The Spark [Xiao x Aether]

Figuring yourself out IV

It took not too long until the blonde boy finally came down from the mountain with the bird right next to him, they were having a pretty casual conversation from what it seemed.

"I'm afraid I must leave now, it was my pleasure talking to you dear traveler, please make sure your friend there is in a better mood the next time I must talk to him." Teased Cloud Retainer as she flew away into the distance unable to be seen in just mere seconds. She sure was fast.

"Um hey, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too much." Said Aether in an awkward voice.

"What kind of chat were the two of you having? It seemed serious from the amount of time it took." Questioned the Adeptus.

"Ah- uhm." He stuttered. "We were talking about lantern rite, yeah..."

Xiao instantly noticed that he was lying, it was obvious from the look in his eyes. It was rare for him to lie, so he knew it was something serious he shouldn't know about. But curiosity got the best of him.

"If you wish to keep something from me then be it, don't straight up lie in my face."

The conversation between the Traveler and the white Adeptus made him unable to look at the Yaksha seriously again. The way she mentioned he might be in love. He knew about the numerous adepti-human relationships in Liyue but he would've never expected a Yaksha to feel any warm feeling such as love. He knew that his companion would eventually learn all about emotions but learning in such way was unexpected. What if Cloud Retainer was right?

He tries to put on a serious face before speaking. "It's nothing, we really only talked about the upcoming festival."

They did really talk about the lantern rite after she finished with all the 'love' stuff. She gave a suggestion to spend yet another festival year with Xiao, maybe he'll be lucky enough to make him feel comfortable enough to spend it directly in the city and not watching from afar. He could try to celebrate it with other people who are grateful for all the deeds he did for them in the past hundred years.

Xiao sighed. "Right...Lantern rite." He remembered.

"It seems it will be starting tomorrow night. It has been a while since me and Paimon have seen those floating lanterns..." he stopped mid sentence as he saw something glowing in the back of the Adeptuses head. He pointed at it trying to figure out what it was. "What's that in your hair?"

It seemed like he had completely forgotten about the little gift he was going to give his friend. He took it out of his hair, it seemed to have started glowing way more than before. Xiao tapped on it once again to confirm it's soul had left the body and it seemed like it has. It wasn't supposed to be shining more than before. There was something really wrong with this little guy.

"I uh was planning to give this to you, but looks like something is wrong with it." Said the Yaksha as he gently held the crystalfly, showing it to Aether.

"Woah! This one seems to be glowing more than the others you've given me."

"I found it while waiting for you."

He grabbed the traveler's hand, opened it and put the crystalfly inside of it.

"You gave me so many of these so far, yet this one seems more special." He admitted after looking at it for a while.

He never understood why Xiao kept giving him those. The blonde boy knew he had a strange hobby of collecting them, so why does he just give them away? Normally he never had time to try putting one in his hair like his companion suggested in some of his letters, he knew even if he tried Paimon would jokingly make fun of him for it. But now that she wasn't here it was a perfect opportunity to try it.