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High up on a cliff, but under the shade of a birch tree with warm yellow leaves. It was not exactly a secret spot, but it had been one of their favorite spots as children. Jean and Diluc would often perch on the firm structures left behind by ruins of times past and look down at the winery from their vantage point. Kaeya would usually prefer to sit closer to the edge, his legs dangling over the cliff. Jean had always hated that, but Kaeya had proven time and again that he was not going to fall, even though he often pretended he was about to, for the sake of his own enjoyment in scaring her.
From up there, the Winery and its people looked like a toy house. They would giggle as they ate stolen apples, watching Adelinde and other maids call out to them when it was homework or bath time. Other times they would pretend they could tell exactly what the people down below were talking and create their own dialogues imitating Elzer or Master Crepus as they discussed business matters. Their own version of the facts was usually much more entertaining than reality.
Every now and then they would see Crepus look almost too precisely in their direction, smile knowingly and turn away. But surely he could not know, could he?
Diluc had a theory that his father would smile cryptically in every direction, just to make sure at some point he would look at the right place and frighten them with his knowing gaze. After all, even a broken clock was right twice a day. If he did that often enough, he was bound to look at the right spot some time.
Kaeya and Jean however were sure he knew, and just chose to let them be. Perhaps he still remembered what it had been like to be young.
That had been their precious spot, but as time went by and the distance between them became greater than the years that passed, their little fort became abandoned. The grass was no longer worn down by their constant stomping. The stones of civilizations past no longer held the magical meaning of mystery and promise. They were now just forgotten half broken walls along the way of a passerby.
But it was here out of all places that Diluc now sat, staring down at his own house. Hopefully no one would be chasing him for bath time or homework this time.
Now he was the one with his legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. It felt surprisingly liberating.
He was so lost in thought that his usually keen ears did not pick up the sound of a soft rustle of leaves as someone approached. “You stole Kaeya’s spot.” The gentle voice was one Diluc knew well. Whether it soothed or aggravated him, it depended on the topic being discussed, but it was a voice that always felt like home.
“So you came here too…” He looked over his shoulder and smiled up at Jean. She was one of the few people who still earned genuine smiles from him.
Jean walked over, still cautious, but braver than as a child, and sat down next to him. The look of wonder on her face betrayed how she had probably always envied Kaeya for daring to sit on the edge of danger and freedom. Now she could too.
Jean smiled at Diluc, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she turned to face the Winery.
“Is it true? I heard whispers that the Anemo Archon bestowed a blessing upon Mondstadt today. That many people heard the voices of loved ones they lost…” She eyed Diluc with both curiosity and sorrow in her eyes. No other Weinlesefest had ever brought such a gift to its crowds. This was a special one, it seemed.
Diluc nodded, though his eyes did not meet hers. Jean knew if he did, they would likely be building up a wall of unshed tears.
She hesitated for a moment, but could not contain the question. “What did you hear?”
A deep breath was the only answer she got for a long moment, before the nearly inaudible words escaped his lips, floating away with the wind almost as fast as they were given sound. “Of how proud he was of me. Things of the past.”
“You should know better. He would still be proud.” Jean reached out in a gesture that felt a little too daring, reminiscent of the old friendship they had. She ruffled his hair as she often did when he said silly things as a kid. Although they were still friends and she knew she could count on him for anything in life, adulthood had made them both a little too serious.
Diluc grumbled in displeasure and shook his head as if to swat her hands away without actually having to resort to such a crude gesture. In the midst of the soft chuckle he elicited from her, Diluc asked, “Did you hear anything?”
“No.” Her parents were alive. Perhaps that was why she had not heard any voices. But it still felt like she had lost them both in other ways. “I still wish I could have heard my father.”
Diluc shifted. Upon hearing those words, he turned to face Jean. “You know he would say the same. And still will someday.”
It was Jean’s turn to shake her head, as if to move those words away just as he had her hands.
“So I should believe my father is proud of me, but you cannot believe the same of yours?” He could not help the wistful smile on his lips when she shrugged. After a moment of contemplation, Diluc reached down and held her hand. “I am proud of you.” He waited until she met his eyes, and said it again. “I am proud of you.” Finally the smile he had been aiming for was given to him. “All of Mondstadt is.”
It was quite a sight to see Jean’s cheeks take on the slightest hue of pink. She parted her lips to speak, but another voice interrupted them. Another familiar one.
“ Ah…look at you two daredevils, daring to sit at the edge a few years too late. That is my spot. ”
Kaeya seemed surprised to find his captive seat occupied. His expression was hesitant, weary of rejection. However, Diluc’s expression had none of the usual contempt or displeasure he put on when they met. His features looked gentle and exhausted. Perhaps he too was tired of putting on a show.
“We thought we’d check what all the hype was about.” Jean teased. They all knew jokes were the best way to signal everything was ok.
Kaeya understood and finally approached, making his way to Jean’s side, but the Acting Grand-Master immediately placed a hand next to her as if to block the spot. “Lisa will be joining us soon, this spot is taken.”
Kaeya rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could muster and changed his direction, plopping down next to Diluc. The Master of the Winery made no objection.
No words were exchanged for a time, but they were still fluent in their old sibling shorthand of understanding one another with a single look. They might be rusty, but they still knew how. At least when the walls were down.
They were both looking down, heads slightly tilted to the side as if to peek at one another. The curiosity was clear. They both wanted to ask what the other had heard, but neither had the nerve to say it out loud.
Red eyes met a curious blue one. It was almost as if they could see one another as children again. Seeing Diluc without his grumpy mask or Kaeya without his ironic smile was almost too revealing, a little too uncomfortable, but they persevered.
Diluc nodded towards Kaeya, eyebrows raised. To them it was clear he was asking if Kaeya was alright. The Cavalry Captain nodded affirmatively and returned the question, all in the exchange of a gaze. Their secret language still worked.
There was a fragment of an upturned lip coming from Diluc - a clue of a smile yet to be found in some mysterious treasure hunt. Kaeya’s visible eye widened slightly, and he nodded, a smile spreading over his own lips, as if those were as contagious as yawns.
Next to them, Jean could only shake her head in amusement.
“Adelinde is making too much food again.” Diluc announced out of the blue.
Kaeya’s back straightened. This was important information. Still, he could not give away too much interest. “How do you know? Can you smell the amount from here?” He snorted.
“Not the amount…but the variety of dishes.”
“Oh.”
There was another pause before Diluc cleared his throat again. “We will need people to help eat. We don’t like to let good go to waste.”
“Oh...”
“So you are both…invited. Lisa too, of course.”
Jean smiled, “I would love to.” She patted Diluc’s hand gently, neither of them realizing - or willing to admit - that they had still been holding hands until now, and still neither of them let go. Gladly Kaeya had chosen to keep quiet about it, for he had surely noticed. Nothing escaped him.
“Good.” Diluc nodded to himself.
“I’ll bring the wine.” Kaeya grinned. Both Jean and Diluc stared at him judgmentally. “Come now…It was a good joke!”
The collective snort slowly developed into laughter. It had been so long since the grass and the trees and the stones of this place had heard the rumbling mirth of its three masters. But now the old sound was back. Deeper, a little more discrete and less open, but it was there.
Diluc was the first one to fall back onto the grass, changing his viewpoint from his home to the sky above. With every second that passed, the shades of the sky changed, turning orange, pink and purple as the soft sparkle of stars started to shine through, telling them of the quiet night starting to blanket them gently.
“Dinner will still be a while.” He announced.
Kaeya and Jean followed suit, their hair fanning about their heads and mixing together in threads of golden and red and blue as they stared up at the sky. To anyone watching from a distance, the sight that met their eyes would perhaps be of the three young kids they once were, finding shapes in the constellations above, creating stories about those who lived beyond their world, and were perhaps looking down at them as they watched their own stars, just as they were.
Jean might not have heard gentle words from the wind. Diluc might not have believed the ones he had. Kaeya might still wish he could have heard Diluc’s as well as his own. But perhaps the true blessing of Barbatos this year, had been to the abandoned little improvised fort. It could once more feel the echoes of life and friendship rekindled from the embers of the past.
And perhaps if it too could send its prayer to the Anemo God, it would pray for more laughter. For its old bones made of ancient rock and crumbling soil to be slowly ground to dust with the passing of time, from the vibrating echoes of mirth and joy. That was all the blessing the land of Mondstadt would ever ask, and it was the least it deserved.
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