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“We got our commissions from Katherine, where to today?”
“Well, there’s Ellin needing advice for knight training again… Good Hunter needs a delivery boy again… Edith needs some inspiration for her book about Anemo… and… oh, here’s one we haven’t seen!” Aether pulls a paper out from the four, as Paimon hovers over to see for herself.
“Flora needs help preserving flowers? Paimon doesn’t think that’ll take too long, but it’s a weird commission to post for an adventurer to help with…”
“Well, commissions are commissions, and I’m sure we’ve had tougher to deal with before.”
Paimon nodded as the two went off to complete their commissions.
Ellin was as impressed as ever to see Aether channel wind into his hand and destroy the dummies all at once, Sara provided Aether and Paimon a free meal after delivering some food to someone in Springvale, and Edith was happy to receive some Anemo-infused leaves from the tree behind the Statue of the Seven. All that was left was seeing what Flora needed from the Adventurer’s Guild.
“The reward isn’t too big for this one compared to the others…” Aether sighed.
“That’s weird, you usually don’t care too much about the reward.” Paimon smiled in Aether’s direction, as she held her hands behind her waist in her usual pose.
“Well, I was just hoping to get a good meal for Bennett today since he felt like he wasted my time the other day when we were waiting for the goods store owner to come to the store after he saw there was a discount listed. It made me feel bad hearing him, y’know?”
“Bennett does tend to think kinda lowly of himself… that makes more sense, then.”
The two arrived at Flora’s store who then notified the two that she was thinking of a way to preserve flowers for a longer time. Aether did not mention it but he felt that flowers and food are not too similar when it comes to preservation, and did not think that traveling to Dragonspine for a glorified refrigerator was the safest option, but here the two are, anyways. Not that anyone in Teyvat really knew what a refrigerator was, anyways.
“Easy in, easy out, Paimon.”
“Paimon doesn’t think that applies to Dragonspine…”
“Positive mindset leads to a positive outcome!” Aether said as he was already making his way to the entrance of the mountain. Before Paimon could retort that that saying was also not the best to apply to Dragonspine, she had to stop and make sure to follow Aether before he left her behind unintentionally. Well, she hoped it would be unintentional, anyways.
The waypoint Flora marked on Aether’s map was made on three spots of the mountain, with the first and closest one being near the Statue of the Seven. He sighed under his breath as he picked up the pace, because “closest” did not necessarily mean it was close at all.
The pair made it to the steps that would lead up to the Statue of the Seven and saw that they were supposed to hide plants near one of the pillars there, and then cover it in a pile of snow. Aether did so as he made his way to the next point that was marked.
“So…” Paimon spoke.
“What’s up?” Aether asked as he kept walking, not turning his head to look at Paimon.
“Have you actually… invited someone to go for a simple meal out of nowhere like that before?”
“‘Course I have.”
Paimon deadpanned. “Paimon doesn’t believe you.”
“What are you talking about? There was that time with Xiangling and Keqing,”
“You didn’t invite them, Xiangling wanted to try out Smiley Yanxiao’s cooking for the competition.”
“Mona and I had that meal at the same spot…”
“She invited you with the money you guys got for doing that one other guy a favor. Paimon can’t remember the name…”
Aether sighed. “Well, what about Eula and Amber? We ate with them at Good Hunter.”
“Yeah, because Amber treated you two to a meal. Eula and Amber are good friends, remember? I mean, Paimon thinks they’re good friends…”
“Well then, I guess you’re right. I haven’t really invited anyone out to go eat before. But Bennett’s different. He’s a nice guy, he doesn’t deserve all the hate he gets just for having bad luck.”
“Bennett’s different, huh…”
“Oh, be quiet. You know he helps us so much more often than anyone else we’ve met and he’s gotten us out of trouble more times than I can count.” Aether looked away, embarrassed.
“Yeah, that’s the only reason, I’m sure…”
Aether’s face flushed. Before Paimon could speak up again with her mischievous grin that Aether did not need to see to know it was there, he noticed that they arrived at the second destination for the flowers. He sped ahead, not letting Paimon mention anything about Bennett. As he hid the flower underneath the pile of snow, he heard a faint cry for help.
He stood up, as Paimon gently hovered over to him.
“So about Bennett–”
“Paimon, wait, I actually just heard someone cry for help just now.”
“Oh, come on! Paimon’s finally getting something out of you and you’re just gonna–”
“Help! Anybody?!”
“It’s coming from over there!” Aether sprinted to the nearby camp that belonged to the Fatui. Paimon sarcastically sighed as she hurried over as well.
“Could you be quiet?!” A nearby Fatui member shouted as Aether arrived at the camp.
“Traveler! It’s you!” A voice called from behind the Fatui member, who seemed to be hushing the person calling for help. They were stuck in a cage but it took Aether only a split second to distinguish the white hair–
“Bennett?!”
Sure enough, it was Bennett that was stuck in a cage again. Nothing new for the boy, really.
“You let him go, Fatui!” Aether yelled.
“Ugh, and here comes another annoyance… All because you wouldn’t shut up!”
“Eek!” Paimon shrieked, as she disappeared to let Aether handle the fighting.
It was just one Fatui wielding Cryo equipment, not too much of a hassle for Aether. There were torches around so it did not take much effort to deal with him as he just had to infuse his Anemo attacks with the fire from the camp’s torches. The Fatui did not go down without a fight and he landed some attacks that left Aether shivering, but nothing too bad. The big blue enemy fled the scene as he decided he had enough of Aether’s attacks, not deeming his captive to be worth the effort. Aether then rushed over to Bennett’s cage, a bit tired.
“Bennett, you okay?”
“I-I’m fine, hey, you don’t look so good…”
“This… is nothing. Step back, I’m getting you out of that cage.”
“Woah hey, the key is probably somewhere in those boxes over there!” Bennett stepped back.
“Don’t care.”
Aether slashed at the wooden cage and busted the door open, with strength that Bennett was not expecting. The blonde opened the cage and quickly kneeled to check Bennett everywhere for any injuries.
“Hey, hey, Aether, I’m okay! Really, they didn’t do anything I couldn’t handle! I just got unlucky and lost consciousness after tripping on the steps past the frozen lake there…” Bennett sniffled, then sneezed. “Ah, sorry. Guess I’m kinda chilly after being in the snow for so long…”
“Come on, let’s get you to a campfire.” Aether stood up, but lost his balance. He hissed as he saw that his ankle had a deep cut. Whether it was from slashing the wood and it made its way to his ankle somehow or it was from the fight with the Fatui that he did not feel until now, he did not really know. Maybe his adrenaline faded away and he was now reeling from the pain he could not feel before.
“Woah, you’re hurt! Wait, I got some bandages for you!”
“Benny, I’m fine–”
“No, you’re not, you can’t even stand up straight. Lemme handle it, you know I’m good with some first aid!” Bennett took his roll of bandages out from his pocket, but then put it back. He kneeled next to Aether and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
“Before I do anything we should probably get out of the cold… come on, up and at ‘em–”
Bennett stood up with Aether as the two shuffled over to the torches by the camp, Aether limping with his injured ankle. The two sat down under the tent that was already made, and Bennett lit up the campfire with a slash of his sword, using his Vision.
“Alright, lemme look at it.” Bennett kneeled down next to Aether as he laid his leg out for Bennett. He was a bit embarrassed that he was receiving care from the person he was supposed to be rescuing, but it did not seem like Bennett minded much.
“Well, I thought it was deep, but it’s not too bad. Lemme just–”
Bennett took out his roll of bandages again from his pocket and tightly wrapped Aether’s cut with it. Aether didn’t understand how, but Bennett made a small motion which seemed like he lightly punched the ground, and his leg already felt much better.
“Woah… thanks, Bennett.”
“No problem, Ae–” Bennett started, but scratched his cheek with his finger in embarrassment. “I uh… you called me Benny back there…”
“Oh uh, yeah. You call yourself that a lot; thought it was a nice nickname. You don’t like other people calling you that?”
“No that’s not it! I just… haven’t had anyone else call me that before.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, no one really calls me by name much, either. Paimon and my sister do, but everyone else just calls me ‘Traveler’. Like how you did when you noticed it was me who found you.”
“Don’t you have any nicknames?” Bennett shuffled over to sit next to Aether.
He shook his head. “Aether’s kinda a hard name to shorten. Not to mention it’s kinda hard to pronounce correctly, too.”
“Eh, hard name to shorten but it’s such a cool name like it is, already. It sounds magical! Aether… Aether!”
Bennett’s eyes basically shone with excitement, as Aether chuckled. “I’m glad you like my name so much.”
“Eh–” As Bennett noticed what he was doing, he flushed. “Gosh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fanboy like that–”
“It’s fine, Benny. You know, you look up to me as some kind of amazing adventurer, but you’re a great adventurer too.”
“Y-You really think so?”
“‘Course I do. You’ve gotten me and the team we travel with out of trouble so many times with your healing, and I haven’t even asked you how it works or anything. Sorry about that, guess it’s always such a rush that I never really stop to ask you about how your abilities work–”
“Well uh… I don’t really know how they work either, they sorta just… do. I’m happy I can help out a legendary adventurer like you, though! You’re such a cool role model, I wish to be like you someday!”
Aether leaned over to hug Bennett. “You’re just fine as you are now, Benny.”
“I-I er–... Thank you…” Bennett hugged back.
Aether could feel his own heart jumping out of his chest, so he let go of Bennett. He did not know it, but Bennett wanted the hug to last a bit longer. He then stood up and reached for Bennett’s hand.
“We should really get out of this mountain. Y’know, after I finish my commission here.”
“Uh… yeah…” Bennett took Aether’s hand but hugged Aether again right after getting up.
“Benny?”
Bennett quickly stepped back, still keeping his hands on Aether’s shoulders. “Sorry, I just… You’re so nice to me and you never fault me for any of my bad luck and you always are there when the other knights like the Spindrift Knight and the Outrider are there too and you just–”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You don’t deserve any of the hate you get. Your bad luck isn’t your fault. I’m happy to deal with it if it just means I can be on Benny’s Adventure Team.”
Bennett sniffled with joy as he hugged Aether tightly again, who hugged back with a flushed smile.
After a brief moment, he let go of Aether but rushed ahead while holding Aether’s hand. “Come on, let's finish your commission! Then we can go for a meal at Good Hunter, my treat!”
“Woah hey, Benny, that was my idea– hey, we’re going the wrong way! Benny!”
Unbeknownst to the two, Paimon was there watching the entire thing silently from the entrance of the camp.
“Wow, you didn’t even notice Paimon was gone with how entranced you were! Hey, wait up for Paimon!”