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It was early afternoon in Monstadt, and the sun was shining beautifully into the city, reflecting off the window panes, and making them appear golden.
Klee was mesmerised by this, staring up toward the civilians houses as she walked in step next to Kaeya, who, bless his heart, had convinced Jean to let the little mischief maker out of solitary confinement so he could take her out for a meal on her birthday.
Klee, being Klee, rejoiced at this, and couldn’t stop thanking Kaeya as they left the Favonius headquarters. Kaeya had simply smiled and said ‘Well, you deserve it. Everyone deserves to be spoiled on their birthday.’
As they walked down towards the Good Hunter, Klee hurrying along beside Kaeya to keep up with his long stride, her little mage hat bobbing about on her head, she just couldn’t stop smiling.
Once they reached Good Hunter, Kaeya strolled leisurely up to the counter.
‘Good day, Sara, have you a table for two?’ He asked.
‘Greetings, Captain Kaeya! Oh, and Spark Knight Klee as well! How do you do, dearie?’ Sara asked Klee.
Klee grinned at gestured at Kaeya to pick her up. Kaeya happily did so so that Klee was eye-level with Sara, no longer jumping up and down below the counter.
Klee giggled. ‘I’m great thank you! It’s my birthday - that’s why Mr Kaeya and I are here! Although,’ she frowned. ‘You didn’t answer his question. Do you have a table for us?’
Sara cheeks turned slightly pink. ‘Oh, pardon me! Oh course I have a table for you.’ She smiled warmed at the both of them. ‘And must I say, happy birthday Klee! I’ll do my best to ensure your meal is cooked to perfection.’
Klee smiled back and her and replied; ‘Hehe, thank you!’ Before somehow telepathically telling Kaeya to put her down.
He lowered her back onto her feet before asking her, ‘Klee, what would you like to eat?’ Klee’s face lit up. ‘Ooh ooh ooh! Could I have unagi chazuke? Pweaseeee?’
Kaeya chuckled and replied ‘Of course you can, it’s your birthday! Oh, and I’ll have a flaming red bolognese please, Sara. Thank you kindly.’ He handed over the mora and went over with Klee to sit down at a table.
‘So, Klee, what have you gotten up to on your birthday so far today?’ Kaeya asked inquisitively.
Klee giggled and replied ‘Well, mommy and daddy sent me a letter saying how sorry they are that that they can’t be with me, again, but made up for it by giving me a BIG box of chocolates,’ (she giggled again) ‘uhh, and then Master Jean told me that even though it was my birthday I still had to serve time in solitary confinement because I was blowing up the fish in the Starfell Lake yesterday…’ she looked down at her feet, however Kaeya found this amusing and chuckled to himself. Klee immediately regained her composure and continued: ‘anyway, then you came along and told Master Jean to let me out! Hehe, you’re the best, Kaeya!’
Kaeya grinned at her and said ‘Oh your so welcome Klee, Jean was being pretty mean about keeping you in confinement on your birthday.’
Klee huffed and crossed arms. ‘I know! Like, I know what I did was wrong, and I shouldn’t have done it… but still! On my birthday?! Come on now Jean.’ She rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms.
Kaeya noticed her demeanour had darkened slightly, and decided to attempt to cheer her up again.
‘Well, I’ll talk to Master Jean about it later. In the meantime- oh, look! Here’s our food!’
Sara brought out two steaming dishes, one of rice and delicious looking fish and the other of a spicy pasta, both which made your mouth water just by looking at them.
Klee’s face immediately lit up again when Sara placed the bowl in front of her.
‘Hehe, thank you Ms Sara!’ Sara smiled and nodded at her, before returning back to the counter.
Klee immediately picked up her fork before Kaeya even had the chance to even look at his food, and before he could look up again she had stabbed a large piece of eel onto the tines and taken a big bite. You could almost see all stress and unhappiness dissolve from her body completely, as the eel’s taste melted into her mouth.
Klee let out a sign of happiness and Kaeya smiled warmly to himself, before picking up his own fork, twirling some spaghetti around it and placing it in his mouth.
~
They sat and ate happily, Klee every so often randomly saying something to Kaeya, or remarking about how amazing the food was, and Kaeya was all too happy to listen.
After they had finished their meal, and Klee had slumped against the back of her chair holding Dodoco in her lap, slowly falling into a sleepy haven of fullness, Kaeya noticed something.
At first he thought it was purely just something normal, some people exclaiming due to reuniting after some time, however the more he looked the more he realised. He stood up from his chair and peered out over the wall to see where the commotion was coming from, and his heart skipped a beat. He gasped out of surprise and Klee instinctively opened one eye to peer at him, before opening both eyes to see what was going on.
She frowned. ‘What is it, Mr Kaeya?’ She stuffed Dodoco back into her bag and also looked out over the wall.
Before her eyes could register what she was seeing, Kaeya was shouting up across the street to Albedo and Sucrose, working away out the front of their shop.
‘Hey, Albedo!’ Kaeya shouted.
Albedo (and Sucrose) looked up and tried to register who had called him, before realising that it was Kaeya and raised an eyebrow at him. Kaeya pointed hastily down toward to the city gates. Albedo looked at him quizzically and stepped out to see what he meant. Albedo, usually calm and collected and not really an emotion shower, gasped and his hand flew to his mouth, before he turned back to Sucrose and whispered something quietly to her, then quickly kissed her cheek and she set off running toward the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
For there, walking up the high street of Monstadt, was the true Grand-Master of the Knights of Favonius, Varka, and his wife, the leader of the Hexenzirkel, Alice.
~
Sucrose dashed through the streets of Monstadt, her legs carrying her faster than they normally would.
She skidded up to the Favonius headquarters and murmured a quick greeting to the puzzled looking guards on shift. She yanked open the heavy door and ran inside.
Once inside, she hurried over to the first door on the right, hastily knocked and then flung the door open.
Jean, who was sitting at her desk gathering up some paperwork looked very stunned at the intruder in her officer.
‘Uh, greetings… Sucrose? What can I do for you?’
Poor Sucrose was breathing heavily from the overexertion but managed to form some words - ‘My deepest apologies for bursting in here unannounced, Acting Grand-Master, but I must inform you-‘ she stopped for a second, chest still heaving.
Jean raised an eyebrow as a silent remark for her to continue.
‘-I must inform you… Grand-Master Varka and Mage Alice have returned!’ She finally managed to get out.
Jean’s hand flew to her mouth and she gasped. ‘Oh, the both of them?! Thank Barbatos!’ She immediately ditched the paperwork and stood up, before smoothing her uniform down and speaking again.
‘I’ll fetch Barbara and Noelle from the cathedral, you go and find Amber and Lisa. Lisa will be in the library, Amber, well… you’ll have to find out yourself. Anyways, thank you, dear Sucrose!’ She said before rushing out.
Sucrose heard her muttering under breath as she left: ‘Oh thank Barbatos thank Barbatos thank Barbatos…’
At this point, Sucrose realised that none other than Venti was standing in the corner of her office, inspecting his lyre.
‘Ehe, you’re welcome, Jean!’ He called after her.
~
‘MOM! DAD!’ Klee hollered as she registered who was walking up the street. Alice’s sharp ears heard her first, and she turned to see where the noise was coming from, and when she saw none other than her daughter, leaning over the wall of the restaurant, waving frantically at them, her face broke into an enormous smile.
‘Darling!’ She exclaimed. Now Varka too realised who was calling them, and his eyes lit up like every single good thing that had ever happened to him had come at once.
Klee hurriedly dumped her bag and was immediately running down the steps of the high street to greet her parents. When she reached them, Alice swept her up in her arms and embraced her like she was the most important thing in the world (well, to Alice, she was, after all).
Alice chuckled. ‘Did you miss us, dear?’
‘Is that even a question? Of course I did!’ Klee’s exclaimed, burying her face in Alice’s shoulder. ‘You were gone for years!’
Now Varka spoke up. ‘I know sweet pea, and I appreciate your indignation, but you know it was necessary. And besides, we’re home now!’
Klee lifted her face from Alice’s shoulder, and finally gave in. She hopped into her father’s embrace as he wrapped his big strong arms around her in a comforting hold.
By this point, news had spread fast of the Grand-Master and Mage’s return, and people were coming out onto the street.
As soon as Klee had run to her parents, Kaeya had hurried over to Albedo to first of all ask where he had sent Sucrose, and secondly as to if he knew why they were suddenly back. Albedo’s response had been that their work in Nod-Krai was presumably finished and they had been permitted to return home.
Now they both strolled over to the family, and just in time! As Sucrose, Amber, Lisa, Noelle, and Venti were hurrying down the steps to see if the rumour was true. Varka registered this almost immediately and handed Klee back to Alice.
‘Ah, my faithful Knights and comrades! Tell me, how have we been holding up since my departure?’
It was Amber who spoke first. ‘Very well, Grand-Master! Acting Grand-Master Jean has been absolutely incredible in your absence!’ She said, grinning ear to ear.
A smile tugged at Varka’s lips, but suddenly disappeared as he realised two people weren’t there.
‘Speaking of…’ he said. ‘Where is the Acting Grand-Master, oh, and Sister Barbara for that matter?’
Right on cue, they all turned and spotted Jean and Barbara walking down the steps towards them all.
~
Jean gasped quietly as she realised it was true, her brother had returned! As she and her sister walked toward their sibling, Varka’s face broke out into a grin, and he opened his arms wide. ‘Come here, girls.’
Jean ran toward her brother and let herself and Barbara be embraced. It was the best feeling in the world, as for several years she had always had a sinking feeling in her stomach that he would never return.
Barbara giggled; ‘Hehe, why didn’t you tell us you were coming back, Varks? We would’ve prepared something for you and Ms Alice!’
Varka chuckled as he released them from his iron grip. ‘Well, it was mainly meant to be a birthday surprise for this little monster-‘ He affectionately tickled underneath Klee’s chin, making her giggle. ‘-but to be honest, I just really wanted to see all of your reactions to our return.’ Jean smiled broadly and hugged her brother again, as if she couldn’t quite believe he was real.
When Jean released him, Varka looked directly at Venti. ‘Barbatos.’ He said in a serious tone.
‘Grand-Master.’ Venti replied, bowing his head slightly to the man in front of him.
Varka’s professional look broke as his face spilt into a grin, asking ‘How had Monstadt been holding up in my absence?’
‘Just fine, you’ll be glad to know, although I’m sure there will be some things that come up that you may need to attend to.’ Venti answered.
Varka nodded. ‘Of course, all in a good days work, eh?’ He finished, winking at Venti. Venti chuckled and winked back, before turning to the mage.
Alice spoke up again. ‘Now, Klee, how have these people been looking after you in our absence? Well, I hope.’
Klee giggled. ‘Hehe, of course they have, Mommy! Especially Mr Kaeya and Mr Albedo!’
Albedo looked down at his feet and Kaeya looked away shyly.
‘Thank you dearly, the both of you, and of course an enormous thank you to all of you for looking after my little Fleeing Sunlight so well. I’ll be sure to treat you all to dinner sometime soon.’ She finished, smiling warmly at all the Knights and comrades gathered.
Klee sighed contently and rested her cheek back on her mother’s shoulder, still being held her arms.
‘Hehe, this is the best birthday ever!’