"Hey, Aether, wake up."

"Aether."

"Bro, you're such a heavy sleeper. Wake up."

"Aether! WAKE! UP!"

Aether sat straight up in bed, panting. He glanced out the window, and saw that it was around midnight. He heard some light breathing, and he saw Keqing next to him, still grabbing onto his arm. After feeling Aether move, Keqing grabbed Aether's arm tighter and snuggled into it, purring.

Aether shook his head, then listened again. Lumine hadn't used that form of communication in a long time. It was a bit refreshing to hear Lumine talk to him through his mind again.

"Yeah, cuz you were sleeping, dummy," Lumine spoke in his mind. "I didn't wanna knock Keqing's window open."

"What is it?" Aether asked silently, as to not disturb Keqing.

"Right to the point, aren'tcha?" Lumine giggled. "Three things. First, why do I hear explosions coming from Klee's room? You didn't give her anything, did you?"

"No, of course not," Aether replied. "She makes bombs in her spare time."

"Sounds like someone you'd get along with."

"Very."

Lumine chuckled in his mind. "Second thing. How many people are going to be coming with us, and how many of these Visions will there be?"

"Dunno. Maybe just a bunch of people?" Aether responded.

"How many's this 'bunch of people?'" Lumine asked.

"Dunno."

"Well, according to the calculations I've done, we can make the trip, but like before, there's a power imbalance. You know, when bringing people, the travelling energy is shared?" Lumine asked.

"Yeap," Aether replied.

"These 'Visions' are weird. When I tested them with our travelling powers, against me testing them against the people themselves, they seem… weaker. They appear to detract from how much energy a human can carry. I asked them if they'd leave their Visions behind, but they adamantly refused." Lumine said. "So if we are to include these 'Visions,' we'd need at least fifteen people, as opposed to the regular four or five."

"Hmmmm," Aether said, thinking about all the people he'd met so far. "There's Keqing, Acting Grand Master Jean, Master Diluc, Captain Kaeya, Albedo, Outrider Amber, Deaconess Barbara, Lisa, little Klee, Noelle, Sucrose, and Venti, to name a few from Mondstadt. There's a bunch from Liyue, too."

"So that's already twelve people. Maybe we could ask them to invite their friends?" Lumine asked.

"Yeah, we'd be sure to get a lot of people that way," Aether said. "You wanna do that now?"

"Nah, they're sleeping," Lumine said. "You know how to respect sleep."

"Ah, fine," Aether said. "See you in the morning. Night, little sis."

"Night, big bro!" Lumine trilled. Aether smiled softly and chuckled. Even if she was annoying a lot of times, he still loved her with everything he had.

"Mmmmmm…" A sleepy voice jolted him out of his thoughts. He looked around, and noticed Keqing stirring beside him.

"Whatissit," Keqing slurred out. She rubbed her eyes, and looked up at Aether. "Something wrong?"

"Nah, it's fine," Aether said softly. "Just a little wake up call in the middle of the night."

Keqing reached her arms out to him, and pulled him down onto the bed. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him tenderly.

"No nightmares on my watch," Keqing ordered. "There's nothing to harm you here. We'll be safe and sound right here…" Keqing nodded off back to sleep, and snuggled back into the warmth of Aether's chest. Aether smiled warmly and wrapped his arms around her, and dropped back off to sleep.

When the sun shone through their window, Aether woke up. He noticed a little note from Keqing, who had already gone off to work.

Hey, Aether

I'm off to work. You'll know where to find me. Do drop by at any time.

Love, Keqing.

Aether smiled at the note. Short and concise, but heartfelt all the same. He yawned, got dressed, and left the building.

As he wandered around outside, his sister spoke again.

"So, any thoughts?"

"Uhhhhhhh…" Aether responded, not remembering the conversation they had the previous night for a second. "I mean, yeah?"

"Alright, list them out," Lumine said.

"Uhhh… I'll get back to you," Aether said hurriedly.

"Ask Keqing, then!" Lumine said.

"Yeah, will do," Aether replied.

"'Kay, get back to me once you have a bunch of people. More than fifteen is preferred, but fifteen is the bare minimum. Got it?"

"Yeah."

Aether wandered out into the harbor, thinking about all of the people he'd met. He knew Keqing could have a much wider range of people, so he decided to go visit her after he ate breakfast. He sighed happily, imagining the places they could go to in his home. He knew one place specifically that Keqing would love, and wanted to take her there.

"Hello, Traveller," A formal male voice greeted him. He looked up, and saw Xingqiu walking towards him. "Good day today, no?"

"Agreed," Aether said. "Hey, Xingqiu,"

"Yes, Traveller?"

"What would be your opinion on travelling to another world?" Aether questioned.

"It would be quite the experience," Xingqiu said, gazing off into the distance. "Quite fitting for another novel to be written."

"Great. So, hypothetically speaking, if I were to invite you to visit another world, would you accept?"

Xingqiu stared at him dumbfounded. "Hypothetically speaking."

"Erm.. yes."

"That's a definite no from me," Xingqiu deadpanned. "I want it to be real."

"Well, if you accept, it'll be real."

"Great. I accept," Xingqiu smiled. "Shall I tell Chongyun and the others?"

"That'd be perfect," Aether said gratefully. "Thanks. We'll also be meeting up with people from Mondstadt. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure. I'll let the others know. There has to be a lot of planning, though, because not a lot of us can just take a huge chunk out of our job time." Xingqiu thought aloud.

"Don't worry about that part, I got that covered," Aether said. "Let everyone know, alright? Gimme a list of the people that you've invited."

"Sure thing, Traveller. I'll meet you here at around noon?"

"Will do."

With the matter more well taken care of than he'd expected, Aether breathed a sigh of relief. He turned away to head towards Keqing's office, before realising that he still hadn't eaten breakfast. He stared blankly ahead, wondering what to eat. He then heard a whispered voice behind him, and didn't turn around. He stood there, listening intently, and began to make out the words.

"Boss, this is a really bad idea, you know. We should really just get out of here."

"Shut it. I have this new toy that the little Fatui rat dropped, along with this special little Hydro Vision. Honestly, that boy was too easy to drop."

"But still boss, that's the Honorary Knight. You remember that he can control multiple elements too?"

Aether's eye twitched. So, they attacked Xingqiu and took his Hydro Vision, probably using a Delusion to do so.

"I don't care if he's the Honorary Knight or not! There's no Milellith here to stop me, and I'll finally have my revenge."

Aether sensed movement behind him, and could hear footsteps silently approaching him from behind.

"So. Are you you recklessly overconfident, or just plain stupid?" Aether asked, still not turning. He could hear the bandit freeze behind him, and Aether turned to face him. Garey stood there, holding a sword instead of a hammer, and had two charms affixed to his belt. He recognized Xingqiu's Vision with the little charm at the bottom, given to him by Chongyun. He also recognized a Dendro delusion on his belt. Aether vaguely remembered Childe telling him that Dendro Delusions were extremely rare, given that no one knew how to use them. Only the lowest initiates were given them to test.

Garey glared at Aether with smoldering eyes. "You've humiliated me once, and I'll make you pay for that. I will make true on my words. You will regret the day you messed with me!"

Aether sighed. "Didn't even get to eat breakfast."

Garey lashed out with his blade, and dashed forward. Aether materialised his own sword, and parried Garey's strike easily. Garey rushed in again, and stabbed again. Aether dashed out of the way, then kicked Garey in the stomach. Garey grunted, stumbled back, then stabbed his sword into the ground. The Dendro Delusion glowed brightly, then vines shot out of the ground, wrapping around Aether's arms and legs and dragging him to the ground.

Aether cocked an eyebrow, intrigued. So this was how Dendro worked. However, none of it matted.

"What's the matter, Honorary Knight?" Garey taunted. "Feeling a little stuck?"

"Nah," Aether responded. "You're right where I want you to be."

Aether's body burst into golden flames, and the Dendro vines that encircled him instantly crumbled to ash. Garey was thrown backwards, and Milellith came running to the scene to see what was happening.

"Stop right there!" A Milellith soldier yelled, pointing his polearm at Garey. "You are under arrest for attacking a Milellith soldier, and breaking out of prison!"

"S'all right boys, he's mine," Aether said. The flames disappeared from his body, and when Aether stepped out, his appearance had changed. He was wearing fiery golden gauntlets, and his cape was pure flickering golden flame. When he drew his blade, it shimmered with heat and baked the air around it.

Aether stalked towards Garey, who had shot to his feet and was gripping his sword.

"You idiot," Garey hissed. "I have a Hydro Vision now. You'll get shut down instantly."

"Two things," Aether responded coldly. "One, that Vision does not belong to you. It belongs to my dear friend Xingqiu, who also happens to be the second son of the Guild Manager of the Feiyun Commerce Guild. Secondly, I'd like to see you try to use that Vision. The Vision depends on its user, not itself. Go ahead and try to attack me with it. I dare you."

Garey roared, and his blade turned blue with the power of Hydro. Four swords made of pure Hydro manifested around him, and he pointed his sword at Aether. The four blades pointed themselves towards Aether and shot towards him. Aether simply flicked his hand, and a wall of fire roared to life in front of him, shattering the swords and vaporising them instantly. The wall of flame continued to roll forward until it rolled over Garey, charring his face and his body. The sword he held melted into a puddle of white-hot metal. Garey stumbled back, terrified.

"What are you?" He yelled at Aether. "What do you want out of me?"

"You should've listened to your subordinates, you stupid ass," Aether said. "I'm not part of this world. This is the power of the sun, and its fire. You cannot fight against me, even with Hydro. As for what I want…"

Aether tilted his head to the side, his expression cold as ice.

"I want everything you have."

Garey stumbled backwards again, glancing at the Milellith soldiers. In sheer desperation, he yelled out to them. "Alright, fine! I'll face the charges, just, just stop him!" he yelled, pointing a shaking finger at Aether. Aether glanced at a soldier, who simply nodded. Aether reached down, and grabbed Garey by the lapel and threw him onto the ground behind him. Aether stepped over him, and stuck the point of his sword under Garey's chin.

"Any last words?"

"LET ME GO, YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH! YOU'LL REGRET THIS!" Garey cursed, endlessly spitting out streams of curse words. Aether stood there for ten seconds, letting Garey let out all of his steam, before finally replying.

"Alright, that's it," Aether said. He slashed his sword across Garey's throat, rendering him unable to speak and bleeding out in the street. Aether picked Xingqiu's Hydro Vision and the Dendro Delusion off of the dying crook's body. He put the Hydro Vision away, and then grabbed the Dendro Delusion. Channeling some more power into his hands, he crushed the Delusion, leaving only fine glass dust to trickle out beneath his fingers. He dusted his hands off, then looked down at the now-dead criminal one last time.

"Goodbye, Garey. None will miss you."

Aether turned away from the sight, and stalked away, his clothes reverting back to those of his regular self. He sent out his senses, and detecting Xingqiu in a small alleyway, bound and gagged by Dendro vines. He reached the place where Xingqiu was hidden, and burned the vines away. Xingqiu gasped for air and thanks Aether.

"Thank you Traveller, I owe you a great debt," Xingqiu panted. "It was so sudden, I didn't have a chance to defend myself. Did you get-?"

"Yeah, I got it," Aether said. He produced the Vision, which flew over to Xingqiu and fastened itself to his hip, back to its rightful owner.

"Thank you ever so much, Traveller. If you're ever in need of something, just ask. The Feiyun Commerce Guild will be sure to provide it." Xingqiu said gratefully.

"There is one thing that I want," Aether said thoughtfully.

"And that is?" Xingqiu asked.

"Breakfast."

Holy hell, that was one long absence. I'm super sorry about that, but school, online classes, and having no time sorta killed my motivation to write. But I'm back now, and I do hope y'all can forgive me. Again, I'm super sorry for the wait!

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