Jean was a meticulous person. It was to be expected for someone of her position and she made sure to personally look over everything that happened in Mondstadt. That included the daily reports that she should be having her subordinates look through like Lisa had suggested.
But she couldn't. She just wasn't that sort of person. And that was why she was the first person to notice something was wrong.
"Kaeye," Jean asked the Cavalry Captain in one of the few rare moments he had actually decided to show up in her office. Maybe that was when she would've realized that something had gone terribly wrong. "Are these all of the reports for today?"
"I'm quite certain," Kaeye replied smoothly.
"Really? We aren't missing anything from Lisa? The Adventurer's Guild? The Mondstadt fishing industry."
"No. Why do you ask? I don't believe there's anything wrong from what I've read."
The fact that he was actually taking the time reading reports in the first place was something she'd get back to later.
"That's the issue. Nothing happened." Jean for all effort she put in keeping herself composed couldn't hide the dread that was slowly building in her voice. "No reports of fish getting blasted in any body of water, no reports of another mountain being turned into a plateau, and no reports of Fatui or Hllichurls screaming bloody murder and running to Mondstadt wishing for sanctuary."
"Ah," Kaeye's one visible eye actually lifted slightly as he began to process her words. "That is unusual. It's been days since she was put into solitary. Something should've happened by now."
"Precisely," Jean said firmly as she quickly stood up and made her way around her desk. A brief walk and glance into the 'solitary confinement' room showed that it was unusually empty. "Have you seen her at all?"
"No," Kaeye replied.
The front door of Headquarters opened as Albedo entered the building. What he asked next caused Jean's blood to go Frozen. "Have you seen Klee? She hasn't been to my lab in a while."
"We haven't," Jean replied.
Albedo's eyes became wide as a glint of fear appeared in them. He never showed emotion and Kaeye never let himself act surprised either. It was a testament to how bad the situation was.
The three of them immediately made their way to Klee's bedroom. It was last place they could think of, not that she was ever seen using it in the first place. Most of the little girl's time was spent in solitary confinement or Albedo's lar, but there weren't any other places in Mondstadt she could be in.
Jean didn't even take the time to knock as she slammed the door open. As dreaded, it was empty though there was a brightly colored piece of paper left on the foot of the bed.
The Acting Grandmaster of Knight of Favonious walked up, picked up the note, and read it out loud to her two companions.
Mommy has gone away for a while. So, Klee decided to go look for her herself! I'll make sure to be good girl while I'm away. And don't worry I left plenty of treasures across Mondstadt that people can play with while I'm gone! I even left signs so that they're super easy to find!
"This is bad," was all Kaeye could say.
"The fact that Klee has run away, that Mondstadt has been turned into an active minefield, or that Alice could possibly be returning here on the off chance that Klee does find her?" Albedo asked.
"All of the above," Jean replied.
Klee skipped joyfully down the rough dirt path. Since her mommy wasn't in Mondstadt then she would have to look through all of Teyvat, one nation at a time! She didn't know much about the other nations, apart from the stories the Traveler told her about Liyue, so she was super excited to see what they were like. Of course, looking for mommy was really important but that didn't mean she couldn't have fun while doing so.
Klee deftly jumped over a log and braced her bag against her back.
It was heavy. Really heavy. But was because she made sure that she was super well prepared for her journey. She had brought her trusty glider and her backpack was filled with food, water, and plenty of Humpty Dumpties for everyone to play with! She couldn't wait to start handing them out with her fellow travelers.
Hopefully she'd meet plenty of other travelers she could be friends with. Starting with The Dawn Winery!
It wasn't often that Diluc was out personally inspecting the grapes of the Dawn Winery himself. Usually he was off doing administrative work in the manor, acting as the owner and a bartender of the Angel's Share, or doing his more nocturnal activities. It was rare to see him standing outside in the daylight. Not that he particularly hated the sunlight or the fair winds, he was just somewhat unused to it.
"This batch is good. Be ready to harvest them soon," he told one of his employees that stood nearby.
"Yes, Master Diluc. We'll get started on that right away."
"Good," he replied as he replaced his grape stained gloves with another pair. As he made his way back the manor though he noticed a figure in red joyfully skipping straight for it He immediately made his way to intercept before she could get anywhere near his home.
The little girl in red looked up at him as he approached.
"What are you doing here?" he asked Klee.
The Fleeing Sunlight, The Spark Knight of Favonius, or The Red Burny Girl as described by a boy with spiky silver hair, was an absolute menace. He had seen firsthand the destruction she caused in her wake and the aftermath of her explosive power. It was one of the other reasons why he was glad to have left the Knights of Favonius when he did. The last thing he wanted to deal with was the piles of paperwork that Jean had to go through every time Klee went off on another one of her adventurers.
"I'm going to go look for mommy!" she replied cheerfully.
"Alice?" Every adventurer had heard of Alice. A famous adventurer, the author of the Teyvat Travel Guides, and an elder of the Hexenzirkel. A free-spirited person of little constraint that also proved that 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' if Klee was anything to go by.
"Do you have any idea where she could be?" he asked.
Klee shook her head. "Nope! So, I'm going to look for her one nation at a time!"
"Does Jean know about this?"
Diluc had once hoped that Jean would be enough of an influence to prevent the daughter from causing as much destruction in Mondstadt as the mother had. That hope was sadly dashed when he had lost nearly a quarter thanks to one of the little girl's 'treasures.' It was why he refused to have her anywhere near his home.
Klee nodded. "Uhuh! I left her and Albedo a note!"
"A note that you were going to run away and look for your mother… wherever she could be."
"Klee didn't run away!" she argued. "They know I'm going to look for Mommy!"
"You should just go back and wait for her," Diluc said. It was because of this girl that he could focus all his efforts on dealing with the Abyss Order for the time being, so he couldn't exactly having her run off to Gods know where.
The Fatui wouldn't camp anywhere near Mondstadt because of what happened to the few that tried. There were also rumors that the Knights of Favonius somehow acquired what could be described as a Weapon of Mass Destruction that he himself had helped to propagate in order to ward the Fatui off. Said Weapon of Mass Destruction was also the reason for the current state of Hilichurls in Mondstadt. She exterminated them like weeds and was one of the few things that kept their populations in check now that Alice was gone.
"But-" Klee looked at the ground and frowned. "She's been gone for a long time now," she said sadly as she lightly kicked one of her feet. "Since she and Daddy are so busy, I thought that they'd want to see me again. I'm sure they miss me too."
Diluc sighed. He really wasn't good at dealing with kids. The only exception to that was Diona and that was because she was the only other bartender in Mondstadt that hated alcohol like he did. They got along well surprisingly once they had learned they had that in common. He still wasn't too sure how making cocktails was going to lead to the collapse of the Wine Industry, but he had to give the kid props for trying.
"I'm sure your parents miss you, but you shouldn't be running off like this. They left you in Mondstadt for a reason."
"I didn't run away!" Klee repeated. "Wouldn't you go looking for your Mommy and Daddy if they were gone for a long time?"
Diluc remained silent. His father had indeed been gone for a long time… but it was a place that he could never look. No matter how much he had wanted to.
"I know my Mommy told me to stay in Mondstadt," Klee continued, "but shouldn't I help her if I can? If what she's doing is taking so long, then maybe she needs some help."
If Diluc had disobeyed his father when he had been told to remain in the carriage. If he had jumped out and fought alongside his father, used his Vision for what it was meant for, would he be standing here today?
There was a little boy back then that wanted to listen to his heart and do what he thought was right. Now there was a little girl in front of him that wanted to do just that.
By all logic letting her get past him was a bad idea. Any rational person would never let a little girl run off alone to travel the world.
He never did admit to being a rational person though. Just a man with conviction with a single goal in mind.
Diluc stepped aside. He wouldn't help and he would definitely report this to Jean so that she could send her people to get her, but he wouldn't stop the girl either. He wouldn't get in the way of someone who resolved themselves to do what they needed to do. "If you do find Alice, make sure she doesn't get anywhere near my home."
"Okay Mr. Diluc," Klee replied cheerfully once her path had been cleared. Rather than continue on though she slung her pack around her body and set it on the ground. She dug through and pulled out a neatly and, admittedly, cutely wrapped package that she handed to him.
"What is this?" he asked.
"A present. For every fun traveler that I meet!" Klee replied cheerfully before continuing on her journey.
Diluc couldn't help but smirk as he watched the figure slowly shrink away in the distance. Maybe she wasn't so bad.
He carefully took off the wrapping paper of the package and found himself looking at… a very colorful and very volatile bomb. Honestly, he should've expected that.
"I hate kids," he said as it blew up in his face.
AN
Just a little something that came to me on a whim after rolling for and playing as Klee because she's so damn adorable. Will update irregularly whenever inspiration strikes.
