One flower, One sword

Physically cured

Once the flower was picked, Xiao was able to leave the domain. When he came back to Teyvat he was greeted by Lumine and Zhongli idly chatting. It even seemed that nothing was wrong, like it was just an ordinary day for a pair of old friends.

"I got the flower" Xiao spoke first seeing that they were too busy with their who knows about what conversation to notice him. "How did it go? Hope the keeper didn't bring much trouble to you." It was Zhongli who answered first and then Lumine followed, "Seeing how Xiao is here in one piece, seems like everything went well."

"Zhongli," Lumine bought her eyes back to the latter, "How will this flower exactly cure my brother?" Zhongli didn't answer for a moment, it seemed as if he recalled some things. "The petals, they hold the most power, to maximize their efficiency they have to be boiled on a low fire for a day or so."

Lumine as the princess of the abyss had a mission to complete, yet instead, here she was, working with her enemy to cure her brother. It's not like both of them didn't notice it, but there was this wall of wariness between each other. Xiao also noticed it, he just didn't comment on it. Whatever Lumine's plans for the future were, right now, the only thing that mattered was curing Aether. And with that, the 3 of them built a fake atmosphere, one of old friends.

"Let's get back then, sooner we cure Aether the better" Lumine tried to show a hint of eagerness, but whether it worked or not, was for the two adepti to decide. "I agree, if we have to wait another day for the petals to boil we have to get back sooner."

"Yes exactly, but this is gonna be the part where we are parting." Lumine's statement was unexpected. It looked like she would stay for longer and make sure her brother is cured, but seems like Zhongli was wrong on this one, for half a second suspicion washed over Xiao's face. It didn't go unnoticed by the other two, but as usual, they pretended not to see it. "You're not gonna stay for any longer? Alright then" Zhongli collectedly responded and Lumine confirmed with a nod.

And so the "Trio" all went their own ways. Xiao's karmic debt started acting up so he left the boiling to Zhongli, not that Zhongli minded. Zhongli then went home, began boiling the petals, and went to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. He received a message that a certain someone was waiting for him.

As for Lumine, she went back to the abyss order. She knew that curing Aether's body won't make him wake up, she knew very well that his consciousness was somewhere else, so Lumine had to begin tracking it down.

In some abandoned hillichurl camp, there was a sword laying around that countless adventurer's turned a blind eye on. One of them even fainted from the blade and his companion had a hard time dragging the latter back.

Thankfully once the companion had dragged the adventurer back, everything was well and a few days later they continued their adventurers through the sea of red sands as the sword got buried beneath the sand from the sandstorms.

And so the next day came. It was still early in the morning and the petals were emitting a faint glow in the pot on low fire. Throughout the night Zhongli occasionally woke up to keep the fire in check, adepti didn't require sleep so this was no problem. When the sun was gonna rise Zhongli got out of bed and settled on taking a morning walk.

Before heading out he made sure to check and adjust the fire. When Zhongli was already a distance away from Liyue, Xiao came to take a look at the petals. First, he went to see Aether, fortunately, the curse hadn't spread too much from his last visit. After that, he went to Zhongli's bedroom and didn't see him. Xiao didn't expect him to be there anyway. Zhongli's habit of early morning walks never changed. Lastly, he went to check on the petals. They were glowing, not faintly or brightly, but the perfect amount to not hurt the eyes.

Xiao didn't take the petals off, it was early in the morning and they began boiling at around noon yesterday, it was a few hours too early. And so Xiao left. There was time to pass.

Meanwhile, Zhongli realized why Lumine left so early. He did have his suspicions but never mentioned them. Curing Aether's body won't be all. The consciousness isn't present. The only time the body moved was while breathing, apart from breathing, there were no other movements or sounds.

Lumine leaving could mean that she went off to search for Aether's consciousness, or maybe she didn't think that the consciousness wasn't where it was supposed to be. But she couldn't possibly not realize it.

Moving on, assumingly Lumine was already searching for Aether's consciousness, but that didn't mean they could slack off. They also had to put in some effort in searching for Aether's consciousness.

For now, Zhongli and Xiao had to cure the flesh. The petals will be ready in roughly 4 hours, and in 5 hours Zhongli's work at the wangsheng funeral parlor will begin. Zhongli stared at the sunrise and a sudden wash of memories of the bygone days overtook his mind.

On the other side, Lumine was thinking about the cursed blade. It was the object that currently confined Aether's consciousness. At first, Lumine didn't think it would have disappeared too far, however, it was out of Liyue. That was for sure. Even after searching every nook and cranny of this land, she didn't find it. It barely passed 15 hours since she began her search, but her speed and ability to cover a lot of territory was impressive after all. The sword also carried an outstanding aura, like a white crow in a crowd of black ones.

So missing the blade was out of the question. It simply meant that it was somewhere further than Liyue. The next option was Mondstadt or Sumeru. Fontaine too, but it was highly unlikely. The owner of the blade despised Hydro, and the blade did too. So even if it had to break the laws of Teyvat, it would get itself to anywhere but Fontaine.

Then again, if it got somehow carried to Fontaine, and assumingly it escaped, it could be either Sumeru or Natlan. Theorizing like this could bring you out of Teyvat. So it all was double-sided. Then again, how are you gonna figure out the location if not theorizing and assuming? Thinking is a complicated thing.

In the end, Lumine sent a lector to cover Fontaine and look for the blade, to Sumeru she sent Enjou, and just in case she sent a couple of abyss mages to look in Mondstadt while she herself went to take a look in Natlan. The abyss order was slightly confused about the change of plans, but they didn't question it. It wasn't like there were zero forces carrying out their main mission.

Back to the petals, it had passed a few hours and Xiao was polishing them under Zhongli's instructions. After turning them into tea leaves, Xiao brewed tea with them. Zhongli left for the Wangsheng funeral parlor and now Xiao was left to feed the tea to Aether.

Xiao carried the cup of tea to the dead-like body and stared at its mouth for a while. Xiao put down the cup on a nearby table and went to the kitchen for a spoon, how else would he be able to feed the tea to Aether?

After obtaining the spoon, Xiao began the long process of feeding an entire cup of tea to a body that didn't move. Best part? Xiao had to push the spoon almost into Aether's throat while he was lying and after that Xiao had to put down the spoon and make Aether sit up for the liquid to travel down.

It was a long and tedious process. When the whale cup of tea was finally consumed, Xiao sighted. He never thought that in his entire 2000 years of existence he would be feeding tea, spoon-by-spoon to an unconscious body.

Despite that, Xiao didn't feel like he was wasting his time or anything, in fact, he even thought that this is one of the best ways to spend his time. He was glad to be able to help Aether.

After half an hour had passed since Xiao fed the tea, the curse on Aether gradually began fading away. It was still clear, but nevertheless, it was noticeable that it became paler. Maybe after a few hours, the curse will be completely gone.

----

Soooo we have reached the end of the first of the two arcs, the second one will contain 9 chapters. 3 longer than the first one but I don't think it matters. I am also gonna try instead of updating this one a month, which is usually at the end of it to one chapter per 2 weeks. I want to get my writing more consistent, watch me fail tho