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Water pooled around Kaeya’s ankles, cooling and gently tickling the skin there. He hummed and wiggled his toes amongst the silt at the bottom of the river he stood in. Upstream, he could see Bennett and Razor splashing at each other, maybe a hundred metres or so away. A fish brushed against his leg and he shivered slightly, but didn't move. It was slimy, but he'd put up with that.
Fischl, who seemed slightly tired after the excitement of the afternoon, was playing around with her bow. She was sparking bolts of electro up the length of the wood, and wrapping it around the tips of her arrows. She did so in combat all the time, and her companion, Oz, shot off bolts all the time. It was interesting to see how she did so out of combat, though. Her eyes were watching the energy with interest, and it was almost cute to see her acting so young for once.
Her put on act of being a Princess only led her to being frustrated, more often than not. People would tease her, or she'd be misunderstood. Bennett, Razor, and himself were a few of the only people that simply listened to what she said. Though Razor didn't quite catch everything she said.
Kaeya turned back to the hilichurl camp he was keeping an eye on. They were far away enough they wouldn't attack them unless provoked, and Kaeya didn't really want to get into battle right now. His shoes weren't on, and he saw at least one with a cryo crossbow. He didn't want his feet to get frozen today, thank you very much.
He hummed softly, closing his eyes and basking in the sun for a moment. The kids were capable, incredibly so. Razor especially, given he'd grown up in the forests, but Bennett and Fischl weren't bad fighters. They'd be alright if he took his eyes off for a moment.
It had been a pleasant afternoon. Klee and Albedo had been with them earlier, and they'd had a picnic. Fischl had helped Klee with her fish bombing, while Razor helped Albedo find some wolfhook for both paints and his alchemical work. Kaeya and Bennett had practised the kids sword forms. He was far improved from when they'd first started doing so.
So it was fairly safe to say that Kaeya was in a relaxed mood. There hadn't even been any major incidents from Bennett's bad luck, just a scraped knee that Albedo had patched up before he headed back to Mondstadt with Klee.
He heard a crackle of electro and turned his head back to Fischl. She'd been quiet before, what had changed?
She'd seen the hilichurls, and now one of her arrows was glowing purple and aimed directly at one of them. They weren’t all prepared to attack them, and there was no guarantee that if she picked one off they wouldn’t figure out where it was from. He couldn’t get to her in time to tell her to stop, and he certainly couldn't run at her. She might turn and shoot him.
“Fischl, stop!” Kaeya yelled, and in a split second, several things happened.
Fischl turned to look at him, eyes widening with shock. The arm holding the bow lowered her aim, and in her shock she loosed the arrow that she’d readied. Kaeya, who had an arm out towards her to signal her stop, hadn’t moved at all, simply hoping she’d turn to face him and put the arrow down.
The arrow did go down, but it also fell into the stream, and purple bolts of electricity arced across the top of the water, curling around Kaeya’s ankles and bit into the muscles there. His legs seized beneath him, and he went toppling onto his side in the electro-charged water.
“Kaeya!” Fischl cried out, dropping her bow and rushing to the riverbank. She stopped at the edge of the water, aware that she couldn’t go in to get him. “Kaeya, are you okay? Captain Kaeya, wake up please!” She pressed a gloved hand to her mouth and stared at his collapsed form. Behind her, Razor and Bennett came to a stop, joining her with twin looks of horror.
“Captain Kaeya!” Bennett yelled, and he went to step forward to fish Kaeya out of the water. Razor’s arm stopped him, and he tried to force his way through in protest. “Razor, what are you doing, I need to heal him! He’s hurt!”
“No. Water electric. Benny get hurt too, not able to help.” He said sternly.
"What do we do, then! We have to get him out, or he'll get hurt worse!" The white haired boy sniffled, turning to his friends.
"All our shoes are leather! That's not conductive, the electro shouldn't go through it. Razor and I should be more resistant to the electro, so we can get him out!" Fischl said quickly, biting on one of her painted nails. "That will work, right?" Her usually formal and dramatic way of speaking slipped, a testament to her worry.
Razor nodded sharply, and sat down to pull his boots back on. Fischl paced beside him. She was worried about Kaeya. He was hurt, she knew it, and it was all her fault for not being careful, and not asking about the hilichurls before she started to act. Of course Kaeya knew they were there. He wasn't a captain for nothing, he was a tactician and he knew to keep an eye out for potential dangers.
She sniffled, hastily wiping the tears that built in her eyes with her fingers. Bennett squeezed her forearm reassuringly, a little smile on his face. He was obviously worried too, and probably convinced it was his bad luck that had rubbed off on Kaeya.
"Get Kaeya out now. Before hurt worse." Razor said simply, but the tight draw of his brows told Fischl he was also concerned. She nodded at him, and followed him into the river. They were careful not to slip, or to touch the water with their bare hands, grabbing only Kaeya's dry clothes and using them to lift him out of the water.
Carrying him out was more difficult; the deadweight of a grown man was difficult for two teens to manage. Not to mention that he was still twitching slightly, even when he was completely out of the water and being lifted to dry land. When they got him out, Bennett was quickly rounding on them and helping lay Kaeya down. He'd rolled their picnic blanket up to support his head, and quickly kneeled beside him.
An orange glow started up around his pyro vision, spreading across his fingertips. He pressed a hand gently to Kaeya's chest, most worried about the heart problems he knew could come from electro-related injuries. The captain's breathing evened out.
His eyes were quick to open, though slightly delirious and glancing at them in confusion.
"Captain Kaeya!" Bennett yelled out, and his cry was twinned by one from Fischl. Fischl kneeled down beside him on his other side, gently holding his hand.
"Kaeya, I'm so sorry!" She sniffled, blinking quickly. Her lower lip quivered. She hadn't meant to hurt him. It was an accident! His yell had shocked her, she hadn't expected it. Normally, it was fairly quiet when she shot, or at least she knew to expect the noise, but she'd been completely surprised.
"'s alright, Fischl. Was an accident. Calm down, kid."
"B-but-!"
"It's okay, kid, you just gave me a little shock is all." He joked, his lips drawing up in a little teasing smirk. Fischl sobbed out a laugh despite herself. "But we do need to go back to Mondstadt, quickly alright? Electro wounds can cause problems."
She nodded, and watched as Razor and Bennett supported Kaeya to stand. He laughed a little at the height difference, ruffling their hair before wincing. Fischl stood to follow them. There was nothing she could do to help, other than hold Kaeya’s boots and the picnic basket and make sure he got better back in Mond.
When he got out of the cathedral, she'd make him rest so much he'd be sick of her after a week.