We all know that Kaeya is reckless when it comes to tactics. I think that he is also unpredictable in fighting. Looking at his fight with Collei, it appears that Kaeya likes to utilize a variety of different methods regarding his vision. I think the same goes for day-to-day vision-less combat.
AKA: Jean meets Kaeya at school. Kaeya feels the consequences that come with being an outsider in a foreign land that he is all too familiar with from someone his age for the first time.
When Jean Gunnhildr was just five years old, she was already accomplished enough in both academics and combat to be put in a class with children two years above her own age. As for why she could not move forward even further despite having mastered the academic curriculum…there was always this one boy she never quite managed to beat in sparring class, much to the dismay of her mother.
He was a young boy with flaming red hair and eyes of glowing rubies with a passion and talent for a civil fight, just shy of two years her senior. He was of noble status like everyone in that class, and his father refused to let Diluc move up an age group in his studies.
She didn't realize the consequences of befriending a Ragnvindr until Diluc disappeared from the city of Mondstadt in August, not showing up to school for three or four months at a time, leaving young Jean all alone, not quite as close to the other children in their classes.
"Can we visit them sometime?" Young Jean had asked her mother at seven years old, pouting her lip whilst curled up in Frederica's lap.
As it was already the end of November, marking the end of the harvesting season, Frederica affectionately explained that, "Master Crepus intends to return to the city soon, Jeanie," while ruffling the golden locks of her daughter. "Patience my dear girl."
Just a month later, Diluc had not yet returned to the city and Jean's parents separated. She never dared to bring the topic up with her mother again. Not with how much more harsh she had turned afterwards.
In fact, Jean was half-convinced that Diluc's family had moved away from the city in its entirety. Her old friend Samantha's family went to Liyue over the summertime, and seven year old Jean was completely unaware of what a tavern was, let alone the fact that a wine industry existed in Mondstadt. So when Diluc's red mane was spotted at the front of their arithmetics classroom, speaking to a tiny new boy with hair as dark as the night sky in early March, just a few days shy of her eighth birthday, it was a pleasant shock to her.
Diluc grew quite a lot taller, Jean noticed.
"Jean!" Diluc almost immediately beckoned her over to him upon spotting her entry to the classroom. When she approached, he excitedly introduced the boy next to him. "This is Kaeya, my little brother!" The redhead proudly announced.
The dark-skinned boy in question smiled timidly and held a small hand out. "Hullo," he greeted with a light accent Jean could not place. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
The first thing Jean noticed about Kaeya was that he had one eye, and that it was the prettiest eye she had ever seen. She didn't yet have the vocabulary to describe the unique colour she would later discover to be periwinkle or lilac, and lacked the creativity to use a term like star glitter to describe the twinkle unique to him. Kaeya was also incredibly small, bone-thin and short and so light on his feet a simple breeze could probably make him topple over. His size was comparable to a tall five year old, but the way he held himself quite literally screamed he was way older than he looked, so Jean quietly asked Diluc to clarify later on in the day.
"He's eight," the nine year old told her. "Father says he's really small because he couldn't get proper food for a really long time."
The unfortunate problem is, even though Jean can take the initiative to not assume anything about Diluc's mysterious younger brother, their classmates evidently did not. Kaeya's first day happened to be a free sparring day, where no combat was taught and individual children competed against each other in front of the class.
"I want to spar with Kaeya!" Stefan Klein, the tallest boy in the class, requested as soon as their instructor opened the floor to volunteers itching for a fight. Everyone knew that he just wanted to bully the tiny new kid who couldn't possibly win in a fight.
Kaeya remained silent for a few moments, and just when Stefan sneered, the dark-skinned boy opened his mouth. "I accept the challenge," he said, soft voice carrying across the field they all stood in.
Even Diluc looked shocked.
"Have you been in a fight before?" He whispered fervently to his brother. "Stefan's the third best fighter in this class!"
"Never too late to start learning," Kaeya had said, grinning from ear to ear, and simply walked to the centre of the sparring rink with the pace of a casual stroll.
"Kaeya, what weapon do you wield?" Instructor Schmitz had asked him.
"Nothing," Kaeya answered instantly. Upon the surprised gasps within the class, he bashfully looked at his feet. "Must I have one?"
Everyone was in great shock. No weapon?! How will he block the blows of Stefan's claymore?
"Aren't you almighty powerful," Stefan taunted Kaeya the exact moment they as he tightened his grip around the dull mock-sword they used for practices in his hands.
The nervous energy in the class was unmistakable when the fight began. Most classmates were shaking in fear as they had fallen many times under Stefan's blade. Others held curious expressions on their faces.
No one had expected Kaeya to be able to swiftly disarm Stefan and then pin him to the ground within seconds of the start of their fight.
When he offered a small smile and a tiny hand to help the fallen boy to his feet, Stefan slapped his hand away. "You dark-skinned monster!" The Mondstadtian boy spat at the foreigner's feet, and half the class cheered.
For a second Jean thought her new friend was going to cry, but all he did was chuckle to himself, and then he walked right back to stand beside Diluc, a grin plastered to his face.
Kaeya never agreed to a fight without the Instructor's command after that.
Even years later, when he was the person with authority in hand as a Knight, Kaeya rarely sparred with his comrades, preferring to silently observe on the sidelines instead.
By the time they were teenagers, Kaeya was able to hold his own for a while against a vision-wielding Diluc. By the time of Eroch's arrest, Kaeya's skills with a sword nearly matched Grandmaster Varka's. When Grandmaster Varka took the Calvary with him on his expedition, Jean was the only person Kaeya ever truly practiced with.
Sometimes she would lose those fights, and sometimes Jean would emerge victorious. Yet, one thing was clear. Whatever the results of the battle is, Jean would never be able to understand why she won or lost that particular battle. It left her head spinning every time.
"That boy fights like a wild beast, unrelenting and unpredictable," Master Frederica said once after witnessing a battle between Jean and Kaeya. "He behaves as if the lives of everyone in a country relies on his survival."
It was a dig at Jean's loss that day, but also an honest observation.
Jean was envious of his instincts in combat.
Jean was left with nothing but pity when she learned the reasons behind Kaeya's unique abilities in combat.
Originally, I was going to have Kaeya break a leg or something and not cry, and then one of my racist classmates said something offensive to me (I'm not white) and I thought, "Kaeya probably received a lot of racism before he got recognition in the Knights…", so this came to mind!
This isn't a very heavy chapter for sure, as there's a single racist comment and everything is kind of brushed away, but I intentionally mentioned that Kaeya refused to fight anyone in a spar unless he was forced after that incident. As an immigrant, I remember every time I was told by strangers on the street to go back to my country, or when my classmates laughed at a mispronounced word in class, or when people at school judged what I was eating for lunch.
Today, I lower my head on the streets, avoid big words in speech in fear of mispronunciation and never bring "weird" food to lunch at school.
For someone like Kaeya who was destined to turn his back on the foreign country that raised him with no one like him by his side, actions and comments of that nature probably hurt much more.
Racism is real, and sometimes you don't even notice it until it's shoved straight into your face, sometimes not even then. Young Jean did not consciously realize how horribly twisted Stefan's comment was, but old Jean observed the effects of that insult.
That was because Jean was raised to not discriminate against race. To her, everyone who lives in Mondstadt are Mondstadtians, immigrant or not, her duty is to protect the country as a whole.
Stefan evidently disagrees.
And I'm just so fucking tired of racist people.
