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When the war is won, and Aether’s job is finished, he goes back to Liyue.
It’s by no means a short journey. He trudges back through Natlan, avoids the giant murals of him scattered about, and dodges the stares of people who recognize him. He treks high above the main pass as he goes through the Children of Echoes, avoiding concern or well-wishes from his friends.
Paimon, in her wisdom, does not question, only chatters on about the dinner they shared the previous night, or the strange creatures on the opposite cliffside, or whatever comes to her mind.
He marches straight through the desert of Sumeru, where the sand infiltrates his shoes and his clothes. Paimon complains about the heat but trails behind him as she always does.
“Traveler...” she says slowly, because she always calls him that. “You haven’t told Paimon where we’re going.”
“Didn’t I say?” Aether asks. They are lying together on a bedroll in the sand. He gazes up at the false sky with its false stars and wonders how he would even leave for the sea of stars if he wanted to. Which, after some consideration, he decides he doesn’t. Still, his heart aches and aches and aches.
Paimon kicks her legs in frustration. “”Is there something you’re not telling Paimon?”
“No,” Aether reassures her quickly. “Sorry. I wanted to go back to Liyue, if that’s alright?”
“ Oh, you want to see him,” Paimon says with understanding. Aether pretends not to understand. “...maybe Paimon will go stay with Xiangling for a few days.”
Finally, they leave the desert. Aether bypasses Sumeru City but, at Paimon’s urging, stops in Gandharva Ville. She says it is because she wants to sleep in a bed, and knows Tighnari has a spare room. Aether thinks it is probably mostly because she is worried about him, but he indulges her anyway.
“He’s too nice to turn us away,” Paimon says excitedly. “And he’ll probably cook us that thing he cooked us last time, with the mushrooms?”
“Is my cooking not good enough anymore?” Aether says, feigning hurt. “Feel free to cook the next meal we share.”
“Shut uppp ,” Paimon whines.
Tighnari looks at him with tight eyes and ears twitching, like he is taking in how Aether has changed. It has been quite some time since Aether last shared a meal with the man.
“Come,” Tighnari says at last. “I’ll make dinner, and you’ll stay here tonight.”
“If it’s not too much trouble,” Paimon says politely, but there is no question or offer in Tighnari’s eyes. It is much more of a command. Aether hardly wears his heart on his sleeve, but Tighnari is an insightful man, and Aether’s facade has worn thin.
Paimon goes to bed early, and Aether can hear her snores even from Tighnari’s kitchen where he sits.
“We have much to catch up on,” Tighnari says through the silence. “Tell me of your travels.”
Unburden yourself, he does not say, but Aether can hear it in his voice.
So Aether talks. He’s told the story of Fontaine many times before, and makes short work of it. Natlan is harder. He stumbles through it anyways. He brushes over the parts he played and focuses instead on the actions of everyone else.
Aether has seen war before. He has lived far too long not to. But then again, Lumine had always been at his side before. She had always been the realist, quick to point out the root of the problems in each world they visited. The war with the abyss… it felt senseless. Heartless.
“Where are you going now, then?” Tighnari asks. “You won’t stay a few days to recover?”
“There’s somebody I need to see.” Aether’s face flushes red against his will. “I rested for a time in Natlan before we left.”
“Oh?” Tighnari grins, knowingly. Aether isn’t sure what he can read on his face. “Must be somebody rather important.”
“Yes,” Aether says.
Tighnari checks him over anyways, and gives him a painkiller for his shoulder, which had been hurting for some indeterminate amount of time. Aether first noticed it sometime after returning from the Abyss with Mauvika, but then again, it could have begun before that.
They leave the next day, Paimon’s spirits sufficiently lifted. He makes her a sticky honey roast that night, and they are close now to Liyue.
“Are you going to call for him?”
Aether looks up in surprise. It is not often Paimon interrupts her meal with conversation.
“Who?” Aether asks innocently. Paimon glares.
“You know who, ” Paimon says indignantly. “We don’t have to go all the way to Wangshu Inn. We didn’t even have to go back to Liyue at all. He would have come for you in Natlan.”
Aether gives up any deniability he might have had. “I don’t like to pull him away from his responsibilities.”
“He would come,” Paimon teases lightly. “I’ll call him right now. Xi-”
Aether lunges and shoves more roast into her mouth. Paimon laughs and chews the food.
“I know he would come,” Aether says after a moment. “And that’s exactly why I’m going to him.”
They opt to return to the city first. Xiangling, upon seeing them, nearly bursts with excitement. When Paimon asks if the offer to stay is still on the table, Xiangling nods her head without hesitation.
“I need to test a few new recipes,” she says conspiratorially. “And you, my small friend, are the best taste-tester I know.”
“You’re going to be okay?” Paimon asks him before he leaves. Xiangling waits a few feet away, giving them privacy for their goodbye. Aether hasn’t said much to her - but then again, when does he ever say much?
“I’ll be okay,” he confirms. “Have fun, and don’t eat too much. I need you floating when I get back here.”
Paimon hesitates, and Aether knows . They haven’t been apart since their separation in Natlan. He hugs her quickly. “I’ll be safe,” he promises. “Xiao will keep me safe.”
Aether can’t help but grin when he senses rather than sees a presence appear behind him. “Right, Xiao?”
Xiao has already laid a hand on Aether’s wrist. “Tell Paimon goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Paimon,” Aether says obediently, and then the world shifts.
______________________________________
Aether thinks back to when he first left Liyue, what felt like ages ago. Xiao found him on his way out of the city.
“You’re leaving.”
Aether turned and saw the yaksha standing to his left. Paimon squealed and flew away in surprise, but Aether didn’t start.
“I am,” Aether said in response.
“You’ll come back here,” Xiao commanded. “The moment you are finished with your business there.”
“I will?” Aether asked.
“You will.” Xiao nodded to himself. “So you can tell me you have survived. And you will call my name if you need help.”
“I won’t need help,” Aether insisted. “I’m going to stay out of trouble, this time.”
“Unlikely.” Xiao glared at him, and Aether didn’t know him well enough then to recognize the concern on his face.
And so, after his business was finished in Inazuma, Aether returned to Liyue as commanded. It became a sort of ritual. Along with the quieting of his adventure always came Xiao.
He wasn’t sure why he had obeyed him - he still isn’t sure now. Xiao has no claim on Aether just as Aether has no claim on Xiao. It is fitting, Aether thinks. Xiao comes whenever Aether calls. Why shouldn’t Aether do the same for Xiao?
------------------------------------------------------------
“Where have you been?”
Aether takes in his surroundings. They are not at Wangshu Inn, as Aether expected. They stand atop a high mountain - Aether guesses they are probably near Jeuyun Karst, though he isn’t sure. Aether himself is only feet from a steep cliff. Liyue - beautiful, predictable Liyue spreads out in front of him; jagged mountains and green plains and white clouds.
“I’ve, uh...” Aether takes in a deep breath and turns to look at Xiao, who has decided to appear on top of a large rock a few feet away. He clears his throat. “Natlan, most recently.”
Xiao examines him, and Aether looks back. Xiao looks unchanged, obviously. Aether isn’t sure if any force, heavenly or otherwise, could ever change Xiao. His arms are crossed, and Aether thinks this is probably going to go downhill very fast if Xiao is already pissed.
“You didn’t call,” Xiao says. “But I know from experience that doesn’t mean you didn’t run into trouble.”
Aether takes a deep breath. “You could say I ran into a little trouble, yeah.”
Xiao disappears, then reappears at Aether’s side. “Tell me.”
“Why don’t we go back to the Inn?” Aether asks.
“Aether,” Xiao says. “Tell me.”
Aether nods and steps forward, sitting down to hang his feet over the ledge. “It’s a long story. Natlan was already at war when we arrived,” he says, almost contemplatively.
Xiao sits next to him and his shoulder brushes against Aether’s. Aether doesn’t know where to start, but starts at the beginning, anyways.
“Stop,” Xiao interrupts, when he begins explaining the rescue effort for Kachina. “You... entered the land of the dead? Willingly?”
Aether does not look at him, considers the question. “I entered the Night Kingdom,” Aether confirms. “Willingly.”
A blast of wind strong enough to send rocks tumbling off the cliff washes over them.
“Why did you not call for me?” Xiao asks.
“It gets worse,” Aether says.
It does get worse. By the time Aether is explaining the Abyssal assault, the strange monster in the sky, and the Aether’s frontline efforts in the attack, he thinks the mountain’s landscape has been significantly changed by the elemental outbursts of the yaksha. It has been months, and yet Aether’s eyes still water at the thoughts of the dead laid out before him, and those he failed to save. He looks away from Xiao, hoping to shield his emotions from him.
“You should have called,” Xiao says quietly. He doesn’t ever raise his voice, though if ever there was a time, Aether figures it probably should have been now.
“I wanted to,” Aether replies. “ Gods , Xiao... I wanted to. But what would you have done? Would you have fought at my side and aided the fight against the Abyss?”
“I would have taken you away.” Xiao does not sound repentant. He sounds proud. “With my karmic debt, I could have very well done more harm than good. And Liyue is under my protection, not Natlan.”
“Yes,” Aether says. “And that is why I didn’t call.”
“It changed you. I am no stranger to it. War changes you. I would have spared you, if you had let me.”
“I survived, Xiao. I’m fine.” Aether knows the way his voice wavers is not very reassuring. But truly, Xiao knows nothing of what Aether has seen. He knows not of the vastness within Aether, of the power that he’d held before he landed on this world. “Let me tell you the rest of the story.”
It is easier to tell the rest of the tale after that, more triumphant. The war was won, after all. Aether tells Xiao about Mauvika, about agreeing to help her in her fight, about Tumaini . It grows dark, but Xiao hasn’t spoken for a long time. Neither of them are particularly articulate. Maybe that is why they can understand each other so well.
“Take me back to the inn,” Aether says, standing. “I know you don’t rest, but I do.”
Xiao has a room, though he rarely uses it. He teleports them directly there without a word, moving to sit on the wide ledge of the window before Aether can so much as blink. He sits tightly, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms around them, protecting himself even in the privacy of his room.
“Xiao,” Aether starts. Xiao does not look at him, continuing to gaze out the window.
It is a small room for an adeptus, though he supposes Xiao does not mind, or even notice. A small bed lay against one wall, untouched - probably since the last time Aether slept in it. There is a small bath, which Aether supposes also has gone unused.
“Surely you know I am not a child,” Aether starts again. He moves slowly, somewhat afraid of startling the adeptus into a new brooding spot, but eventually makes his way over to the windowsill. His back to Xiao, he sinks down against the wall and sits on the ground below the window. “I am entirely capable of protecting myself. I’m more powerful than the last time you saw me.”
“You are not a child,” Xiao agrees. He does not say anything else.
Aether contemplates telling him exactly how old he is; takes a deep breath. “I…”
He coughs. Xiao maintains his silence.
“You don’t need to worry, Xiao,” he says instead. “I am not so easy to kill.”
“All mortals are easy to kill,” Xiao says flippantly. His hand betrays him, though, and comes to rest on Aether’s head.
Aether stills. “Not me.”
Before the unknown god - before losing Lumine - before everything , Aether would have denied being mortal at all. He burned brightly, dodged meteors and sword thrusts alike, never fearing even the possibility of death. Now… he wasn’t sure. He still didn’t seem to be aging, but his body felt more old than it ever had before. He ate more, slept more, and bled more.
“You think yourself immune?” Xiao laughs. “Even Rex Lapis can be killed.”
“What if I told you I am older than your Rex Lapis?” Aether says daringly.
“You would be incorrect,” Xiao reassures him hastily. “Rex Lapis is over six thousand years old.”
Now it is Aether’s turn to laugh. The pressure of Xiao’s hand disappears from his head. Xiao appears in a flash of green standing in front of Aether.
“You are not over six thousand years old,” he says, almost commanding Aether to confirm.
It is Aether’s turn not to respond. He looks up, avoiding Xiao’s gaze. Silence stretches between them.
“I’ve certainly lost count,” Aether says at last. “But I am far older than your Rex Lapis.”
Xiao looks as if he will teleport away again, but Aether reaches up and grabs his hand before he can. With the direct contact, Aether can feel the karmic debt rolling off of the adeptus’s skin in waves.
“I’ve been neglecting you,” Aether comments with a frown. “Sit.”
Xiao is not usually one to take orders, but Aether knows he will not fight him on this. Xiao kneels, falling back onto his heels in front of Aether quickly. He hesitates, but holds both his hands out after a moment, palms up.
Aether pulls off Xiao’s gloves, takes both hands in his own and pulls .
Karmic debt is not exactly the same as abyssal corruption, but Aether can purify nonetheless. It stings, moderately, but it is worth it to see Xiao’s shoulders relax and his head drop.
Xiao takes a deep breath. Aether has been away too long, and he can tell by the relief on Xiao’s face. He has never been able to completely clean the yaksha of his burden - the karmic debt reaches too far down into his core for that at his current abilities. Even so, he can relieve the pressure on Xiao’s being by taking what he can into himself.
Aether closes his eyes and steadies his breathing as he feels the karmic debt whirl inside of him, until finally it is purified by the bright light of his core.
“You should not waste your energy on me,” Xiao says, pulling back his hands and standing once more. Aether allows him to pull away - he can see the relief and gratitude on Xiao’s face even if the adeptus refuses to voice it, and that is enough for Aether.
“You should let this old man do as he pleases,” Aether teases.
Xiao does not answer; Xiao retreats as he always does, returning to the windowsill in a flash. He reminds Aether of a wild cat at times, always protecting himself, never quick to let his guard down. Only occasionally can he convince Xiao to be cared for, or show affection, and even then the moment passes too soon. He will never quite tame him, he knows, but he doesn’t want to. Aether is a patient man.
Aether stands and begins preparing a bath. He figures he may as well take advantage of the opportunity - bathing in rivers and lakes did get the job done, when necessary, but it didn’t really compare.
Xiao does not look at him, not even when Aether heats the water with a quick surge of pyro. It’s not the first time Aether has undressed in front of Xiao, and Aether is not ashamed of his mortal body, but Xiao stays resolutely facing the window.
“Why don’t you come and rest with me?” Aether asks when he is clean and dry again. “I may pull more karmic debt from you as I sleep.”
Aether imagines holding Xiao tight, weaving his fingers behind Xiao’s head, tangling their limbs together. He has always been protective over the residents of the worlds he visits - he has always wanted to help in any way he can, but Xiao is different in a way that almost scares him.
Aether thinks maybe Xiao considers the offer, but the moment passes.
“I will watch over you,” Xiao says with finality.
“Alright.” Aether climbs into the bed, exhaustion wearing heavy on him after the warmth of the bath. “Keep me safe, Xiao.”
“Always,” Xiao whispers, and Aether lets himself succumb to sleep.
They do not talk about Aether’s age the next day, or even the one after that. They do not talk about Natlan. Aether feels Xiao absorb Aether’s fears the same way Aether absorbs Xiao’s karmic debt.
Xiao forgives him, in the way that he always does: he allows Aether to follow him into battle against a few demons Aether allows him to properly protect him. In turn, Aether convinces Xiao to rest and indulge. They eat on the balcony of the Inn together and at night, Aether sleeps on Xiao’s unused bed while Xiao watches quietly from the windowsill. The battle and the abyss fall quiet in Aether’s mind.
“Does anyone else know?” Xiao asks at last. They sit along the water in a patch of grass. Xiao’s chopsticks are poised with a slice of almond tofu. Aether thinks idly that Xiao looks beautiful here in the sunlight of Dihua Marsh, with the sun bringing out the greens in his hair and the sweat on his brow.
“Know what?” Aether asks, mouth full.
“About you,” Xiao says. “What you told me.”
Aether swallows his food and takes a long drink. He looks out at the water.
“I’ve never told anyone,” Aether says at last. “Paimon might have guessed.”
“Can I tell Rex Lapis?” Xiao asks. Aether contemplates the question and risks leaning his head on Xiao’s shoulder. Xiao allows it.
“You can tell Zhongli.” Aether risks even more and presses his right hand against Xiao’s left where it lay in the grass. “But can I ask why you want to?”
“Rex Lapis will be highly amused.” Aether feels Xiao’s shoulder rise in silent laughter. “He has always called you the ‘young traveler.’”
“Maybe the next time I see him I will call him ‘young Zhongli’,” Aether laughs. That is enough to startle a real laugh out of Xiao, and Aether delights in the sound, savoring every moment of it.
“You have been - touching me quite a lot lately,” Xiao says hesitantly, sometime after his laughter subsides.
Aether isn't worried - if Xiao did not want the contact he would have pulled away long before now.
“Yes,” Aether says. “Did you want me to stop?”
Aether asks it but he does not pull his head from Xiao’s shoulder or move his hand from Xiao’s hand. Despite himself, his ancient heart beats loudly in his chest, so loud he is worried Xiao can hear it.
“…no,” Xiao admits at last. “My karmic debt -“
“It doesn’t hurt,” Aether reassures him. Xiao nods; he says nothing.
Aether smiles and leans harder into the adeptus. We’ll make a housecat out of you soon enough.