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The air is cool against Aether’s frame as he climbs up towards the crow’s nest of the Alcor.
“Why are we climbing up here again?” Paimon asks, floating lazily beside him, half asleep. “Paimon doesn’t understand why we can’t just cook in the kitchen.”
With a small grunt, Aether hauls himself over the side of the rail of the crow’s nest, feet landing on solid wood. “Because yesterday, when I tried to teach you how to properly grill a fish, we almost set the entire place on fire. I don’t think Beidou would appreciate us burning her ship down in the middle of the night. Also, I’m covering Liushi’s shift. You can go back to sleep if you want. ”
With that, Aether flops to the ground, taking in huge gulps of air. With the sails furled up, Aether can see the night sky sprawled in front of him, with sprinklings of unfamiliar constellations looking back at him. Once, in a world far, far away, he and Lumine had been a navigator of sorts on many ships. They were kidnapped and traded amongst corrupt government officials and royalty, until one day they had enough and destroyed the entire royal fleet and been on the run ever since, before joining a pirate group that terrorised the seas.
That was a long time ago. Still, some things never change. Beidou had happily given him a temporary position as one of the navigators aboard on the one week journey back to Liyue from Inazuma, after seeing how competent he was with star charts and geological sketches, and Aether liked the feeling of leaning over a well worn map, lovingly drawn and annotated, fingers travelling across it’s creases and listening to the tiny crackles it makes, mapping out the best route back in a swaying ship with the lone ceiling lantern flickering above. Drenched sailors coming in and out from the storm and listening to Aether while Beidou hums approvingly by his side, before offering further suggestions. And once everything was clear Aether would join them on deck, to the crow’s nest, soaked in seconds as Inazuma’s infamous storms raged overhead. Archons knew that Xu Liushi needed a break- the poor man was practically living on the crow’s nest until Aether had offered to take over his position, at least for this trip.
The storm has ceased only a few hours ago, but the strong winds have blown the wood dry now. Aether still gathers a warm gust of wind and aims it at the floor, lest he accidentally slip and fall off. Would he survive the fall? Perhaps the Aether two years ago would have said yes. Now, probably not. Sometimes he wakes up and his body still feels wrong- too sore, too human.
There isn’t much to do on up here. Paimon’s dozed off some while ago, so Aether props her against the railing, and puts his scarf around her. Hands itching to do something- he thinks of cooking- he drums his fingers on the rails, staring out into the distance.
There’s shuffling beneath the floorboards. Aether looks down, and to his surprise, sees Kazuha climbing the ladder to the nest. Their eyes meet. Kazuha gives a little wave.
“Hello, Aether. Care to help me open the trapdoor?”
Aether nods. A few seconds later, he’s practically lifting Kazuha onto the nest, one arm wrapped beneath his arm and another on his waist. Kazuha closes the trapdoor.
“What are you doing here?” Aether asks, curious. “It’s late.”
Kazuha raises an eyebrow, dropping down next to Paimon. “You seemed bored. Thought I’d keep you company.”
"How'd you know?"
Kazuha mimics Aether's fingers tapping on the railing. "I could hear it."
Aether crosses his arms, and slides down the nest’s walls, landing with a soft thud. He winces- his month old injuries inflicted by the shogun still weren’t completely healed yet. Aether thinks they’re going to scar. That possibility had made his heart race the first time he thought of it, and he remembered feeling like crying and laughing at the same tine. “I was reminiscing.”
“Care to talk about it?”
Aether breathes out.
If he tried, he would be able to hear the sharp crack from a shot ringing in his ears and smell the trail of smoke rising from the musket gun in his hands, the sounds of an ugly fight spreading below on ship while he picked the off enemies one by one, high up on the mast. The ship would rumble from a cannon shot, sending reverberations through his bones and making his teeth chatter, the icy wind whipping at his exposed face and hands.
Here, the wind is gentle and instead of a rifle, he has two friends next to him.
Aether closes his eyes. “I was apart of a pirate crew once,” he cracked one of his eyes open. Kazuha was looking at him with intrigue, urging him to continue. “Well, I was a lot of things once. But I spent my time in that particular world being a pirate. I was their navigator. And my sister...”
Lumine had always liked being on the offensive. She cut through enemy lines like butter, boarding axe in one hand, and dagger in another. Aether would shoot the people in Lumine’s blind spots, or the ones that got a little too close for comfort. It didn’t matter who they were. They killed without discrimination and without hesitance. They were absolutely ruthless.
Kazuha listened intently with every word Aether had to say. Aether can’t help but tense up a little- after all, Kazuha was by all means, a rather peaceful person. Even if he did enjoy the occasional spar, this tale of his was pretty bloody, and the morals involved questionable. Feeling conscious all of a sudden, Aether stopped midway when he came to a particularly brutal part of the fight.
“It was nothing special,” he added, a bit dully, thinking of the blood dripping from his hands when the battle was over. Someone had climbed up the mast mid fight. “Don’t really miss it.”
Kazuha hummed. “I got the feeling that you were pleased when handling our navigational charts.”
“Well, yes. I was the navigator. Familiarity is nice sometimes,”
“I am sure,” Kazuha mumbles in reply. He stands up, then offers Aether a hand. Aether takes it. He follows Kazuha’s gaze and looks up.
“So what can you tell me about these stars?”
“Oh! Um,” Aether stutters. “I actually don’t really know anything about these stars other than the important ones highlighted in captain Beidou’s map. These are quite different from what I usually see in the night sky.”
“Oh?” Kazuha asks, curiosity sparkling in his eyes.“What sort of stars do you usually see, then?”
Other than me and my sister? Aether almost says. He shakes his head. “Sorry, let me rephrase that a little- every night sky is different in every world. However, there were some stars that remain the same in different worlds. For example, “ he leans out side of the crow’s nest and points north, to an empty space devoid of any twinkling lights. “I’ve been to three worlds with the same star in that same exact spot. The North Star. One of the first planets I’ve been on named it Polaris.”
“Polaris,” Kazuha says, tasting the name in his mouth. “That’s a lovely name. What’s the story behind it?”
“Some people believed that it was a jewel from the spike that their gods used to strike through the universe. Some people believed that it was the peg which held the world together. “ Aether turned to Kazuha. “But for me, and to most people, it’s just something that guides us on the seas.”
Somewhere along the explanation, Paimon had stirred awake.
“Did somebody ask about the stars in the night sky?” She yawns. “Paimon knows! You can ask me. After all, Paimon is Aether’s guide!”
“Um, well, yes.” Kazuha says ruffling Paimon’s hair. She scrunches her face up. “Please do tell me more.”
Aether watches as Paimon enthusiastically rambles about the stars to Kazuha, who looks at Paimon, then at the sky with genuine interest. He slumps over the railing, a smile unconsciously forming on his face.
Something stirs inside him- a want- a longing for a half formed idea in his mind.
Aether stands straight.
“Come travel with us,” he says abruptly, cutting Paimon off mid sentence, and she lets out a “Oh!”, fumbling her twirl mid air and crashing into Aether’s shoulders.
Kazuha blinks at him.
Aether sighs, leaning over the rails. Suddenly he’s unable to look at Kazuha anymore, little trickles of embarrassment rising from his arms to his neck. He focuses his gaze on the lights bobbing up and down in the water down below. “I was just… thinking... since- ”
“Well Paimon thinks it’s a great idea!” Paimon interrupts excitedly, clapping her hands together. “You’re going to travel around the world, yes? We are too! It would be nice to have you around!”
“Yes, that. Thank you, Paimon.”
Kazuha clears his throat and Aether turns back to look at him.
“Well, I…” he trails off, tilting his head, lost in thought. Aether can’t help but be fixated on the small smile on his lips.
“It will be dangerous,” Aether blurts out, shifting his body so he’s fully facing Kazuha, leaning against the rail. His heart is beating a bit too quickly; excited at the prospect of a new traveling companion and nervous at the chance for rejection. And now that the idea is out, he can’t stop. “There is the occasional nation-scale crisis and the um,” he pauses for a second. “The frequent, uh, history lessons about forgotten civilisations and the world itself? That usually ends with us fighting members of the abyss order?”
Paimon whirls around furiously. “Hey! Do you want to scare him off?” Aether winces, lowering his gaze to the floor, and she turns around to Kazuha, wringing her hands. “But of course! Not that Paimon thinks you can’t handle yourself in a fight!”
Kazuha chuckles, and Aether looks up at him again hopefully. His red eyes sparkle with mirth, and Aether can hear it already-
“What’s in it for me?” Kazuha lifts an eyebrow, and Aether almost groans. Paimon starts punching him lightly. “Hey! Stop that-“ he grumbles, swatting her tiny hands away, before trying to wrench her entire body away from him. “Stop- uh,” he looks at Kazuha again, who’s looking at them sideways, pressing his weight on his forearm on the railing with a fond expression on his face, “I make good food- hey!” Aether grabs Paimon by her shoulders and holds her at arms length, “stop that, Paimon, and I can get you saké?”
“He can’t!” A squirming Paimon exclaims, “he gets turned down by bartenders all the time because he looks so youn-mmmfff!”
“I can try to get you saké” Aether mumbles, covering Paimon’s mouth. “And here I thought you wanted Kazuha to tag along.”
Kazuha’s lips stretch into soft smile. He lets go of the railing and places a hand on Aether’s shoulder, firm, and Aether feels the weight of it in his bones. Suddenly he’s aware of the rocking of the Alcor on the gentle ocean waves, and the warm glow on Kazuha’s face reflected from the lantern next to them. The salty ocean breeze takes a strand of Kazuha’s red streak in his hair and blows it across his face-
“I do like good food,” Kazuha muses, the smile curving into something more teasing. “But I have plenty of saké here.”
“I can make the saké,” Aether answers confidently. His promises are getting ridiculous now. But he's not lying. He can brew saké. Just that it's tedious work and he has no time for it. He rises up from the railing, “Though I’m sure the scenery of our travels might entice you even more.” He thinks of Dragonspine and it’s starfrost nail, the way it hums and tinkles amidst the chilling quietness of snow. He hopes Kazuha is interested in history. “I can tell you more about stars?”
Kazuha moves past him and rests against the railing again, red eyes drifting across the sea, contemplative. Aether’s heart hammers against his chest; there it is again, the fear of rejection echoing within him, beating wildly in tandem with a frighteningly intense sensation of hope. Aether wonders why he is getting so worked up over this. It is rare for him to want a travelling companion other than his sibling, and in some worlds, he travels alone, his sister settling down with someone else and staying with them until they passed on before getting up and travelling to the next world. But of course, across the span of his existence, there had been some who traveled with him. He still remembers their faces and voices so clearly… and Paimon quite literally crashed into his life, soaking him wet with seawater, and had sent him tumbling on to the sand. His shoulder blades where his wings had been forcibly ripped off, though healed when he was presumably in his five hundred year long sleep, had ached so horribly to the point where he had burst into tears. Then Paimon had cried. Panicked, and unable to understand each other, they cried for several more minutes before Paimon rushed into the forest and came back out with an armful of wolfhooks, then prickled her skin trying to remove the thorns, then mashed the juicy insides into a pulp before spreading it all over him.
Paimon has been the first and best addition in his journey on Teyvat so far.
“Beidou will be upset,” Kazuha says, back still turned towards Aether. “I’ll have to tell her.”
His words shakes Aether out of his thoughts. For a moment he feels a shrivel of mortification for forgetting about what Beidou would think, but when he visualises the captain, he knows that she would be quite delighted for Kazuha. Yes, she might miss him, but she knows that spending all the time on the high seas is not what Kazuha truly wants. Perhaps this was related to Kazuha’s feelings towards the captain… perhaps he didn’t want to leave her just yet.
Aether can’t help but feel disappointed. He admits that the idea of Kazuha travelling with him had formed in his brain very early on his first trip to Inazuma aboard the Alcor- there had been no special meaning about it- he simply liked listening to Kazuha’s haikus and liked him even more. And when Kazuha had mentioned he was a wandering samurai who intended to explore the world, unshackled and free from any obligations and responsibilities…
With a start, Aether realised why this arrangement can never be. He literally said it a few minutes ago: everywhere he went it seemed trouble would soon follow, or at least, he would have to be the one to fix the mess. After what had happened in Inazuma, how could he have asked Kazuha of this?
He feels his earlier confidence wither away, an encroachment of shame creeping upon him.
“Actually,” he begins. “Maybe you shouldn’t...” He falters, and Paimon stares at him questioningly. “ I’m sorry. I failed to consider-“
“Heh. I jest. I’m sure she can handle her crew without me,” Kazuha lets out a laugh, waving his hand in the air dismissively. “Not that she needed my help to begin with. And I’m sure she is quite tired of my drunken poetic ramblings.”
Aether blinks.
Kazuha turns, finally, to look at aether again, slight surprise written on his face by the lack of reaction. “What?” Then, eyes softening with worry at the sight of Aethers stupefied expression, “Did something happen?”
“I, uh,” Aether stammers, processing the words in his head, “Is that a yes?”
Kazuha worried expression disappears immediately. He snorts. “Yes. I’d like to travel with you and Paimon.”
Paimon cheers in the background, but Aether shakes his head slightly, and grips the rails, conflicted. “Wait-“
Kazuha notices, and his amused expression shifts once again to one of worry. “What’s wrong?” He places his hand on Aether’s, and the feeling of warmth makes Aether unfurl his fingers. He hears Paimon fall quiet.
A beat passes.
“I am duty bound,” Aether explains softly, “To my sister. And there is always some sort of responsibility that befalls upon me wherever I go,” He pauses. The waves crash against the Alcor, “I can’t ask you to go through that with me. Not after what you’ve been through. Not after finally getting ahold of the freedom you longed for all these years.”
There is a pause. Aether holds in his breath.
“Aw, Aether...” Paimon says sorrowfully, snuggling against his chest. “I didn’t think of that.”
“...Of course you don’t,” Aether replies back, stroking Paimon’s head, grateful for the hug, and without much bite, “think, that is.”
“Hey!”
Kazuha stares at them wordlessly, hand still on Aether’s, warm, and grounding. Aether fights the urge to yank his hand away, to erase the embarrassment of this conversation. Million and million of years of travel and still Aether still feels like such a child at moments like this. To be honest, being able to witness the birth and death of stars makes it so the social constructs of time and age don’t really matter or apply to him. Aether and lumine might as well be ageless, but on Teyvat, he can feel his form shift into one in their mid-twenties. It’s an awfully young age to be, and it is one that Aether feels crushingly in his core, now that he is stripped form his powers. How fitting.
“Well, that’s all the more reason to travel with you,” Kazuha says lightly, startling Aether from his thoughts yet again. “Who said that the life of a wandering samurai is easy? You of all people should know that.”
Kazuha’s words are nothing more than a faint buzz in Aether’s ears.
“Look, I understand where you’re coming from. But I choose to travel with you. I don’t care about what’s going to happen. That’s part of the thrill in exploring this world, is it not?”
Aether nods numbly. A light feeling spreads from his neck to his fingertips, and suddenly, he feels quite stupid.
“If we have to save another nation, so be it. And if not, I will be on your side either way. And if things don’t work out, I could always leave.” Kazuha lets out a sigh that sounds a bit exasperated, but still kind. “It would be an honour to travel alongside you, Aether.”
Aether's shoulder blades ache.
He takes in a deep breath in disbelief, and rolls his shoulders. “Really?” He asks, though the doubt and nervousness fizzing in him fades as quickly as it came.
“Really.” Kazuha answers, voice strong with conviction, and Aether feels his heart squeeze lightly for a second, waves of deja vu and nostalgia washing over him, memories of other worlds rushing past. He thinks he hears Paimon in the background start yammering about their everyday routine, from the usual daily commissions to the restaurants they’re going to eat at.
He grins at Kazuha. “Don’t go regretting your decision later on.”
(The wind is so soft against his skin.)