Chapter Text
Collei readjusted her grip on Culein-Anbar. She'd been Master Tighnari's ward for just over a year and a half now, and though he was adamant she was making excellent progress, she herself was not so convinced.
Another round of booming thunder resounded. Collei flinched, cautiously keeping her gaze on Tighnari. His demeanour didn't change, but she wasn't blind. The twitch of his tail (which looked undeniably soft) and the flicker of his eyelid was enough of a giveaway: he was just as jumpy as she was.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, letting her gaze fall to her lap. “I know it's just a storm.”
He shook his head, not unkindly. “Even if there's nothing to fear, it's normal to be afraid of Sumeru's monsoons. Just because it's irrational doesn't mean you aren't feeling it.”
She nodded glumly, scratching near a recent eleazar flare-up. He followed the movement for a moment, but wisely didn't coddle her.
“There was…” Collei trailed off. Nevermind. What was the point in sharing tales? The subject of this one knew her master much better than she did, anyways.
However, Tighnari tilted his head. There was no pressure or prompting, but the inquisitive, open manner in which he turned to her made her ramble on nonetheless.
“Ah… Well, when I was travelling with the General, he… said something really similar.” The thought of Cyno made her nape feel uncomfortably itchy, but Amber had once told her that sometimes the only way to be brave was to be scared first. “He's not, um, very good at talking, but he sounds like you when he tries to be nice to me.”
Tighnari chuckled, resting his chin in his palm as his gaze wandered back out the window. She wondered how he could watch the lightning with such admiration, even though the thunder hurt his head. Maybe that had something to do with the General, too.
“Not very good at talking. That's one way to put it.” There was a certain affection in his eyes that made her feel like she was intruding on something personal and intimate. Tighnari was the most down-to-earth and practical person she knew, but he had this habit of looking all dreamy when someone brought up something (or someone) he really liked.
Using her very limited social intelligence, she deduced that Tighnari looked as pleased as he did because she'd said that Cyno often mimics him. If she weren't so stiff, she might have made a face.
They lapsed into silence, but Collei didn't feel like she was being tested, like she might have done at the start. He'd made it clear she could come to him if she just needed somewhere that wasn't her own place. This was only her second time asking to intrude, but the first had gone comfortably enough she'd dared to ask again.
Once again, thunder boomed. She jumped, eyeing the window wearily. Culein-Anbar rested dutifully on her knees, a grounding presence.
Tighnari exhaled like she always heard him do whenever he was in the early stages of a migraine. With a flick of his ears, he pushed his chair back enough to rest his head against the wall. Maybe she should go.
Just as she made to stand, Tighnari spoke again. “Cyno often asks me what to talk to you about.” He was gazing at the ceiling, almost thoughtfully. “I've told him time and time again just to let it come naturally. Celestia knows you'd both combust if you tried to force a conversation.”
Collei said nothing. He spared her an assessing glance, but continued when he affirmed that she hadn't retreated into her shell. “Come to think of it, you're both very alike. More so than you think.”
She had a feeling he didn't just mean in terms of being introverted. “O-oh, uh… In what way?”
He sat up properly, shaking his head with a delicate smile. “...That's Cyno's story to tell. Would you like some lavender tea?”
She paused, then nodded. Very alike. The thought filled her with both unease and curiosity.
What could she, an ill ranger, possibly have in common with the General Mahamatra?
***
Lambad’s was crowded. Very crowded. It was giving Cyno a headache; he couldn’t imagine how Tighnari felt. Speaking of…
Fortunately, the other was engaged in a quiet conversation with Alhaitham. The two tended to gravitate towards each other when a space was busy. As far as he was aware, they had this unspoken understanding over their shared noise sensitivity.
Usually, he’d be happy to play TCG with Kaveh, but each thought seemed to rattle in his brain. Laying down his cards, he rubbed his temples. “I concede.”
“Seriously? We’ve barely started! Who are you and what’d you do with Cyno?” Kaveh sounded… Well, Cyno couldn’t figure out how he sounded. He was too busy assessing the wave of nausea that had just flipped his stomach. Something like revulsion creeped up his esophagus at the awful sensation.
“I… ugh.” Intelligent, he thought dimly. Had it gotten stuffy suddenly, or was it just him?
“Actually, you don’t… look good at all. Nari? Hey, Tighnari? Is this one of…”
Ah. He knew what was happening. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let himself tip into the void of memories the Ba fragments had opened up in his mind.
***
“My- My Lord, I couldn’t possibly agree to this!” A Tighnarian was supplicating him. Distress stained those fair features. “If it makes me selfish, then so be it!”
“Be rational, █████. There is no other way. For Deshret’s sake, control yourself.” Hermanubis’ reply was cold, but necessary. Tulaytullah was a lost cause, and those foolish enough to cling to hope would not survive.
“I can’t, I just can’t…” The priest covered his face, looking less holy and more pathetic there on his knees. “I’m sorry, My Lord, I’m so sorry.”
“You should not be.” Hermanubis knelt down, easily humble enough to stoop to the ground. “You know this is how it must be. Tulaytullah cannot shelter you any longer. We travelled from Tighnar, and now you must travel again. Wander as far as you must, once the time is right. My spirit will accompany you.”
Something like a wail came from the other. If Cyno were capable of thinking in the moment, he would’ve been beyond disturbed at how much that noise sounded like the one he cherished.
“I do not understand. Do you not feel the slightest ounce of fear?! Has █████████ knowledge corrupted you also?”
Hermanubis pursed his lips, but it was Cyno’s voice that replied, “Perhaps you are correct.”
***
He came to slowly, willing the pounding out of his head. Eyes focusing, he first took in Tighnari’s worried face, then Alhaitham and Kaveh bickering behind them, then the rest of Lambad’s bar.
“Ah. There we go.” Tighnari took his hand gently. It was cool and reassuring compared to his own sweaty palms. “Do you want to go outside?”
Cyno’s pretty sure he nodded. He held tightly onto the other’s hand, not processing whatever it was Kaveh was chattering about.
The evening air did wonders for his brain and stomach. Taking in a deep breath, he leaned back against a tree and blinked the last of the blurriness from his vision.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
It wasn’t entirely clear what these episodes were. Cyrus had speculated that Sethos’ old fragment had picked up some excess baggage from the leylines, which his hadn’t, and that was why he seemed to be adjusting at a snail’s pace. He was inclined to agree. It’d explain why, more often than not, these memories weren’t from Hermanubis’ perspective or involved the Great Sage at all. He’d seen everything from tortured Tighnarians to the peak of the Sapphire City since that duel.
“It wasn’t disturbing,” Cyno promised. Tighnari seemed to relax a fraction. “It just caught me off guard. I haven’t had more than one a day since I was a child.”
And, unsurprisingly, he’d stiffened again. “Are they getting worse? You should have said something, Cyno.”
“I thought I was just uncomfortable with the atmosphere.”
“Still! That’s reason enough to speak up. You know we’re all happy to make arrangements if someone needs-” Tighnari made a muffled protest at the way he was pulled against the other.
“You know, Nari, if I were a farmer, my business would be booming right now.”
Tighnari paused, then wriggled in a fruitless attempt to get away. Hah, not whilst Cyno had something to say. “Because of all mi-graine.” He let the silence linger for a few moments. “Get it? Because migraine sounds like my grain, like the important crop for farmers-”
Tighnari finally escaped, rolling his eyes. “I take it back, you’re feeling fine. Why do I even bother coddling you?”
Cyno shruggled, smugness radiating off of him in waves. “I don’t know. Maybe because-”
“Cyno!”
He looked up at his name being called. It seemed the other two had finally noticed they’d been abandoned. With a brief nod towards Alhaitham, he greeted Kaveh. “Everything’s fine. We shall continue our mighty duel another day.”
“Ugh, when you put it like that, I really don’t want to at all…”
“Cyno’s right, it’d be a good idea to call in early,” Alhaitham spoke, crossing his arms. “Most of us have work tomorrow.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know I have people fighting for my services left and right! What do you have to offer?”
Tighnari glanced at Cyno, who was watching the scene with something like amused exasperation. He seemed completely fine, but… it couldn’t hurt to check. “Time for you to head off? I can walk you back.”
Cyno shook his head, running an absent hand through his tail when the appendage brushed his leg. “You might as well go home now. Collei will freak out if she finds out you walked home in the dark without telling a ranger.”
“I suppose you’re right. I’ll see you in a fortnight?”
“Of course.” Cyno didn’t kiss him, no matter how much he might’ve liked to. There were tight limits to how much PDA either of them were willing to act out in the city.
Just for a moment, they both paused. It had become a ritual, dating as far back to Tighnari’s time as a student, to steal an extra moment before longer partings. Two weeks was actually a rather short timeframe, in the grand scheme of all of Cyno’s missions, but it couldn’t hurt.
Tighnari was smiling at him, and his eyes were soft and his tail wouldn’t stay still. Cyno couldn’t have felt more content if Nahida herself arrived to tell him every criminal had finally been caught.
Alas, there were always more missions, just as there always came a time to be apart. With a final glance and smile, the two bid goodbye to Kaveh and Alhaitham and went their separate ways.
Cyno made a mental note to stop in again with the Temple of Silence if things didn’t look up soon. He couldn’t exactly afford to have a minute to ground himself should he be sucked into memories that weren’t his during a battle. For tonight, though, he was eager to crawl into bed, even if it wasn’t the one in Gandharva Ville.
***
“Master! I’m all finished!”
Collei handed her advanced algebra sheets over to him, which he took with a diligent nod. Setting aside his latest specimen of interest, he glanced over them briefly. Most seemed fine.
“Excellent. I’ll mark these tonight and we can look over them tomorrow. You’re free for the rest of the day.”
She thanked him eagerly and hurried out the door. Apparently, she’d made plans with Dehya to spend some girl time together. He didn’t really understand what that entailed, but trusted Dehya to keep a keen eye on his student.
All that was left on his own to-do list was to wait. Today was two days after Cyno’s supposed return date. He’d learnt not to panic by now – chasing criminals around the nation didn’t exactly follow a strict schedule. Still, their cryo box could only keep stewed meat edible for so long.
Rising from his seat, he tucked Collei’s sheets under a paperweight and wandered into the kitchen. Chamomile sat untouched on the counter. He kept it out just in case, for when Cyno came back weary and sighing.
The weeks had gone by surprisingly quick. There’d been a near-crisis in Lokopala Jungle days after his outing, which had kept him occupied for the better part of the waiting time. Then, the traveller had visited and he’d had to clean up after the mess their encounters had made. On top of everything, Sumeru’s rainy season was officially in full swing, and most of the time he was working under a heavy downpour. It was a miracle his poor tail didn’t weigh the same as a house!
In some way, the heavy workload had been good for him. He’d hardly had time to worry about anything else, especially his own thoughts. The last time he’d done that, he’d hurt Cyno’s feelings by getting insecure and assuming their relationship was built off of obligation rather than connection. The thought alone had him grimacing. How embarrassing.
With nothing else to do, he sat down at the table and gazed out the window. It faced the forest rather than the village, giving him a (dry) view of his drizzling home. He’d spent many an afternoon observing the birds and woodland creatures from this very seat.
The rain came down steadily. It wasn’t aggressive currently, but it had been before and would be again. Fortunately, Sumeru’s advantage was that these storms were tropical, and there was no collective panic for firewood or anything of the sort.
It was easy to lose track of time, but the sound of someone stumbling outside his door had him alert. For a moment, he braced himself for a helpless adventurer, but the sound of creaking wood had him on his feet.
“You tripped,” he pointed out casually, rounding the corner to see a dripping Cyno shutting the door. He could hear the other’s stuffy breathing from across the room. “Huh. And you’re congested.”
“I had to hand the case to a subordinate,” Cyno admitted vaguely, shivering at the way his hair clung to his neck.
“So you’re sick?”
He deigned to answer. Tighnari sighed.
“You’re sick,” he concluded, “How’d that happen?”
Cyno shrugged, sniffling rather indiscreetly for someone who didn’t want to admit that they were ill. “No idea.”
Offering a hand, Tighnari all but yanked his sopping partner to the bathroom, telling him sternly he needed to take a warm shower whilst tea was being brewed for him. He was also needled into staying off for at least a couple days, which was somehow miraculously agreed upon.
Back in the kitchen, Tighnari stirred the chamomile, grumbling to himself for no particular reason. He wasn’t even irritated, just eager to hover. His concern and affection simply… came with a seal of tough love stamped on it.
The sound of irregular shuffling from the bathroom, however, had his ears twitching. Wandering to the door, he became acutely aware of the sound of heaving. “Cyno? Everything okay in there?”
He pushed the door open, finding Cyno hunched over a basin, breaths coming deep and ragged. Oh dear. Crouching down beside him, he tucked his hair behind his ears and laid a hand on his back. “Ah, you’re sicker than I thought,” he observed pityingly. “Poor thing.”
The shameless coddling would have had Cyno swooning and also slightly disbelieving in any other circumstances, but at the moment all he could do was nod and make a pitiful noise. “Hate bein’ nauseous…”
“I know, I know.” Tighnari made some more sympathetic sounds, which only improved his mood marginally because of who they came from.
Cyno had seen everything from the gross to the grizzly, but seeing vomit or feeling nauseous had him irritationally agitated. It freaked him out unreasonably. The sight, the smell, the taste… He couldn’t stand it.
So, he couldn’t exactly describe dry-heaving over a wash basin as an ideal day off. Another wave of nausea grabbed him by the neck and rattled his organs around mercilessly. He must have made a face, because Tighnari started rubbing his back soothingly.
“It’ll all be over soon,” he murmured. “You’ll be back on track in no time.”
Cyno grabbed his stomach before abruptly retching. The awful sound of it hitting the basin had goosebumps erupting on his skin. He sure hoped so.