Cyno sighed as he made his way up towards the Akademiya. Since you and Nilou had left Sumeru City the day before, he'd both Al Haitham and a few other people about possible leads regarding your vision, but nothing had been fruitful.
In fact, he'd worked so late into the night before that Kaveh had had to kick him out of the records area until morning, and he almost never got involved when it came to cases like this.
Still, he'd gotten up bright and early today and immediately headed straight for the Akademiya. By now, his possible leads had mostly run dry, but before meeting back up with you in Gandharva Ville, there were a few more potentially useful files he'd seen that he wanted to look into. After all, if there was even a chance he could find the information you needed here, he was going to take it, for both your sake and Sumeru's.
However, as he made his way up the last flight of stairs, he suddenly paused, seeing a man he'd never met before standing on the balcony with the same group of fatui that had attacked you the day before.
He had navy blue hair and wore a huge blue and green hat that drew a lot of attention. It also seemed he had an anemo vision, and he was facing the fatui with a menacing glare.
"Tell me what went down here yesterday." He ordered, "Or we can do this the hard way, if you prefer."
"W-we were just following orders, I swear!" One of the men from the group replied quickly, putting up his hands in the hoped he wouldn't be attacked. "We're sorry for attacking them!" The man's eyes narrowed, along with Cyno's, at their pleas.
"I don't care that you were ordered to do it," he replied harshly, "Do you have any idea what you could have done? You put everyone in the city at risk."
"We're sorry!" One of the other group members spoke up, but the man with the hat just shot them another glare, causing them to shut their mouth."
"It doesn't matter, just tell me where they are now." He said lowly, lowering his head do the hat covered part of his face. The group all shrank back, before the first man who had spoke up finally cleared his throat.
"W-we don't exactly know..." He said meekly, only making the man more angry. "A girl showed up with a hydro vision and put out the fires before we could even cause any damage! And then a man from the Akademiya claiming to be one of the matra took us into custody. That's all we know!"
"You don't even know which direction they went?" The man with the hat scoffed, "What did the girl look like?"
"She had red hair and seemed to be some kind of dancer," One of the fatui replied, "A-and...I think they went down into the city, but I swear I had no idea where!"
There was a moment of silence before the man finally growled quietly.
"Fine, then leave now and tell no one I was here," he replied, turning so his back faced towards them, "Otherwise, I'll hunt you down myself and make sure you never live to see another day." Everyone in the group nodded, and then quickly took off running before he could change his mind.
Cyno moved to a more discreet location behind one of the pillars surrounding the balcony, watching as the man with the hat began searching around the balcony, as if looking for something.
This wouldn't have been an abnormal occurrence, except the spot he happened to be studying most was the exact one you'd had your scuffle with the fatui in the day before, and Cyno had just witnessed this very same man demanding to know your whereabouts.
Though you'd mostly left the area unharmed, only really burning yourself in that particular episode, there was still a bit of singed floor left behind where you'd stood, and he knew this man had noticed it. He was bending down to get a closer look, frowning as his hands traced over the slightly burnt ground.
"So you were here..." He whispered so quietly that Cyno nearly missed it, but luckily, he was well trained in collecting information this way, so he was able to pick it up.
Suddenly, the suspicious man stood up, turning towards the staircase to go back down. Cyno made sure to stay out of sight as he passed, not wanting to give his position away at such a crucial moment. Luckily, the man with the hat didn't seem to have realized he'd been watching and continued on his way.
Once he was far enough down the steps, Cyno quickly turned to follow. Even though he'd wanted to investigate those files some more, this seemed much more pressing, especially considering the records were probably going to prove to be fruitless anyway.
He had no idea who this guy was, but it was clear from both his expressions and actions that he was determined to find you. Cyno wasn't sure whether he was associated with the fatui or now, but either way, if he proved to be a threat to your wellbeing, then this needed to be a top priority.
Plus, if this man was at all associated with the fatui that had attacked you the day before, then he could potentially answer some more questions about your power and why they were after you, once Cyno apprehended him, that was.
So the general followed him carefully through the streets of Sumeru, making sure not to be seen as he did so. The man seemed to know where he was going, quickly making his was further through the city.
At one point, he turned to the side, and Cyno could see a glint of light shine in his eyes for just a second before it disappeared again.
Was he using elemental sight to try and track you down? It was a possibility he hadn't considered before, since most fatui only beard delusions, rather than visions. Given your power, he didn't doubt that the elemental traces you left behind were strong, and it wouldn't be hard to find you because of them, especially after you'd just used your vision.
Finally, the man came to the tavern the three of you had visited the day before, quickly going inside as he glanced around to make sure he wasn't being followed. Growling, Cyno went in after him, knowing that, if he was going to ask the staff for any information on you, he would be leaving very disappointed.
They were very tight lipped when it came to their customers, which was why he'd chosen that place in particular. However, there were a few regular customers that came by every day, and he wasn't so sure they had the same will.
Cyno just hoped for their own sakes that they would keep their mouths shut.
..........
"I feel like my eyes are melting." You groaned, setting aside another unhelpful file to be put back in place later. Nilou sighed, leaning back in her chair as she stretched out her arms.
"It is pretty tiring work, isn't it?" She agreed with a yawn. It was just approaching afternoon now, and the two of you had been working almost nonstop since early in the morning. Nothing had come of it yet, though. "Maybe we should take a break." She suggested finally, looking at how you were draped over the table, trying to hype yourself up enough to go on.
"Maybe..." You replied, your voice muffled from how your face was pressed into the table. Even though you wanted to keep going and find out the truth about your vision as fast as possible, you also felt like your brain would completely fry if you looked at one more page right now.
"How about we go have some lunch?" Nilou suggested, patting your shoulder reassuringly, "After all, these records will be here when we get back."
"I guess so." You sighed, standing up from your chair now as you stretched your back. A couple of your joints made a loud popping sound, and Nilou chuckled as she motioned for you to follow her outside.
"Collei said there was a cooking pot over by our rooms," She recalled as you followed her across the wooden bridge, "Maybe we can make something to eat."
"Sure," you replied with a smile. By the time you reached the cooking pot, though, the green haired girl was already there making some food, a small bag resting beside her as she waited for it to finish.
Hearing someone approaching, she turned to see you both, smiling brightly as she waved you over.
"Hey Nilou, Y/n!" She exclaimed happily as you took a seat across from her, Nilou at her side, "I was just making some lunch to share with you both! I'm sure you've been working really hard sifting through all those records...Find anything yet?"
You shook your head solemnly, and her face fell in sympathy.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," She replied, taking the food out of the cooking pot now. It looked to be some kind of meat skewers, and she handed two to each of you as you blew on it so it could cool. "I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for soon, though!" She continued enthusiastically, "And if you want any help, I'm happy to look through them with you while I'm between patrols!"
"Really?" You looked up, taking a bite from the skewer now, which tasted almost as heavenly as her Pita Pockets had.
"Of course, I'm happy to help!" She smiled, then seemed to remember something, reaching for the bag at her side. "Oh, and Nilou, I got some of those herbs you were waiting on! There haven't many growing recently though, so I hope it's enough for this request. Unfortunately, you might need to wait a little longer before we can get the rest."
"That's not a problem, take your time!" Nilou took the bag, thanking Collei as she pulled open the drawstring to review its contents. "Oh, that'll be plenty, thank you!" She exclaimed happily, "Mr. Zubayr will be so glad. I'm going to go put these in my room for now." You both nodded, watching as she got up and went over to the small hut nearby.
While waiting for the redhead to return, you looked back at Collei. "Oh, have you gotten any word from Cyno yet?" You asked, remembering how the General Mahamatra had told you he'd be in touch vis Tighnari.
"Not yet," the green haired girl replied, "But don't worry, I'm sure he's just busy looking into his own records at the Akademiya! Master Tighnari will let you know when he's on the way."
You nodded, having expected that. After all, Cyno had seemed like still he had a lot he wanted to do back in the city, so it would probably be at least a couple of days until he met back up with you.
You were just glad to have Nilou still by your side for the time being. Even though Collei and Tighnari had been nothing but kind ever since you arrived in Gandharva Ville, it was still comforting to see a more familiar face; one who knew you and your situation well enough already.
Finally, the redhead returned to where you were sitting, finishing off the last of her own two skewers.
"Well, should we get going?" Collei asked, standing from her spot as she carefully put out the fire she'd been cooking with. "I don't have a lot of time before I need to go on my next patrol, but I promise to help you as much as I can!"
"Thank you, Collei." You smiled back, "Honestly, we need all the help we can get." With that, the three of you headed back over to the dreaded filing building, where you all got set up at the table and divided up some more stacks of papers.
As it turned out, that first day of file reviewing with Cyno had proved to be useful, and you quickly became the fastest as you went through them now.
Collei lagged behind a bit, struggling to read some words and understand all of what the records were saying. You appreciated her help though, and assured her she should take her time and go at her own pace.
After all, she didn't have to help you, and was doing this out of the kindness of her heart. You didn't want to rush her.
Still, she seemed a little embarrassed about it, and every time she had to check with you or Nilou about a word, her demeaner seemed a little more shy. You could tell the situation was making her feel bad, so you spoke up in an effort to distract her from it.
"So, Nilou, I don't think we ever got a chance to catch up before we left Sumeru City," You said, eyeing her in a way you hoped would convey your intentions, "I want to hear more about how things went for you after I left!" She caught on quick, smiling as she nodded.
"Right!" She cleared her throat, trying to come up with a story from her childhood after you were gone, "Well, to be honest, after you left I didn't really have as many friends."
You frowned, setting aside another useless medical record as you nodded for her to continue.
"You remember how shy I was as a kid," she continued with a bittersweet smile on her face, "So it was hard for me to get out there as much as before and meet people."
You nodded, recalling how you used to have to do all the talking anytime you and Nilou went anywhere as children. She was even too shy to order from the shops, so you'd always have to do it for her. Still, you never minded; you loved talking to and meeting people as a kid. In fact, you were thankful you'd always had her around to help keep you level, because had a creepy strange asked you to go anywhere with them at the time, you probably would have followed along without question.
"But as I got older, I got a little less nervous about it, and I made plenty of friends through the theater troupe. I even perform for people all the time now," She continued in a happier tone, giving Collei a tight side hug that startled her from her work, "Which is how I met Collei, here!"
"Nilou!" Collei giggled, a hint of a blush on her cheeks as she tried not to shy away from the physical contact. Even though she'd gotten much more used to the touch of others over the years, it still sometimes made her a little nervous, even now.
"But what about you, Y/n?" The redhead piped up, going back to her own stack of papers. "What was it like when you first moved to Snezhnaya?"
"Oh, it was alright," you replied with a shrug, "I remember being pretty sad about it at first, and sometimes that made it hard to enjoy living there. Plus, it wasn't easy adjusting to such a cold climate after living in Sumeru's warmth for so long."
She nodded, watching as you sighed, moving yet another file to the not promising pile. Luckily, you didn't have to read very far into most of them to know that they weren't what you were looking for; most recounted minor injuries of forest rangers or people who had gotten lost in the rainforest and needed to be saved.
"I actually struggled a lot to make friends too." You admitted.
"No way!" Nilou exclaimed, "You were always so talkative with everyone!" You chuckled.
"Yeah, but I think a lot of people in Snezhnaya found me kind of odd," you told her, "After all, I was the new kid who joined halfway through the schoolyear, and no one really seemed like they wanted to hang out with me...I didn't mind it though; I was having a hard enough time already with how much I missed you."
Her eyes softened now, and she wanted to hug you once again, but stopped herself, forcing her focus back onto the papers in front of her.
"I missed you too." She admitted, "But I'm really glad you're back now!" You nodded in agreement, even if you wished it could have been under better circumstances.
"I'm glad you came back to Sumeru, too." Collei piped up finally, a genuine smile on her face as she looked over at you, "I'm happy I was able to meet you, Y/n, and even though we haven't known each other for long, I already consider you a close friend!" You felt your heart melt a little, and you placed a hand over your vision on your chest to try and steady it.
"I consider you a friend too, Collei." You assured her, "You've been so kind to me ever since I got here, and I know you're going to make an amazing forest ranger one day."
You could tell your words had meant a lot to her based on the way her eyes got slightly glossy. Before she could reply, though, a familiar voice spoke up from the doorway.
"Sorry to interrupt," Tighnari said, arms crossed but a playful smile on his face, "But I believe it's my turn with Collei right now. We have evening patrol." Her eyes widened and she quickly turned around, grabbing her things.
"Right, I lost track of time!" She exclaimed, quickly slinging her bag over her shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Master Tighnari!"
"It's alright." He replied as she met him by the door, ruffling her hair. Then, he turned back to you and Nilou. "We'll be going now. Don't stay up too late in here!"
"Bye Nilou, bye Y/n!" Collei called, waving as she followed him out of the room. You just chuckled, waving back.
"Those two almost seem like siblings." You told Nilou quietly, and she nodded.
"I know! Tighnari may seem a little cold at first, but he can actually be pretty sweet with those around him."
"Seems like it." You replied, thinking back to how gentle he'd been when helping you with your injuries the night before. You'd barely just met him at that point, but you could already tell he was a very caring person inside. "But anyway, let's get back to these records, shall we?" You spoke, turning your attention back to the table, which still held an overwhelming amount of documents, "Hopefully we can find something before it gets too late..."
Your eyes moved over to the window, where the sun seemed to be getting lower in the sky now as the late afternoon approached. Nilou nodded, trying to stay positive for you despite feeling a little overwhelmed herself.
"I'm sure we can do it!" She assured you. You just sighed and opened the first file.
..........
You ended up working late into the night, determined to make any kind of progress. Otherwise, you'd feel like the day had been a complete waste.
Nilou had finally left your side eventually, feeling too exhausted to continue, and you hadn't stopped her. Even though she'd tried to convince you to join her, saying there would be plenty of time to continue reading tomorrow, you'd resisted.
It wasn't that you didn't want to go to bed; you really, really did. You were just getting more worried about your condition, and the only thing that seemed to alleviate that stress was feeling like you were at least doing something to help with it.
You had to admit; the longer you stayed in this beautiful, lush rainforest, the more nervous you became. After all, not only was it home to all the forest rangers and other people who lived there, but also a rich and beautiful ecosystem that you could potentially destroy with so much as one dark thought. You didn't want that on your conscience, and so you pushed yourself to stay up later.
You'd promised Nilou you wouldn't stay too much later, but as you get working, it felt like you were almost put into a trance, and you didn't even notice how much time went by until someone's voice pulled you from your thoughts for the second time that day.
"I wondered who left the light on in here," Tighnari spoke, leaning against the doorframe as he frowned at you, "Didn't I tell you not to stay up working so late?"
"...You might have mentioned that..." You replied slowly, feeling as if you were being scolded by a teacher. Though, given the fact that he was at least Collei's teacher, you supposed that was partly the case.
Tighnari let out an exasperated sigh before coming over to the table and pushing the files away from you, even taking the one you'd been reading out of your hand. You went to protest, but he interrupted.
"You need to rest, Y/n." He said, pulling you out of your chair before you could even move to stop him, "These records can wait until tomorrow."
"That's what Nilou said too," you mumbled as he dragged you out of the room, silently bidding goodbye to your papers as they disappeared from your sight.
"And you should have listened to her." He scolded, still not looking back as he pulled you along.
You sighed, finally releasing your arm from his grasp as you walked alongside him instead. "I'm sorry," you told him quietly, "I'm just really anxious to figure out what's wrong with me, and I guess I got carried away trying to find it in the records." His gaze softened as you spoke, almost feeling bad for his harshness before.
"I didn't mean to make you come out here so late in the night to deal with me," You admitted, not meeting his eyes. You really did feel bad; it was like everything you'd been doing lately had just inconvenienced everyone around you, and this just added to it.
Finally, Tighnari replied.
"There's nothing wrong with you," he said softly, "But I understand why you're so eager to find out the reason for your troubles. Just...Make sure to rest in between when you work, otherwise I have to deal with the repercussions of your poor health due to lack of sleep."
"Alright," you sighed, seeing that the two of you had arrived at your room now. It almost felt like deja vu, considering he'd dropped you off there just like this the night before. "Thanks for looking out for me, Tighnari."
He resisted the urge to flick you in the forehead, rolling his eyes instead.
"Like I said, it's part of the job." He replied, then gestured for you to head inside. You opened the door, sending him one last smile as you did so. "Now goodnight, Y/n, and I'd better not catch you back there until morning." You chuckled.
"Alright, fine. Goodnight, Tighnari!" And with that, you disappeared inside, your light flicking off a moment later before you most likely collapses into bed.
The forest ranger shook his head, a small smile on his face as he made his way back to his own room. Even though you'd already caused him some trouble, and he was still a little irritated with Cyno for sending you his way, he had to admit, he didn't mind having you around.
After all, at least you mostly listened and were kind to him and the others. Plus, it didn't hurt that you were pretty cute, too.