𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 || 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 • 𝘣𝘯𝘩𝘢

fifteen.

Aether approached him cautiously. He waited until he had finished his song, the story of two dragons who fought, one being abandoned by those the dragon swore to protect.

Venti was about to come to Hana, knowing clearly she was still in his statue's hands, but his eyes caught two mysterious figures who stared at him curiously. Realization coursed through him and he remembered that they were the one who scared Dvalin away when he tried to speak to him.

"Who are you?" Aether asked.

Before Venti could even introduce himself, a blur of white and black flew over him and the next thing he knew, Hana was hugging him, her white wings wrapped around him as well. He tried to stop the blush from rising on his cheeks, but failed miserably. In the end, he defeatedly let out a giggle.

Aether frowned. Hana? Where did she even come from? More importantly, she knew him enough that she was comfortable hugging him?

"Venti!" Hana cooed before she finally let the poor bard go and retracted her wings back to hiding. Her clothes surprisingly didn't hinder her wings nor did her wings rip it. Magic, I guess.

"Hana~" Venti greeted happily, his glowing blue-green hues staring at her red ones with an unreadable expression. His eyes savored the closeness of her face from his, taking in all the little details as he could before Hana realized she wanted some personal space back.

Aether coughed, resulting in the bard's attention back to him, as well as Hana's who just realized Aether was there in the first place.

"Oh! Hey, Aether," she greeted normally, as if she didn't just leave him on his commissions hours prior.

Yeah, Aether thought. Girls are confusing.

"Anyway!" Paimon chirped, her little floating body growing impatient. "Aether, go on and show him!"

Following the floating baby creature's words, Aether nodded and went to bring out the strange red crystal from way back when they first encountered the enraged dragon. Except, this supposed cursed red crystal wasn't...well, red.

"Huh? Why does it look different?" Paimon questioned.

"It has been purified, it seems," Hana answered, leaning closer to the crystal on Aether's hand. Though, in all honesty, she had no clue what exactly it was. "It feels different than when we first saw it."

Venti's face scrunched into a sad look. "Dvalin...the anguish he feels, it has brought him to tears."

The bard then explained that he had his own plan to bring Dvalin back to his senses and refused any kind of help from Aether and Hana. Venti left soon after, though he learnt his lesson and bid Hana goodbye with reassurance to see her again once everything was clear.

It seemed like the girl developed mild separation issues during her stay. Hana also knew that she had been more attached to those she had trusted, which in itself isn't a bad thing. But she really should go back to how she used to be.

"You should go," she declared, stopping Aether and his companion from their hushed discussion.

"Go where, exactly?"

"To Venti. I know where he is."

Aether nodded. Though he still questioned how the two knew each other, he supposed he could ask later. Or now. He's quite impatient. He let out a sigh.

"How do you know him, Hana?" he asked.

The girl hummed, thinking of where to start. "Well, to start, he's the first person I met when I woke up here."