FROSTWIND.

And definitely not the tallest. And also...

"T...tis naught but a farce, a game," she was trying to be quiet about it, the Library Devil had already been yelling at her, but...

The book with the red golden letters HELL: A THEORY was just out of her reach. But now that this really smug dude with an eyepatch was antagonizing her, she slapped her cheeks, looked up at the book...

And started to scale the bookshelf one shelf at a time. Her hands graze the spine of the book, she can feel the indented letters, and-

Crrrrack-

The shelf she's putting her weight on splits, and she falls down, books raining down on her, but...

... well, it wasn't as if he was going to be able to get to her in time. his one eye gauges her for any actual injury, none to which he sees. especially now that she seems to be gloating about this supposed victory directly at him.

"look around, isn't it obvious?"

maybe she shouldn't breach the subject, Teyvatians typically avoided it — Paimon had mentioned how Citlali recognised the strain after... last time. nobody in Nod-Krai probed after a figment led her astray. maybe all to spare reopening wounds or because there were more pressing matters, likely a mixture of both. it might be more sensitive to say nothing and continue as normal, as they both had grown accustomed to, however... the pain accompanied her every step, and now he was burdened with the same.

a knot twisted in her stomach... all in a world where she had been granted her wish — as if someone had to be without and Diluc had been the price. not that anyone had any bearing on who was brought here and who was returned.

did Kaeya blame her? of course not. was he jealous? if he knew... perhaps he might. he'd also been robbed of so much, a stranger within the nation he'd come to call home. a family he loved, beyond its fractures, stolen away now entirely. carrying a soul engraved with the scars of 500 years ago.

if she closed her eyes, the memory of that Sumerian shack might populate the darkness... "O' Prince of Khaenri'ah".

this island had become something of an eyesore than a true paradise一

❝ ... it's alright, you know, ❞ he says, still not giving up the ghost just yet. always the one to allow others confide in him, their secrecies a thing which he carries close to his chest, not once revealing it with even the sweetest temptations. but for his own, they were like a lifeline. to let them go meant he would sink, lost beneath the waves that would only continue to sweep him out from the shallows. ❝ You don't need to comfort me. Not when you have far more on your mind. ❞

how could she not have the weight of the world to bear? while not here, in other places while she held the hope of so many upon her shoulders. it was why he was so adamant that she need not treat their relationship as merely transactional, a place she could come to lay down those arms, allowing a brief reprieve before returning to that heroic figure so many have clung to her so. in some ways, he cannot help but feel a bitterness upon his tongue at that, too.

pinning one's hopes entirely on a single person 一 how revolting.

And...

He presses his lips into a line. "Honestly?"

"Before it only felt like we had to worry about your coworkers, and it seems like times are changing." And his coworkers are far less kind, far more likely to cannibalize their own, and far less likely to ask questions.

and though it was surely a thing to concern oneself over given the nature of some, perhaps there was the hint of something far more dangerous that sparks within the knight's visible gaze at the prospect of it all. more importantly, it poses a very distinct opportunity for him to find out which one, if not the good doctor, for guiding that cursed delusion into the hands of not only his long gone adoptive father, but his brother for a short while, too.

that was something he wasn't quite willing to divulge to childe, not yet一

it felt... wrong. she could never wish for anyone to feel that loss, even if impermanent. somehow still, he carried on. as if nothing were different, at least on the surface.

fingertips ran the book's cover, tracing the gold pattern lining its edges. "yeah. it made me think about how Lisa would never leave the Library deeper in the Ward".

the corners of her lips twisted, fighting back a storm of thoughts clamouring to spill out, as if that flower's effect had awoken simply by being here with one of the brothers.

so, when she speaks of being here in his hour of need, the twist of her lips to withhold whatever other torrent wishes to pour forth from her mouth, he simply smiles. it is not one of sorrow but, rather, of his usual cadence he carries, albeit tinged with an uncertainty on if he should. ❝ Oh? ❞ how often has he told this wayward traveler that if he was ever needed to let him know? that they shouldn't make the friendship between them merely transactional.

yet surely it was a vastly different tale when it became him who was the one to rely on her, was it not? something in his heart quivers, a reminder that she knew more than so many of his past 一 his origins 一 and still did not shun him as he had once been before upon another's learning of that selfsame secret.

Hello chaeya nation! :) Did a little redraw of a redraw lol Old redraw + Original screencap references below:

"Sleep out on the boat under the stars. What do ya think?"

"It's not like we can really 'get away', but I was thinking this is the closest thing to it."

❝ Oh? You've thought quite a bit about this, haven't you? ❞ nor was kaeya truly opposed to fishing, recalling the time he had spent alongside the traveler and paimon on a little boat. how often has he been on boats for work? far too much, a far cry from a cruise for something more leisurely. ❝ It's not like I'm against it or anything. I've also heard some things about the Intraspace fulfilling a similar goal, but you're far more into the physical aspect of breaking away, ❞ he states, not so much of a question than it is an assessment.

but as a younger sibling separated from her older brother, putting on a brave face in front of everyone else, she knew better than most what he was carrying. in this house, he probably saw Diluc everywhere, but never found him.

the Traveler took pause. typical action would dictate she chide him with an unimpressed look, remind him of how adamant almost everyone else was about her not drinking given her youthful appearance. come to think of it, he was close to the only Mondstadter here... Diluc, Jean, Varka, Venti...

were lumine to call him out on it, he'd simply do what he did best 一 lie.