Wherever The Wind Blows - Aether x Venti

Chapter 6: Love Is In The Air, Not The Sea

Aether POV:

I walked on the road to Wanshu Inn with Paimon cheerfully floating beside me. We were told that one of the adepti, the Concerour of Demons, supposedly resided there.

Me and Paimon had arrived in Liyue just in time for the Rite of Descention. Unfortunately, the event didn't go as planned and Rex Lapis was assassinated. My first instinct was to flee the scene and that was precisely what I did. Or I tried, at least. I got cornered by the Millelith and when it seemed like there was no way out, a man with a hydro vision helped us and got us away to safety. He said that we could call him Childe and that he was there to help. He sent me out to find the adepti, and that I would probably find them in Jueyun Karst, where the adepti lived. I'm not certain as to why I would find them, something about clearing my name. 

I set off to Jueyun Karst and met Moon Carver. When I told him about what happened, he sent me to find three other adepti. Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper would I find in Jueyun Karst, while the Concerour of Demons resided at Wanshu Inn. There were some... minor incidents on the way, but we found both Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper and they seemed to agree with Moon Carver. So the only one left on our list was the Concerour of Demons.

We soon enough found out that the stairs were broken, so the staff got us to use the elevator instead. Once we were inside the actual inn, I went over to a balcony. I leaned against the railing and admired the view. I was so mesmerized by the sight that I didn't notice the boy beside me.

"Oh, Barbatos!" I got startled when I noticed him and jumped in surprise. "Didn't see you there!"

The boy just glanced at me. He had amber-brown eyes and dark hair with green highlights. I found myself admiring his looks.

"Why are you here?"

"What?"

"You want to speak with me. Why?"

"Uh... I'm not sure what you mean, but-"

"I don't have time for this." He turned around to leave.

"Wait!"

He stopped to look back at me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

He seemed to hesitate before answering.

"Xiao."

And just like that, he was gone. Paimon started raging (respectfully) at the adeptus for just leaving us like that while I got lost in thought. Xiao was definitively the adeptus we were looking for. How did I know that he was an adeptus? All I did was put the pieces together. Xiao seems distant, avoids social contact, and disappears into thin air. 

Okay, now that I think about it, he might just be an isolated person who somehow disappears into thin air. Besides the point. I'm 99.9999999% certain that Xiao is the Concerour of Demons. 

But how were we going to talk to him? It'd be annoying if he ran away again. Paimon finished her raging session by deciding to not give Xiao an ugly nickname just in case, he was an adeptus after all. Paimon suggested we talk to the "boss lady" about Xiao. We went over to her and said hi.

"So, what's up with the guy on the balcony? He just left us!" Paimon asked.

"Xiao? Normally he's not in the mood to even talk to people. Consider yourselves lucky."

"What do you mean?" Paimon seemed confused.

"The adepti are hard to find as it is, and most are not really willing to speak to mortals in the first place."