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According to the traveler, Mondstadt is a breath of fresh air in Tevyat.
Perhaps it’s because it’s the nation of Anemo, where the wind will guide you anywhere you go. Maybe it’s because it’s the city of freedom, a gift from the Anemo archon himself, and no one in Tevyat is more free than the citizens of Mondstadt. The traveler might as well call it his home, as it was the first nation that he had explored before setting on the quest of finding their sibling.
And perhaps because Mondstadt has Diluc and Kaeya, the two dashing darling duo of the Knights of Favonius.
Mondstadtians often describe the two brothers as protectors of light and dark, almost like twins who work in perfect synergy. Diluc Ragnvindr, the current cavalry captain, the youngest to have ever been, and Kaeya Alberich, also just recently promoted as one of the ten captains of the Knights of Favonius. It’s not any surprise that the two brothers are popular, their names well-known even outside of the city, especially to lovestruck and hopeless romantic women of Mondstadt. They, along with the other knights, are what makes Mondstadt free, willing to fight for its democracy even if it costs them their life. The people of Mondstadt are ever so thankful to be in the hands of two capable knights, and even if how many times they treat the brothers with respect, the both of them have always stayed in their humble selves.
And if you ask any citizen of Mondstadt why, they would all collectively agree that it’s because Crepus Ragnvindr, the ex-cavalry captain of the Knights of Favonius, who is now the proud owner of Tevyat’s most successful winery, has raised them well.
“Father!” Diluc’s loud voice echoes throughout the manor, and for the workers in the winery, the young master crying for his father is as normal as the birds chirping every morning. It’s just everyday Diluc, really.
Crepus laughs, his eyes still focused on the grapes he’s tending to, but nonetheless, he answers to his son’s calls. “Yes?”
“Kaeya stole my bread!”
“No, I did not! You already had two!”
Adelinde shakes her head, pouring the brothers another set of coffee. “Dear Barbatos, as if you two are still children. You both quarrel over food like both of you aren’t already adults. Master Diluc, give your brother some bread.”
“You always pick favorites, Adelinde.” Diluc pouts, giving back the bread to Kaeya’s plate like he has been defeated, not really having the ability to turn down Adelinde’s orders. Kaeya snickers, and if this was fifteen years ago, when he was just newly adopted to the family, not really speaking until he was spoken to, he would’ve been too afraid to even point out the stolen bread. He would’ve been too afraid to even eat.
“Oh, you know that’s not true, Master Diluc. I’m just being fair!”
“But he already ate my bacon!” Diluc continues to whine, like he always does since he was a kid. Kaeya thinks he’s not as cute though, although he would not say that out loud since he knows just how quick it is to anger the older.
“Master Kaeya, is that true?”
Kaeya, who’s in the middle of biting his bread, shakes his head profusely. “No?”
“See! He raised both of his eyebrows! He only does that when he’s lying!”
Kaeya turns his head immediately to his brother, before he starts laughing, almost choking on his food. Adelinde is quick to give him something to drink.
“You just made that up!”
Diluc, who’s now grinning, seemingly affected by his brother’s laughs, can only watch him cough. “I’m being serious. It’s something that you have done since we were kids. Don’t think that I didn’t notice.”
Kaeya stares at his bread after calming himself down.
“I really didn’t know that I do that.”
Diluc huffs, going back to scraping the remains of his food from his plate.
“Well, I know. I’ve watched you do it every time for years.”
“Good morning, Captain Diluc, Captain Kaeya!”
Both the brothers bow their heads curtly to the two knights on patrol at the entrance of the city. Kaeya’s hands are resting on the hilt of his sword, while Diluc carries his claymore with ease. Not even a minute from entering Mondstadt City, Donna is already welcoming both of them.
Well, welcome Diluc mostly.
“C-Captain Diluc! Good morning! I-I hope you have a good day!” Donna says frantically, profusely combing her hair with her fingers in an attempt to make herself look presentable. It takes everything in Kaeya not to burst out laughing, meanwhile Diluc clears his throat in embarrassment.
“Thank you.”
When Donna is out of sight, both of them hear her sigh dreamily behind them, and Kaeya can no longer hold his laugh. Diluc glares immediately, elbowing his brother’s ribs in annoyance.
“Captain Diluc!” Kaeya copies Donna’s voice, obviously far too exaggerated, placing his palm on his chest as if he’s daydreaming for more dramatic effect. Diluc groans.
“Oh, shut up, will you!”
Kaeya doesn’t stop both the teasing and the laughing, and the people they pass by are starting to look at them. Diluc can only smile politely as an apology, his own cheeks reddening in embarrassment.
“Such a heartbreaker, Master Diluc. At such a young age too.” Kaeya says after calming himself down, smiling as they go up the stairs towards the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius. Diluc rolls his eyes.
“What was I supposed to do? It’s not like I’m interested.”
“Oh?” Kaeya smiles again, and Diluc regrets speaking, already knowing what’s about to come from his brother’s mouth.
“Is it because you’re still hung up with the Acting Grandmaster?” Kaeya says in a disgustingly teasing voice that gets in Diluc’s nerves without fail. The redhead groans again.
“That’s so five years ago, Kaeya. Can’t you think of another thing to tease me about?”
Kaeya hums in deep thought, opening the door to the said Acting Grandmaster’s office, only to find it empty. Jean is probably patrolling the area herself, always the one to work hard even if she’s not required to. They both stay in the office anyway, waiting for Jean to give them their orders for the day.
“Then… are you still thinking about Wagner?”
Diluc almost breaks his neck after turning it so quickly to look at Kaeya with such a bewildered expression on his face, his cheeks turning into the color of his hair. "Archons, you'll never let that go? I was just kidding with that!"
"Oh but you did blush when he was pounding that hammer on your new claymore—"
"Please stop talking."
"—and when he flexed his muscles—"
"Kaeya!" Diluc shouts in a hushed tone, as if afraid that someone might hear. Kaeya tries not to laugh at his face, but then Diluc actually looked like he'd start crying.
"Promise me you'll never tell that to anyone." Diluc mumbles, and Kaeya detects a little bit of insecurity in his voice. A rare sight.
The younger snorts, rolling his eyes fondly. "I promise that I will keep the cavalry captain's type in men a secret."
Diluc seems satisfied with that, turning around to take a seat on Jean's chair.
They're silent for a while. Kaeya starts playing with his coin while waiting for the Acting Grandmaster, while Diluc scans the stacks of papers on the table. The somber silence is only disrupted when the older brother starts to talk.
"Do you think it's weird?"
Kaeya stops spinning his coin, looking at Diluc with his eyebrows raised. "What is?"
"That I'm attracted to men."
Kaeya fully faces his brother, pocketing his coin in an instant. There's an unreadable expression on his face that makes Diluc nervous, unconsciously cracking his knuckles, feeling the coldness of his fingertips.
"I don't care about that. And other people shouldn't too. Who you like is none of anyone's business but yours. Besides…"
Diluc looks up from his hands, looking at Kaeya with a defeated expression, waiting for his brother to say more.
"I also think our new alchemist is cute."
Diluc suddenly gasps, standing up from his seat dramatically with a wide grin. "I knew it! I knew you looked at him for far too long! I was getting goosebumps! Can you not do that during our meetings? It's disgusting."
Kaeya scoffs, actually bewildered that his brother knew. "Oh, come on! I only realized I found him cute like yesterday! How come you knew about it first before me?"
Diluc starts giggling, finding his anxiety from before amusing.
He's not sure why he was even nervous in the first place, because Tevyat would end first before Kaeya could ever think of his brother anything less. There is nothing in this world that would ever make Kaeya turn against him. He is his brother. He has been with Kaeya before he even knew how to spell.
Kaeya smiles too, and it's not long until he starts laughing himself. The passersby outside the room can only look at each other as to why there are laughing sounds coming from the Acting Grandmaster's office.
As knights, they rarely ever have free days as crimes don't have day offs. But today, at Kaeya's birthday, Diluc and their father made sure to clear their schedules ahead of time.
Kaeya has never been fond of celebrating his own birth. For years, he doesn't know why he should be thankful for a life that has doomed him since the start. But today, he's here, opening presents from his family and friends like he was meant to be alive.
"I thought I'd get you a new sword." Crepus says while chuckling, patting Kaeya at the back as he stares at his new sharp teal sword with a ribbon wrapped around the hilt. "You mentioned that your current one was getting rusty. I don't know why you're so set on using that old thing."
Kaeya is silent, eyes gazing at the blade as it shines under the manor's chandelier, mouth slightly apart in sheer awe.
"It's beautiful, father. I… I've never seen anything like it, thank you."
Crepus' smile widens, ruffling the top of Kaeya's head like he always did when he was still young, afraid of everything around him. A habit that hasn't died.
"Anything for my little one."
Kaeya smiles, huffing a little. "Father, I'm 22 today."
"Still my little one."
"Even though I grew taller than Diluc?"
Diluc is quick to react, glaring at him with cake in his mouth. "By two centimeters!"
Kaeya puts his new sword down, giving his brother a cheeky look. "That's still an inch. If I grow one more inch, I'd be a 6 footer."
Diluc groans, his father just laughing in amusement. "You won't even grow more when you're already 22!"
"Who wants more skewers?" Adelinde suddenly appears from the kitchen and disrupts the brothers' quarrel, holding a tray of chicken-mushroom skewers with her hands. Kaeya is quick to raise his hand, Diluc follows after having another bite of his cake.
The day passes by quickly. The Dawn Winery is still lively even when the sun starts to set, and even the workers from the winery gave the young master Kaeya presents even if they were simpler ones. Amber, Jean, Lisa, Albedo, and Klee all visited the manor to give gifts of their own. They only left once Klee had started to run between the vineyards, afraid that she might accidentally set the whole winery on fire. That, and Jean is apologetically anxious about leaving the city for too long, afraid that something might happen without her on patrol. With a laugh, Kaeya lets her go, but not without joking that Mondstadt is more important than his birthday. Jean made sure that it wasn't the case.
When the skies turn orange, the sun barely showing its entirety, Diluc and Kaeya sit at the balcony, watching the crystalflies flutter between vineyards from above. One starts to fly towards Diluc's direction, but when he puts his hand up, it quickly flies away. Kaeya snorts.
"You have to be more quick if you want to catch them."
Diluc rolls his eyes, letting his hand fall back on top of the balcony railings. "I forgot I'm with the master of crystalfly-catching over here."
Kaeya lets out an amused huff, letting his eyes dart towards the flying elemental life-forms again.
"Do you still love collecting their little cores?" Diluc suddenly says, voice genuinely curious. Kaeya blinks.
"You remember that?"
Diluc turns his head to look at him, as if he just said something ridiculous. "Who wouldn't? You just love collecting little trinkets. Crystal cores, old coins, seashells? Hah. Do you still have those from when we would go to the beach?"
Kaeya smiles, the fond memories of them running on the beach flashes in his mind, even though they were younger then. "I didn't think you'd remember."
"Oh please, Kaeya, I was born knowing you."
Diluc suddenly goes back inside quickly, only to emerge from the door with a present in his hands.
"What's with that face? You really thought I wouldn't get you a gift?"
Kaeya shakes his head with a smile, immediately opening the present.
A brown medium-sized chest with a golden lock. It's beautiful, but when Kaeya opens it, it's empty.
"For your little trinkets. You really ought to stop just letting them rot in your closet by themselves. I've seen them, you know."
Kaeya is quiet again, staring at the box solemnly. Diluc starts getting nervous by his sudden silence, afraid that it might've been not to his brother's liking. Before he can voice out his concerns, Kaeya starts speaking.
"You know, I'm really thankful that you didn't give up on me. Back then."
Diluc raises an eyebrow, evidently lost. "Back then…?"
"When father found me outside. In the pouring rain. And I refused to talk for weeks." Kaeya smiles, putting the chest down to the table and looking up at the sun that's barely there. "I used to think that my life ended there, when I got abandoned. I was sure that there was no hope for me, and I was just going to count my days until everyone would give up eventually and leave me to die."
Diluc doesn't say a word, letting his brother speak more.
"It makes me think, what if you did? What if you refused to talk to me? What if we didn't become as close as we are now? I don't think I'd be a knight. I don't think I'd be here at all."
Diluc sighs, fondly ruffling Kaeya's hair, something that he has gotten from their own father.
"Such nonsense. Why wouldn't I talk to you? You're my brother."
Diluc has always been the emotional one between the two, but tonight, when Kaeya sheds a tear or two, the older one doesn't mention it. Instead, he cradles his brother in his arms, who has always been the sentimental one.
He gladly lets Kaeya reminisce, because if Diluc collected trinkets that he wishes he could store inside a chest like his little brother, it would be the years that they have spent together, locked safely among the sea of his memories.