Chapter Text
Prince of the Abyss Order always hated the cold. Freezing temperature and falling snow was not something made for him. Unlike his sister and her fondness of coldness, he always prefered warmth. Swimming in the sea when sun's going down, eating ice creams in the hot weather, what a life would it be.
But these things all are in the past now, bickering with his twin, about which weather's better seemed to be long buried.
Now, Aether has more important things to do than to think about past memories.
Each one of his steps gets more visible on the snow that he walks on. Prince could feel snowflakes falling on his face, and cold air hitting his rosy cheeks.
His presence here in Snezhnaya's not random. He and his... Order have something to be deal with in this nation, and as much as he would like to not take a single step in this freezing land again, his duty comes first.
Golden haired outlander put a cape over his head, making it nearly impossible for the snow to get into his hair anymore. '...So this is the charm of Snezhnaya's forests' he thought to himself with a frown on his face, whenever snow got into his eyes.
When Aether opened his golden eyes once more, his view was met with a little girl nearby the path he walked on. She wore a hat with ear flaps on her head, but her messy ginger hair were still visible under it.
She looked no older than 4 or 5, so why she's alone in some forest? Little girl humming some song under her nose, got up from the cold ground, and that was the moment their eyes met eachother.
He could recognize these eyes everywhere, these very eyes he himself wears everyday. Golden irises looked at him in nothing other than curiosity that little children were known of. Prince stood there like ice, his thoughts were scattered across his head, running a mile.
It couldn't possible be... "Hello! Did something happen Mistier ? You look nervous." Little girl greeted him with a warm smile on her face, lisping some of the words. Aether didn't know what to say as all he could focus was her irises, it was like time has stopped somehow.
"...Um, I'm Aster! What's your name Mr. ?" Ginger haired child asked, unaware of awkward silence between them.
Then, finally some words left his mouth. "...What are you doing here, little girl? Shouldn't you be at home?" He deflected her question of his name, thinking that it would be better for her, if she didn't know it at all.
Aster's eyes quickly widened, like these of a child that got caught stealing candy when mom's not looking. "I—I'm just hunting...Yes! I didn't run away, my mama knows that i'm here! I think..." she answered, showing him a dagger in her gloved hand.
What kind of a child hunts alone in this weather nonetheless? That's just... unbelievable. Prince walked closer to little Aster, and crouched down to her head level. "You should go home, to your parents. Forest is not a place for a kid." He exclaimed with a serious look in his eyes. But upon not getting answer from child, he could suspect just one thing.
"Do you even know the way to your home?" He questioned. "I—...forgot, but it isn't far away from here I'm sure!" Child with bright golden eyes answered with a hopeful glim in them. Aether sighed upon hearing something he expected to hear. But, he didn't expect to hear the words that came through his mouth next.
"...Do you want me to help you find... the way? You shouldn't be walking alone." He proposed with a troublesome expression on his face. That wasn't the way his day was supposed to come, but he can go back to his duties after walking her to her home.
Her eyes immediately lightened up upon hearing that, she twirled around herself with chuckles before answering. "Thank you! Thank you Mr. !But please don't tell mom that I ventured this far." Aster pleaded with the most puppiest eyes she put on whenever asking her papa for something.
In the name of Khaenria'h, making that kind of face should be banned from existence. But, it worked on the Prince of the Abyss anyway.
"...Alright, alright. I won't, but only if you promise that you won't go by yourself again." He agreed with a defeated sigh. And that was the moment he gave his fate into little girl's hands.
After saying this words, he felt his pinkie being intertwined by another, smaller one.
"You make a pinky promise, you keep it all your life. You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again!”
A child said, with a newfound responsibility in her eyes.
On the other hand, Aether had absolutely no idea what was she talking about. Is it some kind of weird Snezhnayan rhyme or something?
Aster must have sensed his confusion as she has let go of his hand. "It's a promise. Dad says that you always need to try keep them." She explained, probably thinking that he has no idea of what promise is.
Can't argue with that though.
With a sigh, Aether stood up, feeling the snow laying under his feet like glue. "Come on, I suppose that you walked up this path, hadn't you?" He asked with a cold look on his face, clearly not waiting for a response, he started walking ahead.
Little girl's mouth was open like that of a fish. It was not hard to guess upon seeing little traces of shoes on the path.
The sound of approaching footsteps was heard behind him, but he didn't take action to wait up for her. Her heavy breaths were heard beside him as her short legs couldn't keep up for the pace he walked in.
When her breath steadied itself, she could go back to asking questions, to let her curiosity take a hold of her. "So... what were you doing here Mr.? You too went hunting like me?" Little girl questioned with a little smile on her face as they walked through.
He looked at her from the counter of his eye, and gave her straight answer. "I'm just walking, that's all there is to it." Of course, he won't tell some child about his doings here.
But it seemed, that she had bought it as she didn't questioned him further in that topic.
If Prince has intentions of taking a child home, it would be better to not walk in silence the whole way. Maybe, he can learn a thing or two from that curious thing, that leeched onto his leg like a parasite.
"Your name 'Aster' was it? Isn't it some kind of flower?" He asked with just a little, a tiny bit of interest in his mind. This word seemed to bring old memories to the surface from time when he was first exploring this unfair world.
Little girl's expression immediately brightened up upon his question. As a little bundle of energy, she despised silence, treating it like the bad guys that wants to take over dad's toy factory! She can't sit in one place without saying something.
"Actually, it is! Mama said that i'm named after W—Uh...'Windwheel Aster' the flower from Mondstadt that's spins in the wind." Her answer beemed with pride and joy. Probably because, she could finally brag about it to someone other than her family.
Aether listened carefully to everything she said, even if his face didn't give any clues about it.
He just... avoided to look at her at all.
But it seemed that Aster didn't acknowledge it, continuing her speech. "Mamushka said that she named me after them, wishing that I'll always go with the wind just like them."
Goldenhaired Prince couldn't help, but wince at the child mentioning her mother, and her wish for her.
"...That's a caring wish she had for you." He said with a bit of hesitance in his voice. It surely... had past some time since he felt so vulnerable infront of someone.
Little girl nodded, sending a gentle grin his way.
While Aether was lost in his thoughts, Aster seemed to have fun in leaving her footsteps on the snow, they were walking on. Though, he could sense her quick glances at him from time to time. Maybe, she was just suspicious of him as he's a stranger that she just stumbled upon.
"Never try to lick snow. It's gross!" She exclaimed, pointing at the falling snow from the buried in clouds sky. Her voice has stirred him from his thoughts, turning his focus on snow she was pointing at.
Upon hearing her words about snow being gross in taste, he couldn't help, but ask one thing. "Did you lick it?"
Her eyes has gotten as big as moon at his question. "...No." Her words left her mouth, she sounded so innocent, but at the same time she didn't seem to be so sure of them. Aether scoffed under his breath at her response, making it a guess.
The longer they walked the more questions popped up in his head. The first one of them was the obvious. "Why did you decide to follow me? Didn't your parents teach you, that you don't walk away with strangers?" He said with a cold tone of voice, devoid of any other emotion than confusion at this child's actions. Are children that stupid or just this one?
That question seemed to caught her attention. Little one sent him a smile, and starts to explain. "You didn't try to kidnap me the first you saw me!" She said it so casually like it was an usual thing for her to happen. "Usually, bad guys try to hurt me or take me away when they first see me, but you didn't..."
Her last words were filled with curiosity, perhaps confused as to why he didn't try to kidnap her like others. Or maybe it's some twisted plan of his! She needs to not let her guard down just because someone's nice to her! Keeping an eye for him will do for now, she doesn't have her dagger with her for no reason.
Prince's face turned confused not at her answer though, but much to the people taking her away, like it's common thing in her life.
"But don't do anything silly though! I have a dagger with me all the time." Aster warned him, giving him the most menacing glare she could have make.
But her warning didn't spark any reaction in Aether. He just scoffed at her childish antics, knowing that he could end her in a second if he wanted to. "You're such a weird being. Shouldn't kids at your age play with dolls or something than walk with the dagger in the middle of the forest?"
He didn't mean to reply to her with so sharp retort. Probably talking to her at all was a mistake. He has forgotten that she's not one of his soldiers to order around, but a thing that's need to be taken care of.
His sharp statement didn't seem to bother her at all though. She adjusted her hat with ear flaps, and shoot him a warm grin his way. "Of course I play with toys! My papa gifts me lots of them whenever he comes back." Little one said staring at the white sky beneath them both. "...But his and mama's accomplishments make me want to make some of my own. They're the strongest people in Teyvat! I want to become just as strong as them one day."
Aether tensed up at the mention of her mother once more. He can't let his thoughts overboard him in this chase of control. He could call her pathetic for thinking that her parents are the strongest, but he knows that in child's eyes, they're everything they have in this world. Although, golden-eyed child continued.
"...As strong so I could defend them one day, protect them from every danger they face. That's why I look for every opportunity to get stronger." She answered with hopeful glim in her honey eyes. That particular determination in her orbs was something the Prince was already familiar with... in someone else's eyes.
"Your father... is he treating your mother well?" He questioned, looking intently for the answer from the five year old.
"Yup, papa always brings some flowers for mama when he's back. When mama was very sick he stayed with her all night..." Aster murmured under her nose, while Aether took a breath of relief he much needed.
"Is he rich?"
"Papa? Yeah he is I think... Why do you wanna know?" She asked with a childlike curiosity in her golden eyes.
"Nevermind..."
The snowy weather was slowly growing more rough, they hardly could see anything before them. The prince and the little girl stopped in their tracks for a while the oath they took on has completely disappeared under the snow.
"It's seems that the storm is coming." The prince exclaimed with a sigh, his gloved-hand covering his eyes from the falling snow.
"Are you cold, Mr?" The child asked with a tint of worry in her voice. Aether just now realised how much he's shivering even though he has warmer clothes on him. He just hopes that Enjou won't see him like that when they meet again. "I-I'm fine, you should worry about yourself, kid." The golden-haired man quickly shooed her trying to hide his embarrassment from her catching him like this. Especially when this ginger-haired child doesn't seem so affected by cold unlike him.
When Aether sat down on some covered in snow log, Aster did the same and sat beside him. She was searching something in her small backpack, something that scent surely weren't pleasant.
"Do you want some fish?" She offered him a whole fish she held in her small hands. The golden-haired man was surprised to see a child handing him a dead fish, even more suprised that she carried it in her backpack.
"Dad says that you should always carry a fish with you for emergencies!" The child mentioned with a proud glint in her golden irises. Aether wasn't so sure about this disgusting fish... He was even more concerned to who her father is that he let's her keep a stinking fish!