Chapter Text
Day 3
Letters came and went. Demetrios had various correspondents whom he’d gathered during the past years. But not all of them had remained constant. There were people that he never contacted again – like his own mother – after he moved to the next nation. There were people who sent him letters but he never answered to them – like one teacher from Fontaine. There were people whom Demetrios would like to contact but never sent to first letter to start the correspondence – like everyone from the Akademiya bar the Vahumana Sage.
That made the letter Demetrios did receive and answer to all the more precious.
Even if some were a bit baffling.
“So… the Phoenix and Dragon chopstick incident happened… right now…” Demetrios sighed deep and laid the letter he’d gotten from Childe on his desk. While one hand went up for a facepalm, the other remained in his lap to pet Longli. “I don’t know if I should laugh or despair over those two. Especially given how Sasha’s obliviousness shines through this letter.”
Well, there was one way to remedy the situation without being present for the fallout. Now, where was Demetrios’ reference book on Liyuean symbolism?
Ten minutes later a reply was written and put on the outgoing mailbox of the Headquarters. It was for communal use for ordinary knights to use to keep in contact with their families. Snailmail in the other words, to be collected daily and delivered to the post office by whomever happened to be on mail duty that week. Anything more official correspondence that required near instant response was usually sent by hawks or other similar trainable native birds, or by courier to deliver by hand. Telegrams did not exist yet but Demetrios had no doubt someone in Fontaine would eventually develop them at some point.
“Symbolism and Traditions of Liyue, edition IX. Page 52, passage 6.
Ask your xiansheng if he meant them professionally or personally.”
There were books spread across the strip of lawn between the Headquarters and the low stonewall that circled the city. It was a place where no bystanders stumbled upon and thus perfect place to sun the books rescued from the burnt carriage. Early morning sun shone nicely upon them while Lisa drank iced tea nearby under the guise of supervising. Amber and Collei shuffled around, carrying some material out and occasionally turning the pages of the books so all of them could get sun.
“Disinfection through UV radiation?” Demetrios mused.
“Oh, Demetrios!” Lisa waved. “Good morning! Would you like to join my army of little helpers?”
“They seem to have everything well at hand. I’ll join you when it is time to actually read through everything.”
“That would be great. Given the recent events, we really do need all hands on the deck.” The librarian sighed. Demetrios tried not to feel guilty.
“Albedo and Eula are at the collapsed cliff then?” Albedo was at the same time the best and worst choice for investigating. Because while he was the likeliest to possibly recognize Klee’s explosives, he was also the safest bet to keep it out of his report.
“Yes, I heard our Chief Alchemist headed there directly from Dragonspine due the close proximity of the location. Jean has promised to help me with these already while our Cavalry Captain…”
“Kaeya snuck off to who knows where even though we were meant to investigate together!” Amber interjected. “He said he had an idea where to investigate but at least to me he didn’t say anything.”
“Precisely.”
“Ah… Sounds very on par to him.” Demetrios mused. “Well, don’t let me distract you from your sunning. I’ll be back for the research efforts later on.”
“And I’ll be expecting you.” The gaze Lisa gave him, told Demetrios that there would be… electrifying consequences if he decided to skip on investigation efforts. Well, even without the threat there was no way Demetrios would miss taking a look on the Fatui papers. Who knew what sort of material they had written down.
Demetrios spent the day compiling his research notes and babysitting Klee within the Headquarters. With all of the girls regular watchers busy and the situation within the city being what it was, in the end Demetrios was the only one available for the task.
The irony was strong.
Night 3
The books were carried back inside once the sun turned away from the lawn that’d been used for the books. Lisa, Jean, Amber and Collei all gathered in the Library, with Demetrios bringing the rear once he had managed to settle Klee for the night. The quintet – or rather quartet since Collei lurked in the shadows of the bookshelves – began shuffling through the papers according to the system Lisa had already categorized them. Jean was questioning Amber of her investigation progress and elaborating on the seriousness of the situation.
“Two diplomats were killed in our lands. We still have no idea who did this nor why. The Rulers of Mondstadt fear that the Fatui will use this as a pretext to push their agenda. We owe them a good explanation of what exactly happened.” The Acting Grandmaster stated. “Most importantly, I won’t let this happen in Mondstadt again. I can’t let this get any worse on my watch. I will help you whenever I can. Let’s start by sharing intel that we have gathered.”
“Sharing intel?!” Amber exclaimed. Demetrios hid his smile behind a paper he’d been reading. A annotation of levels of leyline energy in certain area. The topography map seemed to describe a location in Sumerian desert. Besides… What rulers of Mondstadt did Jean mean? There was no official rule. Nobles held no power. Archon was asleep still. Maybe she meant herself and the Senechal since Varka was gone right now. Or maybe nobles were indeed giving pressure to the Knights to get something done. At the very least the Lawrence liked to cause trouble whenever possible and some members of it had no troubles with collaborating with the Fatui…
“I’ll summarize what we’ve collected thus far. Regarding the serpent of black fire that appeared at the crime scene… Witness accounts of local residents revealed that most actually saw the black fire taking the form of a dark serpent. Some even described a strange smell. It was not an elemental power we know of.” Jean explained and picked one of the reports to read from. “’Elements are neutral, but this black fire is most nefarious, devouring life like an avaricious monster. This fire reached for the guards like a python in order to consume them like it did with the victims inside the carriage…’”
“Definitely no normal fire. It didn’t react to my cryo, I used to shield the guards. Nor was it swirled away by Jean’s anemo.” Demetrios frowned when Jean gave the report for Amber to read.
“Nefarious? Avaricious? Devouring? Consume? This is written with some really weird words.” The Outrider blinked.
“Don’t like my word choices?” Lisa asked with dangerous smile. Amber fell silent and mentally backed off. Demetrios chuckled.
“It means ‘the black fire was of ill intent, eating life like a greedy monster.’ Using simpler words takes a bit oomph from the statement however.” The young scholar shrugged. Lisa sighed next to him and gestured at the books stacked on the table.
“The black fire seemed to have a great hunger for anything living. Within a matter of minutes, the unfortunate victims were completely ravaged by the black fire and reduced to charred remains. Though this back flame gorged on living flesh like a beast, it took its time with the carriage, books and papers. Look they are still largely intact.”
“Which benefits us, not only to figure out why and how something happened to them, but also to get some… insight to the Fatui dealings.” Demetrios pointed out.
“Indeed. We should go through them before the Fatui return to claim their property.” Jean agreed. “I do have a question for the Outrider Amber… Did Sir Kaeya find something?”
The gliding champion chuckled nervously.
“Ah, well… He told me that he had a few ideas of his own, then he just ran off to do his own stuff…” She tactfully did not say that she’d basically been idling without any clue as to what to do but it was very much implied that her commanding officer had left her without follow-up orders. Amber was a gifted as an Outrider. But she was also young and very much did not have experience when it came to investigation work within the city. No, her work coincided more with the Reconnaissance Company thus with Eula and Mika rather than with Kaeya’s work with Cavalry or in ferreting out criminals.
“I see… Kaeya does have some unexpected tricks that may help us out…” Jean admitted and didn’t disparage Amber further.
“So I guess we know just as much as you do…” Amber mumbled against the table and picked at the papers. Then she suddenly saw something of import in one of the papers and hurried off in a rush, leaving the rest of them in dust. Including Collei who had been silent the entire exchange thus far.
“Oh dear…” Lisa smiled, addressing the girl. “So what are you looking for, girl? I can read these out if you don’t understand the words.”
“There is no need to worry about me.” Collei stated.
“Really?”
Collei was… like a hissy cat. It wasn’t easy to coax her to participate the research, even if she was very curious about the contents of the papers and anxious to learn about a possible cure for her ailment. Small steps though. That worked in almost everything.
Near the beginning of then
Muscles flexing under tight shirt. Sweat beading the brow. Hair sticking to forehead and the nape of neck.
Dimitri had to swallow at the sight and try to focus elsewhere. His friend’s work with claymore was exquisite and honestly… Dimitri had not expected going through a second puberty to be like this. He had not been like this in his previous world! So why was he so… thirsty at the sight of Wriothesley practising at the school’s backyard? This was very embarrassing and uncomfortable! And the school girls ooh’ing and aah’ing nearby were not helping the matter! Besides, Wrio was his friend! Only proper friend in this school! He didn’t mock Dimitri’s accent in Trade or words getting tangled in Fontish, or otherwise disparage Dimitri’s origins. And in turn Dimitri didn’t mock Wrio if the other boy got his colours wrong and kept the other boy’s fangirls at distance. They both were also scholarship students, their attendance dependant on their grades and not on parent who paid their schooling. But anyways, Dimitri had no room to have crush on his friend right now! Even if the usage of Cryo was impressive and the claymore moves emphasized certain assets…
“Andreyev, you gonna join the hand-to-hand spar?” Someone from the left asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Dimitri chucked off his school blazer and followed the asker to the ring. The entire backyard of the Lycée was cordoned into areas for students to practice fighting skills. There were separate Physical Education lessons that instilled good habits and basic knowledge of different sports to the pupils, but then there were the fighting lessons as well. Especially for those who owned Visions.
The world was dangerous and not everyone had the luxury of remaining within safe city walls their entire lives. Moreover, many students of their Lycée would move on to other cities or even capital itself. Some self-defence was needed to learn against bandits and monsters lurking in the wilds.
(Another thing, something that Demetrios properly learnt only after receiving his own Vision, and the artifact slots, the weapon space and inventory with it, was the fact that the Vision wielders were also an unofficial militia for each country. They may not all be fighters but they were at the very least the last defence before innocent civilians were on the line. He already got an inkling but that was never confirmed to him until he gained more perspective.)
Dimitri stepped into the ring and turned to face his opponent. Hands rose up to be ready for the match. Referee raised a hand.
The fight began.
It was blur to the sunsettia haired boy. Something instinctive that he flowed along with. Every strike, every dodge, every block… they all had their place. The matter was being efficient enough to move from one action to another and either outwit or overwhelm the opponent. And it was a good thing to focus on and get Dimitri’s thoughts away from Wriothesley.
The opponent went down. Dimitri let out a sigh and was about to take a step back. Only to trip onto the thick rope that marked the circumference of the ring. He didn’t end up sprawled into the sand however, instead being caught against a solid chest.
“Careful there, ‘trios. Attention on surroundings.” Wriothesley said. ‘trios. Demetrios. Name Dimitri wanted to claim and use and move on from his roots. Thus far, Wriothesley was the only to have heard that wish and plan and thus know to use the name even if it was just when only the two of them could hear.
Good thing Dimitri had just exercised so the redness on his face effectively covered up the blush that threatened to rise. Just when he thought he managed to get Wriothesley out of his mind, the black-haired Cryo-claymore wielding student just had to come and save him from embarrassment and in the progress give an up and personal feel on his pecs… and the flexing forearm muscles curled around Dimitri’s waist.
“Thanks for the save, Wrio.” Dimitri managed as he regained his footing.
“You’re welcome. Good fight by the way.” Wriothesley turned to lead Dimitri away from the yard. The young Snezhnayan hurried after him. Dimitri glanced at the clock up in the central tower of Lycée. There was just enough time for shower before evening meal.
“Ah… you too. Your form was impeccable as always.”
“Long practise.”
“Yes. Same for me.”
Their idle chatting continued as the way parted to them. Dimitri collected his blazer and water bottle along with the Teyvat equivalent of a gym bag. Wriothesley did the same and picked a small towel from his bag to wipe at his forehead. The practice claymore was deposed on a rack to wait for the next day.
“I heard from professor that in few weeks we’ll have a class trip to the Court of Fontaine.” Dimi- Demetrios continued when the direction changed towards the changing rooms and shower stalls. “I wonder when we’ll know the itinerary of the trip.”
“Yes, the capital does offer various sights to see.”
“Opera Epiclese is naturally a must see but the question is if we go there for a trial or a performance… not that there is much difference between the two if I’ve understood correctly…”
“Don’t worry about it too much, ‘trios. It is something that is simply instinctive for us. You either understand it or then simply gaze at it from the outside.” Wriothesley offered. “Justice is… technically very simple concept. But when a person’s own interpretation gets mixed it, things become quite complicated and muddled.”
“If you say so…” Demetrios agreed reluctantly. They arrived to the changing rooms and deposited their effects on the bench and began stripping layers off. Blazers and shirts to hang on hooks, towels taken from the bags… Demetrios was about to open his belt in order to take of his trousers when he felt a hand at the small of his back. “Huh?”
He looked up, leaning back, and on that moment a pair of lips descended to his. Wrio was… Wrio was kissing him? Taking his first kiss?
The kiss was over way too soon. Demetrios stared up at the pale eyes of his friend. At the inscrutable expression that still was calm and reassuring in a way that there were no expectations placed.
“…” Head empty, no thoughts. How apt way to describe this situation. But it also meant there really was no filter for any thoughts that did happen. “Gimme another.”
Wriothesley smiled and obliged. Demetrios reached to wrap his arms around the other boy’s neck, throwing himself into the kiss.
(Wrio, Wrio, Wrio… sang his soul. It wasn’t something conscious, that infatuation. It wasn’t something to be entertained for longer term. But for now it was enough.)