Master Diluc.”
So now, Diluc was stuck with an eccentric peacock wandering around the mansion. He seats himself on the armchair, sipping at a glass of grape juice as he watches it explore the place. It was big enough for a bird of its size to move around in, but he was relieved that its wings were folded. As his thoughts begin to drift towards Kaeya again, he notices the peacock stop at his feet, evidently tired of its little adventure.
“Had enough already?” he smiles, patting its little head, “I see that even you get drowsy after Adelinde spoils you with food.”
The bird doesn’t seem to take any offence at that, instead it-
“Wait, no-”
-hops onto Diluc’s lap, blinking at him innocently. He grimaces as it spins around slightly, slapping its long tail-wings right across his face, before curling comfortably on his lap.
“Archons, you really act like,” the peacock rests its head on his forearm, “like we have known each other for years. He likes sitting on my lap too, you know, when he's in an affectionate mood.” The bird raises its head up, nearly dunking its head into his glass before recoiling sharply, making him chuckle, “And also complains about me drinking this. You really are like him.”
.
.
Marvellous. Not only was he projecting his absent lover on a peacock, of all things, he was also conversing with it as if it were human. Perhaps he could sample some whiskey from the cellar and start believing the creature to be none other than Kaeya himself.
Diluc does find it in himself to be strict enough with the bird to order it to sleep on the nest of blankets he prepares in the corner of his bedchambers. After two minutes of incessant bird screeching, the peacock finally concedes, curling up atop the blankets, sulking. Perhaps the combination of sleep and Kaeya deficiency was also making Diluc imagine it to be pouting and huffing like he did whenever he failed to get his way.
Nevertheless, Diluc would still wake up the next morning to a bunch of feathers tickling his nose.
***
Kaeya finds the letter Albedo had promised he would write on Diluc’s work desk the next morning. His beak was high enough to swipe it off the top, finding it thankfully opened and unfolded.
He barely manages to read past the salutations when-
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Diluc was marching towards him and Kaeya rushes towards him with a joyful squawk. He picks up the letter, looking back and forth between it and him, confused.
“Robbing my study already?” Diluc stuffs the letter in his coat pocket, “Adelinde has been looking for you; she has a special breakfast ready for you.”
The ‘special breakfast’ was a plate of live worms.
He knows the loud honk of disgust he lets out at that only confused Diluc and Adelinde, who probably thought this was nothing short of gourmet for a creature like him.
“Is it . . . not hungry? Or are peacocks vegetarian?”
“They are omnivores. And they shouldn’t really be picky about what they eat.” Diluc kneels down on the floor and taps a gloved finger on the plate, “Eat this quickly and I shall allow you to accompany me to the city.”
Kaeya lets out an offended trill at that, at being treated like Klee throwing a tantrum, but look down at the plate anyway. At the worms slithering around, their skin a delicious, meaty pink, clearly healthy from how plump they were. Kaeya feels his little beaky mouth water, and he doesn’t spare a second before cleaning the whole plate up.
Delectable.
The fact that he had just scarfed down a plate of worms was a can of worms Kaeya decides to open after he gets his human body back. Besides, the psychological aftershocks from that realisation are soothed by the smile Diluc gives him, along with complementary pets.
Diluc takes him straight to the Knights of Favonius headquarters. Of course, seeing the tycoon stride through the city and barge into the KoF building with a majestic peacock perched atop his shoulders, wings slung over them as if it was seated on its very own throne, definitely had a sizeable chunk of the city population gape at the duo. Diluc, just like Kaeya knew him to be, paid them no heed.
Jean and Albedo stare intently at him as Diluc inquires about his owner. Kaeya tilts his head back and forth at them; Jean had come to visit him once while he’d been crashing at Albedo’s lab, so she had definitely recognised him. He was currently the finest peacock in Mondstadt!
“N-no Master Diluc.” Jean gives offers the redhead a strained smile, “No peacocks have been reported missing as of now. Are you-” she gives Kaeya another hasty look, “sure, that it isn’t simply a stray that wandered into your lands?”
Kaeya feels Diluc's shoulders shift and a pair of gloved hands firmly hold his torso and lift him up to the front, inciting a tiny, surprised squeak from him. He was now facing Diluc, being held up like a baby at the healer’s, as he is scrutinised all over. Diluc stills as he meets his eyes, a brief flash of confusion on his face as he gives a prominent blink and shakes his head.
“It-it doesn’t seem to have any mark of identification on it. It is just a regular peacock; nothing . . .” he looks at his eyes again before looking away hurriedly, “impressive to note.”
Kaeya honks at him indignantly.
“Yes! A regular peacock, indeed!” Jean smiles a little to brightly at them, “How about you keep him-it by your side. You shall be the first to be notified if any report about a missing peacock arrives at my office!”
“That’s right.” Albedo nods, “It wouldn’t be too bad to have one as a pet.” He throws a pointed look at Kaeya, “It might be important to have it on a leash.”
Kaeya glares at the alchemist before tucking his head under Diluc’s chin, a silent plea for him to deal with the bully.
“A leash . . . sounds inappropriate in the land of freedom.” Diluc’s tone sounded more contemplative that Kaeya would have liked, “But it does seem to have a knack for poking its beak where it doesn’t belong . . . perhaps I should-”
Kaeya proceeds to nip at his ears and stare intently at him; it was difficult to pout when one lacked lips but maybe Diluc would get the gist.
“I-fine. You win. Provided that you behave.”
“Si-Master Diluc. Are you . . . talking to him?”
Kaeya kind of wished he could tell Jean that it was nothing out of the ordinary; Diluc often held deep, insightful conversations with the most mundane varieties of birds when he thought no one was watching-
Diluc, to his surprise, freezes at her question, before saying something, almost, and going quiet again. Then-
“I . . . have been doing that quite frequently. Even Adelinde noticed.” He shifts Kaeya again, not to settle him back on his shoulders, but to cradle him in his arms, “It . . . seems human, almost.”
“Human? As if . . . it reminds you of someone?”
Jean, stop goddamn prompting him!
“Perhaps. Kaeya, specifically.”
Welp. The jig was almost up. All Diluc had to do was take another good, long look at him, piece everything together and somehow arrive at the conclusion that the peacock was-
“Kaeya’s constellation. It is the peacock, isn’t it?” Albedo swoops in, “Mona mentioned it during lunch once.”
Albedo you fucking genius.
“. . . Yes. That is correct.” Diluc goes quiet again.
“You really miss him, don’t you?” Jean says, gently, before shooting a quick glare at Kaeya.
“Obviously.” The conversation had dipped into something more vulnerable; Kaeya watches Albedo shift around uncomfortably, “Speaking of Kaeya, he was actually the primary reason I came here.”
Was that why the letter was on his desk like that?
‘It is not just an emergency for the Grandmaster’s forces, but Kaeya has been suffering from separation anxiety owing to the long-term lack of horses around him and the Grandmaster has finally deemed him worthy to plant his derriere on the back of one.’ Diluc reads out the first paragraph.
All the gratitude Kaeya had for Albedo for his split-second improvisation gets replaced by an overwhelming urge to peck his eyes out.
“Aha, yes. Sir Kaeya . . .” Jean nudges Albedo, “missed his horses. A lot.”
“It wasn’t exactly why he left, however.” Albedo chimes in, “Grandmaster Varka’s . . . situation was quite dire. Kaeya getting to ride a horse again . . . was a bribe on his part, you can infer.”
“I see.” Diluc’s face betrayed nothing of the suspicion that was clear as day for Kaeya, “So our Grandmaster facing . . . a difficulty, and a horse. Those things were enough for him to leave so abruptly, without even a word to me, not even a hasty farewell. Yes?”
“. . . Yes. The entire departure . . . truly happened so fast. He was very upset about . . . not saying goodbye to you.”
“I see.”
The tension in the air could be sliced clean with a sword and Kaeya starts getting noisy again, for a distraction. Diluc tuts at him.
“What do you throw a fit for? Are you hungry? Did you not feast on all those worms an hour ago?”
“W-worms?” Jean almost squeaks.
“Yes. Worms.” Diluc smiles as he scratches at his chin, “You liked them, didn’t you?”
Kaeya couldn’t look at Jean anymore.
“Master Diluc.” Albedo speaks up again, “Can I . . . examine the peacock for a bit? I have never seen such a fine specimen before.”
Diluc stares back at the alchemist quietly, not budging.
“For . . . science. I’m sure the Acting Grandmaster shall be happy to answer any queries about Sir Kaeya. My curiosities will hardly take any time to be sated.”
Just when Kaeya had made himself all snug and comfy in Diluc’s arms.
Albedo leads him inside his lab, crossing his arms as he stares at him impassively, before placing a sheet of paper and ink on the floor before him.
“If you had to ultimately end up staying with him, why exactly did Jean and I have to construct that entire charade about the Grandmaster? Why not let Master Diluc know?”
‘I want to be with Diluc. I want him to not worry also.’
“He already is. And you, clearly, are very satisfied with your diet of worms.”
‘It was tasty!’
“Oh? Are you telling me your palette has adjusted according to that of a peacock’s? Interesting.”
‘Look.’ The ink coating his claw fades out and Kaeya slaps his tail wings on the floor angrily, ‘Assure Diluc. I’m safe. No need to worry. He won’t worry. Fix me. I come back. All happy.’
“That reminds me. Sucrose recovered from her cold. I have good news and bad news.”
‘Good 1st.’
“I finally found the missing ingredient of her potion. It was exactly three strands of hair from her ears.”
‘. . .?’
“The bad news is that this discovery is completely irrelevant to your recovery. Sucrose informed me that the antidote is simply a humongous diet of Sunsettias, to be taken regularly.”
‘That simple?’
“. . . The Sunsettia treatment takes a little over an year to finish its course.”
Kaeya attempts to sit down in shock, forgets his current state as a bird and simply drops onto his side and lays there. Defeated. He was to strut around as a peacock for a whole damn year.
Albedo rummages inside a drawer built into the walls, bringing out a small band. He fixes said band around Kaeya’s neck (who remained as still as stone) and inserts something tiny inside his own ear.
“Do you remember the project Sucrose had been working on, last year? A device to help us understand the animal tongue?”
“Didn’t it fail because workings of the device required the animal wearing it to possess human sentience?” Kaeya manages to squawk out, not even caring to write it down anymore.
“Yes, and we have an animal with human sentience right here.”
Kaeya blinks. And sits up.
“You understood that.”
“I did. You can stop writing like how Razor speaks, now.”
“Does it even matter anymore? I have to eat worms and sunsettias and shit on a porch for one whole year.”
“Exactly. Which reminds me, you should probably tell Master Diluc the truth now. Especially now that we know a cure, Master Diluc would also know how to help you instead of endangering himself; a rather favourable turn of events for everyone, don’t you think?
Kaeya had a good mind to tell him off with his newly acquired ability to speak but door of the lab swings open, revealing Diluc.
“I shall be taking my leave now, Chief Alchemist. Are you done with him?”
Kaeya doesn’t allow Albedo to answer as he scampers towards Diluc, and hops into his outstretched arms, fluttering his wings contentedly as he throws a smug look at the alchemist.
“I am. He . . . is a completely ordinary peacock. I gave him a collar that you could use for identification.”
Diluc gives him his thanks before making his way back to the winery, Kaeya perched comfortably on his shoulders again. The few minutes of happiness about being with Diluc again are quickly washed away by the realisation of his current predicament, which had taken a turn for the worst.
“Well then, it is safe to say that from now on, the Dawn Winery shall be your home. When Kaeya returns, I shall introduce you to him. I think he'll like you.”
No more hiding things from Diluc. Kaeya lamented that Albedo had kept the earpiece with him, but that could be dealt with soon enough. All he needed to do was break into Diluc’s study again and snag a pot of ink.
***
Almost a week had passed since Calla (the peacock) had arrived in his life, and aside from Kaeya’s abrupt departure, Diluc now had new worries. One of them being the bird, who seemed to have a strange fascination with ink, for some reason; he hadn’t thought much of it when he had first caught it dipping its foot into one, simply taking it away from it. It was the second time, when he catches it smearing the ink on the carpet, that Diluc suspects something was up.
“Calla, for the millionth time, you cannot touch the ink!” Diluc snatches the tub of ink away for the third time as the peacock screeches at him angrily, “If Adelinde catches you dirtying the carpet again, she will be serving you as dinner next and I can do little to stop her.”
He sighs as he locks away all the ink bottles in his cupboard. Calla would definitely be sulking around about it.
Diluc looks at the window, hearing a familiar tap against the glass. He opens it to let his eagle in.
“Dawn Hawk, you’re back already-”
But Dawn Hawk completely ignores him, flying past him into the living room and Diluc follows it, watching as it drops the letter it was supposed to deliver to Kaeya, right at Calla’s feet.
And that was the second new worry of Diluc’s life.
Calla pokes at the untouched envelope curiously, before looking up at the eagle in confusion, who had now flown back towards Diluc to perch on his forearm, smushing its head against his chin, demanding affectionate scratches for a job it believed to be well done.
Diluc sighs, rubbing at his temples as he gives the bird the required pets in defeat. This marked the fourth time of Dawn Hawk’s strange behaviour. Not only did it refuse to deliver his letters to Kaeya, it also seemed to drop said letters right at the peacock’s feet for some reason. He looks at Calla, who had now picked up the envelope with its beak and had brought it up to him.
“I suppose I’m not the only one who thinks of him when he looks at you.”
***
Kaeya had had enough.
Enough of seeing Diluc’s letters for him get thrown at his stupid bird feet. Enough of Diluc’s silent distress at his absence, of the soft hushed stories he would narrate about his lover to a goddamn peacock (said peacock being the aforementioned lover), in that rare, wistful, pining tone of his-
Kaeya regretted it. Not coming clean to Diluc from the beginning. Again. He couldn’t make Diluc worry for a year.
He was also getting a little bored of eating worms and needed to inform his lover that his dietary preferences were more diverse than he thought.
It wasn’t like Diluc was making this any easier for him anyway, locking away all the inks like that. So, the only option left was to fly over to the city and bring the earpiece back from Albedo.
The nights where Diluc left for his Dark night hero duties were mostly followed by mornings where he slept in, the ideal time for Kaeya to go on his little trip. Diluc had wrapped his arms around him in his sleep, and it required him the dexterity lacking in a bird to shuffle himself out of his grip without waking him up. Kaeya scampers down the flight of stairs and out through the entrance. Standing near it was Adelinde who gives him a curt not, as if his status were no less than that of the master, before scratching under his chin, reminding him of his place immediately.
Standing at the porch, Kaeya couldn’t see many workers out in the vineyard that day. No one would see him fly out and-
His body is taken over by that same, old sensation of being folded over and over until he felt like nothing but a tiny pile of nothing and it doesn’t take him long to pass out.
When Kaeya woke up again, he had honestly expected to find himself in his old body again. Hoped that the potions effects had worn off.
He didn’t think his line of sight would be even closer to the ground than before.
Kaeya tries to move his feet to get up and take a look at himself, only to feel the sensation of nothingness in the area.
He didn’t have feet.
Everything felt like . . . a single piece. His head, his neck, his torso, no arms or feet. Kaeya was still pressed against the ground, body feeling disgustingly moist, as if he’d barely dried himself after a bath before planting himself naked on the soil. If he tried to move, it required his entire body to push him forward a little, as if he were almost slithering-
Slithering.
Like a snake.
Was he a goddamn snake right now?