...
Lisa looked at us, and looked back at the door,
"Come in."
"Thank you."
The door opened to...
"...Um..."
Amber blinked in confusion.
Aether's face was almost fully covered with bouquets upon bouquets of flowers, and he looked like he could barely see through.
"Are you really Aether?" I asked jokingly.
"H-Hey! I have to carry these on my own!"
"Oh my. I wonder why you have so many flowers..." Lisa fiddled with a rose in a vase on the table beside her.
"You said you wanted to see (Y/N), right...?" Amber side-eyed me.
"...Why?" I asked.
"Well," Aether cleared his throat,
"Let's go to Starsnatch Cliff together."
...
"N-No...I didn't agree to this..."
This cliff still gives me trauma from the time I nearly died.
"You're coming either way. I promise I won't let you fall."
"You sure??" I reluctantly followed him up the cliff.
"...I'm sure."
You don't sound very sure to me.
"Why this all of a sudden, anyway?" I asked, watching the ground as I trekked upwards.
"Why can't I?" He looked back.
"Because...You used up your own money to buy a load of flowers?" I gestured at the bouquets he still carried tightly in his arms, "No normal person will suddenly just feel like doing that, I don't think. Unless it's a Teyvat thing."
"Remember, I'm not from Teyvat either." We approached closer to the peak, where the Cecilia grew.
"Then wherever you're from...I guess it's the norm there..." I pursed my lips.
"Nope, you're wrong again."
"...You're just insane. And also have a lot of Mora to waste."
"Ahahah. . ." Aether gave a low laugh, "I wonder..."
The rest of the trip up was very silent, all that could be heard were the hilichurl camps we ignored, and the strong wind.
I wonder what he's gonna do. What's with all the flowers...
I pondered and pondered, until-
"We're here!"
"Ah-"
I accidentally bumped into Aether back.
"...Spacing out, are you?" He turned his head back.
"Sorry..."
"The peak of Starsnatch Cliff. What people usually do here, besides accidentally falling off the edge," He eyed me, "Is, well, to pick Cecilia, or spend time with someone else."
"So...what you're saying is..." I pointed to myself, "You wanna spend time with me?"
He gave me a bored gaze, "Have you finally woken up from your head in the clouds?" He knocked lightly on my forehead.
"Ow- Sorry, mom."
"..." He sighed, "Anyway, sit down."
He kneeled down on the grass and laid all of the flowers on the ground.
"What are we doing with these flowers? Flower sorting...?" I sat down too.
"No, take another guess." He took something out of his pocket.
"Planting flowers?"
Aether shook his head, "Wrong again. Look."
He showed me a bundle of emerald coloured strings, "We're making flower crowns." He smiled.
"...!"
I felt a little blush creeping up my cheeks.
"Do you know how to make them?" He asked, putting the green strings down.
"No, not really. I imagine it's something similar to making a bracelet with beads?" I asked.
"Well," He took a string from the bundle and took a Calla Lily from the bouquets, "You tie the string's ends together, so it becomes a loop."
Aether's becoming the tutorial man!
"And then you just coil the flower stems around the string, and tie it together."
I watched intently as I hugged my knees.
"And you just do it with a bunch of other flowers!" Aether nodded to himself, "Which is your favourite flower? I'm making this one for you."
"Uh..." I looked at the variety of flowers laid neatly on a row.
"If I'm honest," I chuckled a little, "I really don't have a particular favourite. Why don't you see what you think suits me?"
"Well, a Small Lamp Grass." Aether held up the blue plant.
"Why's that?"
"It glows softly in the dark, but it's sadly overshadowed by the brighter sunlight during the day. It reminds me a little bit of you, for some reason."
"..."
Wonder what that says about me.
"And it's pretty, too. The aesthetic is very nice."
"Then," I took a green string from the bundle, "What's your favourite flower?"
"Oh? Well..." He stared at the ground for a moment.
"There is one flower. However, it's not in this pile of bouquets." He sighed, "I don't think we can even find those flowers in Teyvat."
"...Hm..." My mind wandered.
That must be the flower Lumine wears, isn't it?
"But if I had to choose from only these specific flowers..." He rubbed his chin, "I think I would choose. . ."
He looked very carefully at the flowers.
"The Windwheel Aster."
"Oh?" I picked one up, "I wonder why?"
"I just really like the way it spins in the wind, like a windmill. It's such a special flower."
It smelt really fresh, too. Unlike the other flowers. It carries the signature scent of Mondstadt.
"Ahah, I like that too. I wonder if it spins fast enough, will it just look like one circle? Since it's so fast and it gets all blurry..." I trailed off, tying the flower onto the string.
". . ."
And we stayed quiet as we worked on our flower crowns slowly and carefully.
Until my eyes started to feel a tiny bit heavy.
...I literally just woke up a few hours ago. What's happening?
"...I'm feeling...a little bit tired, strangely." I told Aether.
"Ah. Could it be the air pressure from his height making you drowsy?" But Aether looked wide awake.
"Are we really that high?"
"It's the highest peak in Mondstadt, besides the peak of Dragonspine over there," He pointed to the snowy mountain off in the far distance.
"No way that this is the one making me drowsy."
And I don't want to sleep yet. I'm about halfway through my flower crown!
"If you want to take a rest, you can. We can finish the rest back in the HQ."
I furrowed my eyebrows, as I laid myself down on the fresh grass...
And blacked out.
...
"Ah."
Aether looked at the sleeping figure of mine.
"...Maybe, I should have said that you reminded me of...An idiot, no offense." He scoffed.
"How gullible of you to smell the Windwheel Aster."
He stood up, and walked over to me, gently picking me up and carrying me in his arms.
"We didn't have time to say goodbye..."
He stood near the edge of the cliff, looking downwards. Almost as if he was checking to see if it was tall enough for one to die from falling...?
"...So let's not call it that." He laughed, turning around,
And lightly pushing himself off the cliff,
falling.
"...Let's be together in the afterlife."
He held me tightly in his embrace, as we fell to our deaths and I die in my sleep.....!!!
.
"(Y/N)? Hello?"
Someone waved their hand in front of me.
"I- H-Huh?"
I blinked my eyes, looking around.
I'm...
I'm still sitting on the grass of Starsnatch Cliff, with an unfinished flower crown in my hands.
Most importantly, I saw Aether still sitting in his place, in front of me.
"What?"
I asked.
"You were...spacing out. Is something wrong?" Aether asked, looking at me concerned.
"I...Yeah...I must have spaced out."
"You must have been imagining something very intense. What was it, if you don't mind telling me?" He asked.
Everything seemed normal.
Did I really just imagine all of that?
"...Nevermind about what I saw." I sighed, slapping my face.
"Ah. Maybe it's the air pressure from this height making you drowsy?"
He said the same line.
"It could happen sometimes. It happened to me once before, too! I imagined a huge bee chasing me and my sister, and then she had to slap me awake from my hallucinations. My face still stings a little when I think about that..." Aether rubbed his cheek a little.
"Oh! And also, when you were busy spacing out," He stood up, startling me a bit.
"I finished your flower crown!"
"..."
He carefully placed it on my head.
"There." He sat back down.
"...How does it look?" I asked.
"Well," I could see the faint punk dusted on his cheeks, "You look really cute."
I smiled, "I'll quickly finish mine so you can wear it too."
"Then in the meantime, I'll make you second one...! This one should suit your outfit."
I stopped when I heard that word.
Out...fit.
"Um...(Y/N)? Are you spacing out again?"
He was about to wave his hand in front of me again, until I asked a question.
"Aether. Did you...change my clothes?"
I looked at him dead in the eyes.
"...Repeat that? The wind is a bit loud."
It sounded embarrassing for me to say it twice, but...!
"I-I said...Did you change my clothes?"
I spoke louder.
He blinked, looking almost shocked.
"...Well?" I stared at him with an expectant expression.
He sighed, "Maybe the air pressure really is getting to you, somehow."
"...?"
He flicked my forehead, and pointed at the NPC dress I wore.
"Weren't you wearing the exact same outfit ever since we met?"
...
"Home is wherever we are together."
...
Chapter 2: The Broken Boys.
To Be Continued...
...