Chapter summary: In which Klee nearly starts a hill fire

After lunch, Childe is led around the southern part of the city for a bit before he follows Kaeya out of the city towards a place called Windrise. Apparently this is the location where Vennessa is said to have ascended to Celestia.

He looks around the grass plain and nods in satisfaction. "This is a good spot for sparring."

He knows this is not why the captain takes him here, but the moment he heard the story about Vennessa, a legendary figure in Mondstadt who is said to have defeated Ursa the Drake, all he can think of is fighting.

Kaeya chuckles next to him. "Do you ever think of things that are not related to fighting?"

"When I am with my family or thinking about them or carrying out Her Majesty's tasks." He replies with a grin.

The bluenette raises an eyebrow at him. "Other than that?"

"Nope."

His grin widens when Kaeya shakes his head lightly in something akin to exasperation before turning around.

He watches on curiously when the man takes several steps away from him while calling out his sword.

"Well, I did agree to a fight before. Might as well get this over with." The captain says as he twirls his sword around.

He blinks and nearly gapes at the invitation to fight that he didn't think would ever come without him being the one to ask first.

"Awesome." He says after he recovered from his bewilderment.

Maybe this is Kaeya's way to gauge his fighting prowess? Whatever the reason behind this is, he's going to enjoy it to his heart's content!

He waits till the man stops walking and turns back to him before calling out his own bow. "I have been itching for a good fight ever since I left Liyue."

There is no countdown to commence the fight. One second they are both grinning, or in Kaeya's case, smirking, at each other, the next second he's already raising his bow and notches an arrow on it while the bluenette dashes towards him.

He fires off the first, second, then a third arrow. Kaeya dodges the first two and parries the third away.

A jump to the side as a sword slices through the space he's just been occupying. Another few quick steps backwards and he fires several arrows, imbued with hydro energy, into the sky.

The captain changes his direction without missing a beat and rushes towards him. He uses his bow to block the upward slash.

Their weapons were only locked in a deadlock with each other for a mere second before Kaeya widens his single visible eye and jumps back to avoid the arrow coming down from the sky.

He keeps firing arrows towards the bluenette as the man keeps dashing across the field to dodge the other arrows he fired into the sky earlier.

Kaeya starts closing the distance between the two of them again while skillfully dancing around to evade all of his arrows.

He waits till the man is close enough before changing his bow into twin hydro blades. Their weapons once again clashed against each other in what could only be described as a deadlock.

The grin that has never left his lips ever since he fired the first arrow widens when he feels the temperature in front of him lowers and the edges of his hydro blades start to get freezed.

Exerting even more force, he pushes the man away before dropping down and sweeping his leg across the ground.

Kaeya attempts to jump away but his leg still manages to graze the feet of the bluenette, making him lose his balance. But instead of tumblinig onto the ground, the man curls up and rolls on the ground away from him for a meter or two before getting back up in one smooth motion.

He whistles as the bluenette smirks at him before once again dashing towards him. They both slashes at and parries the other's attack for quite a while, to guage each other's prowess and to analyze the other's attack pattern.

After they exchange their thirtiest strikes or so, Kaeya suddenly takes a step back and thrusts his sword towards him.

He also takes a step back so that the sword won't reach him. But he isn't prepared for the icy blast coming towards him. The hydro blades he raises up at the last moment to block the attack turns into ice immediately.

"Not bad." He compliments before throwing away his now useless weapons and summoning a new pair of hydro blades.

Kaeya merely raises an eyebrow before taking another step towards him.

"How about this?" The man smirks at him as the air around him suddenly becomes very cold and icicles form around the bluenette.

He is too close to dodge. A hiss leaves his mouth as an icicle that has most likely formed directly on his right hits the side of his body.

"Even better." He says as he once again throws away his hydro blades. This time to call forth the electro energy his Delusion grants him.

He grins at the slight widening of the bluenette's single visible eye as the man jumps back several meters.

He pulls down the mask he's always wearing on the side of his head down to cover his face. Electricity crackles around him as he takes in the lingering traces of electro surging through the captain's body as the man winces.

"That's from your Delusion?"

"Cool, right? I am sure Her Majesty will also give you one if you join the Fatui."

Kaeya once again smirks at him. "You do know that both hydro and electro are weak against cryo, right?" The bluenette says confidently and completely ignores his words about joining the Fatui.

Oh well, guess he will just have to fight harder to appeal to the man then.

"If that's what you think," he summons his electro spear, "then let me show you just how powerful Delusions can be."

Fast like a lightning strike, he zooms across the field and closes the distance between the two of them in less than a second.

Apparently the captain wasn't expecting that and so only managed to move his body to the side at the last instant. Once he stops some meters away from the man and turns back towards him, the corner of his lip tugs up into a smirk, not that it's visible to the other man, as he sees lightning streaks dance over the bluenette's body.

He's about to repeat his attack when a shrill cry suddenly cuts through the air.

"Get away from big brother Kaeya you big meanie!"

Before he could even locate the source of the cry, he reflexively steps aside as a ball-like thing hits the spot he's just standing on.

He blinks at the weirdly shaped 'doll', a cute little thing that he's over eighty percert certain one of his younger siblings would love to-

"Get away!"

The moment his brain processes the slight panic hidden in those two words Kaeya shouted at him, he sees the 'doll' getting brighter as if about to explode and quickly zooms away from the 'doll'.

He only manages to get several meters away when the 'doll' explodes. Just as he expected.

He blinks at the bizarre scene when Kaeya quickly rushes over to the explosion site and starts spraying ice at the area to put out the fire.

Getting the message, and understanding that their spar has to come to an impromptu end, he dismisses the electro power from his Delusion, pushes his mask back to its original place and resummons his hydro power to help with the fire.

But before he could take a step towards Kaeya, the same voice from before shouts again.

"Don't come any closer, you big bad meanie!"

He whirls to the side, to where the voice came from, only to find another weirdly shaped bomb flying his way.

"Wait, Klee, he's not-"

He shoots the bomb while it's at the highest point of its trajectory, making it explodes mid-air.

His eyes widen when he finally notices that it's a little girl who threw the bombs at him.

He sees out of the corner of his eye Kaeya rushing towards the little girl even as she continues throwing bomb after bomb towards him.

Now that he knows it's a child, he decides to evade the bombs as opposed to making them explode mid-air, as that might accidentally hurt the girl instead. And he knows it's just a misunderstanding that Kaeya's going to resolve.

"Go away!" The girl shouts at him angrily.

"Stop, Klee! He's a friend!"

The girl pauses and turns towards the captain. "A friend? But he's hurting big brother Kaeya!"

"We were sparring." Kaeya explains.

"Oh…" She lowers her arms, the bombs still in her hands before looking up at the bluenette with watery eyes. "Klee's sorry… Klee didn't know…"

"It's okay, Klee." Kaeya closes the distance between them and bends down to pick the now sniveling girl into his arms. "You are just being a brave girl protecting her favourite big brother." He pats the girl's head repeatedly.

He sighs as he continues to use his hydro power to put out the fire. One crisis averted. Now all that's left is-

"Ah! Klee! What did I say about running away and starting a hill fire?!" Another shrill cry cuts through the air. This time the voice is more mature, so he knows immediately it is from someone older than Klee.

He quickly gets away as dense hydro power not of his own starts gathering at the center of the fire. Another second and the whole area is covered by a watery mist that completely distinguishes the fire.

He whistles at this display of power.

"Captain Kaeya? What happened?"

He turns towards where Kaeya and the child - Klee - are to see another lady standing next to them.

A young woman with long dark purple hair tied into two twintails. Matching blue and purple hat and outfit covering her head to toe.

"Hey there Mona." Kaeya greets. "Sorry. This is more my fault than Klee's. I was sparring with a friend and Klee thought I was under attack."

"Sorry…" The girl in the bluenette's arms says in an apologetic tone.

"It's fine, Klee." Kaeya says. "You were only trying to do the right thing. And look, Mona has stopped the fire and Childe is not hurt. Everything turned out fine in the end."

He takes several steps towards the trio and draws their attention to him. "Hello, I'm Childe." He introduces himself and spreads his arms out. "Kaeya is right, the fire is gone and nobody is hurt. It's just a tiny misunderstanding."

Klee lightly pushes at Kaeya and the captain lets the girl back onto the ground. The child then walks up to him. "I'm sorry for throwing bombs at you, Mr. Childe."

"Apology accepted." He grins then winks at the girl. "And your bombs are amazing! Where did they come from?"

The girl finally smiles. "Oh, you like bombs, too? Klee makes her own bombs and carry them around in this backpack that Mommy gave me!"

He blinks in surprise. "You made those bombs yourself? That's amazing! So who teaches you how to make those awesome bombs?"

Klee beams at him. "Mom taught me! But I do my own bomb research to look for way to make my bombs even better and bigger! And sometimes big brother Albedo helps too"

Another blink. A mother who taught her kid how to make bomb when her kid is just a child?

He hears a tired sigh and looks up to see the one called Mona coming towards them.

"Only Alice would be crazy enough to teach their child stuff like this." She mutters before turning to him. "I am Astrologist Mona Megistus. But considering that it is most rude to misremember names, I allow others to call me Mona."

"An Astrologist?" He prompts. "The ones who read stars to determine the fate of others?"

Mona scoffs. "That's such a crude and inappropriate way to describe the art of astrology."

He can hear a faint muttering that sounded like 'now you started it' or something similar from Kaeya as Mona turns up her nose. "Astrology is a type of divination. It is used to gain insight into reality and observe destiny itself. Astrologists don't 'determine' the fate of others. What we do is precisely foretelling one's written destiny."

"Mona is the bestest astrolist!" Klee exclaims.

"Astrologist." Mona corrects.

"She can use this pretty mirror to create all these beautiful cons- constar-"

"Constellation." The astrologist supplies.

"Consta-thingies to do readings and tells Klee all sorts of stories and talks about all these amazing things with big brother Albedo that Klee doesn't understand!" The child finishes proudly.

Mona sighs while Kaeya chuckles as he walks over to them and stops next to Klee.

He hums thoughtfully. "Destiny, huh? I bet my destiny is to become the greatest warrior of the world." A huge grin forms on his face.

Kaeya raises an eyebrow at him. "Ambitious, aren't we?"

Mona places her hands on her hips. "Fate is called as such, for it cannot be changed, nor can it be reversed. It can only but be accepted."

"Well, then, how about this?" He waves his arm over himself. "Read my destiny. I promise that no matter what you read, I will pay for the reading."

The young woman tilts her head up just the slightest bit. "I would never use hydromancy for the sake of mora, nor did I learn hydromancy for that purpose."

He hums in approval. "Only those who are the most passionate would think this way. You have my respect for this. So… will you read my fate?"

Mona shrugs. "Sure, why not?"

Hydro energy not of his own starts building up before him. He doesn't react when a circular disk made of pure water suddenly bursts into being between him and the astrologist.

But he does raise his eyebrow and whistles at the undeniable form of a flipped Monoceros Caeli - his constellation - appearing in the circular disk.

"It's one of those pretty mirrors! This is a new pattern Klee has never seen!" Klee exclaims.

"This is a water mirror." Mona explains.

The girl starts jumping excitedly and skips to Mona's side. "Ooohhh! It's a big fishy!"

"This is a narwhal, a type of whale." He says.

He hears Kaeya hums thoughtfully and sees the bluenette walking up to stand behind the child. He then also gets around the water mirror to also stand beside Mona, to finally look at his own constellation without it being flipped horizontally, as the astrologist places her hands on the mirror.

She twitches her hands around and something that sounds like gears moving around fills the air.

"Monoceros Caeli." She begins. "A whale cruising across the celestial heights seeking to crush and devour all in its path. Yet at the same time fiercely protective of those you consider to be yours."

A grin forms on his face at the description. He really loves the part about him 'cruising across the celestial heights seeking to crush and devour all in his path'. This is what he wants to do.

A thoughtful hum then escapes Mona. "And-"

"That's enough." He immediately puts a stop to the reading. "You have said enough for me to know that you are the real deal. As for the rest of this reading, I want to find out on my own."

Mona shrugs and calls off the water mirror. "That's fine for me."

.

The sun is about to set when they finally get back to Mondstadt. Somehow Jean has gotten word of how Klee nearly started a hillfire and, after how he and Mona and Childe insisted that it's just a misunderstanding and that the fire was immediately put out before it could spread too much, decided to let the elven girl off with a 'lighter' punishment.

Which consists of an hour-long 'lecture' and the restriction where Klee is not allowed to leave Monstadt the next day.

And, because the three of them were also there, they also had to 'sit in' on Jean's lecture…

"This Acting Grand Master of yours is really something." Childe comments once they leave the Knights Headquarters. Klee has to use the bathroom so they have decided to wait for her and Mona outside the building.

He rolls his eye. "You could have spared the both of us from that. Why didn't you take it when Master Jean offered to let you, and by extension, me, leave?"

"And miss out on the chance to check out the interior of the Knight of Favonius Headquarters and to get to know the Acting Grand Master personally?"

"Heh." He smirks at the ginger. "So Master Jean is your type?"

The way Childe grins and nods at his words is actually kind of refreshing, if a bit unexpected. "I like anyone who's strong enough to give me a challenging fight. And she's the strongest after Grand Master Varka, right?"

He rolls his eye again and is about to make another comment about Childe being a battle freak - well, not those exact wordings - when the Fatui Harbinger continues.

"And I was the reason Klee threw her bombs, it's unfair that I can get away scott free when she couldn't."

There it is again. This unique 'something' that separates Childe from the other Fatui Harbingers he knows about. It's time like this that makes it pretty easy for him to forget that the Snezhnayan is supposed to be one of the deadliest personnel serving the Cryo Archon.

"Big brother Kaeya! Mr. Childe!"

They turn around to see the Spark Knight skipping towards them, while Mona simply follows at an unhurried pace.

"It's getting late." Mona says. "I am taking Klee to dinner then take her home."

"Great. Let's have dinner together then. My treat." Childe winks at Klee. "As an apology for getting the Acting Grand Master angry at you, and," he turns towards Mona, "as a thank you for showing me something new."

"Wha- I- I told you I do- don't accept payment for my readings!" Mona stutters and crosses her arms before her and turns her head to the side, looking away from them. "But… if you really want to thank me, then it would be impolite of me to turn you down. And I know Klee wants to have dinner with Kaeya, so…"

He stiffles a laugh at this familiar scene. Even the way Mona's ears are reddening is the same as the last time he offered the astrologist a free meal after she read his fate.

"Pavo Ocellus. Destined for greatness and grandeur... and to hide ugly realities behind a layer of charm and elegance. You believe you have made a clean break with your past, but one day fate will catch up with you. When it does, you will have a major decision to make."

He laughs aloud once Mona finishes her reading of him. "Destined for greatness and grandeur?" He repeats in a half mocking tone then continues to chuckle, as if this is the funniest thing he's ever heard.

To hide how uneasy he's really feeling on the inside.

He waves off the almost unnerving stare the astrologist is giving him as his 'laughter' finally dies down. "To thank you for making me laugh so hard, let me treat you to dinner."

"Wha- who do you take me for? You can't use... things like Mora to determine the value of astrology! But… if you really want to thank me, then it would be impolite of me to turn you down. After all, being able to dine with such a great astrologist as me is also an honor."

He hasn't thought about that particular conversation with Mona for a long time already.

But… now that this is surfacing in his mind…

Lumine's words from this morning made him recall the feeling of nausea at the time.

Is this what Mona meant? Is this the major decision he's to make? If so, is his current choice the correct one?

But Venti, the Anemo Archon, has said that he should live the life of his own choosing…

"So, Klee, what do you wanna have for dinner?" Childe asks.

The elven girl spreads her hands upwards and beams at them. "Fishy!"

He chuckles. "Let's go to this restaurant near the Grand Goth Hotel then. Childe has been talking about wanting to try that out ever since I told him about how the other Fatui like to frequent that restaurant since this afternoon."

As they make their way towards the aforementioned restaurant, Klee walks up to him. "Big brother Kaeya, let's go fishing tomorrow!"

"Fishing?" Childe echoes the word.

Ah, that's right. The ginger also likes to fish.

"But Klee, you are not supposed to leave Mondstadt tomorrow." Mona supplies.

"Oh…" Klee lowers her head.

"How about the day after tomorrow?" He asks and stares pointedly at Childe even though he's still talking to the blond. "We can go fishing with you."

The Snezhnayan grins at him and gives him a thumbs up, wordlessly agreeing to his suggestion.

Klee looks up again. He can almost see the sparks of excitement in her eyes. But instead of quickly agreeing to his suggestion, Klee tilts her head to the side.

"Big brother Kaeya, remember you promised me that we can do something else?"

"Of course." He smiles gently at the girl.

He got the souvenir he bought in Liyue back from Venti earlier today and plans to give them out to his fellow knights and friends on his last day as the Cavalry Captain, to make it look less awkward after not giving them out within the first two day he's back in Mondstadt. But a promise is still a promise.

Klee then beams at him. "Then Klee wants big brother Kaeya to go with Klee to visit big brother Albedo!"

He blinks at the unexpected request. "Albedo is in Dragonspine now, right?"

Klee nods before looking at him with what he dubs as 'Klee's most devastating puppy eyes number two'. "Does big brother Kaeya not want to go to Dragonspine?"

He scratches the back of his head. "It's not that I don't want to go… but a trip to Dragonspine to visit Albedo then back takes at least three days…"

He trails off and glances at Childe to see if the Fatui Harbinger is fine with this. "I need to stay with Childe because of work, so we will have to see if he's fine with that."

Klee whips her head towards Childe. "Pretty please?"

The ginger grins widely at her and bends down to pat her head. "Of course I am fine with this. A promise is meant to be kept and I have no intention of keeping our favourite captain from fulfilling his promise with such a lovely young lady."

"Yeah! A trip to visit big brother Albedo with big brother Kaeya and Mr. Childe!" Klee jumps up and down with outstretched hands excitedly.

"Is it fine if I also join?" Mona suddenly says.

It's just an intuition, but he has this feeling that Mona might have a better insight on who Childe really is and what the man is capable of and this is her way of making sure Klee would be safe.

He still remembers hearing Paimon mentioning how Mona saved Aether, Fischl and her from Scaramouche before the Fatui Harbinger could even get close to them.

"I rarely go to Dragonspine on my own… hydro Vision holder and Dragonspine… not a really good match… but I also want to visit Albedo's lab in Dragonspine."

Well, or maybe she just wanna check out Albedo's lab like she said… Klee did tell him about how the astrologist likes to carry out difficult discussions with their Chief Alchemist after all.

"Sure." Childe agrees without missing a beat. "The more the merrier."

He can't help but chuckle at the words that he's been somehow hearing quite frequently these days.

"And let me show you how a hydro Vision holder can also shine in Dragonspine." A glint of excitement passes through the otherwise dull blue eyes.

"It would be a piece of cake for someone like me who's been surviving the winters of Snezhnaya for all his life." The Snezhnayan declares proudly.

.

Dainsleif is worried.

Though to be fair, there would never be a moment in which he won't be worried about his prince, as it is imprinted in his very nature.

He's worried about how Prince Kaeya couldn't convey his true feelings about the offers given by the Fatui.

On the same day after Tartaglia told the bluenette the reason he was sent here, they had a discussion about those offers and what might happen if he didn't choose any of those offers.

After that, they had only proceeded to list out the pros and cons, with Diluc vehemently saying that there would never be any 'pros' when it comes to the Fatui. Unlike Diluc Ragnvindr, he doesn't have as strong an opinion towards the Fatui. To him, no matter what his prince's decision is, he will support that decision.

Midway through their impromptu discussion, the redhead started to tone down his strong opinions towards the Snezhnayan organization. It's a subtle change, but this change of attitude was still anything but normal.

Later, while they were monitoring the Fatui Harbinger and Prince Kaeya, the redhead told him about how his prince had hinted to him that someone might be listening in on them with a secret code they had developed when they were younger.

They had been inside a relatively hidden room in Angel's Share when they carried out that discussion, and he had been unable to sense anyone within the vicinity. So he had been fairly certain that no one should have been able to eavesdrop on them.

But he believed his prince had a valid reason for thinking otherwise.

After they exchanged information with each other to get the whole picture, it had only taken them an hour or so to arrive at the terrifying realization of just who might be the one that had been eavesdropping on them.

It's the Ice Queen herself. Through the seal placed on the golden eye of Prince Kaeya by her.

Everything fits.

Tartaglia first arrived in Mondstadt the day after Windblume Festival ended. Which, from what Prince Kaeya told him, was several days after the seal on his eye started blinking.

This pointed to the fact that the Tsaritsa had always been aware of the state of the seal.

Then, a mere two days after he and Prince Kaeya came back to Mondstadt, the Knight of Favonius received an official letter informing them of the Fatui Harbinger's arrival in Mondstadt.

It should have been impossible for the Fatui to know of Prince Kaeya's appearance in Dawn Winery as Diluc had been doing everything in his power to ensure the Fatui would be none the wiser about Prince Kaeya's whereabouts before he could get him back to Mondstadt.

Furthermore, based on the offers, the Tsaritsa is also well aware of the danger posed by the Abyss Order.

The Abyss Order only expressed interest in claiming Prince Kaeya as one of them after they witnessed the prowess of his prince.

The only explanation for the Cryo Archon to be able to include the arrangements of protection against the Abyss Order mere days after their fight would be that she had witnessed that fight herself.

After this horrifying discovery, Diluc pointed out that they still have time, as Tartaglia had mentioned that there's no time limit to when his prince has to give a reply. The redhead has also been also fairly confident that Prince Kaeya would be able to find a way to pass them his message secretly.

He was still worried, yet he was inclined to believe in the Ragnvindr heir who has been taking care of his prince in his stead all these years.

Yet, after the sudden visit of the Abyss Order this morning, his worry grows ever more.

Then, when he joined Prince Kaeya in his home after he finished dining with his companions, his prince told him of the impromptu decision to go to Dragonspine the day after tomorrow.

It would be hard to protect his prince if the Abyss Order is to try something while they are in Dragonspine. The terrain and weather would make it easy for the enemy to separate them. Not to mention the addition of a child would make the whole trip extremely risky.

It would be better for Diluc to join Prince Kaeya on this trip than to have him guarding his prince from a distance.

He frowns for the umteempth time for the day as he is once again reminded of his spectacular failure in keeping the Abyss Order away from his prince this morning.

He didn't know what exactly transpired. Prince Kaeya was quick to assure him that nothing of note happened and that Lumine was simply here to once again try to appeal to him on the offer to join the Abyss Order.

He suspected Barbatos' arrival to be the reason for Lumine's departure. The idea of the Anemo Archon doing an even better job at protecting his prince than him makes him feel disappointed at himself.

Disappointed, not just because of his powerlessness when compared to one of the archons he has always loathed. Despite Barbatos being the supposedly 'weakest' archon, he doesn't see how he could compare his prowess against the archon.

He is disappointed because of his inadequacy in doing everything within his power to aid his prince in every possible way.

One of his prince's main concerns right now is to find a way to make use of his inborn power and to find out other 'traps' the Tsaritsa might have laid in the seal of his eye.

Back then, after they fought off the Abyss Order near Dawn Winery, Diluc asked Barbatos for his opinion on the seal and the Anemo Archon then freely gave them information regarding the seal and his own opinion of it.

This morning, when Barbatos was about to leave, Prince Kaeya was the one to take the initiative to ask the Anemo Archon for information regarding his eye. And an answer, albeit how brief it might be, was once again given freely.

He might have disagreed with the archons for choosing to side with Celestia, he might have even despised some of them for keeping Prince Kaeya a 'prisoner' all these years, but after observing the interactions between his prince, Diluc and Barbatos, he understands that the Anemo Archon means no harm.

It is his pride that makes him unable to reach out to others for help. Especially the archons.

It seems the Anemo Archon has no further information on the seal and the eye that he deems 'safe' enough to disclose to them.

They are unable to get any information from the Cryo Archon as she's one of those who wants something from his prince.

As for the remaining archon who might have information pertaining to the seal…

The image of the lone figure standing atop the city walls of Mondstadt facing their, and also Prince Kaeya's, direction crosses his mind.

He was too far away to discern the expression of Morax, but the way the Geo Archon stood reminds him of the times when he himself used to stand on branches of tall trees, gazing at the child form of Prince Kaeya as he ran across the plains of Dawn Winery with his brother.

Morax was gone before the redhead standing by his side noticed the archon and he didn't deem it important enough to notify Diluc, and especially Prince Kaeya, of the brief appearance of the Geo Archon in Mondstadt.

He might not be a thinker like his prince, but as he reviews everything he knows of so far, he begrudgingly admits that he might have been too hasty to lash out at Morax in Dunyu Ruin.

Yet, with how emotional he had been right after he reunited with Prince Kaeya and the resentment he has been feeling towards the very archon that has taken his prince away and hid him for so many years, he doubts he would have done anything different even if he's given the chance to redo it.

However, he also couldn't deny the genuine anguish Morax had displayed before he led his prince away.

He didn't want to burden his prince with talks about the Geo Archon, so he turned to Diluc for information pertaining to 'Zhongli' and his interaction with Prince Kaeya.

According to the Ragnvindr heir, Morax had been protecting Prince Kaeya from the Fatui Harbinger during his trip to Liyue. He knows what his prince thinks about this protection and how it's based on the contract he signed with the Geo Archon five hundred years ago, yet he's also pretty sure Morax came to Mondstadt to check up on his prince.

But the archon didn't do anything when he obviously saw the Fatui Harbinger in close proximity with Prince Kaeya yesterday, choosing instead to just watch his prince from afar.

It stands to reason that there might be something, perhaps some further dealings between the Geo and Cryo Archon, that have caused this sudden change of attitude.

He is determined to find out what that 'something' is. He is also determined to find out any other knowledge the Geo Archon might have on the seal that he is willing to share.

He won't let his pride nor emotion stand in his way to protect his prince again.

Author's Note:

Maybe not a lot of people is aware of this, but Mona, Albedo and Klee are good friends. It is mentioned in Mona's character story 4 that she sometimes meets up with Albedo and Klee, tho her primary reason being free meals XD

FYI, Mona's reading of Childe is mostly from the description of Tusk of Monoceros Caeli (Childe's boss drop)