"Your hair is so pretty," Lumine spoke as she looked at her brother. She reached over and pulled out a twig that was stuck in it. "Too bad you treat it like a bird's nest."

"Well it's kind of hard with the upkeep especially when we're jumping around fighting all the time." Aether puffed out his cheeks into a pout.

"Why don't you cut it?"

"No!" The male twin's response was immediate.

"Why not?" Lumine raised an eyebrow questioningly. "It would make things easier for you."

"Remember when you got gum stuck in your hair? And you had to cut it all off because there was just so much?" He saw Lumine nod. "I remember you were so torn when you had to get rid it. So I like to keep it this way in honor of how your hair used to be."

Lumine giggled. "Is that the only reason?"

"Well, that and I've grown to like having long hair…" Aether fiddled with the ends of his blond locks. "It's just a shame I don't know how to keep it looking nice."

"What about a braid?"

"I don't know how."

"Come here." Lumine motioned her brother over and he came to sit in front of her. She pulled leaves and twigs out of his hair. She did her best to pull apart the knots in his hair without hurting him too much, but it still earned a few whimpers of pain here and there. "You need to make sure you always brush it," she huffed, lightly slapping the top of his head."

"Okay…" Aether closed his eyes as Lumine dragged a brush throughout his long blond locks. It was so relaxing that he almost fell asleep. That is, until she tapped his shoulder happily and pulled him over to a lake to see his reflection in the water. Aether was surprised- he looked good. Really good. "Thank you…" he pulled his braid over his shoulder to touch it and feel it.

"You're welcome!" Lumine leaned over to kiss her brother on the cheek. "I'll teach you how to properly braid your hair later. For now, let's grab some food for breakfast, shall we?"

Aether woke up to the rays of sun creeping in through the windows of the room he was in. He groaned and forced himself to sit up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He stood up and stretched, putting on his boots, armor pieces, and scarf before venturing to the bathroom to brush his teeth and promptly walk out of the room as soon as he was done.

He passed by the innkeeper, shooting a simple 'good morning' as he made his way to Katheryne to acquire his daily commissions that he'd need to do for the day. He started with the more simple tasks, such as collecting a few food items and taking them to the specified people who requested them before he went on to the fighting tasks. Slimes were easy to get rid of, although sometimes a little messy. He had to wash up in a river sometimes when he was done.

His last task was to take out a few Hilichurls and an Abyss Mage that sat around with them. Nothing that he couldn't handle and it wasn't like he hadn't done it before. This time however, one of the Hilichurls had gotten hold of his braid, effectively yanking him back and making him fall onto the floor. Irritated, Aether got back up and jumped in the air, spinning his body around to create a small tornado of Anemo power that gathered up the last of his enemies. He gave a few more slashes of his sword until he deemed that the last commission was completed. He huffed in annoyance and turned around to walk away- that is until he saw something small and gold glimmering in the grass.

Walking over to the item, Aether bent down to pick it up. He studied it carefully, then his hand flew to his hair. He grabbed at it and took a look. Sure enough, his braid had come undone. The item in his hand was what he used to keep his braid together. It must have come out when that Hilichurl grabbed him. "Damn," he muttered under his breath.

Aether walked back to the city of Mondstadt and turned in his completed commissions to Katheryne, thanking her when she gave him his payment and promptly left. He was upset, almost visibly so, but whenever he passed someone he made sure to shoot them a small smile and a quick 'hello.' No one questioned him, that is until Amber popped out from around the corner.

"Good morning, Aether!" She greeted, giving him a hug.

"Aether!" Paimon flew from behind her and dropped down on top of his head, enveloping him in a hug of her own with her tiny hands. He'd almost forgotten that he had left her with Amber since the afternoon the day before.

"Morning, you two," he greeted back, returning Amber's hug and giving Paimon a pat on the head. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah! Amber taught Paimon how to make Sticky Honey Roast!"

Amber laughed nervously. "For the most part at least… She may or may not have almost burned down my place a few times."

"That's why I'm the cook during our travels." Aether smirked.

Paimon puffed her cheeks out and stamped her foot in the air. "Don't make fun of Paimon!"

"Oh right, Aether, Jean wanted me to ask you if you'd be alright with accompanying us to investigate a lead on the Abyss Order.

"Sure, I don't mind." Maybe if he kept his mind preoccupied, it would take his attention away from his hair.

Or not.

As soon as they reached their destination, all eyes were on him.

"What's goin' on with your hair?" Kaeya raised an eyebrow, reaching out to take a strand of blond and twirl it around his finger. "Are you trying out new hairstyles?"

Aether could only laugh, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah," he lied. "Just thought it might be fun to spice it up a little."

"It's really cute," Lisa smiled sweetly. "I think it suits you."

"I agree," came Jean's input.

As much as he loved Jean and Lisa's compliments, he didn't know if he could take them seriously. When they spoke fondly of him, it felt more like two supportive mothers gushing over their child so they didn't feel bad about themselves. "Thanks," was Aether's only response.

The group walked a little further until they encountered a large group of Abyss Mages, Hilichurls, Samachurls, and Mitachurls. Everyone took a fighting stance, materializing their weapons out of thin air.

Amber used her Pyro element to take out the Cryo mage's shields, as well as the wooden shields that most of the Mitachurls held.

Lisa used her Electro element to rid of the Pyro mage's shield and generate an overload reaction.

Kaeya used Cryo to rid the shields off of the hydro mages and generated a melt reaction with those of the enemies afflicted with Pyro and a superconduct reaction with those affected by Electro.

Needless to say the Abyss Mages of varying elements already made things a tad difficult to deal with, but pair that up with Aether's current Anemo element swirling the air around him and making his hair slap into his face, it made things just that much harder for him. In the end, the blond opted on not using his element during the fight. As much as the extra swirl damage may have come in handy, at the very least they had Jean to do that for him.

Aether hopped around, swinging his blade and cutting down the enemy one after the other. He used this opportunity to take out his frustrations of the day so that he could keep putting a smile on his face for others. However, it was all too clear to the others that something was bothering the boy. Though, they wouldn't ask him what it was. If he didn't want to talk about it, then they wouldn't pry.

The fights had taken longer than any of them had anticipated. Reinforcements came in wave after wave, but with as many skilled fighters as they had in their group, they were able to hold them all off and defeat them.

Once they arrived back at the Mondstadt gates, it was already evening with the moon high in the sky.

"Does anyone wish to have dinner at Good Hunter? I'll pay." Jean offered.

"Paimon does!" Of course Paimon would be the first to answer.

"I would like to come along," Lisa spoke up, taking her hat off to slap a little dust off of it.

"I'll come too," was Amber's reply.

"I think I'd like to go home and rest. It's been a long day," Kaeya placed a hand on his neck, cracking it audibly and sighing in relief after he did.

"Count me out as well," Aether scratched the back of his head. "I'm beat." While he did still have energy to eat, he just wanted to be alone. "Amber, will you keep Paimon with you again tonight, please?"

"Sure thing," Amber smiled sweetly and waved at him as she started to walk towards Good Hunter. "Have a good night."

As everyone dispersed, Aether headed over to Angel's Share instead of towards the inn he had spent the night in previously. He walked through the wooden door and took a seat at the high stool at the counter. He rested his head in his hand and sighed.

"You okay?" Came a soft voice from beside him. Looking over, golden eyes met vibrant green.

"Peachy." Aether was too tired to keep up appearances anymore. At least with Venti around, he could be as sarcastic or truthful as he wanted to be.

"Clearly." Aether could hear the smirk in his friend's voice. "Come on, what's up?"

"I don't really feel like talking about it with people around."

"Is that so?" Venti got up from his seat, grabbing hold of Aether's arm and pulling him, almost making him fall off of his stool. "Come on then." The Archon led the blond traveler up the stairs of the tavern and over to one of the rooms, using a key to open the door and ushered him in. He promptly shut the door behind them and clapped his hands. "Alright, spill it."

"Ugh, do I have to?"

"Yes, yes you do." Venti walked over to the bed and plopped down on it. He pat the spot next to him and smiled. "Tell me your woes, my dear Aether."

Aether shuffled his feet over to the bed and sat beside Venti. "It's gonna sound stupid…" he mumbled.

"It it bothers you, then it's not stupid." Venti put an arm on Aether's back, rubbing it comfortingly.

"Okay, but if I tell you then you have to promise that you won't laugh."

"Promise."

"I'm upset because… my braid came undone…" Aether stared at the floor, reaching into his pocket for the golden item he used to keep his hair tied together and fiddled with it.

There was a long pause of silence before Venti spoke up again. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"Aether, just braid your hair again."

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I don't know how." Aether looked to his friend. "My sister used to be the one to braid my hair. She was going to teach me, but she was taken from me before she got the chance."

Another long silence. "So the braid you've had in your hair…"

"Was the last one she did, yeah." Aether looked down again.

Venti frowned and got up. He walked across the room to grab a brush on a desk and walked back over to Aether, getting on the bed behind him and began to brush out the knots that had formed throughout the day. They both sat quietly, the only sound in the room was of the brush running through Aether's long hair.

After a few minutes of brushing it all out, Venti began to braid. He could have gotten done with it quickly, but he decided to take his time doing so. He could tell from the way Aether's shoulders slumped that he was beginning to relax, and the archon took that as a good sign.

Venti reached over Aether's shoulder, holding his hand out. "Give." Aether obediently placed the golden item into his palm and felt his hair get tied off and set in place. "There."

Aether reached back, pulling his new braid over his shoulder and looked at it. It looked as good as new. "Thank you…"

Venti scooted back into his spot right beside the blond and looked over at him. "Watch closely, okay?" He took out the hair tie on one of his own braids, loosening the hair and letting it free. "You take three strands and you put them one over the other… Like this." He began braiding his hair again, making a show of going extra slow so that he could teach the blond.

Golden eyes studied as he watched Venti's finger movements. When Venti finished braiding, he nodded. "I think I got it…"

"Good, now you try." Venti undid the braid he just did and scooted a little closer to Aether so he could practice.

Aether blinked a few times but lifted his hands up, taking Venti's hair into three parts like he was shown and began to slowly braid. He messed up a few times and had to start over, but after about ten minutes of trying over and over again, he finally got the hang of it and completed the braid. "I did it!" He was pleased that the braid he did matched the other braid on Venti's head.

"Good job!" Venti praised. "Here's your reward." He took hold of Aether's chin gently, leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

Aether flushed bright pink but couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips when Venti pulled away. "If I do another braid, can I have another?"

Venti grinned widely. "You can have as many as you want, free of charge." And he leaned forward to kiss his traveler again.