The bath was, by Klee's standards, an agonizingly long and boring ordeal, but the promise of a treasure-burying adventure with her pixie prince was a powerful motivator. She emerged from her room a short time later, scrubbed clean, her bright red coat looking even brighter, her face free of soot, and her energy levels somehow even higher than before.
She found Ren waiting for her in the quiet, sunlit sanctuary of the library, the very place she had been so studiously avoiding for her entire, young life. He was sitting at a large, empty table, and laid out before him was the source of his brilliant distraction he had planned for Klee.
"Before we go," he said, his voice a calm, inviting murmur as he patted the empty chair beside him, "I wanted to show you something I made."
Klee, her mind still buzzing with thoughts of shiny, sparkly treasure, reluctantly sat. But the moment her eyes fell upon the beautifully bound, and surprisingly heavy, photo album, her curiosity was piqued.
Ren opened the book, and Klee's world, which had up until now been a vibrant, exciting place of sunshine, bombs, and bouncy mushrooms, suddenly, wonderfully, expanded.
He showed her the pages of Inazuma. Klee's crimson eyes went wide with a pure, childish wonder. She saw pictures of a city with strange, beautiful, and very purple, roofs. She saw the magnificent, glowing, pink-leaved Sacred Sakura tree, and she gasped in delight. She saw the photo of Ayaka, and she giggled at the noble lady's flustered, blushing face. "She looks like she wants to give you a big, squeezy hug!" Klee declared, with the unerring, simple wisdom of a child.
She saw the picture of Yoimiya, and her eyes lit up with a look of pure, professional respect. "Wow! She looks so happy! And her fireworks are so sparkly! Do you think she'd teach me how to make a Jumpy Dumpty that sparkles like a golden goldfish?"
Slowly, they move through the pictures one by one, completing the book. Klee was fascinated by each photo.
He then gently closed the book, and looked at her, a new, exciting plan in his own eyes. "But you know what this book is missing?" he asked, his voice a conspiratorial whisper. "It doesn't have any pictures of Mondstadt. It doesn't have any pictures of my friends here." He then picked up the strange, Fontainian Kamera that was sitting on the table. "And I was thinking… maybe you could help me fix that."
Klee's own, new, and very shiny, treasure was instantly and completely forgotten. A new, far more exciting, adventure had just presented itself.
"Yes!" she squealed, her earlier plans for burying bombs now a distant, unimportant memory. "Let's go! Let's take pictures of everyone!"
And so, for the rest of the day, the quiet, scholarly inventor and the boisterous, explosive Spark Knight became a two-person team of happy, wandering photographers.
Their first stop was the city gates, where they found Amber, her bright, cheerful energy a perfect match for Klee's. She was, of course, delighted to be in a picture. The resulting photograph was a masterpiece of pure, unadulterated, Mondstadt cheer: Amber, her arm slung casually and confidently around Ren's shoulders, both of them giving the Kamera a bright, sunny, and slightly cheesy, thumbs-up, while Klee photobombed them in the background, her face a mask of pure, joyful glee.
Next, Klee dragged him to the Knights of Favonius headquarters, to the training grounds, where they found Noelle, diligently, and single-handedly, polishing every single piece of armor in the entire armory. When Ren politely asked for a photo, a brilliant, crimson blush bloomed on the dutiful maid-knight's face. She stood beside him for the picture, her posture as rigid and as straight as a spear shaft, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, a shy, happy, and slightly awkward, smile on her face.
Their third photo was Klee's idea, and it was a special one. She led him to the main plaza, to the grand statue of the Anemo Archon, Barbatos. "This one," she declared, with a finality, "should just be for us." The picture was a simple, yet beautiful encapsulation of their strange friendship: the two of them, the Spark Knight and the Pixie Prince, sitting side-by-side at the foot of the great, benevolent god of freedom, Klee standing beside Ren, both of them smiling, a picture of pure, simple, and slightly chaotic, peace.
Their final photo of the day was at the grand cathedral. They found Barbara in the main hall, her angelic voice a beautiful, soaring melody as she practiced a hymn. The moment she saw them, her practice was forgotten. She was, of course completely overjoyed at the idea of a picture.
"A picture? With my favorite little angel?" she squealed, her cheeks flushing with a happy, excited energy. "Of course! Of course!"
She didn't just stand beside him. She scooped him up into a tight, loving, and very photogenic, hug, her cheek pressed against the side of his head, both of them smiling brightly at the Kamera, which a gaurd was told to handle.
The flash went off, and the perfect, adorable picture was taken. Barbara was so utterly in love with the result that she immediately demanded a copy. "I'm going to frame it and put it in my room!" she declared. "It will be my new favorite photo!"
As Ren looked at the freshly developed, and still slightly damp, photograph, a small, almost imperceptible, movement in the background of the image caught his eye. He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the vast, empty nave of the cathedral. And he saw him. Albert, the leader of the Barbara fan club, was trying, and failing, to hide behind a large, stone pillar at the very back of the hall.
The moment their eyes met, Albert froze, a look of pure, panicked, and slightly traumatized, terror on his face. He looked at Ren, at the boy who was currently being held in the loving, adoring arms of his one, true idol, and a fresh wave of despair and defeat washed over him. He did not shout. He did not glare. He simply, with the quiet, pathetic resignation of a truly, utterly, and completely, beaten man, turned and bolted, fleeing from the cathedral as if it were on fire.
Ren just tilted his head, a look of pure, innocent confusion on his face. He had no idea what that was about.
"Come on, pixie prince!" Klee's cheerful voice cut through his thoughts, pulling him back to the more important, and much more exciting, matter at hand. "Let's go back to the library! We have to put the new pictures in the book! Right now!"