Chapter Text
"Dragonspine?" Kaeya repeats. "Did I hear that right?"
The Traveler nods, their mouth and eyes set with something between determination and a grimace. Having known them for a grand total of three months, Kaeya knows to take this at face value - they have, unerringly, involved themself in someone else's problems once again.
He eyes the bandages wound tightly over both their upper arms with polite interest.
"Will you come with us?" they ask, hopefully. "We could really use your help."
The Angel's Share is quiet tonight. All the regulars are tucked into their corners with their poison of choice, content to be left to their own devices. Kaeya himself hadn't arrived early enough to have started drinking yet - courtesy of a week's backlog of paperwork, courtesy of the previous week of overtime fieldwork. He drums an idle finger against the bar counter, drawing a sidelong glance from Charles, the bartender.
"It's bad manners to leave out what you're asking for before someone agrees to it," he says in lieu of an answer, smiling with his visible eye.
"Oh." The Traveler blinks. "You're right."
Paimon squirms. "We're not hiding anything, we just haven't told you yet! And that's real funny coming from you, Kaeya."
It's only the truth, and not even a secret at that, so Kaeya shrugs. "My point stands. But unfortunately for me, you've caught me at a very good time for a chat." He gestures to the nearest barstool. "Why don't you catch me up? It's been awhile."
The Traveler drops into the seat, minding one of their shoulders. They keep their hands resting in their lap. "Has it? It's only been two weeks."
"Practically an eternity without the legendary Traveler," Kaeya exclaims. For this bald attempt at humor he is rewarded with an exasperated huff. It takes the tension out of the Traveler's spine.
"Not you too. Sucrose said the same thing."
"Alright, let Paimon explain the story now!" Paimon interrupts, leaning forward with eager eyes.
Kaeya makes himself comfortable; of her many talents, narration is by far her finest. Long-windedness is simply the unfortunate consequence that maintains the cosmic balance.
"Before we left Mondstadt two weeks ago, we got a commission from the Adventurer's guild about Dragonspine. We'd never been there before, so we went to check it out! But once we got there, we realized that it might actually be faster to reach Liyue Harbor from Mondstadt if we went all the way through Dragonspine instead of Springvale. Plus, we wouldn't have to backtrack."
"Hmm." It's not a bad route - at least on paper. In reality... well, in reality, the Traveler has faced worse. "I take it you passed through the Adventurer Camp, then."
"Right, we did!" Paimon nods. "And then, right at the edge of the snow, we met this kid named Joel. He said he was waiting for his dad so they could see the snow together. But he also said his dad went up the mountain awhile ago... and that he hadn't come back down yet."
Kaeya raises his eyebrows.
"Oh?" he says. As if he hasn't been, for some weeks now, snapping up every scrap of intel in his web that came out of that godforsaken mountain.
"From the sound of it, he was trying to reach the summit," the Traveler adds.
"Yeah, a super tough feat! Both of us thought, well, we might as well look for clues on the way up, right? Two birds with one stone." Here Paimon pauses, tilting her head to the side. "We didn't find the adventurer yet, but we did find lots of clues. Oh, and we met Albedo! Did you know he has a whole lab on the mountain? It's like he practically lives there. He didn't know anything about the missing adventurer though."
Of course he wouldn't. The Chief Alchemist is reliably unconcerned about investigating questions that have utterly predictable outcomes.
"That's quite a ways in," Kaeya remarks, appearing suitably impressed. He is if nothing else learned in the qualities of a good audience. But the more important thing: "You turned around, though. Why?"
The Traveler kicks their foot. "There was a snowstorm. We... got lost."
Kaeya's finger drums against the bar counter. "I see."
A month ago, a request from the Adventurer's Guild had been among the Acting Grand Master's paperwork. The Adventurer that'd submitted it had wanted a map of Dragonspine, having heard that the Knights had recently established an outpost there.
Jean had been impressed, by the letter and the route that was proposed in painstaking detail, and later it had fallen to Kaeya to procure the requested item upon approval of its release. As Quartermaster of the Knights of Favonius he had sent along just that, and an additional investment in the form of warming bottles and water-resistant firestarters. Invaluable in the cold - though nothing that could save a man from a snowstorm.
Missing persons reports were always hell to follow up on. This was true of anywhere, let alone a place so hostile to the concept of habitability. Every new search mounted in pursuit of the first case was liable to snowball into even more cases. The Captain of the Reconnaissance Company - that Lawrence girl, Eula - had all but sworn a litany of vengeances on Kaeya the last time he'd followed up about it.
"Underestimated the weather a little, did we?" Kaeya jokes, lightly.
Paimon and the Traveler share a look. "You know, we really gotta get you a coat or something," says the smaller of the two.
"I guess so." But the Traveler frowns, shifting in their seat.
The tavern door opens.
"Master Diluc," exclaims Charles.
They all look up, though there's no need; it would be impossible to mistake the man that steps inside for anyone else. Diluc pulls his attention away from the bottle of sparkling wine in his hands, acknowledging Charles with an absent nod - then takes one look at Kaeya and stops on the threshold, frowning.
Kaeya glances at the floor. "You're letting in the rain."
"Master Diluc!" If nothing else, Paimon and the Traveler are happy to see him. It happens that this is just enough to convince Diluc to let the door close behind him instead of walking through it again.
"Back in Mondstadt already?" he asks, capitulating to the warm, dry indoors. "If you're staying, you might as well order something to drink."
"Well," says Kaeya.
"Not you."
"Is that any way to treat a regular customer?" he snorts. "Honestly. Where's your sense of propriety?"
"Propriety? As if you can claim to have any." Diluc moves past Charles to survey the accruement of liquors behind the bar, looking for a place to set the bottle. Failing that, he deposits it temporarily on the back counter. He disappears a moment into the backroom; when he returns, his hair is significantly less windswept. "I'll be taking over for tonight, Charles. You have the rest of the evening off."
"Of course, Sir," says Charles, wisely excusing himself from the premises. "Good night, Captain Kaeya, Honorary Knight."
"See you, Charles."
"Good night, Charles."
"Hey, don't ignore Paimon!"
Diluc sighs, and crosses his arms. "Well?" he asks the Traveler. "Juice or cider?" He pauses just long enough to hear their request, resolutely ignoring Kaeya, and then stalks away to assemble the order as if he has other customers to attend to.
"Anyway," Paimon continues, whirling in place with an air of impatience. "We're planning to go back as soon as we can. With backup this time! The longer we wait, the harder it'll be to track down that adventurer."
"I know we'll find them. We're so close. We just have to go a little further," the Traveler says. Paimon takes a breath, as if to say something about that, but in an uncharacteristic display of restraint only sighs. The Traveler looks up at her like they'd been expecting it. "If anything, we can at least tell Joel what happened to his dad," they say, a touch subdued. "It would be better than nothing."
Wordlessly, Kaeya looks between them.
Behind the bar, there's a delicate clatter of movement as Diluc returns with three separate glasses, ice cubes tumbling inside. He throws the contents of a shaker into one of them and deposits it just within Kaeya's reach.
Libations finally in hand. Kaeya feels himself relax. "Cheers."
"No refills," Diluc deadpans, topping the other two glasses with apple cider, apple slices, and mint. He places these right in front of the Traveler, as if he were a perfectly reasonable person and not a vessel of outrageous pettiness in human form. "You still haven't paid off your tab."
Kaeya scoffs. "The Cat's Tail is just down the alley."
"The Cat's Tail doesn't open tabs." Without looking up, Diluc sweeps away the empty shaker, leftover garnish, and the now opened bottle of sparkling wine. "And didn't you hear? All of Dawn Winery's harvests are at risk this season. Bad weather for grapes."
Kaeya toasts him with malevolence, then throws back most of the cocktail in one go. "So, Dragonspine," he says to the Traveler. "I understand now what you've been up to."
"Oh, good," says Paimon, drifting toward the apple cider.
"We wanted your help because you're good in the cold," the Traveler explains. "Doesn't having a cryo Vision make it easier to put up with? Since you can manipulate ice?"
"Where in Teyvat did you get that idea?" Kaeya asks, after a moment of bizarre, mutual silence.
Confusion washes across the Traveler's face. "It doesn't?"
"Oh, Archons, no. And for what it's worth, I'm not a fan of the snow."
There - a blink. Hesitation. Searching. "...Really?"
Kaeya can't help it - he laughs. Not entirely unkindly, to his credit. "In any case, while I'm flattered you think I'm up to the task," he goes on, shaking his head - but Paimon sputters before he can respectfully decline the opportunity to be buried alive on the side of a cursed mountain.
"Wait-- but-- Huh? Are you just messing with us again?" she demands, shrill enough to pull the attention of the rest of the tavern, as well as Diluc's from all the way in the backroom. His feet turn the corner just as the Traveler shushes her with a wince, signaling desperately for her to lower her voice.
Paimon covers her mouth for all of one second before she balls her hands up into plaintive fists. She whisper-yells, "We really need your help, Kaeya! This is serious! A person has gone missing! Can't you come with us just once?"
"Captain of the Knights I may be, but running around in a blizzard? Sorry, but that's a little out of my job description. And, to be perfectly upfront, I've got no time the rest of this week." Kaeya drops his chin onto the knuckles of his free hand. It's cute if nothing else, the faith they place in him. It invites correcting. "Besides, if the snow and ice made you turn back once already, what good is bringing me along? Wouldn't you be better off recruiting somebody with, I don't know," he gestures vaguely, "a warmer disposition?"
Diluc - in the middle of polishing a wineglass - goes still. He turns from the counter and begins putting the glassware away.
"Eh?" Paimon scratches her head. "Warmer? Like, nicer?"
"Like someone with a pyro vision," interprets the Traveler, meeting Kaeya's eyes over the rim of their apple cider. With some hesitation - because they are truly too sensible for their own good - they turn and join Kaeya in staring at the back of Diluc's head.
Paimon gasps loudly. "You mean like Master Diluc?"
The mentioned looks up at his name a beat too late, hand tensed around the dish towel. There is a carefully restrained frisson of irritation in the line of his jaw.
Kaeya smirks. "Say, bartender, how do you feel about a little hike up the side of Dragonspine?"
"Don't," Diluc threatens, "make this my business."
"Is that a no?" Kaeya shrugs. "Oh well. I suppose there's always Amber if she's available. Or, hmm. Bennett, perhaps? Nothing like a little first-hand experience in survival skills. Do let me know if you need any supplies," he adds, abruptly serious. "The Knights have a stock that's meant for Albedo's field lab, but I'm sure he won't mind if I let you borrow a few things."
"A coat! Two winter coats!" Paimon requests immediately.
Easy. "Consider it done."
It is a little known fact outside of Mondstadt that the truest sign of Diluc's anger is when he is silent. His silence, now, has the texture of undiluted rage.
"Master Diluc, Master Diluc! Come with us to Dragonspine!" Paimon soldiers forward, unseeing - or perhaps unhearing. "We could really use your help! Ahh, and don't worry, we can explain what we need help with--"
"Only if Captain Alberich joins us," says Diluc, staring Kaeya down. "After all, I'd be going at his recommendation."
"A pity," says Kaeya, staring right back, "but I'm afraid my continued employment as a Knight prevents me."
Locked in the stalemate, he watches as Diluc's rage transforms into a fury that could evaporate stone, and smiles.
The Traveler hesitates again - but again, not long enough. There is the matter of a missing person, and also the matter of their arms, which are bandaged to an extent that neither Kaeya nor Diluc have seen before. Neither of them say anything about it, and neither does the Traveler. What the Traveler says instead is this: "You can decide after we explain," in a careful, neutral tone. "So you know what we're asking. Like Kaeya did."
They mean well. They're not Kaeya. These facts are the final nail in the coffin, leaving Diluc no option but to smother his rage back down to coals. He exhales as if to expel cinders.
The rest of the building seems to breathe.
"...Tell me when you're planning to go," Diluc says, releasing the towel. He puts out his hand for Paimon's empty glass. To Kaeya, his eyes promise retribution, but willingly look away for now. "And who's gone missing where, exactly?"
Kaeya finishes the rest of his drink, pays his tab, and exits the tavern.