"If your sister wants you to 'reach the end of your journey'...well then, show her what you're made of! Come on, Traveler, let's go!"

Wait, what? Aether blinks at Paimon in confusion. After all that, they're just ...leaving? They didn't even finish what they came for, the desecrated statue is still right there, weren't they supposed to do something about that? Purify it or drain the power or destroy it somehow? Dainslef probably—

Dainslef is gone, disappeared through that portal just like Lumine; for all Aether knows they could be anywhere.

And Aether is alone.

Numbly, he nods at Paimon in reluctant agreement. Even if he wants to stay, to tear the place apart searching for some clue that can tell him where Lumine has gone, he already knows it's useless. There's nothing for him to find here.

(He doesn't understand what happened. Lumine seemed so distant, as if she didn't even care about seeing him again. Has he lost his sister without even knowing it? If he had understood, had tried harder, used better words, would she have stayed?)

~A~

Aether finds himself back in Liyue Harbor with no memory of the journey back from the ruins. He must have followed Paimon after the fairy had insisted they should leave. Aether wonders briefly if he should be worried about his lack of focus—or rather, his focus on what had happened in the ruins. (He hadn't wanted to leave, this was the closest he's been to Lumine since he woke up alone—but the portal was gone and Dainslef and Lumine with it; he didn't have even a hint of how to find them again. His head was so full of questions and what-ifs he could barely think straight, and the two people who might be able to give him some kind of answers had vanished millimeters from his fingertips. The only thing staying would have done was put Paimon in danger once the Abyss Mages started to return.)

"Traveler!" He blinks as Lan's greeting drags him out of his thoughts. "Did you resolve the situation with the Treasure Hoarders?"

"Ah," that had been what sent them to the ruins in the first place, Aether had almost forgotten. "The Grand Thief failed to steal the artifact, so whatever the Treasure Hoarders were planning with it won't be successful." Aether pauses a moment before adding as an afterthought, "You should warn Adventurers away from that place, even with it nearly empty we almost didn't make it back out."

The Branch Master looks alarmed, "I shouldn't have sent you in there without backup, are you injured? I can help you to Bubu Pharmacy—"

"I'm fine," Aether interrupts, ignoring Lan's disbelieving expression as he continues, "We had to leave because there was some kind of energy surge, but we got away before it could hit us."

Lan frowns at him and it takes Aether a moment to realize she's looking for injuries. She sighs, "Well, if you say so, Traveler." The Branch Master writes something on a scrap of paper and tells him, "Hand that to Katherine when you collect the commission pay. From the sound of things you definitely deserve a hazard fee."

"Thanks," Aether manages to reply as he accepts the paper from Lan, shoving it in his bag without bothering to read it. He can collect the reward later; right now, all he wants is to curl up under a mound of blankets and pretend that Lumine came back with him.

Mechanically, he turns and heads away from the harbor. If he's lucky the little inn off the side of the road will let him stay and ignore everything around him for a few days.

His sister is the leader of the Abyss Order. The Herald called her 'Princess', even. Aether doesn't know what to do anymore—somehow finding Lumine has only made him feel more lost than ever. Hadn't everyone told him that the Abyss Order wants to destroy Teyvat? What 'truth' could Lumine be expecting him to find that could possibly make him understand destroying an entire world? Teyvat is filled with all manner of people, some kind and others cruel, just as in every other world they've traveled through. Aether hates this—hates that finding his sister has only made him more aware of their separation.

(Why did she leave him behind? Does she think he doesn't care about her anymore? Did he say something wrong and make her think that he wouldn't believe her? Lumine is his sister. Does she not think of him as her brother anymore?)

Even if he can find what Lumine is expecting him to, Aether is afraid. For the first time, he's afraid that their separation has changed them so much that he no longer understands his own twin. He doesn't want to think about what might happen if Lumine has really changed so much that she's willing to destroy an entire world. He couldn't just watch it happen, and yet—the idea of being on opposing sides, of truly fighting his sister, his twin, makes him want to cry. He doesn't want to care about the truth of this world, doesn't want their experiences to drive them apart.

Aether just wants his family back.