A few weeks later, Nat was cutting through Dragonspine when she heard a familiar high pitched voice, and some explosions, coming from nearby. Nat could see the smoke from afar and ran to the source of the sound to find Klee, the new Spark Knight, cornered by three cryo whopper flowers. Klee was trying to throw her bombs at them, an idea that still worried Nat, but she was too short and couldn’t throw them high enough to be effective.  

Nat jumped in front of the Whopperflowers, and created a hail storm of rocks that pelted them enough to stall their attacks. She then took the opportunity to create a platform for Klee, and hoisted her up onto the platform.

“I’ll go left, you go right?” She asked Klee, suggesting the Spark Knight use her bombs. Klee, giddy with excitement, understood what she had to do. Nat started to fend off the whopperflowers with her sword, stunning them as Klee threw bombs at them. Once weakened by the “treasurers”, Nat would deal the final blow. 

When all the Whopperflowers were taken care of, she helped Klee down and checked her for any wounds.

“Klee, why are you alone on Dragonspine? Didn’t Kaeya tell you to not come unattended?” Nat asked, as she cleared the girl for wounds.

“Klee wanted to visit big brother Albedo, but Kaeya and Jean were too busy. So Klee took Dodoco with her to come see big brother!” Nat sighed, while she was truly impressed with Klee’s dedication and love for her brother, she was worried that she snuck off without anyone noticing. Nat decided she needed to meet this brother, let him know she’s worried.

“How about I escort you to your brother then?” Nat asked. Klee agreed, and led the way, wandering five feet ahead of Nat at all times. Nat admired her adventurous spirit, as it reminded her of a more dangerous version of herself when she was that age. They eventually found Albedo in a small camp about halfway up the mountain, right off of the main path. Nat was surprised she had never noticed it before, but remembered she usually went down the path to get home to Mondstadt. Before she had a chance to say hi, Albedo spoke.

“Well hello,” Albedo greeted as he turned around, putting down some test tubes, “I thought I heard footprints from afar, and here you are.” His voice was soothing to listen to as he smiled and offered a small wave from behind his desk. 

“Big brother Albedo!!” Klee ran up to Albedo, who picked her up into a hug, “Klee wanted to come visit, but no one could take her to see you and so Klee decided that Dodoco would come with Klee to see you! But then Klee was attacked and Knight Nat saved me!” Klee exclaimed, holding up her arms in excitement. Albedo looked concerned as he put his sister down and checked Klee over to make sure she had no obvious injuries.

“Were either of you hurt?” Albedo asked as he continued to observe Klee.

“Klee and Dodoco are okay!” Klee exclaimed.

“And how about you Natalya?” He asked, gesturing towards Nat.

“Just a few scrapes, nothing that won’t heal on its own. Nice to finally meet you Albedo, you can call me Nat!” She held out her hand and Albedo shook it, still looking at her curiously. 

“A Geo vision?” Albedo questioned, ushering toward Nat’s vision. “I have one too,”  he said as he pulled it out from under his jacket.

“Knight Nat can use her vision to make fun shapes and platforms!” Klee exclaimed.

“I’m like a rock builder,” Nat said as she built a stool for Klee to sit on. Klee happily plopped onto the stool, kicking her legs back and forth as they just missed the ground.

“Interesting. With alchemy, you can also make things, my vision mostly allows me to create a floating platform and some ground type bombs.” Albedo explained as he rounded the corner, taking out a drawing pad as he began to draw, “but with certain studies of alchemy you can create things for this world, similar to your vision.” He finished statement with his quick sketch, causing a Cecilia flower to appear in his hand. He handed the flower to Nat, “You must be very special for the archons to trust you with the power of creation. I hope we can get to know each other more.” Albedo finished with a smile as Nat took the flower from Albedo and observed it, amazed that he had drawn this. 

“Thank you Albedo, I think we should.” Nat agreed, and the three conversed for a short while before Nat left and finished her journey to Mondstadt. After her first meeting with Albedo, she would often stop by his lab in Dragonspine to see if he was there, though sometimes he was back in his room or the lab at the Knights headquarters. Those days she would feel a twinge of disappointment as she traveled through the mountain alone. When he was around, they would chat about daily life, Albedo’s work, and Nat’s missions. Albedo even helped her master her geo vision, something Diluc had problems with since geo and pyro were so different. The bond they were forming was different then the other friends she had made, but she couldn’t put a word to it.

“Sounds like someone is in love,” Kaeya mocked as they trained behind the Dawn Winery, Nat explaining her complicated feelings toward Albedo. Kaeya and her hadn’t trained like this in a long time, but Nat had taken an unfortunate fall that week during a mission, hurting her wrist. Now she insisted on training to learn from her mistake, something Kaeya would allow to a point. She was visibly exhausted, emotionally and physically, and her hands trembled from the pain. “I think we should stop for today.” Kaeya said as he walked closer to her, “We should get ice on your wrist,” He said , examining her wound which was bleeding through the gauze.

“One more round?” Nat asked, insistent on punishing herself, even if she didn’t realize it.

“No, I won’t allow it. Let’s ice up and head to Angel Share for a drink, my treat.” Nat reluctantly agreed, mostly because she couldn’t spar without a sparring partner, and she knew if Kaeya was forcing her to stop, Diluc wouldn’t allow her to even start. She sat on the steps of the winery, letting Kaeya rewrap her wound before putting ice on it. “You really should let Sister Barbara look at this.” He said.

“It’s really nothing, she has more important things to tend to.” Kaeya kept his words to himself and they walked to Angel Share together. They shared a few drinks, and started heading home when they ran into Albedo as he returned from Dragonspine to spend the rest of his knight in the lab at headquarters.

“Good evening Sir Kaeya and Miss Nat, how is your evening?” Albedo greeted them. 

“Good evening Albedo, no need for formalities here, we’re all equal,” Kaeya chirped,” I was just getting ready to walk Nat home, she’s had a few drinks, but I forgot something of the utmost urgency. Could you possibly walk her home?” Nat shot dagger eyes at Kaeya, who simply smiled in return.

“Why of course, it would be my pleasure.” They said their goodbyes to Kaeya and Nat started to guide Albedo to her home. They made small talk, when Albedo noticed the wrap on her arm. “What happened to your arm?”

“I was stupid in battle this week, and got hurt.” She paused, taking a deep breath, “luckily, no one else did.” She looked down, though it wasn’t truly Nat’s fault, she felt like she had failed herself as a knight for the first time since joining. 

“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, are you in pain? I could get some herbs from my room for you that should help.”

“I’m really okay Albedo, but I appreciate your offer. I would rather spar to be honest, but I was cut off by my training partner.”

“I agree that you shouldn’t be sparring, but once you’re healed we can spar if you want. I am pretty good with a sword.” Albedo said, looking down, smiling at Nat as they arrived at Miss Ingrids.

“I would love that Albedo.” With that, they parted ways, Nat waving goodbye from the doorstep as he walked away.

Later that week, Nat sat down with Miss Ingrid and discussed her moving into the Knight’s headquarters. While Nat would be forever grateful for Miss Ingrid and her help, they both agreed that being there would be better for her, especially after getting injured like she did. Part of Nat felt guilty over the worries she caused Miss Ingrid when she came home late or had to spend an extra night in Liyue, and she felt this was truly the right move. Over the course of the weekend Kaeya and Diluc moved her in, insisting they carry the boxes to let her wrist properly heal.

As they were unpacking, Kaeya found something that sparked his interest. “Are these photos Nat?” He asked, holding up her photo album.

“Yes, they’re photos from Snezhnaya.” She smiled slightly, moving over to sit next to Kaeya on the bed as he flipped through photos, and Diluc soon followed suit looking over his brother’s other shoulder. 

“Is this your family?” Diluc questioned, pointing to a photo of a bunch of kids.

“Oh no, I’m an only child, this is my best friend’s family. His siblings were like my own, I was often there so I have a few photos with all of them.” Nat answered, as Kaeya continued to flip through the book. There were photos of Nat with her parents, with Ajax at the lake, and holding her sword ready for battle.

“You’ve always had spunk haven’t you?” Kaeya laughed as he closed the album.

“With the Fatui on the rise in Snezhnaya, you just have to be ready for anything.” Nat responded. Something she still holds true even here, Diluc thought to himself. He saw Nat as a sister, but knew she had a lot of things she still needed to iron out. He had watched her and Kaeya spar, despite her injury that week, obviously pushing herself as a form of reprimand against herself. This worried Diluc, he knew Nat would need support in overcoming this hurdle, and worried she may do something to harm herself in the meantime. He worried she would put herself in harm’s way to help, and he needed to make sure he was there for her at that time. Kaeya and Nat continued to flip through the book, laughing at some of the new photos she had with them, their father, and the other knights.

Once they finished unpacking, the friends took a walk to Good Hunter for dinner, where they ran into Eula and Amber finishing up their own meal. Kaeya had an unusually friendly conversation with Amber, leaving Nat and Diluc alone.

“Nat, are you doing well?” Diluc asked.

“Of course I am, why would you ask that?” She smiled, but stiffened as she answered, unsure of where Dilcu was coming. She loved both the Ragnvindr boys, but she always knew Diluc was the one who would approach more serious topics first.

“I’m worried about you after the incident this week, you seemed to be taking it hard,” he answered, taking a sip of his water.

“My wrist is healing fine, honestly we should be training right now so I can learn from my mistakes. I clearly stepped out at the wrong time and lost track of the enemy. If I can practice my block more, I’ll be fine,” Nat continued to ramble about her fighting tactics, reminding Diluc of why he had to keep an eye on her. She was resilient but too hard on herself.

“You should rest, or you’ll only make more mistakes with an unhealed wound. The knights need you Nat, more than ever, so please rest.” Diluc finished, as Kaeya returned, ready to devour his dinner. Diluc’s words seemed to work, as Nat spent the next week resting her wrist, helping with more clerical work, and relaxing. She spent a few days with Albedo on Dragonspine, and a few nights in the library with him, studying new tactics and even a little alchemy. She couldn’t wait to tell Xingqiu about all she had learned during her next visit.