Chapter 9

As Aether was spending so many days and nights at Furina's house, Navia and Clorinde naturally caught wind of what was going on between them. Aether had nothing against other people knowing of their relationship; in fact, he loved Furina so much that he would shout it from the rooftops if he could, but Furina herself wasn't yet ready.

"Let's keep it between ourselves for now, please," she asked Navia and Clorinde. Clorinde simply nodded, and Furina was sure she could trust her.

"Of course, Furina, don't worry," said Navia in a comforting way. "At least you are forthcoming to us about who you like, unlike some people," she squinted at Clorinde.

But as Clorinde pretended not to notice, Navia continued, "I'm so happy for you two. Especially you, Furina; you deserve all the happiness in the world. And Aether's okay too, I suppose."

Everyone laughed, as they were used to Navia's teasing at this point.

"Speaking of Aether," she continued, "why are you standing? Didn't you use to have one more chair, Furina?"

"Uh..." started Aether. "Well... the thing is..."

"He broke it," explained Furina shortly, while suppressing her laughter, hoping to avoid further questions.

But she didn't account for the fact that Paimon was also in the room. "He broke it while they were dancing last night. He tried to perform some jump that Furina was showing him. But I think he tripped on his own leg and tried to grab the chair so he wouldn't fall, but at the end he did fall, and he took the chair with him."

Navia and Clorinde burst out laughing, and Furina smiled guiltily. "Thanks, Paimon... Thanks a lot," Aether said.

"You two dance together!" gasped Navia after she stopped laughing. "That's so cute! You have to show us sometime, you know!"

But Paimon kept at it: "Well, it's more correct to say that Furina dances. The Traveler just kinda... clumsily tries to follow her around while trying not to step on her... or overturn the table... or break any more chairs. But otherwise, he's improved a lot! Before, he would always step on her toes, and she would gasp in pain while he wasn't looking, but now he only does that once or twice per dance! And it even looks like he's dancing to the rhythm of the music sometimes!"

Navia was crying from laughter at this point, and even Clorinde was holding her ribs. It wasn't easy to make Aether flustered, but Paimon was successfully at it, so he just buried his face in his palms. If it weren't for Furina's giggling, he would have interrupted Paimon, but hearing her laugh so much was so precious that he just accepted being thrown under the bus.

There was one other thing, however, that Aether couldn't accept so easily. He tried not to bring it up to Furina, so she didn't feel bad, but he was suffocating sitting the entire day in the house. Not that the house wasn't nice; it was lovely, but he was a traveler and adventurer at heart, and spending the entire day behind closed doors just wasn't for him. Especially when the weather was nice and the birds were chirping, he just couldn't sit inside (even when they did find another chair for him to sit on). He was thankful to Navia and Clorinde; when they visited, he could go out and let them have a girls' night, but on other days he didn't want to leave Furina alone.

On the third day after the Great Cake Incident, as they now jokingly called it, he decided that he was dragging Furina out for a walk, no matter the cost.

"Please, love, we never went on walks together. We don't have to hold hands or anything if you don't want people to notice. We can even get out of the city if you want! Honestly, I think it's good for you to get some fresh air; you almost never leave the house."

"That's not true!" replied Furina. "I go grocery shopping, sometimes alone... and shopping for clothes with Clorinde and Navia!"

"But that takes fifteen minutes, half an hour at most to get there! And besides, what's the point of shopping for clothes? You wear the same blue suit every day."

"Ah, the nerve! How dare you criticize a woman for what she wears! You've become a typical Fontainian man! Besides, it's not true. See, sometimes I wear white underneath the suit, and sometimes I wear black."

Aether laughed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to criticize your outfit. But who are you trying to impress with it anyway? You never go anywhere official."

Furina blushed a bit. "You, you dummy! But also, a lady should always look good primarily for herself!"

"You don't have to impress me." Aether smiled. "I don't even know if it's possible to impress me more than you already have. Besides, you look gorgeous whatever you wear anyway."

"You flatterer! But you like my blue suit, don't you?"

"I absolutely love it," confirmed Aether. Then he thought for a bit. "You know, maybe there is one thing you can do to impress me."

"What?" asked Furina, even though she was sure she knew what the answer was.

"Go on a walk with me."

"Ugh... fine... but can we please go when there aren't so many people outside? How about a night walk?"

"Sure, whatever you want!" happily answered Aether. He could see that Furina wasn't thrilled, but he couldn't wait to get out of the house. Besides, he really thought it would be good for her.

After they had dinner and as they were preparing to go out, the Traveler asked her, "Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere where there aren't so many people. Not the fountain. And not the busy streets. And not in front of the big shops."

"Okay, let's just take a walk in the small streets then."

Aether felt great to be outside and walk next to Furina. But he could see that she was either looking at her feet or looking around anxiously. He tried to distract her by talking, but for the first time ever, their conversation didn't really work. At the end, he spent more time talking to Paimon than he did with Furina.

As he was beginning to regret forcing her, something even worse happened.

"Lady Furina? Lady Furina!" A woman had noticed them and was running towards them. Furina groaned, grabbed his arm, and tried to pull him away, but it was too late; the woman was too close.

"This is all your fault!" Furina snarked at Aether and let go of his hand.

"Lady Furina! Please! I am sorry for stopping you on the street like that. I know you must not like being ambushed like this, but as soon as I recognized you, I knew I just had to speak with you."

Aether took Furina's hand again, intending to say that she doesn't have to speak if she doesn't want to. But Furina squeezed his palm tightly and just said, "Yes... what is it?" She was still looking at her feet, and not the woman.

"Well, you've probably forgotten who I am-"

"Of course I remember you, Clarice," said Furina, still not gazing up.

"Oh, by the Seven, you still remember me! This is truly an honor, Lady Furina!"

"The... honor is all mine, Clarice... and please... I am just a regular person now, so just drop the 'lady'. Just Furna."

"Oh, but Lady Furina, I couldn't, I just couldn't! Anyway... you probably don't remember my case, it was almost two years ago, but-"

"I remember," said Furina again. "Your daughter was very sick, so we arranged for her to be transported to Sumeru to be treated by the Akademia doctors." The pavement in front of Furina must have been the most interesting pavement in Fontaine.

For a few seconds the woman, Clarice, couldn't speak. She was taken aback, and a few tears of happiness appeared in her eyes. Then she slowly said, "Oh, Archons, Lady Furina, you do remember everything! This is what I wanted to tell you about. I received a letter from the Sumeru Akademia saying that my daughter is going to make a full recovery. It's all thanks to you, Lady Furina!"

Finally, Furina looked at the woman in front of her. "Really? I am so glad to hear that!" she said with genuine happiness in her voice.

"It is all thanks to you, Lady Furina. Thank you so much! I don't know what we would have done without you! I..." Clarice couldn't seem to be able to speak anymore; she paused and wiped the tears off her face.

"I am really happy for you, Clarice, and for your family. Thanks for telling me. But please... it's just Furina now. I insist. I am not an Archon anymore. I just want to live as a normal person now."

"Of course, I will respect your wish... Miss Furina. But to me, you will always remain the Hydro Archon. The most caring, gentle, and wise Archon. To me, you've made all the difference in the world. Even if you didn't use any divine powers to do it, that doesn't matter. I am really sorry to have bothered you like that; surely you just wanted to enjoy your walk in peace..."

"No... No, I am very glad you told me that. Please send my kindest regards to your daughter."

"I will. Thank you again, Miss Furina. I wish you all the happiness on the path you've chosen to walk." said Clarice, and she walked off.

Furina hugged Aether's arm. "Let's go home."

He didn't say anything on the way back, and Paimon was surprisingly silent as well. They could see Furina needed some time to absorb and reflect on what just happened.

When they got to the house and went in, Paimon saw that they had some things to say to each other. "Whew, it's been a long day; Paimon's going directly to bed!" she said, and she went upstairs to the spare room where she was spending the nights.

Furina turned to the Traveler and said, "Aether, please don't make me go out of the house again. I will tell you when I'm ready. I can see you want to go out sometimes. Just take Paimon and go; you know I have nothing against being alone for a while."

He suddenly felt like a fool. Of course someone as empathic as Furina would notice how he feels, even if he doesn't bring it up. "I'm so sorry," he said as he took her in his arms, and he really meant it. "It was my desire, and I forced it on you."

"Don't be. I'm fine. It turned out fine tonight. Just don't force me again."

"I won't, I promise. But do you see that what I told you is true now? About what you've done and how people feel about you. That you are a 'gentle and wise Archon'?"

"Well, you didn't use exactly these words, did you?" teased him Furina. She seemed much more confident, and Aether loved that.

"No, but I did tell you basically the same thing! Come on, give me some credit here."

"Hmmm... okay. I'll give you all the credit you want. I'll give you everything you want."

Those words drove him crazy. He lifted her up in his arms, pinned her to the wall, and started kissing her like never before.

Furina felt his lips on hers, and she felt his arms all over her body. She felt special, she felt wanted. Something was burning inside of her, she felt excited like never before. Aether was kissing her with ardor, but it was no longer only kisses that she wanted. "Aether," she whispered into his ear. "I think I'm ready."

Aether stopped and looked at her. "Are you sure? You don't want to force yourself if you don't want to." But as he looked into her eyes, he knew the answer. She really was more confident. And she was giving him the look. The look he couldn't resist. The look of excitement, enthusiasm and confidence.

"I'm sure. I want you."