"*pant* A-are we there yet?" Paimon complains.
"Just a little bit more." Keqing replied while climbing the rocks of mountains, towards the east from Mt. Aozang.
Prior to this walk, they discussed about the best road to the training location that she mentioned. They picked the ones with less steep areas, though every road is still hard to go across. Climbing is inevitable.
"Umuu~, Paimon's tired." she whines.
Aether, with annoyed eyes, stared at Paimon.
"You're flying. I doubt that you'd even break a sweat."
"Hey! Only Paimon knows how tiring it is to constantly fly. You've never fled before, so you never felt what Paimon deals with everyday!" she retorts.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure you already knew it, but I 'have' experienced flying before, so your argument is irrelevant." he replied, making Paimon quiet down, but in frustration.
For some reason, Keqing stopped walking, her face showing signs of confusion.
"Fly? Do you mean gliding? If so, of course you wouldn't tire yourself out. Your glider isn't a part of your body after all."
Oh crap.
He forgot that she is still there. Paimon realizes this too. He got too used to travelling with Paimon and sharing about the details about him traveling to other worlds, which shouldn't be told. There's no restriction for him to share the details of his travel with her, but he'd rather keep it confidential. Mostly for safety reasons.
"A-ah, yes. That's true." he replied, laughing nervously. Paimon tried not to look too suspicious.
She noticed both of them acting nervous and suspicious, which made her curious but didn't pry too much into it.
After a bit more climbing and walking, they finally reached their destination.
"Wow~" Paimon let out an astonished voice.
The scenery on top of the hill is pure bliss. Rivers can be seen on the horizon. There also seems to be waterfalls if they walk slightly more towards the west. The lake is crystal clear. No pollution whatsoever to the point that he can see his own reflection.
"We're here." Keqing said as she sits down under a tree. Aether follows her.
"Such a beautiful scenery. It's kinda a waste to use this place as our training location, don't you think?" he asked.
"That shouldn't be a problem."
"Oh?"
"The mountains here are as solid as a brick. It should withstand whatever that is thrown against it. Hopefully."
"And if it didn't?" he asked cheekily.
"W-well, since there will most likely be no eye witnesses, it's safe to assume that there won't be a problem." she coughs, covering up her nervousness. Truthfully, she haven't made any prior tests on the compatibility of this place since this training is done in a hurry. She had to make do with this for now.
"Naughty girl," he thought to himself. Of course, he can't say it out loud if he does not want to get electrocuted and become a part of Xiangling's gourmet.
"W-what's with that grin?" her face reddens. She knew herself that she might get into another trouble if word about this comes out, assuming that a catastrophe will take place.
"Nothing, really." he shrugs it off, though he can't stop grinning.
"Anyways, when are we going to start this session?" Paimon intervened, distracting Keqing's nervousness.
"It's still 2 o' clock, and the sun is at its hottest. Plus, we're tired from the long walk. Let's rest a bit and then we'll start."
"Sounds like a plan." he said while stretched out beneath the tree that both of them were at. He looked like he's about to fall asleep any moment. Paimon, however, flew to the waterfall to enjoy more of the scenery, possibly play with the water too.
Without much thought, Keqing glanced at Aether lying next to her enjoying the breeze.
Two of them alone.
Spending time under a shade of tree.
For some reason, these thoughts in her mind made her face heat up. Certainly, she doesn't deny the fact that she enjoys his company, especially during missions and quests. He always manages to brighten up the mood whenever something bad happens, or dispells the silence when they are bored and in need of a topic to chat. Her worries about her duty as a Yuheng dissipates when she's around him.
She could be herself with him around.
Deep in her hearts, she's hoping he felt the same.
However, she noticed his change of expression. This deep, painful gaze pointing towards the sky, as if he's longing for something.
"I've seen it before," she thought.
It's the exact same look when they were at Bubu Pharmacy. For some reason, seeing him making that expression makes her heart tighten. She sees how he was feeling some sort of loneliness, even though he's not alone.
Truthfully, seeing him like that, it hurt her as well. The same can be said back then.
Suddenly, she had an urge to console him, one way or another. Instinctively, she raised her hands, making way towards his head. Her hand is now on his blonde hair. His hair is a bit rough, but her hand feels very comfortable being inside his hair. He does take care of his hair nicely. She ruffles his hair, starting to get cozy. After feeling it, she seriously don't want to pull her hand away. It's just feels too nice.
Of course, he realized that something is rubbing on his head. He turned his head towards Keqing, her eyes looked soft as if trying to make him happy. Her hands were rubbing his head gently, as if it was fragile.
".."
During this, he unconciously purred at her gesture. Her hand somehow hits the right spot. All of the thoughts he had before had vanished thanks to her.
Keqing, after a few seconds, realized what she had done. Her face burned red like a tomato. She internally cursed at herself for being too careless. Now he's going to think that she's weird, she thought.
"A-are you alright, Keqing?" he's too flustered seeing her look at him like that while patting his head. She reflexively pull her hand away.
"A-Ah! Sorry! I didn't mean that. It's just that.." she paused, fidgeting in embarrasment.
"What?"
"Y-you looked sad."
His eyes widened. Actually, he himself didn't realize that he was making such an expression. His gaze softened, heart tightened knowing that she cared for him.
"Really? Haha, I didn't realize. I'm fine though. Don't worry!" he tried to brighten the mood by smiling at her.
She, however, isn't convinced.
"You were gazing at the sky, as if reminiscing an old memory. A sad one." her voice soft.
He sighed. It wouldn't be a lie to say that what she's saying is true.
"Well, I guess you can say that."
They went silent for a moment. It's no secret that he's on a journey to find his sister, which she knew about since the rite of parting. She couldn't imagine what he had to go through, having to seperate with your family.
"I-if something is bothering you, y-you can share it with me. That is.. if you want to." her voice gets lower, feeling shy about what she said.
Seeing her like that, he felt... warm inside.
"Thank you."
He appreciates it. All of her actions.
"Let's not get too melodramatic, shall we? We should really start training soon. After all, time waits for no one." she said, changing the topic hoping that he would forget whatever is on his mind. He smiled at her suggestion.
"Yeah, agree." he replied.
Suddenly, a rumble can be heard. She knew where it came from. Taking this golden chance, she is going to take revenge.
"Oh? Why if it isn't this cute tummy rumbling quite loudly. Looks like someone's hungry." she smirked.
"Oi, that's non of your concern." he pouted.
She tried to cover her mouth while laughing, trying to at least show some decency. He still looks annoyed.
"To think that you could go from consoling me to teasing me. You're dangerous."
"Come on now. You have to listen to me if you want to fill that tummy of yours." she can't stop smiling playing around like this.
"Damn. Alright then, your majesty." he replied sarcastically.
"That's not too hard, isn't it? Okay, let's start finding ingredients to cook here." she said while standing up. He followed.
"Oh, I did brought some salt and pepper with me in my backpack." he said, opening it and bringing out those two items.
Suddenly, they heard Paimon shouting in the distance.
"Oi, guys! Paimon caught a LOT of fish here. Sorry, Paimon can't help it. They were practically BEGGING for Paimon to eat them!"
"Hmm, fish."
"Something on your mind?"
"Yes. I guess we could use them. I'm going to grill them, season it a little and it should be done. Quite an easy dish to cook, but prepare to be surprised with what I'm about to serve you!" she said, radiating her confidence.
"I see. I'm looking forward to it!" he replied, ready to eat them at any time.
"Did Paimon heard grilled fish? Paimon wants some too!" she replied, surprising both of them on how she could hear what they said on that distance.
They started preparing the utensils and a campfire to start their cook. Whatever comes out, his tummy would certainly be satisfied.
*
"Phew, I think I had too much." he said while picking up 12 used skewers to throw them away.
"Same here. Paimon can't move. But that fish is SO good! So it's worth it." she said, picking up 10 of her used skewers.
"I swear, you guys are the definition of glutton." she said, picking up 2 used skewers.
"Can't help it. The fish is just so well cooked. The crispy skin on the outside, combined with the flavourful inside. It just balances it out." he describes.
"What makes Paimon surprised the most is how well you could control your electro vision to make them. That's some next level culinary skill there!"
Hearing their compliment, she had a massive ego boost.
They cleaned up their leftovers. After a while, he realized that the weather is starting to cool down a little.
"Not too hot, not too cloudy. I think we should start training now."
She nods.
*
"So, where should we start?"
"Simple. Remember our sparring session back then?" he asked.
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Okay. Do you remember the exact electro power needed to create that tornado?"
She thought about it for a second.
"No, not really. I was trying out new stuff with my vision, extracting electro energy without using my sword. It's hard to know exactly the amount I used."
For some reason, she saw his face upset. Maybe a little pout there?
"W-what's with that face?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking that you weren't going all out back then, didn't you?"
Oh.
So that's why.
"W-why are you laughing?" he looked annoyed, watching her giggle.
"No, silly. I was going all out. It's just that my control is a bit shaky, so it's hard to adjust my power. But I can assure you that I put everything I have behind that thunder. Perhaps that's the reason it worked in the first place."
"Well, if you say so."
Then, he created a geo boulder in front of her.
"Huh? What's this for?"
"To calculate the amount of power you use and achieve consistency. I'm going to create multiple boulder with different resistance so that I could narrow down the power needed. Though it's going to take a while, unless we are lucky."
He can control the resistance of the boulder? Is that even possible, she thought. She tested it out, extracting full electro power towards the geo boulder.
Surprisingly, it didn't break.
"Wha- That's fully powered! Are you sure you're the one who's not holding back last time?" it's her turn to get upset.
"Huh? No, using this mid battle to block that quick thunder is risky. I just thought making it would just waste my strength."
"Really." she didn't seem convinced.
"Anyways, we should start the training now."
He proceeded to make two collumns of boulder. Each collumn have 10 boulders.
"Right now, I want you to penetrate the first line of boulders one by one, hit the second boulder in each of their respective lines whilst not breaking it."
"Sounds like a plan. What about you though?"
"In the meantime, I'll practice the same thing with my own power, which shouldn't be difficult."
She nods. Whilst Paimon is lazing around, both of them started their training intensely. Paimon, who is watching from under the tree, could do nothing but wish them good luck in their training.