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Honestly. How does one even manage to repeatedly lose their key week after week? Thrice a week at that!
Aether dipped his head and huffed, annoyance lightly sprinkled on his face. He felt ever so determined to simply regain his energy just before he headed out to go back to Inazuma after hearing word of his dear friend, Aratakki Itto’s, so-called glorious festival.
He envied the.. the himbo. How does one recover from the events of the Chasm so quickly? Though in fairness, Itto was dead like a light near the end so he couldn’t have experienced his newfound trauma even if he wanted (though Aether wouldn’t wish ill for his dear friend and felt happy for the other man in his own bittersweet way). Aether took a deep breath as he involuntarily recalled the events of the perilous trail in his head.
The near insanity he and his friends experienced.
The panic he felt when Itto punched the rocky wall and simply passed out.
The absolute terror he felt as he watched Xiao, the last of the yakshas, the stubborn adeptus who seemed obsessed with doomed fate, his friend, sacrifice himself so he could save Aether and the rest of the group.
A particular memory made Aether slowly come to a stop in his tracks.
Blonde hair gently blew with the non-existent wind, a white dress doing just the same. Pitiful golden eyes identical to his own gazed through him at him, a soft smile to match. A hand—his own hand since when did he-?—suddenly reached out before him in desperation. Her name was just on the tip of his tongue, ready to be called out for- screamed out for, until-
An uncomfortable feeling of frustration and sorrow hugged onto his body, unconsciously making him slightly step on the ground a little harder and breathe a little heavier than usual. Despite the lack of crowd, he resisted rolling his eyes as he picked his head back up to the path ahead of him, continuing on.
Walking a couple steps further he took in a sharp breath as he saw the definition of a bitc-
..
Tsarevich.
The Snezhnayan man looked unpleasant as usual. Both in emotion.. and in looks- but hey, Aether is kind. And he said that to himself in his mind over and over again. Maybe if he says it just enough times, it’ll be true.
He and the merchant made eye-contact and Aether couldn’t help but crack open a smile that was powered by nothing more but building resentment and rage.
“What awful luck. These Knights of Favonius are really…” the man brought his hand to his chin as if in thought, though the volume of his words was obviously said to catch the other’s attention. He let his gaze linger on the Traveler for a little while before breaking the eye-contact, staring at the ground instead as if troubled with something.
Aether could feel his jaw start to clench so he bit his tongue instead.
Aether stiffly began walking towards the brunet, an obvious insincere smile smothered all over his face.
“Is something wrong?”
“Hmph!” Tsarevich began, not missing a beat. “These Knights of Favonius have no sense of efficiency at all. They said that there were monsters ahead, and wouldn't let me pass.” He motioned to the area to the left of him. “I still have so many matters to attend to. Do they have any idea how much money they're costing me?” He violently jabbed his fingers towards his own chest. “Still... Well, you look like an adventurer, don't you? How about this —“
Aether bit his tongue harder and felt his smile grow bigger.
“— would you be willing to do a little something for me? I'll pay you.”
Absolutely not.
The Traveler smiled. “Leave it to me.”
He felt his nails dig into his inner palms, clenching hands hidden behind his back.
“Wonderful. I love straightforward people. You will be well rewarded once the deed is done, I guarantee it.”
Aether swore it must’ve been the work of one of the gods, even Celestia, that at that very moment a stray Hilichurl growled, making Tsarevich briefly avert his attention just in time as Aether’s smile dropped and rolled his eyes.
‘“Guarantee” my a-‘
Tsarevich looked back and the smile was too. The Traveler already knew where this was going but he asked anyway. “How much are you offering?”
Tsarevich huffed in almost-amusement. “Hah, that will depend on the manner of your deeds. If you do well, I will see to it that you are well rewarded. Perhaps my eyes deceive me, but the hilichurls around Mondstadt seem to have grown more numerous. Who knows what these so-called Knights are doing all day? Since you've agreed to aid me..”
‘Maybe it was a mistake that I asked.‘
“..then you can help to drive off me. Yet, you are only one person. Hmm…” the dark haired man did his stupid thinking gesture again, Aether noticed. “Forget it. Pick one of these areas to clean out yourself: the peak, side or foot of the mountain.”
The Traveler opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off.
“It's all hilichurls no matter where you go, so there's no difference. Now go, and don't waste my time.”
‘I swear to the Archons-‘
“I’ll go for the mountaintop.” Aether said, surprised at himself for being able to speak in such a leveled manner. But that didn’t stop the angry thoughts that now seemed to be zooming through his head at 1000 miles per hour. It was beginning to give him a headache and the uncomfortable, burning feeling began to strain his muscles, even if he were standing still.
“The group of hilichurls on the mountaintop are the hardest to deal with. I used to go there to relax, but now I dare not even venture close. Very unfortunate.”
‘Did I ask?’
“Well, you look quite capable, so I suppose it'll be a fitting task for you. Remember, that big blockhead with the axe has to go first. Watching him walk around all full of himself just makes my blood boil.”
‘Conversing with you makes my blood boil.’
“Then there's the one that waves its big shield around in your face. What an eyesore…”
Aether bit the inside of his cheek, somewhat-successfully filtering out some of his.. thoughts.
“Finally, you want to take out those with the long staves... What do they call them, again? Samachurls? Either way, they don't look so tough… In any case, get rid of them all. Get them out of my sight.” Tsarevich finally finished.
Perhaps Aether was kind of rude as he said no reply back to the Snezhnayan man and instead bulked it down the pathway, but he didn’t care. He concentrated at the designated location and felt his body dissipate before feeling it reappear again near the mountaintop.
It wasn’t long until he spotted the hilichurls and it wasn’t long until they spotted him.
An eerie smile crept onto his face as the feeling of adrenaline slowly started to replace the itching-burning feeling that once wanted to make him do nothing but claw at his arms and scream till his throat said no more.
Should he have felt bad at the way the hilichurls faltered the slightest bit? Well it didn’t matter because his sword was already being shoved out of one of their bodies.
—
After a wonderful conversation with Tsarevich that took Aether an embarrassing amount of energy to keep his pettiness to himself, he got his wonderful 1000 mora.
Upon receiving his payment, he merely sighed quietly to himself, dragging the squabbling Paimon away from the irritable Snezhnayan merchant. Paimon then teleported to her subspace with a pout.
Walking down the dirt pathway on his way to Mondstadt, he heard yelling. And hilichurls. He smelled smoke.
“Help! Help me!”
Archons.
He ran towards the commotion to see a blond man in a ponytail in Mondstadtian attire—“Allan” the Traveler’s mind supplied—crouched down on the ground, hands over his head acting as protection from the assaulting hilichurls. Aether wearily eyed the smoking transport balloon and had second thoughts about helping the man at all. He sighed for the nth time today and ran towards the man.
It didn’t take long before he defeated all the hilichurls, their bodies reduced to ash, and Aether was forced to face the victim.
“Th—Thank you, Traveler, I can't believe my luck… I was sure I was done for…”
Aether gave a low hum thinking of ways he could’ve possibly avoided this. Allan took it as a “You’re Welcome”.
“This cart is loaded up with everything the hunters managed to catch. Draff had me deliver it to the city. I'm... not the best hunter in the world, but a simple delivery is something I should be able to handle. Or so I thought…” He scratched the back of his head. “I very nearly messed the whole thing up. This attack was completely out of the blue. I guess they must have been after the goods. It's a good thing you showed up when you did.”
The Traveler smiled and nodded.
“Erm, it's not easy for me to ask, but... My cart was damaged in the attack, and it's my only way out of here.”
“You have legs.” Nearly slipped out of Aether’s mouth.
“I'm sure the woods around here would have the materials I need for any repairs, but I just can't bring myself to leave my goods unattended. If it's not too much hassle, would you be able to take a look around and help me find a Sturdy Plank?”
Aether could feel his smile trembling but hid it behind his hands waving in front of his face while he shook his head. He hoped he looked cheerful as he solidified his smile and put up two awkward thumbs-ups above his stomach. “Come on, you’ve got this!”
There was a terrified look in Allan’s eyes. “Please, I'm begging you! They might still be nearby... I need to disappear as soon as possible, and you're the only one who can help make that happen! just needs patching up here and there, just enough so it can make it to Mondstadt. There's bound to be some useful timber in the woods around here.”
Just like that, he turned his back to Aether and began to fix what he could of the balloon.
Aether blinked once.
Aether turned around, walked 10 steps, crouched down and picked up a piece of wood. It was weak.
Aether looked up, walked 4 steps, crouched down and picked up a piece of wood.
Aether looked up, walked 6 steps, and gave the sturdy plank to Allan.
Allan turned around. “That's plenty, in just two seconds I'll have this…” He began to tinker with the balloon until he suddenly crouched down, hands over his head, identical to how he looked before Aether found him.
“Ahhh! They're back, Traveler, they're back!”
Surely enough, there was a group of hilichurls.
“Help! Help me!” Allan cried.
And then there weren’t.
The Traveler watched as Allan sighed with relief, standing up again. “You're a life-saver! They are awfully persistent, aren't they? I wonder what those hunters caught that is so irresistible… I have nothing but admiration for Draff, managing to hunt such fine specimens.” He sighed, “If only I could learn to hunt like him… Well, first things first. Better get this old thing into the city.”
Aether waited.
“Argh, you're not going to believe this... I was almost done repairing the cart, but they did a little bit more damage when they attacked again… Things can only get worse the longer I stay here. I need to fix this as soon as possible. There was some rope in the back, but the hilichurls must have nabbed it. Traveler — may I trouble you to look around the area and see if you can find some rope?”
“I have other things to do,” was the response that blurted out of the Traveler.
“But... This is the final step. I just need the rope and then I can take things from there! Sorry to trouble you… There should be some rope in the woods.” Allan turned his back to Aether and began to fix what he could of the balloon.
Aether blinked once.
Aether blinked twice.
Aether turned and walked.
37 steps.
Aether picked up the rope and walked back.
37 steps.
Aether gave the rope to Allan.
Allan turned around and grabbed the rope smiling.
Aether waited.
“That should do it. It feels like it could fall apart at any moment, but as long as it gets me back to Mondstadt I'll be fine.” Allan craned his neck to face the Traveler, “Thanks for everything! I'm good to go now. Get in touch next time you're in Springvale and let's get a drink!” He faced back to the path ahead of him. “...As long as you don't drink like Draff, that is.” Allan walked away without looking back.
Aether blinked once.
Aether blinked twice.
Aether blinked a third time.
Aether closed his eyes, sighing.
“Alright.” The Traveler said.
Aether was screaming inside.