Chapter Text
A few hours after the party had concluded and everything was cleaned up, Aether and Paimon teleported together back to Mondstadt. Aether considered trying to bring Bennett along, but through some past experimentation, he found a few things early into his journey:
- Only he could activate and use Teleport Waypoints; Vision holders could only piggyback at best.
- Only Vision holders (and Paimon) could piggyback.
- Sometimes, things could go wrong, possibly because the waypoints weren’t meant to transport groups of people at once. The last time he tried that, Amber suddenly appeared several meters up in the air and broke her leg. Needless to say, Eula almost killed him for that.
It was nighttime when the Traveler arrived. Even though Mondstadt was far more modest than the other nations, there was a cozy, homey feeling to Mondstadt City and Springvale. It was a nice place to return to when things were finally wrapping up in whatever new national crisis Aether and Paimon found themselves wrapped up in. But right now, they were on business, and that was to tell the people of Mondstadt that their wayward adventurer was okay.
Passing a few people who spoke out their greetings, Aether and Paimon eventually made their way to the Mondstadt Adventurer’s Guild headquarters. When he first arrived in Teyvat, he assumed it was operated by the Knights of Favonius, given it looked like a whole second Knights HQ; nope, it was just owned by the Guild. Now that he thought about it, it was a bit weird that he had only been inside...once? None? Whatever. Aether pushed open the doors, saying hi to a startled adventurer who seemed half asleep near the doorway.
Navigating the hallways, the two eventually found what they were looking for: the mess hall, where most of Bennett’s dads hung out. “Hey, Aether?”
“Yeah, Paimon?”
“How do you think they’ll take the news? That Bennett is all the way across Teyvat now?”
Aether shrugged. “Well, I hope. With how big Cyrus is, I don’t want to imagine what he could do to my face if he got upset.” Calmly, Aether pushed open the doors, revealing a large room filled with wooden tables and chairs. Tankards and plates of food and their consumers were strewn about, but most of them were concentrated in the center of the room, where Cyrus stood with a large pin board filled with maps of Mondstadt. “He was last seen around here! So Bennett must be somewhere at least close by!” Cyrus said in a strained voice, circling a spot on the map for the nth time. If Aether’s memory served, it was that one spot where an Abyss Mage and a group of Hilichurls would keep reappearing, not too far from the ruins of old Mondstadt.
“Cyrus, we’ve combed the area several times!” One of the older adventurers groaned. “If we couldn’t find him in a 1 km area, then he must be somewhere else entirely at this point!”
“What if he was kidnapped!?” Someone put up. “Treasure Hoarders would do anything for a bit of money, maybe they’re holding him ransom!”
“Wouldn’t have a letter come by now?”
“Well, it’s only been two days, maybe they’re delayed!”
“Why are we talking about whether Treasure Hoarders can get basic mail to us...”
Aether slowly pushed his way forward through the group, being careful to avoid chairs and arms holding food and drink. “Aether!” A voice cried, and Aether found himself being glomped by yet another adventurer from Mondstadt. In this case, it was Mondstadt’s resident chuunibyou. “Aether, B-Benny’s gone missing! We’ve been looking all over but-!” Amy wailed.
Oz, perched on a table and picking at some food, turned up. “Greetings, sir Aether. As you can see, mein Fräulein is rather besides herself at Bennett’s disappearance.”
“Yeah I can tell, uh, Fischl, could you maybe get off me, please?” Aether squeaked as he guided her back into a chair. Fischl sniffed loudly. The other guild members, meanwhile, seemed to look to him with a sense of hope.
“Ah, Traveler!” Cyrus greeted loudly. “Glad you’re here, Bennett’s gone missing, and we haven’t found a trace of him! But with you here, it’ll be alright!”
Aether smiled awkwardly. “That’s why I’m here. I know where he is.”
There was a beat of silence. Then, Aether found himself being squeezed tightly by Cyrus and his massive arms. “You do!? Where is he? Is he safe!?” he shouted in Aether’s face, which was echoed by Bennett’s other dads and Fischl.
“Awawawawa - hold on a sec, let’s calm down first!” Paimon babbled. “Please stop grabbing Aether, he kinda needs to breathe.”
Now not being grabbed to death, Aether was able to wait until everyone was sat down and calm before he began to explain the situation. “Right now...Bennett’s in Natlan.”
“What!?”
“Just let me explain for a second.”
“Yeah, let him speak!” Paimon squeaked.
“To keep things short, me and some other Natlanese Vision wielders found him in a place in Natlan called the Night Kingdom; we were there to rescue a friend, and we happened to find him in there too. He’s back in Natlan right now.”
“Is he safe?” One of Bennett’s dads piped up. “Is he okay?”
Aether nodded. “Bennett’s okay. He asked me to come back here to let you know that he’s doing alright in Natlan right now.”
“Is he on his way back?”
Aether hesitated for a moment. When he had asked Bennett that before teleporting away, the boy seemed to look away for a moment. Then, he said, “To be honest...I kinda wanna stay a while. I’ve been wanting to see more and more of Teyvat, and Natlan’s definitely high up there, so I mean, even though I got dropped down into that afterlife place, it really just put this opportunity in my lap, huh?”
“Well, right now, it seems like he wants to stick around. In Natlan, I mean.”
“Huh!?” Fischl squawked. “Seriously!? Razor, are you hearing this?”
Razor hummed in agreement. “If Bennett chooses to stay, I trust. Bennett’s strong,” Razor grunted as he tore into a steak. “He survives, always.”
“B-But-!” Fischl flopped her head on the table. “We had so many plans...”
“There, there, it’s okay, mein Fräulein,” Oz murmured as he pat her head with his wings. “He’ll be back. I know it.” Oz looked at Aether like he was saying, “Right?”
Aether nodded. “I-It’s not like he’s going to stay forever, just until he’s content. He’ll be back, promise!”
Fischl let out a wet, loud sniff. “He better! If he doesn’t, next time I see Benny, I’m giving him a big shock, on my authority and word as the Prinzessin der Verurteilung!”
Aether smiled as her familiar mannerisms crept out again. Oz chirped, “She’s simply glad he’s okay. She’ll wait as long as it takes.”
“Oz!”