The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 22

In the blink of an eye, it was somehow already the next day, Vena having been so distracted by the stories her friends told as she finally got to spend a decent amount of time with them since they'd basically arrived at Liyue, helping Childe and Zhongli with whatever tasks were important at the time.

She had slept peacefully, besides the anxiety growing in the back of her mind, clearly worrying about Xiao and if he was alright. It had already been over 24 since she'd last seen him, but surely he could take care of himself, right? Nothing could beat Xiao, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, she just wasn't sure exactly what.

Noticing her worry, Aether had asked the girl to spar, half wanting to see how much she'd learned in the time he'd been gone in Liyue, and the other half of him hoping maybe it would take her mind off of it.

They hadn't openly talked about Xiao since the previous day, and Aether planned to keep it that way, not wanting to accidentally bother her or stir up her emotions anymore than they already were, so it was just going to stay a quiet little secret between the two.

" We are the warriors, who learned to love the pain
We come from different places but have the same name
'Cause we were born for this
We are the broken ones, who chose to spark a flame
Watch as our fire rages, our hearts are never tame
'Cause we were, 'cause we were,
'Cause we were, 'cause we were born for this
We were born for this "

Vena had started music again before they began sparring, but Aether was simply on the defensive, wanting to see exactly how much she'd improved before he started going offensive, not wanting to accidentally injure her.

"You're holding backkkkk~" The purple haired girl cooed, swiftly dodging behind him to send a sturdy kick into his back that sent him tumbling a few feet away.

Aether yelped out in surprise, rolling around on the grass as he fell, evoking a gentle giggle from his sparring partner.

"You've learned so much so fast." Aether spoke out in surprise as he sat up in a sitting position, just staring at her with wide eyes.

"I'm nowhere near on the level I want to be, but I'm way better than I was." Vena smiled happily, her white teeth gleaming in the sunlight as she grinned at him cutely.

Aether stood to his feet, smiling back at her as he readied back into his fighting stance, ready to kick it up a notch.

"I'm so proud of you."

The words caught the girl off guard, causing her to simply stare at him with wide doe-eyes, the words tugging at her heart strings as the familiar sting of tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

Setting her lips together in a hard line, she exhaled slowly, fighting them back.

No one had ever really said that to her, so she wasn't sure how to react besides.... cry. But she needed to stop crying all the time, she needed to be stronger and stable, especially during a battle.

You can't afford to ever let your enemy get in your head, don't let someone toy with your empathy.

Obviously this time was okay because it was Aether, but that also reminded her of the lesson Xiao had taught her, to keep your emotions under control during a fight, because not only can someones actions in battle get you killed, but their words can be just as deadly.