"Beginner's luck? Or do we have very good synergy?" he asked, surprised that they nailed it first try.
The tornado went towards the cliff, wrecking havoc on the lake. It went non stop until at one point it hit the cliff behind. As it hit, the impact made a big dent on the shape of the cliff, though not completely destroying it. As a result, dirt were scattered around the area, but thankfully didn't reach the water source.
"It's surprisingly sturdy, eh?"
"Or it could just be our power not strong enough."
After a few seconds, the dust had settled. They attempted to do it again.
"Gust surge!"
"Hah!"
But this time, the electro power didn't amplify the tornado. Instead, the tornado consumed the electro power which made it turned purple, weaker and slightly smaller than the one before. It didn't even manage to go across the lake.
"So it's just beginner's luck?"
"Again!" he wasn't satisfied with the result.
Both of them tried again, yet the result is the same.
"Seems like we really do need to train mor- Aether!?"
Suddenly, he collapsed. His feet didn't have the strength to keep him standing. His breath is also a bit ragged.
"S-sorry. It seems like it drains my energy more than I anticipated."
He tried to stand up, struggling to do so. He succeed, though she could see his legs shaking.
"Hey. Don't force yourself to stand. Take a rest." she said as she supported his body by hugging his body with her right hand, while putting his left hand across her left shoulder to prevent him from falling.
"Thanks a lot. Sorry about this." he said, a bit dissapointed.
"Don't fret. I knew that you had to exert more energy to produce that attack compared to mine anyway."
She lead the way to their camp where Paimon could be seen taking an afternoon nap. 'Lazy kid', he thought to himself trying not to giggle. It can't be helped though, since she's helped them hunt some food for their lunch everyday.
When they are walking, he saw Keqing breathe deeper than usual. Her face is also bright red. Is she okay, he thought.
Oh. He realized something.
"S-Sorry! I'm sweating too much. I smell, don't I?"
"A- No! It's okay. I don't.. mind it too much." she said, her voice a bit lower as she avert her gaze.
"If you're uncomfortable, please say so. I can walk fine by mys-"
"No! You need to rest. I told you I don't... mind the smell."
'What on Teyvat is she saying', she thought. She internally cursed herself for admitting such things. Though, if she were to be honest, it's not that she doesn't mind his scent. Yeah, maybe she _does_ find his smell quite pleasant for her nose.
Wait, scrap that. She likes his smell. She's trying hard to be as subtle as possible while drowning her nose with his scent.
Truthfully, this is the first time she's 'this' close to him ever since they travelled here. Before this, she didn't seem to have a chance to get as close to him as right now. _Not that she wanted to or anything_.
Even if that's the case, she found her mouth wide opened, didn't expect the shape and size of his physique. Just by touching him, she can imagine how toned his muscles seems to be. His arms, especially his biceps, are quite stiff and pretty muscular which made her neck slightly uncomfortable as she is supporting him. Though, it's not a bad thing since she could take more of his scent this wa-
'No, no! Stop thinking about it! He needs my help. I need to focus!"
After thinking that, she continue to walk towards their camp while enjoying the beautiful 'scenery' around her.
Yeah, she's still enjoying his scent.
*
"How are we supposed to proceed now?"
she asked.
He was deep in thought. Ideally, they were planning to do the same training repeatedly so they could adapt their power with each other.
The problem is that his skill, Gust Surge, consumes too much of his energy. This makes it impossible for him to unleash his power repetitively. Thankfully, there won't be any problem on Keqing's side as extracting the electro power from her vision would be ten times easier than his, not to mention that she won't need to struggle standing everytime she uses it.
"I don't know."
Actually, he did thought of a few scenario.
For instance, one way is for him to raise his limits and go full on berserk while training his skill a lot of times. This may help boost his power, but most importantly, making it become 'normal' for him to unleash the power. With this, he could reduce the side effects which would make it easier for him to start training with her.
However, the problem is that this isn't guaranteed to work given that they are running out of time. Usually this type of training requires a few weeks, or possibly, months. It's known that Beidou would return in a few more days, which honestly sucks. Also, there's a higher chance that he might injure himself. In the middle of nowhere, it certainly would be a drag. Keqing would have a hard time carrying him back to Liyue if by any chance he sustained a serious injury.
_She wouldn't have a hard time enjoying his 'company' though_, not that he knew about it or anything.
Another solution that he thought prior to this conversation is for them to stay in the safe zone, limit the amount of their training so that he won't struggle like right now. He immediately scraps that idea since it's way too hard to perfect their combo, which is evident from their attempt just now.
'Sigh, if only Diluc or Grandmaster Jean was here. Maybe they would be able to help, given their experience.'
"I can't think of a solution. How about you?"
She stayed silent for a few seconds.
"If you were to ask me, I wouldn't know how to start unless I know the extent of the energy that you can exert each time. Of course, saying this is far easier than doing it."
She stirred the tea that she made for him. It's quite warm and soothing for his nerve and heart which should help him recover quickly. She gave the cup to him, which he graciously accept. As he took a sip, she continued;
"As you already said, we need to start small. We can't rush things since it's bound to fail. Even so, is it even possible to finish the training on time? Putting a limit on our training seems too inefective. We need to get lucky to even finish the training successfully under a week."
"True. We wouldn't want to postpone this any longer. Plus, I'd rather not rely on luck since it's too risky."
She nodded. Another cup can be seen in her grip, which he assumed, is for herself. Judging from the colour and the aroma, it's the same tea as his.
"Our goal is to make sure either the training method is easy to learn and effective enough so that we can finish in time, or reduce the energy that you needed so more of the tornado could be produced."
He nodded. Seems like she finished preparing her tea as she stirred it carefully. She took a sip, but didn't realize that the tea was quite hot. _Too hot_, in fact. With a tiny "yelp", she accidentally spilled a few drops of her drink.
"Oops! Pardon me!"
Thankfully nothing major happened.
He was still deep in thought, can't decide what to do.
_Start small._
_Work your way up._
He looked towards the ground.
'Droplets of tea.'
'A cup of tea.'
_Small._
_Big._
"That's it!"
She jumped at his sudden outburst, which _almost_ made her drop her cup.
"A-Aether! Don't scare me like that!" She was genuinely startled by him that it made her a bit angry. Aether, however, doesn't seem to pay any mind to it. His eyes looked like a sudden realization came upon him. Something big.
"Keqing. I think I know what to do after this. Let's start no-"
As he's about to stand up, his legs betrayed him as he almost stumbled to the ground. With her lightning reflex, she managed to hold him.
"Woah, easy there. Didn't I told you to take a rest?"
Her eyes are frowning in disbelief over how careless he could be sometimes.
"S-sorry, hehe. But I really do think there's a way to manage this."
"Nope. Not right now. You need to sit down."
He obliged reluctantly.
"B-but could you at least hear me out for tonight? I promise you won't regret what I'd be able to offer this night."
She thought about it for a second.
They _do_ need to overcome this problem one way or another, though she's still very worried about his condition. However, she really needs to take note of his condition before attempting something crazy in the future.
"Sigh, fine. I'll allow it tonight. BUT, as of right now, you need to sleep or rest however you want as long as you won't tire yourself out like just now. Or else,"
'Or else?' he smirked, provoking her.
Suddenly, he saw bolts of lightning summoned behind her.
'Oh god, she's serious.'
"Okay, okay! Fine, I'll rest. Geez, you're such a worrywart."
After hearing that, the lightning dissipates, as if she didn't threaten his life previously.
"Hmmph! You're the same since you did the same thing with me," she said with a little pout.
"Well, that just means that we both are worrywarts for each other. Two peas in a pod."
Hearing that remark, she couldn't help but laugh at the odd comparison. He follows her.
After they(mostly her) cleaned up their stuff, she stretched her arms and yawning, feeling sleepy. She turned towards the tent and witnessed the cutest thing she had ever seen.
His arms wrapped around Paimon, who is surprisingly still asleep, making her as his pillow. She took her chance and fully ingrains the image in her mind before she doze off next to them.
*
_fshhhh~_
_fshhhh~_
"Ngh.." she's trying to not get distracted by the wind and continue sleeping by grabbing her pillow and put it on both her ears.
Thankfully, the wind stopped after a few seconds.
Strange.
She tried to sleep now, but since she's already slept for a long time, she can't anymore. She just laid there for a few minutes, feeling lazy and unproductive. She realized Aether and Keqing isn't in the tent anymore.
"Szzz~"
Now it sounds like something is sizzling. Are they cooking something?
"*Sniff*"
And if they do, it certainly smells delicious!
She stood up from the sleeping bag and float towards the outside.
The sun looked like it was about to set. Seems like she slept for far too long for some reason, not like she's tired or anything.
She stretched her limbs for a bit, breathing in some fresh air after staying inside the tent for hours. Watching the birds flying freely while chirping and trees swaying from the wind really freshens up her body.
She sees them sitting towards one another, Aether seems to be doing the cooking while she helps him with some other stuff.
They turned their head towards her and they waved, acknowledging her presence. She waved back and flew towards them.
"Smells good! What's today's menu?"
"I made a few steaks since there were a few boars around here. Not to mention that some got caught in our training."
Uh oh. She realized that she was the one supposed to do the hunting.
"Eek! Sorry! Paimon should've been the one who brings the food."
"Don't worry. It's not too much of an inconvenience for us."
Paimon did a 'tee hee' pose, kind of a way to hide her guilt.
"Mmh! Smells good!"
"It's almost done anyway. Wanna try?"
After a few seconds, he put one of the steaks on a plate for her to try. She took the knife and fork.
As she cut a part of the steak, her eyes gleamed over how easy it is for the knife to go through it.
"Everytime Paimon cuts a steak that you make, it's so satisfying! And it looks like this steak is medium-rare, Paimon's favourite!"
He took the other steaks for him and Keqing to eat and place it on each of their plate.
Paimon took a bite.
"So juicy!" she said, savouring the flavour in her mouth.
"Another success." he smiled.
"I have to admit, this might be as good as the ones in Xinyue Kiosk, which speaks volume considering that the place serves one of the highest quality foods out there."
"Seems like an exaggeration to me," he replied, didn't think the same but appreciated the compliment regardless.
As they eat the juicy and tasty steak made by him, Paimon broke the silence.
"That reminds me, you mentioned that you guys have started the second phase of your training. How'd you guys manage that?"
"Oh, we ran into a few problems, but it all worked out in the end." Keqing said as she took another bite.
"Really? Paimon heard that Aether had trouble managing his energy and power. How'd it go?"
"Oh, that. I don't know how, but your trusty companion here always managed to solve anything regarding our training. *Sigh*, I feel like I'm not helpful enough."
"That's not true! Your presence here is enough help as is." he said, finishing up everything on his plate.
"Really," Keqing looked at him eyes narrowed, making sure that he wasn't teasing or making fun of her.
"Anyways, he had problems on energy management since doing so for too many times would result in excessive fatigue on his body," she followed him, finishing the last bite of her steak.
After she finish chewing, she continued.
"However, being the smart guy he is, he found out that using 'palm vortex' would give sufficient power while also saving his energy, which also means that our final result would improve."
"Ah, now Paimon sees. As expected of my living wal-, err, hero!"
'You were about to say wallet there,' he thought while narrowing his eyes on her.
"I have to say though, just because we may have solved our problems, it doesn't mean that we will manage to finish it on time."
She nodded. It's obvious that they have to focus on obtaining consistency with the best of their ability. Though, it's easier said than done.
It's almost been a week now and they're only halfway through their training plan. They do feel uneasy since the time might not be enough for them to fully master it, but all they could do is to train to their fullest while they still have their chance.
After they finished eating, she offered to do the chores for tonight. All the cleaning and organizing were done quickly.
They stayed up later than usual that night since they had slept a lot earlier. They were quite well rested already, so they're pretty bored inside the tent.
In other words, chatting time!
*
*Flap flap*
"Huh?" she looked up.
She recognized the pigeon. It seems like it's holding a piece of paper.
"What's wrong?" he looked at her letting the pigeon rest on her arm and took the paper. She let it flew afterwards.
She read the content silently. After a few seconds, she smiled.
"Our deadline is in five days."
"Ningguang said that?"
"Yes. Seems like Beidou had recently arrived.
And she wants us to return before that date."