"So… you want me to come with you to Liyue to help you find some Noctilucous Jade?" Albedo asks, barely looking up from his clipboard. Aether wasn't exactly sure what Albedo was working on, but the alchemist seemed to be mulling over a concoction that was brewing in a flask over a bunsen burner.
"Uh… yeah!" Aether manages to get out, "I heard that you know a lot of material deposits in the area." He suddenly felt hot; he didn't mean to bother Albedo while he was busy, much less over something so minor. Aether slowly starts inching toward the door, "If you're too busy, I can come back another time–"
Albedo sets down his clipboard. "Nonsense. In any case, I need samples from there and I still haven't paid you back for helping me study Festering Desire."
"F-Festering Desire?... Oh! You mean the sword," Aether awkwardly laughs.
"Of course, what did you think I–" Albedo's ears slightly flush a light shade of pink. He clears his throat, "I see, I misspoke."
"D-Don't worry about it." Aether spins around and heads to the doorway, "Anyway, I'm ready when you are! Just come and find me at the training grounds when you're ready to go."
When Aether closes the door to Albedo's lab. He rests his back against the door and facepalms. Smooth joke, Aether. Smooth joke.
…
Aether doesn't have to spend too long mindlessly swinging his emotions out on the training dummies before Albedo makes his way to the training grounds.
Aether wipes the sweat off his forehead and lets his sword dissipate, "Ready to go?"
The alchemist clutches onto the strap of the satchel strung across his body and nods. "We should first teleport to Mingyun Village, that's where the most jade deposits I've found are."
Aether moves to teleport, but Albedo reaches his hand out to stop him. "Be cautious though, Aether, monsters are located in nearly every part of the abandoned village."
Aether nods and the two of them disappear into energy particles.
They reappear in the middle of a calm field in Liyue. The pathway in front of them is situated neatly between two mountains and it leads further upward toward what Aether can assume to be Mingyun Village.
Albedo points down the dirt pathway up ahead, "There are a few abandoned mines located here. For the most part, all of them have at least a few Noctilucous Jade patches."
"Oh, how often do you come here?" Aether asks, but just when he finishes his question, a flash of red light appears in his peripheral vision. When the flaming arrow meets his blade, it ricochets into a nearby tree, scorching the center of it.
Albedo draws his own sword and glares in the direction of the hilichurl archers that have suddenly appeared. He sighs, "Often enough that these hilichurls aren't my biggest fans."
The two are able to make quick work of the hilichurl camp and slowly inch their way up the path… but the wave of monsters doesn't appear to be stopping.
Aether jumps back from the slain mitachurl in front of him for a bit more space. He groans, "They keep coming from up ahead, do you know any way around them?"
"Yes, this way," Albedo says as he grabs Aether's hand to pull him along. While they're running, Aether looks down at their hands, not even paying attention to where the other is leading him, It's official. I can die happy.
Albedo pulls him out of sight of the hilichurls and into a nearby mine's cave's entrance. He stays near the entrance of the cave, occasionally glancing outside to make sure the coast is clear. Once he's sure that no hilichurls saw them enter, he lets go of Aether's hand. "There's an exit to the back of this cave here, we should be able to avoid any more hilichurls that way."
"That's good to hear," Aether exhales in relief.
"Before that though–" Albedo points his hand toward a blue stone protruding from the wall "–there are actually a few deposits here as well."
Aether's eyes light up and he immediately pounces the stone. He slices it cleanly off the wall with his sword and stares at the stone in his hands with shimmering eyes. "Woah! It's so shiny!" He can't help but say.
Almost on cue, Paimon appears next to him. She hungrily stares at the stone, "Wow! Paimon can almost see Paimon's face in it!" She crosses her arms and huffs, "Remind me again why you're giving any of them to that scam artist?"
Albedo tilts his head in confusion, "Wait, you don't need the jades for yourselves?"
Aether hands the jade to Paimon to pocket. "My dear Paimon, when I say something, I stick to my word." Paimon rolls her eyes before disappearing with the jade into… well, archons know where.
He looks back toward Albedo, "Basically, this lady is asking me to give her three Notciluous Jades in exchange for 'guarding' a box that she happened to pick up. So, I want to present her with a box full of Noctilucous Jade and only hand her three."
Albedo blinks, "And… why do you want to do this?"
Aether faces the wall with his sword drawn and smiles. "Simple, I want to show off and I'll give them away later," he shrugs. "And she pissed me off," he growls underneath his breath.
Although Albedo didn't really see the point in Aether's quest, he continues to lead Aether to every deposit he can recall. By the end of the day, they're sure that they must have cleared the entirety of Mingyun Village for all the jade it's worth.
Aether hums a tune as he gives Paimon the last Noctilucous Jades.
"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now, Aether–" Albedo starts saying.
Aether's ears perk up, "And what's that?"
He points at Paimon, "Where... does she store things?"
Aether feels his expectations completely deflate. He sighs, "Um… we don't know, but if she can hold things, I don't really care to find out."
Albedo eagerly takes out his notebook and writes something down. "Hm… I'll be sure to ask you more about that later," he snaps his notebook shut and gazes up at the sun setting over the mountain tops. "Um… I think it would be best for us to start heading back now," Albedo says, preparing to teleport back to Mondstadt.
"Wait!" Aether calls out without thinking. "Uh… have you ever been to Guyun Stone Forest?"
"A few times… why?"
Aether's gaze falters, "I was just thinking that it would be a nice treat… I also kind of want to thank you for today with some food…"
Albedo's eyes widened, "Oh, Aether, you don't need to do that… this was really nothing."
Aether shakes his head, "No, I insist. Plus, you deserve to have a bit of fun."
"Well," Albedo slightly smiles, "if you're so eager about it, I don't see why I should deny you."
It takes all of Aether's self-control to not fist-pump on the spot. This totally wasn't what he had been looking forward to the entire day, no way. He grins, "Alright, see you there then."
They reappear on one of Guyun Stone Forest's beginning islands. Looking over the horizon, the sun's rays danced across the ocean around them, making the ocean waters almost appear as if there were long lost jewels floating along the waves.
Once they touch the ground, Aether makes a beeline toward a boat near the shore. He pushes against the boat to dislodge it from the sand. "There's a lot of monsters on the islands here, so it's better if we travel by boat." He grunts and gives the boat one last push, finally setting it free into the water.
"If you don't mind me asking, Aether, where are we going?"
"Oh, right, sorry," Aether smacks his hands together to clear off the sand. He points to the east toward a giant archway, "Over there is probably the best view, not to mention underneath it there's a perfect place to put a portable stove."
Albedo hums in agreement as the two of them hop into the boat. They sit at opposite ends of the boat to balance it and they each take an oar in hand. Aether is the first one to start rowing and Albedo clumsily follows his stead.
The scenario was more than perfect… So why was it so painfully awkward? One of the things that Aether could appreciate about Albedo was he usually had nothing more than a calm expression on his face… but that was also one of Albedo's biggest faults. Aether begins mildly panicking when he looks back at Albedo and is unable to discern whether the other blond is enjoying himself.
They soundlessly land on the other shore. Aether is the first to step out of the boat and he offers his hand to Albedo, which the other politely accepts. When they arrive, Aether is quick to set up his cooking supplies and get to work.
By the time he's done cooking, the sun has long since set and the only light illuminating them is the fire from the pot and the occasional firefly that happens to pass by.
Aether hands Albedo his serving of Albedo's favorite fish before grabbing his own serving and stuffing himself.
He slowly picks up his fork to cut into the fish."Um… Aether, I don't mean to sound rude, because I'm grateful for this, but you really didn't need to do all of this just to thank me."
The hand Aether is using to wipe the sword steadily picks up the pace, "Uh, it's normal from my world to pay things back tenfold."
"Hm… I see," Albedo muses before happily taking a bite.
A few moments of silence pass with nothing more than the occasional clinks from Albedo and Aether's plates.
Albedo suddenly stops, "Aether, I've been wondering, why do you always keep that sword with you. I rarely, if ever, have seen you without it ever since you met me."
Aether slowly pulls his plate down from his face to think. Nearly everyone he's come across who has seen Festering Desire remarks about how… unnerving it looked. At the tip of the blade sits a jewel that looks uncannily like a dragon's eye and the entire blade seems to emit an eerie aura. Aether doesn't mind its appearance, but several people have pointed out how it almost seems like the sword is watching everything happen around it.
"Hm…I always treasure swords that have been gifted to me above all my other ones." He looks up at Albedo with a mischievous smile, "Plus, I grew fond of it after seeing it in so many of your drawings."
Albedo loudly coughs, nearly choking on his food. "I see you really enjoy being the subject of my mind and drawings."
"So what if I do?" Aether teases back. Albedo doesn't respond and chooses to just quietly finish his plate.
When both of them are finished, Aether sighs, "Looks like it's time for us to start heading back."
Albedo glances at the floor, "I've always wondered what lies within the ruins here. Every time I've come here, it was just for a quick mineral run."
Aether leans forward props his head on his arms on the stone in front of him. "If you want, I could show you around the place more," he smirks.
The moon illuminates Albedo's amused face as he raises an eyebrow, "Well… I don't see the harm in it."