Dino takes Tsuna on horseback to the overlap between Sun and Rain country, which is a dense and very dark rain forest. The humidity makes him sweat buckets even though all he has to do is cling to Dino from the back of a horse.
Dino drops him off, lights the torch for him and wishes him luck before turning back. Dino wasn't even supposed to take him this far – not by a long shot. It's been maybe seven hours, switching the horse out twice at each outpost they encounter to be as fast as possible.
Dino was supposed to take him to the village gates at the very end of the farmland, which is five hours back. Rain is by far the closest to the village, Tsuna knows, and in fact it's closer than the other borders of Sun country, but he's not close yet.
Apparently, there's still a day to go on foot, through the rainforest then over a mountain and into Rain country proper. Rain is a large circular territory in the north, almost sinking into the middle of Sun. It also pushes out Mist, to the north-west of Rain, and a bit of Lightning to the north-east.
Tsuna trips over every stray root and flinches at every sound. Hard not to in this pure, unnatural darkness. He already dropped the torch Dino gave him and it went out, so he can't read the map anymore, but surely if he just follows the moisture in the air then he'll be fine.
Tsuna is clutching the unlit torch as a weapon with his back to a tree, trying to figure out if the rustling is wind or something that's going to kill him, when the sky inexplicably lights up in a wash of pinks. Even through the tree tops Tsuna is stunned by the beauty of the Sun waking up.
Tsuna sucks in a sharp breath. He's awake – Reborn is awake. The Sun is fine and he's coming right back to the village. Tsuna can just turn back now, it's done.
The sky shifts, slow and lazy, through red and orange and back to its morning softness in baby blue. Tsuna slumps against the tree and his legs give out, depositing him on the floor. Tsuna's God isn't dead - Reborn is fine. He's actually, really fine.
Tsuna laughs, slightly hysterical, but goes silent when the sky keeps changing. It moves to a sharper, stronger blue and then the light flares up. Tsuna flinches away, lowering his head from the painful brightness. It keeps growing until even through Tsuna's eyelids it appears blinding.
Reborn's in trouble. Tsuna…needs to go back. He can't help, he can't do anything even if he wasn't still hours out of Rain country. What can a single, very mortal human do in the face of a God? It's useless, he's just going to die.
Reborn might die as well.
Tsuna shakes his head fiercely. No, ridiculous, no one would kill the Sun, it would mean all the crops dying. The village trades with other countries, everyone would starve without Reborn…but would the Rain God care? Comsubin lives off fish, so would a God care about humans if they weren't worshippers?
Reborn is upset right now, maybe distressed. What if the Rain God is hurting Tsuna's Sun?
It's almost a knee jerk reaction when Tsuna stands, eyes still closed from the light, and starts stumbling despite the fact that he'll just hide cowardly if he ever sees the Comsubin deity again. At least he can say he tried by the end of this.
The light grows with the rising heat and Tsuna shudders at what it must be like at the epicentre instead of this far out. It eventually recedes again to a tolerable level but the sky stays a sharp blue as Tsuna marches on.
"Tone it down," Colonnello complains as the Sun steps out of the building and comes to a stop beside the Rain, both of them getting the full force of the heat.
Reborn's presence, even when he was unconscious, overpowered Colonnello's already drawn back strength. It stopped raining a while back, a rarity in this place, replaced with sweltering humidity. Reborn, content in the warmth, scans the new environment.
Comsubin is a floating cluster of water damaged wooden platforms.
Old buildings are multiple floors high, but only one storey is still able to peek out of the water line. The newer homes are held up by thick square supports with long flat bridges connecting one jigsaw patch to another. There are no major 'roads', just damp, winding paths wide enough for only three people side by side.
The floating city is surrounded by lush green mountains, short but enough to prevent any drainage, acting as a basin to collect the water Colonnello produces. The depth is maybe twenty meters here, in the middle of the bowl. The water is clean and clear, Reborn able to see the fish darting in and out of the vibrant plant life below.
The warmth doesn't upset Reborn but people have retreated inside the buildings. Their houses are dense and small, with glass in their windows to be airtight so they can suffer through Comsubin's usually cold climate. Nothing like Sun country's empty window frames and large, sprawling homes.
The canals winding between buildings feature a mass of different coloured boats; long and almost flat. Most of them float under bridges for shade, all of them missing an owner since people have retreated into the water to cool down. They stare up at him, wide eyed and fearful.
"Come on," Colonnello says with a wide grin. "I'll take you on a tour."
Reborn turns and walks away. He doesn't know where his village is but he'll just keep going until he finds it.
"Okay," Colonnello mutters under his breath as he follows. "We'll go this way then."
Reborn does actually reel back on the heat because he sees a couple of kids splashing in the water. He watches one man easily walk across boats like steppingstones to reach another platform so Reborn steps off a walkway and copies.
Colonnello follows easily, hands in pockets and a loping stride, like he doesn't understand Reborn is escaping right now. People wave to the Rain, call out sleepy greetings because it's so early, but don't approach. Strange, seeing as Reborn gets mobbed whenever he ventures from his temple. Then again, he doesn't leave often so maybe the people here are more used to the God.
Reborn hops into a boat when they come to a larger canal and the woman at one end with a massive oar just nods and keeps pushing the boat along. She smiles when Colonnello joins them.
The waterways become more crowded with boats filled with food – mainly marine life, but the people are just waking up so the chatter is quiet. Reborn jumps off the boat again when she stops and continues with the small bridges.
The further he gets from the centre, the more the houses resemble sandcastles being swept away with the tide. Half-built structures above show people trying to add an extra storey to keep away from the water line.
Reborn sees an open door swinging with the waves from how low the house is, the entire floor inside flooded, while a father helps his daughter pack for school. Some houses are half under, with makeshift tents on the flat roof for people who can't afford to build another storey yet.
Tilting, rotting, sinking.
Reborn comes to a stop at the edge of the last crumbling platform, staring out at the massive lake with mountains in the distance. He sighs.
When he turns back, Colonnello is smiling at him fondly.