| [Well, it's like this: one fine, sunny morning, Kaeya may find himself struck by the sudden mystery of how the Honorary Knight hasn't been seen in days.
That in itself wouldn't be so unusual if he'd gotten a new lead on his sister's whereabouts, of course. But even when the traveler is busy searching the mountains and marshes of Liyue for his missing sibling, he still manages to come back to Mondstadt eventually; their humble city seems to be where he most often lays his head to rest.
Sure, maybe it's arrogant for any place to lay claim to a wanderer — but Aether, in his subtle way, has seemed about as fond of Mondstadt as he can be of anywhere. It's not normal to have not seen him for so long. He's usually running from the plaza towards the Adventurer's Guild in the morning. Hours later, he might be seen at the alchemist's station, chatting with Timaeus while pressing Crystal Cores into Condensed Resin. In the evenings, one might look up to see him spreading azure wings across the starry sky, gliding from the top of the Favonius building down towards the Angel's Share.
None of that. It's been roughly three days.
So: the investigation proceeds as follows. Sara normally employs him as a delivery boy, but she hasn't seen him in a week. Marjorie has the best vantage point to notice any comings and goings in the city, but she last remembers seeing Aether four days ago. He was distracted, she claims; he came to ask her about a gift from Rudolf for Jilliana, but he'd oddly asked her to repeat several recommendations, as if he hadn't been paying attention to what she said. Rudolf remembers the interaction — remembers, too, that the traveler's cheeks had been oddly flushed, so much so that he wondered if Kaeya himself hadn't spoken to him beforehand. He doesn't know anything else. Dead end.
Some more inquiries have to be undertaken; by this point, a few are with Vile's help. Charles hasn't seen him, and neither have any of the local drunkards. Wagner normally sees the boy's business, but hasn't gotten any new requests in three days. Blanche would've seen him if he purchased any groceries from her, but she can't remember; a check of her receipts indicates that he bought some meat and produce two days ago. Interesting. So he has been in the city. A few well-placed words finally jog Sara's memory where she couldn't recall speaking with him in a week or so; she hasn't seen him buy anything at Blanche's across the way, but his fairy companion has dropped by to pick up a fully-cooked meal as recently as yesterday.
Yesterday. But not today?
That leads Kaeya, in a stroke of deductive genius, to Goth. As possibly the second-richest man in Mondstadt after Diluc himself, the landlord owns not only the Goth Grand Hotel, but a number of smaller properties, some of which he rents, and some of which he uses as bed-and-breakfasts. Sure enough, he agreed to rent one of his townhouses to the traveler four days ago, leasing it for a period of only two weeks. He hems and haws about the privacy of his tenants for a moment, but Kaeya's sly tongue and status in the community loosens his legal-mindedness soon enough.
At the address he's given, Paimon answers the door, looking shocked at first, and then sheepish.
"Sir Kaeya?!" she squeaks, her halo nearly flying off her head when she opens the door to find his one eye blinking back at her.
It doesn't take much for her to let him in, though, and she doesn't need to ask why he's there. The pixie seems somewhat dejected, herself. "Paimon told him he needed someone else here ages ago, but he kept saying he didn't need assistance," she explains glumly. "Of course Paimon offered to get Barbara, but he said she wouldn't be able to help... and he was still cooking for himself a little while ago, but now that he's too sick to get out of bed, Paimon doesn't know how to make his meals..."
She sighs, coming to a stop outside of what must be his bedroom. "Maybe you can talk to him. Paimon doesn't want to make him do anything he doesn't want to do, but that's what you're good at, right? Making people want to do things?"
She does a loop-de-loop back toward the kitchen, leaving him to open Aether's door. The bedroom is furnished with the bare minimum, but Aether's there, red-cheeked and seemingly asleep. The covers are hovering loosely at his waist.
He's not in deep slumber, though. The traveler's eyes open, and he stares at Kaeya with bleary golden eyes, seemingly dazed and adrift.]
Mm... This dream again? |
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}