\\Your calming embrace\\ Xiaother fanfic

八

Art by @rueleaf_art on twitter

八/part eight

Aether and Paimon teleported to Liyue harbor, they went towards a dock to see a ship in the distance.

"We're supposed to go there?" Aether questioned himself, just then, he got an idea.

"c'mon paimon were going to that cliff over there" Aether said, dragging paimon over to a cliff.

Once they were there, Paimon looked at the distance between the cliff and the ship. "are you actually going to glide there??" Paimon asked the traveler, obviously worried he wouldn't make it.

"I'll be fine, but you're coming with me or I'm leaving you alone here to serve as some adventure's emergency food" Aether joked.
"Heyy!" Paimon replied, offended.

Aether retreated back, before quickly sprinting and jumping off the cliff, he swiftly opened his glider and started gliding.

The blonde barely managed to get to the ship. The landing was rough and the crew members of the ship definitely noticed him.

A woman walked up to Aether, "hey kid you know hopping on people's ship like that is dangerous right?" the woman stated.

Aether quick got up, "I'm so sorry!" He apologized "tell me what you're here for" the woman questioned the blonde. "I heard from someone you could get me to inazuma.." Aether said, brushing some dust off himself then shooting his glance at the woman.

"Eh? Inazuma? Gimme a good reason to take you there" The woman shot.

"I'm looking for my sister and Inazuma might have clues of her" Aether said, staring seriously at the woman, just then, a young male with unique clothing, soft white hair and a red streak interrupted. "Hello, you must be the famous traveler? Delighted to meet you, my name's Kazuha." The boy said with a soft voice.

Aether shifted his stare to the boy and relaxed a little. "Ah.. sorry I didn't mean to intimidate you.." Aether said scratching his head in the awkwardness

"no worries kid, I wasn't intimidated seems like something you take this seriously, I respect that. I'm beidou by the way!"
The woman introduced herself.

"Who's this floatin' fella you have here?" Beidou asked Aether. "Paimon's paimon! Nice to meet you!" The white floaty said.

"Alright paimon and traveler! We were actually expecting the both of you!" Beidou said looking at Aether, Atsuko told me to expect both of you." Beidou said.

"So will you take me to inazuma?" Aether asked excitedly.

"Ah-ah we need to see if you're worthy first!" Beidou said, putting one hand on her hip and tilting slightly. "Kazuha here has a vision he found from someone who.. passed. he's tryna find a new owner for it so we're holding a competition, if you win you'll get to choose between the vision or the trip to inazuma. do we have a deal?" Beidou asked Aether.

"Deal!" Aether said confidently. "Alright I'll see you later at guyun stone forest later." Beidou said.

Aether placed a portable teleport waypoint on the boat with beidou's consent and teleported back to the cliff.

"Alright! Guyun stone forest this afternoon." Aether noted to himself.

"Paimon will bring snacks! Watching fights are boring unless the opponent is strong"Paimon says while flying by Aether.

In the afternoon, Aether and Paimon went to Guyun stone forest. The both of them saw a crowd of people in the distance so they rushed over to see what was happening, they questioned 3 people and apparently this was the location of the competition, and one person they questioned was nice enough to tell them the requirements of the competition,  they were "no vision holders allowed" which fits the traveler perfectly, giving that he doesn't need a vision to control the elements.