Chapter Text
Prologue
"Now, that's what I call treasure!" Bennett exclaims with shining eyes, opening a chest and getting the prizes inside.
"Look, Aether! Eheh, this must be my lucky day, 5000 mora and even some adventurer's books, I almost can't believe my eyes! Take, this is your part" the adventurer hands over half the bounty, but the Traveler shakes his head
"Nope, this is all yours! You spotted the chest and besides, I just need the Commission rewards from Katherine, that would be enough, don't worry".
"Oh, are you sure? Thank you so much!" a shining smile on Bennett's face even brighter than before caused Aether to giggle a little.
"Ahah, no worries!" as he got close to the chest and checked inside, to be sure that Benny took everything, a little shimmer told Aether that he did, in fact, forgot 2 little primogems. It wasn't really Bennett's fault though, since Aether was one of the few capable of seeing the gems, at least none of his friends ever seemed to see them. A sentence distracted him from his thoughts
"Aether, it's getting late, I told my dads I'll be at the guild soon today, do you mind if I start heading back? Do you need help with something else before I go? Healing, maybe?".
The Traveler shakes his head for the second time "Nope, I'm all good! Thanks for the help today! What about tomorrow? Wanna do commissions together again?". Bennett's face scrunches a little
"Aww, sorry man... I promised to Razor that I'll be with him tomorrow, but I'm sure that he'll like for you to come too! Do you want me to -"
the Traveler stops him by patting his shoulder "No no no, have a good day with Razor"
a little wink by the golden haired boy made the adventurer flush red, then he removes the hand, taking a proud stance "and don't worry about me, I'll manage the commissions, I'm the Honorary Knight after all... but it's always fun to be part of Benny's Adventure team, see you soon!"
He waves bye bye to Bennett while the other thanks him again and takes off to Mondstadt city, still a little flustered. Aether keeps his eyes on him for the time necessary to see that he's gonna reach a safe area, then lets out a sigh and channels the power of the teleport waypoints, popping out in Sumeru.
He walks steadily to the adventurer's guild stand and Katheryne, as always, is ready to receive him
"Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the adventurer guild, how can I help you Traveler?"
"Hello Katheryne, I'm here to get the commissions rewards, you don't mind me getting the rewards from here even if I did them in Mondstadt, right?"
"Of course no, there you go, thank you for completing today's commissions."
"No worries, bye Katheryne."
"Farewell, Adventurer, and thank you for supporting the Adventurers' Guild."
Aether nods at her with a little smile before turning back, he finds a safe and hidden spot in the city before deploying his teapot and entering it.
He doesn't even have time to open his eyes that Paimon’s already greeting him, happily and loudly "You're finally back, Aether! Welcome back! How were today's commissions? Everything good? Did you find any super-duper-shiny treasure?!" Her eyes shine a little while she finishes talking and Aether laughs as soon as he recovers from the teleportation
"Eheh, nope Paimon, sadly no super-duper treasure today, but I found two of those primogems! Do you think they'll disappear again or we'll be able to keep them this time?"
"Ooow... yeah I remember those! Well, even if we could keep them it's not like someone's gonna buy them since no sellers can see them, and we can't even use them to make food! So I don't really care... Besides, don't you usually find some cool stuff after they disappear? You told me that thanks to the stuff you found our friends got stronger!"
"Well, yeah... and other people are always free when we could really use their help... but I would like to know something more about this stuff anyway, I'm curious" he takes out a little pouch full of the gems and looks inside
"I am too, but it's not like we'll understand more just chatting about it like this, we tried it already"
She shrugs a little, then changes the topic
"Anyway! Today I ate the BEST dish ever, you have to try it, lemme tell you..."
While she starts talking Aether follows her, still watching in the bag, he feels a gentle breeze stroking his right cheek, he looks in that direction but sees nothing, than watches back into the pouch, all the primogems shimmer and start disappearing, the breeze becomes stronger and a small electric shock makes him shiver, in that moment he closes his eyes. All of it lasted probably two seconds and Aether blinks a few times before resume following Paimon, catching up with a little jog and putting the empty pouch back in his pockets
"Sorry Paimon, what were you saying?"
A little smile on his lips. Maybe we'll have a fun day tomorrow.
***
"A name is life's first gift You didn't say it out loud, but I know that's what you're thinking"
Lesser Lord Kusanali's words and the Traveler's choice was burned on the back of The Wanderer's mind, he kept rewatching the same memory over and over again…
He didn't answer the Lord of Dendro's sentence, so she kept talking, facing the Traveler and her guide "Aether and Paimon have helped you a lot. If you can't decide on a new name, maybe you can ask them for ideas."
A surprised expression on Aether's face "Huh? You want us to decide?" they look between Nahida and Wanderer, then settles their eyes on Paimon for help
"Nope, Paimon only does nicknames! If it's a serious name you're after... it's all yours!"
Wanderer's eyes stay on Aether while they scrunch their features a little, as if he was pondering the possibilities, then they look back at the Wanderer, at the same time he says
"Have you got anything?"
Aether closes their mouth, they were going to say something but Wanderer's words have probably answered their question already, when they talk again the question is different:
"You didn't like any of your previous names?" they seem curious, no other emotions can be seen, the stance of their pose is a little closed, but only pensieve, nothing that shows aversion.
Wanderer shrugs and looks away, his eyebrows have a little twitch while he speaks "...Hmph. I have no need for these names anymore."
"Ok.. Hmm, let me give it some more thought"
"Okay" Wanderer looks back at Aether, their expression is focused but eyes aren't, the line of sight pointing at the ground but without actually looking at it, the right thumb caressing slowly their chin while the other arm circles their stomach. Wanderer doesn't know how much time he waits for the Golden teen to speak, he's got a lot on his mind too, given that he just got back 500 years worth of memories, so he doesn't really mind the peace, since even Paimon finally shut up. He's a little startled when Aether finally speaks, but he doesn't make it obvious.
"Jiyu"
When Wanderer looks at him their eyes lock for a moment, Aether straightens their spine and crosses their arms, smiling a little, they still haven't looked away from Wanderer, but they both do it when Nahida speaks
"I think it's a very good name! Don't you?" joined after a moment by Paimon "Oh, I like it a lot! I didn't think you would find such a nice name for him..." she gives a nasty look at Wanderer before asking to Aether, with a softer and curious expression on her face "But what does that mean? I feel like I heard it somewhere before"
Aether looks back at the Wanderer for a moment, like waiting for a reaction, but he doesn't say anything, so they answer to Paimon.
"You probably heard it in Inazuma, it's Inazuman and means freedom" then their tone falls a little, they look at Nahida and Wanderer to find confirmation "at least from what I remember from our travels"
Wanderer is the one that answers "Yes, you remember correctly..." and looks at them with narrowed eyes, he thinks for a moment and then adds "Are you sure?" his voice tries to be steady, but someone smart will probably be able to see that he's the unsure one
"Yes." Aether smiles again, now more confident "I think this will do"
The new named Jiyu gets his face rid of any emotion before answering "...Ah, alright, if you say so" he's unimpressed, apparently, then Nahida joins the conversation again
"There, now you have a name of your own, and a beautiful one too!"
Jiyu's expression is annoyed now "What about a nickname? Are you done yet?". He looks briefly at Paimon but doesn't give her words much attention, he looks instead at Aether's smile when she looks at her, switching from a confident to a soft and amused one.
A deep sigh exits Jiyu's mouth "Stop thinking about it..." He whispers to himself, before starting to walk to the Sanctuary of Surasthana. I need to do something, anything, I'm just bored, that's all, surely Lesser Lord Kusanali has something for me to do now.