Oath [BL; Book 2]

44

With a stretch Aether yawned, "Aaa~mm.... what time is it?" He sniffled and tiredly looked out the window. With a fine view of his serenitea pot from his personal room in his mansion, Aether smiled with a crazy bed head.

Paimon burst right in to wake him, "Traveler! It's time to go on an adventure! Huh? You were still sleeping? Wake up! We have lots of exploring to do!"

"Hahaha, let's take it easy today Paimon. I want to go shopping for some ingredients today." Entering his room as he got up was Tighnari who knocked on the door before coming in.

"Traveler, I finally caught you."

"Tighnari? Is there something wrong?" Aether asked,

"Nothing out of the ordinary, I just wanted to check up on you. You've been by regularly before the festivities in Liyue, then you stopped showing up." He crossed his arms making sure Aether knew of his worry, "Is there anything unusual to report? Have your nightmares completely gone?"

"Oh, well.." he sat right back down in his bed as Tighnari closed the door coming over to examine him. "They aren't as bad as when they started. I've been taking some medicine given to me by one of the Adepti from Liyue.

"Really? I wonder what sort of concoction they made to help you. We've tried everything and still no progress." He checked his eyes and his mouth, ears and nose too. "Lift." Paimon turned away politely as Aether lifted his shirt showing no injuries, bruising or scratches. He was healthy. "Have you been taking their medicine regularly?"

"Yeah, it was Cloud Retainer, um, Xianyun is what she goes by now. She said to take them when I needed?"

"When you needed? How often have you been taking them?"

"Every night?"

"Haaa, leave it to you to abuse a medicinal drug!"

"Ack!" Tightnair slapped his side,

"Turn!" He demanded and Aether turned showing him his back, "You should rely on the medicine for a good night's sleep! It's supposed to help you when it's unbearable."

"Aaah, I-I know." His side tinged from being smacked, "It's just, when I take it, it become bearable." Paimon was listening Tighnari nearly forgot she was there because she was quiet and said to her,

"Paimon, can you fetch me a bowl of cold water and some mint?"

"Ok!" She was happy to be of help and flew off to get it.

This way, she wouldn't worry about their conversation and she couldn't speak about it either. "Traveler, I know the nightmares are... hellish, but abusing that medication isn't the right way to cope." Tighnari gently scolded him but still did so, "I'll prepare some herbal supplements and give you some sumeru rose tea to take with you on your travels. Have some every morning, that should help with your breathing."

"Breathing?" Aether tilted his head, "I can breath just fine though?"

"Really?" Tighnari got out a small clam he popped open revealing ointment inside. "Then these injuries don't bother?"

"What injur-aah!" He twitched when Tighnari applied the ointment on his back. "Ow! Geez!"

"You didn't even notice them, how reckless can you be?"

"W-what???" Aether couldn't see what he saw, "What are you saying? I haven't even been in fights recently!"

"Impossible, you're not going to get these wounds from standing around." He applied some more,

"W-wait, It feels weird!" He squirmed,

Tightnari now asked, "Does it burn?"

"Yeah, it's hot!"