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If there’s one thing Xiao has learned since first meeting the Traveler, it’s that Aether is incredibly stubborn.
Not that Xiao is really one to talk. His own stubbornness is well-known amongst Wangshu Inn’s staff and frequent customers, but there’s something different about Aether’s. Or, perhaps it’s the way he chooses to show his stubborn tendencies. It’s quite possible that Aether’s persistence is even greater than his own.
That, Xiao supposes, is likely what had caused him to fold to Aether’s will in the end. The constant requests for Xiao to accompany him and Paimon to see the Mingxiao lantern had grated on his nerves and his patience, until he’d finally given in and agreed to compromise. Watching from the outskirts he can handle, so long as Aether doesn’t make him go into the city. He’s never been good in a crowd.
Still, despite Aether’s obnoxiousness, Xiao cannot find it in himself to hate him. Quite the opposite, in fact. Even as Aether tries to push him farther and farther out of his comfort zone, a comfort zone he’s spent the last several thousand years firmly stuck in, he can’t help but want to try.
Maybe it’s simply Aether’s charisma infecting him. Maybe it’s something else.
No matter the cause, however, what’s done is done. Alongside Aether and Paimon, he approaches Liyue’s city gate, halting at the crest of the hill where the harbor is clearly visible. “This spot will do,” he announces, putting his foot down firmly. “You should go down to the harbor quickly if you want to get there in time to see them light it. I will wait here.”
Aether looks like he wants to argue, to push Xiao even closer to the city he has avoided, but ultimately it seems that he decides against it. “Okay. We’ll come and find you when it’s over. We might need an escort back to the inn,” he replies with a smile.
It’s a kind, easy kind of smile, the kind Xiao can rarely bring himself to express. There’s something distinctly charming about the expression that he can’t put his finger on, but he pushes the thought aside. He knows quite well that Aether has no need of an escort; he’s seen firsthand that the Traveler is an extremely talented fighter and more than capable of protecting himself. Though he’d recognized it as an excuse back at the inn, he finds himself playing along anyway. He offers Aether a curt nod.
Paimon tugs on the back of Aether’s shirt. “Come on, we need to hurry! They’re going to light the lantern soon, and Paimon doesn’t want to miss it!” she warns, gesturing down to the square where Xiao can see people gathering on the docks in anticipation of the festival’s biggest event.
And yet, Aether continues to hesitate. After a moment, he reaches into a pouch at his hip and produces a handful of coins, holding them out to Paimon. “You go on ahead, I think I’ll get a better view from here,” he says with a smile. “I know you don’t want to miss out on all the food.”
“Hmm, if you say so,” Paimon responds with a shrug. She zips away in a hurry, apparently content with the change of plans with the promise of food hanging over her. Xiao thinks he could come to respect her simple desires.
Still, Aether’s own wants are clearly conveyed in the way he watches Paimon leave with a fond smile. “You paid her to leave you alone,” he observes, tilting his head a bit in curiosity.
Aether laughs softly. “Nothing gets past you, does it?” he asks, quirking a brow at Xiao mischievously. “I wasn’t lying about getting a good view from here, though. High up like this, we should be able to see the Mingxiao lantern really clearly.” He walks to the edge of the hill overlooking the harbor, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear that had fallen free from his braid in the wind. “I’ve been watching as they build it. They say this year’s lantern is going to be even better than previous years.”
Xiao stays where he is, leaning his back against the boulder at the crest of the hill. “I wouldn’t know. I have nothing to compare it to,” he responds gruffly. Whatever the humans have been building means little to him, or so he’s always told himself. He’s never felt the need to see the lanterns up close; Wangshu Inn had been close enough for his taste in years prior.
“Well then, hopefully it doesn’t disappoint,” Aether quips, sitting himself down with his back against the same boulder Xiao leans on. “It must be gorgeous to see all those lanterns lighting up the sky.”
Speaking of which, Aether’s hands had been suspiciously empty on the way here. While every citizen in Liyue is sure to have a lantern to release tonight, Aether doesn’t appear to. “Did you make a lantern?” he asks, not because he’s worried Aether is going to miss out, but simply because he’s curious. “That is the tradition, is it not?”
Aether’s face goes suddenly pale. “I forgot!” he exclaims, loudly enough that Xiao has to keep himself from flinching at the abrupt raise in volume. “Aahhh, I knew I was forgetting something. I made so many lanterns for the people who were too busy to do it themselves, but it completely slipped my mind to have one ready for tonight.” He crosses his arms and lets out a disappointed sigh. “Well, it’s a little late now, but whatever. It’s not like I need to do it, though I did want to make a wish on it.”
Xiao finds himself thinking that the crestfallen look on Aether’s face doesn’t much suit him. It’s such a silly thing to be disappointed over, and yet the sadness in his expression is somehow still very genuine. Wordlessly, he stoops down on the ground and takes a seat at Aether’s side. “Tell me your wish, then,” he suggests.
Aether turns to look at him in bewilderment. “You… want to know?” he says, sounding genuinely shocked that he would request such a thing.
“Wishes written on the lanterns are prayers to the adepti,” he explains. He makes a pointed effort to look away from Aether, instead choosing to gaze out over the rippling water of the harbor. “I hear each one of them, though they make no sense to me. I cannot grant their wishes, but still, I can listen. As I am here in person, telling it to me directly is the same as writing it on the lantern. Am I wrong?” It’s only once he’s finished speaking that he meets Aether’s gaze once more.
A small smile breaks out on Aether’s face. “Yeah, I guess that’s true,” he murmurs. “In that case, I guess I can tell you. Even if you can’t grant it for me.” He draws his knees up to his chest, hugging them lightly with his arms. “I wish that I’ll be able to find my sister soon. That’s she’s somewhere safe, and that she’s healthy. I just want to know that she’s okay.”
Xiao does not respond, simply observing Aether’s face as a wave of melancholy washes over it. Another sad expression, one he hasn’t seen on the cheerful Traveler before today. It makes him look suddenly much older than he appears, as though there is years’ worth of yearning beneath the surface of what shows on his face. He doesn’t even notice that Aether is looking back at him until he says, “Did I say something strange?”
Blinking, Xiao pulls himself from his troublesome thoughts and shakes his head. “No. It’s a good wish,” he replies quietly. “I… also hope that you are able to reunite with her.”
The soft smile Aether offers him is sweet and warm, all white teeth and amber eyes. “Thank you,” he murmurs. “You saying that means a lot.”
Everything about him is bright. Xiao can see why mortals are drawn to him so easily, why they are so quick to remember his face as well as his deeds. Unsure of how to respond to such gratitude, he simply gives a short nod of his head, feeling uncharacteristically flustered, and goes back to watching the harbor. The crowd is growing more and more as the night draws on, people gathering in droves at the edges of the dock for a chance to be closer to the huge lantern resting on the water. From atop the hill, they look as tiny as insects, moths swarming around a lit porch lamp for a chance to experience its brightness.
“So,” Aether starts, catching Xiao’s attention once again, “they say this year’s Mingxiao lantern is supposed to be modeled after Skybracer, the adeptus who died during the Archon War. Do you think it’ll look much like him?”
Xiao does not remember much about Skybracer. They’d fought on opposite sides during the war until he’d been saved at Rex Lapis’s hand, so he had come in contact with his fellow adeptus on only a few occasions. “I doubt it. There are very few left alive who can recall even a little of what he looked like,” he replies. “His image has surely been warped over the thousands of years since his death. It’s foolish to try to recreate it.”
Aether hums thoughtfully. “They say he took the form of a deer with the most amazing antlers. At the very least, you can picture that, right?”
Xiao scoffs. “Such an image does not compare to an adeptus’s true form,” he grunts, but as he speaks, a commotion at the docks catches his eye. The Mingxiao lantern resting atop the water’s surface has begun to move, giving off a bright light as its flame is lit. Before he can comprehend what he’s seeing, a streak of teal and gold shoots out from the harbor and over the water, leaving ripples in its wake.
Aether gasps, sitting up straight as the unmistakable form of a deer gallops across the waves before taking to the skies, trailing blue light behind it as it runs. With each step it takes, the lanterns in the streets light themselves and begin to float into the sky, following the deer’s path. “That’s…” he tries, but the statement dies on his tongue.
Xiao finds himself in a similar state, unable to find the words to describe the sight. He’d had no idea that mortals could be capable of building such a mechanism as this, a lantern that moves just like the real thing. He finds himself leaning forward against his own will, transfixed. When the deer turns their way and begins to sprint toward them, he momentarily forgets to breathe. Aether laughs loudly as it rushes by over their heads, craning his neck as far back as he can manage to always keep Skybracer in his view. The deer summons a mighty breeze in its wake that ruffles Xiao’s clothes and hair and steals the breath from his lungs, leaving him stunned speechless. There’s a stirring in his heart that he can’t place, a childlike wonder he hasn’t experienced in a thousand years. It surpasses his wildest expectations of the rite he’d deemed useless for so many years. Now, he finds himself retracting every word he’s spoken against such trivial amusements. When the Mingxiao lantern ascends into the sky and bursts into a shower of golden sparks, he feels himself soar.
“That was incredible !” Aether exclaims breathily, running his hands over his long braid to smooth down the strands that had been blown out of place by the wind. “I was impressed with it before, but I had no idea it would move like that!” He turns his elated gaze to Xiao, a wide smile on his face. “What do you think? Did it look anything like the original?”
Xiao swallows, still at a loss for words. In truth, the reconstruction of the fallen adeptus had been nearly perfect. Even after so many years, his memory is clearly preserved. It leaves an inexplicable weight on Xiao’s chest, somewhere between mourning and closure. Although he and Skybracer had not been close by any means, even he can recognize the love and care that the people of Liyue had put into remembering him. “It wasn’t bad,” he manages to say, but his words come out quivering, devoid of their usual brusqueness.
Aether laughs, an inexplicable fondness in his expression. “That’s pretty high praise, coming from you,” he says, his shoulder bumping lightly against Xiao’s as he does. He hadn’t realized how close they’d drifted together during the rite. “You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you smile.”
It would seem that wonders never cease. “I was smiling?” he echoes before he can think not to, so utterly bewildered by the idea that it hadn’t crossed his mind that it could be a possibility. He feels a sudden surge of heat climb up his neck, and he raises a hand to his mouth in an attempt to hide the flustered blush that threatens to spread to his face. “Nonsense. You mortals cannot possibly fathom the ways of a being like myself who has lived for thousands of years.”
It’s a flimsy excuse, perhaps the flimsiest one he’s made all night. Aether’s knowing smile tells Xiao his bluff’s been called, but he doesn’t bring it up, content to let Xiao make whatever excuses he feels the need to. “You know, I don’t think I’m as young as you think I am,” he says instead, tone laced with mischief. “I didn’t really get it at first, because this world doesn’t measure time the same way my homeland does, but I think the people in this world live much shorter lives than my people do.”
“Oh? Then how old are you?” Xiao asks, suspicious. Aether doesn’t appear to be older than eighteen or nineteen by his standards, though he knows better than anyone than looks can be deceiving. After all, there are many who would make the same assumption upon seeing him.
Aether hums, counting on his fingers as he attempts to come up with an estimate. “I can’t say exactly, but if my math is right, maybe… eight hundred? Nine hundred? Somewhere around that range,” he replies. “Though that’s not even half as old as many of the people who were born on my home world.”
Eight hundred. Xiao lets the number swirl around in his mind for a bit as pieces of the puzzle click into place one by one. The years of sadness he’d seen on Aether’s face suddenly seem to fit much more despite his youthful appearance. “I see. That is… much older than I’d expected. Though still not nearly as old as me,” he murmurs.
“Give it some time, I’ll catch up,” Aether laughs. “Still, it puts me ahead of, like, ninety-nine percent of this world’s population, right? Most of them won’t even see a hundred years.” He crosses his arms over the tops of his knees and leans his chin against them with a small smile. “I didn’t think much of it at first, but it put things into perspective for me, just a little. I think you and I may not be as different as we first thought.” He sneaks a peak sideways at Xiao. “Though I can’t know what you went through in the past, I’ve seen my fair share of war and battle across many different worlds. I’ve seen what that kind of fighting can do to people, how it can eat away at their hearts and souls until they can’t walk two steps without looking over their shoulders for the enemy, even long after the battle has passed.”
Xiao suppresses a shiver at Aether’s solemn words and tries not to think too hard about the parts of his speech that hit a bit too close to home for him to be comfortable. “My suffering is not something you can empathize with,” he warns, lest Aether push too far and say something he regrets.
“I know I can’t, but maybe I can understand it,” Aether offers instead. “Of course I can’t know what you went through, or what you still go through. I wasn’t there. Our experiences aren’t equal, but I think my travels can help me understand. If you’ll let me understand.” He continues to hold Xiao’s gaze, leaned over his knees with his cheek pressed against his arm.
He looks like a child sitting the way he does, a certain carefree air that he has seldom seen on such a long-lived being. “Perhaps,” he finally agrees, breaking eye contact with Aether. “It’s true that perhaps you could understand, but there is no need for you to do so. There is nothing to be gained from your understanding of me.”
“Even if I want to?” Aether presses.
“Especially if you want to.” Xiao pushes himself to his feet. The rite has concluded and the crowds below them have dispersed, breaking off to head for home or hovering at the docks to pick up the last of the food and drink the night away. He has no more reason to linger, and he would prefer to be long gone by the time the crowd makes its way up the hill toward them.
Aether does not stand. “You should know that I can be incredibly stubborn.”
Xiao’s lips quirk up ever-so-slightly in amusement. “I am well aware,” he assures. “I will return to Wangshu Inn now. Unless you still require an escort back?”
Aether snorts. “Now you’re just teasing me,” he accuses, but there’s a smile on his face nonetheless. “Go on, I need to find Paimon before we go back. I’m sure we can handle ourselves.”
“Very well. Then I bid you good night.” He waits only a few moments before teleporting away, but those few seconds are just enough for him to catch Aether’s parting words.
“I’ll see you later.”
It’s something akin to a promise, a lighthearted vow that this will not be the last time they meet. Despite his best wishes to be annoyed by the way Aether clings to him, he can’t help but feel like he is already anticipating the fulfillment of that promise.
Perhaps having him around won’t be so bad.