One bright afternoon, Klee grabbed Ren's hand, her eyes sparkling with a new and exciting idea. "Pixie prince! Come on! I want you to meet my big brother!"
Ren, intrigued, allowed himself to be led through the Knights of Favonius headquarters and up a winding set of stairs to a secluded, sunlit laboratory. The room was a fascinating clutter of alchemical equipment: bubbling beakers, complex distillation arrays, and chalkboards covered in intricate, esoteric formulas.
Standing at a large central table were two familiar figures. One was Sucrose, her shy, twitching ears perked up with interest as she examined a glowing potion. The other was a handsome young man with pale, ashen-blonde hair and startlingly intelligent, turquoise-teal eyes. He was sketching with intense focus in a notebook. This was Albedo, the Chief Alchemist and Captain of the Investigation Team, and Klee's adoptive older brother.
"Albedo! Sucrose! Look who I brought!" Klee announced, her voice bouncing off the stone walls.
Albedo looked up from his sketchbook, his calm, analytical gaze landing on Ren. A flicker of profound curiosity entered his eyes, the look of a scientist who has just encountered a fascinating, unclassified specimen. Sucrose gave a shy, nervous wave, her cheeks flushing slightly.
"So this is the famous 'pixie prince' I've been hearing about," Albedo said, his voice a calm, thoughtful monotone. "A pleasure to meet you, Ren. Klee has been… quite effusive in her descriptions."
The conversation that followed was, for Ren, another delightful plunge into the depths of a brilliant mind. Albedo, much like Lisa, was not interested in pleasantries. His curiosity was scientific. He asked Ren about the heater, his questions precise and deeply insightful, focusing on the alchemical properties of the alloys and the nature of elemental energy transference. Ren answered as best he could, and the two of them, the genius alchemist and the boy from another world, fell into a deep, technical discussion that left even Sucrose looking a little bewildered.
The peaceful, scholarly atmosphere was shattered, however, when Jean strode into the lab, a look of weary resignation on her face. Her eyes scanned the room and immediately fell upon a half-finished diagram on one of the chalkboards—a diagram that featured one of Klee's "Jumpy Dumpty" bombs connected to one of Sucrose's Anemo-powered vacuums.
"Klee," Jean said, her voice dangerously quiet. "What did we say about collaborative, unapproved, explosive-alchemical projects?"
Klee and Sucrose both flinched. "B-but Master Jean!" Klee stammered. "We were just trying to make a Jumpy Dumpty that could pull all the bad guys into one place before it goes boom! It's for efficiency!"
"Solitary confinement," Jean said, her voice leaving no room for argument. "For the rest of the day. Now."
Klee's face crumpled, but she knew better than to argue. With a sad, tearful wave to her pixie prince, she allowed herself to be marched away.
With his explosive friend temporarily indisposed, Ren decided to explore a different, quieter part of the city. He made his way to Mondstadt's magnificent cathedral, its tall spires reaching towards the heavens. The vast, serene interior was filled with the soft, colored light filtering through stained-glass windows, and the gentle, beautiful sound of a woman's singing.
He followed the voice and found a young woman with bright, blonde pigtails, dressed in the pristine white and blue robes of a deaconess. She was tending to a small group of children, her voice a melody of pure, healing warmth. This was Barbara, the Shining Idol of Mondstadt and the Deaconess of the Favonius Church.
She finished her song, and the children clapped happily. As she turned, her bright, blue eyes, so full of a cheerful, innocent energy, landed on Ren. Her professional, gentle smile instantly transformed into a squeal of pure, unadulterated delight.
"Oh my goodness, who is this little angel?" she chirped, her duties forgotten. She glided over to him, her energy as bubbly and infectious as Klee's, but without the explosive undertones. "You are just the cutest little thing I have ever seen in my entire life!"
Before Ren could even introduce himself, he found himself enveloped in a soft, warm hug. Barbara held him for a moment, swaying slightly, before pulling back and gently, lovingly, pinching both of his cheeks.
"Look at these cheeks! So soft! And your eyes! They're like little stars! Are you visiting from Liyue? Oh, you must be, I heard about the little inventor. You are just too precious for words!"
Ren, slightly flustered but also charmed by her overwhelming, sweet-natured affection, simply allowed it to happen.
From the back of the cathedral, hiding not-so-subtly behind a large stone pillar, a man watched the scene, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated jealousy. He was a tall man with a slightly desperate look in his eye, and he clutched a small, handmade gift to his chest. This was Albert, the notoriously obsessed leader of the "Barbara Fan Club." To see his beloved idol fawning over and, most heinously, hugging another male, even a child, was a dagger to his heart. He glared at Ren, a silent, impotent rage burning in his eyes.
Ren felt the stare and glanced over. He saw the jealous man, recognized him from the game, and then, with the profound indifference only a child can muster for the romantic woes of an adult, he completely ignored him and turned his attention back to the cheerful, bubbly deaconess who was now asking him if he wanted to hear another song.
The glare from the back of the cathedral intensified, but it was a completely harmless, unnoticed storm in a teacup. Ren had effortlessly, unconsciously, made another devoted friend, and in the process, a completely insignificant and utterly ignored enemy.