Chapter Text
There was only silence to greet him when Tighnari came back home that evening, the fire long put out and dinner turned cold on his plate. He shook his coat off, removed his boots, and tiptoed to the room to check on Collei. That was always the first thing he did when his day was over, a routine born of fondness and built over the years.
He smiled a little when he saw the young girl fast asleep, wrapped in a bundle of blankets with her green hair spread on the pillow and hugging her plushie close to her heart. He stayed a few seconds in the doorway, watching her chest rise and fall in rhythmic breathing, basking in the comfortable knowledge that she was okay. For now, Collei was safe.
The glowing stars he’d gifted her last year for her birthday and helped her stick on the ceiling were dim, their light barely visible. She must’ve gone to sleep early for them to already be fading. He hoped she was only tired because of their game night the day before, and not because of other, out-of-his-control reasons.
Once he was sure she was sleeping peacefully, he closed the door behind him as he made his way to the kitchen for a well-deserved dinner and some rest.
He started a fire again and put his food to heat on the stove. Collei, ever so dedicated, had prepared a meal for him and probably intended to eat by his side as she always did. She’d even made mushroom soup, his favorite.
Sadly, Tighnari got caught up in his experiments and realized it was time to go home far too late. He was in the middle of a commission given to him by the chief executor of their town and had to complete it quickly if he wanted to keep his fundings. Being an elemental witch was fun, but it didn’t pay as well as one might think. And Tighnari needed money to provide not only for himself, but also for the young girl he’d taken in all these years ago.
Most of the villagers had forgotten by now, but Collei hadn’t always lived here. She hadn’t spawned from nowhere either, bursting in Tighnari’s small house one fine morning and settling in as if she belonged here. The start of their relationship had been a bit more… rocky.
But despite the mask of coldness and harshness she hid under to protect herself, her positive and kind nature resurfaced after a while, making things easier for them. He became fond of the young witch, teaching her elemental magic so she could fend for herself and forge her own path, away from the ones who had abused her.
They’d started as reticent companions. Now Tighnari would give his life for her in a heartbeat.
That’s why every night, when his tasks for the day were done and his meal eaten, he locked himself in his study and fetched a secret chest under a loose wooden plank of the floor. The key was hanging from a necklace he wore at all times, hidden under layers of clothing so that no one ever got a glimpse of it. No one should ever know about this chest and what it contained. The consequences would be disastrous, and he could not risk it. He had too much to lose.
But this did not come until later. Once Collei’s soup was hot enough, he sipped it quietly, with only the occasional crackle and sizzle of the dying fire to keep him company. He found himself relaxing as he ate the last baklavas on the shelves, making a mental note to bake more the next time he’d take a day off. It was peaceful.
Tighnari always liked the quiet : his ears were too sensitive to tolerate the hustle and bustle of the city, the constant shouting of sellers hoping to attract customers and the noise of the craftsmen at work. It was here, in his small house in the forest, that he felt the most at ease. His study in the village was soundproof, thankfully, but it still didn’t compare to his home.
Once he was done eating, he washed the dishes, smoothed the fire and checked that the door was locked before leaving the kitchen. Tighnari was so tired, and the thought of his bed was so, so appealing… But he had things to do first.
The time has come to retreat to the room at the end of the corridor, to dig up the chest from its hiding place and start working. He had another key for the study, this one he kept at his belt. It’s not that he didn’t trust Collei to not go rummaging through his things ; he was more afraid of external intrusions. His house was isolated, after all, and it wasn’t a secret that he preferred the calm of the forest to the rush of the village. Ill-intentioned people would have no problems finding him and breaking into his home.
Not that he really had any enemies, at least none that he knew of, but he preferred to be extra prudent. He was a quite renowned elemental witch, after all, and an ex-student of the Covent’s academy. Graduating from here meant being part of the elite of the country, and most of the students chose to become Covent members once they were done with their studies. His unusual choice of going back to a simple, mundane life created turmoil in their spotless records. He assumed not all of the higher-ups saw him in a favorable light.
The Covent was the backbone of society. It was the biggest organization in all of Sumeru, composed exclusively of witches. Covent members, to put it simply, ruled the country. It acted as a government, and as such they made the laws, enforced the laws, regulated the elemental powers, controlled the trade routes and the borders to ensure nothing shook the country. They were here to prevent anything from disturbing the citizens, and using any means at their disposal to this end.
Strict rules were applied regarding the use of magic, and the harsh retributions deterred anyone from trying to evade them. Since the Covent controlled quite literally the whole country, you’d have to be a fool to go against them. But that idea didn’t cross the mind of most people : why would you rebel against the ones keeping you safe and sound ? You didn’t have to appoint a king or a queen, or elect someone to make the decisions. The Covent took care of all this. The people were wealthy, happy, and free of any responsibility. They didn’t ask for more.
The organization could be broken down into three major groups. First, the ones forming the council, what was closest to a government. Then, the soldiers, the elite guard of Sumeru. And finally, the researchers, tasked with helping the country progress scientifically and technologically. They also taught at the academy to form the next members. One day, long ago, Tighnari thought this would be his future.
Being a member of the Covent was a dream for people blessed with elemental powers, who constituted a minority in Sumeru. On top of holding the reins of the country, members were granted a number of privileges. They got access to private laboratories and libraries to conduct their research efficiently, training rooms with the best technology fresh out of aforementioned laboratories. They had special lodgings, food and clothes provided by the Covent. And they had the recognition of everyone, because the path wasn’t easy to get there.
Tighnari actually liked the academy. He used to be top of his class ; he wanted to major in biology and history. He was destined to have a great future as a Covent’s member, except he dropped promises of wealth and glory to go back to his small house and work as a simple witch, helping people who did not possess elemental powers.
He wasn’t sure his teachers forgave him for that. He didn’t care either way : he wasn’t there to partake in their ridiculous quest for fame or power. He only wanted to keep studying biology, to develop his powers and test their limits.
Leaving the academy meant renouncing a number of things, but what saddened him the most was the enormous library. He was in the middle of passionate research about fungi when he cut ties with them, leaving behind numerous articles and thesis on the subject he would never be able to access again. A shame, really.
He may live mostly unbothered now, rarely hearing word of what was going on in the private buildings of the Covent, but it didn’t mean he didn’t stay cautious. What lay in the chest under the floorboard was the result of several years of research about one of the Covent’s best kept secrets. Any experimentations, studies or investigations about it was strictly forbidden.
If he was discovered, it could compromise the safety of Collei, as well as his own tranquil life. Tighnari wasn’t part of the guard, but he’d heard of their methods. They’d knock on his door and ask for his cooperation. If he refused, they’d simply catch him and throw him into jail. Tighnari would like to see them try : he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
But he was lucid concerning his chances of survival. If the Covent believed he threatened the well-being of the country, they’d remove his powers and lock him up, no matter how much he tried to resist. He wouldn’t be strong enough to fight several of them at the same time. And research on this kind of subject would call at least a dozen men to his door.
He sighed as he sat behind his desk, taking out his notes and the few books he’d collected on the subject. He hadn’t written the name of the curse he was researching anywhere on his papers, but its name was engraved in his mind. Eleazar.
A mysterious curse that not many people knew of. Its origin was unknown, its effects still under study. Tighnari had gathered every piece of information he could find, and it still wasn’t enough to establish a proper description.
What he knew could be summed up in a sentence : it caused a degenerative disease to corrupt first the body and then the mind, until the person was completely paralyzed and uncommunicative. The progression of the disease varied, as well as the effects it had : some recount that they lost the use of their legs first, others their sense of smell and hearing. The cure was yet to be found.
Tighnari had been looking for it for two years now. And he hoped he would find it soon. Because if he didn’t, he’d lose Collei to the curse.
If the meager testimonies he gathered were true, she was still at the early stages of the disease. In theory, he still had time, but it could worsen in the span of a night, so he preferred not to wait.
But how did you research a disease that no one had heard of, one that didn’t appear on official records? In all his years of mandatory medicine classes, his teachers never even mentioned it. He wouldn’t even know its existence if Collei hadn’t spoken the name one day, as if she was spitting venom. Eleazar. She knew it was the cause of her condition, but that was all.
When she first came here, he thought she was just clumsy. She hid it for a very long time before he noticed that this was definitely not just clumsiness : her body just gave up at times. When he tried to dig up more info using the name, he was met with a warning from the Covent that life-threatening curses were classified. Which made sense, because they didn’t want ill-intentioned individuals to get their hands on valuable information. But that also made searching for a remedy much harder.
Living in a world where witches roamed freely meant that inevitably, you encountered a bad one. Witches who used their power to hurt and to trouble. Spells and enchantments were legion in Teyvat, but some of them caused more harm than good and therefore fell under the category of “forbidden curses”. He’d learnt the definition by heart back then.
Any spell, enchantment or incantation cast with intention to cause harm constitutes a violation of the Ten precepts. Whoever finds himself resorting to such means shall be denied his powers.
Being denied your powers was the greatest punishment imaginable. Those who had been blessed at birth by an affinity for an element were regarded highly, guaranteed an easier life and admired by others. Since it wasn’t the case for everyone, it obviously led to jealousy, and some people had no remorse turning to illegal means. Evil witches had developed ways to steal it, draining the vital force of the owner at the same time, to use it for their own benefit or to sell it for an important sum of money.
Spells used to drain someone else’s powers were rare, and strictly forbidden, but Tighnari heard that it still happened. The irony was that the Covent used the same punishment on people who disobeyed their rules. It was no wonder people abided by their laws. Out of fear or out of respect, they managed to keep the country running by all the means at their disposal.
In the eyes of the Covent, whoever tried to know more about the forbidden curses was punishable. The intentions behind didn’t matter. So Tighnari started to look for more unconventional ways to get information, ones that wouldn’t get him suspicious stares from the librarians.
This was playing a dangerous game. Looking for anything that wasn’t approved by the Covent was like getting close to the sea and running away when the tide came, just for the thrill of escaping it by a hair's breadth. Until the sea caught you, and you found yourself choking in salt water.
Tighnari wasn’t particularly interested in giving up his life right now.
Deceiving the Covent was no bed of roses, but he’d been in their classes, he’d worked for them, he knew how they proceeded. Over the months, little by little, he accumulated more and more information. It was painfully slow, but the process couldn’t be sped up or he would risk getting discovered.
He worked methodically, following the precepts taught at the academy. Observation, data collection, interviews, experiments, analysis. He traveled the country, disguised himself, asked questions formulated in such a way that deducting his true motives would be impossible.
In all these months, using every bit of free time he could get to his advantage, he managed to gather a few testimonies and several descriptions of the curse. But his most prized possession regarding his work was a book he’d found in an ancient hospital, covering the topic of curses in depth and providing useful leads for a possible cure.
Sadly, the author hadn’t found a viable solution when it was published. Still, Tighnari had read it over and over, going over the same paragraphs to analyze and draw conclusions based on his other intel. He also kept a journal to track the evolution of Collei’s health.
And yet, despite all his intelligence, despite having the mind of a scholar and being tenacious and thorough, he couldn’t find how to cure her. And he hated that, hated that it felt like he was running in circles and getting nowhere, while the clock was ticking for Collei.
He hated feeling so helpless because this was supposed to be what he was good at. Analyzing data, coming up with solutions. By the Archons, he’d been accepted into the best ranking school and was one of the best students there! He never gave up, never admitted defeat, always kept pushing no matter what.
He closed the chest with too much strength, frustrated by the outcome of his reflections. He had to face the truth. There wasn’t enough data, not enough resources to find results. He was irritated to find himself like this, powerless in front of the curse slowly eating away at a person he loved.
Collei was partly his friend, partly his family. The bound linking them could not be contained in words, it went beyond the limited boxes human relationships could fit into. Everything about their relationship had been unusual, starting from their meeting: a young distressed girl crossing paths with an academy drop-out with an affinity for plants and herbs, having to accommodate to share a small house. Over the years of learning to live together, something had built between them, something neither of them had voiced out loud but that both had noticed regardless.
She was younger than him, and he felt a brotherly instinct to look out for her and to keep her safe from any harm. She was also remarkably curious and sharp-minded, and it was really interesting to talk to her about various subjects. She felt a bit like a little sister and a best friend all at once, someone he was glad to have by his side.
He sighed and picked up his notes again, ready to go through them to see if he’d missed anything. He knew he didn’t; he was too meticulous for that. But it gave him a purpose for now, something to keep his mind away from spiraling.
Soon his eyelids grew too heavy for him to ignore, and when he stifled a yawn for the tenth time he realized he’d been here for two hours already. If he wanted to get any sleep before having to go back to work, he should probably head to bed now.
He tidied the desk and locked the room behind him. Walking as quietly as he could, he prepared himself for the night, before finally slipping under the covers. Tomorrow, he’d have to pay a visit to Dori’s shop to see if she’d received anything of interest for him. Otherwise his research would reach a stalemate. He also had to help Mrs Kira with her leg problem, she needed a new ointment. And he promised to take Collei to the teashop to help her review her lessons for her next exam…
He drifted off to sleep while mentally listing the duties awaiting him.
_________
“What’s the bone at the intersection of the femur and the tibia called?”
Collei scrunched up her nose, focused.
“Hmmm… The fibula?”
Tighnari sighed, putting down the sheet he was holding to show her the bone in question, pointing to the skeleton drawn on it. “No, this one’s a bit further down.”
“There’s too many,” complained Collei, nudging at her pie with her fork, head resting on her hand. “How am I supposed to remember them all?”
She spoke in a low voice so as not to disturb the other customers in the teashop, even if they were scarce. Puspa Café was a place frequented by the whole village, but at this hour of the day only a few other people were seated to enjoy a break in their afternoon. Tighnari and Collei had chosen a table in a corner to go over Collei’s lessons. This was their place of choice to help her study, because the patisseries were to die for and she was particularly fond of their red berries tea. It helped to have motivation.
“How do you expect to be a doctor otherwise? What will you tell your patients, that you can solve their problems but you can’t explain it to them because you don’t remember the name of the area you have to treat? What if you want to research about it?”
“Do you know the name of all the bones? You’re a bit of a doctor too, after all!”
“I’m a witch, mind you! I may help people with balms and ointments and potions, but that’s as far as my medicine goes. I’m a botanist first and foremost! You however will need to know that if you want to do something different.”
Collei grumbled, but she didn't have anything to say to that. Tighnari may have taught her how to use elemental powers, but she wasn’t interested in following in his footsteps and becoming the resident witch. Tighnari’s job covered a number of fields she wasn’t sure she wanted to inherit. Helping the villagers get rid of monsters, treating them when they ate a poisonous mushroom, making fertilizers for their crops when the weather had been bad. It allowed him to dedicate himself to his research in his free time, thus living his passion and earning money at the same time.
Tighnari had refused to be a teacher at a prestigious academy for this life, and while she understood he belonged in the forest rather than in a school class, it seemed so… below his real capacities. But he’d never been one for recognition or wealth. Studying the flora and protecting the forest was enough to make him happy.
Collei admired him for it, but she wasn’t sure she could be content with it. She liked the forest, and she liked the peaceful life of the village, but she wasn’t as passionate as Tighnari was when it came to botany.
Her real motivation was to become a doctor, to help others like her who were suffering. Tighnari had been of so much help that she wanted to be able to offer the same to others. He’d spent a long time researching plants for her, to make sure she would have access to pain-reducing oils and balms, anything to relieve her.
Now she was determined to make him proud by graduating and becoming a doctor, a way to repay him of everything he’d done.
It was… Easier said than done. Collei had underestimated the number of work it would require, and now it seemed like she bothered Tighnari even more by having him help her study. She wanted to stop being a burden, but all she did was add more work on his shoulders, as if he didn’t already have enough.
“Let’s go over this again. Do you want to order more tea?” his voice was gentle as he spoke, as if he sensed the bad thoughts plaguing her mind. Collei felt a pang of guilt. He was always so considerate and she was just here complaining and wasting his time.
“U-uh yes, please… I’ll do better, I promise!” she straightened up in her chair, determined to show him that she was motivated and ready. She would not be a burden.
“It’s okay, it’s a lot to learn for one single exam,” Tighnari reassured her as he held his hand up to signal a waiter that they wanted a refill. “Don’t discourage yourself, you made a lot of progress.”
Collei blushed and ducked her head, feeling undeserving of the praise. “Madame Faruzan and the other teachers said I could do better last time…”
“That’s because they want to keep pushing you until perfection. They won’t tell you a nice word, because they think it’ll make you work for their approval even harder. But I’ve seen your grades and you’re doing really great, Collei. Your teachers noticed it too, I’m sure.”
The Covent academy was the highest-ranked, but not the only school in Sumeru. The fact that it was only open to students mastering elemental powers reduced the number of scholars as well.
Tighnari didn’t want her to go, and it was too far from here anyway. Collei studied at a local university, the one with the best reputation regarding medicine classes. As a result the teachers were pretty demanding, but it was a way to ensure the students were well-prepared for their professional career.
She was over the moon to have been accepted, and the proud look in Tighnari’s eyes when she’d announced it was worth every hour spent scramming the textbooks in her little bedroom, exhausting herself to the point where she fell asleep on her notes. He was so happy for her. She had to keep working hard to make him proud every day.
Little did she know that Tighnari would’ve been proud of her even if she chose any other path, as long as it put a smile on her face. Both of them cared so much for the other without saying it out loud, doing their best to be worthy of each other. Each of them thought that they ought to be even better, not realizing that in the other’s eyes, they already were the best someone could wish for.
“I’ll do my best to show them I can work hard!” she said resolutely. She didn’t mention him, but he was included in it. His opinion mattered more to her than those of Madame Faruzan and the other teachers anyway.
Tighnari nodded and tapped on the notes, a half-smile on his lips.
“So, what about those bones?”
Collei sighed before gulping down her tea. She was in for a long run.
_________
There was a shop on the outskirts of town, lost among unpretentious businesses and abandoned buildings. Without a name to grace its facade, and with its walls painted a dull shade of beige, there was no way for the oblivious passerby to notice it. It didn’t draw attention, which was exactly the point.
If a traveler passing through the village got closer to assess the purpose of this store, he would be met with even more confusion than before. At first glance, it seemed like a regular shop, quantities of various objects piling up in the store front, some of them familiar and others from distant countries. The sort of place where you could buy food, household products and local trinkets as well as specialties from abroad.
But the inside was a mess: a mix of everything you could think of, thrown on top of another without order. Luxurious chests were placed next to dusty doormats, precious jewels were mixed up with cheap imitations, and rare and ancient books stood alongside the latest romance novels from Inazuma.
It was an organization that defied any sense of logic, and anyone would be lost trying to find what they wanted. Visitors from afar would probably shrug and leave, thinking this was an obscure shop without interest.
But natives of the village knew this was a place where you could find whatever you were looking for, as long as you could pay a good sum of money. Even the locals who didn’t approve of the owner still ended up here. The store may be owned by Lord Sangemah Bay, notoriously greedy and hard to negotiate with, but she would get you anything if you could afford her exorbitant prices. And few were the ones whose principles outweighed their desire.
When she said anything, it was literally anything – even forbidden items, because Covent restrictions didn’t apply to her. Not because she had a special status, but because she simply didn’t care about them. She was above the rules; and she ran her business with stealth and talent.
She kept the Covent's suspicions at bay thanks to the more official shop she owned in the center of town, a respectable pawn shop looking perfectly normal. This allowed her to keep her undercover business going. A complex system of codes and passwords communicated to her clients made sure she wouldn’t be denounced by anyone. Her title of Lord was just a pseudonym; for the rest of the world, she went by Dori.
Tighnari had to admit, she was kind of a genius. It pained him to think about it.
He wasn’t the biggest fan of the woman, but when he first heard about her skill to find rare items, months after taking Collei in and settling in the village, he put his personal feelings aside to organize a meeting with her. He was frustrated by the lack of information about Eleazar, and at this point, he would do anything to get a useful lead.
And Dori happened to be useful indeed. People hadn’t lied about her; her network worked wonders. In a few weeks, she’d managed to give Tighnari a few contacts as well as places to find information. It was her who had given him the location of the abandoned hospital, where in the middle of the ruins he’d found the book about curses who had proven to be his best element yet.
He hadn’t visited her since then, busy researching the aforementioned book and saving money to afford her outrageous prices. Since he was asking for classified information, the cost was even more expensive than usual. He had to keep his budget in check to live decently and keep his investigation going at the same time.
He was wary of her at first. After all, he was doing illegal research, and a word from someone as influential as her would lead the Covent to his door the next morning. But he realized it wouldn’t benefit her to draw their attention, considering she was also disobeying their rules.
The secret of her whereabouts was well-kept. Only a few selected individuals knew about it; he’d heard of her from a regular client, a charming lady who suffered from insomnia and kept coming to him for herbal teas and decoctions for sleep. She mentioned it when she talked about a remedy from Fontaine; something Dori had obtained for her. She added that she had contacts in multiple countries and was the best to import products from abroad.
Tighnari had little to no interest in what other countries could offer, unless it was botany-related or they had a cure for Eleazar. However, his research had proven it had only appeared in Sumeru, so it was unlikely that doctors from beyond the sea could be of any help. Still, he was intrigued by his client’s description, and thought it was worth a try.
He went to find Dori in her secret shop one evening, when Collei was sleeping and the dark made him nearly impossible to track. He was careful to not be followed. Thankfully, Tighnari had good ears: he would detect the sound of footsteps if it was the case, especially in the silence of the night.
Having elemental powers meant that you felt rarely scared on the streets. On top of that, he’d taken his bow with him, ready to defend himself if this Lord turned out to be a scammer or tried to hurt him in any way. Tighnari had a good heart, but he wasn’t so naive as to think it was the case for everyone. He’d seen enough corrupt scholars at the academy to convince him that this world was crowded with scumbags. Collei’s curse was further proof, if needed. Whoever had done that to her would die a horrible death if he laid hands on them.
Dori, as it turned out, didn’t have any bad intentions toward him (except relieving him of every coin he had brought). She listened to his queries, him staying as vague as possible to not reveal his true objective yet. He asked for books on forbidden curses, and as ominous as it may sound, Dori didn’t care what he intended to do with them as long as she got her money.
Even if Tighnari didn’t let the urgency show through his voice when he asked her, it’s like she heard it anyway, because she was suddenly very invested and dropped other matters to focus on him. As if she could sense the potential money she could make with him only.
It was easy to do business with her, at least. And in the end, Tighnari got what he wanted.
Today, he hoped she would prove as useful as she had been the previous times.
_________
He stepped into her shop at dusk, once he was done with this day’s duties and after leaving Collei to the care of her friend Amber. She was an enthusiastic girl, and Collei really loved her. The two were inseparable : they’d met at school and got along really well. Even if their personalities were opposite, they hit it off immediately, and regularly spent time together. Tonight Amber intended to take them to Puspa Café for a concert. He couldn’t remember the name of the band, but Collei had been very excited.
He was happy to see Collei opening up to other people; she was sweet and kind, but a bit too hesitant to interact with others her age. He knew she suffered from it. She considered her reserved personality to be a hindrance, blind to the fact that others enjoyed her company and wished to spend more time with her. It was good that Amber was here for her.
He, however, couldn’t afford to spend his evening in a joyful environment like a concert. They had originally asked him if he wanted to come, but he’d declined, saying the noise would be too loud for his sensitive ears. It wasn’t really a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.
Sure, concerts weren’t his idea of a perfect evening, mostly because he was really sensitive to loud noises. But whoever played at Puspa Café would likely play for a small crowd. That meant the atmosphere would be more chill than deafening. He would have gladly come knowing it would have made Collei happy. Plus, he appreciated Amber’s other friends, like Sucrose and Albedo.
But Dori was set to depart for Inazuma tomorrow for an unknown duration and he wanted to catch her before that. That’s why he found himself in her shop instead of enjoying his evening with his friends. Dressed in a long black cape with a hood to dissimulate his distinctive ears on the way here, he was in the process of removing it when a booming voice echoed through the room.
“Well well, if it isn’t our favorite fennec fox!”
The short woman jumped on the counter and crossed her legs, leaning toward him. Tighnari resisted the urge to take a step back. Dori had a tendency to be quite tactile, and strangers touching him made his skin crawl.
“What brings you here this time? Did you finish the book?”
Her inquisitive stare seemed to pierce through Tighnari’s soul. Hidden behind rose-colored glasses, they were shaped like a cat’s, all-knowing and malicious.
“Yes, and I was coming to see if you’d found any more leads for me in the meantime.”
He could see her open his mouth and quickly added: “I brought money. Enough to satisfy you, I should hope.”
Her lips stretched in a devilish grin. “That’s what I like about you, you know how things work here. Well, I might have something for you. Wait here.”
She disappeared behind the counter, leaving Tighnari alone. His eyes roamed over the countless objects piling up around him, looking for something to distract him while she was gone.
It wasn’t the first time he came here, but his visits were usually too brief to have the time to explore the strange shop. As he picked up a gilded orb from the top of a dresser, he wondered if Dori really found a use for all of this, or if it was just a treasure she hoarded like a dragon. It must’ve taken years to accumulate so many things. She didn’t seem that old.
Well, if he had to give her an age, he would be at a loss. He mused the question for a while, but couldn’t settle on an answer that seemed appropriate. He knew that sometimes she didn’t require money for her transactions but preferred an exchange. It must be how she ended up with all this junk.
He turned the ball in his hands, curious. It looked like an astrolabe, but instead of being flat, it formed a sphere. He poked at it, trying to get it to work. A mushroom suddenly popped out of the orb and his eyes widened in surprise. Tendrils of green smoke curled around it.
“I see you found a new toy.”
He turned to look at Dori. She was raising an eyebrow at him, and suddenly he felt like a child being scolded by his mom. He put the sphere back on the shelf.
“What’s its purpose?” he asked, still intrigued by it.
Anything that had to do with plants interested him. Botany was such a fascinating subject; he felt like he could spend his whole life studying the flora and never becoming bored. There were so many things to learn and he was amazed by how nature worked so beautifully sometimes.
It was a pity that no one around him cared enough to hear his rants about it. Not like he wanted an audience. He just figured it must feel nice, to have someone passionate by what you had to say. Collei indulged him when she had the time, but he could tell she did it only to make him happy. She liked to learn new things, but her interest in botany was only surface-level.
“It’s a product from Fontaine, it reacts to elemental energy. Since you have plant-based powers, it creates something related to it. If you had water powers, it would’ve made a wave or something.”
She grabbed the orb and they watched as it turned a purple shade, sizzling with electricity.
“They use it on kids to discover what element they resonate with. Since most of them have barely enough powers to truly act on elements, it helps focusing on one. You don’t have to waste your time trying to make the seven of them answer to you to find out which one reacts.”
Clever. It was typical Fontaine craft: they loved to create mechanisms of all kinds to accomplish even the smallest actions. Tighnari had never been there, but he’d heard tales of their cities. Tall buildings, aircrafts, steam-powered engines and technological prowess: the country was full of skilled engineers devoted to outdo one another with new inventions.
Tighnari wasn’t interested in a world where nature was destroyed to make place for more human constructions. Fontaine must be a wonder for the eyes, but at the end of the day, he would rather stay in his beloved forest.
“Why do you keep it? You already know what kind of powers you have.”
“I’m a collector, that’s what I do. These objects are valuable to me, not because of their rarity – you can find a plethora of them in Fontaine– but because of their uniqueness. I like to have a copy of every item I find interesting. This room is a collection of treasures from all countries, and what makes it special is that they’re all reunited here. Don’t you find it amazing, to know you could hold in your hands a book from beyond the sea in a second if i gave it to you? Aren’t you fascinated by the sheer possibility of having access to all of these in the same place? I find it dizzying. It’s so satisfying knowing you collect things when you roam the world and they’re all here, all yours – all these little bits and pieces of estranged places and cultures, they’re all in your possession.”
Tighnari raised an eyebrow, not impressed by her little speech. Dori laughed. “I guess you wouldn’t understand. A shame that the wonders of this world aren’t enough to draw the attention of the great elemental witch of Gandharva! You only care about finding a remedy to this curse, after all… Right?”
“A remedy I trust you’ll help me to find, instead of straying off the point to explain to me how wonderful it is to clutter your house with trinkets. What did you bring to me?”
“I see you’re as straightforward as always. You know, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little chat from time to time… You know, relax a bit. Or do you just work all day? No wonder you can’t find a lover.” She cackled.
Tighnari’s ear twitched, but his face stayed serene. “I do enjoy chatting with my friends around a drink, the key-word here being friends. Which we’re not. We’re merely customer and seller, so I don’t see why I should entertain you with the pleasure of my conversation.”
Dori kept the grin on her face, visibly very amused by the whole situation. “Here you go, fox-boy.” She threw a rolled piece of parchment at him. He caught it without fumbling, his movements clear and precise. Good reflexes, and skilled with his hands, she noted. Who knew being a botanist made you so dexterous?
Tighnari unscrolled the parchment. Lines were drawn in ink on it, forming shapes and words which became quickly recognizable. A map of Sumeru’s desert.
He looked at Dori, puzzled, waiting for an explanation to make sense of this.
As if she’d waited for this moment, her lips stretched into an even bigger smile. She propped herself up on the counter and cleared her throat, ready to deliver a speech as if she were on a theater scene. She always liked to be dramatic, much to Tighnari’s distaste.
“This map, fox-boy, is your biggest dream coming true.”
He raised an eyebrow and stayed silent, choosing not to comment on the nickname. Knowing Dori, she would use it even more if he let even the slightest hint of irritation show through his face.
Undeterred by his lack of enthusiasm, Dori kept her booming voice as if she was haranguing the crowd at the bazaar.
“I suppose you recall the child’s tale of King Erispoë’s library?”
Tighnari remembered. It was a well-known legend in Sumeru, especially among children, the kind of stories you read before putting them to sleep. If his memory didn’t fail him, the tale told the story of a king who valued knowledge above all. He spent his entire life collecting books about every subject known to man and consequently constituted an enormous library. Because he was also notoriously jealous, he hid it from everyone by using spells and enchantments, and the location was only known by him and his trusted adviser and friend.
Sadly, his desire for learning turned awry when it became clear he couldn’t reunite every single book on Earth. The task was too colossal; his bones had grown weary of carrying him around the world in search of new entries for his library. He became mad with frustration and died far away, leaving his library to the care of his friend. He never betrayed his king and never revealed to anyone where it was. When he died, the secret died with him, and the library was lost forever.
Like most stories told to kids, it was used as a vessel to promote moral values, disguising reality as fiction in order to communicate better. It warned them not to let a desire overcome them entirely or else it might be the cause of their downfall. The pursuit of knowledge might seem like a positive endeavor, but it was still a form of desire and therefore had to be restrained.
Like a plethora of other tales, it had no real historical value. Most scholars thought it was only a kid’s tale at best, and even the less skeptical hadn’t found any proof of its existence. King Erispoë had existed, archeological remnants had been found to attest to that, but no trace of his phantasmagorical library. Tighnari didn’t understand why Dori mentioned it.
“Yes, I know it.”
“This library contains books on almost every subject, back when the Covent didn’t restrict the publications. If you want to find information about curses, this is probably the best place to look. You’ll find everything you want to know.”
Was she mocking him? Nothing in her expression seemed to make fun of him, but it was either that or she’d lost her mind.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” he asked, astonished. “This library doesn’t even exist, it’s a legend for little kids!”
She tsked. “I knew you would react like that.”
“How else did you want me to react? I’m here to pay you for tangible information, and you want to send me chasing pipe dreams!”
Frustration was bubbling inside of him. Collei’s time was counted and still she found it amusing to pull tricks like this.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I guarantee this–” she tapped on the map “–is the best lead you got. Imagine it : an almost endless well of knowledge, all for you. You could have access to records of forgotten civilisations, encyclopedias filled with words you’ve never heard of, and everything else that was lost when the Coven took over. This is any scholar’s dream.”
“It would be, if it existed.”
“Now, do you doubt my capabilities? Have I ever given you a false lead? You think I would ruin my carefully built reputation for what, the thrill of seeing you fail?”
“Even if it was real, how did you find it? Erispoë’s rule ended centuries ago. If this library existed, and once again, I doubt it, its location has been lost since then.”
“That’s where my network comes in handy.”
Dori had connections all over the world, there was no doubt about that, but they were talking about a legend. Something that could barely be considered rooted in the truth, since researchers had never found a trace of it despite years of digging all over the country. If such a mythical place was real, it was hidden well. And then how could Dori’s partners find it?
“You know how it works here. You want something, you gotta give something else in exchange. The more you trade with people, the more your collection grows and the more it’s easy to satisfy potential new customers. A woman came long ago to obtain something very, very valuable. And what she could give in return exceeded all my expectations.”
She paused, waiting for Tighnari to react. But even himself didn’t quite know how to feel. He would lie if he said he wasn’t starting to be intrigued by her story. And as much as he knew it was a foolish reaction, he felt hope starting to blossom in his chest.
He let himself picture a glimpse of the world if this library was real, and if this map really led to it. Curing Collei, of course. This was his priority, what he did all of this for.
But also… Having access to incredible resources of knowledge, this was a very tempting offer. He may have ditched the academy, but he still longed for the thesis he never got to finish, and for all the books he hadn’t had the time to read. He remembered stepping into the Covent’s private library for the first time. Shelves that seemed to never end, rows and rows of condensed research conducted by thousands before him.
Above all, being thrilled by the possibility of being a part of it, of writing down what he knew as well. Not for the recognition it might bring him, but for his personal interest. Knowing that he could maybe help others as passionate as him delve deeper into their preferred subject. Learning had always been more about fulfilling a passion than trying to crush others for him.
Even though he never got to become a teacher at the academy, he’d kind of taken on this role for Collei. When she arrived at his house, she couldn’t write nor read, and he helped her as she slowly got better. He passed down his love of learning to her, a warm feeling spreading in his chest whenever she expressed interest in a new field.
So of course if this library was real he wanted to find it. For Collei and for him. But he was also wary of false leads.
“Something valuable?” he prompted, knowing Dori would love to be asked. It fed on her fantasy of being this all-knowledgeable person that people seeked out. If it could get him the answers he wanted faster, he’d play by her rules.
“Something beyond anything you might imagine. See, remember that in the legend, the king had a companion by his side? His role differs in every version, sometimes it’s his lover, sometimes his friend, or his sworn brother. Maybe he was a bit of all, or maybe only his court adviser. But most of them agree on one thing: Erispoë trusted him more than anyone else.”
He recalled something like that. In the version his parents read to him when he was younger, the adviser was a loyal friend and nothing more. But he’d done enough research in his life to know that things are not always what they seem, and time eats away at love and relationships. They’re overlooked by scholars, deemed uninteresting compared to tangible events like the invasion of a country or the birth of a baby. Royal bloodlines, war actions, those are fit for history books. No one cares if a king has a lover. Love is a fleeting sentiment. It comes and goes and doesn’t leave any visible trace.
“Whoever this person was, he had a son. And he must’ve passed on the secret of the library to him, because centuries later, his great-great-great descendant came to me.”
“It was the woman,” understood Tighnari.
“It was indeed!” exclaimed Dori, delighted by her little revelation. “She came to me with a trade offer that was difficult to refuse.”
“It doesn’t make sense. If she’s truly the heir to the king’s friend's legacy, it means they kept it a secret for decades. Why would she give up on it now, especially if it’s a family matter? What could she possibly want so bad that she had to trade something so precious?”
Another question burned his lips, but he stayed silent. What did she want that only you could offer? Dori may have incredible resources and connections, but for it to be the only way?
“You know better than anyone that material possessions hold little to no value in the face of mortal considerations. Wouldn't you trade anything to save that girl of yours?”
“So… She wanted to save someone?”
“What she wanted doesn’t matter. It’s what I obtained in exchange that’s important. And I got it for you.”
He looked at the map again. He recognized the familiar outline of Sumeru’s desert, places where he’d been before. A cross was drawn in the right corner, next to the ancient ruins of the hanging gardens favored by queen Ilya.
“This is the location of this library? And you think whatever is there will help me?”
She raised her hands in defense. “I can’t guarantee anything and you know that. I’m only giving you the lead, just like with the abandoned hospital.”
It was better than anything. Tighnari was in no place to bargain for something better, as he was already painfully lacking useful information right now. He could give this a chance and if it appeared to be a scam, he would just have to go back. The worst thing that could happen was losing two weeks of his life.
“Okay. How much do you want for this?”
He was ready to retrieve his wallet in his pocket, but Dori’s unusual silence made him pause. Her lack of enthusiasm was already alarming as it was, but when talking about money it was particularly worrying.
“I don’t want money,” she finally admitted. Tighnari could guess what was coming next. “I want you to find something in that library and bring it to me.”
“Why can’t you go yourself?”
“I have other matters to attend to, and I still need a payment for this map. Since you’re going, I’ll save myself the trouble. Unless you prefer to pay cash, but let me tell you, information like this isn’t cheap.”
Her arrogant voice irritated him, but she had a point. Since her prices were so exorbitant, it was a better option for him to do her bidding. It couldn’t be so hard to find what she was looking for. In the end, it even seemed like a benefit for him. He’d have access to the rest of the library for almost nothing .
“If you want, I’m set to depart for Inazuma tomorrow. You can ride with me until Aaru village, and from there it will only be a day or two by foot.”
The offer was tempting, but Tighnari shook his head.
“I can’t leave like this. It’s such short notice, Collei would be worried. Besides, I have to take care of unfinished business – and put my things in order before leaving for so long. The journey will be at least two weeks, I have to organize myself beforehand.”
He would need to prepare ointments for his patients, enough to last for the duration of his absence. He should also arrange with Amber to take Collei in. He wasn’t keen on leaving her alone, but bringing her along was out of the question.
“As you want. You know where to find me if you change your mind. Good luck!”
He answered her absentmindedly, his mind already working and making a mental list of everything he would need. He put the map in his bag, took his leave and walked to Puspa Café, still absorbed by food supplies calculations and possible travel itineraries.
His ears picked up on the noise before he’d even reached the place. Agitated whispers, worried queries, unusual talks for people who’d just attended a concert. He picked up the pace, removing his cloak and hood. He had a very bad feeling.
When he arrived on the scene of the commotion, it appeared that he’d been right. The people were forming a circle, surrounding someone, whispering about an accident. He pushed them aside, panic starting to rise in his chest. In the middle of the melee, Amber was holding a young girl with green hair. His heart stopped in his chest.
“Collei!”
He crouched beside the two girls, immediately checking Collei’s pulse. Relief washed over him when he realized it was still here. She was only unconscious.
“What happened?!”
Amber’s cheeks were streaked with tears. She shook her head. “I don’t know, I don’t know, the concert was over and everybody was going home, we were going to my house and she was fine but then she just collapsed and I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t…”
She choked on a sob. Tighnari patted her shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” He needed reassurance just as much as her, but he would put his worry on hold for the time being. Someone had to be a responsible adult and exude confidence, even if it was a lie, only to prevent both of them from collapsing.
It was the first time a crisis knocked her unconscious. Dread pooled in his stomach. If her state aggravated so quickly, it meant the curse was getting worse. She’d just entered the next phase.
“Okay. I’ll bring her back, Amber, thanks for taking care of her.”
She bowed and left. His mind was reeling with thoughts. Dori, the map, the library, a cure, Collei. He thought he had a bit more time, but now it became urgent to find the remedy.
“Amber, wait!”
He’d made his decision in a fraction of seconds. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he was terrified of losing her. Collei was everything to him. The idea of never seeing her smile again made his heart clench.
His obligations be damned, he would pack his things tonight and leave first thing in the morning.