childe X aether

Chapter Four: Reunion

Aether ran to Paimon and squeezed her tightly in a hug. "I'm so happy I finally found you!" He let go of Paimon, she then grew shy and bashfully as she smiled and scratched the back of her head. "Aw, shucks! I didn't know the traveler would miss Paimon that much..." Aether laughed lightly. "Of course! What would I do without my emergency food supply?" Paimon just smiled and giggled. "Hehe, oh Traveler, you- ...HEY-!" Paimon yelled, visibly upset and angry. "Ugh- Paimon spent all day waiting for the Traveler to come back! And this is what I get?!" Aether laughed and pulled out the serenity pot from his bag. "Come on, Paimon. Let's go home and I'll make it up to you by making you some sticky honey roast~!" Aether knew the way to Paimon's heart was food. And making her favorite would surely make up for any and all the rude comments he would make on their trip. Paimon tried to resist at first but it was futile. "Oh... Paimon can't stay mad at you, Traveler. -But don't ever let it happen again!" Childe butted into the conversation. "Sticky honey roast? I heard it's quite the popular dish in Mondstadt." Both Aether and Paimon looked over at Childe who had been standing off to the side about 2 feet away between them. Paimon leaned over and whispered to Aether. "Paimon forgot he was there...!" Childe's smile stayed but his eyes didn't smile. As if he was forcing himself to keep the smile on. Aether whispered back to Paimon. "I was hoping he'd leave if I ignored him long enough...!" As they whispered back and forth, Childe slowly dropped his smile with each exchange of words. Childe then interrupted again. "Anyway-!" He cleared his throat and smiled again. "I'm curious to see if I could come with, you two wouldn't mind me tagging along, right?" Paimon and Aether stared at Childe for a second before both saying "yes" in unison as Aether opened the serenity pot. And with that, they were gone. Leaving Childe behind. He sighed and dropped his smile with a disappointed look. "Well, I tried. Back to work it seems." As Aether and Paimon finally got home, Aether let out a sigh of relief. He began to walk up the stairs to his manor and past Tuby. Paimon noticed how Aether has looked a bit down as he was hunched over and groggy. "Um... Aether doesn't have to make Paimon sticky honey roast if he doesn't want to, Paimon wasn't really mad at the Traveler..." Aether glanced over at Paimon and gave her a soft smile before reaching out and patting the top of her head. "Come on, Paimon. Let's go eat." Paimon wasn't going to argue with Aether any longer and followed him inside.
The next day, as Aether was about to leave the serenity pot, he was approached by Hu Tao holding a bouquet of flowers. "Aether!" Aether looked over and decided to hold off on doing his daily commissions from the adventures guild. "Hm... they're probably not in immediate danger, right...?" Hu Tao gave him a puzzled look. "What was that, Aether?" Aether just brushed off the question. "Oh, it's nothing." Paimon waved to Hu Tao as she greeted her. "Good morning, Hu Tao! What seems to be the problem? Is it something to do with your living conditions here in the serenity pot?" She puzzled, but Hu Tao just gave a light chuckle and held out the flowers to Aether. "No, no, no, nothing like that! I'm just here to deliver these flowers to Aether! A fatui member stopped by the funeral parlor earlier today and requested I give these to you! At first I declined, but he said you two were close friends and he couldn't reach you at the moment. I guess he found out I stay here every so often and found this was the best way to deliver these to you!" Aether did seem too surprised by this, after all; they have been befriending more and more members of the fatui. He took the flowers and opened the card that had been placed in the center of the bouquet of odd looking blue flowers. The card read: Aether, I heard most recently that you went to Fontaine. It's there that I heard of this flower. I believe the story behind the flower was a Hydro spirit who was in love with the previous Hydro Archon, Egeria. Isn't that interesting? when I did some more research I just knew I had to have them shipped into Liyue harbor right away. Why don't you come down and visit me tonight? Just the two of us. I'll be waiting at Xinyue Kiosk at 10 Pm. -Tartaglia. After Aether finished reading the note he got annoyed and let out a sigh. Paimon floated over his shoulder and leaned in to read the bottom of the note. "Childe?! Why would he be sending flowers? Especially ones that haven't even bloomed yet..." Aether shoved both the card and the flowers into his bag before turning back to Hu Tao. "Thank you, we'll be going now, the adventures guild needs me." They then waved goodbye to her and teleported to Mondstadt.