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Today was day…five? Six? Five. Today was day five of the aftermath of Sumeru’s latest crisis. Unsurprisingly, Aether had slept very little in those five days. Even after fighting the Shouki No Kami and witnessing the emergence of Sumeru’s rightful ruler, there was still thousands of little things left to do. Like, governing a country, for instance. Alhaitham and Cyno were doing most of the heavy lifting in that regard, and as soon as they had discovered Aether’s issue of not knowing when to stop, they promptly sent him to Gandharva Ville to recover alongside Tighnari and Collei.
It’s not like he wasn’t thankful for their insistence. He probably needed to rest after all that he went through, especially whatever The Doctor did to knock him out. There’s just one tiny, super small detail.
Gandharva Ville was in the rainforest. Where it rains. And storms. And occasionally, it thunderstorms.
Another super super tiny, infinitesimal detail: Aether did not like thunderstorms.
It had been, what, a year? A whole year had passed since his fight with Ei in Inazuma, and he was still absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. Even Electro Allogenes could cause the bad memories to rise within him, though he’d gotten better about differentiating between their lightning and her’s. Working with Cyno had been especially helpful in this regard.
But still, a good old-fashioned natural thunderstorm did the trick for his trauma every time. When Scaramouche decided to summon a thunderstorm of disastrous proportions to surround Pardis Dhyai, and subsequently strike Tighnari in the process, Aether felt a large portion of his progress slip away. Even just a fleeting glance at Tighnari’s scars reminded him of his own, which generally loved to inflame at triggering intervals.
So! Was it just dumb luck that brought on this thunderstorm during a time in which Aether was supposed to be relaxing and recovering? Or was Scaramouche awake and back at it again, having discovered his weakness? Both options seemed equally likely.
The storm had begun that afternoon and was now raging into the tender hours of the night, the primary cause of Aether’s current insomnia. He so desperately wanted to sleep, because sleeping meant unconsciousness, and unconsciousness meant he wouldn’t have to hear the raging thunderclaps that shook the wood of his hanging Gandharva hut.
But every time the windows lit with the flash of lightning, every time the forest echoed the sound that followed, Aether found himself edging further and further away from sleep. All he could do was toss and turn in his bed, sweating buckets. Had he ever complained about how humid it was in the rainforest? Sometimes he even preferred the dry desert heat to practically swimming through the air in the rainforest.
An especially violent strike flashed right outside Aether’s tiny window, closely followed by an obscenely loud crash of thunder. Aether focused all of his energy on not flinching, but only ended up curling into himself even more than he already was. Paimon stirred behind his back but did not wake. Then, the massive leaf that acted as his door shifted to the side, and a silhouette with distinctly large, pointed ears appeared in the entryway.
Tighnari let himself in, seemingly unaware that Aether was awake. The Traveler shut his eyes and tried to steady his breathing, anything to keep up the facade. Nobody knew about his fear of lightning. Well, nobody except for Paimon.
He slowly rolled over to face the wall, hoping his movements were a good enough imitation of unconscious restlessness. Tighnari still didn’t say anything. Based on the fact that he remained just inside the door, he must be hesitant about what he’d come here to do. Or maybe he was drying himself off? If the world outside wasn’t so loud, Aether might have been able to hear the gears turning in his own head as he tried to discern the ranger’s intentions.
Eventually, though, the Forest Watcher finished whatever task he was partaking in and gingerly sat on the side of Aether’s bed. His presence weighed down the mattress ever so slightly, his tail brushing up against Aether’s exposed lower back.
“You can stop pretending to be asleep, Aether.”
The Traveler tensed at first, but let his shoulders drop back down again. It was a feeble attempt anyway.
“What gave it away?” he asked, carefully sitting up around a still-sleeping Paimon.
“Your breathing. It would’ve been very convincing otherwise,” Tighnari said.
“Good to know,” hummed Aether.
There was a delicate pause, strangely not broken by another bout of thunder, before Tighnari flicked his ear and spoke again. “Storm’s keeping you awake?”
Aether sighed. “Yeah. Bad memories.”
“I know what you mean,” The ranger leaned back on his hands. “Keeps me up at night, too.”
“How did you know I couldn’t sleep?”
“I know what to look for. I have been looking after Collei for quite some time now.”
Oh. Of course. How could he forget? Aether was about to nod thoughtfully with a witty comment, but the crash of another lightning strike pushed the words away. Aether found himself frozen before he could even try to move past the mental block.
“It’s alright if you can’t sleep,” Tighnari added after the forest quieted again, “Even just closing your eyes and resting is better than nothing.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Good. I’ll leave you to it then.” The Forest Watcher placed his hands on his thighs and pushed himself to his feet, tail swishing for balance. Aether spoke before the Allogene had the chance to make a break for the door.
“Wait. Could you, um…”
“Stay here? Sure, no problem.”
Tighnari was apparently a hidden mind reader, and that was perfectly fine with Aether. He expressed his gratitude with a small sigh and flopped back down into his bed, Paimon still none the wiser. Tighnari sat down once again.
Even though the storm didn’t let up until morning, Tighnari stayed with him the whole way through, and just as the sun started to break through the canopy, Aether finally drifted off into a much needed rest.