Brilliant Flames

Meeting The Hero

"Reeeey," I whined, tugging on my brother's sash, "let's go already, it's getting late." I watched in mild annoyance as the brunette only continued to sip from his wineglass. With another huff I crossed my arm over my chest, the clinking of metal from my gloves caught his attention and he ruffled my hair with a smile. 

"Just let me finish this glass, then we'll go okay?" 

"You said that five glasses ago!" I countered with another huff.

"Don't act like that hermano, you've been enjoying the bard's performances. I promise this time, after this glass, we'll go." His amber eyes were full of sincerity. He meant it this time, at least. I relaxed back into my chair with a nod and settled in to listen to another performance. 

That was, until an unfamiliar chuckle rang through the air and a stranger clad in blue stood at our table. He was tall with darker skin than ours, blue hair framed his face messily, a long ponytail trailed over his shoulder and down his front. What was more interesting was his eyepatch and the one visible eye with a strange star pattern in it. A shorter man dressed in even stranger clothes stood beside him looking rather bored. His golden eyes were rimmed in purple though with how he held his head, you couldn't tell as his messy blond hair almost hid it. 

"Ah sibling bickering, how nice it is to hear that sound once more." The blue haired male said, bringing his own wineglass to his lips to drink. Rey sat a bit straighter in his chair as if expecting trouble. The man laughed, shaking his head. "Oh no no, I'm not here for anything of that nature. Forgive my manners, I am Kaeya, Calvary Captain of the Ordo Favovius. And this," he gestures to the man beside him who had leaned against the back of a chair, "Is Aether, Hero of our great city and Honorary Knight." 

"Fancy titles for a man with one eye and another that looks about ready to drop dead," Rey says before sipping from his glass, his posture was straighter, eyes sharp and focused, he wasn't enjoying this interruption. 

"If I may be quite blunt," Kaeya says, an amused grin twitching at the corners of his mouth, "you two aren't from around here. Judging by your clothing I can say you're not from Liyue either. What is your business here in Mond?" He sits in the chair on the other side of Rey, leaving Aether to sit in the chair he was previously resting against. I felt almost bad for the blonde, he was clearly exhausted. Aether just folded his arms on the table and laid his head down, sighing.

"Kaeya don't interrogate them, they're probably just tourists." Even his voice sounded worn and had a slight rasp to it, I couldn't resist reaching over and rubbing his shoulder in a comforting way, before taking my own sash off and folding it up to make a sort of pillow and offering it to him. "Hm? Oh no, thank you though. I'll be alright." 

"Alright then." I leave the fabric on the table if he decides to change his mind and return my focus to the conversation between my brother and Kaeya. 

"From Natlan you say? That's quite the journey. What brings you this far east then?" Kaeya's tone had relaxed, in fact he had the demeanor of one chatting with an old friend, as if he had known us for years and was waiting to hear of an epic tale. He idly swished the wine in his glass as he listened to Rey, the one eye not covered by an eye patch focused on every little movement my brother made. 

"Actually it was my hermano here who wanted to venture out into the other lands, I thought it would be a good experience so I came along." He took a sip from the glass, and I almost wondered how he hadn't run out of wine yet. 

Kaeya nodded, smiling warmly, "Well if no one else has yet, allow me to welcome you to our great city of freedom. You'll find no greater wine nor any better entertainment. Mondstadt prides itself in being a land that doesn't need its archon to prosper. Though that's not to say we don't love our archon. If you haven't yet, you should drop by the cathedral and say a prayer or two at the statue."