A/N: No warnings, but some spoilers for the Midsummer Event!
The voice faded into nothing, simple wisps of blue and white light that disintegrated along with the cracked conch. Aether stumbled back, pale, and almost slipped off the rock. A lawrachurl bellowed in the distance, but he could barely hear it over the faded, haunting sound of his friend's voice.
"Aether?" Paimon appeared in front of him in a shower of stars, her eyes big with worry. "Aether! Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Aether licked his dry lips, trying to calm his racing heart. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just need to go."
"Go where? Aether!"
Aether scrambled up the cliff nearest to him, ignoring her. He didn't quite have the withereal to use the teleport.
"Aether!"
"I need to go somewhere high," he called over his shoulder, grasping for the next handhold. "It's nothing, Paimon, go back to Klee and the others! I just need to find Albedo and make sure he isn't trapped inside fog or a big shell or something!"
"What are you even talking about?" Paimon demanded. "Aether!"
But Aether didn't answer, climbing the cliff rapidly, barely stopping to look before he threw himself up the next ledge. He heard the swish of her silvery magic before she presumably disappeared, muttering unpleasant things about stupid travellers and their big stupid brains under her breath. The silence she left behind only fueled Aether's fear, the lingering voice still running circles in his mind.
He couldn't describe it, why he was so afraid. But he needed to find Albedo.
Hauling himself over the edge of the cliff proved more difficult than he thought it would; his climb had thoroughly exhausted him, and he spent a moment doubled over, panting and cursing himself internally.
"Soup would go down a treat right now," Aether muttered.
"Hm?"
Aether jerked upright, casting wildly around for Albedo. He half-expected to see another conch, echoes pouring out of its thin shell in a haunting melody of half-forgotten memories. But there, at the very edge of the cliff, overlooking the islands and the quiet blue sea, stood a thin figure.
"Albedo," Aether said, the word leaving him in a rush of relief.
Albedo turned his head, spotting him. Though he didn't smile, something changed in his cool, distant eyes. "Oh, Traveller. It's you." He lifted one hand in a small wave, then placed it back in its crossed position. "Is something wrong?"
Not anymore, though the fear hadn't quite abated. Aether shook his head and strolled forward, still breathing heavily. The sea hushed him, a gentle, swaying sound that shivered up the cliffs towards him. Though it was quiet enough, the sea was never still, and its song was everywhere.
"Sorry," Aether said, once he was near enough to see the shining shapes in Albedo's eyes. "I didn't mean to disturb your painting. I just wanted to get a good look at the sea."
It was easily the worst lie he'd ever told. Barring the time he strolled up to the Good Hunter, bleeding heavily from a Samachurl's pointed affections, and insisted cheerily that he was fine while ordering ham and cheese from a horrified Sara. But he didn't like to talk about that time, because Paimon always inevitably appeared to make fun of him.
"You haven't disturbed me," Albedo said. "I believe I may have mentioned it before, but if there is one person I don't mind accompanying me, it's you."
Aether flushed. He settled near a patch of wild dandelions, pulling his knees up to his chest. The wind ruffled his hair, warm and carrying the scent of sea-spray. Up here, on the brim of the cliff, it didn't seem like they were on a strange beach adventure. It could almost be another slice of Mondstadt, as if he might turn a corner and see Dragonspine speared in the distance, or Hilichurls marching through the Four Winds Temple.
He said as much to Albedo, who hummed thoughtfully.
"Your observations are not far from the truth," he said. "You must have noticed the unusual positioning of some of these islands. Evidence suggests they were once part of a Mondstadt mountain range."
Aether already knew that, because Albedo had already told him. The echo of the conch shell haunted him, pulling at his senses, insisting that Albedo was lost to time, that it was too late to save him. But it was much harder to believe that when Albedo was right there in front of him, carefully selecting a pencil with utmost gravity, as though the choice might shift the entire world if he got it wrong.
"Do you know what you're going to draw?"
"Yes, I believe so." Albedo turned to face Aether and dropped to the ground, folding his legs gracefully underneath him. "If you're amenable?"
Aether startled, shifting uncomfortably. "Oh, I don't think…"
"Stay still, please."
Aether froze, and then relaxed all at once. He'd already suffered through long minutes of Albedo sketching him at various points, though he was usually fighting or practicing his elemental bursts during those observations. This wasn't really any different. And it was nice to be able to relax, to listen to the sea-sounds and feel the midsummer air on his face. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes, smiling slightly.
"You're going to have enough pictures of me to paper Mondstadt's walls," Aether said. "Anyone would think you didn't live in a world full of monsters and gods."
"Hm? What do you mean by that?"
Aether tilted his head, listening to the faint scratching of pencil against thick paper. "Nothing, I guess. But we're on a weird, magical island. Half of it's upside down. There's a giant mechanical Samurai sat on the platform over there."
Another scratch of the pencil. "I'm quite aware. I was with you for the discovery, wasn't I?"
Aether chuckled, not bothering to open his eyes. He was feeling quite relaxed, the fear long-since faded now that he knew his friend was okay. He couldn't describe it, but every single one of the conches had trapped the voices of someone who was probably dead and gone, someone lost and forgotten. And for a moment, he'd wondered if he'd fallen asleep on a beach again, aimlessly wiling away the years while the people he loved fought battles and travelled the world without him.
Even the thought of Lumine made his heart hurt now, despite his determination to find her again, to prove that things weren't as terrible as she thought they were. He refused to lose anyone else along the way.
"Traveller?"
"Sorry," Aether said, cracking open an eye and smiling when he met Albedo's keen, curious stare. "It's so peaceful here. Easy to drift off, you know?"
Albedo conceded the point with a faint nod, returning to his shading. Aether watched him for a moment. His head was bent, but his neck and spine formed an elegant line, posed with undying strength and grace. He couldn't categorize his feelings for even a fraction of the people he'd met in his travels, but Albedo was undoubtedly among the most difficult, given his self-imposed isolation. But in these moments, when he was calm and still, and his eyes shone with something other than scientific curiosity, it wasn't hard to put a pin in what Aether felt.
"You were saying?" Albedo prompted.
"Oh, yeah!" Aether jerked back to life, reaching out to run his hand through the soft cotton of the dandelion puffs. "I was just saying, there's plenty of new and exciting stuff to paint here, you know? And we don't know how long we're going to be here. So maybe you should take advantage of it." He paused to flash a grin. "Not that I mind modelling for you. I just can't imagine it's very interesting."
Not to mention, Albedo got bored easily. Even the endless terrors and wonders of Dragonspine didn't seem to hold his attention for very long. And Aether was far from the most interesting thing on this island.
"Perhaps it's true that I should take advantage of such views," Albedo said quietly, adding a final, simple stroke of pencil to his drawing, before turning the page around gently. "But even the unusual topography cannot hold a candle to some familiar views, wouldn't you agree?"
Aether had never been particularly artistic, unless cooking counted as an art-which Xiangling would undoubtedly have some opinions about. But there was something about seeing himself rendered in charcoal, sitting against a backdrop of starlit sky and aimless dandelion seeds that made him want to pick up a pencil, if only to immortalise his friends in the same way.
"Is it to your liking?" Albedo asked, in that soft, oddly musical way of his.
"It is." Aether grinned at him, holding nothing back, and found that easily pinpointed feeling echoing in Albedo's eyes, however unspoken it may be. "Very much so. Although you could have made me look taller."
"You're sitting down."
"And yet my point still stands."
[Word Count: 1493]