Chapter Text
If you were to ask Aether what his least favorite thing in the whole universe was, he’d probably say the unknown god that tore his sister away from him. As for the second, he’d say useless side quests and wild goose chases.
Unfortunately, it seemed that he was an incredibly popular candidate for both of the latter, and so the outlander found himself trudging up the stairs to Wangshu Inn for seemingly the fiftieth time that month. The twisted wood creaked beneath each step, crates of materials straining the freshly replaced platform where it should be treated gently. I swear, Aether fumed mentally, if these things break one more time I’m just gonna use a geo construct to get across and leave the hole for the staff to deal with.
The stairs held (for the time being) and Aether grabbed a small cup of water from the dispenser before walking up to Verr Goldet. The woman appeared to be completely absorbed in a letter, erratically scribbling words on a paper to the side in liyuan. She didn’t even hear his arrival.
“Hey boss,” he knocked on the desk. She whipped her head to him at the sound, blinking like he’d snapped her out of a daze. “I heard you needed some help? Something about the elevator?”
“Um…” Goldet set the letter back on the desk and absentmindedly tapped her fingers on the wood. She looked up and Aether could practically see the cogs turning in her head. “Ah! Yes, the elevator pulleys seem to be broken as of late, and we’ve had to block it off for guests’ safety. I honestly forgot I put up a commission for that!” She chuckled weakly. “If you could check it out for me, that’d be great. Thanks a lot for your help, as always.”
Aether raised an eyebrow, scanning her desk. The thing was covered in papers and stamps, torn envelopes falling out of what clearly started as a neat pile and a half-finished mug of coffee pushed dangerously near the edge – far more disorganized than he had ever seen it before. “Is everything okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so…” he gestured vaguely, “messy.”
Paimon popped into existence in a shower of sparks next to Aether, who jumped and cursed under his breath. “Yeah, Paimon’s worried! Are you busy? Do you need us to do something for you? Paimon can make you some frosted slime! It’s very refreshing.”
Aether sighed. “Paimon, we’re here on a commission, not to steal the kitchen from Yanxiao.”
Verr Goldet laughed and leaned back in her chair. “Yes, I’ve been very busy lately. With all of the prep for the Lantern Rite, we’re getting a flood of letters; people are asking about reservations, catering, and even pre-decorated rooms! We’re an inn, not an engagement planning agency!” She sighed, resting her cheek on her palm. “Oh well, I can’t complain about business. It’s nothing I can’t deal with. Thank you for your concern, though.”
“Paimon thinks those people are so annoying! Lemme see those letters! I’ll give them nasty nicknames, like… like spoiled assh-!”
“No problem.” Aether cut in awkwardly, placing his cup on the tray labeled “dishes” at the edge of the desk, upon which was stacked a suspicious number of coffee mugs. He cleared his throat. “Well, I should probably get working on the elevator…”
The boss smiled at him gratefully and returned to her work.
—
It was not so difficult to climb the stairs, Aether discovered, compared to trying to cling to the narrow beams that supported the elevator’s pulley system. Scaling the towering peaks of Liyue’s many mountains was intimidating, sure, but at least he’d had confidence that the rock wouldn’t literally give out under him as he searched for violetgrass. The old wooden structure he climbed now afforded no such certainty. Aether was ready to whip out his wind glider at any moment.
The view at the top of Wangshu Inn was, as always, absolutely breathtaking. It was no wonder Verr Goldet was so busy; despite its distance from the city, the inn was still a destination point, and having somewhere so peaceful and beautiful to enjoy would be a blessing. For a second, Aether allowed himself to imagine what a vacation there would be like. Not that he would ever get one.
Aether waved away such thoughts. Despite how little his search had progressed in the previous few months, it had still progressed, and sometimes that was a blessing in and of itself. He had gotten to see Lumine again, although definitely not the way he’d wanted to, and he had gathered a small amount of information about her life in Teyvat in his absence… the traveler shivered, recalling her cold eyes as she’d looked through him. The Lumine he’d met was… not his sister. She felt like an imposter wearing the skin of a reminder. Not a scrap of the warmth she’d held for Aether remained. It made Aether want to sink into himself, cover his eyes and ears in a blanket and just quietly disappear into the currents between worlds that he once used to traverse freely. But he wasn’t free. Not anymore.
The wooden roof of the structure he’d moved to creaked under his feet, background noise to his mind as he methodically ran his hands over the pulley wheel. The main wheel itself didn’t appear to be the problem – the wood was worn but stable, thick and sturdy. He was about to jump down and check the inside of the small shack when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. A small cluster of leaves were stuck to the wheel just below the rope with a pile of nearly-solidified clay. Aether moved toward the edge of the roof to inspect it. That was definitely what was causing the elevator to malfunction, but how did clay get so high? Did Dusky Ming get her hands on it?
“What are you doing up here.”
Aether jumped, snapped out of his thoughts. His foot slipped off the edge of the roof, and in his surprise and imbalance, the rest of him soon followed. He shouted and reached for the tiles. He wasn’t fast enough. Aether searched for that tingling in the back of his mind, the wings that caught him in the worst of times, but they didn’t materialize – where the spark of power once awaited his call, only a void remained. He felt himself plummet backward, the wind knocking the air out of his lungs and his mind buzzing with adrenaline. He couldn’t think fast enough, the wind was deafening in his ears, and he closed his eyes, awaiting the painful impact – snapping his neck here would put him out of commission for at least a month – but it didn’t come.
Instead, a pair of arms wrapped around his torso and everything twisted. His side hit wooden planks instead of solid ground and he coughed, panting for air. It didn’t hurt. How was he not hurt? He blinked open his eyes slowly, carefully.
“... Xiao?”
The Conqueror of Demons knelt in front of him, face a complicated mixture of feelings – anger, fear, concern, relief – it looked like he didn’t know what to feel. His fingers twitched and he glared at the traveler.
“Why didn’t you use your glider? Are you insane?”
Aether tentatively pushed himself into a more seated position, hissing at the wave of vertigo that hit him. Xiao reached out for a moment but quickly returned his hand to a fist at his side.
“I forgot to.”
“You
forgot
to?” Xiao repeated incredulously, glaring harder. “You could’ve died! You can’t survive a fall from that height!”
The traveler chuckled slightly, earning himself a frustrated look from the Yaksha. “It wouldn’tve helped me anyway, I was falling backward. Would’ve only made me more disoriented.” He rolled his shoulders experimentally. No problems there. “Plus, I wouldn’t die from something like that. It’d suck, but I wouldn’t kick the bucket that easily.” Xiao only looked more confused. Aether smiled and gestured to himself. “Not normal, remember? I could teleport away before I hit the ground anyway.”
Xiao was quiet for a few moments before summoning his Jade Spear and pushing himself to his feet with a scowl.
“Foolish mortal.”
“Thank you!” Aether called after him cheerfully as the Yaksha disappeared in a flash of green light.
—
“Paimon was really worried!”
Aether pulled his sword out of a freshly-felled mitachurl and kicked away the body before it scattered into minuscule fragments. He made a face and wiped some of the ash-like substance off of his pants. He’d never get used to that – thank the Archons for black clothing, Lumine would pitch a fit if she had to clean this stuff off of her dress. He pondered that for a second. If she’s in the Abyss, doesn’t she interact with stuff like this a lot? How was her dress so clean? Is there even anyone there to force her to do her laundry? The chore had always fallen on Aether because Lumine would get bored and probably end up shredding the clothes instead of cleaning them – she’d never had much of an attention span and would prefer to leave her clothes filthy and bloodstained rather than wash, dry, or god forbid, fold them. Aether chuckled at the memory.
“You should be more careful, idiot! The Yaksha seemed really worried too…”
“I’m sure it was nothing, Paimon. He probably just didn’t want another ghost in his beloved inn.”
“Hey! Didn’t he fall in the Chasm last time? Of course, he’d be worried! You probably reminded him of that!”
“He – oh.” Aether paused. Paimon actually had a point, for once. Xiao seemed really shaken up after the Chasm. He’d probably drug up some unpleasant memories. “Shit.”
“Yeah, shit! Paimon thinks you should make it up to him! And make Paimon some almond tofu too!”
“You’re just in it for the food,” Aether grinned, flicking her forehead. The floating girl flinched and glared at him.
“I just think we should be nice! What’s wrong with wanting a little snack? Paimon needs food to grow!”
“You already eat around eighty percent of what I make. If anything, you’re getting fat.”
“Hey!”
—
Aether’s stay in Liyue had been an incredibly impulsive decision, to be completely honest. After the mess that was the Chasm, he just… hadn’t quite had the motivation to get back on the road so quickly, despite Liyue’s proximity to Sumeru (the next stop on his journey and hopefully a more fruitful one, considering that their archon was that of wisdom). As the trading center it was, there was always someone who needed help and would drag Aether away on some mind-numbing request that could distract him from the fruitlessness of his search. It was exhausting, sure, but Aether really didn’t want to have the time to think.
Of course, these quests were often found at or related to Wangshu Inn in some way or another. A couple who lost their luggage, a sighting of monsters nearby (which tended to be gone by the time Aether got there, only the slightly bitter taste of corruption hanging in the air), or a cat that somehow got stuck on the roof – Aether didn’t understand how that one happened, but it was a simple request, so he took it anyway and safely delivered the fluffy thing back to the girl who probably scared it off by being too affectionate.
Unlike the cat, Aether had no such luck finding a certain serious adeptus, even on the high balcony and sweeping roof of the inn. Paimon insisted he was at fault for scaring him. Aether ignored her on the surface, but worries began to bubble up after the third week with no sight of the green-haired Yaksha. Does he not want to see me? Aether shook the thought away, dissipating his sword and collecting the slime condensate in a small jar. I’m sure he’s just preoccupied. It’s not like I have special rights to his attention or anything.
Aether had thought they’d grown a little bit closer after the events at the Chasm. Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe Xiao only saved them all out of obligation, his duty as a Yaksha. It wouldn’t be out of character. It hurt to not see an… acquaintance in such a long period of time, but oh well; it wasn’t the first time this sort of thing had happened to him. With the thought nagging at the corner of his mind, the traveler continued his odd jobs.
The change came suddenly. On one of his (practically daily) visits to Wangshu Inn, Aether was stopped by a determined Verr Goldet, squinting at him and holding onto his wrist with surprising strength. Not that the Honorary Knight would’ve tried to escape anyway – he was too surprised.
“Is… something the matter?” Aether asked, tilting his head. For a few moments, the innkeeper only stared more intensely before opening her mouth.
“Where do you sleep?”
Aether choked on his spit and sputtered, “What?”
“Where do you sleep?” The woman tilted her head. Aether tried her hold but found it solid as stone. “You’ve never gotten a room here, but when you come here, you leave too late and arrive too early to actually get back to the harbor in time to sleep decently. So,” She drawled, “where do you sleep?”
Aether bit his lip. Verr Goldet didn’t look like she was going to let go until she got an answer, but with the amount they interacted, he wasn’t exactly keen to let her know that he often found sleep – or rather, sleep often found him – in random caves or exhausted and caked in blood under recently-cleared treasure hoarder tents. More than often, he simply laid awake on the softest grass he could find, watching the unfamiliar stars swirl overhead in celestial mockery of the beauty he could no longer reach. How would she react to hearing that? What would she think of him?
Luckily, she cut into his thoughts with a sigh before he had to answer. “Listen, you don’t have to tell me everything, but I want my best helper to get some good rest. Why don’t you take a room downstairs, on the house? You could just help out around the inn, there’s no way I could make you pay after all that you’ve helped us. How about that?”
The traveler gaped, but no sound came out. Paimon answered for him.
“That sounds like a good idea! Do we have to pay for our meals?”
Verr Goldet raised her eyebrows.
“Paimon, don’t be rude! We can cook for ourselves! You never help anyway.” Aether bowed low, trying to grab Paimon’s head and make her do the same; she opted to vanish into a shower of sparks instead, making his hand awkwardly flop to his side. He cleared his throat. “Thank you so much for your offer, boss. I’ll need to think about it, but I’ll give you my answer in a few days if that’s alright.”
“Of course it is! I hope to see you soon.”
—
Aether ended up taking up the offer.
Of course he did. It wasn’t really much of a decision in the first place, to be honest. It was too good to pass up – a comfortable bed, good location, plumbing – and Paimon was killing his ears over it, so why not?
Verr Goldet looked concerned when he showed up, only a single bag on his shoulder, but he quickly reassured her that he had spatial storage. …She clearly didn’t know what that was, but quietly nodded and moved along with the ease of someone who was more than used to hearing such unusual things. Aether pitied her a bit.
Finally, the two (or well, three – Paimon showed up once they started looking for the room) reached a simple wooden door near the end of the staff hallway. Goldet took a key chain off of her hip and began to shuffle through the countless metal instruments.
“I hope that you don’t mind that it’s a bit out of the way,” She said sheepishly and picked out a small, inconspicuous key. “It’s probably dusty since we haven’t had anyone use it in a while, but with your anemo it shouldn’t be a problem – umpf!” The innkeeper shoved her shoulder into the door as she twisted the key in the lock and stumbled a bit when it swung open. Aether reached out to help stabilize her, but she caught herself quickly – still, she smiled gratefully as she brushed off her skirt.
“Are you okay?” Paimon asked, hovering close. Goldet patted her tiny shoulder and shuffled out of the way of the door.
“Yes, I’m absolutely fine. You should be focusing on your new room, not paying so much attention to little old me!”
The Emergency Food gasped. “You’re right! C’mon traveler, let’s check it out!”
Aether stepped forward tentatively, taking in the space around him. The small room looked unused, as Verr Goldet had mentioned beforehand, but not exactly in disarray; the furniture was devoid of trinkets or elaborate designs but seemed sturdy, and Aether found the mattress to feel rather comfortable under his hand when he touched it. Definitely an upgrade from his previous sleeping situation, even if it did need a heavy dusting. He even had a desk by a window.
“North-facing, unfortunately,” the boss piped up, “but you seem like the type to burn the midnight oil and not use a bedroom for much else, so that shouldn’t be much of a problem.”
“Oh, I actually have a lot of books, so that works out great.”
“Books? I didn’t peg you to be a reader, to be honest.”
“Well, I’m new here, so I figure I should enjoy the literature. Learn a bit more about Liyue’s history, y’know?” Aether chuckled sheepishly.
“That’s a wonderful idea! I have a few books of my own upstairs if you ever find yourself in need of one. Our little green protector occasionally brings old novels from who-knows-where to thank Yanxiao, but the man doesn’t exactly love reading, so they all go to me.”
The traveler crooked a brow. “‘Little green protector?’ Is he okay with you calling him that?”
She waved her hand dismissively. “He doesn’t need to know.”
“Ooh! There’re some slimes out there! Think we could take them out from here? Like pew! Pew! Phssssh –” Paimon mimicked pulling a bow, floating on top of the desk.
Verr Goldet walked over to look out the window herself, and her eyes grew wide. Fishing an intricate white-iron pocket watch out of a hidden pocket, she spat a liyuan word that Aether could only assume was a curse. “I’m so very sorry,” She tucked the watch back in and grabbed her keychain, gesturing to the door with the other hand. “I’ve got a meeting I forgot, so I have to leave you to set up on your own – here’s the key,” the innkeeper said, tossing it over, “I’ll have someone bring over some sheets in a bit for the bed. Good luck!”
“You too!” Aether called out as she walked briskly down the hall, muttering to herself in her mother tongue.
He turned back to his new room with a sigh.
Paimon tapped her chin in thought. “Hmm, Verr Goldet sure has a lot of work to do. I wonder why?”
Aether pushed up the rackety wooden window frame with a hup! , coughing at the up kick of dust.
“Oh, right! Isn’t the Lantern Rite soon?” She gasped. “How could I forget? Ooh, can we go? Please?”
The traveler paused, eyes trained on the calm lake surrounding the inn. A crane landed elegantly in the shallow water, red head bowed as its feet sent gentle waves out into the surroundings and swaying stalks of nearby horsetail. The cool breeze brushed his face.
It’s calm here.
“Can we?”
Aether leaned his forearms on the table.
“Maybe.”