Paradoxon [Kaeya x Reader]

5. Bitterness: The Taste of Wine

Your arms extended into the air, towards the child, and in just the right moment, you grabbed it underneath its armpits and stopped its chaotic descent into the ground. Seemingly unaware of the possible outcome of crashing into a stone plate, the little girl squealed with joy.

"Again! Again!" she demanded, but you shook your head as you put her down.

"Sorry, little one," you told her while kneeling down to talk to her. "This was the last round. Now return your glider to Amber, please."

"Awwww..." She pouted, but you remained steady in your decision. With a stern glance, she understood, took off her child-sized wind glider and took off up the stairs to where Amber was already waiting. You followed her up in a normal pace.

"Phew!" Amber put the glider away into a box with all the others and began to gather the rest of the equipment. "Now that was a lot of work."

"It was. Unbelievable how heavy some of these children were!" you exclaimed while helping her clean up the station. "You might think they would be light since they're so small, but you really can't judge a book by its cover. My muscles are going to ache tomorrow for sure!"

"I hope the work wasn't too hard for you?" Amber asked, seeming a bit unsure if she had asked too much of you.

"No way," you reassured her. "It was fun. And the children enjoyed their first gliding experiences. Besides, I'm glad I could help you out."

"Good. Still, I owe you for this one. Let me buy you a drink sometime!"

You agreed, and soon you had cleaned up everything and put away all the equipment back into the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. Having done your job for today, Amber and you both decided to finally have a look around all the booths for the Harvest Festival.

There were a lot of games for children (you didn't care, the both you still had fun participating), small workshops for decorations - especially the traditional Mondstadt paper flowers - people showing their skills in crafting, carving and forging and there were booths that sold items and clothes. But most importantly there was a lot of food and wine. The reason for this small festival was the harvest, after all.

Amber urged you to try all of her favorite traditional dishes until you were so stuffed, you thought your dress was going to burst open. But they were delicious! You enjoyed yourself a lot.

From time to time, you caught yourself looking for a certain someone, but you never spotted his blue hair anywhere in the crowd. With an unwanted blush on your face you tried to shake off the strange desire to see him again. You didn't know why you felt this way, and it was slightly unnerving. But Amber always managed to distract you from your thoughts by pulling you towards the next fun activity, meal or drink.

For two hours, you enjoyed yourself at the festival until all the booths started finally closing. The sun had started lowering itself and the children were returned home, but many adults continued the festival in bars.

You and Amber would continue the festival at Dawn Winery. Since there were a lot of nobility and important people present, this part of the festival was quite posh in contrast to the celebrations in the city. One of the merchants was kind enough to give the two of you a ride on his cart.

The party was already in full swing when you arrived. Many of the Knights of Favonius and even important people from other nations were there, all in expensive and beautiful suits and dresses. You walked through the masses on the porch, Amber following close behind you. Both of you were not really comfortable with the clothes you wore for working most of the day. Between the people, Adeline locked eyes with you. With her finger pointing up to your room and a thumbs up, she gestured you that she had already prepared something to wear for both of you. You sent her a flying kiss back and led your friend upstairs where you finally quickly washed yourselves and changed into something more proper.