Almost at the same time, Albedo and Aether collapse into the chairs outside of the Emerald Maple Inn. Albedo's arms still ached from helping Aether row a boat all around Guyun Stone Forest last night. He should really build up more upper arm strength…

Aether raised his arms above his head to stretch before resting his head on the table. "I don't think either of us are in the mood to cook, don't worry though, Mr. Zhu's stuff is pretty good."

Albedo awkwardly places his hands onto the table, trying his best to not accidentally brush them against Aether's hair. He looks around for any signs of life in the inn. Soon enough though, a brunet man with a mustache comes bursting out of the front door of the inn, startling both Albedo and Aether.

"Ah! Hello esteemed guests! Welcome to the Emerald Maple Inn, is there anything I can get you on this fine afternoon?" His eyes drift from the startled Albedo to the mess of golden hair laying on the table. The man beams, "Aether! It's nice to see you again."

Aether finally lifts his head and gives a small wave, "Yo, Mr. Zhu."

Mr. Zhu claps his hands together. "Hello, hello. Now, what would the two of you like? We have pop's teas, stir-fried fillet, and mora meat."

" I'll have a pop's tea and a stir-fried fillet," Albedo and Aether accidentally reply at the same time.

Albedo turns away shyly, "Sorry."

"N-No! You're okay, " Aether waves his hands and laughs. He turns to face Mr. Zhu again, "Then I'll guess we'll have two fillets and teas."

Mr. Zhu quickly writes down their order. "Alright," he snaps his small notebook shut, "And if you two are interested, we have rooms for-"

Before Mr. Zhu can finish his sentence, Aether stands up and ushers him back inside. "Yeah, yeah! Whatever you say, Mr. Zhu! We'll think about it, thanks!"

When Aether sits back down, Albedo is as red in the face as he is. Aether rubs the back of his neck, "S-Sorry about that, he can get a bit… much, trying to advertise his inn rooms."

"It's alright," Albedo reassures him.

. . .

After about 10 minutes, their food is finally brought out. Although Albedo didn't care much for spicy food or meat, he wasn't one to complain. For the most part, the two of them enjoy their meal without any further problems… but Albedo couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

He had a great time exploring Guyun Stone Forest with Aether, but he didn't really want to believe that their time together was already coming to a close. For once, he wasn't nearly as happy as he usually was to return to his laboratory back in Mondstadt. Well, at least he could look forward to the journey back to–

"Aether!" A voice shouts from behind Albedo. He barely manages to not choke on his food in surprise, what is with the people of Liyue and suddenly announcing their presence? Before Albedo can even turn around to see who the voice belonged to, a person walks upright to Aether and swings their arm around his neck, pulling him into an aggressive side hug.

"Ugh! Childe, I'm trying to eat here!" Aether manages to get out.

The ginger lets go and laughs, "It's great to see you again comrade."

Aether glares, "What do you want?"

"Can't a friend come by and say 'hello'?"

Aether rolls his eyes and wipes imaginary filth off his shoulder. "No, it's just you only call me your 'friend' when you need something from me."

"Well, you caught me there." Childe then clasps his hands into a prayer motion and pleads, "I seriously need your help though."

"Oh? Is something too powerful for the great Eleventh Harbinger?" Aether smirks. "Who, mind you, already got his ass kicked this week?"

Childe's expression darkens as he forcibly ruffles Aether's hair. "Oh ho ho, itching for another fight now are we?" he says through gritted teeth.

Aether steps on Childe's foot. He grinds his weight down into it but gets no reaction out of the Fatui. He's about to open his mouth to say another insult when Albedo softly coughs, reminding the two that someone else was there.

Childe steps back from Aether, "Oh, how rude of me, the name's Childe. You're Mondstadt's famed chief alchemist, aren't you?"

"Yes, my name's Albedo"– he eyes Childe suspiciously–"it's a pleasure to meet you." Since when was Aether close with a Fatui? He had no personal qualms with the Fatui, but he's heard enough stories about them from the other Knights of Favonius to not have an especially favorable opinion towards them. No, there was no way Aether wouldn't have a good reason for hanging around someone like this.

"The pleasure is all mine." Childe playfully winks, which sends an uncomfortable shiver up Albedo's spine. "Anyway, back to business

"As someone mentioned before," he scowls at Aether before replacing it with his usual forced smile, "I'm unfortunately a bit weak from an earlier fight. What's a bit troubling is that it hasn't left me in the best situation considering my superiors have asked me to clear a Fatui training camp full of a bunch of no-good monsters.

"So, I'm asking for your help, comrade," he finally asks, and for the first time since Albedo has known him, his request sounds somewhat sincere.

Aether is still clearly not impressed. "You are asking me to help you complete a task assigned to you? Are you okay, Childe? You're not acting like yourself."

The Harbinger sighs, "I like the good thrill of a fight, but I'm not a complete madman."

Aether raises an eyebrow, "What's in it for me?"

"I'll pay you handsomely."

"Deal."

…

The three boys poke their heads over a group of bushes in front of the field they'd been led to by Childe. The Harbinger really wasn't exaggerating when he said that it had been completely overrun by monsters. At every corner of the field, there seemed to be a hilichurl tower guarding it, not to mention that a few ginormous Stonehide Lawachurls were wandering the fields as well. Albedo has seen his fair share of large hilichurl camps, but never ones of this magnitude.

When Albedo turned his head to see how the other two were taking the sight in, he began to wonder just what he had gotten himself into. Both of their eyes were sparkling at the idea of battle, Just how similar are they?

"Alright, so we'll split this camp up into thirds," Childe says in a hushed tone. "I'll take the left side and you two can decide who gets the middle and the right. Wait for my signal and we can jump these hilichurls all at once."

"Hey, who said you could give orders?" Aether whispers, but by the time the words have left his mouth, Childe has already moved to the left side of the camp.

"I guess I will take the center then, "Albedo mutters. He gets up to start making his way toward the right side of the camp when he feels Aether grab his wrist.

"Wait– I know I should have asked you this before, but are you sure you're okay with this? You don't have to–"

"I want to do this," Albedo interrupts as he pulls his hand out of Aether's grip. "Thank you for worrying, but I'll be fine."

"Alright… if you say so."

Aether and Albedo get into their positions and carefully watch Childe. After a few moments, Childe fires a hydro shot into the head of one of the hilichurls on the watchtowers, signaling for both Aether and Albedo to pounce. The three plow through their lanes, with Albedo and Aether being sure to occasionally back each other up with their similar geo abilities.

By the end of the massacre, all three of them are panting. There was just one enemy left, one of the Stonehide Lawachurls. The geo creature screams, setting up its geo shield.

"Come into being!" Albedo yells and slams his hand onto the floor. He sends off a shockwave of geo-energy, causing the creature to stagger back with a cry. He then sets up a solar isotoma, allowing Childe and Aether to charge toward the creature. Each time their swords strike the beast, flowers of geo-energy bloom off of it, making their strikes even more powerful than the last.

"Haha! Not bad for a scientist!" Childe shouts, barely being able to hold back a swing of the lawachurl with his water dagger.

Albedo gives him a puzzled look, What's that supposed to mean?

"Now it's my turn!" Childe says. He whips around and sends a giant blade of water hurtling through the creature. It strikes the creature in the center of the chest, finally bringing the lawachurl to its knees.

"I'll go make sure there aren't any strays around," Aether says before running off.

When Aether is out of sight, Childe lets out a content sigh, "Well, that was fun."

Albedo hums in agreement, not really paying attention.

Childe flips his bow across his arm and behind his back, letting it disperse into energy particles. "It's quite a shame though, I thought there'd be more challenging enemies, I needed something to test my skills."

"Then why did you need our help?" Albedo flatly asks.

"Oh, I didn't, I just wanted to see why Aether spoke so highly of you."

Albedo's heart thumps in his chest, "...What?"

"What's with that look on your face?" Childe chuckles, "No need to be embarrassed about it."

Albedo hardens his expression, "I'm not." Normally, Albedo hated talking with people and Childe was no exception. He glances around for any sign of Aether, but there's no trace of him. Just his luck.

"Are you interested in sparring with me while we wait? I won't be able to show off all of my power, but I can give you an appetizer."

Albedo shrugs, "Not particularly."

"Oh," Childe pauses for a moment, "but I know you're curious why Aether and I often fight each other."

"..." Albedo stares at him, dumbfounded. The utter audacity–"It's… It's none of my business who he chooses to fight with," he coldly replies.

"You're right, but I know very few have seen him go all out. Wouldn't I be a good measure of how powerful he is?"

How… powerful he is? That's right. Albedo has seen him fight plenty of times before, but Aether was once a being capable of traveling across worlds. Not only that but Aether and Childe seemed to share a lot more in common than Albedo would like to admit. Suddenly, his research notes about Aether felt… small. Just how much did Albedo truly know about Aether?

Well, there was one thing he knew for certain.

"Don't compare yourself to him, Fatui."

When Aether comes running out of the forest. His hands are on his knees and he's out of breath. "Sorry guys, I almost got lost again," he says in-between huffs. When he looks up, he can see the tension brewing between Albedo and Childe as they stare daggers at each other. "Uh, did I miss something?"

The tension leaves Albedo's face for a minute when he sees Aether. "Ah, Aether, could you hold onto my sketchbook?" His sword appears in his hands as he faces Childe, "It would be a shame for it to get wet."

…

Childe and Albedo stand on opposite sides of the field. Leaning against a nearby tree stands a very concerned Aether.

The two stare at each other, wondering who will make the first move. Childe is the first one to grow impatient and rushes toward Albedo. From his bow, he manifests his hydro daggers. The water from them trails behind him as he sprints closer and closer toward Albedo.

Albedo patiently lets Childe close in on him. When he comes within striking distance, Albedo creates a solar isotoma in front of them.

Childe raises his daggers to strike, "Hah! You shouldn't have let me get so–"

Albedo jumps onto the center of the solar isotoma. The platform raises him above Childe, who has accidentally released his burst underneath the floating platform, completely missing Albedo.

Albedo jumps off the platform and drives the end of his sword into the Harbinger's back. "Close?" He smirks, finishing the other's sentence. Seeing the opportunity, Albedo tries to go in for another strike, but Childe swings his leg behind him. He sweeps Albedo's feet out from under him, sending him crashing onto the floor.

Childe whips around in a torrent to strike him. Luckily, Albedo manages to roll himself out of the way just in time for the daggers to slam into the ground next to him. Before Childe can redirect his daggers to Albedo's new location, Albedo concentrates on the area under Childe and places a new solar isotoma directly underneath him. The flower sends a burst of geo-energy through Childe, causing him to stagger.

Kicking his legs out, Albedo hops to his feet. He spins around and sends his sword hilt directly into Childe's ribs, finally sending the Harbinger to his knees.

Albedo slowly catches his breath. He had to admit, he was a bit rusty when it came to fighting, so this was a pleasant surprise.

He lets his sword dissipate and he scans the tree line for Aether. When he doesn't spot him, Albedo worries for a split second that Aether had somehow managed to get himself lost again.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees a blur of gold rush him from the side and pull him into a hug. While it's a brisk and light hug, Albedo still can't help but feel like the wind has been knocked out of him. The feeling isn't helped by Aether's hands, which just so happen to be resting on Albedo's forearms.

When Aether goes to look him in the eyes, Aether's eyes are sparkling with pride. "You were amazing! Seriously, you were so cool!"

For the first time in his entire life, Albedo let's out a sound akin to a balloon deflating. He immediately turns away from Aether's grip to face the tree line. "It was nothing, Aether," he says, trying his best to sound as calm as possible.

Aether laughs, "Sure, whatever you say."

The two then hear a groan in the grass next to them. Childe weakly coughs, "This is sweet and all, but I think you broke two of my ribs."

"Oh, what a shame," Albedo says under his breath, slightly wishing that he had broken more.