The Winds Bring with them Change (Volume 1)

19: Learning of the Frailty of Life

Venti had started crying beside him, rubbing at his eyes furiously as if that would help to quell the flow of tears, the stream of sadness. He felt bad for worrying the Archon over something that could very well be nothing, and made a mental note to speak to Zhongli about this. He would know.

"I don't know why I'm crying, I'm not even very worried about this, but I can't stop." His mumbled words had Xiao pulling him a bit closer, letting him rest his head on his shoulder as he cried. He felt thin but strong, the clear shake of his shoulders prompting Xiao to hug him tightly, a semblance of the comfort a mortal who understood these feelings could give.

He ran his hands through the his hair, recognizing that he wasn't very good at comforting vocally, and resorting to the knowledge that Venti really liked being held. It felt like they'd been sitting there for 15 minutes when Venti finally pulled away from the embrace, flashing a smile in Xiao's direction and pulling him into a single, quicker hug. They heard a dog barking outside, and the next moment Aether was stepping through the double doors, looking tired and a bit pale. In his arms was a child, her face thin and malnourished, her clothing barely scraps covered by Aether's scarf. He made it a couple steps into the door when Venti was rushing over to hold onto his shoulder, preventing the sway from turning into a fall. He plucked the child from their friend's arms, pushing him hurriedly into one of the multiple chairs before he actually fell over. Xiao was at his side in a moment, the stench of blood so thick around him that he nearly gagged. He was looking dazedly at the child, his breathing shallow and unsteady when he spoke roughly, "I barely got her out."

Venti and Xiao shared a look, and the other man left to find a couple different medicines and herbs for poultice just in case. Xiao was stripping his friend of his shirt and examining him for any serious injuries or wounds that could become infected if left. As he couldn't fine anything other than some bruising around his arms and ribs, he leant down to Aether's eye level, trying to speak clearly in case the other was having trouble hearing.

"Did you get hit on the head at all?" He gripped his face gently, trying to tell if his pupils were dilated or not. When he tilted his head up towards the light, his friend pulled away, nodding slowly. That would explain it; the disorientation, the dazed expression, the continued squinting. Mortals tended to be a lot more fragile than Xiao himself was, and he'd forgotten how badly they could be hurt from something as simple as a head injury.

He felt around Aether's head gently, trying to be more careful when he felt him pull back in pain. Around the side of his head, his hair was sticky and when Xiao pulled his hand back it was coated in blood. Venti returned a moment later, hands full of different medicines for things, as Xiao didn't exactly tell him what to get. He pulled water free of the bundle, apologizing silently as he tried his hardest to clean the dried blood gently from his hair. Thankfully the wound itself wasn't too bad, it bled a lot worse than it actually was.

He wrapped it, handing his friend a cup of the tea Venti also brought out, and turned to pack away the extra bandages. Xiao heard a sound behind him and turned just fast enough to see Aether falling, the cup placed back on the table. He pulled him into himself, careful to not jostle his head as he layed him back. He knew that with such an obviously serious head injury, you were in no way supposed to let them sleep so soon, but looking down at his unconscious form, he felt that it would be worse to wake him up so soon.

He sat there with Venti and the, now fed, child awaiting Aether's explanation as to the new face in their home and his injury for a couple hours. When he finally woke up, he was groggy and pleaded with them to 'just be a bit quieter please.' It was concerning, as Xiao hadn't been sure if this was all that serious until now. But with the look Venti sent him, they decided that he should at least be taken to a healer. However, they debated on whether to take him to Baizhu or Barbara, at least until he said that he didn't actually care where they went, and so Xiao let Venti handle it.

They sat right outside the cathedral, because for some reason Venti was banned from his own church. When Xiao asked how that happened, he got only laughter and an strangely cheerful, "Theft."

They waited as the sun set, the sky a painting of oranges and pinks reflecting off Venti's face. They left the child with one of the sisters, Rosaria, as neither of them had any experience with dealing with children. So they were alone when Venti spoke finally.

"How did you," He paused, "You asked earlier if I was forgetting things. How did you know?" Xiao was frozen in place. He'd wanted to consult Morax before bringing it up with the ex-Archon, to make sure he wasn't simply jumping to conclusions. But he could simply compare it to his own slow decline instead of the way Archons tended to just blink out too quickly. Sure it was slow as well, but not nearly as slow as his own deterioration.

"It's ok, you can tell me the truth." He was quick to flash a smile at Xiao, as if to reassure him. It didn't work.

"I'm more scared not knowing what's going on." Xiao nodded, gathering his words for whatever he was going to tell his closest one, be it a lie or the truth.