It was the time of the year when flower petals strewn all over the streets of Mondstadt, when flower wreaths hang upon every lamp and door. It was a time when the city of Mondstadt was plunged into festivities, when people would spend the day celebrating with their loved ones, when new love would be born as people confessed with the positive atmosphere. It was the time for the Windblume Festival to begin.
However, despite the fact that almost everyone would take the time off during the festival to celebrate, it was not the case for the Knights of Favonius. The knights struggled to increase the security in the city with the lack of manpower as most of the higher ranking knights had yet to return from the expedition with the Grandmaster. So much so that even Albedo, the Chief Alchemist, had to take over the patrol at the outskirts of the city. Not even Lisa, the Head Librarian, and Jean, the Acting Grandmaster, were spared. Amber had not minded in all honesty, but she did pity the knights who had loved ones they wished to spend the day with.
Amber could remember the first time she celebrated Windblume. Her grandfather had taken her to the festival after his morning patrol and he would always place a flower that he had found during his patrol in her hair. It could be a Windwheel Aster, a Cecilia and at times, something simple like a Sweet Flower.
After her grandfather passed, Amber continued the tradition after she became an Outrider. She would pick the first flower she saw at the end of her patrol and she would place it in her hair where it would remain for the entire day.
When she heard that Aether and Paimon had returned to Mondstadt for the Windblume Festival, Amber was excited; she had been looking forward to meeting them again. Perhaps she should seek them out after her patrol, maybe even surprise them with a gift as thanks for everything that they had done.
So when she set out on her patrol, humming a song to go with her good mood, the last thing she had expected to find in the middle of a forest was Aether frantically searching for something with tears in his eyes, his hands tearing apart bushes after bushes, Paimon and Bennett trying to calm him down and Razor searching the tall grass in fervour for something. As Amber walked towards them, she noticed the harried state that Aether was in. His braided hair had fallen apart, the feathered clip missing. He was covered in dead leaves and mud, no doubt from the result of his fruitless searching. His friends were covered in dirt as well. Bennett had scratches littered all over his limbs but there were no serious injuries; Razor's hood was down, exposing his mass of white hair. None of them noticed Amber until she walked right up to Paimon and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh, Amber! Please help! Paimon doesn't know what to do!"
Leaving the hysterical Aether to Bennett for the moment, Paimon pulled Amber aside to explain what had happened.
Paimon explained that they had gone to the Thousand Winds Temple in search of Bennett, who had been reported missing since the previous day. They found Bennett easily, trapped behind a locked gate with Razor. They managed to free them, even defeating the Ruin Guard that activated when they freed the two. It was when Aether decided to collect Cecilias for the Windblume Ceremony that everything went downhill.
As the four of them were picking Cecilias, a group of hilichurls and mitachurls appeared behind them, forcing them to fight. The group was unusually big and somewhat coordinated, making it hard for the party to break through. They were on unfavourable grounds, the front was blocked off and the cliff's edge was directly behind them. Despite the odds being against them, the party stood their ground and fought. Aether had taken up a defensive role, Razor took up the offensive, Bennett was on support, and Paimon helped by shouting warnings and pointing out enemy movements. The four of them worked together, taking down the overwhelming amount of enemies with ease.
That was until a Mitachurl managed to slip by behind Aether and grabbed him by his braid. Aether reacted quickly by releasing a blast of Anemo at the enemy, sending the large creature tumbling off the cliff. However, it did not release its grip and the metal feathered band that held his braid slipped off and fell with the Mitachurl.
"No!" Aether cried out as he whirled around to grab hold of the metal band. His hand missed by a large margin as the object fell into the sea of trees below.
Aether had wanted to leap off the cliff then and there but Paimon stopped him, if only because Razor and Bennett were being pushed back by the remaining enemies.
(It was the first time Razor and Bennett had seen the capabilities and ruthlessness of the Traveller when he got angry enough.)
Once the enemies were obliterated, Aether leaped off the cliff without waiting for the others. Paimon followed after him, to guide him, as he glided towards where she had last seen the hair band. As soon as Aether landed, he brushed Paimon off as he tore apart everything that got in his way to look for his feathered band. It did not matter if the thorny branches ripped through his gloves or the leaves cut his face, everything was ripped apart in his single-minded mission. By the time Razor and Bennett found them, having travelled on foot, Aether was near hysterical and Paimon was trying to calm him to no avail.
"You don't understand Paimon! I can't lose it! I have to find it!" Aether shouted as he shoved Paimon away from him.
In the end, Bennett decided to help Paimon calm Aether, at least enough to stop him from hurting himself while Razor helped to look for the missing feathered band.
"Paimon tried searching as well but Paimon couldn't find it. We don't know where it could have landed when it dropped from way up there. Paimon doesn't think Aether can see it with his Elemental Sight, he can't see objects that don't absorb elements and he won't leave until we find it. Paimon doesn't know what to do!"
Amber patted Paimon on the head once she had finished retelling what had happened.
"Leave it to me, okay? Why don't you help look for the missing hair band? I'll help out once I'm done here."
Amber approached Aether who was now seated on the ground, his back to the tree and his hands hugging his knee. He was facing down, his hands shaking as he sobbed quietly. Amber slowly walked up to him, purposefully stepping on the dried leaves of the undergrowth to announce her arrival. She squatted down in front of Aether and reached out to him with her hands. She wrapped them around him, not caring about the dirt that got on her, and pulled him towards her into a hug, shushing his cries gently as she could. She felt Aether's hands wrap around her as he continued to cry. And it struck her how vulnerable he was, how he no longer looked like the hero everyone made him out to be, how he was just a person lost in a world, unable to see, and all he ever wanted was to reunite with his sister again.
Heroes have faults, heroes can fall, and heroes are people too.
"What if it's gone forever?"
"We'll find it, so don't give up! We'll definitely find it, it's an Outrider's promise!"
Once Aether's sobs had quieted down, Amber released her hug. She could feel Aether's reluctance to let go but he eventually did, moving his hands down to hug his knees. Amber called Bennett over as she stood up and the boy quickly jogged over while brushing off the dead leaves and twigs that got stuck in his hair.
"Can you stay with him?" Amber whispered to Bennett. She knew that Aether's hearing was good but she hoped that he would be too distracted with his lost item to overhear the conversation. "Talk to him, tell him stories. Keep his mind off things for a bit."
"Oh, okay! I have plenty of stories to tell!" Bennett said, giving Amber a thumbs up in assurance. "Also…I have to make it up to Aether. This was my fault, my bad luck was the reason why this happened."
"Did you want this to happen? Were you the one to drop the hair band?"
"No!"
"Then it's not your fault. Things happen, we just have to work it out!"
"Oh, Aether said that too. He said that it's not my fault that things happen."
Amber giggled. "He's right, you know? You should listen to him."
Amber left Bennett who sat down beside Aether and began telling him stories of his many adventures. She approached Paimon who was making use of her ability to fly to check the branches of the canopies. She waved and gestured for Paimon to follow her as they walked away from the others, close enough that they could still hear Bennett loudly narrating but far enough that Aether's sensitive ears would not pick their conversation up.
"Can you tell me where Aether was before he lost his hair band?"
Paimon showed her the location by pointing at the cliff that they had jumped off from. Amber took out her map and examined it closely, making note of their current location and the location Paimon had pointed to. Once she had determined the scope of the area to search, she called out to Razor. Amber ordered Razor and Paimon to search specific sections of the area while she searched a different section.
"Judging from the distance between the two locations, we should search around this area instead of over there. We're lucky that Paimon kept track of the landing so we can concentrate our focus on this entire part."
"If Amber says so then that has to be it! Paimon will check the trees!"
"Other red burny girl smart. Don't understand but will search there."
In the end, it was neither Amber nor Paimon who found the feathered band first, but rather Razor, who picked up Aether's scent and followed the trail as quickly as he could. He brought the hair band to Amber, the item cradled gently in his hands as though he was protecting something very fragile. The hair band was covered in mud and the feather melded into the band was ruffled. However, despite the look of it, the feathered band was still in one piece.
The three of them returned to where Aether and Bennett were, the item safe in Amber's hands. And when the hair band was returned to its rightful owner, Aether cried, this time apologising for the trouble he had caused and thanking all of them for helping him.
"Thank you, thank you!" Aether said as he gently cradled the hair band close to his chest. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for pushing you away, I'm sorry for making you look for it. I'm sorry for everything."
Aether continued to cry, even when Paimon, Amber, Razor, and Bennett hugged him, even when they told him that it was not his fault, that he had nothing to apologise for, Aether continued to cry. Eventually, his tears ran out and Aether fell unconscious, no doubt due to his mental state. Everyone panicked when Aether dropped unconscious without warning, Paimon especially so when she thought that her best friend was dead.
"Aether wake up! You can't die!"
"Paimon, calm down! He's not dead!"
Amber ignored Bennett's shaking hands, Razor's quick breathing, and Paimon's tears as she scrubbed her face, as she carefully moved Aether to carry him on Razor's back.
(But she could not ignore her own shaking hands and her rapid-beating heart.)
In the entire journey back to Mondstadt, Aether never woke up. Even when Amber led the party to her house to stay for the night, Aether never woke up. Even when Paimon skipped dinner to stay by her friend's side, Aether never woke up.
When the sun rose over the city of Mondstadt, Amber woke up sore, having slept on her couch. She got off and nearly tripped over the pile that was Bennett and Razor sleeping on the floor, wrapped in blankets. When she entered her bedroom where she had left Aether and Paimon to sleep on the bed, she found Aether awake.
Her friend was a mess. His armour and scarf had been removed to be cleaned, his hair was in disarray, and his unseeing eyes were bloodshot.
"Good morning!" Amber greeted as she leaned against the doorframe.
"Amber?" Aether questioned, his voice still hoarse from yesterday's events.
"Yup, that's me! Want to eat breakfast? Is Paimon still asleep?"
Aether glanced over at Paimon sleeping on the pillow beside him before patting his sleeping friend's head. "She stayed up. She wanted to ensure that I slept this time."
"Aww, let her sleep, we'll save some breakfast for her. Come on, I know how to make a decent pancake! Noelle's been teaching me so I won't burn them this time!"
Aether quirked his lips, an almost smile that warmed Amber inside.
Breakfast was eventful, in a good way. Razor and Bennett had woken up the moment Amber set the batter on the pan. The pancakes were delicious, albeit slightly burnt. Paimon woke up a few minutes later, after the first batch of pancakes were consumed. She immediately went to hug Aether first before complaining about the lack of breakfast for her.
The house was filled with laughter, joy, and life, and Amber was reminded of the days with her grandfather. The laughter she gave when her grandfather told her terrible puns, the joy of living with him, and life in the household when it was not just her living alone. And though she can no longer laugh with her grandfather, experience the same joy of him being there, and live in a house that consist of a single existence, she could still laugh with her friends as they share jokes with each other, experience the joy with those close to her, and live a life filled with happiness.
After all, is that not what Windblume should be about? To celebrate the companionship, be it love or not, of those close to you.
Amber sat Aether down on a stool to braid his hair after breakfast and as she weaved the strands together, Aether began telling the story of his feathered band. Everyone listened in rapt attention, even Paimon sat quietly on his lap as the words flowed out of his lips.
"It was on one of our birthdays, Lumine gave me this feathered band and I gave her a flower clip. It was like having a part of each other that we could carry with us. Both items had followed us everywhere, from the stars to distant worlds. When I was trapped in this world, I lost my sister, the wings I was born with, the sword I was gifted to, and my sight, but I still had the armour of my world and the hair band that my sister gave me. I wonder if Lumine still has the hairpin I gave her?"
No one said anything for a while, until Bennett burst out into tears and started crying over how sad the story was. It took a few minutes before he finally calmed down, even if the tears continued to flow.
"I swear on our friendship that I'll help you find your sister!" Bennett declared as he tearfully grasped Aether's hands, the movement nearly making Amber release the partially braided hair in her hands.
"I help find lupical's lupical," Razor said, nodding his head to Bennett's words.
"Paimon will help too! Paimon will work even harder to find your sister!"
"I…you didn't have to…" Aether said, his voice trailing off as he pulled his hands away.
"But we want to!" Amber spoke up from behind Aether. "Don't you get it? We want to do it for you Aether!"
Aether spent the rest of the time mostly in silence, occasionally answering when prompted in the conversation. Amber continued to braid the hair in that time until she finally tied it off with the feathered band. She watched Aether reach out for his newly tied braid, stroking the pattern down to the tip with feather-like touches, as if he was afraid that he might ruin her work.
"The braid is so beautiful!" Paimon exclaimed when she floated over to take a look.
"Really?" Aether asked, tilting his head to let Paimon take a better look.
"Yup! Amber did a great job!"
Amber puffed up at the praise, delighted that the days she spent in the library to learn all the different styles of braiding had been worth it.
With nothing else urgent that needed to be done, Amber wanted to get her flower before she participated in the festivities. However, as she was about to set out with her Outrider gear, she was stopped by Bennett's curiosity.
"I wasn't able to get a flower yesterday so I'm heading out to get one. It shouldn't take me too long, we can meet up at the plaza later."
"Other red burny girl need flower?" Razor asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
"It's a tradition for me. I pick a flower at the end of my patrol and I wear it in my hair for the Windblume Festival. I guess you could say it's my Windblume Flower."
"Oh! We can help! What kind of flower are you looking for? It'll be faster if we all searched," Bennett suggested as he leaped off the chair he was on.
"It's okay, you don't have to! I usually just pick the first flower I come across," Amber said, waving her hands to stop them.
"Then this is fine right?" Aether asked as he stood up and walked towards her. "I picked more than one so here, this is our Windblume Flower to you."
Aether gently pressed a Cecilia flower into Amber's hands and the latter merely stared at the innocent white flower in her hands. It was only when Paimon floated over to pick the flower up and placed it in her hair that she finally reacted by hugging Aether tightly.
"Thank you, and happy Windblume!"