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If a child cries inside of a temple, does somebody hear him? Maybe the busy adults around him do, but they will rather pretend that they do not.
So, the better question is; If a child cries inside of a temple with a bunch of busy adults around him, does anyone go to calm down his cries?
Perhaps another child will.
Cyno’s teary eyes lifted up when he saw the figure of a kid his age, looking at him with the kind of empathy he hadn’t met today.
“Are you hurt?“ The child asked, trying to give a quick look to Cyno.
Something did hurt him, his leg had a big scrap!, perhaps playing around stones in the slippery sand of the desert wasn’t Cyno’s best idea.
He didn’t feel like speaking now, so the boy just pointed at the scrape, hoping he would get the help he needed.
The other boy let out a gasp, kind of overreacting to the knee scrape. “ Oh archons! That’s a bad wound! And in the sand?! Adults around me always tell me to cover them up! Don’t move!” And so, he ran away.
Cyno obeyed, staying in the same place with his face wet thanks to the tears until the other boy came back. His wound did hurt when sand hit it…
The boy came back in a hurry like a nurse worried for his parient, almost running; holding some bandages, and a bowl of water mixed with soap.
“My people always tell me I need to clean those wounds and cover them up… and that sand makes them dirty… and if they get dirty they get worse and hurt more!” The child looked more worried than anyone around him had ever been.
Said child cleaned Cyno’s knee wound, then covered it with the bandage, looking very proud of himself. And so a part of Cyno’s pain was then relieved.
Nonetheless, the boy kept crying.
Not even himself knew why he was still crying, tears just kept on coming out of his eyes.
The other boy looked stunned, not knowing quite what to do. “H-hey! Don’t cry! Did I do something wrong?” Cyno nodded no. “Uh… what’s your name? Mine is Sethos! Why are you still crying? How did you even get hurt?”
Sethos. He wouldn’t forget that name.
Cyno had a problem, though. He knew what his name was but didn't feel like speaking. And he didn’t know how to write yet.
He tried his best to babble some syllables that went like “Cy…no…” and that was it.
Sethos nodded, repeatedly mumbling the name he had just heard. ‘Cyno.’
Now,trying to explain why he was still crying, Cyno himself didn’t know why he was crying. Maybe loneliness was the reason. Or the fact that he didn't feel alone anymore.
Perhaps the best was trying to explain how he got hurt in the first place.
Cyno grabbed a stick near him, and started drawing something in the sand while Sethos looked over him.
The boy managed to write a stick figure with his same kind of hair, trying to catch something that looked like a beetle.
Then, the same stick figure falling on a rock.
Sethos then tilted his head to the side. “You fell while trying to catch beetles?”
Cyno nodded his head to say yes.
Sethos drew another thing in the sand, another beetle.
“Look! Now our beetles are friends! Do you want to be friends?” He asked.
Cyno smiled, no longer sobbing and hugging his now friend.
It was so funny.
He was crying just ten minutes ago.
And now, there he was, drawing his favorite kind of beetles with his best friend.
That was until some adults called Sethos ‘home’ or so, Cyno didn’t quite understand what they said. He just knew that Sethos promised that he would come back to this part of the temple, and they would draw together in the sand again.
…
Unlike other adults and children Cyno had met through his tender four years of life, Sethos did come back the next morning.
And the next, and the morning that followed. He would always come back, no matter what happened.
No matter if Cyno didn’t want to draw or play, Sethos would come back the next morning.
He was like those beetles or the sand beneath their endless desert, always returning.
Cyno even made the effort to speak a little more just for Sethos, as he was the only boy who was ‘worth talking to’ according to the boy. Plus, Sethos looked happy whenever Cyno said anything.
That didn’t mean they would stop drawing in the sand.
Plus, Sethos seemed to be the only boy near him that wasn't afraid of beetles and who liked catching them around with Cyno.
One day, the boy came to their usual hangout spot with a bunch of cards. A trading card game seemed like the kind of thing only the scholars of the Akademiya that Cyno admired so much from afar would have.
They didn’t quite understand the rules of the game, as none of them knew how to read yet.
So they just spent evenings throwing cards around and saying ‘My card is stronger because it’s the prettiest!’ for around a month until someone finally explained the rules of the game to them.
There, Cyno passed from being the quiet kid who could lose often to Sethos, to a complete beast in the TCG. Really, he probably would win a championship if he wanted to.
And Sethos knew that confronting Cyno in the card game was like fighting with the devil itself.
A couple of years passed by between trading card games, beetle hunting and drawings that got erased thanks to footsteps on the sand.
Yet fate is merciless when it comes to young beetles like Cyno and Sethos.
A big blow of wind can drive young beetles away against their will, letting each one of them on their own.
Cyno had always feared that Sethos would be the one to leave him alone, yet he was the first one to leave. He didn’t want to, he didn’t want to leave his brother. And they made him do so.
There wouldn’t be more drawings in the sand or card games between them.
Not even the memory of Sethos remained in the young boy’s mind, who soon turned into a man. The pain caused by his constant migraines didn’t allow him to remember the sweet and tender memories of the childhood he shared with the other boy.
Cyno had a father and a home now but, at what cost? The cost of his innocence? His brother?
Can you even care and yearn for something you do not remember?
Cyno didn’t complain a lot about his actual life, yet he missed something about the temple. He couldn’t tell what it was, he couldn’t tell what was missing inside of him.
And still he continued on with his life, doing his best despite the partial emptiness of his heart.
Living in the city of Sumeru wasn’t something to complain about. It was definitely more comfortable than the temple he had forgotten a long time ago.
He was respected, had a good job, a wonderful boyfriend and the child they had incidentally acquired.
Cyno remembered just a few things about his childhood but something was sure, Collei reminded him to a part of it.
Collei used to be cold to him and Tighnari when he had first brought her home, nonetheless she was getting better now.
She was smiling more now.
Cyno wanted to give Collei all the smiles he had lost during his childhood, give her the thing he didn’t know he missed; a family.
Despite Cyno being the one who brought her back to Sumeru, Collei was closer to Tighnari than him. Maybe it was because Cyno was always out and working, so he couldn’t blame the girl for having a favorite father.
There were a few evenings where Tighnari was too busy with patrolling and other ranger duties to take care of Collei, this was one of those evenings. Cyno tried his best to bond with her almost-daughter during the time his boyfriend was out.
Cyno knew that Collei probably respected him or had a good impression about him in general, as he was the one who sealed the archon residue out of her. But he didn’t want to be just seen as a savior, he wanted to bond with Collei over more than that.
So he brought her into the city, just to play around, go to shop or whatever kids liked.
It had been a while since he had gone to the desert, and he thought bringing Collei into said desert could be tolling for the girl, as she was still recovering
He would like it if he ever got the chance to take Collei to the temple, though. Maybe they could catch beetles, or draw in the sand.
Why was he imagining that? It was such a silly idea…
The best by now was to spend his evenings taking care of his almost-daughter inside of the city, trying to bring her smile back without risking her health or tiring her out.
Collei didn’t know the absolute beast Cyno was when it came to the TCG, so the poor young girl had made the mistake to challenge the man while they were together in the outskirts of the city.
“Aw man!” The girl exclaimed, throwing some of her cards on the grass. “It 's not fair! You have won all the past five rounds!”
“Well, they say that in order to win, you have to stay card-ial and play fair. I saw you trying to cheat twice.” Collei sighed.
“Boo.”
It would’ve been a normal evening of puns and games if it wasn’t for some guards calling for Cyno’s help.
“General Mahamatra!” A guard called, Running into Cyno and Collei’s direction. “There’s a wounded man in the entrance of the city who needs your help, he insists that he is okay and refuses to receive help.”
Cyno looked confused. “Why don’t you take him to some actual doctor?.” He picked up the cards and saving them for later
“There’s a small collapse, there were a couple of lawachurls and abyss mages near the city and so a lot of people got hurt.”
Cyno clicked his tongue, following the guards to the place where the man would be waiting to be helped.
“Collei, do you want me to carry you or can you walk just fine?” He asked, holding the pre-teen’s hand as they kept on walking.
“I’m kind of exhausted, but I was too ashamed to ask…” The girl sighed, and was then carried on her guardian’s back.
“You shouldn’t be ashamed if you actually need it.”
Walking through the entrance of the temple with a pre-teen in his back the whole time felt strange, but in a good way. People were staring at him (probably because Collei was not that kiddie sized.) yet he didn’t care. He was just taking care of his child.
There was the man who required help. Half of his arm was covered in cuts and a small burn mark.
Despite everything, he smiled widely when he saw Cyno coming close to him.
“Howdy! Long time no see, right?” Sethos.
Yet Sethos was no longer the kind child Cyno had first met. This was the adult Sethos of the temple, the one whom he had fought.
Did that mean they despised each other now? No.
They just didn’t have the same connection as before, they didn’t even have proper memories of each other.
“You should stop being so uncautious.” Cyno giggled, asking searching for a bowl of water, soap and bandages.
“I was cautious. These fatui and their delusions just get stronger day by day.” Sethos looked over to the child on Cyno’s back. “When did you acquire a daughter?”
“Yet they couldn’t take you down, huh? Good job.” The wounded man hissed when he felt Cyno’s hand trying to clean the wound. “When I had to go to Mondstadta couple years ago, Collei was a souvenir.”
“Hey!”
Cyno laughed, messing with Collei’s hair. “Why were you fighting the fatui, though?”
“I was doing some commissions for the adventurer’s guild. I just like to help people.” Sethos shrugged, then winced in pain for a slight moment as he had moved the wounded arm he wasn’t supposed to move. “What was your name again?”
Cyno remained silent for a moment, finishing the process of cleaning the man’s wound. It’s as if he had answered that question before. “Cyno. You’re Sethos, you’re quite known around the city for the comissions you do. You like to help people but, who’s going to help you?”
Sethos closed his eyes, trying to not tear up thanks to the pain as Cyno bandaged his arm. “ You, apparently.”
“What if I’m not here to help you?” Sethos only smiled. As if he just knew he was going to have Cyno by his side.
“I’ll see how I get by. Can I come back to do commissions, though?” Cyno nodded his head no.
“Do you have a place to sleep tonight? I'm pretty sure you cannot go back to the desert in this state”
“Nope! Guess I’ll pay for an hotel.”
Cyno looked back at Collei for a moment before whispering. “Do you think Tighnari will get angry if we let him sleep in the house?”
“He wasn’t angry when you brought me to the house.” The girl whispered back. “He seems fun to be around, do you know him?”
Cyno didn’t quite know how to answer that question.
This was technically a stranger he had fought before for the hermanubis, nonetheless something kept telling Cyno that Sethos was no stranger.
Tending the man’s wound felt oddly nostalgic.
“I don’t. But, we have to be kind and help people we don’t know.” That was the last thing Cyno whispered to Collei.
He spoke a little more confidently this time. “What if you sleep in our house today? It’s better to leave you resting in a safe place while you recover.”
Sethos smiled, shaking Cyno’s hand. “Deal. Hope I’m not a bother.”
“Nah, you could even play a good round of TCG with us.”
Sethos went pale, laughing and nodding his head no. “No! I'm pretty sure you will beat my ass if we play that.”
Collei giggled, knowing that the stranger’s supposition could be true. “He will!”
“What can I say, I just have a few cards up my sleeve.” Cyno said in an attempt of making another pun.
“Boo.” Collei exclaimed.
“I think I agree with your daughter.” Sethos softly bumped Cyno’s shoulder, a big smile on his face.
Cyno didn’t know why, but he liked hanging out with this friendly stranger.