Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 42: Luhua Pool

That day, we walked, and walked, and walked some more. Even though we did that all day, th time seemed to fly by. We talked and joked the whole way, but I never forgot all about that dream or the strange feeling I had.
Eventually, Diluc stopped under some trees. "We should stop and eat."
I nodded and looked around, observing the ruins in the area. "Where are we?"
"Qiongji Estuary," Diluc said, digging through his bag. "We still have half the day to travel after this, and then we'll make it to the harbor tomorrow."
"Qiongji Estuary?" I asked, starting to search my bag for the food I packed. "What's with all the ruins?"
"I don't know the history behind them," Diluc said, bringing out a sunsettia. "But I do know that they're full of hillichurls. We should stay away for now."
"That's not what you said yesterday," I chuckled, pulling an apple out of my bag. I rubbed the surface of it on my shirt, making sure it was clean.
"You're right, but I'd rather not find another one of those lawachurls," Diluc said, taking a bite of his fruit. "A regular one is fine, but I never expected one like that."
"Me neither," I said, starting to eat my apple. "So where do you think we'll set camp?"
"Probably by Luhua pool. It'll be a ways before we reach there, but then we only have to travel a short time tomorrow," he said, looking around the area.
"Did we bring anything for a tent?" I asked, hoping he did. I didn't have anything like that, and I worried it would be cold that night.
Diluc shook his head. "No, I don't have one unfortunately."
"Ah, me neither," I laughed a little at our misfortune. "As long as it doesn't rain, we should be fine."
"Well, the sky is clear," he said, looking up at the sky. A few clouds floated above, but nothing that would indicate rain.
When we got back on the road, we walked past a flaming flower. "Hey, look!" I said, pointing at it excitedly.
"That's good, just one to go then," Diluc smiled, walking over to it. "How should we get it in your bag?"
I knelt some distance from the flower, as the grass around it was charred and I felt the heat on my face. I pulled out a notebook, a charcoal pencil, and a jar. Diluc watched me curiously, kneeling beside me.
I felt a little nervous as he watched me sketch the flower, each stroke defining the petals, stem, and corolla. With the final stroke, I steal the pencil and notebook aside.
I thought for a moment. How should I harvest it? I assumed I could use my cryo vision, although I wasn't sure out to apply it here. I had only tried to utilize my vision on my arrows and while dashing, but I wasn't sure how well that would work on a flower. After all, destroying it would be useless.
I thought about how I'd seen Kaeya fight on the night of the incident. Could that work? Deciding it couldn't hurt to try, I reached my palm out and tried to focus my energy out of my hand. I got a little worried at first, as nothing happened for a few moments.
I flinched a little when a wave of frost burst from my hand, slightly similar to how Kaeya did it. As the frost settles over the flower, the flames died and steam rose from it. The petals peeled back revealing its corolla . It was just like a mist flower corolla, just... hot.
Satisfied, I plucked it from the ground and put it in the jar, sealing it tight. "You can sketch quite well," Diluc noted, glancing at my notebook as I put it in my bag.
"Oh, thanks..." I said, flushing a little at the complement. It made me think of that feeling again, which only confused me. Not wanting a foggy mind, I pushed it back and put everything in the bag.
My pack felt noticeably warmer. "I just hope it doesn't explode in my bag or something," I laughed.
"Why would it do that?" Diluc asked.

I remembered he didn't have the knowledge I did of the experiment, so I explained it to him.

"Really? That is strange, no wonder Albedo wants to see how far the issue spreads," Diluc said as we continued walking.
"Yeah," I said, thinking about the flower in my bag. "It didn't start doing that until we took it out of the jar though, so we should be fine as long as the jar stays sealed."
"Will the energy build up?" Diluc asked with concern. "I mean, it wouldn't be good to open it a few days down the line and it combust."
I shook my head. "It shouldn't do that either. Like I said, nothing happened until after we opened the jar, so maybe it needs oxygen to complete the process. We're still learning, though."
"I can't say I expected the knights to be running such experiments these days," Diluc said, surprise at our discoveries. "As much as I dislike the knights, their alchemists do some interesting things."
"I suppose so," I said, smiling at him. "Albedo has kind of been slowing down a little, ever since Kaeya and him got together. He was a fast worker before, so it hasn't negatively impacted Sucrose and I, but it is kind of funny."
"Is it? The do seem to get along quite well," Diluc noted, having seen them in the tavern every night since they got together. "I wonder how they got together. I never figured Kaeya to be into a long term commitment of any sort."
"Ah, that..." I said, remembering how I had helped Kaeya out in that situation. I was tempted to say I helped him, but then he might discover that Kaeya helped me with Diluc, so maybe not. That might be a bit embarrassing... "Me neither."
"Ah well, it's his business," he said, although he didn't know how involved I had been. "We've been walking for some time, it's going to be dark soon. Luhua pool is up ahead."