*Disclaimer* - I do not own the copyright to Genshin Impact

*A/N* - Hey there you fine readers. It's been a minute. It took longer than I anticipated to get this chapter out. Apologies for that. For a story as simple as this one, the nuisance better known as terrible time management kicked into play and prevented me from updating this story. That and the obvious fact that life is unpredictable and can lead to things not going to plan. Either way, enough of me complaining, and thanks again for checking this story out. Over the past few months, I've gotten a few new ideas for characters to be involved in this story and I can't wait to have them encounter the Travelers. Hence why Furina is up next. Aether and Lumine are going to cause people to go crazy lol. And with that, thanks again for checking this chapter and story out and I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter.

"Ah! You couldn't ask for a more beautiful day than today!"

Lifting her arms high into the air and smelling the wonderful scent through the air, Furina was in an excellent mood today. There was a reason for that.

First, she had gotten a great night of sleep, then had a delicious breakfast that also included snacking on a few sweets, after that, she managed to do a bit of shopping and bought a few things that she liked, and lastly, she managed to meet up with her friends and spend some time with them.

Navia and Clorinde were doing a bit of shopping when she happened to come across them which caused the trio to get together. Then they encountered Chiori making a dress delivery and managed to bring her into the group resulting in the group finding themselves gathered for lunch.

Currently, she had stepped away to use the ladies' room and was just about to join them when a certain someone managed to catch her eye.

'Huh? Is that… Aether?'

Noticing the Traveler stationed a few hundred feet from her, Furina could see him staring at a wall all by himself. Paimon was nowhere to be found which caused the former Archon to raise her eyebrow. Something seemed amiss.

Deciding that the others could wait a moment, she made her way over to the Traveler and could see that he hadn't moved an inch. It was as if he was in deep concentration or contemplating something.

'Is there something on the wall?'

As Furina asked herself this, she glanced at what Aether was staring at and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The wall appeared like any other leaving the theatric girl to be perplexed. Perhaps he was in deep thought about something critical? Would it be appropriate for her to bother him now? Should she do that?

These questions and more ran rampant through her head as she considered what to do next. At the very least, she wanted to make her presence known to the boy. It wasn't every day that she came across the person who made her feel anxious and her cheeks flared up at just the sight of him.

As much as she didn't want to blatantly make it sound or appear, the former Archon had feelings for the famous Traveler.

From first hearing about his exploits and accomplishments across the nations to then encountering him and going through quite a series of events with him, Furina had grown to respect and admire the blonde-haired boy. And before long, she was head over heels for him. The moments that they spent together were some of the fondest memories she could remember in a long time. Hanging out with her friends and performing in the theater were great joys to her but being with Aether whether it was a simple chat or spending time with him was an amazing feeling to her.

And so, puffing her chest out, Furina took a step forward and tapped Aether's shoulder hoping to break him out of his deep thought.

"Aether? Traveler? Are you there?"

"…"

"Aether?"

"…"

"Err… Traveler? Is everything alright?"

"…"

"Did something happen? Are you okay?" the former Archon questioned while watching the boy give some sort of reaction.

"…"

"Aether? I-I'm starting to get a little worried here. Where's Paimon?"

"…"

Not getting any sort of response, Furina began to look around and try to see if the floating little girl was anywhere to be seen. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Traveler's companion. He was just left alone and staring at the wall while not even flinching or moving at all.

"Were you poisoned? Paralyzed? Did something bad happen or did someone tell you something bad?" Furina asked, concern growing in her voice.

"…"

Frowning at the fact that she wasn't getting a response from him, she then decided to give him a good look over and moved in front of him. Upon closer inspection, she was left with quite an unusual sight.

"…"

Aether's eyes were wide open, and he was continuing to look forward without even blinking an eye. In the entire time that she had gotten to know him, she had never seen him in a state like this before. He always appeared lively and alert for anything that could happen.

Now, the Traveler was like a statue. Unmoving and almost unalive in a strange way. Except for the fact that Furina knew he was still alive. There was just something very wrong with him right now.

"Aether? You're starting to worry me. Say something, please?"

"…"

Taking a step toward him, Furina began to wave her gloved hand in the air and near his face wanting to get some sort of reaction from him. Even a blink of an eye would suffice.

"Seriously? Is something the matter?" Furina asked once more before waving both of her hands near his face. "Traveler? Are you there? Hello?"

"…"

Beginning to grow impatient, a sudden thought came to her as she continued to stare at the blonde-haired boy right into the eyes.

"*gasp* Wait a minute… are you… ignoring me!?"

"…"

Becoming thunderstruck by this revelation, Furina was now pointing her gloved index finger right near Aether's face.

"How dare you! I've been worried this entire time. I thought something drastic might've happened to you. Do you know how scared I was becoming?!" She yelled while slightly pouting.

"…"

Seeing that Aether still wasn't moving, Furina began to scrunch her face in annoyance.

"Grr… Aether…"

Deciding to put it up the notch to get the Traveler's attention, Furina shook her head.

"Sorry for this, Aether, but I'm getting quite annoyed with this stunt."

Gently placing her fingertips along the boy's cheek, Furina's cheeks had taken a pink tint. However, this instantly turned to a frown as she pinched his cheek hoping to get a response.

"Aether!"

"…"

"Not even this!?"

"…"

Coming up with another idea, she began patting his head. With a gentle tap, her hands moved smoothly and caressed the top of his head. Internally, she was enjoying this quite a lot.

"How's this? Will you break out of whatever's bothering you? Will you even blink your eye?"

"…"

With still no reaction, Furina couldn't help but groan loudly. This was not turning out the way she thought it would. If Aether was messing with her, she was sure that he'd at the very least blink to her actions. However, there was still no visible reaction along his face. He was as still as stone.

Continuing to stare at the boy, Furina had another idea come to her. One that also caused her to blush. Given her deep feelings for the boy, she was almost tempted to dismiss this idea entirely. Alas, there was still no reaction from him, and if she wanted to snap him out of his strange state then…

"*sigh* Ok… Ok… I've got this!"

Making sure that she was in front of him, Furina decided to get it over with and smiled at him warmly. The kind of smile one would share with the person they cared for dearly in a romantic sense.

"H-How's this?"

"…"

"Ugh. Nothing?"

"…"

Breaking her smile and frowning yet again, Furian took off her hat and placed it atop of the Traveler's head. She even began to adjust the hat by getting up close to him and changing it, so it fit him fashionably.

"There! You look quite dashing!"

"…"

"You know, you could say something at the very least. I'd even take a thank you."

"…"

"…Urgh. I don't know if something serious is going on with you, Aether, but if you need someone to talk to… I'm here…"

"…"

"Is this a joke you're playing on me? *sigh* In all the time that we've known each other, you don't seem like the type to pull such a prank. At least, not to this extent."

"…"

Feeling a headache start to come on, Furina took a step back and let out a long sigh. She was starting to lose hope that she could fix the Traveler. She didn't even know what was wrong with him.

"Aether… can you just move? A simple blink of the eye would be enough… I don't know what to do…"

"…"

Left feeling a mix of disappointment and frustration course through her body, Furina defeatedly hunched over. This whole ordeal was anything but normal. She wasn't sure what else she should try. Her options were beginning to wane out.

"Traveler? Can you hear me? I… I'm starting to get worried… no. That's a lie. I'm already worried. I'm beginning to get scared. I don't know how to help you or even what's up with you. Can you please… give me a sign? Anything…"

"…"

Turning herself around, Furina's back was now facing the blonde-haired traveler as she contemplated her next move. She wasn't even sure what to do next.

'Should I continue to try and get him to snap out of whatever this thing he was doing was? Or should she go and get someone else? Navia? Clorinde? Chiori? Neuvillette? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!'

These were questions rapidly forming in her head and causing a migraine to spawn. The feeling of doubt was starting to swell up in her heart. What should she do?

*Ruffle*

Unaware of her, a certain someone began to blink his eyes and readjust his vision so that he could see what was in front of him. Immediately, his eyes caught onto someone very familiar to him with her white hair and blue highlights. Additionally, her stylish and beautiful blue outfit was one that he doubted anyone would forget.

Aether was now curious as to what Furina was doing here and why she looked stressed out.

"*sigh*"

About to say something, Aether felt something on his head which caused him to peer upwards and bring his hands to his head.

'Huh? Is this… a hat? It's Furina's hat. Why is it here? Did she put it on me? What's going on?' the Traveler thought to himself as he felt the trim of the former Archon's elegant hat.

He couldn't help but smile brightly to himself as he imagined Furina wearing the hat and perfecting her stylish outfit. Plus, he couldn't help but blush at the thought of her blue eyes staring right at him and smiling brightly at him.

Shaking his head with these thoughts, Aether kept a sly grin on his face before realizing that he should snap Furina out of her deep thoughts. Based on her body language, it looked like she was really worried.

Luckily, he would fix that.

"Err… what should I do?"

"About what?"

"About Aether. I'm not sure what I could do to get him to move or even blink. He's just… there. Frozen? Stuck? Stiff? Grr! I don't know how to explain it! Something is wrong with him!" Furina shouted in clear distress.

Folding his arms across his chest, Aether watched as Furina kept her back to him and continued to talk. Unaware that he was the one who spoke up.

"I know I should go get some help from my friends- our friends nearby. But… if something's bothering the Traveler, then I… I want to try and help! He's done so much for me in the time we've gotten to know one another… this is the least I can do for him. But I don't even know where to start!"

"…Sounds rough."

"...You have no idea."

It was at this point that Furina had a sudden epiphany about this entire ordeal.

"…Huh? Wait a minute… who am I even… speaking… to…"

Turning around, she was left with a beyond mortified expression washed over her face. Her eyes were darting up and down while taking in the boy's appearance and her mouth floundered about opening and closing all while trying to utter a word.

"I-I-I…h-how…why…"

"Haha! What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Aether cheekily remarked while grinning.

It didn't help that the Traveler was also wearing Furina's hat and even tipped it in a flashy sort of way. This resulted in the former Archon staring bluntly at the boy for what felt like an entire minute before her face took on a different color. A red hue could be seen flourishing across her cheeks.

"A-AETHER!?"

With a simple wave, the blonde-haired boy also gave a simple response, "Hello."

"W-What are you doing!?"

"Err… what do you mean?"

"I-I…You…"

"Me?"

"You!"

"Huh?"

"Grr! Gah!"

Furina was at a loss of words. There was no real response coming to her at this moment.

"Do you know how worried I've been!?"

Confused by her response, Aether simply raised his eyebrow.

"Worried? About me? Why?"

"Are you serious right now!? You!"

Chuckling at the girl's reaction, the Traveler began to piece together everything that happened.

"So, you saw me and got worried about what I was doing?"

"Why are you stating this like it was nothing!? I've been here for the past five, maybe ten minutes trying to get your attention, but you just kept staring at the wall like a statue! At first, I thought something bad might've happened to you and I got worried. But after trying several things to get your attention, I began to think that you were just messing with me!" Furina shouted to the boy. "I was worried sick!"

Clasping his hands together, Aether now had a clear understanding of what had happened.

Contrary to Furina's speculation, he was actually quite busy with himself. His attention had been diverted to sorting out his inventory and all the items he had collected in the past month. The commission pay had been great leading to him and Paimon doing a bit of spending which resulted in his pockets being full. Which is why he had zoned out and appeared like a statue.

Furthermore, Paimon had grown tired in their day of shopping and decided to take a nap back at the Teapot leaving the blonde-haired boy to be by himself. A simple reason for his traveling companion to not be around him. And yet, it was not commonly or ever heard about from the floating girl.

"…You were?"

Aether couldn't help but don a surprised yet expected expression along his face.

"Of course, I was!" Furina huffed out before twirling a strand of her hair. "You… You mean a lot to me… and others. If something bad was to happen to you… I…"

A smile graced the Traveler's face leaving the former Archon to stare at it with a fascinated observation. One could even go as far as to call it a look of admiration and more.

"Thanks, Furina. I'm sorry I worried you. I should have had Paimon stick around in case anyone spotted me."

"Speaking of her, where is Paimon?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Aether replied all too casually.

"She's back at the Teapot. Said she wanted to take a nap after our long day of shopping."

"Oh… that's… why didn't I think of that…" mumbled the theatric girl.

"As for what I was doing, well, let's just say I was deep in the zone. I was sorting out all my belongings in my headspace and seemed to just lose track of time. There's nothing to worry about. All is good."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Furina couldn't help but have a thousand-ton mental weight lifted off her shoulders.

"*sigh* Thank goodness. You had me worried! Don't do something like that again!"

The Traveler simply nodded at her words.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that the next time I zone off like that it'll be in the Teapot haha."

"Seriously, how were you able to just stand in place for so long without even batting an eye? I mean, I poked you a bit as well as- "

"Put your hat on my head?" Aether asked, keeping a sly smirk on his face.

This resulted in the former Hydro Archon immediately blushing while also realizing that her hat was still atop his head.

"T-Th-That's beside the point!"

"Mm… I don't know. Kind of sounds like- "

"You're a royal pain!"

"Yet you stayed by my side the whole time."

"That's because I was worried!"

"I appreciate it a lot!"

"Grr!"

From an outsider's perspective, it looked like the two were a lively couple arguing with one another in a carefree type of way. Resulting in many passersby to stare in awe at the two before shaking their heads with smiles. Along with one single question making itself apparent above all else.

"What did the Traveler do to anger the former Hydro Archon?"

*A/N* - Thanks for checking this story out and reaching the bottom of the chapter. Once again, I apologize for not updating this random-filled chapter sooner. Time management was something that I did not have this time around lol. Either way, thanks again for giving it a read and I hope you'll have yourself a good day or night. Until next time.