The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 27

"You seem distant. Whatcha thinking about?" Aether's voice lulled the girl from her thoughts as they were walking down some dirt road on the way to Liyue.

Vena already couldn't tell how long it had even been, having been completely lost in the troubles of her own mind since they'd left.

Sometimes it actually irked the poor girl with how annoyingly well Aether knew her and all of her tendencies, because he would always see right through her so there was no point in attempting to deflect it.

"Same old, same old." She spoke out softly, keeping her eyes glued to the beautiful scenery around them.

The clouds were extra fluffy that day, hanging gorgeously in the sky above.

The others were a few feet ahead, having their own conversation amongst themselves so they were unlikely to hear Vena's conversation, but regardless, she just didn't have it in her to really talk about it anymore.

Aether waited in silence, knowing she would continue if she really wanted to, but after a few minutes of continued silence, he just exhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry," He whispered out, upset with himself for not having the words to help make her feel better.

"I wish I could help."

The woman giggled lightly at that, shaking her head a little as the boy looked over at her, confused.

"It can't be helped," She finally explained after she finished laughing at his expression.

"It sounds horrible, but I should be used to it by now. That was my fault for letting myself get vulnerable."

Aether almost didn't believe how serious she was about it until he looked over at her face once more, noting the smug smile on her lips.

"Don't say that. You're talking as if you've already let go, and I know better than that."

Vena cast a glance over at him as they continued walking, following slightly behind Diluc and Chongyun, unsure of how to respond to that.

"I haven't seen you have feelings for anyone in.... well forever. Besides an ex you told me about in the past, you haven't allowed yourself to love. You can't give up already." Aether pleaded, unable to ignore the strong intuition he had about the situation.

He wasn't sure why, but he had sure a pure and strong feeling about the two of them, and he felt as if he was supposed to encourage it.

Vena simply huffed with a shrug, still trying to find the right words as usual.

"It's just... it sounds corny, but I don't think it was meant to be, Aether. He wouldn't have left if so, right?" She raised her eyebrows at him, but he knew she was just in denial and was hoping to convince him otherwise so maybe he'd stop worrying.

The man really didn't want her to give up, but he just didn't have the words to express what he was feeling. He wanted to tell her to just hold on and give it time, but he knew she had a funny way of just closing off and throwing up walls whenever things like this happened, just trying to ignore it until it didn't hurt anymore.

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"Zhongli! We didn't expect to see you already." Aether waved the familiar man over, instantly receiving a smile and a wave back as the older man decided to come over and greet them.

They'd made it to the city in good time, deciding to just walk around a little bit together before they turned in for the night, not anticipating meeting Zhongli out on a stroll as well.