Everyone has secrets and no one is more secretive than Kaeya. If everyone had a safe to store their secrets inside, Kaeya's one would be the size of a tiny room. And if everyone had a safe to store their secrets inside, it would be a lot easier to find them out, according to Kaeya anyway.
(He swears that he is a Knight of Favonius and a knight would never commit a crime. Diluc pointed out that it was still a crime even if no one found out.)
The Traveller intrigued Kaeya. If the Traveller had a safe to store his secrets inside, it would be the safe in Northland Bank in Liyue, guarded by all the Fatui and the Cryo Archon herself.
(Diluc disagreed with Kaeya and argued that the Traveller's safe would be the Golden House in Liyue.)
The Traveller's arrival had been unexpected and no one could pinpoint his origins. His clothes spoke nothing of where he could have come from, the name 'Aether' was unfamiliar in both recognition and origin, his companion is a flying fairy, and all of that pale in comparison to the power he wielded and displayed when he fought off Stormterror.
Where had he come from? What is his objective? And what is the deal with the flying fairy?
The 'interrogation' had been amusing and Kaeya was a few steps closer to learning about the Traveller. The Traveller seeks his missing sibling, his flying fairy is named Paimon and he prefers sitting on the ground rather than on a chair. But important questions like his origins or his ability to fly in the sky with a glider remained unanswered.
It was fine though, Kaeya had time to find out. If the Traveller's secrets are locked behind a safe, all he had to do was to find a way to crack it open.
The first opportunity presented itself when Jean requested the Traveller's aid in cutting off Stormterror's power. Kaeya volunteered to take on the Temple of the Wolf and went ahead before the Traveller. After all, there were preparations to be made.
When the Traveller finally showed up at the Temple of the Wolf, Paimon leading ahead of him, Kaeya had almost thought that the Traveller had gotten lost. The Traveller paused a distance away, frowning before continuing his trek down the path towards him.
"You've arrived. Come closer. Can you smell it?"
"Something smells burnt. I don't like it."
One of the many things that Kaeya had learned about the Traveller in the short time they had spent together in the temple is that the Traveller had very acute senses. He could hear the hilichurls walking down the corridor around the corner, he could smell a pyro slime even before Kaeya had noticed the bomb barrel.
The Traveller had very acute senses...if one did not apply that observation to sight.
Kaeya had to grab the Traveller by the arm as he almost tripped and rolled down the stairs for the nth time.
Another thing that Kaeya had learned about the Traveller is that he has combat experience but seemed to hesitate a lot in battle. His attacks are smooth and his strikes are precise but there are also times where he would hesitate to follow up or he would miss when the enemy had moved away. There were also instances where he would blow the enemies away with his anemo power, only to hurl the tornado at a single enemy instead of the group of enemies beside him. His companion would occasionally shout warnings and encouragements but most of the time, she would spend her time running away from the enemies until either he or the Traveller struck them down.
The Traveller was a walking conundrum and Kaeya is drawn to that.
When the Traveller almost walked off the edge and into the spikes underwater, Kaeya had to push those thoughts of the Traveller away and quickly pull him away to safety. The Traveller was quick to reassure that he was fine while Paimon kept apologising to the Traveller for failing to notice the sharp spikes beneath the water surface because she got distracted.
(Kaeya had a few hunches and he is unsure of the implications if his hunches are right.)
Kaeya led the way after that, even after he had led the Traveller and his companion across the water, he did not let the Traveller go ahead of him. The walk was awkwardly quiet with a few comments thrown in by Paimon but neither Kaeya nor the Traveller had talked to each other.
"Paimon, did I do something wrong?"
"Paimon doesn't think so…"
The Traveller left the temple after destroying one of Stormterror's source of power and Kaeya was left alone to draw out the Abyss Mage lurking in the shadows. He had noticed the Abyss Mage stalking them and after the Traveller's near fatal accident, the Abyss Mage had moved closer to them. Concerned that the Abyss Mage had plans for the Traveller, Kaeya had quickly escorted the Traveller to the end.
"So it seems you were behind this."
A bright flash of fire came from behind and the Abyss Mage was dead in an instant. Diluc walked out of the shadows where he had hidden himself, scowling at Kaeya.
"Knights of Favonius...Always so inefficient."
"Agree to disagree. But, your involvement in this just made things a whole lot more interesting. But first, do you know the Traveller?"
Kaeya returned to Mondstadt, his information on the Traveller was still lacking in several crucial details. If he lacked information, all he had to do was to find them. And if he could not find the information, all he needs is to create an opportunity to do so. With the Knights of Favonius busy handling the aftermath of Stormterror, other issues had been placed at a lower priority. And with that, Kaeya began drafting up his plans.
When he heard that the Holy Lyre was stolen from the church, Kaeya was intrigued. Why would the Traveller need a relic of the Anemo Archon? When news came that the Traveller had defeated Stormterror with the Acting Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius, Kaeya was only disappointed that Jean had not invited him on that venture. When he heard that the Traveller was attacked on the same day that he returned to Mondstadt, Kaeya was mildly upset that the incident happened when he was out of the city.
The next time Kaeya met the Traveller, he had deliberately sought the young man out when news of the Traveller's arrival to Mondstadt reached his ears. He found the Traveller and his companion at Good Hunter with Amber, the three of them chatting while eating lunch. So deep in their conversation, they had not noticed Kaeya until he cleared his throat. He sat down on the remaining empty seat around the table they occupied and explained the reason he sought out the Traveller.
"So will you help me?" Kaeya asked, flashing his most charming smile that would make most ladies swoon and men gulp.
The Traveller remained unaffected however as he sipped his drink. "Are you sure you can't ask someone else? I can't even read a map, let alone find a treasure."
Kaeya was not sure why Amber had started laughing loudly.
In the end, Paimon agreed which in turn meant that the Traveller agreed to his request. Amber tagged along with the Traveller, reasoning that since he was still unfamiliar with the areas around Mondstadt, she should come along to help him get around.
If Kaeya had neglected to mention about the Treasure Hoarders, well, he had faith in the Traveller's abilities.
At Kaeya's suggestion, the Traveller and his party had made their way to the Adventurer's Guild, only for them to return a few hours later, frustration clear on their faces at the lack of information at the guild. The spy had moved and all Kaeya had to do was to point the Traveller to a location and wait for the rest of the Treasure Hoarders to take the bait.
When he heard reports from his informant that the Traveller had taken the map and was making his way to the first location.
"It's strange though," his informant had said, sparking Kaeya's curiosity.
"What's strange?"
"The Traveller. When he took the map from me, he sighed deeply and handed the map over to Outrider Amber. He didn't even look at the map."
"Oh? How strange indeed."
The sun was starting to set by the time the Traveller and his party made it back to Mondstadt. Kaeya sat on a bench near the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius and waited for the Traveller to seek him out. He was disappointed however, when the Traveller had chosen to seek him out the next day and Kaeya wondered if perhaps this was what Diluc meant by karma. Morning came and went and the Traveller showed up in front of Kaeya by late afternoon.
If anyone asked, Kaeya will vehemently deny that he waited for the Traveller the entire day and half.
The Traveller had requested Kaeya's assistance as he was the only one that the Traveller knew who had a Cryo Vision. It helped that the Traveller only knew a few people in the whole of Mondstadt.
"Kaeya, you have a Cryo Vision right?"
"That is correct."
"And it's light blue, almost white in colour right?"
"I believe that's the case."
"Good, just making sure."
Amber had not accompanied the Traveller this time, citing a mission to scout some hillichurl camps. Thus, the party only consisted of the Traveller, Paimon, and Kaeya. The Traveller led Kaeya, or more accurately, Paimon led the Traveller who led Kaeya who knew where they were all going but refrained from spoiling the fun to the waterfall near Springvale. When the Traveller obtained the treasure map, he sighed audibly, his face looking like he was just done with this whole quest and handed the map over to Paimon without looking at it.
Kaeya separated himself from the party, explaining that he had duties to return to. When he was far enough, Kaeya signalled to the other knights whom he had recruited for this mission to follow him. He backtracked to the waterfall and watched the Traveller enter the domain behind the waterfall with Paimon. Kaeya waited in the shadows with his knights until the targets he was after showed themselves. The Treasure Hoarders talked quietly amongst themselves at the domain entrance until a plan was made and one of them entered the domain while the rest of them waited outside. Kaeya smirked, it was time for him to get to work.
The Treasure Hoarders were easy to take care of and once he had ensured that the knights would be able to handle the rest, Kaeya entered the domain. When he spotted the Traveller, and the last Treasure Hoarder, Kaeya hid himself and peeked around the corner.
The Treasure Hoarder was threatening the Traveller who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here while Paimon was shouting at the Treasure Hoarder about fighting for the treasure from behind the Traveller. The Traveller was unfortunately stuck between the two and Kaeya was amused at the scene.
Well, it was time to save the hero of Mondstadt.
However, before Kaeya could interfere, the Traveller had snapped. The Traveller swung his hand, summoning his sword which created a blade of wind that hit the Treasure Hoarder, sending him flying backwards.
"Enough! I am DONE with this whole thing!"
Kaeya stopped in his tracks as the Traveller continued ranting at the now unconscious Treasure Hoarder. The Traveller ranted about how he did not sign up to hunt treasures, he ranted about how people kept giving him papers to look at even though he had mentioned that he could not read, he ranted about how he had to make a round trip because apparently he needed a specific Vision and he could not tell what Vision a person has unless he could see the Vision and people would think he is weird if he goes up asking if they have a Vision and what colour is it, he ranted about how Cryo looked too white that it blended into people but he could not tell because he had only seen one Cryo Vision in the entirety of Mondstadt and apparently he missed it because he had to have someone tell him that he had already met a person who had a Cryo Vision. The Traveller kept ranting and Paimon backed away from the Traveller, her face full of fear.
The Traveller was still ranting by the time Paimon had noticed Kaeya's presence. His knuckles were white from gripping the hilt of the sword and Kaeya felt that he should really step in before the Traveller ended up killing the Treasure Hoarder.
Kaeya approached the Traveller from behind when the latter had finally run out of words, ensuring his footsteps could be heard by the Traveller. The Traveller was panting heavily, his eyes glistening with tears. Kaeya stopped directly behind the Traveller and lowered his hand down on the Traveller's shoulder.
The reaction was immediate.
The Traveller swung his sword at Kaeya and Kaeya had barely dodged the swing. Paimon screamed in fear and the Traveller backed away from Kaeya but his sword was still pointing at him. It was as if the Traveller had not recognised him. The Traveller swung his sword again and Kaeya grabbed the Traveller's wrist to stop him from swinging the weapon.
"It's me."
"Kaeya?!"
The Traveller wanted to pull his hand back but Kaeya refused to let go. The Traveller was shouting and screaming at him now, taking out all the frustration he had accumulated on him. He was crying and shouting all while trying to pull his hand out of Kaeya's grip but Kaeya refused to let go. Eventually, the Traveller had stopped struggling and Kaeya led the Traveller out of the domain. Someone else can deal with the unconscious Treasure Hoarder, this was more important.
When they exited the domain, Kaeya led the Traveller to Mondstadt, his hand never releasing its hold from the Traveller's wrist. No one spoke in the entire journey back.
Kaeya led the Traveller to Angel's Share. As luck would have it, the bar was empty, saved for Diluc who had closed the bar to take stock of the inventory.
"The bar is closed."
"This is important."
The Traveller looked like a wreck. Kaeya sat the Traveller down on one of the barstools and Paimon floated down to sit on top of the bar counter beside the Traveller. Kaeya sat on the barstool beside the Traveller and Diluc disappeared out of the tavern to give them some semblance of privacy.
"It's not good to keep things to yourself."
"I'm sorry."
"Good, don't do it again."
"I..That's it? You're not mad that I almost killed you?"
"You can't kill me even if you tried. So tell me, how long have you been keeping your blindness a secret?"
"I wasn't keeping it a secret! I just...never told anyone about it."
"And the meltdown?"
"That's...different…Lumine...She was always there to stop me from going too far."
The Traveller began telling a story, a story of a boy and a girl, twins, who travelled world after world. Until one day, they were ripped apart from each other. The boy slept for a long time and when he finally woke up, he awoke to darkness and loneliness. The boy struggled to live life without his other half and met a friend who helped him. They came upon a statue and the god granted the boy power. They came upon a city and the dragon bestowed destruction.
Kaeya listened to the story. Paimon added on to the story at times but most of it was spoken by the gloomy golden haired boy beside him. Kaeya listened to the story, to the biggest secret the Traveller had hidden from anyone.
And Kaeya wondered if he had deserved any of that trust.