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Even after all his years traveling in Teyvat and (sometimes) talking to people, Aether still found it incredibly hard to translate what people were saying when he was tired. Like today. He may or may not have already known it was coming and finished up his commissions early before locking himself in the teapot to avoid as many costs (both financially and socially) as possible. Unfortunately for him, Paimon somehow managed to coo him out of his reclusion for something as measly as a new dish she wanted to try at Good Hunter.
“C’monn… I’ll do all the talking, and… we can split the bill! I know you wanna try some too…” She begged, kicking her little feet and swimming through the air to try and pull him off the bed. He let out a quiet hum in disagreement but for some reason she succeeded (maybe he was just too tired to fight back) and soon they were back in Mondstadt. The city of wind and song. And wine, but that’s not a part he’s been allowed to partake in.
As promised, Paimon did all the talking for their order. While she was blabbering to Sara in words he normally could understand, he sat at a table, staring at the plaza fountain’s water flow in a neverending stream, doing his best not to fall asleep right there out in the open.
“Traveler!” Paimon called. The one word he didn’t need to focus to recognize, besides maybe… ‘sister’, ‘Paimon’, ‘help’, or… ‘sorry’. He used that one a lot, so it’s almost natural to him now.
Paimon was doing her best (while also assisted by Sara) to bring over 3 new dishes adding up to about her size. Some kind of creamy soup… a plate of dumplings? And the usual fisherman’s toast, but oddly much larger.
“Hehe, are you ????? of Paimon?” She puffed proudly. He did his best to focus on her words after realizing he wasn’t translating automatically. “I got it off of Sara’s super ????? menu, the Jumbotray! It’s ????? as big for the same price, but you have to have bought it at least ?????? before. Otherwise, these ????? two woulda been wayyy bigger!”
She’s talking too fast, but he can probably guess what she’s saying. She handed him a spoon for the soup thing, which she also pridefully pulled out separate bowls for.
The soup was warm and homey, like soaking in a warm sunset while wrapped in a blanket, peaceful and alone. It was nice. He stirred his spoon around and around the edge of the bowl while waiting for it to cool down a bit, and it was so calming he didn’t even notice that the world began to blur in and out. Plus someone was talking to him.
“Traveler?” He looked up slowly at the sound of his name. Paimon was in the middle of stuffing her face but still looked a bit concerned. “You s????? Maybe ?? ??? go to ???????? and ???? ? nap?” Ah, it’s getting worse. A nap sounds tempting though. Before processing anything, Paimon’s already grabbed his wrist (he only took a sip of that soup!) and is gently guiding him out of the city. Just like…
“Lumine…” he mumbled. They’re in the wild already.
“Not ???? sister!” Paimon shook her head, but her voice was a lot gentler and less shrill. “We’re ?????? there! We-” he couldn’t understand a word after that, but she stopped pulling him when they stopped at Windrise. A faint lyre melody was playing alongside the wind. Not a bad spot…
---
“Eh?! Traveler?” Paimon turned around, hearing the soft crumple onto the grass. She’s seen him collapse plenty of times, though never really because he was tired (in fact, he more often than not couldn’t sleep.) It’s always a vision, or some weird fog. So it was only natural for her to be a little bit worried. Another thing she’s learned is that when her Traveler sleeps, he sleeps. Typically out for hours or days with such little reaction that if you tried waking him you’d think he was dead. But he’s still breathing, even if it’s incredibly faint, because that’s just how he is. Maybe it’s got something to do with him being a star, or something. But that means that if there is an attacker, she’s gotta face em all alone.
“I suppose my lullabies are effective then?” A playful but gentle voice said from the branches.
“Tone-Deaf Bard! You couldn’t hold off until he reached the tree, at least?!” She pouted up at the wind god, who was gracefully floating down to approach them. He seemed to pay no mind to her scolding and bent down to lightly push some loose hair strands out of Aether’s eyes.
“Goes out like a light, doesn’t he?” Venti laughed softly. He sighed and looked around, “It’s true that I don’t want him to be asleep out in the wild and exposed though, and there are still monsters nearby.”
Being sure not to wake him, Venti carefully lifted him onto his back, draping Aether’s arms over his shoulders while his own hooked through Aether’s legs. Paimon didn’t really think he needed to be careful, as half the time Paimon couldn’t wake him up when shaking him. The number of times he barely managed to wake up in time for a fight…
“I thought the legendary Traveler might be heavier,” he joked, slightly adjusting to hoist Aether up higher. The latter seemed to pay no mind to the jostling as his head lay on Venti’s shoulder and his hair hiding his face.
“Are you saying Paimon doesn’t feed him enough?!”
“Oho? He’s not the one feeding you?”
Eugh, Paimon just can’t stand this guy and his smart mouth! If only Aether would wake up and they could teleport away or something…
Paimon’s prayers were very much not answered, as Venti looked like he was enjoying himself as he carried the sleeping star all the way back and through the less crowded parts of the city to avoid drawing attention, even as Paimon openly grumbled, maybe out of slight jealousy. (Why were they even back in the city? They just left!)
“Where are we going anyway?! The Goth Grand Hotel is always fully booked and it’ll look weird if you bring him unconscious to Angel’s Share!” Paimon had no need to avoid being shrill now. No way she was gonna let those drunkards lay a hand on her traveler! Although, Venti wouldn’t either. Eh… isn’t he the worst drunkard there is?!
“Ehe, that’s a secret.” Venti winked at her. This drunk bard is so… infuriating! And he’s not even drunk, at least Paimon thinks so.
He’s gotta be sober in some way because they ever so responsibly end up at the Favonius Headquarters. While there were some murmurs of concern on what happened to the Honorary Knight, Paimon in tandem with Jean assured everyone that he had just fallen asleep in the wild and they didn’t want to leave him with the monsters.
After a few minutes Aether was safely in a spare room on the second floor, although safety might not have been guaranteed while Klee was begging to show Mr Honorary Knight her new bomb recipe. Venti ran off somewhere to join Varka on a drinking spree, who he himself used the excuse that the anemo archon had invited him. So Paimon, all by her lonesome, had to aggressively keep eccentric knights out, like Albedo who asked to try a few new alchemical solutions on him (“It’s such a rare sight to see the Traveler unconscious though… I thought he said he slept for 500 years?” he had said) or a now drunk Varka who was laughing loudly and stomping around (she wasn’t worried it would wake Aether up of course, it was just loud), demanding to check up on his “newest recruit.” Was Aether, who wasn’t even an official knight, really the only one who’s entered the Knights of Favonius in the last few years?
“Nononono! Everyone leave him alone! He doesn’t like socializing when he’s asleep!” She shrieked, swatting away everyone at the door. How can the Traveler even sleep through all of this?!
---
Through the darkness, his hearing felt…blurry… at best. He couldn’t make out who or what anyone was saying. Maybe he could go back to sleep…
He thought he heard Paimon screaming, so he immediately jolted up only to fall off the bed. Bed..? He doesn’t remember being on a bed. It was a nice bed… no, focus. He told himself, Paimon could very well be in danger right outside that door. Doesn’t matter where you are right now. Picking himself up off the floor and steadying himself, he noticed through a mirror across the room that his usual braid was undone. He couldn’t help but stare at his reflection while pressing his loose hair against his neck. When was the last time Lumine braided his hair?
Stop thinking about her. She isn’t here. If you want to go look for her, then open the door and save Paimon first.
Having never been good at doing his own hair, he considered tying it back with the hair tie on the drawer next to the bed he was on only a minute ago. But he disregarded it as he summoned his sword and approached the door.
---
Jean was at least able to drag Klee away, but she couldn’t tell off everyone else with the actual Grand Master working against her. Paimon was grateful that there wouldn’t be an explosion that the Traveler probably still wouldn’t get up for, but everyone else was still here and nagging her.
This has got to be why the Traveler is so antisocial. She whined and kicked in frustration, maybe she accidentally kicked the door which is why there was a thudding sound, but the knights were still insisting regardless of her antics.
Nooo! Why does this have to be so hard… Paimon doesn’t wanna keep doing this! She thought while weaving in the air to block hands from the door. Save Paimon, Traveler-!
She almost didn’t register that the door behind her had flown open from the inside and a hand pulled her away from the entrance into a protective one-armed hug, completely silent and done in an instant, as if by instinct. Her savior’s hair was down and definitely a bit everywhere, with his bangs silently slipping out of place and other strands falling out from behind his ear.
“Oh- Traveler! Paimon’s sorry, did we wake you-?” She started, looking up at his face. His eyes, despite still being a bit unfocused, were filled with this cold, unfeeling intensity locked onto everyone in front of them, trying to assess the situation and his first assumption was guilty until proven innocent, fully pointing a sword an inch away from Cavalry Captain Kaeya’s throat.
“Woah, Traveler, don’t be so jumpy,” Kaeya said smoothly, using his finger to lower the tip of Aether’s sword. “Heh, you’re like a frightened alleycat. Don’t worry, you’re at the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, everyone here was just worried about you.” Everyone nodded (Albedo guiltily hid all of his research equipment behind him.)
Aether looked at the crowd confused, but the squinting of his eyes made Paimon feel like he was just trying to figure out what Kaeya was saying over being confused by the situation. Right! He’s not a native speaker, so he takes time to process things.
Paimon managed to squirm out of Aether’s hold and pull his hand that was holding the weapon back (which as soon as Aether saw her doing, he dematerialized it.)
“It’s okay,” She said slowly, giving accompanying hand gestures. “You just fell asleep. Tone-Deaf Bard helped carry you over here and everyone wanted to check up on you.” Aether let out a light laugh as she tried miming the Tone-Deaf Bard nickname, watching her cover her ears then fake choir-sing. After she had finished, he relaxed, nodded, and tried fixing his hair, pulling back the loose strands.
“Sorry,” he said to the others, as slowly as Paimon had done, though a bit quieter. “Thanks for worrying about me.” All the knights laughed and told him it was fine (“I could’ve taken you if you wanted,” Kaeya smirked) and then took their leave. Paimon let out a sigh of relief and proudly looked on. Defense Quest success!
When Paimon looked back at Aether he was nervously fidgeting with the long parts of his hair. His eyes which had once looked ready to kill looked at her with the innocence and silent pleading of a puppy. She smiled to herself. He’s actually kind of hopeless.
“Okay, Traveler. Let’s go braid your hair.”