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Aether was relaxing in his teapot, reading a book near the gardens. The smell of the cecilias tickling his nose in the gentle breeze. He finally had some downtime from all the commissions and requests and saving of nations, he was finally able to relax.
He had almost fallen asleep in his spot under a tree when a certain gravelly voice woke him, “finally got some down time, Traveler?”
Aether looked up at the voice’s owner and there stood Ifa, Natlan’s saurian vet, sat up as he closed his book and pinched the bridge of his nose to wake himself up more.
“Mhm,” Aether hummed in response, “did you need anything?”
The vet shook his head, “just checking in on you, kiddo.”
“So that’s a no?”
“Get back to your book, I’ll go get you some lunch,” Ifa made his way to the mansion’s front door.
“But I’m not hungry!” Aether called after him before getting up to follow, book in hand.
“Knowing you, you didn’t eat yet.”
Aether frowned at that very right assumption, “I can take care of myself.”
That drew a soft laugh from Ifa, “in a fight maybe.” He got some food ready, planning on making some rice and chicken for Aether, if he was right in his guess of the boy having not eaten anything for a while, Aether would need something bland and easy on the stomach.
“I can handle my needs too!” Aether said as he put his book away.
“When’s the last time you ate?” Ifa asked, an eyebrow raised.
Aether was quiet for a moment before answering, “a few days…”
“Thought so.”
Aether was tempted to stick his tongue out, but that wasn’t very mature for the Almighty Traveler, now was it? So, he just sat at the kitchen island and watched Ifa as he cooked.
Ifa made a small fruit salad for a side as the rice cooked, he handed it to Aether before going to start on the chicken.
Aether ate some of the salad as he waited for the rest of his food. It was nice, the sweet berries were…well obviously sweet with a hint of tartness to them and the sunsettia brought in a nice crunch as each seed popped.
Definitely worth the absurd prices in the shops for the fruit.
“Thanks,” Aether said.
“You’re welcome, kiddo.”
“I’m older than you.”
“In years,” Ifa pointed out, gesturing to Aether with a spatula. “How old are you by immortal standards?”
Aether frowned, “like…sixteen?”
“And that makes you a…”
“Teenager,” Aether grumbled, his attention back on his salad.
“Exactly,” Ifa turned the chicken over in the pan, “just sit back and let someone else take care of you for once.”
“How’ve your commissions been?” Ifa asked as he washed dishes and handed the clean ones to Aether for him to dry.
The teen made an annoyed sound at the question, “some idiot tried underpaying me for ‘taking too long’ during a commission is Dragonspine. Apparently the sheer cold on that mountain doesn’t give me leeway in a time limit that wasn’t even discussed.” He dried a fork and didn’t bother being gentle when putting it away.
Ifa let out a low whistle, “yikes…”
Aether hummed in response, more annoyed sounding, “they’re so stupid.”
Ifa nodded and handed Aether another dish, “yeah, commissioners can be like that at times.”
“I might just take a vacation. I have the funds for one, so why not treat myself?”
“A break will do you good,” Ifa agreed. “What do you plan on doing while away from hero work and commissions?”
Aether shrugged, “finish that book series I started back in Fontaine..”
The Traveler looked back at the stack of books on his desk from all over Teyvat, many books left unfinished since something came up each time he tried to read them.
Ifa seemed to notice the kid’s stare and followed it, his eyes met with the stack and his gaze trained on a short novel from Yae Publishing House. “I hear that series is good,” he motioned his head to a title, “Citlali’s been trying to get me to read the series.”
Aether nodded and put another dish away, “yeah, the romance in it is cute, I guess.”
…
Forty minutes later, Ifa was sat on the porch of the mansion and occasionally glancing up to watch Aether train his battle skills against the teapot hilichurls.
The hilichurls within the training served their purpose and swung at the boy with their clubs and threw their stones and/or slimes at him, Aether managed to dodge most of them with only a few hitting his back.
Aether was training on his pure physical skills so he wouldn’t have to rely on his elemental abilities too much. Never know when his powers could be taken away again.
“Let’s try this again,” he mumbled to himself as he started again, a new wave of hilichurls coming his way.
At some point during Aether’s second or third run, Ifa got up and went to grab an aid kit, just in case the kid got hurt.
It was still baffling to him how Aether was going around the world and saving nations. Did no adult this kid met question it? Was this just a normal thing outside of Natlan?
If Aether were his kid, he’d at least travel with him every once in a while to make sure he’s fine, or he’d check in on the blonde and make sure he’s taking care of himself.
But unfortunately, Aether wasn’t his own yet. The most he could do for now was care for him as if he was.
And that’s exactly what he’ll do.
Aether soon came over, absolutely covered in scrapes and bruises, and looked down at the vet, “whatcha doin’?”
“I was reading, but now I’m more concerned about those scrapes, kiddo,” Ifa gestured to Aether’s entire being. “Want some aid with those?”
Aether looked down at his more exposed areas, noticing the cuts, “they’re fine. I’ve had worse.”
“Those are bound to get infected.”
Aether frowned at him, causing a deep sigh from Ifa’s throat before the vet continued, “only if you want to though.”
Aether bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about it, eventually conceding and sitting down beside Ifa.
Ifa smiled a little at that, “thank you.” He gently began cleaning and bandaging Aether’s cuts.
Admittedly, Aether was a little embarrassed about getting help for something he could do himself. Teyvat’s little hero needing the aid of some vet for a few scrapes… who would imagine that and not take him less seriously?
Even so, he let Ifa treat him. It was a little nice to be taken care of for once.
Around 7pm, Ifa put some garlic into some meat with salt, soy sauce, a few peppers, and parsnip in it and mixed it together.
There was a pot and a sauce pan on the stove, the pot containing cabbage leafs soaking in hot water to be more malleable and the sauce pan containing white grape juice and soy sauce.
After the meat was properly mixed, he rolled a bit into balls and wrapped the cabbage leaf around it and repeated the process until he had no more cabbage leafs. He then placed six at a time in the sauce pan to steam. Rinse and repeat the process until everything is done.
“Aeth, dinner’s ready,” he called.
Aether came out of his room and to the kitchen, a slight confused look on his face, like he wasn’t expecting Ifa to also make dinner.
“You made jade parcels?”
Ifa nodded, “they had a little star on the recipe in your little book,” he said as he took a plate out of the cabinet. “How many do you want?”
“Five for now, please.”
Ifa handed him the plate of five parcels with some of the sauce that they were steamed in on them, earning another thanks from the Traveler, “no need to thank me, kiddo.”
For himself, Ifa took only three. In Aether’s recipe book, it mentioned that these things could be sorta filling.
…
After he ate though, he decided not to trust the note of a kid whose appetite was probably smaller than a kitten’s. They weren’t filling at all. If anything, this was a light snack if eaten on its own. So, before eating the rest, Ifa cooked up some rice to have along with it.
Once the rice was made, there were only a few parcels leftover from dinner, the rice making it much more filling.
Aether cleaned up the dishes and put the food away, not entrusting this to Paimon - who was currently in a little food coma on the cat bean bag chair in the living room.
Once he finished that, he was going to go to his study to work on a few more things, but a yawn on his way there made Ifa give him a look, “you headed to bed anytime soon?”
Aether shook his head, “I need to look a few things over and then I will.”
“Kid-”
“It’ll only be five minutes,” Aether interjected, he was comparable to a child asking their parent to push back bedtime for ‘one more story’.
Ifa frowned but soon gave in, finding the sight a little adorable. “Five minutes, then I’m making sure you get rest. You’re a growing kid and need it.”
Aether nodded and inside the study to sketch a little.
After ten minutes, Ifa came in and checked on him, “you tired yet?”
Aether yawned at the mention of being tired and nodded, shaking his hand out a little to uncramp it from the sketching. He doubted he was holding his pencil right.
Ifa chuckled a little, “get some rest. I’m gonna head out now, okay?”
Aether nodded as he stood up and made his way to his bedroom, giving Ifa a fistbump while passing, “g’night, Dad….”
Ifa smiled. Dad? Is that what the kid thought of him?
“Goodnight, kid.”