Growing up, Klee was never lonely. Despite only having a single parent, Klee had many parental figures in her life. People like Jean, Lisa and Kaeya, just to name a few. Similarly, despite not having actual siblings, Klee has people whom she can look up to. People who are her siblings in all but blood. People like Albedo, Sucrose and of course, Aether the Traveller.
The first time Klee heard of the Traveller, Klee had just returned to Mondstadt with Albedo and Sucrose. The city was in chaos. The streets were filled with drunkards in revelry, the people were talking about a mysterious foreigner who appeared out of the blue and stopped Stormterror's rampage, and the Headquarters of the Knights of Favonius was filled with knights trying to control the aftermath to no avail. However, before Klee could find out more, Albedo sent her back to her room and told her not to leave.
(Albedo had to explain later, after he found Klee moping on her bed, that it was not because she was being punished but because he was worried for her safety.)
After that incident, Klee began asking for stories of the mysterious Traveller. The knights were happy to oblige the young girl and tales of the Traveller's legendary exploits spew from their mouths. Amber told her exciting tales of the adventure she had with the Traveller. Kaeya would tell her exaggerated stories while adding a flair of mystery to the Traveller. Lisa would always tell Klee how cute and adorable the Traveller is. Jean would always mention how helpful and competent he is (compared to the rest of Mondstadt). All of the stories only made Klee want to meet the Traveller. It was not fair that everyone got to meet him except her. Even boring Diluc got to meet the Traveller before her!
"The Traveller? I've met him. He's…very memorable."
The day Klee had finally met the Traveller, the thought of meeting Aether had not even crossed the young girl's mind. Most of her thoughts were preoccupied by the news of her missing treasure. It was also due to her preoccupied thoughts that she had not been watching where she was going and ended up crashing into the Traveller (who had fallen backwards into Razor, causing all of them to end up on the floor in a messy pile). Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask), Paimon had escaped the sudden takedown completely unscathed.
"Wha-?"
"Ah, red burny girl."
"Amber?"
"No. That other red burny girl. This red burny girl."
Klee apologised profusely as she got off the bodies before realising who she had knocked down and began gushing to the Traveller about all his exploits that she had heard. Paimon and Razor told her more stories of the Traveller (who was now blushing in embarrassment). Despite wanting to hear more, Klee remembered the reason why she had been running down the hall and she knew she had to leave now before she could no longer track down her missing treasure. Fortunately, the Traveller and his team volunteered to assist her (Klee was internally and externally shrieking in joy at that) and the party left Mondstadt with Klee cheerfully leading the way.
Jean was right, Aether is a really nice person!
When the party arrived at the spot where Klee had buried the treasure, the Traveller promptly fell down the very large dug out pit where the treasure used to be buried. Razor had to pull the Traveller out of the hole while Klee tried to apologise for not stopping him from falling into the hole despite the Traveller's assurance that it was not her fault. Klee promised to point out any large holes in the future. That aside, the hole did look recently dug and the Traveller was able to find a trail with his elemental sight. Razor had sniffed the air and warned the party that a dangerous being had dug out Klee's treasure.
"Danger. Familiar," Razor growled.
"Why would anyone want to steal my treasure?"
"Is treasure same as thing red burny girl show last time?"
"Yes!"
"...Razor hope mountain not on fire again..."
Klee did not understand why the Traveller had started looking worried but before she could ask, Razor perked up all of a sudden and dashed deeper into the forest without a single word. Klee gasped in surprise before running after him. Klee came to a stop behind Razor who was now growling in front of a gloating Abyss Mage. The Traveller came out of the bushes a moment later, being led by Paimon. Now greatly outnumbered, the Abyss Mage quickly fled with the stolen treasure in hand.
"My treasure!"
"Give treasure back!"
"Hmph! I see the little girl brought her friends with her! Time for a change of plan…"
"Hey! Come back here!"
Razor bolted after the Abyss Mage and Klee hurried to catch up to them. Behind, Klee heard the Traveller sighed deeply and muttered something about 'green', 'dendro' and 'everywhere'.
(Klee made a promise to the Traveller that she would help him light up the way with her bombs after finding out that the Traveller could only see with elemental sight. The Traveller made her promise to never do that instead.)
Unfortunately, the party was unable to catch up to the Abyss Mage, having been slowed down by the various obstacles and enemies left by the Abyss Mage. Fortunately, Razor was able to pick up the trail after every battle and eventually, he was able to lead the party to the entrance of a domain. Despite being tired from chasing the Abyss Mage and disliking dark and scary places, Klee was determined to get her treasure back before anyone could get hurt by it. After all, explosions can hurt people and that would make Jean angry. The survival rules said so!
As the party ventured into the domain, Razor was leading the way while the Traveller covered the back. The exploration went smoothly but Klee did not understand why Razor and Paimon had to help the Traveller duck under the lasers or go over them. But if the Traveller needs help, Klee is happy to help!
"Thanks Klee…" the Traveller said, his voice sounding a little faint as the broken soot-covered laser trap continued to weakly spray out sparks.
The Slimes and Hilichurls left by the Abyss Mage to ambush them were definitely not expecting a bomb, let alone multiple bombs. Razor was definitely expecting them however and thus, fulfilled his most important duty as a friend: he encouraged her.
"Red burny girl missed one."
"Thanks Razor!"
"Are those bombs!? Where is she keeping all those bombs!? Why are there so many!?"
"Paimon is starting to think that maybe we're not needed."
By the time the party had caught up with the Abyss Mage, Klee was excited to finally be able to retrieve her treasure (and hopefully hide it better so no one can steal it again), Razor was bored due to the lack of combat while Paimon and the Traveller looked sufficiently traumatised. The Abyss Mage however, seemed oblivious to Paimon's and the Traveller's expression as he proceeded to gloat in front of them. He did not even notice the Traveller's face paling when he pulled out Klee's treasure.
"That's…a lot of dormant pyro energy…"
"Bad?"
"It's, at the very minimum, twice as condensed as the normal bomb."
"Bad."
According to eyewitness accounts, the explosion was big, fiery and beautiful (Paimon) despite being also much louder than a normal explosion (Aether). It would have been great if one could apply the same impact to other combat forms (Razor). Shame about the Abyss Mage who was blown away to parts unknown (and hopefully will never come back).
Even though Klee had stopped crying, she was still sad during the journey back to Mondstadt despite everyone's efforts to cheer her up. Her bomb had hurt someone and that meant that she had broken the very important survival rules. They returned to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters and Klee confessed to Jean about what had transpired. Jean listened to Klee patiently but in the end, her words were not painting a clear picture and Jean could only deduce what she could only assume. Thankfully, the Traveller and his party stepped in to explain what had actually happened.
"It's not Klee's fault. The Abyss Mage triggered the bomb and blew himself up. Why would you even touch a Pyro symbol? Pyro element is very volatile."
"Mage idiot. Blew himself up."
"The Abyss Mage is a bad guy!"
Klee was touched that everyone was willing to stand up for her. After finally convincing Jean not to punish Klee, the Traveller quickly ushered everyone out of the room before Jean could get them to explain where the bomb had originated from.
"Klee, where did you bury the bomb in the first place?"
"Sorry Jean, we still have commissions to do and Klee promised to help, see you later!"
"Traveller…"
"Look at the time, we really ought to be leaving."
"You can't even see!"
"Say your goodbyes everyone."
"Bye Jean!"
"Aether!"
Klee felt guilty for leaving with the Traveller but even she did not want to incur Jean's wrath after having been saved from it by the Traveller's efforts. Her feelings of guilt aside, what did Jean mean when she said that the Traveller could not see? When the Traveller stopped walking, Klee realised that she had spoken out loud. She had not meant to! Now the Traveller looked sad and it was all Klee's fault!
"Wait Klee! Don't cry! Ugh! Razor, help me! I'm not good with kids!"
"Razor not good with kids too."
"Paimon, do something!"
"What do you expect Paimon to do!?"
In the end, the Traveller brought Klee to sit on a bench to calm her down while Paimon and Razor went off to buy dinner.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I made you sad."
"That is…It's not your fault. Klee, I used to be able to see but I can't anymore. Not normally anyway. I can still see some things with elemental sight. Besides, I got used to not being able to see."
"Then why do you look sad?"
"Because sometimes you don't know what you have lost until you actually lose it."
The Traveller took a breath and turned his head to look up at the blue sky (even if he could not see how beautiful the clouds were). Klee sat a little closer to the Traveller and hugged him. Neither of them said anything while Klee wiped away any remnants of tears.
"Hey Klee, do you want to hear a story? A story about two siblings who wanted to fly, who wanted to see different worlds?"
As the Traveller told his story to her, Klee was entranced with the tale woven from the Traveller's memories. Even when Paimon and Razor came back carrying food in their arms, Razor sat beside Klee while Paimon sat on the Traveller's lap (and stuffed herself with sticky honey roast), the Traveller continued to tell his story.
"I want to meet your sister one day. Do you think she'll like me?"
"I think Lumine would love everything about you, even your bombs."
"Then I'll have to let her meet Dodoco! Aether, I have a request. Can I call you 'big brother' like Albedo? I know you already have a sister…but you're like a big brother to me!"
"I don't mind."
"If red burny girl is lupical sister, is red burny girl lupical?"
"Hey! Paimon wants to be Aether's sister too! Paimon should have first dibs since Paimon met Aether first!"
Klee loves her family even if they are not her real family. And if anyone says mean things about her big brother Aether, she will use her bombs on them. Jean had agreed to look the other way while Kaeya and Amber and promised to help her out. And if Sucrose upgraded Klee's bombs just for the occasion, no one has to know.