Teucer's brother was not what Amber was expecting. Not even by a mile.

The younger boy had spoken about his older brother all the time that Amber had a very firm picture of what she thought he would look like. Older, tall, with a kind face but a hard business disposition. She had pictured him to have Teucer's hair and deep blue eyes, which the man did have but, he was not nearly close to the image Amber had conquered up. Plus, Amber was surprised he wasn't fat. Wasn't most rich people fat?

"And that's when big sister kicked him right in the nose and broke it!" Teucer punched out adding emphasis to his story as he regaled the treasure hoarder's attack. It made Amber smile watching him as he rattled on, his patient older sibling listening to the whole thing with a soft, warm smile on his face. It was obvious how much the older man cared for his sibling. It even made Amber a little jealous of the younger boy.

Outside the little cave, Amber had heard the wind howling, rain coming down in sheets. The alcove was barely big enough to fit the three of them and build a fire, Amber couldn't even stand without her head touching the ceiling. Looking outside Amber saw lightning flash across the sky followed by roaring thunder. There would be no moving till it stopped which from the way the trees were bending under the wind wouldn't be for a while. That at least bought Amber a little bit of time.

She had nearly panicked with Teucer's older brother had tried to obviously get rid of her. Luckily it seemed that the man had not caught on as she bolstered through his objections. And she seemed to have the weather and Teucer on her side. No matter what she had to make it to Liyue Harbor and without Teucer she had no excuse to keep going south. Kayea had eyes and ears everywhere. Amber knew for a fact he would find out she was traveling alone before she could even make it to the Wangshu Inn. She knew the other knights and Jean meant well but Outrider also knew they were hiding something about her Grandfather from her. The way they always seemed to change the subject when her Grandfather's whereabouts came up or the fact that there was no trace of where he had gone, had always made a lump form in the pit of Amber's stomach. Then, by complete chance, she had been riffling through the library when she had found the scrap of map shoved into a book about famous Mondstadt gliders. She had been planning for months on how to secretly get to Liyue Harbor without the others knowing what she was up to, and then by complete chance, Teucer had dropped right into her lap giving the perfect excuse.

Amber had finally come this far. No one was going to make her turn around.

"And that's when you showed up." Teucer finished his tale with a flourish biting down into his chick and mushroom skewer with gusto. His bother laughed the light from the small fire Amber had built flickering across his face. He couldn't have been much older than Amber was herself, the sharp angles of his face making his blue eyes stand out more. Looking across the fire their eyes met as the man gave a pleasant smile.

"It seems I'm even more in your debt." Teucer's brother said. "I'm sorry my little brother is such a handful."

Amber couldn't help but blush. She raised her hand shaking them out in front of her.

"Please you don't need to thank me. As I said it's a knight's duty to protect those that need it Mr….uhhhh."

Suddenly Amber realized that she didn't even know his name. She felt her face flush at her stupidity. This whole time Amber had been traveling with Teucer to find his sibling and she had never bothered to ask the younger boy what his brother's name was.

The man smiled and for a fleeting second Amber almost thought she saw a shadow pass over his face. The firelight must have been playing tricks with her eyes.

"For business reasons, I prefer not to divulge my real name, but you can call me Childe."

Amber saw Teucer pause giving his bother an odd look. "Childe?" The younger boy repeated.

"It's a code name," Childe explained. "It's the name I use for business in Liyue since the Liyuians have a hard time pronouncing my given name."

Amber thought it a little odd for a businessman to have a code name, but then again she wasn't well versed in Liyue's trade customs. Maybe it was completely normal and she was just too unexposed to the culture to not see it as weird.

"That's so cool!" Teucer looked delighted eyes gleaming. "Can I have a code name too?"

Childe made a show of placing his hand on his chin turning his eyes up to the ceiling. "How about Mushy Scrunch Face?"

Teucer made a face sticking out his tongue. "No! I want a cool code name like you!"

"Turtle Scooter Butt."

"That's worse!"

Amber couldn't help but laugh. She had always wondered what it would be like to have siblings. Growing up it had just been her and her grandfather for so long. Then it had just been her. The thought sobered her quickly making her laughter die off.

"I want to be called Commander Cyclops!" Teucer raised one hand covering his left eye punching his other arm out, hand balled into a fist. "I fight crime and save the day and bring all the children the best toys in the world."

"Sure, sure," Childe reached up and ruffled the boy's hair making the younger sibling stick his tongue back out at him. "How about we fight crime tomorrow Kiddo? It is well past someone's bedtime."

Teucer frowned crossing his arms over his chest. "But I'm not tired," the younger boy grumbled.

"Bed." Childe's tone was both gentle but final.

Teucer mumbled something along the lines of big brother meanie under his breath before climbing to the back of their little shelter where Amber had laid out two small blankets for the boy to sleep on. Five minutes hadn't even passed before Amber heard soft snores coming from under the thin blanket.

"You should get some sleep too," Amber whispered making sure to keep her voice down as to not wake the young boy. "Feel free too—"

"I'm fine." Childe's voice was flat and he peered at her over the fire. "You should get some sleep I'm sure you're tired after everything."

Amber blinked. For some reason, she felt like she was talking to a completely different person than the man she had been watching batter with his younger sibling literally a minute before. His voice seemed to now hold a thin, cold, dark tone under his otherwise nonchalant aura. Maybe she was tired but it almost seemed like Childe was threatening her.

"I," She started but the man cut her off.

"I know how exhausting Teucer can be, by all means, you deserve some rest." Suddenly Childe was back to his carefree and pleasant self, making Amber doubt if there had been any change at all. She had a bad feeling forming in the back of her head, but maybe she was still too charged up from the events of earlier. Childe seemed to be every bit of an adoring brother Teucer made him out to be but something, something, about him made Amber's mouth run a little dry. Whatever it was she couldn't seem to place her finger on it.

"Okay." The outrider finally relented relaxing herself down onto the stone floor next to Teucer, pulling her traveling cloak over herself as a makeshift blanket. She closed her eyes and steadied out her breathing letting sleep hit her exhausted body. Before fully drifting off she felt Childe staring at her and it made her insides twist a little. Why she didn't know. Then finally she felt him relax before rolling himself down onto his back on Teucer's other side and sighing. Not having the energy to fight it anymore, Amber let her mind drift the rest of the way off the sound of heavy rain drowning out any background noise.

.

It took a moment for Childe to realize where he was when he opened his eyes. Sometime during the night, he had rolled over to his side, arm folded under his head as a make-shift pillow. His back was stiff and his neck had a kink in it. He felt his eyes adjust and alertness came back to him slowly, he must have been way more tired than he thought he had been, the days of dread and frantic searching wearing him out.

Childe blinked eyes finally coming into focus, and he stiffened. He wasn't the only one that had turned over in their sleep. The outrider girl had curled over onto her side fist coming up to touch her lips as her little snores assaulted Childe's ears. She was so close their noses almost touched. The Harbinger could see her long black lashes laying against her pale skin. She must have had Liyuian blood judging from the color of her hair and the lack of tone of her skin. Her eyes though were not the normal Liyue brown or black. Maybe one of her parents was from Liyue, Childe thought absentmindedly. Mondstadt was known to be a melting pot of sorts being the city of freedom and all.

Frowning Childe realized his train of thought had wandered off in his half-asleep state. Coming more fully awake he knew he still had a bit of a problem on his hands. He needed to ditch the knight as soon as possible. It would only make matters complicated if he came back to headquarters toting a Knight of Favonius behind him. It was already hard enough to keep his true identity a secret from Teucer. What in the world was he supposed to do if he ran into a Fatui skirmish group. The logistics of the situation made Childe's head hurt. It would be in his best interest if he could just convince the girl to buzz off.

Except that was already proving a harder task than it should be. Buying her with Mora had already proven fruitless, all knight's honor and all. And the way she had bluntly pushed off comments that he and his brother were perfectly fine traveling alone made Childe's eye twitch. It didn't help Teucer seemed to be absolutely enamored with her. One might even say the little ten-year-old had developed his very first crush, which very much was not helping anything.

Still, the way the knight had shoved through Childe's objections last night didn't sit right with him. His gut was telling him that this Amber girl was hiding something, and he had learned quickly in life his gut was always right.

Amber muttered something in her sleep shifting her fist down away from her mouth to curl around her form. She shivered then seemed to settle down, before much to Childe's shock, she shifted closure and he felt the tips of their noses touch.

The Harbinger froze.

Childe suddenly realized he could smell her. Like many vision users, her scent was a mix of normal human smell mixed with an element of their vision. For Amber, she smelled like a warm fireplace. Very similar to the smell Childe remembered from when he was younger living in a cramped two-bedroom hut back in Snezhnaya with his parents and siblings. Long before he had decided he wanted to play hero and he wandered into the woods with nothing but a rusty blade at his side. Long before he had fallen into that hole and Childe's whole life had started over again. The smell was both familiar and foreign to him and under it, he could discern the lingering stench of sweat and dirt that came from long traveling and a lack of baths. He himself couldn't even remember the last time he had showered.

Amber sighed and Childe felt her breath tickle his nose. He jerked realizing he had let his thoughts wander off again. He had no idea where his mind had been going off to but he needed to come back to the matter at hand. His movements must have finally roused the knight from her sleep, her face bunching up before opening her eyes, blinking in the dim light of their shelter.

There were flecks of brown in her eyes, Childe realized as she stared up at him focus hazy and still half asleep. If the Harbinger looked closer he could even see faint freckles dotting the line of her nose and cheeks.

Alertness started to seep back into Amber's gaze before she blinked seeming to come fully awake. Childe realized that neither of them had moved away with mere inches separating their faces. Blinking once more the Harbinger saw the girl's eyes widen to the size of saucer plates, face flushing a bright shade of pink before she jerked up and away.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to invade your personal space there."

The knight looked absolutely embarrassed her blush spreading across her whole face. If it had been different circumstance Childe would have found it entertaining how flustered she was working herself into. He enjoyed riling people up until they were red in the face and sputtering nonsense at him. Except for this time he couldn't grasp even the slightest bit of amusement from his current situation.

Because with a sickening thud Childe realized he had been staring at the girl in her sleep.

Amber seemed completely unaware of the mental whirlwind Childe's mind had suddenly become as she slapped her open palms against her cheeks a few times to bring herself the rest of the way awake. Childe saw her look around taking in their meager surroundings before looking at the ground between them.

"Um, Childe?"

The Harbinger heard the knight say his fake name bringing him back out of his thoughts. He realized he was still laying on the ground arm still tucked under his head.

"Yeah?" Childe tried to make his voice seem completely disinterested and frowned when it came out softer than he had intended.

"Where's Teucer?"

.

"TEUCER!" Childe cupped his hands around his mouth trying to make his voice carry as far as he could. He felt like kicking himself. How in the world had he not realized Teucer wasn't there when he had woken up. Better yet where in the name of the Tsaritsa had the little brat run off too.

The Harbinger heard the trees rustle above his head as Amber jumped down landing gracefully next to him. "No sign of him." She reported looking worried before wiping the frown off her face. "I sure he couldn't have gone far."

Childe wanted to scream at her. He knew she trying to be reassuring for his sake but the last thing he wanted from this Knight of Favonius lap dog was for her to be trying to comfort him when Teucer was who knows where getting into who knows what kind of trouble. He was annoyed, frustrated, still trying to understand why in the world he had been ogling the girl next to him in her sleep minutes earlier, and right now just being near Amber was making Childe want to wipe out anything in his path.

Sighing Childe pinched the bridge of his nose trying to push his rage back down in its' cage. Now was not the time for him to go a warpath. He needed to focus. Finding Teucer was a top priority right now. Dealing with the knight girl could come later.

"Listen," Amber rummaged around her pack pulling out a map. "I'm going to find the tallest cliff near here, climb up, and glide around doing an aerial sweep. I'm positive I'll find him that way."

"Here, give me that." Childe reached out trying to take the map out of the girl's hands. The less this knight was involved the sooner Childe would be able to find his bother and move on with his life. The last thing he needed was help from the enemy faction even if the other party was completely oblivious to the fact they were on opposite sides.

Amber recoiled, pulling the map out of Childe's reach. Even if it was for a second the Harbinger was sure he saw the smallest bit of fear flash across the knight's eyes.

"It's no problem!" Amber sputtered voice coming out just a little too positive. "I'm the best wind glider in all of Mondstadt. If I can't find Teucer no one can!"

Something was off. Childe narrowed his eyes at the girl in front of him. If he wasn't sure before Childe was completely positive now. Amber was hiding something. Her smile was a fraction too forced, her posture a little too guarded. The Harbinger had to hand it to her she sure could put up a convincing act but Childe, well, he was the king of facial masks, and right now he could completely see through her.

"By all means let me do the heavy work." Childe tried to make his voice as disarming as possible stretching his hand out. "He's my brother. I'll find him. This really isn't something we need to argue about."

Amber gave a little laugh pull the map further away from him. It was faint but Childe could hear the strain in her tone.

"Arguing who said anything about arguing," She started trying to smooth over the conversation. "Trust me I'm trained in missing persons search and rescue. I've got this."

Childe frowned crossing his arms over his chest. He was going to get nowhere at this rate. Flipping a switch he put on his most disarming smile and softened his posture lowering his hands to his hips.

"Well," He chirped. "Where's the highest place around? We'll both glide around, that way we can cover more ground."

Amber visibly relaxed seeming to take his new change in attitude. "Well," she said pulling the map back open in front of her and looking down at it. "The closet peak wo—"

Childe snatched the map out of Amber's hands before she even had time to react. Flipping it over the Harbinger gave it a good look over and found…a completely normal topographical map of Liyue. This, Childe thought with an air of disappointment, this is what the little knight was so worked up over. His eyes skimmed over the cream-colored paper feeling more aggravated than he had started this morning, before reaching the bottom of the map. There he finally noticed another map plastered with care next to the harbor so as to hide it from the other side.

"Give it back."

Amber's voice made Childe finally look back up at her. Her face was a cross been shock and fear and the cheerful happiness had vanished from her tone.

"Give. It. Back." Amber snapped again making sure to punctuate each word. "That does not belong to you."

Childe felt his pulse pick up a beat. The knight was panicking, Childe could see it in her eyes as her hands formed little fists and stuck done at her sides. It was giving Childe that heady high that he craved so much, the one he flung himself in a battle to find. The Harbinger had outmaneuvered her and now he had something she wanted.

"What you going to do about it?" He cooed loving the way Amber's eyes flashed at him. "How about this? I'll give it back if you tell me the real reason your in Liyue Amber, Outrider of the Knights of Favonius."

At the sound of her full title, Amber's face went as red as her headband. She lunged trying to snatch the map back but Childe simply danced away from her lifting the paper above his head. Amber wasn't by any means short, but Childe still had a full foot and a half on her.

"Give it back it doesn't belong to you!" Amber's voice was now full panic mode, and it fueled Childe's amusement to no end. The Harbinger knew she had to have been hiding something and from the way she was jumping trying to grab her map back, it proved that she had an alternate agenda that did not involve her honorable duty of escorting his brother to Liyue. He was going to press her until she came clean and then he was going to get rid of her.

Childe realized Teucer might ask questions after Amber was gone, maybe even get upset, but it was better to get her out of the way now rather than later. He was not about to just let some complete stranger, much less an enemy, run around Liyue with his youngest sibling while they had a hidden plot. He would simply just make up some excuse to smooth it all over and buy his brother whatever he wanted later.

"You want it back." Childe sneered down at her. "Come take it from me."

Amber swung a fist had his head and Childe caught it with ease his larger hand dwarfing her smaller one. Her eyes were radiating heat as she glared up at him, and it edged the Harbinger on even more. Childe could feel Amber's vision powers coming off her skin in waves. She was ready to fight him. He could feel it.

"Give it back." The knight's voice was no more than a hiss.

"Make me." Childe hissed back.

Childe was ready for a fight. He was ready to take this fiery knight on full tilt. He knew he was going to win. The only people he had ever lost to was his master and that duel vision wielding Aether that had beaten him squarely at the golden house. The girl in front of him wasn't even close to that level.

What Childe wasn't expecting was for Amber to rear her leg back and plant her knee squarely between his legs as hard as she could.

Pain, the worst pain, erupted from his groin making all the air in Childe's lungs leave his body in a sudden whoosh. He staggered completely taken off guard as Amber reacted faster than he could and grabbed her map out of his hands. It was a dirty move but an extremely effective one. Raising her hand Childe saw Amber take the opening she had made and slap him firmly across the face with her open palm before darting away in a flash of red and black disappearing between the tree line.

It took a moment for Childe to completely register what had just happened. As the pain between his thighs receded he realized he had just been bested by a girl that couldn't have been older than he was, and now she was running away from him at top speed.

Standing up Childe rushed after her thru the trees his vision roaring to life within him forming water currents under his feet.

Now, now he was mad.

.

Run.

At this point, it was pure instinct that pushed Amber forward. She had messed up. She has messed up badly.

As an outrider, Amber prided herself in being able to think clearly under any amount of stress. You never knew what each day would bring, but thinking back she realized she had freaked. In her mind's eye, she could see Childe holding the last shred of any physical link she had of her Grandfather over her head and she realized every ounce of her training had abandoned her. She had completely and undeniably lost her cool.

And now here she was running as fast as she could feeling Childe's murderous aura gaining on her heels

Amber glanced over her shoulder locking eyes with her pursuer for a split second. Childe looked livid, using his vision ability to glide across the ground catching up with her much faster than she could outrun him. She was going to have to fight him. A part of her was hoping she could outrun him and avoid conflict, maybe even give him some time to cool down as she looked for Teucer before reuniting and acting as if nothing had happened, but from the look in Childe's eyes, Amber knew that wasn't possible now.

Steeling herself she pulled her bow free and whipped around on her heel drawing her quiver back. Childe almost looked surprised that she had finally turned to face him and as he quickly decreased the space between them. Amber almost would describe his face as pleased which made her skin crawl

Feeling the power of her vision fill her Amber let her arrow loose sending a firing flash across the grass. Pulling back Childe slashed it out of thin air with a water blade he formed from his hand like he was smacking down a bug. Amber gasped. She knew something wasn't right with Teucer's bother. No toymaker she'd ever known would have reflexes that fast. Childe was fighting like a trained warrior.

Amber let off a volley for fire arrows in Childe's direction each one getting slashed down with ease. Within seconds he was right on top of her sword coming down at her face. Throwing up a barrier Amber saw steam erupt from the point of contact between Childe's water sword and her fire shield. The look in his eyes was something almost feral as Childe snarled summoning a second water blade and slamming down with enough force to make the ground under Amber's feet rumbled. Her barrier was holding but it wasn't going to hold for long. She was panting pushing as much energy into it as she could.

"Listen," Amber started. "I don't want to fight you." She needed to get a hold of the situation before it spiraled even more out of control.

Childe's eyes flashed bring his face as close to hers as he could through the barrier. "Too bad for you I do."

Amber watched in horror as Childe reared back slamming both blades down onto her shield which in turn shattered. Reacting she raised her bow and blocked his attack before his blades ripped her to shreds bending half backward under the force.

"Just who are you?" Childe demanded applying more pressure. "Who sent you here with Teucer?"

"No one!" Amber snapped back deflecting Childe's blades to the side as she sidestepped him trying to taking his knees out with a low kick.

Childe dodged her spinning and slashing at her with blinding speed causing Amber to summer salute backward.

"Did Varka send you? Were you sent here to spy on me?" Childe snarled following her movements with ease. "Or are you even a Knight to begin with?"

"What are you talking about!?" Amber screamed uppercutting him with her bow in a fiery streak which Childe deflected sending steam hissing into the air around them. She dodged and twirled out of his range making the man's face darken with rage.

"Why were you hiding the map?!" Childe screamed back, attacks becoming more aggressive, more pointed, more lethal.

"It's personal!" Amber dodged, swing around to roundhouse kick the man in the head. This was bad. Childe had her completely on the defense. She had to stun him and get as much distance between him and her as she could.

With a satisfying thud Amber's kick landed against Childe's cheek, but the other man didn't budge. She felt a shock of electricity shoot up her leg taking her by surprise before Childe reached up as if were the easiest thing in the world and grabbed her ankle. With a shocked yelp, he slammed her down against the ground knocking the air out of her.

Stunned Amber scrambled to recover. She had let go of her bow on the impact and she reached to grab it again only to feel Childe's hand grab her wrist and slam it back into the grass next to her head. Against her neck, she could feel the cold sensation of his water blade as he held it to her throat using the rest of his body weight to hold her down.

Amber struggled but knew it was pointless. Childe had her pinned.

"Now," Childe started voice sounding nothing like it had before. "I want some answers, let's start with who you really are."

"I'm Amber," She gritted out through clenched teeth. "Outrider for the Knights of Favonius, escorting your brother-"

Childe leaned closure until Amber could feel his breath against her face blade digging in her flesh. Just little more pressure and he could easily slit her throat.

"I don't believe you," Childe hissed at her under his breath. "Why were you hiding the map? What are you really doing in Liyue?"

Amber wasn't sure what made her snap first. Maybe it was the stress of having someone put a knife to her throat. Maybe it was the feeling of Childe's weight above her crushing her legs. Or maybe it was the fact that for the first time in four years she had finally found a glimmer of hope that she was going find out the truth of her Grandfather's sudden departure. She was going to find out why he had left without saying a word, without leaving a note, without telling his confused, lonely grand-daughter why he was leaving and not taking her with him, and right now Amber could feel it all going up in smoke. It was all slipping away from her as if she had never held it in the first place and all of it was her fault.

"I'M JUST TRYING TO FIND MY GRANDFATHER!"

Amber realized she was on the verge of tears voice coming out like a cross between a scream and a sob. Blinking hard and fast she pulled herself back. She was absolutely not going to cry in front of this monster and instead glared up and the man leaning down at her.

Above her, Childe's face had gone completely blank. He looked confused, face scrunching up as he looked back down at her.

"You," The man started before trailing off. "I…"

"Uh…Big Brother?"

Amber felt both of them freeze before their heads turned in unison to see Teucer standing between the trees eyes big and round as he stared back at them. In one hand he held a half-eaten apple while the other one held two fresh apples against his chest. The ten-year-old blinked at them sprawled out on the grass before opening his mouth.

"I found some breakfast."

Note: So last chapter I had a reviewer make the point of saying that Amber could have readily dealt with Marvin and his goons in the last chapter, and it led me to believe I need to clarify somethings.

First and foremost I don't see Amber as weak and unable to defend herself at all, so yes, the reviewer is completely right. Amber totally can and would have taken out the treasure hoarders had she been given a chance. The thing is both the manga and Amber's story (both of which I have read btw), make a very clear point to emphasize that Amber's true talent lies in her ability to react and readjust in battle along with her unbelievably strong determination and will power. She's not strong in the sense of raw power like Diluc is or in Jean's case natural talent. Amber's strength comes from the fact she thinks with her head when she fights and uses her surroundings to her advantage.

Now with that being said, it's my own personal headcanon that Amber would have what I like to call "Captain America" syndrome when she's fighting. The safety of her companions and innocent people takes priority over everything else when in a fight, and in this case her companion was a non-vision-using, unarmed, ten-year-old kid. Amber wasn't running away because she couldn't fight the treasure hoarder head-on, she was running because getting Teucer to safety was way more important to her than flexing against Marvin and his gang.

If Childe hadn't shown up when he did Amber would have most definitely fought her attackers, but it's hard to play offense when your also playing defense. As for thanking Childe, really that was just Amber being polite.

Anyways thank you to the reviewer for pointing out the issues I hope this clears the air a little.

Also Complete side note for readers that have not read the manga. It's canon that Amber can form a shield with her vision. It's also BS that Mihoyo would dangle this in front of my face and NOT let me have it in the game.