Chapter Text
The flutter of wings of an approaching bird reached Tighnari's sensitive ears before he even saw the snow-white dove gliding through the sky toward him. Seeing it, he stopped halfway through the speech to the other Forest Watchers, furrowing his brow with worry. The doves signaled the matter was urgent and needed his immediate reaction.
He reached quickly for the letter attached to the bird's leg and unfolded it. He recognized the handwriting of the doctor from Bimarstan.
Master Tighnari,
We need your immediate assistance as a botanical expert and owner of Dendro Vision. The patient's life is in danger and every second counts.
Doctor Zakariya
Tighnari raised his eyebrows and looked at the confused Collei.
“They need me in Bimarstan. I don't know how long it will take me, so I leave everything in your care until I'm back,” he said.
Collie nodded and saluted with a severe face. Tighnari sent her an uncertain smile and rushed toward Sumeru City.
He wondered what specifically required his presence. The mention of his vision was especially puzzling. He didn't use it to treat people, as his knowledge of herbs and fungi was usually enough. The vision was useful for fighting and supporting withering plants. What use could it have in this case?
The answer came as he entered the hospital building and was led to the patient’s rooms.
“Tighnari…” he was surprised by the crying, weak voice of Paimon. The fairy was floating above the hospital bed, on which was lying…
“Lumine!” he gasped.
The Traveler was pale as death and emaciated with her breath wheezing as if she couldn't catch air. She was unconscious, but her eyelids were squeezed shut like every second was causing her agony.
Around her were petals and single full flowers in a color reminiscent of blood.
“Hanahaki disease…” he whispered in shock.
As a botanist with medical interests, he obviously knew what hanahaki was. A mysterious disease caused by flowers that were nesting inside people’s bodies and feeding on their feelings. Feeding on their unrequited love.
This disease was so rare it was considered practically a legend, and Tighnari himself had never had the chance to encounter it. However, seeing such obvious symptoms as the presence of flowers, inability to catch a breath and emaciation made him sure that was it.
“She was brought in this morning after fainting on the streets,” said doctor Zakariya, who approached him in the meantime. “This is most likely the last stage of the disease. If we don't do surgery immediately…” He shook his head hopelessly.
Tighnari gulped, well aware of what the man meant. The flowers nestled in the lungs would make breathing impossible, causing a slow and cruel death by suffocation. There were only two ways to prevent this.
One was the reciprocation of the feelings by the person whose lack of love caused the disease. In this case, the cure of the disease would be instantaneous, practically magical, and there would be no trace of the past sickness.
The second was surgery to physically remove flowers from the body. However, this approach had two side effects.
With the disposal of the flowers, the memories of the person to whom unrequited love was directed were gone as well. As if one never met the beloved before and never had the opportunity to fall for them.
But the worst part was that the person undergoing the surgery would also lose the ability to love someone again. Just like it was plucked out along with the roots, dooming one to live without this feeling for the rest of their life.
Tighnari bit his lip in frustration. He wouldn't wish this on the enemy, let alone his friend.
“Paimon!” He looked at the weeping figure floating nearby. “How long has Lumine been sick with this?”
“P-Paimon's not sure!” sobbed the fairy. “Lumine hides many things from Paimon! Paimon noticed she was coughing and was paler about two weeks ago!”
“Why didn't she go to the hospital then?” wanted to scold Tighnari, but this wasn't the time to point out stupidity. Lumine was dying.
“Who is she in love with?” he asked instead.
Paimon's big shocked eyes answered him before her.
“Lumine is in love with someone?!” shouted the confused fairy.
Tighnari placed a hand on his forehead, feeling tired. That situation was getting worse and worse with each passing minute.
He looked at Paimon, trying to gather patience.
“Most likely, yes. This disease is caused by unrequited love. She probably met with that person during the last couple of weeks.” He sighed. “Do you have a suspicion who it might be? We need to get this person here immediately!”
Lumine coughed harshly in her sleep, and from the corner of her mouth flew blood. Tighnari pressed his lips together. Even "immediately" seemed to be too late.
Paimon went silent for a moment, staring at him with big eyes.
“Paimon doesn’t know,” she finally said. “We are seeing a lot of people during our journey! We have been mostly in Sumeru lately, but we also visited Mondstadt for the festival! Maybe it's Alhaitham? Cyno? Kaeya? Diluc? We also spoke with Albedo for quite a long time…” She jumped in the air as something came to her mind. “Oh, what if it's a girl? Maybe Amber? Nilou? Dehya? Li…”
Okay, that didn't get them anywhere. Tighnari raised his hands to stop her from continuing.
“That’s enough! We don't have time to bring half of Teyvat here!” He gulped and looked at Zakariya. “Prepare everything for the surgery!”
He really didn’t want it to happen, but there was no other choice. Even if by some chance they guessed who was the object of Lumine's love, another condition was that the feeling had to be reciprocated. And since she ended up in the hospital in such a state, most likely there was no hope for that.
Paimon was asked out, and the doctor and intern doctors went to prepare the surgery room. For a moment, Tighnari was left alone with Lumine.
It was really awful to see her in such a state. One of the heroes of Sumeru. A conqueror of the fake and real god, dragons, and harbingers. At the moment, that strong person was fighting for every breath, overpowered by her own feelings.
Who was she in love with? Who had the favor of having affection from someone so special and didn't appreciate it? Unless they didn't know about it? Could she be so stupid to not even confess her feelings, despite her condition?
A thought came into Tighnari's head. Foolish and egoistic, but he couldn't just shake it off.
Because what if Lumine was in love… with him?
No, it couldn't possibly be true. Why would she be in love exactly with him, knowing so many people? Paimon probably named just a few of countless candidates.
But…
He gulped, feeling his throat squeezing.
What if she woke up after the surgery and no longer knew who he was?
Tighnari looked at Lumine for a moment, then slowly leaned over her ear.
“Lumine.”
She seemed to freeze, holding her heavy breath for a moment as if listening to him.
“I…” He hesitated. “I love you.”
Lumine's head turned slightly in his direction, and for a moment he thought she was looking at him.
But then she started coughing so hard that her body bent in half, and petals and full buds of red flowers flew out of her mouth along with blood. Tighnari cursed and grabbed her by the shoulders to position her differently, so she wouldn't choke.
“Ugh… so it didn’t work…” He sighed.
There could be several reasons why that confession failed. The most obvious was that Tighnari was not the receiver of her feelings.
Another was that although he admired Lumine and enjoyed her company, what he felt for her wasn't love. Sympathy, at most.
“It was worth a try…” he murmured, wiping blood from her lips with a tissue.
Even such a powerful coughing attack did not awaken her, which was very alarming. She seemed oddly weightless and fragile in his arms. The time to save her was running out.
The doors opened and an intern doctor appeared in them.
“Master Tighnari, we have prepared the room for surgery,” she announced with respect.
“Great. Move the patient there. I’ll be there in a minute.”
The surgery was long and tedious, and Tighnari hated every second of it. He really preferred dealing with plants, eventually people who were stupid enough to eat something they shouldn't. Saving Lumine... extracting the blood-red flowers from her one by one… was like a scene from nightmares. The flowers of the color of blood and her blood itself were everywhere, contrasting with the paleness of her skin. He had to use all his strength to carefully move his hands and stop their stress-induced trembling.
His Dendro Vision turned out to be actually useful - he was able to sense the plant's elemental energy and be sure that the entire thing was removed. Although it didn't make him any calmer. He checked often if Lumine's heart was still beating and that a whine she was making wasn't her last.
Finally, after a time that seemed like forever, he couldn't sense any remains of plants inside the body. The surgery was over, but was it successful? That would depend on whether Lumine would wake up.
Tighnari sat heavily beside the patient’s bed, looking at her pale face and sunken eyes. Now he could only wait.
His gaze mindlessly shifted to the tray on which the removed flowers were gathered. As a botanist, he should feel fascinated by them and want to know their mystery. Hanahaki was, after all, incredibly rare - who knows if he would ever come across such a specimen again? However, the only thing he felt toward the red flowers was disgust. They reminded him of death.
Hours were passing, and Lumine wasn't waking up, though her shallow breathing and barely audible heartbeat were reassuring Tighnari that she was still alive. Intern doctors took away extracted flowers, mentioning something about Amurta. Paimon was let in and was currently sleeping curled up like a cat at Lumine's side, clearly tired from the stress and crying.
Tighnari also felt himself starting to doze off. Just as he was about to close his eyes, his ears caught a little louder gasp. He immediately awakened, gazing expectantly at Lumine, whose expression changed from calm to frowning in pain. His heartbeat quickened when her eyes opened slightly.
“Agh…” Lumine made a strange hoarse sound. “Where…”
“Bimarstan,” answered her Tighnari, reaching for painkillers. “Here, drink this.”
She didn’t protest when he put the glass to her chapped lips, helping her drink its contents. After that, she sighed in relief, appreciating the effect of the medicine.
Tighnari sat back in his chair, staring at her closely. She seemed quite conscious, looking around the room with slight confusion.
“Forgive odd questions, but I need to make sure you're okay,” he said after a moment. “The most important one - do you know who you are?”
The woman looked at him with widened eyes and gulped. She looked as if afraid of answering incorrectly.
“Lumine…” she replied after a moment. “The Traveler.”
“That’s right.” Tighnari relaxed a little, but soon his anxiety came back. “Now… do you…” He felt an unpleasant squeeze in his guts. “Do you know who I am?”
Lumine blinked, gazing at him as if analyzing his face. She was silent for a moment, making him more nervous with each passing second.
Finally, she opened her lips.
“Tighnari,” she said. “Forest Watcher of the Avidya Forest.”
Ah…
So she remembered him.
She hadn’t been in love with him.
…
He predicted it.
He expected it.
Nevertheless, in the midst of the overwhelming feeling of relief that flowed over him, there was something he couldn’t stop.
The senseless sting of disappointment that invaded his heart.