TIGHNARI: # the roots of ambition.
CHAPTER IV. In which Tighnari saves your life, and you make an important discovery.
Word count. 2.3k. Genre. Found family, gn!reader.
Table of Contents. / Final chapter.
Tighnari had no intention of taking the search party with him to save you. He’d been there when the two of you processed the results of the previous study; following your disappearance, it hadn’t taken him long to ascertain your plan. He wasn’t about to go in without a safety net prepared, however.
“If I find them,” he told the Forest Rangers he'd arranged for help, “wait for my signal before you retrieve us from the Withering Zone. Don’t put yourselves in danger to help me save them.”
It was clear—too clear—that you meant to study healthy saplings in mycelium affected by The Withering. It was so obvious that Tighnari wanted to slap himself for not understanding sooner. With your research you hoped to find a treatment for Eleazar. You’d been pushing yourself to your limits to break through them. To save yourself, and everyone else affected, before it took you, too. He’d been so blind even to your Eleazar at first—it took the sight of your clumsy, paled fingertips before he had realized your condition. Even after you began to exhibit abnormal fatigue, he let you lie to him. Archons, he should have been more protective, but he knew it was against his nature to tend to someone that much. Perhaps he’d already done so—perhaps he’d scared you off with his watchful eyes. Yet he could not help that. He cared, and he was not going to altogether hide that for your comfort. Especially not now.
The closest Withering Zone, Tighnari saw, was too close to Gandharva Ville for comfort. After he inspected the area, he returned to his group. “Flag this area as a priority. I’ll come back here to deal with it once we get things straightened out.”
He searched the next Withering Zone to no avail, and rejuvenated with his group before continuing to the next area. Archons, if he felt this drained after a few minutes in a Withering Zone, he couldn’t imagine your state…
They travelled on. Withering Zone after Withering Zone, he listened, smelled, and watched for traces of you. He knew he would find you if he kept looking. But his own physical resources had been depleted by the end of the day, and if he went into another Withering Zone it would not be so easy for him to come out again. The party set up camp.
In the first Withering Zone they came to the next morning, Tighnari saw a dull figure knelt near the tumour. He could not get closer, however, as Ruin creatures began to attack him.
“Scorching Ajilenakh!” he hissed as The Withering mounted its draining effect on his body. He fired his bow at the monsters, managing to weaken their attacks as he led them away from you.
Quickly his stamina decreased, and with a hesitant glance at you, he lunged out of the Withering Zone to recover. The monsters followed him, but it was easier to slay them here. “This better be the last of you brutes.”
Launching the last of his attacks, he took a deep breath and dashed past their bodies into the center of the area. Yes, there you were. Still kneeling, unmoving.
“Snakes and boars, Y/N, please don’t be dead.”
He knelt next to you and grasped your chin, forcing you to look at him. Your eyes were wide, reacting slowly to his presence. He felt for a pulse, noticing how your arms had been invaded by the stone-like disease. But your eyes were alive. You were alive.
In front of you, he saw an array of sickly saplings which mimicked your atrophy.
Without a moment’s delay, he pulled your arms over his shoulders and hoisted you onto his back, trudging out of the Withering Zone with hardly a breath to spare to whistle for the search party.
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“You’re going to do what?!” Sage Naphis’s jaw clenched as he berated you. “I can’t begin to understand why you think that you could detect reliable data, much less how you think you could survive that! Don’t be reckless. I will be getting in touch with the rest of the Amurta faculty so that they also withdraw support from this proposal. This is a terrible idea. Irresponsible. Have you learned nothing from the Akademiya about ethical methodology?”
You shrugged, slumping in your chair. The plants in his office were lively and undisciplined, vines roaming the walls and leaves coating the floor. You wondered about the species of the orchid on the windowsill.
“I can’t support this proposal. If you go through with this, you will be relieved from your status as a researcher.”
You sighed. “Not if death claims me first,” you muttered.
“Y/N. You can’t throw away what time you have left.” The sage leaned forward and peered at you over his large spectacles. “I understand where you’re coming from, but there’s no logical reason to throw your life away for something like this. Give it more time. I’m sure you can study this without needing to spend so much time in a Withering Zone.”
It was a Vanda falcata on the windowsill. It liked full sunlight, and you recalled that it enjoyed several types of mycorrhizal fungi associations throughout its development.
“With all due respect,” you said, eyes still on the V. falcata, “sitting back and waiting for other researchers to fix me is throwing my life away, sir. None of the other researchers endure the same urgency as me.”
“Then, you must at least modify your methods. I’m not trying to stop you from studying The Withering. I require you, by all observed guidelines, to be safe and rational.”
The Withering, festering deeply and wholly in your body, was never safe and rational. Why shouldn’t you step up to its game?
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The first thing you saw was the forest.
You woke in not a medicinal hut or bed, but under a travel tarp with only a slight cushion beneath your head. You squinted at the sun slipping through the branches. What had happened?
Oh, you remembered. Tighnari had come for you, ignoring your wishes. Despite the fact that you knew he had likely saved you from immediate death, you wanted to give him a piece of mind. Wherever he was. You tried to sit up.
“Y/N! Thank the gods, you’re awake!”
Collei’s voice broke through your blind rage and you fell back. You were wrought with exhaustion. Your body was so weighed down you could hardly feel it. It was like all your appendages were still asleep.
“Collei,” you choked out. Your throat felt dry, lungs tight.
“Don’t try to talk. I’m supposed to give you this when you wake up.” She helped you sit up with much effort and carefully handed you a cloudy tea-like liquid. “Master sent someone to tell us what happened and I came here to take care of you. You almost died! Master…” she lowered her volume, “seems so on edge today. I think he might be a little upset.” She resumed at a normal volume. “He’s busy dealing with something in the Withering Zone. When he comes back, don’t take anything he says too hard. He’s just worried about you, I think.”
Collei continued to chatter. You weren’t sure she knew exactly what was going on, but neither did you, you supposed. Either way, it was a bit much for you in your state, but you were grateful you weren’t left to your own thoughts.
At last you heard Tighnari approach. You weren’t exactly sure how you knew it was him, since you were still mostly immobile and couldn’t see more than the treetops above you. Something about his manner of walking, you guessed, was unmistakable.
Tighnari addressed Collei. “How are they?”
“They’re awake, Master!”
He knelt next to you and you stared up at him. You weren’t sure what expression to make, but you felt your mouth curl up in a sort of grimace. Tighnari’s brows scrunched, lips pressed together, and breaths hitched.
“Good,” he said quietly.
He felt your forehead for a fever, tested your pulse, your blood pressure, your reflexes, your pupils, your sites of infection. “Spread is receding…” he muttered, but then hesitated.
Tighnari took your now fully greyed hand. You couldn’t feel his touch at all. It was like he was holding another person’s hand that extended from your body. The fingers were tightly curled, grasping something. One by one, he gently pried the fingers open.
In the palm of the hand was a Dendro Vision.
Your Dendro Vision.
You’d heard stories of individuals receiving visions from time to time. You never expected—considered that it could happen to you. Collei was the first person with Eleazar you’d met with a vision, and you’d assumed she was the exception.
“Tighnari,” you rasped.
“Y/N,” he responded in awe.
Blessed in your curse. Protected by those you wanted to protect. Pursuit of life through the quickening of death. You stared at each other in silence for some time, soaking it in.
“I have to tell you something,” he said. “That may help you understand how this may have come about.”
You stared at him expectantly.
“The saplings… The rate at which the Withered mycelium formed a connection with them was rapid. By the time I was able to test their chemical content, they had nearly been sucked dry. The Withering affected them as if they had grown from the soil itself. This confirms the connection to Irminsul, the nature of The Withering, the reason we can’t eliminate the disease. It’s Irminsul itself that’s infected. It’s the roots of the Earth. There’s something deeper going on, and you just confirmed it.”
You let go a puff of air, a wave of relief washing over you.
“And could mean so much for future research. It’s revolutionary.”
“You continued my research?”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t just let your mad-scientist behaviour amount to nothing.” With narrowed eyes, he continued. “I can’t believe you would just run off like that. You knew I’d try to convince you out of it—of course I would have! How incredibly reckless of you to put yourself in that situation with your condition! I would have killed you if you’d died. You absolute nimrod!”
You only smiled.
“Don’t give me that, moron. I’m so mad I could chew an Athel tree.”
The passion in the Forest Watcher’s voice and eyes only filled you with further relief. “Thank you. For saving me. And tell Collei thank you, too.”
“I will alert the rest of the Forest Rangers that looked for you that you are grateful to them and owe them a favour, too.”
“Did you really band together half the Forest Rangers?”
“Of course I did. Rule one, no going off on your own. Akademiya didn’t teach that in my day, either, but it’s a rule to live by.”
“But I’ve been going off on my own my whole life.”
“Yeah, and thanks to us, that won’t be your final sentiment. Learn to accept help, Y/N.” He looked at your legs and his tone cut from reproaching to tender. “I’m sorry, but you might need more of it from now on.”
Oh.
“Are my legs…”
“I’m so sorry. While you were in the Withering Zone, the Eleazar spread much more rapidly, and I don’t think this Nilotpala tea is going to substantially treat the infected areas. We can only do our best to sustain the rest of your body and pursue further research. You’ll need to commission a wheelchair from a carpenter in Sumeru City.”
“And my hands?” You tried to move them, to some avail, though you managed to drop your Vision onto your abdomen as you tried to curl your fingers around it again.
“Not entirely useless. You’ll be able to push and pull.” He looked regretful. “I’m not sure if you’ll regain full feeling. We can hope.”
You awkwardly rested your hand on your abdomen, trying to get a grip on the Vision.
Tighnari saw this and quickly undid one of his belts. “We can use this as a sash for you. Let me help you sit up.”
As he did so, you understood the true extent of the Eleazar’s spread. Your lower back felt weak and uncomfortable, and below your waist, you had almost no feeling. You were sure you wouldn’t be able to walk, and even sitting up was a balancing act. Tighnari tied the Vision to the belt and draped it on you.
“I’ll make sure to get it back to you.”
Tighnari’s eyes widened. “No, you won’t. This is yours now.”
You shook your head. “I can’t take anything else from you. You’ve done everything for me, and I haven’t returned the favour at all.”
“Nonsense. You’ve been helping us out around Gandharva Ville. You’re doing incredibly important research but you don’t act like those insufferable scholars who act like they’re the gods’ gift to the world. I care about you, and I want to help you any way I can.”
“But you don’t treat me like the others.”
He paused, brushing some hair out of your face. “Am I mistaken to imagine I can call you my friend?”
Your eyes fell. How had you gotten yourself in this mess so quickly? How had you let someone get close enough to care? He was close enough to you that when you died, he…
“Your hesitance isn’t enough to dissuade me. You should know this by now.”
“So I’m just stuck with you?”
“Me, and the rest of the Forest Rangers. You can’t just waste away in the city. You won’t.”
No, he was right. You wouldn’t waste away at the Akademiya any longer. But before you could spend the rest of your days in the rejuvenating aura of the rainforest, you had one more thing to do.
Table of Contents.