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You are correct to assume that I seldom lie. This has to do with my upbringing. As a desert-dweller who has been living within the Akademiya since my childhood, my unusual identity makes it hard for others to trust me — and it would have been harder still if I was not honest. As a result, I learned to talk less and speak no more than what is necessary.
Uncovering the secret behind the prophecy may come with its perils. If you need someone who would never lie, I can join you.
-Cyno
***
The air in Mondstadt is different.
Cyno holds his hand out in front of him, earning an odd look from Tighnari who stops and frowns at him in curiosity. There’s a furrow in Tighnari’s brow that Cyno knows very well from their Akademiya days and Tighnari’s ears twitch in the wind.
“The air is different,” he says. “Clearer.”
It’s not the word Cyno thinks suits what he wants to say best, but he doesn’t know how to explain to Tighnari that it reminds him of the desert despite the many obvious differences.
He had felt the same way about Mondstadt the first time he had been here too.
With Collei.
Collei who, this time, had nervously but excitedly run ahead, saying that she wanted to see Amber as soon as possible.
Tighnari’s frown deepens and he flicks his ears with irritation. “It’s already noisier,” he says, glaring at the city on the horizon. Across the bridge, Mondstadt’s windmills churn slowly in the setting sun.
“We could stay outside of the city,” Cyno says, failing to hide his concern in his voice. He knows that Tighnari will refuse on principle, but Cyno hopes Tighnari also knows that they could easily stay in Springvale, where it’s quieter, or even camp in the forests between Springvale and Mondstadt.
Shaking his head, Tighnari steps down from the rocky outcropping and back onto the sandy path. “It can’t be noisier than Sumeru City or the Akademiya campus.”
“I don’t know about that,” Cyno says, roughly calculating both cities’ respective populations. “Mondstadt is denser than Sumeru City but Sumeru City has more people. I wonder which is louder…”
Tighnari laughs and Cyno feels a warm hand in his own, tugging him forward.
“I suppose we’re about to find out,” Tighnari says wryly.
“No matter what, I’ll always be th-ear for you,” Cyno says.
A warmth rises in his chest at Tighnari’s expected and exasperated sigh.
“There but also th-ear because it’s your ears that—”
“How many times have I told you that explaining your jokes makes them even worse?” Tighnari says.
A smile still breaks through Tighnari’s pout and Cyno swallows at how bright it is.
“You are d-ear-er to me more than anyone else,” he tells Tighnari seriously.
Knowing that Tighnari will automatically take it as a joke and nothing else makes Cyno braver in the moment.
There’s little use in letting Tighnari know how he feels.
This is enough.
Tighnari’s hand is warm and comforting, even as it jabs Cyno in the stomach while Tighnari berates him for how he thinks the second pun was even worse than the first one.
***
After weeks and weeks of rumours about a “Tighnari” in the Amurta Darshan, Cyno decides to ask the Akasha about him.
It makes sense to uncover as much publicly-available information about the subject of his latest case before beginning his investigation. Especially since this particular inquiry was more of a professional curiosity than an official request from the Akademiya sages.
Any one scholar mentioned this frequently by so many students across all Darshans should be investigated out of an abundance of caution.
The Akasha returns with nothing but Tighnari’s name, his family — both parents are accomplished researchers themselves — and his current status as an active Amurta student.
It’s so little information when compared to how many projects Tighnari has been rumoured to be collaborating on, that Cyno wonders if his Akasha privileges have been reverted again — accidentally or otherwise.
Even as the General Mahamatra, sometimes Cyno’s Akasha access is reverted to the automatic lower clearance assigned to anyone from the desert. Most of the time, this is not an accident.
He uses his Akasha Terminal sparingly because of this. Instead, he relies on his own intuition and research abilities to gather his data.
Grand Sage Azar apologizes profusely every time and changes it to the highest clearance upon request, but Cyno is not stupid. If the sages see him as a sumpter beast to carry out their orders so be it. He will live by his own code of justice.
When Cyno thinks on it too long, it infuriates him.
“Are you alright?”
A cool voice interrupts his thoughts. Cyno grabs a book from the shelf and hides his shock when the subject of his investigation appears behind him with a small frown.
“I was lost in thought. I apologize,” Cyno says.
Stepping down from the small rolling ladder, Cyno looks down at the book he had accidentally taken in his surprise. It’s a book on medicinal botany, something that Cyno not only has no use for, but little personal interest in.
“That’s a good introductory book,” Tighnari says, perusing the cover over Cyno’s shoulder. “I prefer the two papers submitted by Can Demir because they not only cover common Avidya Forest remedies but also take into account desert specialties like henna berries.”
Embarrassingly stunned to do anything else, Cyno nods.
“Unlike many other species in Sumeru whose names are misclassified, henna berries actually are true berries. Although some people call them pears, which would be incorrect,” Tighnari continues. He looks at Cyno inquisitively, as if he’s wondering if Cyno has anything to add.
He doesn’t.
Tighnari reaches over Cyno while climbing up the ladder. Cyno suddenly feels Tighnari’s warm, wet breath against his ear as Tighnari brushes against him suggestively.
“I could teach you more about it if you’re interested,” Tighnari says hoarsely, biting his lip.
Swallowing, Cyno leans forward, resting his hand gently in the soft silky strands of Tighnari’s hair.
He feels Tighnari’s ears twitch uncontrollably as their lips brush against each other.
Cyno wakes with a start and sits up in bed, breathing heavily.
Moonlight filters in through the closed window.
Groggily shaking his head, Cyno remembers that Tighnari had insisted on keeping the window closed due to Mondstadt’s chilly nights but leaving the curtains open so he could see the moon and the stars.
Cyno had grumbled and reiterated that the light pollution was worse in Mondstadt than in Sumeru City — where Tighnari had complained about it constantly — but hadn’t been able to resist Tighnari’s grin.
Dulled by the lamplight of the city, the moon seems both larger and less bright than in Gandharva Ville, where Cyno and Tighnari had last shared a bed the night before leaving.
The covers around him fall to the ground and Tighnari shudders next to him, whimpering softly and drawing closer.
Shaking himself from the half-memory, half-dream stupour, Cyno pulls the covers over them both and lays back down. The bed is surprisingly comfortable, just as Albedo said it would be in his monotone list of the Goth Grand Hotel’s amenities prior to asking the owner if he had a few rooms to spare.
Tighnari is warm and soft at his side.
Despite his apprehension, Cyno closes his eyes.
Just before he falls asleep, he feels Tighnari’s tail wrap around them both.
***
“So might I assume that your respective claims of looking for plants and artists in Mondstadt were just pretexts?” Albedo asks.
After spending a good amount of time with him today and the night before, Cyno should be used to the way that Albedo’s tone remains steady and emotionless.
Unfortunately, it instinctively sets him on edge, recalling myriad rogue researchers that he had apprehended for the Akademiya.
He slowly unclenches his fists at his sides, reminding himself that Albedo is not a threat. Sunlight filters in between the stacks, illuminating dust particles as they drift waywardly down onto haphazardly-placed piles of books around Lisa’s reception desk.
Cyno will have to tease Lisa later for not cleaning as often as she should.
“I wouldn't say that,” Cyno says, seeing the opportunity to at least sneak in a joke and lighten the mood after talking about Collei’s past. “Both Collei and Genius Invokation TCG are very important to me.”
As expected, Tighnari shakes his head and sends him a mortified look. “Would it really kill you to just say ‘yes’ in this situation?”
“Fine,” Cyno says, mock-annoyed at having to tell the truth. “Yes, we came out of concern for Collei. She's been back to Mondstadt of her own accord several times, but it has led to no significant improvement in her mood.”
Back in Gandharva Ville, Tighnari had reiterated that perhaps this isn’t something that the two of them will be able to fix themselves.
Cyno had agreed, but had still insisted on following her — coaxing smiles out of both of them when he had also demanded that they have code names and jobs.
“Well, it won't hurt to give her some more time,” Albedo says matter-of-factly. “I believe that Sucrose might be able to help her.”
“Sounds like an extension of your own self-confidence as her teacher,” Tighnari says.
Humming, Albedo raises a gloved hand to his chin. “You could say that. In a similar vein…”
Albedo pauses, continuing to stroke his chin as if deep in thought. Cyno watches him closely.
“I’ve heard that Sumeru's scholars often build their social relationships based on their academic ones,” the alchemist says slowly, almost cautiously. “Is that true?”
Tighnari’s posture mirrors Albedo’s as he responds, causing Cyno to wonder whether it is a purposeful motion to put Albedo at ease, or a subconscious one from continuously reassuring his own nervous forest rangers in Gandharva Ville. “I suppose it might look like that from your perspective. Sumeru's society is something of a special case — the reason it is known as the city of learning is because all of its resources are in some way linked to academia.”
Here Tighnari pauses.
After a moment, Cyno looks up from where he had been absentmindedly looking at some of the older book spines above Lisa’s desk only to see Tighnari staring at him with an indiscernible expression.
Cyno narrows his eyes and shrugs his shoulders, motioning for Tighnari to continue.
A spark fades from Tighnari’s two-toned eyes — “Heterochromia,” Cyno hears Tighnari exasperatingly correcting him, “Even when it’s not two differently-coloured eyes it’s still heterochromia” — that Cyno doesn’t understand.
He listens, confused, to the rest of Tighnari’s explanation.
“As such, academic resources equate to social capital. It is not unheard of, for example, for people to build a family in order to pursue further studies.”
Albedo nods.
“But the relationship between the three of us is not an academic one turned social. We've never even worked on a paper together, for starters.”
Without meaning to, Cyno blanches, frowning at the idea of working on a paper with Tighnari.
He remembers Tighnari’s exhaustion during the years leading up to the Amurta scholar’s graduation thesis.
At that point, they had moved so far beyond Cyno’s initial investigation that it had become a joke between the two of them. Still, other researchers kept asking for Tighnari’s expertise — for photos with Tighnari or Tighnari to collaborate on their latest project — and Tighnari accepted more than Cyno had expected, given Tighnari’s general apathy towards other people.
Even if he had once wanted to combine their studies cross-examining the mapping of Sumeru’s ley lines with the Irminsul roots in Tighnari’s own study of Withering Zones, Cyno had sighed and covered Tighnari with a spare blanket in the House of Daena one too many times to bother him with another research collaboration.
Now, at Tighnari’s close study of him throughout this explanation, Cyno wonders if his hesitation had been noticed by Tighnari through the years.
Albedo makes a soft noise of understanding that interrupts Cyno’s thoughts, drawing him back into the current conversation.
“So the academic paper is the nexus of the academic family?” Albedo asks. “Interesting.”
“I would think of us more as siblings,” Cyno quickly says before he can hear Tighnari refute them as a family entirely. And truthfully, he does see Collei as a younger sister of sorts.
“An equal and pure relationship,” Cyno continues. “Unaffected by academic considerations.”
“As much as I'd prefer not to admit it, that statement is not inaccurate,” he hears Tighnari say.
Cyno breathes out slowly, hoping that Tighnari doesn’t notice his obvious relief, blinking away the dust that threatens to get in his eyes.
Nodding, Albedo crosses his arms over his chest. “I can understand that position. I have a younger sister myself, and it's only natural for me to be protective of her.”
“What you described fits the idea of a city of learning as I imagine it,” Albedo muses. Cyno watches the slight expression on Albedo’s face change to one of obvious interest.
He wonders if the alchemist always does his research alone.
“The family is where all social relationships intersect... as such, a family founded on common goals may actually be more stable.”
Shaking his head as if to banish a particular thought, Albedo looks back at Tighnari.
“By the way, who's the eldest between you?”
“Let's not go down this rabbit hole, please,” Tighnari says.
Crossing his arms authoritatively over his chest, Cyno steps forward slightly and grins. “In terms of age, I'm the eldest, of course. He just doesn't want to admit it.”
“But your mental age is younger than that,” Tighnari immediately fires back. “I daresay even by enough to be the youngest sibling. Perhaps I could bring Collei into this happy family to be your elder sister?”
Cyno snorts. “No... You will never see me admit to being the youngest sibling! Except perhaps as a last-ditch effort to turn the tables in a game of cards.”
“Of course, it’s always about cards with you.”
Throwing his hands up in the air, Tighnari smiles brightly. Even while acting annoyed with Cyno, Tighnari looks as happy and free of stress as Cyno remembers seeing him.
Cyno makes a note to research a few particularly awful puns while waiting for Lisa in the library.
***
Tighnari has barely left with Albedo, the two of them chatting rapidly about the use of calla lilies in fungal antidotes again, when Cyno hears Lisa call out to him.
“Why, if it isn't my underclassman, Cyno. What a pleasant surprise it is to see you in Mondstadt during the Windblume Festival.”
They fall into the usual pleasantries, although the conversation takes a quick turn when Cyno admits that he now understands why Lisa left the Akademiya.
He’s grateful to her emotional intelligence at times like these, noting how she doesn’t pressure him to explain what led him to change his mind, but turns the conversation towards Cyrus instead.
“Ah, look at how quickly this developed from small talk to a deep and serious conversation,” Lisa says with a wistful laugh. Cyno can’t tell if she’s wholly serious or not. “That's one thing I do miss about my Akademiya days.”
“By virtue of being another of his students, you are as much a part of professor's family as I,” he teases. The instant shock following by amusement and ire in equal measure tells Cyno that people rarely poke fun at Lisa like she does with them. “It’s perfectly natural for a daughter to inherit her father's conversation style.”
She giggles again and narrows her eyes. “If you say so... I suppose that means I get to call you ‘baby brother' from now on.”
Coughing, Cyno stumbles over his words. “I—I'd rather you didn’t…"
Lisa covers her mouth with her hand, laughing even louder this time. “Yes, there's the baby brother I remember.”
Although Cyno groans aloud in response, he still smiles up at her. Despite the chill that remains in the air even on sunny days in Mondstadt winter, the Knights of Favonius Library is warm, imbued with a hospitality that the House of Daena in its austerity could never hope to replicate.
“You’re happy here,” he says.
She places her hands on her hips and looks at him with mock-annoyance. “I’m surprised that you would like that I wouldn’t be.”
Her expression immediately softens and she looks around the library with pride. “But you’re right. I am happy here. And you? You’re still happy as the General Mahamatra — I mean, Cyno the Adventurer — even while admitting that you understand my reasons for leaving?”
“I am content,” he says, finding that he means it even with the lingering ache from Tighnari’s insistence that they’re academic siblings.
He should be grateful to have such a good friend and yet—
“Uh-oh, I don’t like to see that expression on my baby brother’s face,” Lisa says. “This has to do with Tighnari, doesn’t it?”
“How did you— oh of course, Collei.”
“You could write me more often yourself, you know? I would love to hear more from my most successful junior,” Lisa admonishes him. “But yes, Collei writes about you two often. She adores you both.”
“We…care a great deal about her too.”
Laughing at his awkwardness, Lisa shakes her head and begins organizing the pile of books in front of her. “So tell me about Tighnari,” she says, glancing at a faded blue leather cover. After weighing it in her hands she places it back exactly where it had been strewn across her desk.
“I…care a great deal about Tighnari as well,” he says slowly.
Lisa hums and folds her hands in front of her as she sits, waiting for Cyno to finish.
Light coming in from the large glass windows grows sharper in colour as Cyno watches it slowly move across the worn rug and weathered book covers on the floor. The sun will be setting soon and he promised to meet a few people at the Cat’s Tail for cards before having a late dinner with Tighnari and presumably Albedo, Collei, and Sucrose as well.
His own words to Collei and Sucrose from earlier echo in his head.
“Certainly when it comes to discerning whether someone is a liar or not, you cannot simply take them at their word.”
He hardly considers himself a liar, but he’s not telling Tighnari the whole truth either.
“If he doesn’t feel the same way as you, then he doesn’t,” Lisa says directly.
Again, Cyno finds himself appreciating how deftly she is able to change the tone of a conversation.
“I trust that you’ll know how to handle it. You would never hurt him purposefully. And this way, you’ll know.”
Cyno nods, agreeing with her words even with his many reservations about them.
“Although…” Lisa says with a smirk. “Based on Collei’s letters, I don’t think you have much to worry about.”
***
Cyno is wrapping up his fourth victory in a row when he hears the soft metal clinking sound of Tighnari’s boots on Mondstadt’s stone streets approaching.
The dice clatter loudly between him and Wagner and the sullen blacksmith grunts before putting his hand forward.
“I concede,” he says.
“Looks like your evening has been eventful,” Tighnari jokes as he sits down across from Cyno in the chair that Wagner had just left.
“I don’t know,” Cyno says slowly. He takes out the small decorated box that he keeps his best decks in, watching as Tighnari smiles at the sight of it. “I think I may have gotten something sticky on my cards and I’m having a hard time dealing with it.”
It takes a moment for Tighnari to recognize the pun, but when he does, the forest watcher grabs the elemental dice in his hands before Cyno can put them away and makes a throwing motion.
Still smiling, Cyno holds his hand out and Tighnari sighs, dropping the dice neatly into his palm.
The orange glow from Good Hunter’s counter casts a warm light across Tighnari’s face.
He looks good.
Cyno tells him this and is surprisingly rewarded with a flush in Tighnari’s cheeks and the telltale thumping of Tighnari’s tail against the ground.
“Although…based on Collei’s letters, I don’t think you have much to worry about.”
And suddenly, it’s easy.
Because it’s Tighnari.
Pushing aside the hesitation in the pit of his stomach and the memory of how Tighnari had nearly called them siblings earlier in front of Albedo, Cyno reaches forward and squeezes Tighnari’s hand.
He’s rewarded with another blush and a twitch of Tighnari’s ears.
“‘Nari,” Cyno says, knowing that the nickname will draw Tighnari’s attention more than anything else. “I have something important to tell you.”
Nodding, Tighnari releases his hand and moves to pull something from the small satchel he keeps on him at all times, even during his most difficult patrols. While Cyno feels more uncertain — a chill creeping over him at the loss of Tighnari’s warmth — he watches Tighnari pull out a small white flower and place it in front of Cyno where his cards had been.
“Happy Windblume,” Tighnari says.
At the same time Cyno blurts out, “I love you.”
Snorting, Tighnari’s face reddens until it’s almost purple. His tail thumps furiously against the ground causing Cyno to raise an eyebrow as he looks at it.
“Shut up,” Tighnari says.
“I didn’t say anything. Unless you’re telling me to take back my heartfelt confession.”
Tighnari groans and kicks him under the table, even as the forest ranger reaches forward and tucks a piece of Cyno’s hair behind his ear.
“I dreamt of kissing you last night,” Cyno says, apropos of nothing.
“How cute,” Tighnari jokes, poking Cyno in the cheek. Although Tighnari is still blushing furiously, he winks at Cyno, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “I dreamt of something far more salacious.”
Embarrassingly, it’s only now that Cyno realizes Tighnari is alone and not with Albedo or Collei or Sucrose as promised.
“Where is Albedo?”
Laughing, Tighnari tilts his head to the side. “Why? Were you jealous?”
Although he knows that Tighnari doesn’t mean it, Cyno can’t help but think back. He was jealous a bit. Not because he thought Tighnari had romantic interest in Albedo, but because they had gotten along so well and secretly, Cyno had been hoping to spend some time with Tighnari himself.
When he tells Tighnari this, Tighnari kicks him lightly again under the table and shakes his head.
“He had to take care of some things. Something about entertaining his rambunctious younger sister,” Tighnari says. “He took Sucrose and Collei with him as well. Based on his estimation, it should take them a bit of time.”
Cyno makes a note to thank Albedo the next day, imagining the confusion on the alchemist’s face when he does so.
Standing, Tighnari reaches for Cyno and takes his hand. The chair scrapes loudly against the cobblestone street and they both wince awkwardly before sharing matching grins. “Are you up for a late-night experiment?”
Cyno can’t help but laugh again, even as he feels heat rising in his own cheeks to match Tighnari’s blush. “And you say that my jokes are terrible.”
“This isn’t a joke, Cyno,” Tighnari says.
He thinks that Tighnari means to say this coolly and suggestively.
Instead it comes out a bit needy and demanding to Cyno’s ears. Cyno’s mouth goes suddenly dry anyway and he feels a low ache from his cock where it begins to swell in interest.
That night, after Tighnari falls asleep — still panting and exhausted and glowing — Cyno writes a letter to Sucrose and Collei with a soft smile on his face.