chapter 13 - weinlesefest

"Big Sis! Wake up" I woke up to Klee's cheerful voice. I quickly glanced at the clock on the wall.

7:20 AM.

"What is it Klee?" I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes. She climbed up in the bed, keeping her hands suspiciously behind her back. She brought her adorable face close to mine then a wide grin appeared on her face.

"Happy birthday, big sis" she handed me a little book-like something.

Oh, right. 29th September. My birthday.

"Thank you, Klee" I gave a kiss on the top of her straw-blonde hair. "And what do we have here?" I stared at the booklet she gave me.

"You know, when I went to Inazuma during spring with big brother Albedo, I made a book with big sis Yoimiya and I thought I will make you one too!" she stated. "I hope you will like it" she started fidgeting her fingers, looking down. I couldn't help but give her a warm smile as I ruffled her hair.

I looked down at the title. An adventure with Big Sis Tessa and Klee. The booklet contained drawings of me and Klee and a little story about us visiting the magical kingdom of Dodoco.

It was adorable. Warm tears formed in the corner of my eyes.

"Thank you Klee, I love it" I assured her. "You are very talented"

"Yaay, glad you like it" she hugged me tightly. "Aand, the best thing is that the Weinlesefest starts today so we can celebrate in Springvale! Klee will use her mora to buy you any delicious snack you want!"

"Oh, sweetie that's not necessary, let's just have some fun, alright?" I patted her back. "And eat breakfast, I am starving"

I got out of bed and prepared breakfast for the two of us. I made toast with cheese and ham, a small fruit salad and we drank some valberry juice.

After that, I dressed up and we headed to Springvale for the opening ceremony of the festival.

Jean made a great speech, I even saw the Traveler from the distance. The atmosphere of the festival was just as lovely as I remembered it from my childhood. Loud chatter of people, the scent of festival food and wine, all mixed in the chilly weather of autumn... It was all so magical.

I remember the festival from my childhood. Crepus took us there, we could play bartender at the winery's stand, serving grape juice for each other. We even created those little festival chests together with Kaeya and Diluc, adding stupid things in the box, like shells, pretty stones, and drawings.

What great days those were.

As we were walking through the stalls, I saw Kaeya approaching us.

"Happy birthday, Tessa" he smiled at me. "And happy Weinlesefest for the both of you. I am not really good at giving gifts, so, if you want to drink anything today, let me handle it"

"Thanks Kaeya, but there's no need"

"Don't be so polite, if you don't accept it, I will force it on you"

"No doubt" I grinned at him.

It was only the first day of the festival, but it was already crowded. Klee left to play with her little friend, Diona, while I accompanied Kaeya for wine tasting.

Literally every citizen of Mondstadt was there in Springvale.

Except one.

I didn't really want to meet Diluc, I still tried to avoid him. But still, I hadn't seen him for a while. And it was strange that the great wine tycoon wasn't present at the festival.

As always, Kaeya was reading my mind.

"He won't be there, Tessa" he stated. "Master Diluc never appears on social events, only on the yearly ball at the winery, hosted by him"

"I don't care" I shrugged.

"I know you do" he gave me a closed-eye smile.

God, I just want a conversation with him where Diluc doesn't pop up as a topic.

"Whatever. Let's just enjoy the festival" I changed the topic.

"I do enjoy it" he stated. "Do you fancy eating something? It would be a shame if you wouldn't remember the taste of all these fine wines tomorrow"

"Yeah, it would be nice"

We grabbed some Mondstadt grilled fish at a stall, and we walked down to the lake shore, to enjoy our meal in the sunset.

"Ah, this takes me back" I sighed, chewing on my fish.

"Yeah, we used to eat together here during the festival. Once father could catch us and scold us about little kids needing to eat, not just play and he forced so much food on us" he giggled.

"Yeah, Uncle Crepus always worried a little too much about us"

"And he was right to do that, we were such bad kids"

I giggled at this. Yeah, we used to cause so much trouble. And now where are we? We grew up and became a wine tycoon, a cavalry captain of the knights, and a researcher of the Akademiya. Who would've thought?

"Let's go back" he stood up after we finished eating, offering me his hand. I took it.

We arrived right behind the Angel's share stall.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TESSA" confetti was popping everywhere, as our usual drinking buddies and friends surrounded us. Jean, Lisa, Eula, Amber, Rosaria (she probably only came for the drinks), Venti, Albedo, Klee and even the Traveler and Paimon.

I couldn't say anything because of the shock.

"T-thanks, e-everyone" I stuttered once I found my voice.

So that's why Kaeya insisted to eat at the lake. So they can prepare the surprise for me. I couldn't help, some tears started rolling down my face.

"Here, there's a cake too, big sis" Klee pointed at the nearby table. "We should taste it!"

Someone handed me a knife and I started to cut the cake. I was in complete shock, but it was really... touching, that so many people cared about me.

It was probably the best birthday I've had for years. We were drinking and chatting late, Lisa took Klee home at some point, I was grateful for that.

After the celebration ended, I went home. I was swaying a little, but the cool air of the night was really helping me sobering up.

When I arrived at the apartment, I noticed the postbox barely closed. I found a small package inside, wrapped in brown paper.

I went inside, Klee wasn't sleeping here tonight. So I could turn on the lights without worrying about waking her up. I first had a shower, but I couldn't stop thinking about that package.

After I finished I sat at the table to open the package. It contained a book and a card with pretty handwriting.

First, I read the card.

Dear Tessa,

I found this little something at home, I remember you used to love it as a child.

Happy birthday.

- D.

The book was my favorite storybook from my childhood. It told a tale about a forest fairy being saved by a flaming knight, but in the end they couldn't be together, as the knight's flames would hurt the fairy. It was a sad story, but I still loved it. It had so much potential. I remember coming up with alternative happy endings for the story. Diluc and Kaeya always made fun of me for that.

I just sat there, in complete daze. I couldn't place the intention behind the gift. But my stupid self felt way too happy.

Idiot Diluc.

I left the book on the table, and went to sleep before I could overthink even more.