#it's like a getting struck by lightning sometimes tbh X'D

[howthesleeplesswander]

((Tonight on: I dissect a single line of a character's dialogue bc I'm oh so very normal about my love for them—

In the fateful scene where Kaeya and Dainsleif finally meet face-to-face, Dain casually reveals that Kaeya's family, the Alberich's, founded the Abyss Order. When Paimon asks Kaeya if he's involved with the Abyss Order in any way, Kaeya's response is simply:

"So what if I know my ancestry? Do I strike you as the type who would be bound by that kind of thing?"

Not bothering to confirm or deny it. Merely suggesting that the idea of him being bound by "ancestry"—by family—is absurd.

Of course, it's understandable for Paimon and the Traveler to immediately have that concern when they learn about Kaeya's family. But the irony here is that they've got it backwards:

Family doesn't bind Kaeya to Khaenri'ah.

It's what would have bound Kaeya to Mondstadt.

He hasn't seen his birth father in twenty years. At this point, they're family in name only. Crepus Ragnvindr was the one who raised him and cared for him, unlike his biological father who abandoned him in a place that would hate and reject him if the truth ever came out.

Whether he was a legitimate part of the Ragnvindr family or not, they were the only ancestry that earned Kaeya's love—and thus, could bind his loyalty.

This line of dialogue was likely the only thing Kaeya said in that entire conversation that wasn't a lie. The catastrophic falling out between Kaeya and Diluc quite literally burned that bridge of loyalty long ago. Between his biological father's abandonment and Diluc's apparent hatred, both sides of his lineage have forsaken him.

So, no: Kaeya isn't loyal to Khaenri'ah out of familial obligation. He's learned better than to place his trust in people (no matter how much he foolishly cares for them).

He's loyal to a nation that still suffers punishment for one single mistake, and to its citizens who have been cast off, abandoned, and twisted into monsters—just like him.))