This village is every sleepwalker's nightmare. Most of the huts are high up in the trees, so you could fall to death. The huts that are closer to the ground aren’t any better either as there are cliffs everywhere. Not to mention that wildlife is significantly more hostile than in any other region you were until now. So, to sum it up, it is good that you aren’t sleepwalking through Teyvat. You are just sitting at the edge of a wooden path in the big tree, your legs dangling off of it.
On the plus side, you have quite a good view of your surroundings up here. As the night has already come, all the nocturnal insects have awaken to chirp to determine who the best singer among them is. The fireflies on the other hand do their little illuminated dances in the air. This peaceful nature has something truly beautiful to it.
“Please do not jump out of shock this time, the fall down here would put you in a significantly worse position than your friend’s one. It’s just me – Tighnari.”, says a male voice from a medium distance before coming closer to you.
You sigh. “I am usually not that jumpy - still, thank you though. How is Aether doing?”
“He hasn’t woken up yet, but his condition is stable. Haypasia, the scholar you met back at the cave, has improved so far that she already has left again. She forgot to eat during her meditation and she ended up collapsing because of it. By chance, your group met her exactly at that moment. There wasn’t a common factor that made both your friend and the scholar sick.”
“And what is or was wrong with Aether then? He isn’t malnourished or something like that and you said before that the air wasn’t poisoned either, soo…”
“I have an idea what might have happened, but we will have to wait until he wakes up.” Still standing, Tighnari massages his forehead.
“Having a headache?”
“It is hard not to get one if a flying child, worried for her friend, is constantly talking with her high-pitched voice despite being told to be quiet multiple times.”
“Ah, you must have a sensitive hearing because of those ears… Yeah, Paimon loves to talk. As far as I know she used to do all the talking before I joined their traveling group, but nowadays Aether speaks more for himself, so it isn’t as obvious anymore.”, you chuckle, “Please don’t be mad at her – she only means well. Really. But back to Aether: Could I go and see how he is doing myself?“
“Sure. Come with me.”
Once you arrive at the hut where Aether is taken care off, you are greeted by a peacefully sleeping blond boy with Paimon sleeping on the same pillow as him, snoring lightly. Careful not to wake them up, you walk up to them. “Get well soon, you adorable idiot.”, you whisper and gently remove a strand of hair out of the Traveler’s face.
Equally quiet as you, Tighnari sits down on a stool. “Are you two a pair? A romantic one, I mean.”
“WH-“, you pause, remembering that you have to be quiet to not wake up anybody. “How did you get that idea?”
He points at your hand that is still hovering over Aether’s head. “To be fair, I haven’t seen his behavior towards you, but you certainly are affectionate with him.”
“He is just my friend!”, you hiss, “Like can’t people be friends and still care for each other…?”
“It was merely a question. No reason to get so agitated. Unless… there is some truth to my accusation.” This sly smile – he clearly enjoys teasing you.
“Hey… You- …You're just jealous that you don’t have such a nice friend as me.” Despite cringing inside, you keep up you straight face as good as possible.
“And what if I told you that is the case? Or maybe I only asked about your relationship with him to see if I could have a chance with you?”
Surprised by the answer, you choke on your saliva. “…You’re quite bold, did you know that? Even if you’re only teasing me, this is the one of the boldest statements I got after less than one day of knowing each other. Here I thought that you were a somewhat serious researcher-guy, studying plants…” Blushing from embarrassment, you turn your head away from Tighnari.
“Well, most people would describe me as a serious type of person. But you are simply too tempting to tease. And you reward one with a wide range of expressions, too.” The fox boy chuckles. “Anyways, I will leave you for now. Tomorrow is a busy day so I shouldn’t go to sleep too late. If you want to stay at Aether’s side, you can do so. If not, there is an unoccupied hut right next to this one. Sleep well, my dear (Y/N).”
Still amused by your conversation, Tighnari leaves the hut. His tail is wagging happily from side to side again. Truth be told, he didn’t plan on teasing you. In fact, the only reason he approached you earlier was to ask you if you felt any discomfort after breathing in the incent or if you had any other physical problems after traveling through the Chasm. After all, he heard that a lot of people suffer from a variety of symptoms after having traveled through the mines. But once he started talking to you, he completely forgot his original intent and instead grew more interested in talking to you about other matters. The way you react to certain phrases and words, the way you move and talk and how your eyes automatically look at his ears and tail every time they twitch – something about it mesmerizes him. Just as if he discovered an entirely new species of mushroom that needs to be examined. …Or, as if a Rishboland Tiger finally found its perfect prey.
Back at the hut, you have decided to stay with your friend and therefore take a stool to sit next to his bed.
Rosa seems to have made the same decision quite a while ago as it is already fast asleep next to Paimon.
Looking at Aether’s unconscious form, you can’t help but wonder what Aether was thinking during all the situations when you were beaten up or god knows what else. Sure, he wasn’t happy, but what exactly was he thinking? Was he worried, or did the annoyance over things like this constantly happening to you overshadow his worry? You are certain that he doesn’t hate you, but what if he becomes fed up with you one day? Especially now that you are more or less useless as you can’t play your psychic-card anymore… You shake your head. There is no use on dwelling on such thoughts. Having made yourself as comfortable as possible, you eventually drift off to sleep.
You feel like someone is watching you. Once you open up your eyes, you see a bunch of derpy faces gathered around your head. Those faces belong to some sort of creatures that look like a silly interpretation of forest fairies. They are cute nevertheless. Cute enough to not be worried about their presence at least. “Unlucky Nara has woken up.”, the one with a dark-green leaf hat says.
“What?” Avoiding hitting them with your head, you sit up straight. Now that you can properly see your surroundings, you can guess that this must be a dream as it looks like you are sitting inside a giant flower. Not that giant flowers are unlikely to exist in Sumeru, but you can't think of a reason for you to wake up inside of it instead of Gandharva Ville.
“Those are Aranara, forest spirits. They refer to humans as ‘Nara’.” A young female voice answers for the little plantlike spirits.
Searching for the source of the voice, you find a small girl with white hair and green eyes sitting on a swing.
“And who are you…?”
“You can call me Nahida. Nice to meet you.” Her smile is as pure as the one of an angel.
Yesterday, I have yawned in a way that my jaw cracked and now I can’t chew as good as I wish I could. Stupidity does hurt sometimes.
I hope you enjoyed reading and stay healthy!