It took not too long until the blonde boy finally came down from the mountain with the bird right next to him, they were having a pretty casual conversation from what it seemed.

"I'm afraid I must leave now, it was my pleasure talking to you dear traveler, please make sure your friend there is in a better mood the next time I must talk to him." Teased Cloud Retainer as she flew away into the distance unable to be seen in just mere seconds. She sure was fast.

"Um hey, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too much." Said Aether in an awkward voice.

"What kind of chat were the two of you having? It seemed serious from the amount of time it took." Questioned the Adeptus.

"Ah- uhm." He stuttered. "We were talking about lantern rite, yeah..."

Xiao instantly noticed that he was lying, it was obvious from the look in his eyes. It was rare for him to lie, so he knew it was something serious he shouldn't know about. But curiosity got the best of him.

"If you wish to keep something from me then be it, don't straight up lie in my face."

The conversation between the Traveler and the white Adeptus made him unable to look at the Yaksha seriously again. The way she mentioned he might be in love. He knew about the numerous adepti-human relationships in Liyue but he would've never expected a Yaksha to feel any warm feeling such as love. He knew that his companion would eventually learn all about emotions but learning in such way was unexpected. What if Cloud Retainer was right?

He tries to put on a serious face before speaking. "It's nothing, we really only talked about the upcoming festival."

They did really talk about the lantern rite after she finished with all the 'love' stuff. She gave a suggestion to spend yet another festival year with Xiao, maybe he'll be lucky enough to make him feel comfortable enough to spend it directly in the city and not watching from afar. He could try to celebrate it with other people who are grateful for all the deeds he did for them in the past hundred years.

Xiao sighed. "Right...Lantern rite." He remembered.

"It seems it will be starting tomorrow night. It has been a while since me and Paimon have seen those floating lanterns..." he stopped mid sentence as he saw something glowing in the back of the Adeptuses head. He pointed at it trying to figure out what it was. "What's that in your hair?"

It seemed like he had completely forgotten about the little gift he was going to give his friend. He took it out of his hair, it seemed to have started glowing way more than before. Xiao tapped on it once again to confirm it's soul had left the body and it seemed like it has. It wasn't supposed to be shining more than before. There was something really wrong with this little guy.

"I uh was planning to give this to you, but looks like something is wrong with it." Said the Yaksha as he gently held the crystalfly, showing it to Aether.

"Woah! This one seems to be glowing more than the others you've given me."

"I found it while waiting for you."

He grabbed the traveler's hand, opened it and put the crystalfly inside of it.

"You gave me so many of these so far, yet this one seems more special." He admitted after looking at it for a while.

He never understood why Xiao kept giving him those. The blonde boy knew he had a strange hobby of collecting them, so why does he just give them away? Normally he never had time to try putting one in his hair like his companion suggested in some of his letters, he knew even if he tried Paimon would jokingly make fun of him for it. But now that she wasn't here it was a perfect opportunity to try it.

He put the crystalfly on the side of his head, it sticked perfectly onto him. Like it was meant to stay on him forever. He looked over to Xiao's eyes and smiled friendly.

Of course, as always. The Adeptus had to look away. The traveler had noticed how he always kept doing that and decided to tease him about it.

"It's disrespectful not looking into somebody's eyes when you're talking to them Mr. Vigilant Yaksha." He grabbed his chin making him directly look into the other's eyes while moving closer. Aether expected him to flinch but to his surprise all he did was stare without any sudden moves. All that changed was that his eyes got wide and he finally looked into blonde boy's eyes for longer than a second.

"...I- uh..."

"Huh strange, I've never noticed how handsome your face is. And your eyes...they're beautiful..."

"Stop it..." He managed to say as he finally turned away after freezing for whatever reason, with his face slightly flushed. "That crystalfly didn't give you some sort of strange diasese did it..?"

"Relax, I'm just joking with you. And no I haven't gone crazy." He laughed at the embarrassment he managed to pull out of him. The traveler did not have a sadistic side to him but seeing his companion like this was funny to him.

"Hey I'm sorry!" He yelled realizing he got no response after he had stopped laughing. It was a pretty stupid thing to grab Xiao by the chin and pull him close. After all he just wanted them to be making eyecontact when speaking. Seeing such flustered reaction out of him was surprising.

The Yaksha had zooned out while he completley covered his face with his hands, still looking away. It seemed like he was trying to hide something.

"Are you alright? Im sorry I won't tease you again!" The blonde boy kept apologizing and apologizing multiple times but his companion was just silent.

Once he finally turned to face Aether he had some obvious pink blush on the both of his cheeks. He looked like he ate a Jueyun chili. His friend was kind enough to not question it, enough teasing for the Adeptus for today, he didn't seem like he could deal with any more.

"No need to apologize, I should be the one doing so for sudden movements."

"Sudden movements such as the ones you did are normal, don't worry about it."

"...How do mortals find that normal?"

"It's something connected to body language."

"I've...heard some stuff about such language before." Admitted Xiao remembering a conversation he and Zhongli had once.

"Maybe you can tell me some things you know while we walk."

And so they started taking a walk like they did for the past days, these kinds of walks felt nice for both of them. The conversations they had were always anything but something related to negative topics. Aether tried not to bring up fighting, karmic debt and nightmares into their conversation as much as he could. He tried to engage his friend to talk about his emotions and what he felt. The blonde boy sometimes felt like a therapist but it didn't bother him. The Yaksha really needed somebody he could talk to and to help him heal. Finding somebody wasn't easy but the moment Aether stepped into his life, a new opportunity seemed to have opened for him.

As for the other ones side, he saw Xiao as someone he could rely on to protect him when needed, sure he himself was a strong fighter but you can't ever really say no to additional help. The Adeptus never asked for too much help of him. Only small things and the recent thing that has been going on. Many other people he met on his adventure took advantage of him willing to help anyone. His companion was the only one he was especially happy helping, he deserved any help he asked for. He had been stuck with a bad mind for a long while, some positive stuff in his life could change Xiao and make him live a more peaceful and carefree life.

As they were walking their fingertips accidentally touched. This never happened before, it seemed like they were walking a bit too close to eachother. They looked at eachother for a moment before one spoke.

"Uh...Would it be seen as strange if we held hands?" Asked the Yaksha. Hoping for a non awkward answer.

"There's nobody around us to see it, and if you're asking if I think it's strange..." he stopped speaking, looking at the others hand. "I don't mind it." He smiled.

"I've always assumed from all the rumors mortals tell, that holding hands is a way to show love. I'm guessing I was wrong."

"Friends and lovers can hold hands, it's a cute way to give comfort!"

"How can one tell the difference about which is meant for friends and which for loved ones?" Asked Xiao curiously.

"Simple. You can't." He joked trying to avoid that he himself didn't understand the difference either.

"..."

"..."

The Adeptus grabbed the Traveler's hand then continued walking as if nothing happened. He really acted like a child sometimes. Not even a warning before he took the others hand. He just did it in the most friendly way possible.

It seemed like now it was Aether's turn to have blush appear on his face. The sudden action made him get flustered. He told Xiao that friends could hold hands in a joking way but he would've never expected the green haired guy to hold his hand in the open. He often did try holding the blonde boy's hand when asleep but at the time he was unconscious and deep in his dreams, so the traveler didn't think too much of it but as some sort of action that gave his friend comfort.

"Xiao?"

"Yeah?" He stopped walking to look back on his companion with a face that seemed to be burning. "Are you sick? Does your head hurt?" The Adeptus started checking Aether's temperature but it only made the situation worse. He turned even more red and started to sweat, trying to find a believable excuse. Instead his eyes just got very wide and he stared into the Yaksha's concerned looking face.

"I uh- I'm- I..don't uh..." now he was the one who kept stuttering. Oh how the tables have turned.

"If you feel unwell we could go back."

"I'm alright. R-really."

"I know a lie when I see one, quit denying it."

Trying to lie to someone as smart as Xiao was impossible. But the Traveler did not realize what was the lie there. He was just feeling a tiny bit shocked right?

"I Guess we could go back then...but I'm fine you shouldn't worry." He reassured his companion, face still as red as an apple. Even worse than the Adeptus was when Aether teased him for fun. But why was he feeling this way? He couldn't have developed a little crush on the guy standing infront of him, there was no way. So many questions started popping up in his head. It was like a tornado was inside him. That was just mere physical touch done by hands. Only thing that was different was that Xiao did it intentionally. Not accidentally like in his sleep. Something about that information made the traveler's face even more red.

The Yaksha without second thought grabbed him and teleported the both of them onto the Wanghuu inn roof. It took a lot of energy out of him. But it was necessary when he realized how much his companion was heating up.

The moment their feet touched the roof's floor everything inside the sick ones head started spinning. It seemed like the entire world started to collapse.

The only thing poor Aether was able to witness before passing out was the Adeptus talking to the manager of the place and the crystalfly falling out of his hair right infront of his face.

Then it all turned black for the Traveler.