Chapter Text
It's a dull afternoon in Springvale, and the hunters are beginning to return home to clean their catches. Traps have been checked, carcasses are being prepared for cleaning, and the sweet scent of mushrooms cooking wafts in the air. Townspeople gather outside in small groups to handle the hides of boars, while others strike off on their own to tend to cooking pots, preparing to feed the busy hunters who have spent most of the day stalking through the woods.
It's an idyllic image, disrupted only by the man sitting on an uneven, squeaky chair, blood pooling in bite marks on his arm. Every so often he winces and breathes through his teeth, cradling his injury close. At his side, a woman rushes in with rudimentary bandages, whatever was left in stock, and hurriedly pulls out a strip of cloth to stop him from bleeding to death. The grass beneath where he sits, fresh and spring green, is dotted in red.
“How'd this even happen, Draff?” Myweiss asks, hurriedly cleaning off her hands when she has finished with the bandages. She is no stranger to conflicts in love, but this bite is from an animal, not a human— and either way, who would bite a man out of annoyance? It’s a silly thought.
For his part in the matter, Draff sighs, twisting his arm around to test the bandaging. Not great, but it could be worse. If he was unlucky, they could have bitten off his head instead. This was simply a warning message to stay away. He'll walk Diona home tonight. If anything were to happen… “It was wolves, but not the usual kind, I'm afraid.”
“Not the usual kind?” Myweiss’s voice is tinged by a note of concern, and Draff sighs again. Problems can return years later, and this is one of those cases. Animals learn, but if not kept in check, it can be rough to manage the fallout. He'll have to pen a letter quickly. If only a free drink came around as often as problems in the Wolvendom woods.
“It's an issue for the Knights of Favonius, these wolves, they're not the kind that kills to eat.”
—
The late part of spring in Mondstadt comes with an increasing temperature, Albedo has found. It's almost cozy, or perhaps even refreshing - at least, that's how the rest of the city's populace seems to view it. Water balloon fights become commonplace as the weather heats up, knights sigh heavily as evermore festivals are planned, and Klee gets into far more trouble because the lakes are no longer frozen over. This is the way of Mondstadt's warmer seasons, and how the humans around him like to spend it.
With Durin in his life, spring is different. It is his first spring with a younger brother, and Durin's first spring as the person he is now. He can't say that he knows what makes a spring good beyond what he knows the people around him enjoy, because no season other than winter means much to him in terms of sentiment, but he wants to know what Durin thinks of as a good spring.
The laboratory within the headquarters also becomes a victim of the heat rather quickly. The air is stuffy, and the sunshine makes condensation bead on every cool jar on the shelves. Usually, it's a little over two weeks before the date when Alice makes up her adventures that he starts needing to resort to cooling measures for the temperature sensitive ingredients he keeps there, but this time around, it's three. Of course, Dragonspine would be the better place to store cryo-related potions, but due to the period of time he's set off to keep a careful eye on Durin's abyssal energy fluctuations, he's been unable to make the trek up the mountain.
Durin seems to be fine with the heat in comparison. Every day, he comes into the lab to snuggle into the nook on the windowsill where Albedo has started to keep his textbooks. Recently, just to test if he'd overheat, he left a blanket from home to make it less uncomfortable to sit on. Instead, he'd wrapped it around himself. Today, too, he soaks up the sunlight and stuffy air while Albedo looks over a report from Wolvendom that had requested his expertise specifically.
Sometimes Albedo wonders if the inclination towards warmth comes from his draconic nature, his abyssal power, or distant memories of centuries spent as a corpse on Dragonspine. It's more difficult to test that, though. He wouldn't want to take the risk just yet.
The report is more simple than that thought experiment. It details a series of injuries received by hunters in the Wolvendom area, boars killed and dismembered by what appears to have been wolves, and marks of abyssal energy that has been getting closer to Springvale in the past couple of days. The report is systematic, clear, and has a direct quote from the hunter Draff - Diona's father, he recalls - about needing this 'returning issue' solved for good.
Albedo looks over at Durin, and finds that he's looking back at him. His red eyes are wide, and the frown on his face settled so deeply that his brows furrow. When they make eye contact, he startles, nearly dropping his textbook and having to scramble for it. His laughter is nervous, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and Albedo's smile is small. Amused. In his hurry, the blanket has tangled with one of his horns. Albedo gestures at his own forehead, and Durin reaches up to tug it off. He laughs again.
"You're curious about the report," Albedo says, interested to see what he says despite knowing the true answer. A few seconds pass. The blanket thuds quietly as it settles on the windowsill. Durin nods. When he speaks, his voice is low, nervous. "...You don't have to go back to Dragonspine already, do you?"
"No," Albedo says. Durin swallows. He really can't hide his expressions at all. It's fascinating, to compare it to his own. Blank, subtle, anything more human learnt and forced. Durin really is his masterpiece. "My knowledge has been requested regarding an incident in Wolvendom, which is just a short walk outside of the city itself."
When Durin doesn't seem entirely like he knows where it is, he smiles again. He's used to teaching Sucrose and Timaeus about alchemy, and Klee about some of the things that come with growing up... But Durin has to be taught about the world in the same way his master taught him. It's hard to forget how the knowledge of what consequences failure carried settled on his shoulders like lead. "You might remember passing through it from your meeting with Hat Guy."
Recognition lights up on Durin's face, makes his cheeks puff out with how wide his fanged smile is, and makes his sharp teeth glint threateningly in the light. His tail glides against the floor. He doesn't exactly wag it like a dog would, but the more he comes to understand about him, comparing him to a cat also feels less apt. It's an action unique to his brother. It might have come from the Durin who communicated through body language. "Yes, I do, it was beautiful up there..."
Then, remembering that they're talking about a report, his expression twists into a frown. "But you said..." Durin pauses, closes the textbook. "There was an incident?"
Usually, he wouldn't share such information with those outside of the Knights of Favonius. It's restricted information, and more dangerous than the simple tasks relegated to rank and file knights, due to the influence of the Abyss. Durin especially could do great harm with free access to a source of abyssal energy, had he any malintent. The other knights have a tendency to forget that with his skillset, Albedo could as well. They give almost all tasks concerning extraordinary phenomena to him without worry.
"There was, and ordinarily, I would say it was something that our cavalry captain would be more suited to handling," Albedo says, a hand pressed over the section that pertains to the injuries. "But I think it would be of interest to you especially, so I would like for us both to attend to it."
Durin's inhale is sharp and his eyes are wide, but quickly, he furrows his brow into something serious. Nods slowly. Swallows like he has been handed the kind of exam that Albedo's teacher gave. His hands are furrowed into little balls. There's claws beneath those gloves, as animalistic as any wolf could be.
"Of course I'll come, I'd like to help you, and everyone else as well."
—
By the time they reach the exit to the headquarters, Jean has stopped her endless work in order to give Albedo a few extra notes acquired after the initial letter came in. Specific locations, sketches done by Amber, and a wary glance at Durin. Albedo knows his word goes far, when it comes to making it clear how much or how little the knights should trust a being made of alchemy and magic, but even that can't staunch her bleeding heart for her city.
Jean's not upset about Durin's presence, as far as he knows - and he has told her little in regards to dangers that have not yet proven themselves to be real - but she does worry about his joining in on missions. "With Durin at my side, searching for the abyssal influence will be easier than if I had to set up camp and prepare an alchemical device on my own." He explains the reasons carefully, simply. Jean's brows are furrowed, and she chews on the inside of her cheek. She is intelligent, and cunning to boot. She's read most of the books in Mondstadt's library.
But she isn't an alchemist. Albedo is the only one in the nation with the extent of alchemical knowledge that he has. It affords him a few liberties, in terms of how much he explains, and how he explains it. "In essence, he would function as a natural sensor for abyssal material, and be able to help me track down the source directly, unlike a potion to increase my own sensitivity, which may pose risks to my internal organs."
Albedo does not have organs in the way that humans do. He has bodily functions that allow him to pass as if he does, so that he can eat with humans, sleep around other humans, and laugh with humans. Jean's face seems to clear when he says it like he's just like her, though, and she sighs. He's convinced her. This is part of why he did not explain the details of his homuncular nature when he told those closest to him that he was one.
"Alright," she says. "But please keep yourselves safe, and make sure those in Springvale aren't affected more than they already have been."
He smiles, and nods. "Of course, we'll solve this without further issue."
Behind him, Durin stands a little straighter, and he can feel a hand brush his coat to keep himself upright. The nervous energy practically radiates off of him. Jean doesn't seem to have noticed it, though. "I'll do my best, Miss Jean!"
—
"Do you have a favorite part of Mondstadt, from what you've been able to experience so far?"
Albedo asks the question that he's heard countless others ask to tourists before. Durin is a permanent fixture in his life, but he is new to it, and more than that, he's new to the nation that has granted them refuge. They're lucky, in that sense. Not all of his teacher's creations were given that sort of mercy. It took enough alchemical research that he has filled a thousand pages on how Khemia reacts when influenced by abyssal energy and an entire storybook world for Durin to get the chance to be given that mercy at all.
Some things are too dangerous to live.
Durin blinks up at him with wide red eyes. No matter how many times he sees his brother, he can’t let go of how toxic he appears. A poisonous animal, flaunting it through color. Don’t eat me, don’t come near me, his appearance screams. Durin’s hands fold carefully behind his back, still covered in gloves despite the heat. On the way to Springvale, the sunshine is as strong as torchlight right before one's eyes.
"I like The Cat's Tail," he says. His voice is quiet, nervousness showing in the monotone stillness of it. Albedo nods, smiles. There's more space for them to be inhuman when they're only with each other. The animals, however— they don’t seem to like the smallest signs of it at all.
Animals have no strong opinion on Albedo, negative or positive, but he did grow up with Sebas occasionally making his way to his side. Durin had no such feline caretaker, and Albedo knows that the abyssal energy that slumbers inside his brother makes even Sebas pause. Members of their family aren't all made equal.
"While the cats may struggle with you at the moment, I believe you can show them that you mean no harm," he offers, and Durin's face lights up in turn. His tail rustles the grass around them with every swipe. He nearly trips over stones on the path every so often. It does nothing to quell the visible joy. "I really hope so."
The anxiety isn't gone entirely from his voice, and his brow is still furrowed, but he walks steadier - at Albedo's side instead of at his back.
“I’d like to explore everything about Mondstadt that I can, now that you’ve given me the chance to be a human like you are, and…” Durin pauses, his smile so bright that his eyes start to narrow at the corners. Albedo hums to avoid interrupting him. He’s curious, and his brother has a tendency to avoid bringing up things when he feels there’s a better explanation done by a smarter person. Albedo is no genius, though. “I like the laboratory as well, especially after… Especially after you brought the blankets in. Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome,” he responds, watching as Springvale comes into sight. Durin stops to stare, and crystalflies scatter away from the undergrowth. It’s easy to forget that he’s never seen the village in the day. “It’s a livelier place with you in it, but I don’t mind.”
The village looms in the distance, much smaller than Mondstadt behind them. Durin’s tail flicks against his shin. It stills when Albedo puts a gentle hand on his shoulder, standing just behind him. Neither of them look back at the path they’ve trod.
—
The first thing that he notices when they arrive at Springvale is that everything smells like blood. This isn't unusual, because he has a strong sense of smell, and Springvale is a hunting village that relies primarily on that trade for income. Durin's little flinch when they step past the welcome sign, however, tips him off to the fact that this is no typical case of having brought back more game than usual.
At the dirt path that leads into the village, Durin goes from frowning and stepping forth more hesitantly than usual to tugging at Albedo's sleeve, frozen in his tracks. He leans toward him, and Durin's horns bump against his head when he presses his mouth to his ear. "...Diluc, your friend from a while ago, he smelled similar to... It's difficult to explain, Albedo, but I can smell the difference between boar and human blood."