Chapter Text
“Is she almost ready?”
Unsatisfied by the lack of response from Sucrose, Mika had turned to ask her superior, the chief alchemist of Mondstadt. Albedo looked down at the girl, a seemingly unending determination in her eyes as she continued to pack things she was certain would not be necessary, small trinkets and outdated scientific papers, expertly avoiding placing her last few items of importance into the overstuffed bag.
Among these items was her letter from the Akademiya, an ornately decorated sheet scribed by the Acting Grand Sage himself. It was the reason why Sucrose’s bags were packed to the degree that they were; an offer for Sucrose to take her biology expertise to Sumeru for an extended period to study some of the new plants that had arisen since the cleansing of Irminsul.
Normally, Sucrose would have no desire to do this. Going to Sumeru for brief periods was common for her, however she would have never dreamed of actually moving there. Albedo, however, was insistent she took up the offer.
“Oh- So you don’t want me around anymore?”
“Oh, no no.” Albedo rested his hand on her shoulder. “I would be honoured if my assistant would get such a prestigious position at the Akademiya”
“Well, are you?”
Sucrose caught herself staring at the letter again as Albedo’s words broke her out of her trance.
“Oh- Uh- Yeah! Don’t worry, I’ll be out in a second!”
The air in her throat felt heavier as Albedo’s voice punctuated the letter, her apprehensions about the whole ordeal coming back in full force as the significance she had forgotten reared itself once more.
It would mean leaving behind Mondstadt, her home, her friends… and Albedo.
Shaking her head as if to rid herself of those thoughts, holding back any semblance of a tear, she placed her documents neatly on top of the mangled mess she somehow managed to stuff into the large bag the Knights had given to her. Finally pulling the bag shut, Sucrose stared at her hands that uncomfortably rested on the worn blue fabric silently, feeling the fragment of a tear become a whole.
As the droplet fell to her hands, she did not feel a thing. Cold hands, pure of imperfection wrapped themselves around hers, stifling the formation of any further tears.
"It's alright, Sucrose, I'm sure they'll love you."
Sucrose managed to bring herself to a joyless smile as she showed her dishevelled face to her mentor. Wiping off the soft stain of her tear, Albedo forged a sweet smile. “Let’s go then, shall we?”
She nodded, and silently corrected Albedo, "Yeah, that's not quite it."
-⊙-
The tranquil darkness that blanketed the road north of Mondstadt was disrupted by a cart of lanterns and noise. The expedition team, which was abnormally large for Sucrose's likings, found themselves amidst lighthearted conversation, catching up and discussing plans for the future, which Sucrose wished she could participate in.
Words were being formed in her brain, but the green haired girl couldn’t bring her mouth to say anything to her companions. Albedo’s attempts at starting a conversation with her were met quickly by thoughtless affirmations or exclamations, and she didn’t dare interact with the constant wave of noise that came from Lisa’s group.
Instead, all of her thoughts were focused on simulating every possible thing that could happen from boarding the boat until her inevitable death. What if the boat got lost at sea? What if Tighnari forgot to pick her up? What if the Akademiya hated her work, and sent her back to Mondstadt?
She always did this, thinking of every possibility before something even happens. It was something the knights looked at positively, as a sign of her dedication to science and the understanding of nature itself. She was well aware, however, that this was not its true intention.
When they had first left the city, Sucrose was acutely aware of every step the new, untrained horses made. She had kept track of the few trees that could be illuminated by either their cart or the dim light of the native lamp grasses, trying to rack her brain for any memory of the near-identical trees.
Though, as she thought more about the situations running through her mind, she found herself unknowingly concentrating more on the blond figure in front of her. Slowly, the situations running through her mind were uniformly focused on Albedo. How would we say goodbye? What if we never saw each other again?
“Sucrose!" The myriad of anxious thoughts was cut off by Mika’s sharp voice, "Are you even listening?”
Feeling the arrows cast from the many eyes turned towards her, red colour flushed her face and her gaze focused on the expedition leader.
“N-No I was not, I’m sorry…”
Mika flicked back through his book and sighed, “That’s fine,” Mika was evidently upset at Sucrose’s unprofessionalism, though continued on regardless. “We’ve arrived in Dornman, those of you going to Sumeru should say your goodbyes now, we don’t want to keep the Crux waiting any longer than we have already.”
The weight of her thoughts fell on her as if snapped by a rope. All of Sucrose’s muscles tensed as her gaze met with Albedo’s, trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t cause Mika to become more agitated than he already was. Somehow, all of the situations she had thought of had not prepared her for the terminality of this moment.
"Mister Albedo I-"
Her master interrupted, "It's going to be okay. I'll remember to write to you, and you're always welcome back."
Albedo's effortlessly endearing smile helped ease Sucrose, although it only slightly eased the pain in her heart. Not knowing the words to say, she found herself moving closer, wrapping her arms around Albedo's chest, to which he shyly returned the gesture.
"You're okay," Albedo whispered softly into her ear, "I'll send you a letter as soon as I get back, okay?"
Sucrose rested herself on her master in Silence for a moment, before bringing her muscles to nod.
“Okay,” Sucrose finally brought herself to mutter, earning her a light rub from Albedo’s cold hands.
The two stayed there for a short moment too long, and the ever agitated Mika finally brought upon his courage to stop them. Gently lowering his palm on Sucrose’s shoulder, she pushed herself away, almost leaping from the shock that reality still existed. Albedo’s shock was short lived as he threw together a flawless smile.
“See you soon.”
-⊙-
Great, yet another plan ruined.
The overwhelming force of anxiety enveloping her, combined with the irrational heaving of the boat did little to ease Sucrose’s precarious state of mind. The knights had known her to be uneasy on boats, and so more than ordered Beidou to give her a private room, of which the alchemist was more than ecstatic to learn of. Being in it, however, was not the lavish experience she had expected it to be.
The barely together walls hardly made an attempt to block out the hearty laughs of sailors and constant sounds of moving cargo from all around the room, and the complex rotation of the vessel made it incapable for her to focus on anything other than not throwing up.
The small ‘table’, constructed of two empty crates placed next to each other, had been lined with hardly scientific equipment, mostly mugs and other containers from the ship's hold each containing a different sample of flower. The experiments she had envisioned doing while on the trip. However, over the course of the first few hours at sea, it had all come undone, her ‘equipment’, some of which formerly being glassware, all over the recently cleaned floor and flowers messily strewn across the crates.
Unaware of the mess that she had unknowingly made, the quivering mass underneath layers of sheets had rolled herself up, hands digging into her unkempt green hair as she struggled to cope with her thoughts and ill-feelings. Almost 3 days had passed since she had said goodbye to Albedo, and although her sea-sickness had helped to distract her from thinking about him, the few moments of lucidity allowed her mind to focus on the drenching feeling that her anxiety beget her.
The only times she was able to bring herself from her cocoon was when a crewmember, most often Kazuha, cautiously stepped through the minefield that was Sucrose's room to deliver her food and check up on her, of which only one person cut themselves. Surprising herself, Sucrose was able to bring herself to finish every meal prepared for her, and even managed to make some conversation with Kazuha.
“You sure you're fine?”
Sucrose, eyes hardly open and arms hugging her stomach, managed to speak softly, “Y-yeah, promise”
Kazuha rested his arms at the base of Sucrose's bed, “Listen, I can stay here and keep you company if you need me.”
Tightening the grip on her sheets, Sucrose groggily shook her head, “I'm fine, mister Kaedehara…”
“Hm,” Kazuha, having nothing better to do, continued to stand over Sucrose for a couple silent minutes, punctuated though by groans from the green haired girl. “How about we go outside for a bit then?”
-⊙-
Through no small part of Kazuha's insistence on her getting out, Sucrose had mostly adjusted to staying on the Alcor, and she had learned to stop thinking of Albedo as much as she had at first. However, this newfound ability came a little late into the journey as they became surrounded by Sumeru ships, and were greeted into the hustling and bustling Port Ormos.
The formerly exhausted and thoroughly undone Sucrose let out a sigh of utter relief as she leaned over the bow of the ship. Her feet rubbed against the deck of the ship, impatiently waiting as the natural gate to Sumeru took up more of her vision. Who was once only known to the crew as the weird girl they were obligated to bring slowly animated herself, springing her ankles to the rocking of the boat, and squinting to try and make sense of the shapes amidst the harbour.
Unfocused on the ship now, hardly even registering the movement that once debilitated her, Sucrose was shocked to feel a hand firmly pat her back.
“Hated our company that much. Kid?” Sucrose turned and was greeted by the ever hearty and enigmatic face of Captain Beidou, someone who she was surprisingly unacquainted with. "You stay cooped up, as far away from the crew as possible, and then as soon as you see your destination you're out here jumping in joy."
"O-oh I uh," as if Beidou had dropped a weight on her shoulders, Sucrose slumped, trying to think of a response.
The two silently stood, the humid air of the Sumeru Coast resting and becoming dense over their faces. Beidou, realising that Sucrose was unable to respond comfortably let out a tender laugh and patted her shoulder again, “Only joking kid! Just come and talk more next time, promise?”
Sucrose took a moment to respond, “Promise"
Her unawareness of the surrounding port was broken as she heard a familiar voice call loudly from the nearby pier, "Sucrose!"
Breaking her awkward contact with Beidou, Sucrose turned to face the voice. "Collei!"
Panning her head across the side of the ship, she quickly identified the recently deployed gangplank and ran to it at a speed that would normally have been deemed as unsafe.
Casting nary but a glance at the nearby Tighnari, Sucrose ran up, almost tripping, to Collei, "It's so good to see you!"
Collei had to take a step back as her friend almost stumbled into her, "You too! Oh right,” Collei pulled out a small bundle from behind her back, shakily presenting it to Sucrose, “You said you wanted some Rishboland Tiger bone samples in one of your letters,” She seems to deflate slightly, “Oh but you probably won’t need them from me now that you’re…”
Sucrose quickly waves her hands in front of her own face as she noticed Collei’s pause, “N-no, no it’s fine,” she grabbed the wrapped bone from Collei’s slightly closed hands, “It’s not easy to get things like this.”
“Surely the Akademiya could get better ones for you though?”
“Not if I’m not studying them,” Sucrose lifted the bone up to the sun, “And… this one is really good actually!”
Collei was taken aback for a moment, then opened her mouth to speak, though Tighnari’s lips beat her to it, “I had helped her pick it out, I’m relieved you’ll find some use for it.”
Not being consciously aware of his presence before, Sucrose found herself lost in the suddenly different situation. Her head snapped to look at Tighnari, “O-Oh, Tighnari sir, thank you…”
Sucrose had interacted with Tighnari a couple times a few years ago when he visited Mondstadt, though this time it felt different. Something about the situation warranted her to act extremely professional, which helped bring back her earlier apprehensions.
Tighnari did not let himself leave Sucrose unnoticed, “Oh, I’m sorry, you’re probably quite tired. Do you want to go get something to eat before we leave?”
- Ƹ♢Ʒ -
Dear Sucrose,
I hope your journey to Sumeru went safe and swift, and this letter ends up reaching you in due time. I know you were stressed when you left, hopefully you’re feeling better now?
I know Timaeus had already been missing you, and it's hardly been two days. That’s not to say he’s strange for that, you really were a big help while you were here. And I trust you will show the Akademiya and Tighnari the same degree of competency.
When you do get around to publishing papers (If you do, that is) please send them to me, I’d love to see how my apprentice is doing.
Hope to see you soon,
Yours Truly, Albedo♢
It was inevitable letters were going to be slow between Mondstadt and Sumeru, but Sucrose was still a bit upset that she had only received one letter back from Albedo in the couple months she’d been in Sumeru.
Almost as soon as she arrived in Sumeru City, she was greeted by Naphis, the Sage of the Darshan Sucrose was working under, who immediately dumped a task on her. With very little help from the Darshan, she was to write a lengthy report on the changes in the blooming cycles of Nilotpala Lotuses, and manufacture a solution to reverse the effects it was having on the ecosystem.
Despite never being tasked with something like this alone, Sucrose was not unfamiliar with working at length alone. She would work tirelessly to complete as much of a project as possible, often removing the need for other alchemists entirely.
Sleeplessly, she shifted the poorly handwritten report to read over Albedo’s letter again.
When you get around to publishing papers, please send them to me.
Despite her pride in being able to write a paper of this length and depth alone, despite her invaluable contributions to Sumeru horticulture, something about letting Albedo see it felt off. Her handwriting, her methodology, her frequent use of non-scientific words and definitions. No, he shouldn’t see this. She could do better.
Tighnari was strongly in favour of her sending it to him, getting to the point where he was tempted to send it off in a letter by himself. Collei was slightly more understanding, but even she came to the point that Sucrose should send it.
Thiophene.
That was the name Sucrose wrote as the author.
Everyone’s complaints had done little but strengthen Surcrose’s resolution that she should not send it to Albedo, not even let him know she wrote it if he somehow managed to find it.
Any final objections made by Tighnari or the few Amruta scholars who had interacted with Sucrose fell upon deaf ears as she finally submitted her wealth of notes along with her messily formatted and written paper.
-⊙-
Collei sighed as she placed a stack of envelopes in Sucrose’s unexpecting arms, “You think you could take your expertise into improving Gandharva Ville’s postage system?”
“If only,” is what Sucrose would have said had she not been infatuated by the shocking volume of mail addressed to both her and Thiophene. Before she could create words to say, Collei had ran away to deliver more of the long overdue mail.
Most of the mail she could recognise immediately. Internal letters from the Akademiya, multiple stamped with the large word “CLASSIFIED” written on them, something that Sucrose had still not gotten used to being allowed to open. Multiple bearing the familiar Knights of Favonious mark too, likely all from her friends checking up on her.
Opening only those, she scoured for Albedo’s, which she quickly found.
Dear Sucrose,
Glad to hear you arrived safely, albeit a little late. It seems that Sumeru’s postal system is working just as I remembered.
That’s a shame to hear about the boat ride, glad to know that Kazuha helped you out though.
It’s a relief to hear the Akademiya is happy to have you around, I’m sure they’ll be even happier when you show them what you’re truly capable of doing.
And don’t worry about us back at Ordo, we’re learning to cope not having the wonderful Sucrose help us not do our work. Though, sending some samples would be nice, I’ll get back to you on that.
Also, don’t worry about your letters being too long, I would read an encyclopaedia if you were to write one.
Yours Truly, Albedo♢
Sucrose was accustomed to Albedo’s concise way of writing, though the brevity of the letter was a little disappointing, especially after how long it took. Though, Sucrose’s disappointment was short lived as she remembered another letter she was sent. From Mondstadt, addressed to Thiophene.
Dear Thiophene.
I am an alchemist from Mondstadt, working under the Knights of Favonius. I was unaware that such a competent alchemist was among the Akademiya, especially under the Amurta wing.
Your recent report on the ‘Nilotpala Lotus’ was very well written, and touches on some of the topics which I am currently working on. Recently, our best bio-alchemist left to work in the Akademiya actually, which has left me to work on many of the things she was best at.
What I’m trying to say is, I would like to collaborate with you some time when you have the chance. Teach me a bit about bio-alchemy and I can, well, give you some of our information?
Get back to me as soon as possible,
Yours Truly,
Albedo Kreideprinz