You are worthy of affection, my dear

Siblings are not only in blood...

Eula Lawrence was quite hated by a lot of people in Mondstad,it wasn't a secret and she wasn't delusional enough to not know it. So, it came as no surprise to her when people sneered or even said some really hateful things to her. She wasn't one to care about such things.

What she did care about though was when people talked bad about people she considered family or close friends. If she heard someone rattle on and on about how they hated a person whom Eula cared about, well let's just say that things didn't end in a happy ending for the rattler.

Kaeya Alberich was one of the people Eula deeply cared about. Although it could be argued that she was a mutual friend of Kaeya and Diluc, she gravitated more towards Kaeya. Perhaps it was her feelings of solidarity with the only other Cryo allogene in Mondstad at the time but she regarded Kaeya as a really good friend perhaps a younger brother even.

Eula and Kaeya's introduction was a very peculiar instance. She didn't remember much now but she did remember that they had been in a forest and Kaeya had been crying with scraped knees and bruises all over him. Eula did not know what had happened after that but she had a vague recollection of taking Kaeya back to the city on her back when the small boy had calmed down. She still clearly remembered every word that her father had screamed at her for "touching and carrying an illegitimate child who probably has a commoner's blood in him, saving someone from the Ragvindyr clan and acting so unladylike in front of the whole city." She did not wish to think about the punishment that had followed the little outburst.

The next day, Kaeya and a red head had come to talk to her in school. The red headed boy seemed to be the same age as her while Kaeya looked tiny standing behind him. Perhaps they had thanked her, she did not know as their voices were drowned out when her cousins yelled at them to "scramble away impure bloods, we do not wish to be tainted by you!"

For a long time, their talks had only consisted of constant "sorry" and "thank you" to each other.

And before she knew it, Kaeya and Diluc had become her friends. Kaeya's tiny form and his shy nature had made Eula become his self proclaimed older sister.

Now, years later, Kaeya was the only one who knew what Eula Lawrence actually was like and Eula was the only one who knew what went down in Kaeya's head. Diluc had once been the best person to know Kaeya but Diluc had been missing since the last 6 months and well...Eula was worried.

She wasn't worried for Diluc much as she knew that the man was more than capable of handling himself, she was worried about Kaeya. The boy suddenly had a Cryo vision and claimed that his surname was Alberich rather than Ragvindyr.

Although to most people, Kaeya looked perfectly fine, perhaps a bit lonely due to Diluc's absence but Eula could see the agony hidden behind the smiles. She could see the way Kaeya flinched whenever someone pointed out his vision even though the vision was on full display on his belt for anyone to notice it almost seemed as though Kaeya was punishing himself by putting the vision in such an obvious location.

She had a vague feeling that this whole ordeal had something to do with Diluc's resignation and disappearance but she couldn't watch on anymore as the man she considered a little brother lost the spark of life in his eye little by little as days went by.

So, when it became clear that Kaeya had no intention of leaving his office, she decided to visit the newly appointed cavalry captain of Mondstad.

Stepping into the familiar room but finding Kaeya instead of Diluc on the head seat was quite disorienting but Eula had other things to worry about.

Kaeya looked dead on his feet. His eye seemed red and puffy, the pen was slipping from his hands and he still hadn't realised that Eula was staring at him.