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“Wow! The people of Mondstadt really went all-out for the Windblume Festival. It actually feels nice to have helped in making everything look so pretty!”
Aether found himself agreeing with her. It was the first day of the annual Windblume Festival, and he was very impressed with how everything came together. There were flowers everywhere; Windwheel Asters, Cecilias, Sweet Flowers, and even Dandelions floating in the air. All of the buildings had strings of flowers connecting them and two blue rugs were going up the main path as a welcoming introduction for any visitors. Plus, there were even decorations for the fountains, the Goddess Statue, and the cathedral. As Paimon said, the Honorary Knight had helped in setting everything up and seeing the fruits of not just his, but all of the Favonius Knights’ labor, had put a smile on his face. Jean and Lisa are currently on patrol of the city, but Aether did see them heading towards the cathedral first. His first guess was to visit Barbara, who he had planned to go see himself.
Well, that was after helping Venti with… whatever he was doing again. He wasn’t really paying much attention, but he knew that the bard’s endgame was getting his hands on a bottle of Mondstadt’s finest wine. Right now, however, he took to walking around the city and taking in the festive atmosphere, especially considering that there were no jobs currently available at the Adventurer’s Guild due to the festival itself. After walking around and talking to numerous people, Paimon had flown off towards Good Hunter for a bite to eat. The Traveler himself wasn’t in as much of a hurry or as hungry as she was, so he continued his slow stride.
Due to his good mood and festive attitude, he didn’t notice a shadowy figure following his every move. It wasn’t until he was within an area with no one around that they advanced towards him…
Aether was floored, literally. He felt something push against him, causing him to fall forward and onto the concrete. It all happened so fast; too fast for him to react as he felt someone grab his forearm and force it behind his back. Aether grimaced, trying to break free, but he felt a weight on his back that prevented that.
‘Damn it!’ he shouted in his head, biting back the feeling of fear that gripped at him.
Yet, what happened next confused him. He felt something land softly on his head, the weight on him leave, and his hand was freed. Aether blinked repeatedly and laid there, his brain trying to catch up with recent events. He eventually got up off the ground, lest someone find him lying there and question him, and the object fell beside him. It was a small bundle of Windwheel Asters and a bar of chocolate. He finally caught the sound of heels clacking from behind him and quickly spun around to confront his potential attacker/gift-giver.
Walking away from him was a familiar figure wearing a nun’s habit, fishnets, and a two-tone dress. It was Rosaria. While confused and slightly peeved at the fact that she felt the need to physically attack him to give him a gift, he picked up the flowers and candy and he shouted at the top of his lungs before she was out of earshot; “Thank you!!”
That got Rosaria to pause for a second, then continue as if she hadn’t heard him. That pause was just confirmation that she did. It was once he was closer toward the fountain square that something dawned on him. Venti said that the Windblume Festival was both in honor of the Anemo Archon, Barbatos, as well as a celebration of love.
Love. Did Rosaria…
“Nah, there’s no way she would, Aether. You know that… Right?” Aether said to himself, denying the possibility that she would ever feel that way about--
“Aether!” Paimon called out to him from Good Hunter’s stall. She was clearly not happy that it took him so long to get there. “It’s about time you showed up!”
Then, she saw the flowers and chocolate in his hand and she forgot her indignation and it was replaced by curiosity; “Oh, whatcha got there?”
Sara saw it, too, and laughed; “It looks like our Honorary Knight either has a secret admirer, or is one himself.”
A sly grin appeared on Paimon’s face and Aether sighed. ‘Oh, great…’
“Ooh~” she floated closer towards his face. “Who is this mystery girl, then? Paimon has a few guesses.”
Not seeing a point in lying, Aether pushed her away from him with his finger and ignored her cry of “Hey!”
“Well, if you two must know, these are a gift to me from Rosaria. Although, she apparently needed to pin me to the ground in order to give it to me.”
“Huh?!” now the fairy was shocked. “Rosaria? Like Rosaria the nun?”
“Yup. It’s crazy. Also, I have no idea where to store these, but it’d be rude to just get rid of these.”
Meanwhile, at the cathedral, Barbara could be seen on one knee in prayer towards the Anemo Archon. She then heard the doors open and quickly shut as well as a pair of heeled footsteps moving towards her, likely towards the stairs to the second level.
“Oh, Sister Rosari-AH!” she ended her greeting with a screech at seeing the current state of Rosaria. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her body shook a bit, and her face was bright red which was the most amount of color ever seen on her pale complexion. Unless Barbara was seeing things, she could have sworn that she saw Rosaria's spirit leaving her body. She had never seen her like this before, so she was ill-equipped. All she could do was raise one finger and open her mouth to say something before she was beaten to the punch.
“Not. One. Word. Barbara.” she muttered through gritted teeth. Her expression reset to its usual impassive look, but the redness in her face remained.
“But—”
“No.”
“Do you—”
“No.”
“Should I—”
“No!”
“Um…” Barbara could tell that she would be getting nowhere by trying to ask if she needed healing from her and she instead resolved to close her mouth. Instead, she moved aside to let Rosaria leave the first floor to the second. The deaconess then heard laughter coming from Sister Victoria.
“She’s fine. Don’t worry, Sister Barbara.”
“B-but you saw how she came in! Her face was red and she was shaking! What if Sister Rosaria is unwell?!”
“She’s not red from sickness. Or, at least, not from your typical sickness.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
More giggles came from Victoria before she coyly answered; “Well, that’s not in my place to say.”
More question marks appeared over Barbara’s head as she genuinely didn’t understand what Victoria was implying.
A few hours later and the Honorary Knight along with Bennett had entered the cathedral. Barbara greeted them and while she knew why Bennett was there given the poor boy's perpetual unlucky streak, the Honorary Knight was an atypical visitor. She also noticed the bouquet of Cecilias in his right hand and a small box in his left. She was going to ask what he was here for when he spoke up first.
“Hi, Barbara. Do you know if Rosaria’s here?” he asked. She pointed upwards and he sent a look towards Paimon—who she just noticed—and mouthed the word ‘stay.’ Paimon laughed mischievously, yet did as told. She was positively giddy as she turned towards her just as she began looking Bennett over.
“Just wait a minute~”
Aether climbed up the stairs to the second level of the cathedral. He’d never been here before and wasn’t sure if he was even fully allowed here, but he figured if he was quick enough to leave then he’d be fine. It didn’t take him long to find the person he was looking for and he waved to her; “Hey, Rosaria!”
The nun, for her part, had the decency to look somewhat okay with his presence. She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t as standoffish as she usually was.
“Who let you up here? And what do you want from me?” she asked.
‘Straight to the point. Alright,’ Aether presented the bouquet in his hand first with a toothy smile.
“Happy Windblume! I figured I’d give you something, too,” Rosaria looked genuinely surprised for a moment, yet quickly schooled her features and ‘reluctantly’ took the bouquet.
“I have something else for you, too. Although, you’ll have to close your eyes for it.”
The hand that wasn’t holding the bouquet went straight to her forehead; “Do not waste my time, Traveler.”
‘Something tells me that I’m pushing it a little,’ he thought in response to her annoyance, so he walked up to her and showed her her second gift. It was a necklace made entirely of loach pearls with a Shivada Jade Gemstone[1] at the center. He placed it around her neck as she stared at him, whatever she was going to say to him being lost to her at the moment. She brought the handmade jewelry into her view while she listened to Aether explain himself.
“It was a bit of a chore to find the pearls, but I think it was worth it at the end. As for the gemstone, I thought that one was perfect for you since you have a Cryo Vision. So… did I do good?”
It took a moment for Rosaria to register the fact that he asked her a question. She managed enough composure to answer him without giving away how flustered she was at the moment.
“I… suppose I can accept these,” she mumbled, looking over to her left. “...Thank you.”
Aether’s smile brightened and he quickly turned to head down the stairs, where Paimon had asked him something only to receive a thumbs-up. The little one gave a cheer and they gave a quick goodbye to Barbara before leaving the cathedral. Rosaria, in the meantime, retreated to her room. Once the door was closed, her head started literally steaming and she blushed even harder than when she came in.
“That idiot is going to be the death of me…” she grumbled, yet one look at her new necklace and expression softened.
‘I must be getting soft if it takes this to get to me…’
The following night, Rosaria was joined by Cavalry Captain Kaeya (not by choice) to Angel’s Share, where Diluc was behind the bar instead of Charles. One drink and a little while later, Aether, Paimon, and Venti had entered the establishment for a drink and some food. They talked with Kaeya for a bit before taking the next few stalls next to her, with Aether to her immediate left.
“So, Traveler… how are you enjoying the Windblume Festival?” she asked.
“I’ve actually been having a lot of fun. Plus, it was nice to be back in Mondstadt after being at Liyue for so long.”
“That’s good,” she said, yet noticed him staring at her. She was going to ask him what he needed from her, but he smiled and pointed towards her neck.
“You’re still wearing my gift,” he stated simply. Indeed, she was still wearing the gemstone necklace. She had been for the past two days as well. She scrunched her nose up and looked away, but was unable to stave off the color that appeared on her face. She silently hoped that no one had noticed. Unfortunately, someone did and it was the last person she wanted to.
“Well, well… So even the formidable Sister Rosaria has a few… admirers~” Kaeya teased. “And it seems that one of them happens to be our Honorary Knight here.”
Rosaria refused to entertain him with a response.
“Well, she did give me a gift. I figured that it’d be fair to do the same for her,” the Traveler said. As soon as he said that, Rosaria blushed harder and suddenly had the urge to wring his little neck out. Instead of doing that, though, she settled for paying her tab and quickly leaving the tavern without a single word. Everyone watched her leave while Kaeya just laughed.
“So she can get flustered. You learn something new every day.” Kaeya smirked and took Rosaria’s seat.
“And who exactly is responsible for that, hm?” Paimon asked. Little did either of them knew, that question was aimed at both Kaeya and Aether.