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“I could have handled this,” he muttered, shifting more weight to his right. As they crested the hill, he joked, “It’s nothing I haven’t done before.”
Lesser Lord Kusanali— Nahida, as the unconscious Traveler often called her— giggled as she shifted Paimon’s head to her other shoulder. “I sure hope not.”
Cyno inclined his head.
She looked up at him as he paused in his tracks. “I am a little concerned with any long-lasting effects of the Doctor’s machine. I know the Traveler is a lot stronger, but they aren’t invincible. Though… I don’t know much about Pai—”
With a snort from Paimon, she stopped, startling a little. When the floating creature did nothing else, Nahida huffed, turning her full attention back to him. “I don’t mean to make you think you’re incapable of at least bringing them to Gandharva Ville to see…?”
“The current chief officer,” he said. “A friend of mine by the name of—”
“Tighnari. Yes, I’ve seen the records,” she said. “We’ve met, briefly, under very… odd circumstances, let’s say.”
Less to tell her, then. Good. For a moment, he’d thought he had to provide context for all of the Akademiya’s current staff of operations. Or, well, their previous.
He didn’t know how many Houses were involved in this experiment. In that regard, it was probable that Nahida herself knew more than he did. With both Azar and Khajeh in custody, it was only a matter of time before could confirm for himself to what extent their Archon had been kept in the dark.
For now, he can only provide her what she asked.
“I haven’t offended you, have I?”
He turned and continued their trek, “Not at all, Lesser Lord. I know you are friends with the Traveler and Paimon. As am I. Which is why I had offered to bring them to Tighnari personally.”
“Oh. That’s good! Well, I hope he doesn’t mind that we’re dropping off more people to take care of.”
Cyno took a deep breath. Most of the sages, Azar and Khajeh, and yes even Alhaitham himself needed to take a page from their Archon’s book and learn the meaning of humility. “If I am right,” which he knew he was, “I assume you would not like that Tighnari would see to them himself. But neither of us hold any authority over him. I have tried many times.”
When the Traveler had told him that Tighnari had been attacked by the Balladeer, he was not expecting… this.
“No,” Tighnari said, careful to move with his bandaged shoulder, pointing a gloved finger directly at him. Before them both, the Traveler laid asleep, with a clean bill of health from an Amurta graduate with a few Bimarstan electives under his belt.
“I haven’t even said anything,” he muttered, though he knew what Tighnari was alluding to. He was already wondering how to phrase the question in his head, how to check the damage, to what extent, and how long he needed to stay to see to his full recovery.
It was a pipe dream, at most. With two of the sages arrested, he had to investigate the others’ involvement fully. He had to give out sentences and arrange trials for however many scholars and researchers were involved. He had to prepare fallbacks and pass on orders to Alhaitham to make sure Sumeru was going to stay running without the Akasha. He had to coordinate and run all this by Nahida at some point. With some hope, she perhaps already had most of the kinks sorted and all they had to do was worry about logistics.
Tighnari’s tendency to overwork was the reason the Avidya has yet to catch unnecessary fire within the last five years of his seat as General Watchleader.
That did not mean Cyno had to like it.
“I know that look, General,” Tighnari started. Cyno settled in. “You want the whole nine yards, here: I was struck by lightning. Was it divine lightning? Yes. Did it hurt like a bitch? Absolutely, for days. It still aches now. But I am fine. I can think, I can speak, and I can work. Now, all that aside, what about you?”
Cyno raised a brow. “Me?”
“You send me the Traveler and Dehya asking for a Harbinger, and within the following day, two out of six sages have been arrested, and you stroll in with an unconscious Traveler and our god. What have you been up to?”
“I told you. I found something suspicious.”
They looked at each other then, by the Traveler’s bedside, in Tighnari’s quarters. Outside, Nahida was having a conversation with Collei, asking about who knows what and answering questions from random forest rangers and the elders.
Finally, he said, “Lightning? I was told you were attacked by a Harbinger.”
Tighnari blinked, then scoffed, “What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what? Dehya and I were fending off the Fatui by the gates of Pardis Dhyai and lightning just… struck me. Well. Mostly the Fatui by the gates but also me. Though, it was weird that the Traveler apologized to me about it.”
Cyno stared at him blankly, then slowly waved his hand over Tighnari’s hair and sent a jolt of Electro through his fingers.
Tighnari looked up at his hand, then pushed his hand away with a huff. “I get it, I get it. But it wasn’t Electro that struck me from someone. The weather just took a turn.”
“I can explain that.”
Both of them looked up to see Nahida walking in, Collei in tow.
“Lesser Lord,” Tighnari greeted, standing in attention. “Good to see you out. Congratulations on your freedom.”
She shook her head, smiling, “No need to stand on attention, we’re merely friends on visitation. But, thank you. It’s good to be out… General.”
Cyno snorted.
Tighnari stomped his boot down on his toe.
Nahida laughed. “Anyway. You two were curious as to what had happened that day at Pardis Dhyai while you were guarding the scholar Haypasia, correct?”
They glanced at each other, then turned back to Nahida, nodding.
Nahida’s face fell, solemn now where it was joyful not moments ago, her eyes rising to the window above Tighnari’s bed. “There is a factory beneath the Sanctuary of Surasthana, stretching out as far as the heart of the city until just the edge of the Ardravi valley. Perhaps farther even than that. The Traveler and I were not at our disposal to explore at the time, and in the process of solving the problem with the new god, certain entrances and exits have been blocked off. In any case, that was where the sages and the Fatui were constructing their god. And knowing his temper, there’s a high chance that the lightning that had struck you that day came directly from him.”
Collei mouthed the word ‘constructing’ by the foot of the Traveler’s bed, a confused look on her face. No doubt she’d be asking about it at the dinner table, but she didn’t dare ask about it in Nahida’s presence.
Tighnari’s tail bumped into his shoulder. “The Traveler has mentioned this to me before and I had my suspicions about the size of this project… but I didn’t know that this new god was a Harbinger.”
Cyno crossed his arms, “Who did you think we were referring to when we said The Balladeer?”
“Why would I question new gods’ names?”
He rolled his eyes, “No wonder you only passed your Vahumana electives. What about the Doctor then?”
“I know plenty, this guy just decided to go as just the Doctor, did you really think I was gonna question that?”
“They were both wearing—”
“I’m sorry, Lesser Lord Kusanali. Master Tighnari and General Mahamatra often get like this when they haven’t seen each other in a while.”
Nahida laughed as Cyno gave Collei an incredulous look. She shrank into the corner of the Traveler’s bed, but was smiling.
It was hard not to smile when Nahida laughed, Cyno found.
“Then I’m sure he should be able to enjoy at least a day with your Master, Collei.”
He looked at her. “Lesser Lord, we—”
“Alhaitham has already handed over what needs to be done and what procedures need to be taken. I sent out the orders before accompanying you here. Knowing him, he must have already prepared for this particular societal collapse before you had even fully formed the plan to rescue me.”
Cyno took a deep breath. Drier than desert afternoons, he muttered, “Good sage material, that one.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I already offered. He turned it down though.”
Tighnari laughed. “Kaveh’s gonna have a field day about this.”