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The first time Thoma laid eyes on the young lords of Dawn Winery, he stared so hard that he dropped an entire basket of grapes.
Little Master Diluc’s princely smile lit the fields just like that shining crimson hair. And then there was Master Kaeya—a wild lordling compared to his sweet-tempered brother—with a laugh prettier than a bard’s strumming fingers and eyes that twinkled like stars on a moonless night.
It wasn’t just that they were wonderful to look at either. Master Diluc was so dashing on horseback or with a blade in hand—just like a real hero even though he was hardly older than Thoma. And Master Kaeya was all wit and roguish charm, clever enough that he could do anything and it would somehow go well for him.
“All the way home, it’s Master Kaeya this and Master Diluc that,” his father teased him after. “Spare a thought to your work, would you, boy? No one will pay you a wage to stare at those two all day.”
“I didn’t stare,” Thoma protested guiltily.
Thoma had been working since he was old enough to walk, but now that he was twelve, Master Ragvindr had been persuaded to take him on as an apprentice fieldhand. Young masters Diluc and Kaeya were the first things to have ever successfully distracted Thoma from his new job.
“Anyway, did you know Master Diluc already has a Vision?” Thoma went on. “And that Master Kaeya has been scouted to join the knights? He’s really young, right? The gardener says they’re both definitely going to be heroes someday, and he’s sure of it because they’ve already grown so accomplished!”
“Indeed,” his father sighed dryly, “I’m sure I’ll hear all about it.” He let Thoma chatter to him all the way home. Only when they reached their cottage did he ruffle Thoma’s hair and remind him, “It’s fine for you to enjoy yourself, Thoma, but don’t forget who you are. Masters Diluc and Kaeya are your superiors. And you’re all grown up, aren’t you? So you need to be a man and focus on your work. Keep your distance.”
“Of course, father,” said Thoma dutifully. “I won’t forget.”
“Alright, lads! Come take your break!” The head housemaid’s bell clattered noisily with the call. The other fieldhands began to migrate towards the mansion. One of the men caught Thoma by the back of the shirt as he passed.
“But I’m not thirsty yet!” Thoma protested, squirming as he was towed along. “Let me go and I can still finish this!”
“You’ll collapse again if no one makes you take a break,” came the amused reply. “It’s a hot day, son, come on. Your work will still be there after a rest in the shade.”
“Now don’t be causing trouble, young Thoma,” teased another of the men.
“I’m not—”
“Thoma,” his father said sternly. “Do as you’re told, alright?”
“Ah, he’s a good boy, Alvus. A hard worker. You’re a lucky man.”
“Thoma understands his family needs a hard worker,” Thoma’s father agreed, and Thoma ceased his squirming. He blushed furiously instead. “Never causes one bit of trouble for anyone, and so eager to be useful I’ll never have to worry. Not a thing like me when I was his age.”
“A born helper, this one,” agreed the fieldhand no longer dragging Thoma along. Thoma puffed up with pride.
“Don’t wander too far!” His father called after him as Thoma wove his way through the grapevines, snacks now in tow. “There are slimes at the river!”
Thoma waved in agreement, snacks cradled under one arm.
Perhaps it was best that he left early, because they came out pretty quickly today. So many of Thoma’s friends had come to visit! Thoma skittered back, giving the local strays their space because more than a few of them were afraid of humans. Those who wanted affection would come over once they’d had a meal of his snacks.
Soon bedraggled cats wound around his ankles while half-wild dogs inched closer to sniff at his pockets.
“Wow,” Thoma breathed. “Mrs. Maple, are these your kittens? They’re getting so big! And I’m glad your paws are better now, Cally—” He giggled as his fingers were licked. Tails were starting to wag. Everybody got kind of playful once the food was divided up.
He crouched down—promptly got dog slobber all over his face, which was kind of gross—but all the wagging tails made up for it, and when one of the shier cats came over and purred at him for the first time, Thoma’s heart just melted.
What a sight he would have made if anyone else was around, half-buried between all these fuzzy bodies like this. Three different cats were climbing up his sweaty shirt, and he was smaller than the dogs on posted either side. Even the people-shy animals clustered around him, letting him admire them as long as he didn’t touch. Thoma probably looked like some kind of crazy wild man.
But fortunately no one came out to the riverside, so there would be no one to scold him for feeding strays or wasting his food—
Thoma turned his head and abruptly locked eyes with an intruder.
Long-lashed, bright crimson eyes that seemed to glow with a thousand shades of sunset.
The firelight sheen of a divine gem buckled at his hip.
A fair-skinned face, smeared in enough dirt so that Thoma could already hear the preemptive shrieks of a dozen housemaids.
And that face seemed to read, uh oh. Busted.
Thoma stared wide-eyed at young Master Diluc from the thronging of his furry friends. Young Master Diluc stared back, arms clutched tight around an angrily squirming fox.
This would be the third time Thoma had seen Master Diluc trying to sneak a new pet into the mansion.
From what Thoma heard, not a week went by without the young master dragging home a boar’s piglet or a squirrel or a stray dog and really, Thoma had to wonder how exactly Master Diluc went about wrangling these animals in the first place without the entirety of the Mondstat ecosystem learning to avoid his scent in particular.
Master Diluc’s mouth parted as gazed at Thoma in the midst of his tiny menagerie, not with envy, but with something like worship shining in his eyes. “Whoa.”
“I need your help,” Master Diluc announced the next day, and Thoma, who hadn’t heard him sneaking up, leapt nearly a foot in the air.
“Young master, er, I—beg pardon—” He spluttered. They really weren’t supposed to be talking. Master Diluc ignored his protests and opened the basket he’d brought with him. Thoma lurched back, unsure of what to expect. A weapon? A pile of cursed mora? Worst of all—snacks to bribe the strays?
Because if it was snacks, Thoma couldn’t run away. His friends deserved the food.
Oh. It was a turtle.
Thoma’s mouth closed. He looked at the turtle—which he very much suspected to be a common river turtle Diluc had made off with.
The turtle eyed him back, halfway retreated in its shell and with a particular gleam in its beady eyes that Thoma correctly identified as willingness to bite any fingers that got too close.
“Um,” said Thoma helplessly.
“Bartholomew’s hurt,” Master Diluc explained, dropping onto the bench next to Thoma, heedless of the fact that Thoma was sweaty and dirty and Master Diluc nearly sparkled in his perfectly white shirt and fine gloves. “You can fix him, can’t you? You know everything about animals.”
Thoma struggled to find the words to explain to Master Diluc that feeding strays was not the same thing as being in any way qualified to do veterinary work, and anyway, reptiles were not exactly his area of expertise. And furthermore, Master Diluc shouldn’t be talking to a lowly servant boy or he’d get them both in a lot of trouble. He made the mistake of looking up.
Suddenly Thoma felt immense sympathy for the housemaids. There really was no way to refuse a face like that.
Defeated, he looked back down at the turtle. The turtle had edged a little closer to the light and oh, he was favoring one of his back legs and that looked quite painful, didn’t it.
Frowning, Thoma took the basket from Master Diluc. He thought he had an apple in his pocket, and maybe if he cut a slice of it, he could distract the turtle into letting him have a look—
Within a half-hour of Thoma forgetting about his work (for which he would insist on staying late, much to his father’s amusement), he’d extracted from Master Diluc the tale of the turtle’s rescue. Apparently, most of Master Diluc’s unwitting pets were similarly targeted for their injuries. Master Diluc took the matter of protecting all of Mondstat very seriously. He told Thoma how he was caring for the turtle, and Thoma showed Master Diluc how to feed Bartholomew apple slices without getting his fingers bitten bloody. Master Diluc’s fingers were already pretty battered, and he glowed with delight when the tiny creature accepted his offering.
One look at Master Diluc’s shining smile and Thoma grimly acknowledged that he had just taken responsibility for nursing a turtle back to health.
“You know everything,” Master Diluc decided, and beamed down at his somewhat unwilling pet. “And do you hear that, Bartholomew? You’re going to be all better soon!”
Oh dear, thought Thoma. He put his face in his hands.
“Can I come pet your other friends?” Master Diluc then asked excitedly. “I promise I won’t scare them!” And Thoma tried not to groan.
The next day, Thoma found himself confronted by a smiling Master Kaeya, who had timed his approach to catch Thoma unawares between a cluster of housemaids at the mansion’s entryway and the fieldhands right around the corner.
His father very much right there if Thoma made a sound. And if his father saw him talking to Master Kaeya, there would be hell to pay.
Master Kaeya beamed a little, crooked his finger, and Thoma miserably shuffled after him.
“I want you to kill the turtle,” Master Kaeya said as soon as they were out of earshot, still smiling prettily.
Ah, thought Thoma.
There was of course the matter of how Master Diluc always got caught so quickly in his efforts to smuggle wild animals into the mansion. Master Kaeya apparently did not share his brother’s enthusiasm for wildlife and more often than not, when the housemaids ushered Master Diluc and his pets back outside, it was common for the brothers to squabble rather noisily within the hour.
Apparently taking Thoma’s silence for agreement, Master Kaeya went on, “The particulars don’t interest me, but sooner would be better. And if you can do it by tonight, I will give you some pocket money for your troubles.”
“Er,” Thoma began, feeling a lot sweatier than he had earlier. “I, er. I really don’t need to be paid.” And certainly for assassinating Master Diluc’s pet.
“Oh, indeed?” Kaeya gave a delicate frown. “Well, do as you like, just get it done.”
“And, um,” Thoma began, wincing all the while, “And why might you want the turtle dead?”
“That’s hardly any of your business,” Master Kaeya said, smiling wider. “Is it?”
And that was Thoma’s cue to be quiet and walk away and never speak of any of this again. He knew what happened when you went against a lord’s wishes. And Master Kaeya was plainly a lord—from his fine speech to how he carried himself, all was a warning that he might be small now, but one day he would very much not be.
And that young Master Kaeya was a vindictive little thing was no secret at all.
So what it was that kept Thoma’s feet planted was naught but madness.
Only Thoma wondered how could you mistake the way Master Kaeya trotted after his brother as anything but adoration? Even if that sweet, pearly white smile Kaeya wore right now put a chill down Thoma’s back, he sort of got the same feeling from it as he did from dogs who’d learned to be very wary of humans and wanted you to be afraid, even if they weren’t bad at all.
“It’s just, um,” he stammered as Master Kaeya’s eyes narrowed. “Well. If the turtle is a danger to Master Diluc, we ought to tell someone? Um. Just in case.”
Are you an idiot, Kaeya’s face read very clearly. “The turtle isn’t a danger to Diluc,” he snapped. “Are you slow? It’s sick and weak and it’s going to die anyway. Better to give it a quick death rather than drag it out and make Diluc watch it die, or worse—” Master Kaeya cut himself off, looking furious with what he’d said.
Or worse, have Diluc put it out of its misery himself.
Thoma’s heart was doing this awful melting thing in his chest. For all that Master Kaeya had gone about this affair like a criminal mastermind calling hits in a back alley, he was, well. Actually very kind, wasn’t he?
He did have a very bleak outlook, of course. All that was the matter was the turtle’s leg had gotten scratched. It was hardly a mortal wound. But Thoma sort of got the impression that Master Kaeya might be a tiny bit dramatic.
“Master Kaeya,” Thoma said solemnly, “May I ask why you haven’t done the deed yourself if that’s the case?”
And Master Kaeya, grimacing and apparently somewhat too embarrassed to continue to try to intimidate him into silence, muttered, “Well, Diluc loves it, doesn’t he? I can hardly hurt something he loves. You idiot.”
Oh dear, thought Thoma.
So Thoma offered him an agreement—Bartholomew would mysteriously run away (with Master Kaeya’s help), and Thoma would take him in. And if Thoma could nurse the turtle back to health, Master Kaeya would just so happen to find him again on the riverside one day and return him to an assuredly grateful Master Diluc.
“It’s just going to die,” Master Kaeya said stubbornly, “But sure, why not? Do as you please.”
And then he tried to stomp off with what dignity there was so be had being a fairy tale prince with leaves in his hair.
And this was how Thoma ended up with a secret turtle hidden in his room. “It’s just you and me now, Bartholomew,” Thoma said solemnly. “I trust you will be good while I am away? Because it would be really bad if Mother realized I have you hidden in here and throws you out.”
Bartholomew munched furiously on his apple slices.
“You seem strong of mind and character,” Thoma decided.
Thoma got the librarian to read to him about turtles on their next trip into town. He needed to learn everything he could to take good care of him. Grapes and lettuce were a suitable diet, according to the librarian, and on advisement, Thoma settled Bartholomew’s basket carefully at the window so that he would have access to sun all morning, and around midday the trees would shade him fully so he would not overheat. When Thoma did not have work, he took Bartholomew with him in his pocket to explore outside his cage by the river.
He usually got bitten for his troubles. But as Bartholomew’s leg healed, he generally seemed a much more peaceful fellow.
Of course, Master Diluc’s distress over Bartholomew’s loss had been immeasurable. “He’s hurt,” he’d cried as soon as Master Kaeya delivered the news, clutching at Thoma’s sleeve. “And all alone and surely very afraid. We must find him right away!”
And then he’d made Thoma spend every waking moment relentlessly disturbing the local turtles at the river. He’d refused to accept that his pet was gone. Thoma had expected a tantrum eventually, but instead, one day Master Diluc had simply said quietly that he would go by himself next time and given Thoma a big smile as he thanked him for his help. His eyes had been overbright.
And so somehow Thoma had not only ended up with a secret turtle, but also secretly taking Master Diluc to the riverside to acquaint him with the local strays. One of the older dogs was willing to let Master Diluc cling onto her in his sadness and Thoma gratefully gave her all the biscuits he had in his pockets. Master Diluc looked a little less pale and heartbroken afterwards, though it was sort of just Thoma’s nature to fret, so he kept bringing Master Diluc down to the riverside anyway.
And because Thoma’s life wasn’t overcomplicated enough, on the third trip, Master Kaeya started tailing them, staring venomously at Thoma’s back all the while, so plainly jealous that his brother was paying attention to someone else that Thoma had to try very hard not to laugh at him.
Because he really didn’t want Master Kaeya to hate him, he offered some of his snacks and asked, “Would you like to feed the cats?”
No, said Master Kaeya’s face. And ugh, don’t talk to me.
And Master Diluc, now realizing that his brother was here too, lit up like the sunrise. Master Kaeya did not stand a chance. Master Diluc captured him by the arm and began to tow him along. “I’ll show you! Come, Kae—you must be very gentle and quiet because they’re not sure of humans. Do it like this.”
“But I don’t care,” Master Kaeya protested, and Master Diluc tutted him.
“Don’t say that! Look at how little they are. They’re very hungry and someone must feed them.”
“…They do look hungry,” Master Kaeya said a little softer. Thoma assumed he’d just concluded none of them would survive the winter.
Master Kaeya gave them the food as his brother instructed, but refused to look happy about it.
It took quite a while before Master Kaeya stopped glaring at Thoma. Four more trips at least. But if Thoma was careful to keep turned away and distract Master Diluc, out of the corner of his eye he’d catch Master Kaeya scratching fuzzy ears with unexpectedly gentle fingers.
He especially seemed to like the strays who made trouble and stole everyone else’s food, which Thoma thought was very like him.
It was of course still entirely improper for Thoma to spend time with the two little lordlings. And he knew he’d get caught sooner or later. He also knew he’d catch hell for it.
There just wasn’t a way out, though, was there? Because Master Diluc had been so sad, and now even though he knew where the strays gathered, he seemed to think Thoma had to come with him as an escort of some kind. And even if Thoma could dodge Master Diluc and his hawklike abilities of perception, there would be Master Kaeya who Thoma swore could just appear from the shadows. Master Kaeya required updates on Bartholomew’s health, and did his damnedest to demand these without actually asking in words, because obviously that would be beneath him.
Really, Thoma could only accept his fate.
The best possible outcome was that the turtle—who was doing quite well, mind—could be returned to Master Diluc soon and it would be such a happy occasion that the pair of lordlings would then forget all about Thoma’s existence. He’d be left fond memories of what he very much hoped would be his employers one day—and none of the beatings he dreaded. Wouldn’t that be nice?
And indeed, Bartholomew improved quickly. There wasn’t even a limp anymore, only persistent determination to get more apple slices.
When Thoma told him this, Master Kaeya insisted on inspecting the goods himself. He got bitten almost immediately. He complained bitterly about it. He also refused to surrender the turtle back to Thoma the whole way back to the mansion, and cradled the basket very carefully in his arms. Thoma suspected he liked the turtle even better for its cheek.
Thoma only got to hold the basket again because Master Kaeya went inside to fetch Master Diluc. The brothers came back quickly as Thoma was giving Bartholomew his solemn farewells—he just looked up and there they were. Master Kaeya smirked like the little terror he was while Master Diluc’s eyes went huge and round. Thoma couldn’t help but beam at them, shifting the cage to lift a hand.
“Master Diluc!” He called. “You’ll never guess who Master Kaeya just found for you—”
“—Thoma,” Master Kaeya interjected quickly. “I found Thoma. Yeah. And he’s been looking for your Bartholomew. You’d better thank him, Luc.”
What? Thought Thoma.
And then Master Diluc charged at Thoma like a tiny crimson battering ram, yanking Master Kaeya along with him. Both boys were bundled into Master Diluc’s surprisingly strong arms, all three of them squeezed mercilessly together. “Bartholomew!” Master Diluc exclaimed as Thoma and Master Kaeya struggled not to choke. “You’re home! Oh, thank you, Thoma! Thank you, Kaeya!” And he laughed in such delight that Thoma did not mind that he couldn’t breathe even a little.
When Master Diluc let go of him, he took the basket into his arms so gently it almost hurt to look at. He headed to his mansion, Master Kaeya at his side as Thoma smiled fondly after them.
How could anyone not love these two? They were so dear already. They would grow into the finest of men and really, Thoma was honored to serve them.
Only they stopped walking barely halfway there, both peering back at where Thoma stood.
“You’re not coming?” Master Diluc said, and oh no.
Oh no.
Those were the puppy dog eyes again, weren’t they.
“Well,” Thoma tried, “I—I was just here to return Bartholomew—"
“But you don’t have work right now.” Master Diluc said. “And you’ve come all this way?”
“Um,” Thoma began. “Well—I’m, I’m a servant?” He really had yet to figure out how to explain this to the two of them so I would understand. Master Diluc just stared in polite confusion.
“Oh,” Master Kaeya rolled his eyes. “I get it. Let me handle this, Luc.”
And he lifted a hand imperiously. The snap of his fingers rang across the courtyard.
“Come, Thoma. I order you.”
Matter settled, he then spun around on his heel and strolled back towards his home, completely confident in his solution and indeed, Thoma followed helplessly along. He really ought not go against his master’s orders? Probably?
And he really couldn’t help it when Master Kaeya was actually inviting him to come along. Thoma's face felt very warm all of a sudden.
This is bad, thought Thoma. I’m going to be in so much trouble.
He really shouldn’t be doing this. He definitely shouldn’t be letting them take him into the mansion. He definitely shouldn’t be accepting a glass of milk from the head housemaid, like he was there to be served, and oh, his father was definitely going to find out about his behavior now, wasn’t he.
“You’re always so busy, but now we can finally play,” Master Diluc declared with satisfaction. “So. Do you want to play knights or pirates?”
“Pirates,” Master Kaeya said quickly.
“I don’t know how to play either one?” Thoma attempted weakly. “Can I just watch?”
Master Diluc gasped in horror. “Watch?”
“So it’s pirates, like I said.” Master Kaeya took Thoma’s hand and began to tow him deeper into the mansion. “Let’s go. I’m captain this time, Luc.”
“Pirates is loads of fun too,” Diluc assured Thoma. “We’ll show you how to play, don’t worry. And no, Kae, I’ll be captain, I’m taller—”