A found-family adventure in the rainforests of Sumeru.
Summary. While pursuing high-risk field research in fungal ecology for your Akademiya studies and mitigating your Eleazar symptoms, you are stumbled upon by a squad of Forest Rangers who "protect" you. The General Watchleader, as he hates to be called, takes an interest in you and your topic, and offers to help you research more safely and efficiently. However, to your horror, he starts to become more than a research partner. As you push yourself into increasingly dangerous circumstances in the name of science, what will become of the ecology of your new friends and you? ⚘
Word count. ~11k across five chapters.
Genre. General audiences, platonic/qpr.
Other tags. Chronic illness/disability, gender neutral reader, pretending biology hasn't always been my worst subject, discussion of death, happy/contemplative ending, Collei is in every chapter (because: of course she is!).
Author's note: Happy late disability pride month! Here's a fic that originally was meant to be "romantic" but I realized the ideas I was writing about were just about... having intimate familial relationships. Call it queer. Maybe the real romance was the friends we made along the way. Here's a story about appreciating all types of life & love! ⸙
Posting schedule. Weekly from Friday, Aug 2, 2024.
Chapters. [will be linked upon individual release]
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.
CHAPTER V. In which science is no longer your only domain of discovery. An epilogue.
Word count. 1.4k. Genre. Found family, gn!reader.
Table of Contents.
Sumeru City felt different.
The streets bustled and crowded. You could hear the chatter from Lambad’s Tavern echoing down the street and researchers chattering as they walked down the path. You had a strange yearning for them to notice you, to know you, for once. To know you and acknowledge what you’d done and how you’d changed. But as usual, you disappeared into the crowd—more now, than ever, with Tighnari and Collei by your side.
You had faced slight resistance when you asked Tighnari and Collei to join you on your trip to the city. Initially, it was Tighnari’s idea to come along, but once you asked him if he’d be willing to help you present your research, he seemed more reluctant.
“I don’t particularly want to associate with the Akademiya. They can’t be thinking I’m willing to assist in their research now or in the future. Typically, I wouldn’t be this involved with any aspect of the process.”
“Aren’t I an exception?” you asked. “You’re in on the research, anyways. You did half the observations and you’ve helped me write the report. I don’t know if I can present this without you.”
“Sure you can!” he said, but he saw your pleading facial expression. “Fine, just this once, I’ll help you present your research.”
“Our research,” you corrected.
Having traversed through the city slowly with your newly picked up wheelchair, you realized the new difficulties your life would involve. As you approached the steep road up to the Akademiya, you felt a tinge of self-loathing, knowing that this was your fault. To your shame, you’d have to ask Tighnari or Collei to push you.
Before you could, Tighnari had already stepped behind you, obliging your need. “Are you feeling ready?”
You took a deep breath. “You know,” you mused, “I really don’t feel like I have that much to lose. I’m leaving the Akademiya anyway.”
“Your research could inspire important change. Don’t even think about brushing it off.”
“Well, that’s what you’re for. To stop me.”
You certainly needed him there to stop you from giving up. It wasn’t your first time public speaking by any means, but returning here to see the beady little eyes of nearly a hundred Amurta scholars felt unsettling, foreign. You wondered whether the effort of presenting would be worth it. Beyond those in the room who did not appear particularly interested in what was to come, there were also those who glared at you with crossed arms. Only a few in the audience bore interested expressions and respectful postures, including Collei, whose purple eyes gleamed from the back of the room.
You glanced at Tighnari. He returned your gaze and offered a crisp smile and a nod.
You began.
“The exchange of chemicals such as carbon through mycorrhizal networks is a topic in increasing need of study as our forests change rapidly. The rapid acceleration of The Withering spreading has opened up a fresh world of ideas, such as that Irminsul is deeply connected and implanted upon non-elementally infused fungi such as fungal mycelium. In the present studies, we examined the ecology of microscopic fungal bodies…”
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The sun was setting over the forest in view of the city. Tighnari pushed your wheelchair towards the uppermost western end of the city, where the Sanctuary of Surasthana pressed against the upper trunk of the Divine Tree. You hadn’t spent much time up here; anytime you’d been in need of some fresh air, you’d make your way to the forests around the city. The Sanctuary was distantly beautiful, you thought—a nice piece of architecture, certainly reminiscent in some ways of the innate beauty of Sumeru rainforests.
“I’ll admit I have trouble appreciating art in quite the same way I do nature,” you observed. “I like the flawless intentionality… the appeal of mysteries waiting to be uncovered and understood.”
You heard Tighnari hum. “Hm… It’s important to not become so intertwined with non-human beauty. You may become ignorant of what our species is capable of.”
“I disagree,” you replied without hesitation.
He stopped pushing you at the fence of the edge of the path, on a portion of the path that widened before proceeding to the Sanctuary of Surasthana. He stood in front of you and kneeled. “Then, at least let the rest of us appreciate you. Let us be grateful you survived your own recklessness this far.”
You shrugged your shoulders and averted your gaze to the broad branch of the Divine Tree peeking out from under the path towards the west.
“Allow me to carry you,” he said.
You raised an eyebrow at him. He gave you an imploring dip of his head, and you eventually nodded.
Carefully he lifted you in his arms and stepped over the fence between the path and the immense tree limb. You clung to the fabric of his coat. Though the area atop the limb was more than enough for you and him to stay far from the edges, you felt your heart begin to race as he walked further along. He set you down in the middle, where the Divine Branch began to slope upwards.
Tighnari sat next to you, and pointed to where the trees and branches split. A golden-purple sunrise melted in the horizon, casting an orange glow on the forests around the city. Before, the forests had looked distant and nebulous, unappreciated from the overpopulated city. Now they looked cohesive and so incredibly alive.
“How’s that for non-human beauty?” Tighnari mused.
You nodded, letting your breaths be fuller and slower than they had been before. Even from up here you could parse through the beautiful networks of life in the forest—and in the city directly below you as well.
“Have you ever been up here?” he asked.
You shook your head, wide-eyed. “Never would have even considered it. Besides, I’m too clumsy to trust myself to climb over that fence.”
“Well, that’s what I’m here for.” He placed a warm hand on your shoulder.
You glanced at him. Tighnari had never been overly physical with you, but he seemed to choose his moments intuitively and lightly. For you, receiving a touch from a friend was overwhelming, feeling the breath of a research partner was unfamiliar. Yet for him it was a part of life. Social contact was a permanent part of life for him. And making his presence in your life implicitly mandatory also seemed a permanent habit.
“You say that a lot.”
“It’s natural. It’s called being a friend.”
You noticed the slight lichen on the edge of the massive branch and wondered about its species.
“It is my understanding that this experience is unfamiliar to you. I’m afraid you will have to accommodate me and the rest of the Forest Rangers, Y/N. You’ve proven yourself intelligent, passionate, friendly, and most importantly, thoughtful. We’re going to overlook your attempt at martyrdom and have you join us.”
“I don’t think I’ll be of any use to you.”
“Whatever your misconceptions about what help we need in Gandharva Ville, throw them out.”
“You hate the Akademiya, and I’m a student.”
He sniffed. “Not anymore, you’re not.”
This was true. After the presentation, Sage Naphis relieved you of your status, though he remarked on the transformative possibilities of your research. “Stubborn old man,” you remarked.
“It takes one to know one,” Tighnari retorted. “It seems that Celestia rewards stupidity and stubbornness,” he added, in reference to your new Vision which dangled, unfamiliar and forgotten, at your belt.
“I’m sure it will come in handy.” You couldn’t ignore the fear that you’d never have the time to master your Vision. It was ironic to receive it in the moment that accelerated the countdown of your life. Nonetheless, with being kicked out of the Akademiya, you knew you had a new journey to embark on, and the Vision established hope for what that could look like.
“We’d better get home so you have space to try it out.”
You thought about the soil from which the Divine Tree—and the flourishing civilization of your species—grew. The soil from which the life of the city sprouted, the interlaced life of the soil, yourself, and those you had met recently. Home was your fingers in this soil. But home, it seemed, could also be in the refuge of the branches.
CHAPTER I. In which you meet the Forest Ranger of legend, a former student of your Darshan, who causes you to interrogate your life choices.
Word count. 2.4k. Genre. Found family, gn!reader.
Table of Contents. / Next chapter.
By your age, Eleazar should have affected more than the tips of your fingers. The cureless, Withering-born disease crept from the farthest limbs towards the organs and mind at a gradual but unstoppable pace. Only with the frequent treatment from Nilotpala Lotuses and immersion in the rainforest could your body find the strength to delay the progression of ash scales and numbness across your body. Still, as you knelt at the foot of trees with your hand wrist deep in miniscule roots and a magnifying glass grasped carefully by the other hand, you wished vainly that you might be able to feel the bumps of the fractaling extensions with more sensitive appendages than your own.
You were focused on as much of the texture as you could gather with your palm and knuckle, leading you to ignore, at first, the rustle in the leaves around you of much more than a squirrel or bird. You were faintly aware and had been reminded by peers many times that with the way you became mesmerized by whatever microorganism you found yourself immersed in the “mind” of. However well-meaning the scares they would pull on you to snap you out of it, staying aware of your surroundings really wasn’t a lesson you had yet learned.
A clear voice, however, was enough to rouse you from your trance: “Pardon our interruption.”
You took in a breath—the first you had taken for awhile, you realized—and then stood, turning around.
Three Forest Rangers had gathered a few feet behind you. On the left, a shorter girl tilted her head at you, purple eyes shyly gazing out from beneath green bangs. She had one hand clinging to the sleeve of the middle figure and the other to the corner of her own shawl. To the right of the middle figure, another Forest Ranger leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, looking vaguely interested in you and your circumstances. He also looked like he’d had enough time standing there to make himself comfortable. In between the two was the presumed speaker. He wore a colourful adventuring outfit with a distinguished sash and puffy striped pants. Above lime-streaked dark hair, two fennec ears were erect, alert. Something about this person felt familiar.
“Apologies,” you said, “I didn’t notice you three at all.”
“You’re in a very dangerous area,” the middle one continued. “Not having noticed us is an augurous sign for your safety, so we’d be happy to escort you to somewhere safer if you are willing. Especially since you don’t appear to have a Vision.”
You made no movement to leave. “I have to stay here. It’s for my research.”
He smiled gently. “My name is Tighnari. You may know me as a fellow Amurta scholar, however tainted my reputation and relationship with the Akademiya may be.”
You told him your name.
“It’s lovely to meet a scholar who loves to get dirt under their fingernails like myself,” he said. “But I’m sorry, it’s just too unsafe for you to hang around here. We’re here to start clearing the nearby Withering Zone.”
The relaxed Forest Ranger stood up straight and interjected, “Gener— Er, Forest Watcher Tighnari, I think it’s about to clear us out first.”
Sure enough, several scorched animated fungi were emerging from the trees a few yards behind you. You quickly knelt at the roots you had been inspecting a minute before and took a rushed but measured sample of soil, sealing it in a jar of water. You set the jar in your bag, threw the bag’s strap over your shoulder, and ran.
A braver, more well-rounded researcher might be able to pull out a shortsword or a bow in this situation, as the Forest Rangers were doing, but you were not the type of person who could dabble in a lot of skills. Running came more naturally, and either way you would need to abandon the site. Climbing trees, too, was a handy skill, though both of these you were bound to lose in a few years.
That was why you had to hurry.
Dashing past the many trees and up a slight incline, you kept an eye out for a climbable tree. Just a few good, strong lower limbs, and you’d been out of monster’s reach in no time. There one was—you leapt—you reached—you pulled—and slumped your body against the trunk, legs on either side of a limb.
Finally, you peered back the way you came to see if you’d been followed, or if your friendly hecklers had slain every enemy. You noted with a sigh of relief that all seemed serene for a second. That was, until a Dendro-variant fungi flapped its fleshy wings up the hill towards your hiding spot. You began plotting your next escape.
A flurry of green darts surrounded the fungi and enshrouded it in glowing mist. Discombobulated, it made a clean “bonk” sound as it hit a tree not far from you. The darts hit the monster then, striking it repeatedly until it stirred no more. You observed the forest watching for the next threat that would be destroyed by thin air, or perhaps for your hero.
“Let’s try this again,” Tighnari’s voice said—but this time from very, very close by. You whirled your head to see him smiling a little smugly from a limb above you. How had he— “Your research—does it really compel you to put yourself in such a precarious situation?”
Your mouth gaped at him.
“From how quickly you run and climb, I expect that is the case,” he added.
“The forest is dangerous,” you deflected. “It’s not hard to wind up in that sort of situation, with Withering Zones popping up everywhere.”
“I’ll grant you that,” he said. “Your methods could use some guidance, though.” At the raise of your eyebrows, he added, “I’m sure it isn’t your fault. The Amurta professors aren’t what they used to be. What you need is someone to guide you in the field. Someone to tell you to wear gloves when collecting fungal mycelium samples. The oil from your hands is enough to taint your samples beyond recognition. If you’d like, I can lend you some.”
The last thing you would want to do would be to wear gloves and fully barrier your fingers from any remaining sensation, so you ignored this, and eyed him up and down. “You’re really Tighnari, huh?”
“Well, I think so. Unless I’ve consumed a very, very psychoactive mushroom recently.”
You slowly got to your feet, balancing on the limb with a hand to steady you rested on the trunk. Tighnari, sitting casually on the next limb, was at about eye-level, so you could peer into his hazel-green gaze.
“Then, you were a former student of Sage Naphis. Is that so?”
“Yes,” he confirmed, “upon my graduation, he encouraged me to join the faculty. I’d had quite enough of the Akademiya by then, so I politely declined.”
“That seems about right. He thinks the Forest Rangers are in good hands.”
Tighnari looked incredulous. “That’s all?”
“No,” you admitted. “Actually, he gets somewhat sulky when he brings you up. ‘An unfortunate loss,’ he says. He likes to tell students to beware the persuasion of the forest-dwellers.”
He laughed. “Will you heed his warning?”
Before you could reply, you heard a girl’s voice. “Master, we eliminated the last of them!”
“Thank you, Collei,” Tighnari dropped from the tree, landing eight or so feet below you with ease and addressing the green-haired archer from before. “Let’s set up camp, then, the sun’s threatening to disappear. To the river!”
“To the river!” The third Ranger echoed. As he and Collei proceeded, Tighnari hung back, peering up the tree at you.
“If you’re anything like me, Y/N,” he said, “field research has a way of making you forget the meaning of hunger. Let us take care of you for the night.”
You humphed. “No, you’ve taken quite enough care, thank you. I must heed the warning indeed, and I’m hardly hungry.”
Your stomach, in defiance, growled loudly.
Tighnari smirked, waiting patiently. You climbed out of the tree.
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“You can’t force me to stay here with you guys until the night is through. Unless you want to help me filter my sample.”
“We could if we had put something in your stew,” Tighnari joked. At your sour look, he apologized, “Sorry. You were asking for it.”
“I’m confident the General Watchleader would be more than eager to look at mushrooms with you all night,” the third Ranger, whose name you had learned to be Amir, said. “He’s a little strange in that way.”
“Come now,” Tighnari said. “I was getting to that. How many times do I have to ask you to please not call me that, especially in front of strangers?”
“Strangers!” you cut in. “Surely you three are not still wary of me.”
Amir raised an eyebrow at you. “You are certainly strange. Maybe in the way Tighnari can appreciate, though I’m far removed from the whole mushrooms scene.”
“Are you?” you queried.
“I much prefer the study of medicinal herbs.”
“Oh, that’s not so independent of fungal ecology.”
“Maybe not,” Amir conceded, “But fungi are just so complex. There’s no one way to define them, so where do you even start?”
“As I was saying,” Tighnari said. “There’s a great many things I still wish to understand about fungal mycelium, and it would be my utter pleasure to work with you in your research.”
“I—I didn’t ask for help with my research as a whole. Just the sample would be more than enough help.”
“Do you think you would like more help?”
You pondered this. “I… I am limited in my capabilities. I don’t make the best project partner. I like to… work at my own pace, which tends to fluctuate.” You bit back any words that might directly indicate the seriousness of your condition. The actuality of your terminal disease. People acted—differently—once they found out about the Eleazar. You liked the thought of these new, adventurous friends, especially while they didn’t know about your prognosis.
Tighnari sucked air through his teeth. “That damn Akademiya. Shame on them.”
“Sorry?” you said.
“I just—” he shook his head, disappointed “—can’t get past the way they treat students. Not half a thought for real, field safety, and a hell of a lot of energy put into murdering the autonomy of passionate learning. It’s rare that I meet a student these days who has any self-respect left at all. Do you sleep at night, Y/N?”
Your eyes widened. No, you didn’t, but you weren’t about to say so.
“My apologies,” he said. “You’re trying to dissuade me—but it isn’t your fault. What I mean to say is that you would benefit from stepping a little further away from those sage pricks—forgive my language—and accordingly stepping deeper into the roots of your studies.”
“I do study roots.”
Tighnari scoffed. “Oh, my. Cyno would like this one.”
Collei, who had up until now watched the conversation with silent, interested eyes, let out a giggle. Tighnari beamed at her tenderly, and you sensed that she was a little more family than apprentice to him.
“Cyno?” you asked after a moment. “You mean, the General Mahamatra?”
“Cyno tells the most awful jokes,” Collei explained excitedly. “He especially likes puns. Ooh, they’re so terrible!”
Tighnari’s tone was dripping with sarcasm as he said, “Yes, and those closest to him earn the pleasure of his attempts to lighten the mood.” He smiled more sincerely. “He’s a dear friend to me, and a valiant protector of the law. He’s also the reason Collei came to be a part of our team.”
Collei’s expression returned neutral.
“She’s a complicated Eleazar case. We can only take care of her as much as she lets us,” Tighnari explained. “But she’s found a home here in the forest. Gandharva Ville wouldn’t be the same without her.”
You nodded, trying to keep your face detached. You felt the implication of the words—the unbearable, inevitable future of when Gandharva Ville would forever be transformed by their loss.
You hadn’t met many other cases in your years. Those who you knew with the disease were either miserable or hiding their misery with saccharine charades. You felt all the empathy in the world for them—but you couldn’t stand their haunting company. A part of you expected that that was how others felt about you, but it was no matter when the majority of your company were emotionless and eternally mysterious microorganisms.
“As you may or may not know, Eleazar symptoms can be better managed in the forest. Nilotpala Lotuses, a useful treatment for the skin conditions that develop, are also far more accessible away from the city.”
“I’ve heard something of the like,” you replied. ”I wonder why the disease behaves differently.”
“If there’s one thing I hope they’ve taught you,” Tighnari said, “it’s that context matters greatly for all types of ecology and health.”
You agreed.
“And for learning, as well.”
You supposed so.
“Don’t you think you might learn more—learn better—living safely immersed in the subject matter?”
Didn’t you think so, lying sleepless beneath the stars later that night next to the three of them? Didn’t you think so with the timer in the back of your mind counting down the remaining moments of your life? Didn’t you think so, hearing the ground move beneath your head—so much more alive than you could ever dream to be?
In the night, the loud silence of a million living things was sliced through by one human’s cries. Collei, suffering night terrors associated with clear physical pain, woke Tighnari and Amir from their quiet slumbers. You lay frozen, listening alertly, as Tighnari talked her back to sleep with descriptive details of flowers in the area, of birds soon to beckon dawn, of histories encoded in botany and zoology. Collei had calmed down and nodded off again, but the General Watchleader kept on until you could not hear him any longer. Your thoughts animated and blurred together, and you were lost in green dreams of life.
In the morning, you told Tighnari that you did, indeed, think so.
CHAPTER II. In which your research is disturbed by several events, and Collei is told a bedtime story.
Word count. 2.6k. Genre. Found family, gn!reader.
Table of Contents. / Next chapter.
It was your first time in Gandharva Ville, and it was nothing like you expected.
You’d heard about the treetop huts, and the winding paths between them. You’d anticipated the culture of the Forest Rangers and the rustic lives they kept. You couldn’t have been mistaken about the smells or sounds of wildlife around the village. No, it was something you couldn’t have prepared yourself for with all the knowledge in the world.
Everyone was so friendly. As compared with Sumeru City, the glowing diversity of food vendors and perfume smells had been replaced by chatter of Forest Rangers with one another, with the nature around them, and with your entering group that day around noon.
“General Watchleader, how was your journey?” — “Collei, how are you feeling? You should get some rest.” — “Amir, come and see how your pups are doing!” — “Forest Watcher Tighnari, I finished a rash cream prototype!” — “Hello, who’s this you’ve picked up, sir?”
You realized this question addressed you. You smiled, “I’m an Amurta scholar.”
The woman who had asked the question replied with a knowing grin, “Ah. Not for long, dear.”
Tighnari’s hut sat near the centre of the village and there was no door on the way in—simply a large leaf he pushed aside for himself and you. He pulled a chair out from a desk and said, “Please, sit. Why don’t we go over your research goals?”
You obliged.
“I’m interested in the current state of fungal mycelium as the ecology of our nation changes drastically. Especially, I want to understand the changing role of mycorrhizal networks between trees.”
“With the spread of Withering Zones.”
You nodded.
“I see. How are you testing it?”
“I’m trying to collect samples from healthy soil and from soil near Withering Zones. Or, I was, before I was so rudely interrupted.”
“Before you were almost so rudely killed,” Tighnari sassed.
“The fungi wouldn’t have been aggravated if you’d left me alone!”
Tighnari only laughed. “We do apologize for the inconvenience. So, what do you hypothesize? Do you expect the control group to associate with Adhigama saplings, and for the fungal mycelium from areas at risk to infect them?”
“Based on the circulating theory that fungi are the most deeply connected with Irminsul, this would support the idea that the mycorrhizal networks are the paths by which The Withering spreads.”
“Interesting,” Tighnari said, narrowing his eyes pensively. “Very, very interesting.”
You unloaded your samples and tools from your bag onto his desk. As he continued you labeled the last sample that he’d helped you filter yesterday and sorted them.
“Now, why trees? Why not, say, Nilotpala Lotuses? Though mycelium might not interact quite as much with them, they have a way of repelling The Withering that would be beneficial to study. In my studies I have been able to unite them.”
“I’m more interested in replicating as much of the context as I can. It would be an entirely separate phenomenon that would yield results I’m less interested in.”
“Context.” He nodded. “Good.” He knelt next to his desk so that his sparkling hazel eyes were horizontal with the items on the desk.
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Working with Tighnari was unlike any group project you’d engaged in reluctantly at the Akademiya. In some ways, he was like a senior guiding you, rebuking you, facilitating your ideas—in others, he was like a fellow student who had as much curiosity—though not possibly more—as you in this project. There was also the issue of his proximity. He wasn’t encroaching on your personal space by any means, but he had a way of looking over your shoulder or reaching across the desk that felt like the closest any person had been to you for a long time, aside from your physician. You had always known that people had a certain hesitation because of your condition. Some would feel squeamish, as though the plain knowledge that the disease was not contagious suddenly merited questioning anytime you were too close. Others acted careful, as if they were afraid your arms or legs or emotional mask would just brittly snap off at a moment’s notice. You assumed it was his experience as a medical professional, but a part of you doubted things would stay the same if he knew. Things always changed when people found out about the Eleazar.
You spent days together, mostly, though it seems Tighnari was the most popular individual in the Avidya Forest. Every few hours or so, someone would let theirself into the hut to address Tighnari with whatever news or issue he needed to help with. He’d go off and fix it and then return to get to work with you.
After a few days of this, as the experiment was nearing its end, a certain request caught your attention. “Sir, Collei’s just come back from an expedition with some other Rangers and we’re trying to convince her to get some rest, but she just won’t stop reading.”
Tighnari’s ears perked and you turned to see a Forest Ranger with a somewhat defeated look on his face. As Tighnari made to leave, you offered to step in. “I haven’t seen her much since we got here—I’d like to see how she’s doing.”
Collei was indeed reading stubbornly. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed in her hut with a thick book open on her lap. Her eyes had dark circles under them, making her purple eyes look rather ghostly.
“Collei,” Tighnari said sternly.
She started and nearly threw the book. “M-Master!”
Tighnari tsked at her and took the book with ease from her grasp, closing it. “You need rest. I told you not to push yourself. Should I tell Y/N I’ll take a break to stay with you until you listen?”
“I can stay with her,” you said, taking the book from Tighnari’s grasp. The Folio of the Foliage, Three Volumes, read the cover. “What chapter were you on, Collei? I’ll read it to you so you can lie down.”
“I was just starting Volume 3… I’m sorry, Master Tighnari.”
Tighnari crossed his arms. “I need you to take your health more seriously, Collei.” He turned to you and leaned in to whisper, “Take care.”
You nodded at him as Collei got herself under a blanket, facing you on her side. You observed her for a moment. She looked so small, so young. You would have hated to have been taken care of in such an attentive way at her age. Back then, you were always running off to be by yourself outside. And still now, you wouldn’t let anyone press their knuckles to your forehead. Life was easier this way. You knew in your soul that you were not made to be taken care of, and so you were at peace with the prospect of the sudden end your life may have.
You could only give others that same peace, you’d realized long ago, if they weren’t given the opportunity to care.
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You really wished you had brought some water with you as you reached the end of the story. Your voice was a bit hoarse, and you wondered how Tighnari kept it up when he talked her to sleep. Well, she wasn’t sleeping at any rate, so you might as well finish before you found some respite for your throat.
“The lord of all animals let out a furious roar with its dying breath,” you read, “then fell, protecting all that she had entrusted to him. But the memories themselves did not shatter, collapse, nor fall. Like the wisdom she left behind, they were unborn, imperishable, eternal, and ancient.”
You finished the last paragraph and looked up at Collei. She said, “Thank you, Y/N, for reading that to me.”
You tucked Collei’s blanket a little more snugly up to her chin and said to her, “Do you think you might actually get some sleep now?”
“Okay,” she acquiesced, her tone trailing off into drowsiness.
As her eyes slowly closed, you felt there was still a gaze on you. You rose from the side of her bed and acknowledged the General Watchleader, who leaned on the doorframe with his tail waving gently.
“Thank you,” he mouthed.
You left the hut with him, letting the large leaves fall over the entryway before you asked, “Have you read that story before?” You noticed your tone was tired. You’d put more of your energy into that than you’d thought.
“I have. You do it justice.”
You nodded, still feeling hoarse. You knew if you coughed, the tension in your chest from the Eleazar would worsen and ruin your day, so you kept your breaths shallow and slow.
“I think Collei really looks up to you, you know.”
You almost laughed. “Really? I thought you’d indoctrinated the Akademiya admiration out of her.”
“There’s more to you than your status as a scholar.”
“Can’t that be said of anyone?”
He shook his head. “Research out of curiosity and research out of greed are separate disciplines.”
That much was true. But yours wasn’t purely out of curiosity. You, too, had greed. You were greedy to search for a way to have a longer life than was allotted to you by Irminsul.
“Besides, you’re good company, and it was very selfless of you to sit there and give her so much of your day.”
“I didn’t know you liked to compliment people this much. Is this part of some scheme to convince me to join the Forest Rangers?”
Tighnari’s ears flattened a little. “No… Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
“We’d like you to stay and join our team. I hope that’s no secret. But I’m capable of giving genuine compliments too.”
“I guess it’s just backlash after all your critique these past few days. Doesn’t… sound right.” You felt out of breath and you slowed your pace.
“Y/N? What’s the matter?”
You shook your head, but you felt a chill up your spine that warned you of an oncoming bout of numbness. It forced you to stop and lean on a tree. “Archons. I’m fine,” you said, taking a deep breath. “I must have spent a little too long staring at a microscope lately. Don’t worry about me.”
“You should take a break tonight. No use in pushing yourself to exhaustion. There will be more mycelium.”
There would be more waves. More frequently.
And you were afraid that he knew.
What if he saw the shadow towering behind you and chose to say nothing?
“No, I’ll be fine once I’ve had some water. You know, I’m not so good at talking for extended periods.”
“It’s a skill I’ve been blessed to acquire in passing. The Akademiya occasionally persuades me to lecture field researchers.” He chuckled lightly. “You must have skipped the last one.”
You made no response. Perhaps you had.
“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?”
You decided a change of subject would be most suitable. “I’m just thinking about Collei. I feel bad for her.”
“She’s come a long way, you know. That child couldn’t read a word when Cyno showed up with her on my doorstep. Now? I have to chastise her for reading too much. Once again, thank you for making time with her. I want her to rest, but I don’t want her to hate every moment of surviving. Eleazar is hard on the body, and hardly easier on the mind.”
“She’s bright, and so eager to please you.”
“I know. I think she mistakes my care for her, sometimes, as anger or disappointment.”
“But she knows you care?”
He smiled. “She knows well that Cyno, the rest of the Forest Rangers, and I care about her and her well-being. It is my humble hope that she is finding herself a home with us.”
“Do many Forest Rangers start on your doorstep, Tighnari?”
“You know, now that I think about it, there is an uncanny pattern. I suppose that indicates we have a good reputation all around.”
“I wish that were true,” you said, meaning it. “I was wary of the Forest Rangers and their unbookish methods. Now I see things are different.”
You approached the hut and took a swig of water from your flask. “Things are… better here, than at the Akademiya. I will grant you that.”
“High praise indeed,” he said with a chuckle. “Are you feeling better?”
Hardly. The tension in your chest was building.
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As you recorded the final details in your lab book, you couldn’t help but notice the fox-eared Forest Watcher watching you. The results of your study had been made clear tonight; there was no difference in the soils, your saplings and sample networks had intertwined equally, with no significant chemical differences found between control and experimental saplings. Your hypothesis hadn’t been supported. While your results were still worth presenting, you felt like you were missing something, and perhaps your face reflected this to Tighnari as you scribbled away.
Once you had finished and closed the book, he asked, “What’s next?”
You set the book on the desk. Exhaustion overwhelmed you, but you pushed yourself to your feet and sauntered to the window. The night sky was obscured with clouds, so you gazed into nothing when you said, “I don’t know, yet.”
“These results open a realm of possibility for future experiments. Do you want my help to brainstorm?”
You let out a puff of air. “No, not… Not right now.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
He was right. This wasn’t a bad thing, not exactly. But had your hypothesis been correct… “I’m just disappointed.” And fried. You felt like you needed to lie in a bed, and not leave it for a week. You refused to admit defeat in such a way, but the feeling remained. “I guess I was more invested in getting the results I wanted than I should have been.”
Tighnari stepped closer, tilting his head to look into your eyes. “Y/N. You look exhausted. Have you been sleeping?”
You shrugged. “You’ve asked me this before.”
“You didn’t answer me then, either.”
Gripping the windowsill enough to turn your knuckles white, you admitted, “No, I haven’t been sleeping. I haven’t slept a night through in a very, very long time.”
He paused. “It’s more than the research, right?”
Your heart skipped a beat.
“What do you… mean?” you said, trying to keep calm. He knew?
“For me, my research has always felt like an extension of myself. A space made just for me to examine nature’s mysteries. I break myself, sometimes, to learn something new. Gods know it’s the only time Collei gets to lecture me.”
You laughed. “Really?”
“I have a thing where I feel compelled to put non-toxic species in my mouth to taste their properties,” he said, sounding a bit sheepish. “It’s empirical. You can’t deny that.”
“I guess it’s something like that,” you lied. You couldn’t even imagine what you meant. Your head was swimming as you attempted a joke, “Did you lick my samples, Tighnari?”
He quickly made a gesture of denial with his hands. “No, no, no! Don’t misunderstand. That would have vastly altered our results.”
You tried to agree but no words came out. Here came the numbness—stronger than before, wiping even your mind blank from everything but senseless panic. The last clear thought you had was, if he doesn’t know yet, he will soon.
CHAPTER III. In which your secret is out, and you must decide on the next step.
Word count. 2.1k. Genre. Found family, gn!reader.
Table of Contents. / Next chapter.
The light smell of eucalyptus roused your senses and you blinked awake. You recognized the faint morning glow through the entry and the medicine and herb-covered shelves as indicators of your position—the patient bed in the medical hut. By the door sat a Forest Ranger with a tray of seedlings on his lap, who stirred as you sat up.
“You’re awake! I’ll fetch the General Watchleader.”
You thanked him and swung your legs off the bed. No shoes were around you on the floor, but this wouldn’t stop you from reaching for your jacket from the hanger so that you could get yourself out of this rather embarrassing situation as soon as possible.
As you pulled on your jacket, something felt very wrong about its texture. It didn’t take you long to realize with a glance at your fingertips that the Eleazar had spread suddenly and quickly up your fingers, all the way to the second joint. This, you couldn’t hide with dirty fingertips. Your fingers were scaly, rough as you dragged them on your arm, and worst of all: numb. You could feel nothing from the knuckles out.
It must have been all the contact with that soil. That’s all it could be. Proximity to Withering Zones was hard on anyone—but for Eleazar, this confirmed, its spread could be accelerated exponentially.
“Were you born with it?”
Tighnari was in the room.
You only nodded, still staring in misery at your fingers. You could barely do research like this. You’d find a way, of course, but… It was an omen.
“I commend your choice to join the Amurta Darshan.” His voice was calming, understanding, as he walked over to you. “It’s smart of you to get as much time in the forest as possible. Good for lengthening what time you do have.” His voice broke a little as he took your hands in his to inspect their state for what couldn’t have been the first time since last night.
You looked up at him.
Despite his composed voice, his eyes were grave. He met your gaze with red rings and dark shadows. At this sight, you felt yourself tearing up and you averted your attention to the bottles of assorted colours on the shelf near the door.
“I’m so sorry,” he said in a whisper.
“Me too,” you replied.
“I should have figured it out. I should have helped you sooner.”
“I wouldn’t have let you. Besides, we barely know each other.”
Tighnari sat down beside you. “While that may have been true a few days ago, having spent so much time with you by now I’m not sure that excuse still applies.”
You pulled your hands from his grasp, inspecting them again. “This stays between us, okay? I don’t want anyone else to freak out.”
He paused. “Do I seem like I’m disturbed?”
“Yeah, you do. Of course you do. How misfortunate that you put the time into befriending someone who’s bound to die soon—bound to live atypically and miserably. I bet you’re wishing now that I didn’t have Eleazar.”
“Naturally, yes, I wish you did not have Eleazar. It is a grave diagnosis indeed, and I hope you know how deeply I wish there was a cure. Seeing as it is associated with the sickness that resides in Irminsul itself, you and I both know how distant hope is.”
“I don’t make a good research partner, Tighnari.”
“Nonsense. You’ve been brilliant to work with. So passionate, as I’ve said before.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Help me understand.”
You searched for the words. “Many of my samples will outlast me.”
“Then… those are lives privileged to have been touched by yours.”
You bit the inside of your cheek, raising an eyebrow at your companion.
“Was that too sappy? Well, I’m sorry to hear that you can’t handle a bit of sap from someone who cares about you.”
You shook your head at him scoldingly and flopped back onto the bed with your eyes on the ceiling. “I don’t want to be a sad sick person.”
Tighnari mimicked you, flopping next to you compliantly. “Then—let’s not be somber any longer. Let’s discuss mycelium.”
As the two of you discussed mycorrhizal networks and how the nature of relationships between plants through such a web varied between mutually beneficial to exploitative to draining, you thought about the ties between you and Tighnari—between you and the rest of the Forest Rangers—as compared those between you and those you came into contact with at the Akademiya. The Akademiya… you hadn’t thought about it since the day you arrived here. You didn’t miss it one bit. You were engaged and intertwined with a network of mutual benefit in a grand forest of wealth.
A forest whose future was threatened by only one disease.
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A new study was in the works.
Tighnari had the research in his hut. Open system experiments were out of fashion for recent Akademiya research, but for your study, it was necessitated. There was simply no ethical way to recreate a web of mycelium still connected to the deepest parts of Teyvat without leaving the microscopic roots in the soil and bringing the experiment to them.
To your brief dismay, Tighnari insisted on doing a brief checkup on your health before you left to locate a prime site. Afterwards, you made him promise not to do it again while you worked on the second study.
“If I die, I die. I can’t just live on edge every moment, so please don’t live that way either.”
“I won’t forgive myself if I don’t do everything I can.”
“You can’t be my doctor without my consent. There, that means you’ll be doing everything you can.”
It really was a joy to get your toes immersed in the dirt. While working in Gandharva Ville had been nothing like Akademiya research laboratories, there was still the element of taking a sample from its “home” that didn’t always sit well with you. At least now the samplings in the control group would be returning into the earth to flourish. As for the experimental saplings… one had to believe damage done to young flora would be merited by scientific progress.
During the mundane parts of preparations, you and Tighnari had fallen into habits of chattering about this and that. Normally it took the form of observations of nature or the telling of interesting botany facts. Today, however, was different.
“Since my secret’s out,” you were saying, “you owe me an explanation of your history. Where’d you get the ears and tail?”
Tighnari cleared his throat. “I suppose you’ve been wondering for a while.”
“I’ve seen another of your species once or twice before at the Akademiya but she was quite consumed with her independent research. Much like myself, actually.”
“My species is traditionally called Valuka Shuna, which means ‘large desert dog.’ I find this to be a bit of an inapt name, but the other name is rather nondescript for myself in particular. I don’t like to tell people I’m ‘Tighnarian.’”
“Ooh, yeah,” you concurred. “So, you’re descended from Tighnar?”
“Something like that. My forefathers were closely engaged with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, King Deshret, Eremites, and the like. As far as I know and have experienced, our green fur is something of a curse. Because of it I am very sensitive to overexposure and heat. I understand that those left of our race tend to prefer solitude, much like myself.”
“You know, for an introvert, you sure do have a lot of pals,” you observed.
“It comes with the job. I don’t hate people. Though, I’ve had enough run-ins with ignorant scholars and travellers for a lifetime.”
“Hey! Don’t be mean.”
“Like I said, I don’t hate people. Even if it’s a reckless student like you.”
You tsked at him. “You don’t strike me as someone quite capable of hate. It seems to me that you can be as angry as a Rishboland Tiger and you’ll still be understanding of another point of view.”
Tighnari glanced at you. “That may be true. But do not mistake me for a pushover.”
“No, I’ve seen how you are with Collei. And me, I guess.”
“I make sure to treat all of the Rangers the same.”
His expression was serious. You supposed he meant that if another Ranger came down with Eleazar, he’d worry and care for them just as he did for you and Collei. But you thought it over as you continued preparations. You considered it as he volunteered to record data in your place on your weaker days. And you could not stop ruminating over it after Collei spoke to you later that day, running into Tighnari’s hut while you worked on the report.
“Y/N! How are you feeling?”
You froze. Had he told her? “Hi, Collei. I’m quite alright. Why do you ask?”
“I heard you pushed yourself too hard a few nights ago. Master’s worrying about you like I’ve never seen before.” She smiled sweetly. “I’m glad you’re okay. He doesn’t get like this often, so he must really care about you.”
You felt a sinking feeling in your gut. “How have you been? Sorry I’ve been so busy these past few days, I haven’t been able to come and see you.”
“I’ve been busy too! I was helping a Ranger with his seedlings, and I’ve gotten to practice some of my survival skills—and Tighnari’s given me a few more responsibilities so that he can help you out! Of course, he said not to push myself and to let him know if it was ever too much, but I’m learning so much I don’t think I’ll want to give it up in that case!”
This gave you pause.
“Do you need help with anything?” she asked.
Was Tighnari really treating you like he’d treat any Forest Ranger? Or were you an exception?
“Why don’t you come here,” you offered to Collei, “so I can show you what Akademiya reports look like in their drafting stages. I know you like to read.”
“Really?” she asked, coming further inside. You rose from the chair and told her to take it as she read.
“Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll just be over here.” You stood by Tighnari’s pinboard, studying the current features: an assortment of mushroom samples and a branch of an Adhigama sapling.
As Collei neared the most recent part of the draft, Tighnari arrived in his hut. “Look who’s here,” he said, stirring the young Forest Ranger to stand up.
“M-Master!”
“What are you up to?”
“Reading a draft of Y/N’s report. There are a lot of big words I don’t understand.”
You cut in. “Hey, you were supposed to ask me about them!”
“I—I’m sorry. You have super cool handwriting, though!”
Tighnari asked Collei about her day and encouraged her to run along and get some rest. After she left, he gave you a proud smile. “Like I said, she looks up to you.”
You returned the smile. “She really is a sweet girl. She’s found a home here.”
“Yes, and she’s so diligent. I just have to make sure she doesn’t take on more than she can handle.”
You felt oddly that he meant you.
This couldn’t go on for any longer.
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Dawn was red and howling with gales. Tighnari awoke with a knot in his stomach and a pounding headache. He disliked storms and wind. Not only did they cause him physical aches and uncontrollable, carnal fear, but they also seemed to carry misfortune into the lives of himself and his friends. With a pang he wondered how you were handling it. City folk were used to thick walls and ceilings in this weather, and also had a tendency to be unaware of the dangers of the forest. If you weren’t still asleep, then knowing you, you might have wandered off to check on the saplings.
He pulled on his boots. A flash of lightning illuminated his room as he pulled his hood over his ears. He noticed something white on his desk that had not been there last night with a scrawling of his name. With a great deal of haste and no disparity of panic, he opened the envelope and read the note inside, only hesitating at the shaking of his hands from a boom of thunder.
“Tighnari,
“I will finish the experiment by myself.
“You’ll get to see the final report by mail—you’ll be credited. Thanks for everything.
“Don’t look for me.”
Lightning flashed once more. You had signed your initials at the bottom.
INDEX. A compilation of resources, inspirations, and additional writings for this project.
Read the fic first! Table of Contents / Chapter I
Short playlist I created to help myself stay focused on the project's themes, tones, and atmosphere:
Y/N's abstract I wrote before I wrote the fic:
The exchange of chemicals such as carbon through mycorrhizal networks is a topic in increasing need of study as our forests change rapidly. The rapid acceleration of the plague known as The Withering has opened up a fresh world of ideas, such as that Irminsul is deeply connected and implanted upon non-elementally infused fungi such as fungal mycelium. In the present studies, we examined the ecology of microscopic fungal bodies and Adhigama saplings to diminish abstract definitions of Withering Zones and create opportunities for fruitful methods and study. We tested two groups in the first study: a control group with no past association with Withering Zones, and a group of samples from Adhigama roots within a 10 metre radius of Withering Zones. There was no difference between groups in this study, so we proceeded in the second study with a control group and a sample from the direct outskirts of a Withering Zone. From within the Withering Zone, we were able to witness a healthy sapling’s decay over three hours. This may suggest still-active mycorrhizal networks in Withering Zones. With these results, the case of The Withering’s manifestation in the human body, known as Eleazar, may be understood through a clarified lens of possible elemental manifestation within the body. Future research should examine this possibility more intently.
References:
Awad, A., & Pena, R. (2023). An improved method for extraction of soil fungal mycelium. MethodsX, 11, 102477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2023.102477
Rammitsu, K., Yamamoto, N., Chamara, R. M. S. R., Minobe, M., Kinoshita, A., Kotaka, N., & Ogura-Tsujita, Y. (2023). The epiphytic orchid Vanda falcata is predominantly associated with a single Tulasnellaceae fungus in adulthood, and Ceratobasidiaceae fungi strongly induce its seed germination in vitro. Plant Species Biology, 38(6), 306–318. https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.12432
The Withering. (n.d.). Genshin Impact Wiki. https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/The_Withering
