𝚂𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙰𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 [𝚐.𝚒 𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚡 𝚐𝚗!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]

XXX

For the rest of the noon, you continued to make conversation with Xiao. It was small, and kind of stilted sometimes, but you saw the small smiles and the slow relaxing of his shoulders. Talking about anything from his favorite color (amber) to laughing at the historical inaccuracies in the books that told of Rex Lapis and co. Seeing Xiao's face scrunch whenever you recounted a story made you giggle and turned Xiao's cheeks a light red as he scoffed with a near invisible smile.

You were in the middle of retelling a story between Rex Lapis and Barbatos when Xiao scoffed and caused you to break out into a laugh. "What?"

"That did not happen." Xiao's eyes rolled, a huff from his lips as he grew more exasperated with the "historians" of Liyue.

"You're telling me Lord Morax and Lord Barbatos didn't get drunk on one Lantern Rite so long ago and shoved their tongues down each other's throats?" You practically wheezed out.

Xiao blushed this time, a more angry and embarrassed red than bashful pink. "Please don't say that so crassly."

"Oh come on Xiao." You giggle more, slowly gaining my breath back.

Xiao shook his blush away before furrowing his eyebrows and tilting his head to the side as if trying to listen to something more closely.

Your chuckles die out and a more concerned look grew on your face. "Xiao? Are you okay?"

"Your little traveler friend is back." Xiao says, a hint of disappointment to his tone.

"Oh, Aether's back from his meeting with Ningguang?" I stand from my balcony chair and reach out to take the plate that once held Xiao's almond tofu. "I'll go see him, and I'll take your plate down to the kitchen too."

You were about to leave when Xiao's hand shot out and wrapped around one of your wrists. You stopped, letting him squeeze your wrist and waiting for him to speak as he bowed his head and turned away from you slightly. You couldn't see his face entirely but you saw his mouth form words he tried to speak. It took a moment and a deep breath before he finally was able to push them out. "I enjoyed... speaking... with you today."

Heat filled your cheeks and a somewhat dopey smile at the yaksha's shyness pulled at your lips. "Yeah? I enjoyed it too. Like I said before, I'll be in Liyue a while longer, so we'll see each other again." You gripped his own wrist of the hand that was holding yours and gave it a gentle squeeze.

With a final smile in his direction, you left the balcony, quickly dropping off the plate at the kitchen before standing in front of Wangshu Inn, calling out for Ariel.

The angel landed in front of you, a calm smile on his face. "You ready to go back to the inn in Liyue Harbour?"

"I am." You practically jumped in Ariel's arms (not on his back so you wouldn't crush his wings) and he carried you bridal style. "Xiao said Aether was finished with his meeting with Ningguang."

Ariel spread his long, fairy wings. The sun filtered through them, creating jewel-like patterns on the grass and causing the gold in his wings to shimmer brightly. He took off, the flimsy look of his wings being a complete mask as they beat strongly in the air.

"How was your flight after you left me with Xiao?" You called over the sound of the wind. You tucked your face to his neck so your mouth could be closer to his ear and you didn't have to yell.

"Relaxing." His feathery, white hair whipped in the wind as the two of you flew.

"Oh good. Everyone had a nice day."

The two of you finally landed outside the harbor and walked quickly to the inn in order to meet Aether. You and Ariel entered the shared room to see Aether, once again, flopped on his bed.