The "picnic patrol" had been a resounding success, and Ren returned to the city with a happy heart and a deep appreciation for the explosive efficiency of his new friends. The next day, he was enjoying a quiet lunch with Ganyu at the Good Hunter, the two of them sharing a large, delicious plate of Sticky Honey Roast under the warm Mondstadt sun.
It was then that another knight approached their table. She was a tall, elegant woman with short, pale blue hair and a bearing that was both aristocratic and aloof. Her uniform was immaculate, and she moved with the fluid, precise grace of a trained dancer. Her expression was one of cool, detached nobility, but her icy blue eyes held a flicker of a deep, ancient melancholy. It was Eula Lawrence, the Spindrift Knight and a scion of Mondstadt's disgraced former aristocracy.
"Ganyu of Liyue, I presume," Eula said, her voice a cool, clipped alto. She gave a curt, formal nod. "I am Eula Lawrence, Captain of the Reconnaissance Company. The Acting Grand Master sends her regards and asks that I relay the finalized cargo manifest for your return journey."
"Captain Lawrence," Ganyu replied with a polite, gentle smile, accepting the scroll Eula offered. "Thank you. Please, won't you join us?"
Eula hesitated, her gaze sweeping the area, as if expecting to be met with the usual whispers and glares that her family name always attracted. "My presence is often… ill-received. I would not wish to spoil your meal."
Before Ganyu could protest, Ren, who had been listening with his usual quiet curiosity, looked up at the tall, sad knight and gave her a bright, welcoming smile. "Please sit with us!" he said, his voice full of a simple, unadulterated friendliness. "The Sticky Honey Roast is really good. You can have some of mine."
Eula's carefully constructed, icy composure faltered. She looked at the small boy, at his messy, blue-streaked hair and his glowing, impossibly sincere azure eyes. There was no judgment in his gaze, no preconceived notion, only a simple, kind invitation. She found herself, against her better judgment, sitting down.
"You are the inventor, Ren, are you not?" she asked, her tone still formal, but a little less rigid than before.
"I am," he confirmed cheerfully. "It's nice to meet you, Captain Eula."
"The name is Lawrence," she corrected him automatically, a familiar, bitter edge to her voice. "A name that carries a certain… weight in this city. A weight of transgressions for which I must constantly atone. Mark my words, vengeance will be mine."
She delivered the line with a practiced, theatrical flourish, the declaration of vengeance a shield she used to keep others at a distance. Ganyu looked a little startled by the sudden, intense declaration, but Ren just tilted his head, his expression one of pure, innocent confusion.
"Vengeance?" he asked. "But… why? Did someone do something mean to you?"
Eula was taken aback. People usually reacted to her declarations with fear, anger, or awkward silence. They didn't ask for clarification with genuine, childlike concern.
"The transgressions of my ancestors are a debt I carry," she explained, her words sounding a little less certain now. "It is my duty to…"
"But you're a Knight of Favonius, right?" Ren interrupted, his logic simple and absolute. "Amber and Noelle and Master Jean are all Knights of Favonius, and they're all really good people who help everyone. So you must be a good person, too."
The statement, so simple, so direct, and so full of a pure, unshakeable faith, struck Eula with the force of a physical blow. She stared at him, her icy blue eyes wide with a stunned, profound disbelief.
For years, her life had been a constant struggle against the shadow of her family's name. She had worked twice as hard as any other knight, faced down suspicion and scorn from the very people she swore to protect, all to prove that she was not her ancestors. And yet, this child, this stranger from another land, had in a single, simple sentence, completely bypassed all of it. He hadn't judged her by her name or her past. He had judged her by her uniform, by the company she kept, by the simple fact that she was a knight. He had given her a trust that she had spent her entire adult life trying, and often failing, to earn from others.
A strange, unfamiliar warmth spread through her chest, a feeling so foreign it was almost painful. Her icy, defensive walls, built up over years of misunderstanding and loneliness, began to crack.
She found herself at a complete loss for words.
Seeing her stunned silence, Ren misinterpreted it. "Oh! Are you hungry?" he asked, and before she could respond, he used his Cryo power. A swirl of turquoise light appeared over the table, and a perfect, crystalline dessert fork, glowing with a soft, blue light, materialized in his hand. He used it to spear a large, juicy piece of roast and held it out to her. "Here, try some! It'll make you feel better."
The sheer, unexpected kindness of the gesture, the casual, beautiful magic of the ice-fork, and the complete, innocent sincerity in his eyes… it was too much. Eula's composure shattered.
A faint, delicate pink blush appeared on her pale cheeks. She looked away, her gaze suddenly finding the distant pigeons in the plaza fascinating. "I… thank you," she mumbled, her voice losing all of its aristocratic coolness. She took the offered bite of food, her movements a little stiff, her heart pounding with a strange, unfamiliar rhythm.
Ganyu watched the entire interaction, a soft, knowing smile on her face. Her little brother had done it again. He had looked past the walls people built around themselves and had seen the person within. He had, with a simple statement of faith and a piece of Sticky Honey Roast, completely disarmed the Spindrift Knight and claimed a new, fiercely loyal, and slightly flustered friend.