Aether
"I guess there's no point, huh?" Aether pointed out as he went to grab his phone.
Lumine shook her head. "No, there aren't any crystal towers in the north until the coast, and we won't be able to tap into those. Besides, too much personal info. Just in case."
Of course. Not only would the phones stop working when they left the city's ley line network, but if they were captured… that was a grim thought. Maybe the two of them shouldn't waltz right into the winter armies' hands at all.
No, Aether chastised himself for worrying. They wouldn't be captured, the mission would work as intended, and they would all get back home safe. He knew it.
"I'm sure they would stop us from bringing them regardless." Aether muttered. He left the device with the rest of his things on the desk and checked through his bag. The rest of his gear was all there.
He paused by the door, almost hoping that another detail would come to him. That he had forgotten something, or… or… no. He hadn't. There was nothing. This was it. He stepped out into the sunlight and locked the door behind him.
Lumine was waiting there and they fell into a wordless gait, breathing in the fresh air of the morning.
The street banners flapped against the stones and railings and the gardens lining the calm street glistened with dew, but neither of them were thinking about the pleasant scenery.
"Will you try to contact her again, before we leave?" Aether asked, breaking the heavy silence.
Lumine shook her head again and looked down at her feet.
"She won't be back soon enough, as far as I can gather. I wrote a letter filling her in though, so she'll know. And there are people she can ask for details anyway," she said after a moment's pause. "It's fine, we'll be back soon!"
His sister didn't quite look as if she believed that.
Kaeya
"How does it feel to be going north again?" Kaeya asked, mixing himself a drink behind the counter.
Diluc stopped sifting through his bag and looked up sharply. "Excuse me?"
Kaeya turned away and smiled softly, letting the tension sit for a moment in the air between them, like a spiderweb between a closed door and the wall.
"After your rescue trip four years ago, in your first year," he clarified sweetly, opening a sparkling white that he always made sure to have in the bar.
"Ah, of course. I had forgotten about that. I hope this will be as successful an expedition," Diluc answered curtly.
"Don't we all," Kaeya agreed, sipping his cocktail gently. Why bother to lie about that, brother?
"I'll be leaving now unless you need anything from me before you turn the assets over."
Kaeya could read between those lines. "Don't ask me for anything else." He wasn't planning on it.
"I'll meet you with the others, darling brother," Kaeya said, not bothering to turn back around to address his brother as he dismissed him.
Diluc left the taproom and Kaeya leaned back against the bar, watching the shadows of clouds drift aimlessly across the wooden floor in the sunlight streaming into the tavern from the front windows.
Maybe he should have said no to this mission. He enjoyed working with the majority of these people, and he hadn't done any work with Albedo since he left the guild, but still. It was new territory in a long-stagnant bloodbath. Something felt off, but perhaps he was just being sensible.
Albedo
"Fascinating, truly. This is incredible, I'm sad that I won't be here to see it work," Albedo gasped, peering closely at the analytics.
"Thank you sir, but it won't be easy to actually get what we need. Director Lowthe has sent out another team but I-I'm not really supposed to know much about that," Sucrose said softly. "And it was all Xingling, really."
The chemist, having been lost in the music she had blaring through the laboratory, perked up and looked over at the two of them.
"What's up?" she called.
"We were simply speaking of your recent accomplishments, you have both done a wonderful job," Albedo answered.
"Oh yeah! Well, you haven't seen anything yet. I've been working on these new explosives, and when you get your hands on these babies you won't need to know what Childe's signature is to blow him into the sun," Xiangling crowed, turning back to her work.
"I believe it," Albedo muttered. "How long would it take to analyze a sample?"
"It- it depends, really," Sucrose responded, barely audible over the music. "With blood we can gather results very quickly, other samples would take a little more time, but it can still be done in hours. If we've ever recorded the s-signature, we'll know what it is and where it came from. Even if we don't have any information on Childe's, it will still be able to give us information on his power, or at least how it started."
"Amazing. Thank you for showing me, Sucrose. We'll compare notes when my team returns. Hopefully, we will both have valuable findings to show for the work," Albedo said. "I fear that it might be a poor start to our trip if I was late for my own meeting time, so I must be going now, but I'm impressed."
His former assistant blushed, and he smiled. With any luck, the achievement would give her some confidence, or at least she would absorb some of Xiangling's.
An hour later, Albedo slipped out of the gates and made his way along the docks. Many fishermen had already departed from the docks, despite the already-early departure time that Director Lowthe had set, and so it was relatively quiet on the lakeshore.
Something slipped into view beside him, and Albedo was startled by the silent approach. However, it was only Diluc. He was dressed in warm and tight-fitting black clothes, black and red leather gloves that mirrored his mismatched eyes, thick pants, and a cloak so heavy that it barely swayed in the wind as he walked.
"Good morning General," Diluc greeted him.
"Well met Captain. Are you looking forward to our very long ride in very cold weather?" Albedo asked.
Diluc looked at him curiously for a second. "As a whole, I suppose I am, but not imminently."
"That's fair enough."
The neat stone wharf had been reduced to a flat, open stone platform by this point and soon it would be no more than a seldom-used forest road into the woods and hills north of the lake. The sound of the gentle lake waters splashing back and forth between the dock pillings and sloping ship hulls was a soothing ambiance without the chatter of sailors and frantic shrieks of gulls wheeling over exposed breakfasts and they walked in silence for some time, appreciating the serene view out over the water.
When the two men passed a riverboat and were able to see down the shore, Aether and Lumine were waiting there, side-by-side. Lumine was wearing a white captain's jacket uniform, and Aether was dressed much like Diluc, except that his cloak was a warm brown color. Not quite gingerbread, a more caramel shade as far as Albedo could tell.
"Thank you for being here early. There are two carriages waiting further up the road," Albedo informed them, by way of greeting. "We'll wait for the other two here."
"My brother is not far behind, I believe" Diluc offered, stepping quietly out of the sun into the long shadow of the boat behind them.
Aether nodded. "I'm not sure when he left but Xiao-"
Even as he spoke, the half-Adeptus touched down on the stone in a whirl of cold air. The chain links of his knives clinked gently together as he swayed to his feet, brushing the wind-swept hair back from his eyes.
"Yeah." Aether finished.
"Hello," Xiao muttered, walking over to the siblings.
Not long after, Kaeya strolled up, right on time and thoroughly unprepared for the cold weather because he was "too hot to be cold as far as he was concerned". Albedo led the half-dozen warriors into the woods without questioning it.
"Are we traveling with actual workers?" Kaeya wondered aloud.
"No, while it might make for a better disguise; it is too much of a risk for Rosalyne that she would lose talented professionals if we were to be found out," Albedo informed him.
"Damn," Kaeya sighed, looking slightly disappointed.
"What were you going to do, seduce them on the journey?" Lumine mocked, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, actually, and quite well I should add."
Diluc groaned and strode ahead.
"You could never," Aether taunted.
Kaeya pretended to be insulted. "You underestimate me, golden boy. There are very few things I could never do!"
"Like write an essay?" Lumine asked innocently.
"I'll have you know that I have never once been asked to write an essay since graduating, it would have been a waste of time to learn the skill," Kaeya exclaimed.
"Or beat me in a fair fight," Xiao pointed out.
"You too!" Kaeya cried. "You must be in a terrific mood. Did someone finally ask what you were brooding about?"
The siblings laughed, and Albedo found himself smiling as well. Perhaps he had chosen this group well after all.
Around the bend in the road were two black carriages with two finely-kept horses ahead of each. The carriage bodies had tinted windows and dark curtains, with dark red detailing over the wood painting rose-like symbols and stylized knots.
Standing ahead of the vehicles were two young men with the pale skin of Snezhnayans.
The closer of the two turned to face them. He had soft brown eyes and chin-length cocoa-colored hair that fell around his face in gentle waves. Many people would have considered him to be quite beautiful Albedo supposed, and he had certainly dressed well. He was wearing knee-high riding boots, a white button-up that was remarkedly buttoned only part of the way there, and tight pants that matched his eyes.
His companion was dressed in a similar fashion, with fiery hair falling down to the light jacket slung over his shoulders.
"Why hello there," spoke the brown-haired man. "I'm glad to welcome you into the Madame's corner of the world."
Diluc paused awkwardly, and the rest of the group caught up quickly.
"Don't worry, they know why we're here," Albedo reassured his party.
"We do indeed," responded the same man. "My name is Shurulevsky Afanasiy Danilovich. However, most people simply call me whatever they like."
Kaeya laughed quietly, and Diluc looked like he was considering deserting.
"You can call me Fanya, and my companion here is named Roma. We have quite the journey ahead of us my friends, and I think we should begin."