Chapter Text
Mornings were always a bit of a pain, waking up a bit before dawn, breakfast, packing up, then spending the next few hours or so traveling to get to the next commission.
"Paimon wants to know when we're having breakfast." the floating fairy protested.
They had already spent the past three hours walking and didn't manage to eat much due to the current commission taking longer than anticipated. All the waypoints in Liyue have been glowing in and out of power with all of them in the region having been down for the past two weeks. The last time he tried using one he was teleported nearly 50 feet in the air above the waypoint. Hence the super long walks and lack of supplies.
Zhongli had given him the commission and said where to find the same crystals used to recharge them, very few knew about the location due to the rare material so it couldn't be sought after.
Aether took a deep sign "I'm hungry too, but you know we went through our last bit of food at dinner yesterday. and you insisted on having seconds remember?"
Paimon whines, "Why won't the waypoints just start working we've been out here so long."
Aether lets out, "After this, we can eat as much as you want, just gotta stay focused on getting it done so the waypoints can get fixed." hardly a moment goes by when the sound of his own stomach starts growling.
"Ugh... but yeah I could go for some food right now too." Aether groans in agreement."The Inn is only maybe an hour away, we can stop there and grab something to eat before we head to the cave?" Aether mentions.
"Another hour?! I'm just so hungry now I could eat anything-'' Paimon looks over and notices a strange plant-like flower with small berries growing from it. The stem was dark purple with berries that had a pale blue glow similar to moonlight.
"Oh!" Paimon shouts, floating over collecting the berries in her small hands then flying back to Aether.
"I bet these are edible!" she bounces excitedly showing her haul.
Aether chuckles "You'd literally eat anything, I think I'll wait."
Paimon had already started popping the berries one by one in her mouth. "These are amazing, they taste so good! you're just jealous but Paimon is willing to share." she offers some in her hands.
"I don't know about that." Aether gave a concerned look but wasn't totally against the idea. They had been walking for a while, it was already almost noon and they had been up and walking for hours.
The floating fairy holds some out insistently, it didn't take much for him to change his mind.
"Having a few probably won't hurt," he said with some hesitation. They did have an interesting taste, popping in your mouth sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
"Thanks, now I don't have to eat you for emergency food." he jokes.
"Hmph, well next time Paimon won't share," she says, zipping away in her small pocket dimension.
Aether sighs out of jealousy, I want to float and disappear away from my problems. My feet are killing me... he thought but knew he could never say these kinds of things out loud. Of course, so many people looked up to him and there's no room for complaining when you have so many people that look up to you.
He took a few more steps up the hill until he reached the top with the Inn in view.
There were a few hilichurls and slimes along the way, feeling a bit sluggish made him sloppy resulting in a few more cuts and bruises than normal. He was so used to it he hardly had room to care at this point. All he wanted was rest and food but more than anything hoped to see Xiao.
When he finally reached the Inn, just getting up the stairs to the top took a lot out of him. Once he reached the balcony he rested his body against the ledge of the inn, looking over the wide terrain that he had just walked. He slid himself into a chair trying to relax to ease the strain from walking.
Paimon blipped into frame and was gone as quick as she came to rush to the kitchen.
The traveler rested his head back from his chair, hoping to see Xiao who was usually perched at a certain spot on the roof looking over the valley. He wasn't of course, probably out clearing hilichurls in the area.
"You look worse than usual" a familiar voice rings out.
Aether leans forward and sees Xiao standing across from him at the table.
"You'd think with how long you've traveled you'd grow to be a bit less careless.'' His words were enough to shoot daggers but you could still sense the concern in his words.
Aether tilts his head back laughing, "I'm always careful, just a few scratches." he brushes off.
Xiao reaches out to grab his wrist then proceeds to bandage his hand and arms, the traveler winces a little.
"Why are you here at the Inn?" Xiao asked.
"you haven't heard or noticed? "All the waypoints in this region are down." the traveler exclaimed.
"Zhongli had said something about the crystal in them needing to be replaced every thirty-thousand years."
Xiao let out a small huff "Every thirty-one thousand, and those aren't really necessary for me so, of course, I wouldn't notice."
"ah, of course." the traveler exclaimed then proceeded to close his eyes and lay his head back as Xiao finishes bandaging him.
The air was warm from the heat of summer so breathing in the fresh air had already helped. Before long Paimon comes zooming back, "Because of the waypoints not working they don't have a lot of food either." letting out a deep sigh.
"I brought over what they could give me." she finished.
It was a small bento box nearly the size of what you would feed a small child. Once the box was open only two pieces of onigiri were inside along with a small fishcake, hardly enough for two people.
The traveler reached in to take one of the rice balls. "This should be enough for now, thanks," he said, giving a bright smile.
Both Paimon and Xiao were quiet.
"You should eat more than that," Paimon exclaimed.
"This should be enough for a while plus with those berries you gave me earlier I'm not as hungry." Once he starts eating its hard to ignore the commotion that goes on, one family coming in from a long walk of travel, a merchant trying to rest for the night but due to the influx of patrons, the safety concerns of everyone in the area due to not being able to travel.
"C'mon Paimon we better head out." The traveler lifts himself up swaying a bit from the sudden light sensation in his head.
"Don't you think you should rest," she says.
"You just got here, and you're already leaving." Xiao protests.
The traveler continues walking, "I can't put these people at risk if I wait, if something happens it would be because of me."
Xiao reaches out to grab his arm gently "You know that's not true." he speaks softly.
"I just can't help feeling like you're going to do something reckless." Xiao continues.
"You don't seem to know your own limits, of course, anyone who sees that would be concerned." Xiao trails off.
"Why not come with us!" Paimon chirps excitedly. "would certainly help us a bunch." she says with a smug look.
Both Aethers and Xiao's eyes meet for a second. Xiao is able to hold his expression well. The traveler was already feeling his face turning red. Arther quickly averts his eyes away without leaving much room for question.
Xiao crosses his arms and stands up a bit straighter, "If it helps to get you back here sooner to rest, I'll accompany you there, it already seems like an inconvenience to a lot of people so it's best to get this taken care of quickly I'm sure." he pauses a moment
"and... I would feel responsible if something happened to you if I just let you go in your condition." Xiao then motions down the steps to prevent any protest.