Grounded

22

"Oww!"

"Bear with it Estchel..." The sister said with a low tone of voice.

Este glared at his scuffed knees, wincing in pain from the light bruising near his ribs.

The sister healing him was an anemo vision user, who was well known for taking part in a lot of the adventurers guild's travels.

She was a good healer, and one of the few Mondstadt currently had.

The whole medical system of Mondstadt was skewed anyway.

There were local practitioners of medicine, but all were scattered around like the wind. Very appropriate in hindsight.

It was rare to find a doctor who wasn't just someone wandering around.

It was even more rare to find any pharmacies or clinics in Mondstadt. In Liyue there were lots, but not that many were willing to travel to Liyue for a hospital visit.

And even the few well known doctors had prices so high only moderately rich people could hire them.

Usually merchants, like his own father could afford medical care like that. However Este's penny-pinching father was adamant in taking advantage of the small amount of free medical care the church provided.

Mondstadt once more relied on the church and it's sisters. All the church staff here had medical training. When someone was injured, or a person drank too much at a bar, they were taken to the cathedral.

Este huffed, and glanced to the side.

Barbara was looking at her feet with a guilty expression, and Simon was standing behind the six-year-old with a tired but stern expression.

Este quickly looked away.

He and Barbara had fight.

It was a really childish and petty fight, one between a daddy's girl and a seven-year-old with adult memories.

They only brawled on the floor a little, with Este hesitant to even lightly slap Barbara but the girl vicious with her hits full of intent.

Either way it was a fight nonetheless.

Este's mother wasn't present, so the only parent to resolve the aftermath of this fight was Simon.

"And done!" The sister smiled, and Este gave a small upwards quirk of his lips.

Simon sighed, and then nudged Barbara.

"Now, apologize Barbara."

Barbara stiffened. She glanced towards Este, and the two accidentally made eye contact.

She looked away from him quickly, and huffed.

"Don' want to..." She mumbled as she kneaded her fingers on the fabric of her father's robe.

The fight had started because of petty reasons.

Their conversation had started out normal. Talking about books or whatever came to their minds at the moment.

Then Barbara complained to Este that her father was busy all the time, and couldn't see her at all.

That complaint had struck a nerve in the very salty Este, who still wasn't over the fact that Veera's own cheery father was now just a memory, and that his current father was present maybe once a week in his life.

Este had loved his former dad. The man had been a delight, and now all he had for a father figure was the distant shadow of a man in the form of Mr. Krüger.

Este could still remember how the words left his mouth.

Now he winced in guilt over them, but at the moment when Este had said them, he had felt a small amount of satisfaction from saying the cruel words.

"Maybe work is just more important than you for him."

Barbara had gaped at him. Eyes wide with hurt. Then she had pursed her lips with anger clear on her face and thrown cutting words back at him.

"Your father doesn't even bother to come home!"

Este had scowled at her. From there the words had just gotten more cruel, and looking back he couldn't even distinguish who said what.

Barbara's parents were on the brink of divorce, Este's own parents had a long distance relationship that continued onto affect Este.

"Your mother hates your father!"

"So does yours! Maybe work will be so important to your dad that he leaves you!"

"Your mother will leave you first!"

"Maybe your mom is too boring for your dad!"

What ended up breaking the string of words and turning the fight physical was unsurprisingly a jab at something they both knew was untrue.

Este can only cringe back in horror at what he had said in a fit of childish anger.

Barbara had been right to hit him.

"And maybe your sister hates you!"

The moment after he had said it, he was swamped with guilt.

Involving Jean was really too much.

Barbara had gasped in horror. Rage had soon twisted her expression to something feral, and she had bounced on him with her fists raised.

She hit his head, and he fell to floor where he scraped his knees. 

From there she had continued hitting his back and chest while ranting. Este didn't really fight back, he was feeling far too guilty from the words alone to try facing Barbara off.

She had yelled at him with tears flowing down her face, and that was how one of the sisters found them.

Este sighed.

He picked at the stray strands escaping his ponytail. Barbara was still shuffling around on her feet next to Simon with a few angry sniffs escaping her ever so often.

Eventually, Este gave a huff, and stood up from the seat the sister had been healing him on. He was mostly to blame for this, so might as well get this apology over with.

"I'm sorry for saying horrible things and being mean."

Este averted his eyes from looking at Barbara, and dug his fingers to the hem of his shirt.

Barbara's eyes widened, and turned misty.

Her lips wobbled, and her teary eyes started to glaze over as she prevented herself from outright sobbing.

"I'M SO SORRY ESTEE!"

Barbara at last burst out crying.

She launched herself from her father's side, and slammed like a rocket onto Este.

They both fell to the tiled floor, a sobbing Barbara clutching onto a winded Este by his midriff.

"I said mean things! It was bad to shove you! And hit you! I'm so- sho- sorryy!!"

Mid talking Barbara's voice started to get mumbled. Este couldn't make heads or tails about what she said, but he knew she was feeling guilty for certain.

He gave her a wry smile.

"It's ok, it's ok."

He laughed a little as her arms tightened their hold around his mid section. She burrowed her face deeper to his shirt and Este snickered.

"It was my fault really, I'm sorry Barbara."

She sniffled a little, and nodded her head.

"M'hm. Este's bad. We're both bad."

"Yes, we both said bad things."

Her lips wobbled, and eyes turned even more watery.

"Barbara hit you..."

"And you're forgiven for hitting me."

At last, she gave a small fragile smile.

Their fight was over.