You've begun to feel like home. Xiao x Aether.

No matter what.

As soon as the night fell on the city and the bright stars came out into the sky to greet the celebrating people, the loud noises coming from the city started to rise. Everybody was prepared to meet yet another Lantern Rite with their family and beloved ones – the atmosphere was warm, safe, and cheerful, making anyone want to stay and enjoy the celebration as long as they can. However, that was not the time to relax for Aether – as the boy rushed through the cheering crowd, his mind was occupied with the anticipation and foretaste of the next hours spent together with the only person he wanted to. The pleasantly soothing aura was affecting him as well, his heart was pounding faster and faster with each second and the blond couldn't understand whether that was from the joint happiness of the people surrounding him or from the fast pace he was going.

Soon, the number of people grew smaller as Aether reached the entrance gate to the city. He stopped to look at the mountain that was chosen to be their meeting point long time ago. Probably because Xiao mentioned it a few times as his favorite spot to rest, traveler could not come up with the better meeting area for the Yaksha to feel relaxed even during such bug celebrations. Satisfied with the fact that there were no signs of Xiao on it yet, Aether rushed towards the mountain to be the first one to arrive, knowing that he might need some time to calm himself down and reduce the expectations, which, for some reason, were extremely high tonight. Finally, after struggling a bit Aether reached the top of the mountain and opened his backpack in instant – there were some preparations to make before the other one decided to show up. He took a wide piece of cloth that he bought earlier that day at the souvenir shop in Liyue and placed it right under the huge tree. The fabric was soft to touch, almost instantly causing the blond to shiver from the satisfaction of its' feeling on his bright skin, it also had some traditional patterns in it – the streamlet surrounded by the fluffy clouds in the nighttime. The second Aether spotted the fabric in the store he knew that it would fit perfectly in the atmosphere of the night. Next step was adding some light, so that they wouldn't worry about time, as traveler secretly wanted to spend the whole night in the company of the Yaksha. He placed the small jar with 2 geo crystalflies in it – they were slowly drifting inside of it, spreading a dim light on the fabric and the area around them. Finally, the boy took the lanterns Xingqiu gave him and hid them inside the bush near the tree, so that Xiao wouldn't notice them from the start.

The completed look of it was breathtaking – from the spot chosen the city could be seen perfectly and the sky above was just the same color as the cloth Aether picked. The boy sighed relieved – he wanted to make this night special, but not because of his own thoughts and feelings. He well knew the origin of the festival and how the Lantern Rite was dedicated to the saviors of Liyue, so, the blond wanted to make sure Xiao would feel happy and free, even if it was only for one night. He wanted the other to know that people of Liyue are grateful for his doings and that everyone appreciates his help with protecting the city.

As everything was set up Aether decided to sit down and relax alone. It was always difficult for the boy to find such moments, where he would be left alone with his own thoughts and feeling, before he decided to return to Liyue. However, everything changed and deep in his heart, Aether knew that he needed to take that break from every bother and problem that came in a way of his journey. The truth is, traveler started to doubt himself after Inazuma – he was feeling weak, helpless, his whole journey felt pointless, those feelings were corrupting his mind for a long period of time. And yet, here he was – happy, filled with joy and satisfied with everything in his life. And he knew that the other one credible for these changes apart from himself was Xiao. Aether looked at the joyful people, which looked like a small ants from the mountain – they were laughing, smiling at each other, hugging, kissing. Aether sighed with a sad smile appearing on his face, old memories appeared in his head.