My Warmth Is Yours

Chapter 9: The Past on Paper

Amber dumped a stack of books on the table with a loud thump.

"These are all the ones I could find. Sorry for ditching you with the bill, but I had an idea and I didn't want to lose it."

"It's fine, I know the feeling.” Aether picked up the top one. It was a history book, much like all the others in the pile.

After the rather awkward lunch session from earlier, Amber had rushed off to the library to find history books while the Traveler and Paimon gave K the tour on the city layout. They'd then backtracked to the Knights of Favonius Library to find Amber, which was where they were now.

"Yeesh, there's not many…" Paimon said, casting a glance at the three or four books on the table.

"You're lucky there were any at all, all that happened before the Archon War. There's, like, no records from back then, most of this is speculation based on what's left." Amber booped Paimon on the nose while she looked through one of the books. Aether flipped through another one.

"It mentions you in this one a couple times. Oh, but there's no mentioned name… wait, you can dance? Damn, you never said a word about all the seasonal festivals. They sound like they would've been so much fun." 

"Really…? I remember the festivals, but not the dancing..." He looked over Aether's shoulder at the book, then stopped short. "I completely forgot about that. I wasn't very good at it anyway, I didn't exactly learn very early. Or have very experienced teachers, for that matter. I have no idea where the author got that information from, but they're definitely exaggerating." Paimon smirked.

"You should show us sometime. At the next Windblume festival, maybe!"

"Absolutely not. I just told you I'm not that good. And besides, where would we get the music?" He said that, but he was clearly blushing. Amber and Paimon shared a smile.

"We'll find a way. Mondstat's normal festival music must be similar, it's not like your culture was all that different from ours."

"Speaking of differences, I'm surprised I can actually read this. Seems like Mondstat's language hasn't changed much."

"Eh, languages in Teyvat have been the same for years. Written histories stick pretty damn well sometimes," Aether responded. I would know, wouldn't I, after all those years travelling worlds… he shrugged. "It's not really that surprising."

They spent a little while looking through the books, making small talk while Paimon wrote a list of every little detail that the Kreideprinz remembered and corrected. It's nice that he's remembering the little things about his home. I can tell how much he cares. They never found anything referring to his real name, but they found out a lot more about what Sal Vind once was. The kids playing free, planting flowers wherever they can, people getting together in the city for their weekend clubs or get-togethers, the preparations for the seasonal festivals, the annual contact with Celestia and all the religious rites surrounding that… everything sounds so lively. It certainly doesn't sound like they sheltered him. I can see why he misses it so much, he was as much a part of the community as everyone else. No wonder he was so heartbroken earlier, he must have known almost everyone.

And then he lost them all.

Amber's voice jolted him out of his thoughts.

"I'll check with Lisa and see if there's anything else in the restricted section. In the meantime, do you have any idea where he's going to stay while he's here?" Aether had a double take thinking about that before Paimon abruptly came up with an answer.

"He can stay with us, we've got a bunch of spare rooms in the Serenitea Pot. And besides, it's not like anyone else was going to use them."

"Yeah. It's kinda lonely with just Paimon, you're welcome to stay as long as you like. And don't worry," Aether said, catching the look on the prince's face, "you don't need to pay me back, it's fine. Everyone needs a place to stay." He pulled out the porcelain teapot from nowhere, letting it float above the table. "Come with me."