Aether dreamed of his sister, Lumine. What showed in that dream was the memory of her sister being taken away by the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, the Unknown God, whose name is not known. He felt powerless being unable to do anything and being forced to relive that memory.
Aether woke up shortly after, with a tear on his face. Aether felt sad because it just dawned on him that his sister is really a threat to Teyvat, and now possibly his enemy.
Paimon woke up after Aether and noticed that Aether started crying. Paimon hugged Aether in an attempt to comfort him and Aether returned the gesture. Paimon sees Aether as some sort of big brother as she was fished out the first time they met. She could've drowned if Aether had not gotten to her sooner. Even though Aether teases her by calling her nicknames such as "Emergency Food", Paimon looks up to him as the kind and protective brother and tries her best to be there for him always.
They stayed in that position for a few minutes until Aether calmed down and wiped his eyes. They can't stay there forever and the Traveler still has many things to do for the day, including meeting a certain member of the Qixing.
"Let's get some breakfast, shall we Paimon?" Aether said. "I have to go to Yuehai Pavilion in a bit." Aether added while patting Paimon's head as a way of thanking her for the hug.
"Okay! I'll have two fried eggs please." Paimon said while her stomach was rumbling.
"Alright, you want the sides of the egg burnt?" Aether asked.
"No, please! Make them soft if you can." Paimon said. Her stomach was rumbling even further.
Aether chuckled. He then went to the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards to get a frying pan. He also readied four eggs to cook. Two for Paimon and two for himself. He then started to cook them in medium-high heat. He preheated the pan and put cooking oil in it, then cracked the eggs and put them in the pan. He put some salt and pepper onto the eggs and put a little butter to baste the eggs.
The aroma of the eggs was savory enough that Paimon almost drooled. When Aether was done he placed the eggs in two different plates. He gave the other plate to Paimon and they sat together and ate to their hearts' content .
When they were done eating, Aether readied up. He had to go to Yuehai Pavilion in order to meet Keqing. Paimon requested that she stay at Wanmin Restaurant to help Xiangling with her new dishes and that they will meet back in their apartment after he's done for the day. Aether agreed to Paimon's request. Soon after, they left the apartment and went their separate ways.
Keqing was already up and about, excited for today's plans. She would be together with Aether for the whole day and the mere thought of it sends her blushing and motivated to finish all of her work today. They would probably do commissions, have lunch, and let him join in finishing her work. She was admiring the flowers around Yuehai Pavilion waiting for Aether as she had nothing better to do than stand around aimlessly.
After a few minutes, Keqing heard footsteps behind her. Turning back, she saw a figure from a short distance with hair as golden as the rising sun. She smiled once she recognized who it was.
"Good morning, Aether!" Keqing said cheerily. "Have you had your breakfast today?" Keqing asked.
"Mhm! I always make sure to have a good breakfast before tackling the day." Aether said.
"That's great, I wouldn't want to complete the guild's commissions on an empty stomach if I were you." Keqing chuckled.
Keqing was worried that Aether wouldn't eat, knowing the events that transpired a few days ago. Keqing let out a small sigh, relieved that her worries are unfounded.
Going back to business, Keqing formulates a plan for today. The first thing that the pair will do is to complete Aether's commissions for the Adventurer's Guild. Keqing learned that the guild gives each adventurer four commissions to complete daily, in which they will be fairly compensated after.
"Aether, I want to accompany you during your commissions. Is that okay with you?" Keqing said, her eyes sparkling for adventure.
"If you say so, Keqing. Let's go to the guild." Aether said, excitedly.
Aether and Keqing went down Yuehai Pavilion to go to Chihu Rock, where the Liyue Branch of the Adventurer's Guild is located. What they did not know was that the Tianquan, Lady Ningguang, was peeking through her window in her office and saw the pair talking and strolling through Liyue. She had a small smirk forming in her face.
"The Traveler and Keqing? Together? Hm, this should be interesting."
Aether and Keqing now arrived at the guild. Aether went to talk with Katheryne and asked what commissions he could take for the day. Katheryne handed out a list of commissions to do. Aether took it and thanked Katheryne shortly after. He showed Keqing the commissions they have and formulated a plan on what to do first.
The first commission they went to do was on Guili Plains. They had to exterminate a bunch of Hilichurls that were camping there because they were a potential threat to civilians that pass by. The pair went to the nearest teleport waypoint and interacted with it. Both of them visualized the waypoint on Guili Plains and in a flash, had found themselves in front of the waypoint.
When they were about to go to the spot of the camp of the hilichurls, Keqing almost lost her balance. They realized that their hands were still locked together. Only the Traveler can access the waypoints for some reason, having had to hold hands in order to transport the pair together. Keqing instantly let go of her hand while blushing furiously. Aether on the other hand was all flustered and tried to keep it together, but his face was all red. Things were being a little bit awkward at the time. Fortunately, even though Keqing did not know how to handle these kinds of situations, she has found a way to break the tension.
"A-Alright, we're close to the camp of the hilichurls. Let's go, shall we?" Keqing said, her voice a bit shaky due to embarrassment.
"O-okay. I'm with you." Aether said, while his face was still red.
Nearing the camp, the pair discussed their strategy on how to take out the camp. There was a single Cryo Abyss Mage surrounded with four more hilichurls, two of them were Cryo Hilichurl Shooters and the other two being Ice Shield Hilichurl Guards. Keqing had an advantage since her vision was Electro. She could deal superconductive damage to the mage, meanwhile Aether can distract the others with his Geo and Anemo abilities.
Keqing knew that Aether has no vision and that she was excited to see how he fights. The last time they fought together was the time when the Adepti and the Liyue Qixing stopped Osial together from destroying Liyue. Keqing saw Aether use Geo during the fight but she felt that he had more power tucked away. This moment was as good as any other time to observe whether he has a power other than Geo.
It was time to execute their plan. The two exchanged looks, signaling each other it was time to strike. In a flash, Keqing's hairpin floated above the hilichurls. Keqing teleported and performed a plunge attack. The hilichurls scatter. They got up and were getting ready to swarm Keqing. It was then Aether summoned a meteorite from beneath the ground.
"Terra smash!" Aether exclaimed.
The force of the meteorite was enough to stun the hilichurls nearby. He then reached out his arm, focusing Anemo energy in his palm, forming a vortex of vacuum to suck nearby enemies. The vortex exploded sending them over to Keqing.
"With sword comes shadow!" Keqing disappeared in flashes, leaving behind a purple trail in each slash of her sword.
The hilichurls dissipated into thin air and the two were victorious. Nobody was harmed and they had done their first commission together. Keqing was in awe of Aether on how he fought. She was also amazed to see that he can use two elements such as Geo and Anemo without the presence of a vision.
"Aether, that was amazing!" Keqing said excitedly. "But, how did you use two elements though? You don't have a vision yourself, don't you?" Keqing asked curiously.
"Well, I don't really know how to explain." Aether said. "For some reason, I can resonate with any element by interacting with a Statue of the Seven. It felt like the Archons gave me this power, but I never really had any clue as to why." Aether added.
Why would the Archons give him such power? He has no vision yet he can control the elements. Keqing put those thoughts aside so they can continue clearing the commissions they have. They finished one out of four commissions, which makes three remaining. The next commission on the list was from Verr Goldet, the boss of Wangshu Inn.
The pair went back to the teleport waypoint they came from. They visualized the waypoint of Wangshu Inn and found themselves there. The breeze of the air was cool as they were high up the ground. They went downstairs to meet Verr Goldet and asked what bothered her. It turns out that there were monsters lurking around near the broken bridge on Mingyun Village and that it could mean trouble for people staying at the inn and passersby.
Aether and Keqing then went to the location of the monsters lurking near Mingyun Village and wiped them with no sweat. They went back to Verr Goldet to report on the situation and collected their rewards.
The pair completed the rest of their commissions located in Mingyun Village and to the south-east of a domain near Mt. Aozang. They went back to Liyue to report to Katheryne to collect their rewards.
It's already lunchtime, by the time they went back to the harbor.
"That was exciting!" Keqing said happily. "Say Aether, where do you want to eat? It's around noon already and all that adventuring and flying around made me hungry. And no, you don't have to worry about spending any Mora. It's my treat." Keqing added.
"I-I can't possibly accept that, Keqing. I don't know how to repay you in the future." Aether blurted out.
"No, it's okay. I don't really mind if it's you." Keqing said.
"Really? Well, um, i-if you say so. C-can we go to Wanmin Restaurant? Paimon is there at the moment. They also have great dishes there. I-I'm sure you'll like it. Paimon is also there, helping her out." Aether said in a flustered manner.
"Great! Let's go there then." Keqing said.
They descended down the stairs of the Adventurer's Guild and went to the left side of the street where you can find Wanmin Restaurant. Xiangling spotted the pair and waved at them.
"Hey, Aether! Hey, Lady Keqing! Welcome to Wanmin Restaurant! How may I serve you today?" Xiangling said.
"Hey, Xiangling, long time no see! Where's Paimon?" Aether asked.
"Ta-da! Paimon's here! I'm helping Xiangling with cooking!" Paimon said, with a proud look on her face.
"Paimon's been very helpful today, Aether. She's learning fast when it comes to cooking!" Xiangling said. "Anyway, what would you like, Aether?"
"I'll get one order of Universal Peace please." Aether said.
"Alright! What about you Lady Keqing? What would you like?"
"I'll take one order of Golden Shrimp Balls, and please, just call me Keqing." Keqing said with a smile.
"Okay then! I'll serve you two your orders soon. Thank you for your patronage!" Xiangling said.
Aether and Keqing sat near the entrance of the restaurant. Paimon offered them tea and went back to help Xiangling in preparing the dishes the pair ordered. When they got their orders, Keqing's eyes seemed to sparkle when she got her Golden Shrimp Balls.
She started to eat them one by one quickly forgetting that Aether was beside her. She's in her own little world with her favorite dish but he did not seem to mind. He then ate his Universal Peace and it was enough to keep him up in spirits. They deserve at least this much for completing the commissions.
After happily dining for thirty minutes, Keqing paid the total cost of their orders. Xiangling and Paimon waved goodbye to the two as Aether and Keqing went to Yuehai Pavilion.
"Thank you for coming and eating at Wanmin Restaurant! We hope to see you again!" Xiangling exclaimed happily.
"Bye Aether and Lady Keqing!" Paimon exclaimed happily.
When they were at the top of the steps of Yuehai Pavilion, A blue haired half Adepti, half human girl greeted them. It was Ganyu, the Secretary of the Liyue Qixing.
"Ah, hello Aether and Keqing. I've been waiting for you two." Ganyu said.
"Hey Ganyu. Is there a problem?" Keqing asked.
"I'm afraid so. It's regarding the commission I gave to Aether last time. Ningguang wants to hear a report about what happened there." Ganyu said.
Aether froze for a second. Having anything to do with that commission made him feel uncomfortable. Keqing noticed Aether's behavior and called him.
"Aether? Are you okay?" Keqing asked, concerned about him.
"I-I'm fine." Aether sighed.
"Okay Ganyu, please lead the way. I'll explain everything." Aether added.
Ganyu nodded and the three of them went inside Yuehai Pavilion. They went through flights of stairs and led Aether and Keqing towards what seemed to be a large door with golden trims around it. When the door opened, a woman with white hair was seen standing looking over her window, looking towards Liyue.
"I brought them at your request, Lady Ningguang." Ganyu said.
"Very well." Ningguang turned to face the pair.
"Hello, Aether. Keqing." Ningguang smiled.