Chapter Text
(Art by Alcruid)
You couldn’t take your eyes off of it. Soft and chalky white, twisting its way out of the cave wall— it was the most beautiful flower you had ever seen. The bud was closed, but from a distance you could still make out blue-grey looking petals. What was really remarkable about it was the way it glowed; pulsing softly, as if beckoning you closer. The cave you had found it in was well hidden, but once inside, this flower was impossible to miss. There were bioluminescent plants all over Teyvat, but your knowledge and instincts told you this was different from something like Small Lamp Grass.
“Be careful, please!” Collei nervously clasped her hands against her chest, eyeing the ivy covered ditch you were half hanging over. “Oh, you’re going to fall!”
Her panic brought you out of your trance and back to the present. Recently Collei had invited you to join her once a week on her shorter patrols. It had sort of come out of nowhere for you, since you were new to Gandharva Ville and a temporary resident at that. You were only there because you needed a... break from the Akademiya. You thought your glum state and general pessimistic personality would keep everyone at arm's length. It didn’t help that you weren’t a Sumeru native, so sometimes it was hard to relate to the people around you. This didn’t stop Collei though. She and Tighnari were the only ones you really spoke to since arriving a few weeks ago.
“I almost got it, just stand back and don’t worry–” you gasped out, one foot off the ground, left arm fully outstretched, while your right held on to a root hanging from the cave’s ceiling, right across from the flower you were trying to pick.
You were starting to think that fussing over things was part of Collei’s character, making it easier for you to dismiss her (frankly justified) worries. “After this we can go back to Gandharva Ville, I promise!”
Naturally, you didn’t want to destroy the plant if it was as rare as you deduced, but picking just one out of the dozen that were around should be fine. The idea of returning with this mystery plant gave you a giddy feeling that you hadn’t felt for months at that point. You reached out a little further, until finally–
Crackle! SNAP!
You barely had the time to register what was happening before you were tumbling down the ditch. The root you were holding on to was too brittle to carry your weight and it had come loose from the rock. Head first, you slid right through the ivy covering the ditch, landing with a dull thud at the bottom.
Collei screamed. “Oh my goodness, are you alright?” She fell to her knees and peered into the hole.
You’d done it now. Of course this wasn’t going to be as easy as you hoped. You were sure you had shocked Collei to her core, poor young thing. Thankfully, there was a bed of moss breaking your fall, so the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
“O-oh no- What do I do!”
A cough signalled that you were still alive. “A rope would be nice,” you groaned.
“Right! A rope!” Collei sprang into action, quickly rummaging around for a rope in her satchel. “Can you climb out on your own? Oh.. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to carry you.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine… Somehow– I only scraped my knee a little bit. ” You tried to stand up on the slippery moss. Ugh, your leg was going to be sore for a while. But when you looked down at your gloved hands, your irritation turned back into joy. Clasped tightly in your left hand was the flower you were so desperate to bring home with you. Not only that, but the entire wall of the ditch was covered in said mystery flower. The bud of the flower in your hand had opened and so had a few of the ones on the cave wall. Did they open when agitated?
Everything now had a thin layer of blue pollen on it, including yourself. You must’ve breathed in quite a lot of it as well, your throat was feeling rather irritated.
Without thinking you brought the flower in your hand up to your nose and had a whiff of its smell. It was faint but... earthy? It smelled like mushrooms and spices. What an odd smell for a flower. A strange emotion stirred in your chest, one you couldn’t quite place. You quickly realised how stupid it was to bring an unknown plant up so close to your face and got to work getting your supplies from your bag.
“There’s so many of them!”
“R-right, I’ll bandage you up as soon as I get you out!” Collei said as she secured the rope to a rock.
“No, not that! The flowers!” Your voice came out raspy. You coughed to clear your throat. “They sure produce a lot of pollen too… You think holes in the ground like these are its preferred habitat?”
Collei sighed. “Well… At least you’re well enough to still be talking. You could’ve hit your head, you know? Master Tighnari isn’t going to be happy.”
She was right. In the short time you had come to know him, you had already received your fair share of lectures from Tighnari. It hadn’t contributed well to your initial impression of him. You had previously thought that he was an insufferable know-it-all who thought of himself as better than people like you. The type of person you had experienced more than enough of while at the Akademiya.
You had gotten ‘permission’ from Master Naphis to study under Tighnari for a while, so your initial attitude towards him hadn’t really worked in favour of your academic progression. But you quickly felt like you were wrong about him. How you DID feel about him was still hard to say, however. Or how he felt about you. Would he be impressed that you had managed to find such a mysterious plant? Actually, he’d probably be mad that you convinced Collei to stray from the regular patrol route… Hopefully your new discovery would distract him enough from the inevitable lecture.
A rope fell down and you quickly made your way back up, eternally thankful your injuries were minimal enough to allow you to do so by yourself. Once reunited with Collei, you triumphantly held up not only the flower you plucked earlier, but also two other samples, WITH roots attached.
“They’re BEAUTIFUL! I bet not even Tighnari has seen these before!” Holding one up to the well lit cave entrance, you could now see the bright aqua veins that ran down the stem and leaves of the plant, and that the inside of the petals were a dark blue teal colour. Before you hadn’t been able to get a good look at the flower because of its bright glow, but it had completely dimmed after you plucked it.
Interesting, you were going to have to examine why that was.
You looked back at Collei. To your surprise, her brown skin now had a thin layer of blue on it. She was nearly as covered in the pollen as you were.
“How did you–”
Collei sheepishly smiled and dusted off her clothes. “There was a huge cloud of pollen when you landed. I wonder if this would make for blue honey?”
You laughed. “It probably would!”
Your laugh turned into a little cough and Collei watched you worriedly.
“It must be the pollen. Oh no, What if it’s toxic after all?”
You shook your head pensively. “I’m sure it’s just an irritation of the throat. Pollen can have defensive compounds, but it rarely causes lasting effects. I think in this case the flower dispenses a lot of pollen once agitated because it’s in such a secluded place and thus has to take advantage of any visitors it comes across to carry its pollen.”
Doubt crept up your chest. If Collei got sick because of you, you wouldn’t be able to face Tighnari ever again, nor would you be able to forgive yourself. You were going to have to hurry back to Gandharva Ville and ask the expert to be sure…
Said expert was indeed not amused. He stood tapping his foot at the village entrance; probably tipped off about your arrival by the sound of your footsteps and rattling patrol gear. Now those perceptive ears of his were downturned against his head, something that told you from a distance that he was more than displeased.
“Care to explain to me why you took two and a half hours longer than expected to complete today’s patrol?” His frown deepened, stepping towards you to swipe some of the blue pollen off of your clothes with his glove. “What’s this?”
“Ehh…” Collei avoided looking him in the eye, her hands nervously brushing through her hair.
“I’m sorry Tighnari, it’s my fault. I spotted a hidden cave while on patrol and I convinced Collei to check it out with me. Inside there were these flowers, see?” You extended one of the flasks to him. “I think it might be an undiscovered species!”
Tighnari placed his free hand on his chin as he took the flower from you, carefully examining it from different angles. “Is that why you’re both covered in blue dust?”
“Y-yeah… The pollen of this flower is rather unique. It even glowed in the dark cave.”
Tighnari hummed in thought. Then his gaze fell on your bandaged knee. “Collei, you go wash up. Report back at the infirmary once you’re done. (Y/N), come with me.”
Your posture slumped in disappointment. He had nothing to say? You trudged after him in silence. Once in the infirmary he made you sit down so he could removed Collei’s bandages to take a look.
You couldn’t help but break the awkward silence. “I collected samples of the pollen in these flasks, I even have a few complete specimens with the roots intact.”
You had to know his thoughts. Had he seen the flower before? Did he agree with your theories on why it dispensed so much pollen? More than anything you just wanted to discuss theories with him. For him to acknowledge your find.
“They’re quite unique. I don’t recall seeing anything similar in Pardis Dhyia, nor in textbooks. If you bring me a map, I can point out where we found these. I’m sure we could find more of them if we figure out what made them grow there. I-” A series of coughs interrupted your story. Your eagerness to share caused your irritated throat to choke on the air.
Tighnari watched you worriedly, taking out a stethoscope. “Could you take off your coat? I’d like to listen for any alterations in your breathing.”
You awkwardly shuffled out of your coat and breathed in and out as he instructed. “I’ll be fine, really! I just took in a bit of dust and pollen, it’s only natural my throat is a little irritated. I… I don't think the plant was toxic. Collei breathed in a small amount as well and she wasn’t coughing at all.”
“Maybe.” Tighnari answered curtly, a blank expression on his face. “I’m going to have to examine the pollen to be sure. Let me take a look at your throat.”
There was only silence while he pointed the flashlight down your mouth. You shyly peeked at him as he noted down some things on a clipboard. The lack of the usual annoyed sassy lecture was spooking you a little bit.
You thought of things to say as he prepped the pollen for examination under the microscope. He let out a low hum as he looked through the eyepiece.
“Tighnari, I… I’m sorry…”
He moved away from the microscope with a sigh, finally looking you in the eye. “At least you have the decency to know you did something you shouldn’t have.”
Your head dropped in resignation. “It was wrong for me to put Collei in that position. I… I didn’t know there would be so much pollen. I had her stand a distance away, but I can see now that wasn’t good enough. Next time– Next time I’ll note the location on a map and ask for you or other forest watchers to come with me.”
“Good.” Tighnari said with a curt nod. “I know you didn’t deliberately put the both of you in danger and that’s the only reason I can begin to look past this.” He took another look through the microscope. “From a cursory examination, this pollen has a fairly basic structure. It looks like it’s part of the same genus as the Sumeru rose. If anything, I’d be worried this points to an issue with the ley lines, but I haven’t heard of any other incidents that would point to this… They sure produce a lot of pollen though,” By the end he was muttering to himself, more so than explaining any of it to you.
“However–!” He pointed his pen right in your face, interrupting his own rant, making you jump. “Although I’m very happy to see some enthusiasm from your part, endangering yourself like that is still absolutely unacceptable.”
Ah, there came the lecture. One you absolutely deserved, mind you.
“Had you fallen unconscious, Collei would have had to go back to the village on her own to get help. Worst case scenario, you could have broken your neck and died in an instant. It is the duty of forest rangers to preserve both the rainforest's ecosystem and the safety of its visitors, but our most important skill is to ensure the safety of ourselves . This is the basic rule of any survival situation. Do you understand?”
You wanted to object that you weren’t a forest watcher, but you assumed that wouldn’t go over well. “Yes, Tighnari.”
“That almost sounds as if I’m not useful to have around at all.” You turned to a pouting Collei, who had suddenly appeared in the infirmary's doorway.
“Your time as a full fledged watcher will come Collei,” Tighnari calmly explained, recovering from his surprise in an instant. “You’re young and still learning, there’s no need to rush. You should know that you have my full trust.”
You self-consciously looked away from the two, wondering what you could do to earn Tighnari’s trust like that. Maybe the flower you discovered really was a new species? Would that get him to talk to you about it?
“Oh I know,” Collei answered, timidly plucking at her nails. “I’m just saying.”
Something stirred in your chest and you rubbed at your sternum. The day left you rather tired and you were ready for it to be over. Tighnari turned back to you.
“I would offer for us to examine the plant together, but… You’re better off taking a bath to wash off all that pollen. I’ll schedule it in for our regular review on Tuesday, but I can’t postpone the initial examination for you. I have to make sure this plant is safe.”
That was rather disappointing. You had no issue sharing your discovery with Tighnari of course, but this felt like handing it over instead of working together. You understood him not wanting to postpone it, but why couldn't he allow you there during the initial examination? Did he think you were going to get in his way? That you were only good as a student and not a research partner?
Despite your negative spiral, the thought of fighting his decision made your stomach churn, so you accepted it, trying not to seem bitter when you nodded.
“Oh, and please meet me at my hut Friday morning so we can retouch your forest safety training. We have lots of rules to… rediscover.”
You cleared your throat, “Alright. Thank you, Tighnari.”
You were hoping he was going to forget about punishment. Then again, this probably didn’t count as such in his mind.
Tighnari briefly hesitated before speaking up again. “And… (Y/N)? You don’t need to prove yourself, okay?”
You felt a hotness bloom across your chest and face. On face value it was a sweet sentiment, but you didn’t interpret it that way. It was a subtle way of saying: ‘don’t get in my way’.
“…Okay.”
You ran away quickly in order to not show that it bothered you. Once you were far enough away from the infirmary you breathed in deeply. No matter, it was still your discovery. You would fight tooth and nail to defend that honour. Tighnari was going to let you research with him, whether he wanted you to or not. That fighting spirit pushed down the fear enough for you to feel a little less suffocated.
The irritation in your throat hadn't cleared yet, but you hoped that it would be gone by morning. These things usually resolve itself after a morning beverage.
More importantly, you were ready to think about what this find could mean for your future! With this, maybe, just maybe, you could finally turn things around for the better.