Chapter Text
"There's someone here."
Aether's ear flicks at the sound of Paimon's voice. With narrowed eyes, he slinks through the undergrowth, peeking his head over the grass occasionally to see if anything was there.
The air did smell different. Windrise Plains were his territory, his land. He'd made sure to mark the borders a few days ago, so whoever was foolish enough to step onto his turf wasn't another dragon. Or it was a particularly daring one, that smelled of flowers and berries.
"Intruder." Paimon warns, ducking into the grass. Her haunting black eyes are wary, and her mouth is pulled into a suspicious frown.
"Weapon?"
"Bow. Nothing else I can see." She replies. "She's small." Paimon adds.
"You're smaller." He chuckles, before continuing along the grass. The smaller dragonkin lets out an offended gasp before headbutting his shoulder. "Stay. I'm going."
Aether's strides are long and swift, gaining up to the intruder quickly. They seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the field, sometimes reaching down and tucking some foliage into a basket they held. When he's close enough, he can hear the figure humming. His ear gives another flick at the sound, calming and soothing, a complete contrast to his voice, roughened by fire and roars.
The ribbon on it's head reminds him of a rabbit. Though this rabbit was clueless, and unaware of him, even if he was so close.
He jumps out of the undergrowth with a growl, and the intruder yelps, dropping it's basket. It's a girl. When she reaches for her bow, Aether pounces at her, pinning her down with his weight. She struggles, kicking at him to no avail, until she eventually stops to look at him.
Aether was scary. He was a dragon, he was supposed to be. Standing at almost seven feet tall, black and bronze scales framed the sides of his face, and down his neck, before running down a stripe along his spine. He had sharp teeth, and menacing golden eyes that turned feral at the sight of an enemy. His real dragon form was nothing to joke about, either. But this… stranger.
The girl's eyebrows were turned up in an almost offended looking glare, staring at him defiantly. Wild brown hair messily circled around her head and she wore what looked to be a uniform of sorts. Aether saw red, a lot of red, on her head and covering her shoulders.
"Who are you?" She sounds insulted. It's humorous.
"You're on my territory."
"This is Windrise! I've been coming here for ages!"
Aether ponders if that's a lie, to throw him off, but the human looks indignant enough for him to believe her. He eyes her basket, tipped over to the side. She was collecting carrots. And a multitude of other herbs. "What are you doing with these?"
"Huh? You've never eaten a carrot before?"
"I have. They're disgusting."
"Maybe that's why you're so scrawny."
Scrawny? Aether wanted to laugh. His ear twitched in irritation while the red girl looked up at him in satisfaction. Reluctantly, he lets her up, and she turns to retrieve her basket and it's contents. After all the greenery is back in it's place, she says, "Carrots are nice with meat. Herbs too."
Aether huffs. He had no use for herbs. Meat tasted fine on it's own. "Who else is here?" He questions.
"What are you so uptight about? There's no one else here." The girl fixes her jacket, pulling it over her shoulders more securely.
"You're on my territory." He repeats, and she gives him a curious look, "What territory? I've never seen you before!"
With an annoyed flick of his tail, Aether points a clawed hand in the direction of Vennessa's Tree, down the river, and to the cliffs near it.
"That's mine. All the way across."
She speaks up indignantly, "Are you crazy? You can't just claim the whole of Windrise to yourself!"
" 'Course I can. I'm a dragon. See?" Aether holds up five clawed fingers, flexing them in front of her. He swears he can see her ribbon twitch, "I see that. Look, just- I'll leave, okay?-"
Aether growls, stalking towards her, "No. You don't come here."
She looks at him with furrowed brows, and he feels more like an annoyance than a threat.
"You shouldn't come here. I eat faunakin. "
Wide yellow eyes stare at him in shock, " What? I-I'm not faunakin!"
Outsiders and their lies.
"You are, aren't you? Paimon tells me rabbit faunakin like carrots. Is that why you're stealing them?"
"I don't know what you're talking about! Who's Paimon?!"
The girl stands up, and she's about two heads shorter than he is, with determined yellow eyes and a round face. Her hair is slightly mussed from their scuffle on the grass, and it cascades down her shoulders, turning a dark amber in the light of the setting sun. Her mouth is slightly upturned in a curious smile, and Aether finally notices her eyes, her hair and her clothes. Gold, rubies and amber. Like treasure.
Aether liked treasures.
She waves a hand in his face, "Hey, hey! Quit looking at me like that. What do you think you're doing?"
"Faunakin. I like you." Aether says, and the girl turns red, "Ah- Uhm. Thanks?"
A beat of silence.
"I-I'll be going now." She turns, and Aether steps in front of her. "No."
" Pretty treasure. "
Aether scoops her up, grunting. She's surprisingly light, probably because bunnies were also small, and almost weightless. "Let's go. Go to my den." He says.
He gets socked in the face.
She runs, obviously. Leaving Aether on the damp grass, traces of the sunset flickering across his features, scales reflecting the gold into his eyes. The girl's carrots are in the dirt once more, and when Paimon finds him, she fusses incessantly.
With a decisive flick of his ear, Aether decides that the girl will see his den. And she will be his treasure.
---
The next morning, Mondstadt is in a panic.
Amber wakes up to knights responding to the call of duty, and Kaeya screeching at her to wake the hell up. The sun was barely over the horizon, and the Outrider quickly scrambles to her feet, pulling on her uniform in record speed.
When she leaves the Favonius barracks, the sky is obscured by a shadow, and her hair is blown away from her face.
She wants to turn around, she really does. But a familiar roughened voice echoes from the shadow, "Hey! Don't run! I have your carrots!"
Knights clamor around her, and she can see Jean look at her in bewilderment. Amber could only stare in shock. There was a huge wyvern flapping it's wings over Mondstadt. It was white, with black and gold scales smattered across it's back like a canvas of stars. And that-that crazy!-
"Clear some space, will you?"
The wyvern begins to descend unto the ground, and Amber isn't even sure if it would be able to fit in the town square, but it landed, safely, and there he was, in all his scaly glory. The stranger hops from his dragon, approaching her. The knights stand still, unable to do anything but watch until they were given Kaeya's order, but the man in question was watching the scene with an open mouth.
Amber exclaims, pointing at him, "You're- You're the insane guy!"
"Am not. I just wanted to show you my den. "
"You're crazy!"
She sees his ear twitch and his face morph into annoyance. He clenches his fist and turns around, "Paimon! Set it on fire!"
The wyvern is gigantic, the size of at least four carriages, with a long neck and inky black eyes. It gives him a disdainful look, "Can't do that. Just talk to her, already."
"You have a dragon?! " Amber shrieks, and the dragon turns to her, tilting it's head in greeting, "Hi! I'm Paimon."
"A-Amber. Why are you here?"
The blonde haired man thrusts her basket in her direction, and she notices that it's stocked with a few more carrots and fresh herbs. "I replaced some of them. They were dirty." He says. "We followed your smell."
Paimon trills, "Your scent is like fruit, and berries!"
Amber steps forward hesitantly, before glaring at the intruder with angry yellow eyes, "You're. Crazy. "
"Paimon says faunakin get startled by touching. I didn't mean to pick you up. I just wanted to show you my den." He explains, unhelpfully. The Outrider feels a little awkward having this conversation in front of the other knights. The stranger continues, "Dragons are different. We like touching. It's how we say hi."
"He's right. We headbutt each other and trill, like this!" Paimon produces a light, rumbling sound from her throat, before looking down at the humans below her, "Hi!"
Some knights answer hesitantly.
"You aren't a dragon. She is." Amber reasons, pointing at his friend. His golden eyes narrow in dismay, "I am. See these?" He gestures to the scales along his face. With a shake of his head, he continues, "Dragons can shapeshift, do you understand? Paimon, you show her."
"Okay!"
The wyvern dissappears in a cloud of smoke, and when it dissipates, there is a tiny, white haired girl in it's place, hovering with smaller dragon wings. "Like that! Small now!"
The stranger nods, "Small now."
He shrugs, "Anyhow, you should come see my nest. Be my mate."
Amber turns red once more, face morphing into confused, flustered shock. This stranger is handsome, obviously. Apart from the seemingly lifeless scowl on his face, his eyes commanded respect, and his posture was put-together and menacing. Black, white and gold fabric was draped across his shoulders, intricate patterns woven into them, and his midriff was exposed, leaving little imagination to what was underneath. She shakes her head, cursing herself for thinking so deeply about this crazy stalker.
“ Why would I do that? Why would you want that?” She questions, without thinking.
“You look like treasure. I like treasure.” He replies, and Kaeya whistles encouragingly from behind her. Amber shakes her head, putting her hands up, “This is insane. I don’t even know who you are!” Dread and embarrassment pools in her stomach at the dragon’s contemplative stare. Paimon looks on, nudging the blonde into talking.
“Okay, then. I have to court you.” He says, like it’s the simplest thing in the world. With a decisive nod, he hands her the basket, and she accepts it wordlessly. What is going on?
With a sudden lurch, Amber protests, “W-Wait! I don’t even know your name!”
“Aether.” He says, and as if on cue, Paimon shifts back into her draconic form.
The Outrider could only stare open-mouth as he mounted onto Paimon’s back.
“My name is Aether.” His mouth is pulled into an excited grin.
And with that, Paimon lifted into the sky with a powerful thrust of her wings. She hears the dragonkin laugh boisterously as he’s carried into the wind.
---
“You could ask Razor.”
Aether rolls his eyes, glaring at his unhelpful companion, “Razor is a wolf faunakin. They’re different. You told me.”
Paimon lazes on a pile of hay cushioned with a variety of furs. She’s smaller, because it was more convenient, and easier to fill her stomach. With a flick of her tail she responds, “Yes, well Razor has human friends. Paimon thinks you could ask them!”
Aether rolls over to tilt his head at her, “What, Fischl and Bennett?” He thinks about the two humans, who were granted safe passage in Wolvendom thanks to their close affiliation with the Alpha’s heir, and grunts, “Maybe.”
He just didn’t understand why humans needed to make things so difficult. Dragon mating was easy, at least that’s what his sister says. Lumine had gone to nest further away in Liyue, because that’s just how dragons work. Family doesn’t stay together, only rarely, but Aether and Lumine visit each other sometimes.
He thinks about Lumine’s mate, a Hydro Warlock named Childe. Aether thought he was peculiar when he first met him, but Lumine told him that all she had to do was show him her den and give him lots of meat and love. Aether wishes it were that easy. It was annoying to go into town, too. He tended to avoid Mondstadt at all costs, because it was small and crowded and loud. How was he supposed to know that dragons were a military threat?
Anyway, Aether needed to woo a little red rabbit.
“You could give her tons of meat!” Paimon suggests, “Show her you’re capable and all!”
“Would she like that?” He wondered aloud, and the small dragon trills, “Yeah! At least Paimon knows she would!”
With an exasperated huff and a fond roll of his eyes, Aether tosses Paimon a chunk of beef he hadn’t touched yet, and she accepts it gratefully, tucking into it with pointed teeth. He mulls over his options, first he knew now not to fly into Mondstadt, rather enter it through the gate. Second, he needed to give Amber meat, and treasure. He figures humans like treasure since they try to steal from him so much, so she would appreciate it. Lastly, he needed to talk to Bennett and Fischl about human mating ceremonies.
It was so much trouble, Aether thinks. But it would be worth it. His treasure was one of a kind, after all.