Chapter Text
He was standing in front of the winery's entrance, his clothes soaked and figure slightly shivering as he looked at the bright lights flitting from the windows, their homey golden glow doing nothing to soothe the storm residing in his chest, pounding against his rib cage violently—vehemently. His hands felt like they were fresh out of sword training, feeling heavy and stiff like they usually would whenever he hadn’t picked up the blade in some time. The noise of the rain suffocated his eardrums, yet it was never louder than the cacophony of mistakes heard in his ears, unheard to everyone but himself of all the lies and secrets he kept tucked away in a disoriented corner that he hoped to never uncover. The smell of rain mixed in with the smell of the vineyard, creating a sort of melancholic irony, considering it was under the same sky he arrived on the lands of Dawn Winery, one of the places he’d call home.
It was funny how time worked. Yet, with everything clashing and colliding in his head, telling him how horrible, how terrible this was going to end, he remained impassive.
He didn't pretend like what he was about to do was going to ruin his whole life, because it was—which is why he allowed himself to remain in solitude, standing in the same forest he saw his father die as he let the suffocating, inane emotions of grief sink into the ground of freshly bloodied soil. He knew that going to Diluc straight away would destroy him completely, so he allowed himself to gather his thoughts and take a breath for the inevitable.
Standing in front of that door, he raised his fist and gave two sharp knocks.
It was too late to turn back, not when he was already here. He was standing there, ready to admit to his faults and ready for his fate to be decided. He was ready to lose the only semblance of love he’d ever received.
Doubts had crossed his mind, but he was already there. He couldn’t turn back now. Not now. Not ever. Especially when the door of what he wished could be his forever home opened and a face he grew to love appeared, just as much of a wreck as he was, if not more. He gave a weak smile as the boy recognized him. He provided his smile even when he knew this was the last time he knew Diluc would ever look at him the same he has all those years. He was ready to go.
“Kaeya?”
With a sigh, Kaeya stretched and popped his back, the sack of potatoes he brought with him to Blanche’s shop set neatly next to her supplies she told him to put in the back. The woman had put out a commission for potato picking at one of her small, personalized gardens, giving him about three dozen potatoes to pick. Usually his commissions would consist of more higher level difficulties, however, Jean had noticed something off about his work ethics, more specifically his personal well being and how it was affecting his mood against his subordinates. Maybe he had been a little harsh with his training a few days ago, but no one could fully blame him. As a captain of a cavalry that had no horses, bitterness gnawed at him with each passing day, and as their captain he had to whip them into shape anyway. It was definitely not because one of the new recruits made snarky remarks about literally all of the missing horses that Varka had so conveniently taken with him on his own expedition. Not at all.
Okay, maybe a little.
His main concern though, was a certain red head he started to see around the city much more often. His presence came with a cold uneasiness settling down uncomfortably in his gut, telling him that something was up. Diluc had no reason to keep his eye on Kaeya, especially since years have passed by since the fated incident. So either he knew something he didn’t, or he suspected Kaeya of something. Something that he most likely didn’t or wasn’t going to do.
The extra presence also didn’t bode well with him at all. Diluc has never looked at him so much since that rainy day years ago, and knowing that Diluc holds all of his secrets (the very secrets he sought to keep safe) he felt a foreboding feeling growing in his chest, tying knots. Did Kaeya do something recently that had urged Diluc to feel this way? He’s always watching his steps around his former brother, what could have been so wrong as to strike suspicion upon him. For one, Kaeya believed that they were past their differences and were living in tolerance of each other. Or at least, Diluc living in tolerance to him.
Kaeya still wanted his brother back, which was an unrealistic wish, but it hurt him in more ways than one when Diluc would give him eyes only reserved for the worst of criminals, maybe even the Fatui themselves. He just wanted his brother back. Though, as a boy born in a land without a god, Kaeya is never that lucky.
“Thank you, Captain Kaeya! Truly, I’m grateful you decided to help little ol’ me, archon knows how much more my back would’ve been able to take.” He turned to the brunette and offered her a smile, before giving a sidelong look towards a red head walking through the square, holding his wallet most likely in pursuit of buying something. He didn’t miss the few glances he received from him and only watched as Diluc rounded a corner, no longer anywhere to be seen.
“It was no problem at all, Blanche, if you need any more help just post another commission. I’m sure a lot of my trainee’s would need the experience.” She giggled at him before waving him off, giving Kaeya his payment in a small pouch and then leaving to go back to whatever she was doing. Kaeya took that as his cue and turned on his heel, hopping along to his business once more.
The current jobs he found himself occupied with that Jean had provided him were mostly of daily interactions with the citizens of Mondstadt who were all happy to see him. It was as if she was purposefully giving him safer jobs so he could take care of himself. News flash, he could take care of himself, he just goes about it in different ways than others. There was also the fact that there wasn’t as many knights who would be able to handle the jobs that were most of the time reserved for him, which is why he found himself slightly annoyed. Kaeya was a strategic and stealthy planner, made for only the most secretive of missions, and yet here he was, reduced to an errand boy because his feelings were too much for the Acting Grand Master.
Okay maybe he was being a little harsh, but it all came with his position. It all came with his feelings.
He furrowed his brows and massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling a slight headache coming along. He was beginning to start overworking himself, like he usually did when he felt stressed. With another sigh, Kaeya turned and made his way to the path that would lead him straight to the cathedral.
He wasn’t religious, and Kaeya hopefully never would be, for it would mean that he was praying to the same gods who destroyed his homeland in the first place. Why would he worship a higher being who made a mess of him to begin with? Though, he didn’t exactly think Barbatos got off on the worship anyway. He acted like he didn’t know the raven head bard was the city of freedom’s archon, just like how Venti didn’t acknowledge that he was the same sinner as the ones he had joined in Celestia’s attempts to slaughter, all those centuries ago. Even so, Kaeya wasn’t one to hold too many grudges. The bard was a good drinking companion if he was being honest. Besides, he joined in with being another nuisance to his dear brother, so he couldn’t exactly be mad at him. Their love of alcohol made it easy to bond with each other. And while Kaeya didn’t exactly trust Venti to keep any secrets or do anything for him, Kaeya knew he could rely on the bard's wisdom and information through his sweet melody’s and tongue twisting rhymes.
The church bells rang once, twice, thrice, before it stopped and Kaeya made an upheaval to his steps, because he waited around long enough and needed to get back to work. He didn’t falter going up the stairs to the cathedral, intending to take up the leaf pile clean up that had been posted at the guild. However as he got to the top, Noelle was already talking with Sister Victoria, nodding before bringing the broom with her as she entered the cathedral. Kaeya blinked and found himself next in the sister's sight, having her wave him over.
“I take it Noelle has already busied herself with the leaf commission?” Victoria associated her face with a smile as she gestured to the side of the church. Kaeya followed her eyes and saw nothing in sight. Leaves that were supposed to be there were not.
“You can check in the back just in case, though Noelle does a thorough job with everything she does so you shouldn’t be able to find anything. She takes her job very seriously.” Kaeya let off a chuckle and shook his head. Noelle was indeed a hardworking girl, he finds it questionable why Jean hasn’t considered her for knighthood yet, after all the young maid when doing her duties puts her all into each task. He supposed that it was because the acting grandmaster wanted to save the teen from the hardships from the knights—she already had a young arsonist to look after and keep innocent from the horrors of their job. While it was justifiable, Kaeya and Diluc themselves were very young when they entered the knights ranks, so he didn’t exactly agree with Jeans position on it.
Kaeya wiped the slate clean when his mind drifted to his brother. He can’t have any of that right now. Pushing his mind back to the conversation at hand, he brought up Noelles prowess.
“I don’t doubt that. Noelle has been of major assistance to both the citizens of Mondstadt and the Ordo, it isn’t a surprise she got here before me. But, I was thinking about visiting at some point, so it’s not a wasted trip.” The sister nodded at him and waved him off as he turned heel. He split off from the nun and walked along the side of the church, eyes gazing at the old tiles stuck to the wall, probably for centuries now. He wondered if they were tiles left from the rubbish of a far and foreign land that no longer had use for them, but let the thought sink deeper into his mind so he could forget about it. Just then, wind brushed through his hair and he found himself sighing. The weather was the same as usual and he found it quite soothing as he neared the back of the cathedral.
A few steps from the grass and he found himself at a halt. Gaze drifting through the courtyard, his eyes landed on a certain grave. He couldn’t find it in himself to take another step closer. Not yet, at least. With a sigh he found becoming too familiar to him, he decided to take one last decently long commission. Maybe one that involves a short walk somewhere in Mondstadt. He begrudgingly took his leave, feeling a sort of pull near the gravesite when he knew he had no right.
It was a wasted trip after all.
A quick stop at the adventurers guild ended with him walking on the bridge, ignoring the pigeons as Timmy gave him a thankful smile and wave before continuing his leisure of feeding his birds. Kaeya even threw a few raisins in to make the boy happy. He knew that it would. He returned the little boys beam with a brief smile of his own, mind flashing to when there was once a little blue headed boy who had tried to feed a small fox when a kind man who smelt of sweet alcohol came and cupped his hands around the boys smaller ones, gently breaking the sunsettia into two and laying them closer to the ground. The smell had wafted through the air and the fox had soon come up and started eating from the boy's sin tainted hands, opening up a world full of wonder in his one starry eye.
He made haste to leave afterwards, doing his best not to scare the pigeons as he left those feelings on the bridge, in hopes they’d wither away with time and he could forget the memory ever appeared. If Timmy saw his troubled face, he didn’t say anything, only continued with feeding his birds.
Just then, another comforting wind hugged his hair.
The day was somewhat nostalgic, the morning breeze slowly mellowing out as noon came closer. It reminded him of early days back in a home he once had, picking grapes along with someone he considered his best friend—his brother—and sneakily making way past the maids before they celebrated their victory with a small snack. Of course, they’d get caught a few times, but even those were memories to be fond of. To be happy about.
Now, that feeling was replaced with a sense of longing and heartache. Not that Kaeya minded, but sometimes the strings of want tugged a little too harshly for him to keep cool at times, and in the presence of a brother he desperately wanted but pushed away, it only hurt more. As a sinner, it was what he deserved. But as a boy, who was only seventeen, on that rainy day a part of him became incomplete, a piece of him left somewhere dying on the ground. He supposed he would most likely never get that back—that piece of him. It was like a needle in a haystack, with straws tricking him from left to right, temporarily giving him a false sense of security. He’d never get that piece back. He’d never get that happiness back. But that was okay. Kaeya was okay.
He could live with it a little while longer.
His walk led him to wolvendom, and the scent of wolf hooks was strong as he neared the Wolf of the North Wind’s territory. Avoiding the hilichurl camps set up near the usual spots, the knight flitted around, eyes searching bushes and stumps, looking for the area's signature spiky fruits. They were a delicacy worldwide, but one of their most popular uses were for juice and wine. Kaeya’s never been one for wolfhook beverages, but there was once a time where he still had access to the winery cellar and on one night, in rebellion, made an exquisite glass of wine from the small container of fermented wolf hook juice. His father had caught him in the middle of his delicacy and at first was disappointed, before he had given the glass of wine a taste himself and paused.
Kaeya didn’t think he’d ever seen a smile so great on his face before. While he was still in trouble, the man had ruffled the top of his head and gave him an encouraging smile, telling him that what he made was remarkable. The feeling after receiving that one compliment had stuck with Kaeya ever since. He cherished it even, and never let go, no matter what had happened.
He kept it when he was thrown out and disowned, he kept it when his inheritance to the right of the winery was forgotten, and he even kept it with him when he became the cavalry captain. No matter how funny it sounded, with his brother and his positions being backwards, Kaeya was always going to miss that cellar.
Diluc was an amazing Captain, and Kaeya was an impressive winemaker. But now, Kaeya is a phenomenal Cavalry Captain with the work of his daring wits and deadly waltz leading the knights, all the while Diluc is a sensational winemaker with the abhorrence to the taste of alcohol.
He wanted to laugh at that. Really, he did. Badly. But some things just aren’t funny when the butt of the joke involves a person's whole life and everything that led up to it that resulted in the wrong life.
A squelch paused Kaeya in his tracks and he looked down, seeing that he stepped on one of the very fruits he was looking for. Groaning, he shook his foot off and saw some of the liquid fly onto the nearby rocks.
“I take this as a sign to quit thinking.” He stopped to laugh at that. He was talking to himself. How sad.
Wiping his boot onto the grass, Kaeya lifted the empty sack he had with his person and began filling it with the sharp food. The berry was toxic to the wolves in the surrounding areas so they avoided the area the most, but it barely affected humans all that much. Just a few numbing pinches. It made itself known as Kaeya’s hands started dotting with red pinpricks, making his hands tingle until he could barely feel them. He moved onwards though. His bag was halfway full when he noticed that he picked up all the berries in his vicinity. Suddenly, a passing thought came to his mind.
They were all gone. He smiled woefully, just like he did all the other times these thoughts inconvenienced him.
He had only wished he was talking about the berries.
He climbed the side of Andrius’ domain, walking around and passing the huge log that overlooked the whole of Mondstadt and its bustling city. Kaeya looked up at the partly cloudy sky, the soft tufts of the cotton-like clouds overhead and passing by briefly covering his eyes from the bright and beating sun. Movement caught his eyes and his sight landed on a bird he could never forget. He smiled and waved at Blanc, an umbertail falcon that was given to his brother many years ago. He didn’t question her presence, as he was close to the winery, so he dropped his hand and began his walk once again.
The grass surrounding the wolf dominators terrain was pure, healthy, and smooth to the touch. The wind was dancing and the tree branches were swaying. Finally, his gaze caught on to a pile of wolf hooks in the shade of a tree. With a huff he made his way over, slowly lowering to a lunge and feeling the cool ground meet his knees. A tired feeling swept over him and in a second he found himself sitting against the bark of the oak, carefully plucking the berries from their pile and putting them into his bag. By now, he should be finished with his commission. But he decided to rest just a little while longer.
Jean most likely wouldn’t mind. She was the one who made him do this anyway.
He looked up at the green leaves. Jean. The whole reason why he was not doing any of his knightly duties today. He couldn’t stop the frown from forming on his face.
Lately there hasn’t been much abyss activity or close hilichurl camps near the city, like all the bad entities in Mondstadt had settled down and decided to keep to themselves. It left a weird peace surrounding the city, and while there were organizations that needed to be brought down, none of them were big enough for major concerns. That didn’t stop Kaeya from working himself to the bone to take care of it. But he wasn’t the only one working on those cases. He was the most quick and efficient option though. So he didn’t understand why Jean had taken him off all those cases and put him on commission duty.
It was like she didn’t really have a use for him anymore, which didn’t make all that much sense. He always had a use. Maybe he was just off his game.
Because if she really didn’t need him, what happens then? He’s nothing if he can’t do what he’s supposed to do. He’s nothing without his job. Mondstadt is his home. If he can’t defend it—no, if there’s nothing to defend it from, is he really needed anymore? He’s sacrificed everything for his city. And now there’s nothing else to give and nothing else for him to give to. How would he be able to…
He rubbed his head. His brain was going down a nasty path of thinking. It has been doing that a lot lately. Maybe that’s what had Jean worried. She fretted over him a lot when he seemed like he was in a bad place, maybe he needed a break after all. But he didn’t entirely disagree with the train of thought his mind had established. It kind of—
A twig snapped.
Kaeya’s eyes shot open, he hadn’t even noticed they’d closed in the first place. Rolling onto his knees, he surveyed the area, the wind suddenly rasping and grating against the surrounding oaks and pines. It whistled into his ears, speaking of danger as it whined and waned before disappearing into the air. He slowly rose from the ground, pushing the bag of wolf hooks closer to the base of the tree. Steady on his feet, he picked up the dull sword he had brought with him.
He left all his artifacts in Mondstadt and switched his regular sword for a dull one. It would work against regular hilichurls and samachurls easily, so taking one to wolvendom with him instead of his regular one wasn’t unprofessional. However, he heard no words. His native tongue was not heard once as the silence howled on. He stepped forward and out of the shade, noticing purple ashes flying in the air before they disappeared.
He felt as if he should remember what exactly that entailed. It was not foreign, yet he couldn’t recall exactly why it put him off. Before he could search through his brain for more details, a terrible sound came from behind him. It was not an animal, nor was it a hilichurl or any of its companions. The sound was shrieking yet quiet at the same time, like nails to a chalkboard as it drawled out. The sound brought all of his thoughts together as his mind helpfully supplied him with an answer, finally. He slowly turned around as he heard it again, closer this time. There was only a correct answer as his eyes met the creature and it let out—
A growl that came straight from the abyss.
As Diluc sat curled up on the Dawn Winery floor, he listened to the heavy rain pounding against the window that was just above him. That rain was generally quite the pleasing sound until today. Today, it was a reminder of what had happened, what he had seen, and most importantly, what he had done.
Adelinde made sure to keep her distance from the newly made adult, her hands clasped together in front of her as her bright green eyes watched Diluc with worry. But she didn't dare say a word, worried that he would burst into tears again, especially after he had just calmed them down.
But his moments of grief were beginning to come to a close as he began to become overwhelmed with anger, his gloved fingers digging into the sleeves of his coat, his body shaking as he tried to find someone to blame. Blaming himself was easy enough, so that was something he had been doing for awhile. He'd already been crying about it on the floor for awhile, mumbling his guilt to himself while Adelinde shooed all of the other maids away.
She seemed to want to give him privacy so much, but felt as if it was the wrong choice in the moment, not wanting Crepus's older son to do anything too stupid as he grieved.
But Crepus was gone, and Diluc had no clue what to do. He could go after the root cause of the man's death... but that would require trying to find someone or something to blame.
Saying "I was leading the carriage, and should have watched out more for father," was so easy, especially when he could have looked back to see what was in the package Crepus held before Ursa the Drake attacked-
Ursa the Drake. That's what led his father to use... whatever he had used. That was what he should be going after right now, right? Especially while the beast was weakened after Crepus's sacrifice. Diluc would hate for it to be in vain, after all. To just be the sole survivor of the incident, and not to anything to avenge those left behind.
So he began to sit up, and Adelinde seemed to perk up a little, worried and startled by Diluc finally getting up. But she also seemed quite satisfied that he was getting off of the floor, though shaky as he may be.
"Youn- Master Diluc, I'll go get you something to drink. Maybe some tea now that you're getting up? I can't let you get too dehydrated right now," she suggests, her foot slowly taking a step back. He doesn't say anything, or make any sort of gesture, but she takes the lack of refusal as her chance to go get him something.
It was as she walked out of view that there was a knock at the door, to which his bird, Blanc, looked over, head rising from the sleeping position it was in to see who was at the door. And with nobody else in sight or earshot of the door, Diluc trudged over to the door, no longer caring about how bad his appearance may be with the bloody clothes and such, and opened the door to see quite a familiar face, one that he was actually a little eager to see in hopes of making sure they were alright.
But they didn't look alright...
"Kaeya?"
Diluc was none other than a very busy man, especially today of all days. The tavern was in need of some more supplies, and Charles had been far too busy to go and grab some more. So Diluc had let the responsibility fall into his hands, especially since he had already made the plan to go to the city and help run Angel's Share today, take some work off of his long trusted bartender.
But having to run errands to grab things for the tavern meant that he was going to be spending a lot more time in the city today, grabbing things to bring to the store. And being out in the open more meant more interaction with people who he didn't know, but knew him, and wanted to get some sort of interaction with the richest man in Mondstadt. Though from what he had learned in his few daylight visits where he had to go around Mondstadt, it was generally some sort of confession, a request for a type of wine or other special at the tavern, or a knight coming to greet him.
Diluc honestly hated how the knights still tried to act all familiar with him, even though he abandoned them years ago. The weirdest thing about it would have to be that it was even newer people greeting him.
He just tied that in with the whole winery thing though, and seeing other knights try to talk to him.
Though someone can only go through so much with the knights before they begin to hate them as a whole, and Diluc felt like he had gone through plenty enough to rationalize his hatred for the Knights of Favonius. Especially since-
No. Grabbing things from Mondstadt was more important at the moment, not getting lost in thoughts that would upset him. He'd rather not lash out at Charles or anyone else at the tavern just because he wasn't keeping his train of thought under control. He'd get through Mondstadt perfectly fine today, and would be behind the bar at the tavern pouring drinks soon enough.
However... Kaeya was almost a guaranteed sight at the tavern every night, at least from Diluc's experience. Because whenever he was busy working at the tavern, Kaeya was there as well, drinking and drinking and drinking. Diluc would never understand what made the cavalry captain appreciate alcohol so much that he'd go out for it every night. Diluc couldn't even stand a sip.
It was as he was beginning to walk up the stairs towards the water fountain, keeping close to the flowerbeds, that he spotted said captain. His face immediately hardened into a glare out of habit, breaking away from the neutral expression he previously held in hopes that it would keep Kaeya away.
The knight was quick to turn away, walking off to do whatever it was that he was assigned to for the time being. So Diluc let his expression soften once more, relieved that he would get to prevent an earlier interaction than need be. He could hardly keep his emotions together around Kaeya, and that only continued to infuriate him. And Kaeya's constant teasing never helped the matter, despite how long Diluc has had to adjust to it.
So he was always in favor of ignoring Kaeya as much as possible, at least until it came to Kaeya directly talking to him, or going to grab a bottle of wine that was left on the bar and that Kaeya was trying to grab.
He really just wanted to see Kaeya slow down on the alcohol, or take some sort of break from the tavern. Because he's not getting information every time, and he isn't always there with Rosaria. Diluc has seen some days that he just sits there, getting one drink after the next.
With a soft shake of his head, Diluc pulled himself out of his thoughts, and made his way towards Blanche, who looked up with a smile as she saw him approaching.
"Master Diluc! Not often you come here. What can I get for you today," Blanche asks, her smile staying there, even when Diluc shows no sign of returning it. It's either that she's quite happy today, or she's always got that customer service smile anytime someone is purchasing from her shop.
Thinking back to his list, he takes a moment to recall what was needed, and then says "Milk, wheat, and salt."
"Alright, and how many of each?"
He lists the numbers that Adelinde had told him, and watched as Blanche grabbed everything requested, handing them to Diluc, still maintaining her smile. So Diluc gives her a small nod and "thank you" as he pays for the stuff, before he begins to walk off, going down the steps once more to go to Flora, where he was buying flowers to replace the wilting ones in both the winery and the tavern.
Adelinde had definitely been wanting a lot of replacement flowers, especially ever since the maid in charge of tending to the flowers decorating the winery needed to take a few day long sick leave. That wasn't really much of an issue until both Adelinde and Diluc realized they had forgotten to assign anyone else to the job... this was realized when the wilting had started.
But if he's getting a lot for the winery, then he might as well get a few more for the tavern, try to give it a little more life other than the drunkards who were generally talking about a lot of nonsense. Of course, due to the recent addition of non-alcoholic drinks, it wasn't completely filled with drunk people all the time anymore, but there were still plenty, considering how many people in the city drank alcohol.
Flowers would definitely be a nice addition in the window, even if it did end up being temporary. Just something nice to see while he works at the tavern, tend to until someone else comes walking up to the bar and makes another request.
"Ohh, that's a lot of flowers," Flora says upon seeing the list of flowers, and the amount of them. "I definitely need to get more of most of these, but I can go ahead and give you the few wolfhooks you have listed! Everything else... I don't have enough of in stock. Master Diluc, are you having a flower party or something? Cause this is a lot of flowers."
Now that he thought about it... there were a lot of plants decorating the winery. It was no wonder why they had someone specifically assigned to tending to the flowers and nothing else.
But at least he could get the wolfhooks in the tavern.
It was as he was getting ready to explain to the little girl about what the flowers were for that Kaeya had once more caught his attention, and he watched as Kaeya ran off onto the street just parallel to the one he was on. They both seemed to notice each other, but Kaeya had seemed to get to ignoring Diluc faster this time. So he just watched Kaeya run out from view, hoping that the cavalry captain wasn't overexerting himself too much. He didn't even know what Kaeya was busy with today, but he must be relatively busy if he's still running through Mondstadt.
While Diluc shopped, he continued to spot Kaeya, just as Kaeya did him. While Diluc would still glare at Kaeya to prevent interaction that he wasn't anywhere near prepared for, he did watch the knight walk off to yet another place in Mondstadt for awhile, trying to make sure that Kaeya wasn't too exhausted.
Well, not like there's much Diluc could do for it. But he was still concerned for his little br- for Kaeya.
It was a couple hours into noon that Diluc finally finished buying or at least making orders for everything he needed. And despite having a lot of things just sent to the winery, he was still holding a lot of things, especially things for the tavern.
Good thing it was pretty close.
"Master Diluc, good afternoon," Charles greets as Diluc walks in after passing Kaeya one more time outside. There had definitely been... a lot of Kaeya sightings today. More than usual. "You could have just asked for some help carrying all of that."
"It was only me who came to Mondstadt today, so there was nobody to assist. But this isn't too many things, and the tavern is still nearby," Diluc replies as he sets the things on the bar, and making sure to be especially gentle with the wolfhooks, which he had Flora place into pots that were pretty, yet plain enough to fit in with the tavern. He grabbed those, and put them in the window, turning back to the bar to watch as Charles started putting away the other things.
"You also could have requested they be sent here," Charles mutters.
"Like I said, the tavern is nearby," Diluc replies, helping the trusted bartender put away all of the new things. "Need any help cleaning something?"
"Not at the moment. The day groups don't tend to be too messy, so there isn't anything to pick up right now. I'd just wait for the night groups before we suggest cleaning."
"Exhaustion and alcohol really aren't the absolute best mix."
"But sadly, a lot of people only have free time at night, so they come here then." Diluc and Charles fall into a brief silence before the bartender says "Why don't you go back to the winery for now and relax? Come back tonight? You look like you could use some rest right now... or it could be the fact you almost always look tired."
"I'm not too tired. I only lost a few hours of sleep last night because of paperwork," Diluc replies, giving the man a half truth. He'd only lost an hour to paperwork, and the others because he finally stopped trying to fight through a nightmare, and finally woke up, starting to get a jump start on tasks from that day, and the paperwork.
"Well either way, do go ahead and take a break at the winery. By now, I know that you don't like the city too much. Just come back tonight, when we're actually really busy."
"Are you sure, Charles? You've been so busy lately, and I came here to try and help you relax a little."
"Well I enjoy my job, Master Diluc. It's not too much trouble to help the people of Mondstadt get their drinks."
Diluc gives Charles a soft nod before he turns towards the door, making his way out of the tavern as he bids Charles farewell, promising to see the man in a few hours.
He begins to make his way out of Mondstadt, hands stuffed into his pockets as he walks down the familiar path from the tavern to the gate. He'd gone this way far too often ever since he got back after running off, so it was a rather quick walk, especially compared to all the walking around from shop to shop earlier. There were definitely still things that needed to be done at the winery, though, so he continued to speed forward.
Diluc also knew that Adelinde would kill him if he didn't eat something before staying at the winery all night. He had already missed breakfast and his initial lunchtime, so the head maid would probably hand him either a small lunch and big dinner, or a big lunch and small dinner.
Though there was a higher chance that it was going to be a bigger dinner, since that's what she generally went all out on.
He doesn't know what he did to deserve Adelinde, especially after everything she's seen, every mistake he's made, and even going through years without him there, nobody in the winery except for the maids. In fact, he's quite surprised anyone was still there... though someone definitely did need to take care of the business, considering the wine industry was a huge part of the city's income.
Frequently, he suspects that it was Adelinde and Charles running it together, considering Charles is the main bartender at the Angel's Share, and Adelinde had always been quite close to the family, and could have learned things herself. But without someone officially in charge, there were a lot of big things he had to catch up on, and there weren't exactly new things they could start selling.
With the sheer amount of paperwork he had handed to him when he finally returned, he regretted two things: running off and then coming back. Adelinde had made sure to keep it from being too overwhelming, but she remained set on keeping him busy, catching up on three years of paperwork that couldn't be avoided.
He was lucky enough that many people were patient enough to let him have all of that time away from Mondstadt, and didn't have too many requests for Dawn Winery, knowing that there wasn't anyone there that could be recognized as in charge of the building.
But some paperwork was unavoidable. And it wasn't too bad, considering it kept Diluc from focusing on too many other things outside of the winery, other than the vigilante duties he took up to continue keeping Mondstadt safe, without putting himself under knight duties. They had all lost his trust anyway, and he hated seeing them around everywhere he went in the city. It was one of many reasons to be grateful that Dawn Winery was as far as it was from everything else.
The biggest downside was all of the hilichurl camps he had to avoid, and then fix later in the day if the Adventurer's Guild hadn't gotten there first.
Finally stepping foot on Dawn Winery's grounds, Diluc let his posture relax, taking his hands out of his pockets, and letting them swing by his side. He watched the few crystalflies that would show up in the day slowly fly around the grapes, landing on them every once in awhile before flying off.
Dawn Winery really was quite a peaceful place if you didn't have too many things to think about with the past here. Diluc has always done his best to not think of every last mistake he made here, especially his biggest one of all. But memories are hard to let go of when you're always in the same place they occurred in.
"Master Diluc, we were waiting on you to return," Adelinde says as she walks out of the winery. Blanc, the bird he's had for years, accompanied the head maid by gently holding onto the woman's arms, careful to keep her talons from digging into Adelinde's skin through the thin sleeves of her dress.
Blanc seemed excited to see him after being gone most of the day, and flew over to Diluc, pressing her head against his cheek for a moment before he lifted his arm up to let her fly off. And instead of soaring around the winery like she usually did, once she got to a certain height, she flew off.
Diluc knew she would return like she always does, but it did make him a little concerned that her usual afternoon flight return had changed. Maybe she just saw something really interesting, or something that she wanted to eat. Blanc is a bird, so it's something to be expected.
"We have lunch prepared for you," Adelinde tells Diluc as she walks up to him, a small smile on her face. But it does harden slightly as she says "I was expecting you to be back awhile ago, because I didn't think it took that long to run errands in Mondstadt, but you will be eating lunch and dinner no matter what today."
"It's been a long time since I've gone there to run errands or anything, Adelinde," Diluc starts to explain. "And I got caught up talking to people there as well. I can hardly go there without it, even at the tavern."
"Well you're not an every day sight, and you have quite the name to yourself. And ever since your disappearance and then return as the owner of Dawn Winery, you can't expect them to not be eager to talk to you. In fact, I'm sometimes surprised I don't see too many people running over here instead. Especially with all of the engagement proposal letters I find in the mail."
"I... don't want to talk about those."
"I know. Always so eager to be on your own. Some of the other maids are even surprised that they're still here, and you haven't taken to being the only person in the winery. But they are all quite grateful to still have a job here, that I can promise."
"I can't do everything on my own..."
"I'm glad you finally remember that after having me tell you countless times."
"Addie..."
"Master Diluc?"
Diluc lets out a long sigh before putting his hands in his coat's pockets once more, but only after adjusting the slipping glove on his right hand. "I'm working on it..."
"I know. Now, let's get you inside to eat. You don't look too well with the lack of food you've had so far today."
And so they walk inside, a small meal already prepared at the table, a glass of grape juice next to the plate of food. Adelinde took a moment to make sure he was going to eat, waiting until he had taken his first bite of food before walking off, saying that she was going to clean the mess in the kitchen.
She never made a mess in the kitchen. And if she did, it was cleaned right away. Diluc knew that she was just giving him space to himself.
He wasn't too far into eating his lunch when Blanc was clawing at the window, making Diluc cringe at the noise. However, he was quick to get up, unlatching and then opening the window to let Blanc in.
Blanc never got so eager to come inside like this, so there must have been something outside that spooked her. At least, that was the conclusion he was going to come to.
And then she latched her talons onto his coat, and quickly tried pulling him away, tugging at his arm.
"Blanc, I've got lunch to eat. We can check whatever it is out later. I don't want Addie to go for my throat later today because I didn't finish an already delayed lunch." In response, Blanc practically screeched as she tried to pull harder, her talons starting to dig small holes into his coat as she flapped her wings. She was desperate to bring Diluc with her, more desperate than she had ever been before.
With one last pull, Diluc decides to hop out the window, only after reaching for his nearby claymore, and then letting Blanc lead the way as she finally lets go, soaring up into the sky once more for Diluc to follow.
He could deal with Adelinde's lecture later.
Following Blanc through the forest, he finally starts to hear why the bird was so desperate to bring him here. There was a lot of growling, and the sound of a person trying to fend for themselves. It was awfully close to the winery, so he could tell why Blanc had brought him of all people out here.
He held his claymore tighter in his right hand, the tip just barely not touching the ground as he quietly, but quickly made his way to where he heard all of the noises. It was as he got to see through all of the trees that there was someone struggling to fight against rifthounds.
Kaeya was struggling to fight against rifthounds, and it didn't seem to be going in his favor at all.
He should have expected Blanc to lead him to wherever it was that Kaeya was struggling.