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The young master is a little different after those grim four years.
It’s the little things she thinks. How his steps are much quieter now when they used to echo down the halls. How he lets the maids choose his meals for him when he used to prattle on to her what he’d like for dinner. How she constantly stumbles upon Diluc in the kitchen, face stoic but his hands shaking as he tries to make tea.
And as if it has always been like this, she would take the cup from him and place it on the counter. Gently place her hands on his shoulders as she guides him to sit on one of the chairs nearby. She would fuss with the collar of his sleep shirt or bring his wild curls away from his face, anything to keep her mind off the feeling of WRONGWRONGWRONG.
She’d finish with making him his tea then bring out the plain biscuits Crepus adored, plating them and pushing them towards the young master after he takes a sip.
Nights like these are a blessing and a curse.
Like this, he looks much like the boy she raised four years ago. Small and uncertain in front of her when his father wasn’t around, except now they sit in deafening silence when it used to be filled with the anxious ramblings of a too-young captain of the cavalry.
There’s a distant look in her boy’s eyes and she lets him wander, still too afraid to follow him along to pull him back home to her.
After all, she’s not his mother.
For all that she is the maid, her heart aches for him all the same.
A series of knocks startles her awake, the soft call of her name further pulling her out of the grasp of sleep as she squints in the dark. She flicks the lights on and chances a glance at the small clock on the dresser.
It’s quarter past four.
Another knock, this time much more urgent.
“Adelinde? Are you ‘wake?” Diluc’s voice was slightly panicked and she was already on her feet, unlocking the door to her quarters. She was nearly been pushed by the door if she hadn’t grabbed the man that had zipped into her room, eyes a little misty and his hair loose from its usually neat tie.
He turns to look at her, a little shocked that she had held onto him, so she brings him to her bedside and sits him down, eager to know what caused the panicked flurry.
“Is everything alright master Diluc? Would you like some tea?”
He stares at her for a second, mouth closing and opening before he stammers out a soft no. She sighs then, falling into her current habit and going to fuss with his hair if not for the fact that Diluc had pushed something small and furry into her hands.
Surprised, her eyes dropped to the falcon plush given to her. It was worn and dull, but she'd recognize those beady anywhere. She remembers it from Diluc’s younger years, named after the famous Lionfang Knight, Vanessa.
She spots the rather large tear at the seams where the wings connect to the body, realizing there were other smaller tears as well, some stitched closed clumsily, others neater and put together better. She hasn’t even taken her eyes off the plush but Diluc was running off with his words already.
“I-I tried, with the wings, but it keeps coming off and it’s harder than I thought so I- uhm,” he blinks a few times, willing the frustrated tears away, “Can you help her…please?”
If she wasn’t so used to tracking the sound of small mice, she wouldn’t have been able to catch anything Diluc had said near the end with how small his voice was. His posture had shrunk together with his voice, as if slowly realizing just how bizarre his request was, given how old he actually is.
Dumbfounded, the head maid just nodded, relishing in the small smile she was awarded with.
“Thank you, Addie.”
Oh, now that’s new. After Diluc and Kaeya had reached their teen years, it has always been Miss Adelinde or just Adelinde. The boys had only called her by that nickname when they were young and had eavesdropped on Elzer calling her, mimicking the man like ducklings to a hen.
She pulled out a drawer filled with knick-knacks, rummaging through the postcards and stationery until she finds the biscuit tin where she stores her sewing supplies.
She brings it to her desk with the plush in tow, about to turn the table lamp on when she eyes Diluc in the corner, fidgeting about and looking at her absently. If this was the usual Diluc, he would have left her to her devices, trusting her to fully take care of things.
But this isn’t the normal Diluc.
He looks younger, feels younger and she doesn’t have a clue as to why it is.
This Diluc brings her back to when he was 4, shy and wary and so, so sweet.
She coughs.
“Diluc? Do you…want to see? It might take a while and well,” she looks over to the plush on the desk, “I think she might need a friend while I patch her up.”
It’s a shot in the dark, and she feels something cold crawl up her spine when the young man gives her a blank look. At worst, she could lose her job for embarrassing the man by childishly referring to the doll as his ‘friend’.
At best, however, this could be her chance to mend whatever that’s hurt.
The cold grip in her heart melted when Diluc gives her a timid nod, sniffling as he shuffles closer to her desk, looking around and grabbing a stool she kept under the dresser to sit near her. The stool was shorter so the height difference was apparent, but it seems that the young master didn’t mind, leaning over to watch her nimble fingers work.
She could feel his eyes over her, knees brought up to his chest as his thumb creeps up to his lip, picking at the chapped skin unconsciously.
She has half the mind to chide him but she lets him be. There’s no use spooking him out of her room when she wants him here with her. And well, she’s a little curious about this new side of the young master.
“What happened to her hm?”
The question catches him off guard for a second before he mumbles, eyes teary, “She got stuck onto somethin’. I didn’t know so I pulled her really hard and- and her wings ripped.”
Adelinde hums, looking over the area of damage and assessing it.
“She’s going to be alright, Diluc. She’s a trooper isn’t she?”
Diluc nods, reaching a hand out to clutch onto the fabric of Adelinde’s sleeping gown out of comfort. The head maid doesn’t comment on it, taking out her glasses and threading the needle under the desk light.
She gets right into mending the falcon, Diluc peering over anxiously by her side. He’s quiet the whole time, sniffling once in a while as Adelinde stitches up the wing back onto Vanessa. Her fingers scale over the other multi-colored stitches littered all over the falcon, admiring the variety of precision and techniques. Some of them were loose and uneven, others were almost surgical-like. She ponders who had been the one doing it.
“Did you help her with these Diluc?” Adelinde points to the stitches.
Diluc nods hesitantly before it changes to a shake of the head.
“I tried some, like this one.” The boy points at a clumsy stitch, the blue thread a stark contrast against the browns and blacks of his falcon.
He pouts, “It didn’t look pretty like mine.”
“Like yours?”
Diluc nods, a bit enthusiastic, “Like mine, see!”
The redhead holds up the hem of his sleep shirt to reveal the clean scar that ran in a cross shape just beneath his navel, a scar that Adelinde had known after Diluc returned home from his 4-year stint.
Despite the solemness the thought had brought her, Diluc continues to chatter, a sheen of excitement in his eyes.
“It looks like a giant X, like the pirate’s X that papa always talks about. Kali did it for me ‘cause I got hurt and she did one for ‘nessa when my sword got to her. She teached me how to do it too but I’m not good like her.” He lifts the sleeve of his right arm and shows off the jagged scar that’s slightly hidden underneath his arm.
Truth be told, Diluc felt really proud that he was able to do it because stitches hurt but he could do it by himself. Sure he had to drink the funny juice that somewhat tastes like grape juice but doesn't, but it made him too dizzy to even think twice about the needle and his unstable hands at the time.
When Diluc looks up, expecting praise, his heart falls a little when he sees the hard look on Adelinde’s face, his brain scrambling to figure out if he said something wrong. Was it because he said he hadn’t done well?
“I- I got better, like, see this!” Diluc pushes up the left leg of his trousers to show her the uneven scar right on his shin, still a little jagged but much better than the one from before.
Adelinde blinks, swallowing the lump in her throat as she watches Diluc frantically reveal a few of his scars, her boy not knowing why she’s starting to tear up and trying his best to cheer her up. She looks over to the falcon in her hands and wonders if Diluc had brought her along with him during his journey. If she was his friend when he had to get patched up.
Or if he had been alone when he had to fix himself in the cold winters of Snezhnaya.
Slowly, her shaky hands placed the falcon onto her desk and pulls Diluc in for a hug, cutting him off from getting too worked up. The redhead lets out a confused noise but accepts the warmth graciously, leaning into her kind touch as she trembles.
“Addie?” He whispers.
For a second, she couldn’t stand him. So honest, so vulnerable, so young like this. For a second, all she thinks about is how hearing all of this feels like running glass shards into her heart and she hurts. She hurts for him and he doesn’t know.
But then calloused hands hold her arms like a tether, and she's greeted by Diluc’s eyes shining with concern and confusion so she pulls back all the anguish and gives him a wobbly smile. Her boy needs her now.
She pinches his nose and he whines, swatting her hand away as she lets out a light laugh.
“You’re a brave little thing aren’t you? At this rate, you’re making me age faster young man with how much trouble you get into.” She wiggled her fingers in warning in front of him.
Diluc had the decency to be sheepish, winding his arms around her waist and hiding in the nooks of her sleeping gown at her navel. It was easy to sink into her warmth with the height difference and Adelinde silently thanks herself for buying the stool.
“‘Wasn’t gettin’ into trouble, ‘was saving people and stuff. I’m good.” Diluc says, a hint of petulance in his voice sounding a bit muffled.
She chuckles, running her fingers through thick red strands, “Yes dear, I’m sure you’ve done very good things.” Her hand pauses and she thinks, a bit too much perhaps.
It’s easy enough like this, to ignore the giant elephant in the room and instead go with the flow and give in to Diluc. There are so many questions and she knows she won’t be getting any tonight. All she can do right now is indulge in the young master’s wants and needs and hopes that one day the man would reach out to her on his own.
“I’d wager that Vanessa was there with you the whole time wasn’t she?” She says.
Diluc stills for a second before she feels a slow nod. Adelinde hums at his answer, already satisfied with what she found out for the night, and reaches for the falcon once again. The faster she can stitch up her wing, the faster she can tuck the young master into bed for the night.
“You’re not mad Addie?”
“Hm? Mad about what Diluc?”
“‘cause I brought ‘nessa out in the dirt when you said I shouldn’t bring her outside before.”
And she laughs, a lovely sound that makes Diluc a little bit embarrassed but a little more delighted even if he was puzzled because why is she laughing?
“Lad, you don’t leave your friends at home do you?”
A soft nuh-uh was her answer and she says, “Good. Then, bring her everywhere you go yes? I need someone to keep an eye on you, I’m sure Vanessa would be more than glad to help me.”
Diluc giggles, “She can’t see! I keep her in my bag so she can’t see.”
“Ohh but she can listen and she can tattle right to me about silly boys who don’t go to bed early hm?”
At that, Diluc sits up and whines, “She won’t tattle. She never tattles.”
“Oh really?” She gives him a coy smile, laughing again when all she gets is a frustrated Addieeeee.
She finishes up the seam with a knot and was about to hand it back to Diluc before instincts call for her to sniff at the falcon and she does, a musty scent hitting her senses like an alarm.
She can already tell the question she’s about to ask won’t end well but she shoot her shot before and it worked, surely she can do it again?
“Diluc? Would you mind if Vanessa goes for a quick swim? She’ll have lots of fun I promise yo-,”
Before she could further convince him, he snatches Vanessa from her hands and promptly says, “No,” before he’s dashing away from her, opening her door quickly and leaving it ajar.
Well, that’s the answer to her question.
Adelinde looks over to the clock once again and sees that it’s a little over an hour since Diluc had come to her and the young master should really be in bed right at the moment.
She sighs. She’ll let him keep the falcon for now.
By the time she manages to get Diluc tucked under the covers, he’s out like a light with Vanessa tight in his hold. Something serene settles onto Adelinde’s face and she takes the chance to sit on his bedside, caressing his wild locks off to the side as he sleeps.
His eyelids flutter a little but he stays asleep, cheeks now a little ruddy as the chill of the night starts to settle into the manor. He’s curled up in his blankets, thumb now fully in his mouth as he lightly suckles on it.
The sight of the boy she raised resting peacefully brings ease to her, and she quietly kisses his temple before she flicks the bedside lamp off.
She lingers at the doorway to his bedroom, a blur of emotions running amok in her head that she can’t explain, and walks away.
The night had been extraordinary in that she found out about things that otherwise Diluc would have kept to himself and carried to his grave. It has been a while since she had seen him so trusting too.
Then there begs the question of who this Kali person is. While she was grateful that Kali had taught Diluc how to properly suture, she imagines what kind of horrors did it take for Diluc to finally give in and find the help he needed. And then the scars, and this different side of the young master and the fact that Diluc brought Vanessa out of all thin-
She closes her eyes, willing her mind to calm down. These matters can be handled at a much later time when she’s had proper sleep and enough caffeinated tea to poison an army.
She needs to have enough energy if she wants to take care of her boys.
She drifts off to sleep and for the first time in a while, she dreams of vermillion hair and starry blue eyes.