To kinda summarize my thoughts, Albedo is probably one of the beings we meet in Teyvat who is closest to the Traveler in terms of what they are. As in, both of them are beings who are foreign to Teyvat but have, through some circumstance, arrived and had to make their lives there anyway.

Consider the fact that Rhine's name has been following us all over Teyvat as another one of those people who falls kind of outside the world and its rules. Albedo really is in the same situation as the Traveler; he's just ended up at a different point due to differing circumstances. Both of them are outsiders to the world, and where the Traveler has taken the path of becoming a Witness to the world, Albedo could be argued to be an alternate version of what they could have become in a more stable situation, where he's attempting to settle down and assimilate with the world instead.

However, both have also grappled with feelings of Otherness in relation to other Teyvatians, and I think that would be what brings them together. Like, I saw an Albether art last week captioned "Lonely together", which is a phrase that I think summarizes their relationship so well.

As for why I think Albether is better than Albelumi, I think Albedo is the kind of person who'd gravitate towards an opposites attract kind of relationship. So if we're going by the common fanon characterizations where Aether is a human ray of sunshine while Lumine is generally colder, Albedo would be more attracted to Aether because he's looking for local suns in his area rather than moons.

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To elaborate on what I said earlier, Albedo and the Traveler generally have very similar relationships to the world of Teyvat because they're both kinda not from it. Albedo is from Khaenri'ah, and the Traveler is from another world (although they likely have some connection to Khaenri'ah due to their sibling, that's not really important to this argument). As a result, both have been outsiders to Teyvat.

Albedo is kind of coming from an outsider's viewpoint of trying to find the "Truth" of the world, which— knowing what Rhinedottir is involved in (bringing about several calamitous beings which caused great destruction to the world, being a part of the Hexenzirkel, and also falling into the category of people whom Skirk considers important)— probably has to do with the true nature of Celestia and their usurping of the world by controlling everyone's fates. Because Albedo was Rhine's most perfect and most human subject, he's meant to understand the Gods from a human perspective, so he more of a go-between to me.

The Traveler is involved in similar stuff, but in a slightly different way, being instead the explicit Witness to everything taking place in Teyvat. There's a certain loneliness that comes with being placed into this position. They definitely made a lot of close friends over the course of their journey, and they do have Paimon (though whether that's a bane or a boon depends on personal preference), they are still very Alone in their role. Even Nahida, someone who has a grasp on all the world's knowledge, cannot comprehend all that the Traveler does.

Albedo is probably the person who's been in the most similar position to the Traveler in the grand scheme of everyone else in Genshin. The things he studies (like, really personally studies, like the Traveler's constitution and the Festering Desire and basically everything to do with Durin's corruption n Dragonspine) are all things that are very Beyond the world of Teyvat, and even though he has Sucrose and Timaeus as his juniors, he doesn't really seem to confide what he does in them all that much.

His entire arc in the 2.3 Event Quest had to do with realizing that his literal evil clone was not actually evil, but instead simply envied Albedo for his privilege of living with humanity because that's all Rhine's creations have ever wanted to do. Durin, Subject Two, and Elynas all shared this wish, but Albedo is the only one who actually gets to live it out, and 2.3 was really the point that he seemed to realize this.

So whereas the Traveler doesn't really have a place or people to call home (though I think out of any place in Teyvat, Mondstadt is the place that probably feels most like home to them), Albedo has found his place in Mondstadt. He has found his people, who care for him and treasure his friendship, but Albedo still understands the loneliness that the Traveler must feel in their situation.

This is why I think it's really interesting to explore their bond deepening in friendship and maybe into something more, because Albedo understands what it's like to basically be a literal alien in this world.

Drifting into the more romantic side of things, I also really like Albedo as a partner for the Traveler (really just Aether but y'know lol) because he is also probably one of the people who would most be able to accept that the Traveler, in all likelihood, is going to leave someday.

Something I've talked about with Miki a lot in regards to xiaother is that one day, the Traveler is going to leave Teyvat. They probably won't return for decades or even centuries. And even though Xiao is an Adeptus and will probably live for a very long time, Xiao is definitely the kind of person who would need closeness and commitment from a partner.

Meanwhile, for all of the mortals the Traveler gets paired with like Childe, Ayaka, Lyney, etc., if the Traveler decided to leave once their journey was over, their partner would probably see them only a few times more before they fucking died because the Traveler is immortal. While someone like Childe could probably be more understanding of something like that because of his own fucked up trauma, he's a family man! He'd probably still be heartbroken that his partner would rather leave with their sibling than stay with him!

But Albedo I think is someone who could understand and also be okay with the idea of the Traveler leaving Teyvat for years and years at a time. Not only because I'm sure he's probably going to live for a very long time, but also Albedo and the Traveler just wouldn't really be the kind of people who really need their romantic connection to be okay in life. Like they really are like two lighthouses out in the storm, watching and weathering for better or for worse, and it just so happens to make things a bit easier when you have someone to whom you can bare your soul who actually understands how that feels.

Plus, Albedo probably thinks he's going to go insane like Durin and Elynas did and have to be put down eventually anyway, so he probably doesn't really expect things to last that long either; I'm just being optimistic on his behalf lol. He'd just be happy to survive everything and then look forward to his sunshine returning to him whenever he's able.

Something I also feel very strongly about is the fact that Albether is really good, while Albelumi is not. And the best way I can summarize this is that I can only really imagine Albedo in a sun/moon dynamic rather than a moon/moon dynamic. To stop generalizing analogies, I think Albedo is at his best when his partner is kind of his opposite.

I don't actually have a really good articulation of why I think this is, as it's more of a feeling than anything else, but I guess one example I can think of is that Albedo is the type of person who easily gets lost in his own little world, and rather than having someone step into that bubble, it's better when he's with someone who pulls him out of it instead.

It's also kind of easier to pinpoint this by describing what I don't really like about Kaebedo and Albelumi because they kind of suffer from the same problem in my eyes (with the caveat that the Albelumi has to be done with a Good Lumine). Because I can very easily see Kaeya and Lumine filling similar roles in a dynamic with Albedo— that role being the more charismatic and snarky opposite to Albedo's stoicism.

But these dynamics do one of two things: either they kind of flatten Albedo into a more serious archetype and take away a lot of his own snark, or they just have two people who like to tease each other back and forth a lot. But the thing about Kaeya and probably Lumine as well is that their attitudes are a means for them to close themselves off to the world and keep their secrets close to their chests, whereas the whole thing that makes Albedo and the Traveler good in concept is that they open themselves up to each other, because they're kind of the only people they can do that with.

The whole thing feels kind of counterproductive with personalities like Lumine's and Kaeya's, who are less open to be trusting in the way that someone like Aether would, which is why I like Albedo being very close friends with Lumine and Kaeya, but not partners.

Plus, I think that even if Lumine did let Albedo actually get close, the two of them would just get too wrapped up in their own little world to actually return to reality through any process of acceptance. They only return when the conversation ends and they go their separate ways— though this also kinda has to do with my view of the Travelers as two different way sof experiencing Teyvat, where Lumine is always looking forwards, wanting to find Aether and leave as soon as possible because her brother is all she's ever needed, while Aether takes his time and properly falls in love with the world. From this lens, the Traveler who has fallen in love with the world would want Albedo to enjoy it with them.

Anyway, Traveler shippers need to realize that they peaked with Albether and just accept that.

That's kind of all I have. I think Albether is neat, and also I think that the fic writers always pop off with the star motifs in them. I do love me some good star motifs.