"Master Tighnari! I'm heading out for patrol!" Collei called out as she entered his hut.
"Ah perfect timing." Tighnari smiled. He brought over a bag to add to her adventure pouch. "Please take this. You'll be meeting up with explore team A in the west quadrant of the rain forest. This has some medicine in it I made. One of the crew members were reporting a sudden illness. Please be careful out there Collei."
"Of course I will be! It's my first time covering one of your routes… I planned on bringing my game face!" She smiled happily. She took the medicine and tucked it away for safekeeping. "I know where the rendezvous point is. How many people were there?"
"Should be all 5 members of the team. No injuries to report just the illness. They can handle themselves pretty well."
"You know the signal if something goes wrong, correct?" Another voice added. Tighnari's ears perked towards the doorway and smiled warmly at the familiar face entering his home.
"I didn't expect you to be off work this early in the week. Welcome home Cyno." Tighnari said as the other man joined them.
"I may have taken the rest of the evening off to come see you. I missed the both of you greatly." Cyno pulled Tighnari into a hug. "So… you remember Collei?"
"Of course I do! You've drilled it into my head since I first received my vision." Collei rolled her eyes and adjusted her supplies on her back. "I better get headed out. The sun is already setting and I want to be at the rendezvous point by nightfall."
"Be safe and good luck." Cyno ruffled her hair affectionately.
"Yes be safe and please… if you need us, signal us. We will be there instantly." Tighnari smiled. The two men waved as Collei set off into the rainforest.
"Don't worry Nari, she will be fine." Cyno said softly, squeezing the other man's hand.
"I know she will be. She's a full fledged forest ranger now. She will easily take over for me when I retire with you. But…" He sighed, leaning against Cyno. "That is our little girl no matter what."
"I remember the day we arrived back from Mondstadt like it was yesterday." Cyno turned and tugged on Tighnari's hand to follow. "What are the plans for tonight?"
"Well since you're home early should we make some dinner then we can watch the stars come tonight?" Tighnari suggested.
"Sounds great… we can play Genius Invokation TCG while we stargaze! I just adjusted my deck!" Cyno smiled.
"I think I can play a round or two." Tighnari chuckled at his partner's enthusiasm. "I'll get dinner started…"
Collei began her hike through the rain forest in the west. She knew she was meeting the team right outside of Vimara ville to the west. The ill party member couldn't make it far into the village so she had to run the supplies. Just as nightfall broke, she arrived at her destination alongside a large cliff by the river. As she approached the base of the hill where the meeting point was she found it odd that no one was there. They should have set up a camp here hours ago. She expected a fire, a tent, a cooking pot… something! But there was absolutely nothing there. No signs of life. Collei sighed, taking out her map to double check her coordinance.
"Collei!" A voice yelled. She jumped and looked around, trying to locate the voice. She froze when she saw two team members hiding above her in the trees.
"You gotta run! It's a trap!" The other girl in the tree yelled. "They got the others already!" Collei pulled her bow out and managed to dodge a sword swing.
"You do not belong here." The Daythunder eremite said as the other eremites joined around him. A Daythunder, a Sunfrost and a Clearwater. She's fought harder enemies but it was three versus one.
"Fly!" She threw her boomerang to create a dendro screen, giving her time to fire arrows at the enemies in front of her. They easily dodged it and didn't really go after her, much to her surprise. She slowed down for a moment only to be hit over the head. She gasped and fell to the ground. Her vision blurred but she could make out what hit her… a Galehunter eremite. Why was she in the rainforest? She has never heard of one being outside the desert let alone this close to Sumeru city.
"Ugh…" She held her forehead and rolled in order to dodge a battle ax. Collei stumbled to her feet and pressed her back to the cliff. She was surrounded. There was no other choice.
"Cuilein, Anbar help!" She used her burst to get a little distance between her and the eremites before she put forth all of her energy to charge a dendro shot. She shot the arrow high into the sky and her bow disappeared into the ether. She pulled out her boomerang and sighed. She wouldn't go down without a fight. She owed it to the explorers who had been fighting until she had arrived. After all, she was a survivor.
Tighnari and Cyno were enjoying dinner at the hut. It was a relaxing evening for them as Cyno talked about his day as general Mahamatra and the criminals he captured. Tighnari held back a sigh as Cyno telled a corny dad joke. All of a sudden they felt a burst of Dendro energy that was very familiar to them. They saw a brief flash of light over the horizon.
"Nari…" Cyno said, standing up.
"That's the signal. We gotta go NOW." Tighnari stood up. Both men instantly ran towards the location of the arrow: directly to the rendezvous point with other forest rangers in tow.
Collei leaned back against a tree. She was cornered. Her bow was broken. Her boomerang wasn't doing any damage to such tough enemies. She had such little energy she couldn't hardly use her vision. The forest rangers above her kept throwing whatever they could at the eremites but sticks and rocks only went so far. The eremites were closing in.
"You think this little forest nobody is really gonna make us money?" The Sunfrost eremite asked.
"Yeah! The treasure hoarders say cute little girls like this get a biiiig reward from the right buyer!" The clearwater eremite grinned. "We can either sell her or hold her for ransom!"
"This all seems like a lot. Why don't we just kill her?" The Galehunter asked. Suddenly a dendro arrow flew past the Galehunter's face, slicing the cheek.
"You chose the wrong forest ranger to pick on!" Tighnari yelled, charging up another shot.
"Let me handle him!" The Clearwater eremite yelled. A hand held her back.
"No." The Galehunter said, wiping the blood off her cheek. "He's my prey. You take the girl and get-" She was cut off by a large charge of electro energy.
"You stand before me, condemned." Cyno said, blocking the Eremites view of Collei. He pulled his hood down as his claws extended. "You will pay for ever laying a finger on our Collei!" He summoned his spear and charged in.
"I'll uproot you!" Tighnari yelled as he used his burst, giving Cyno a field of Dendro for reactions. Cyno went in for the attack, wounding all of the eremites in a fierce blow of his spear. Tighnari jumped down from his high ground and took Collei away from the carnage.
"Master Tigh…nari…" She mumbled softly. "Thank y…you…"
"Shhh don't talk right now. Let's get you away from the fight." Tighnari hushed, carrying her off to safety.
"The… others…" She practically whispered.
"I already have them under control." Tighnari stopped near Vimara ville entry. "There are several forest rangers helping them now. We found all injured party members and the others will be out of the tree as soon as Cyno finishes off the eremites. Please." Tighnari set her down against a stump. "Right now I need to focus on you."
He got to work patching up the bleeding wounds and gave her medicine for the pain. There wasn't much else he could do without being back in Gandharva ville. They left in such a rush he didn't grab any supplies and the other forest ranger medics had the supplies needed for the others. There was suddenly rustling in the bushes near their safe hiding spot. Tighnari perked his ears up as he heard the footsteps of someone approaching. He pulled out his bow and pulled an arrow tight in the direction of the sounds.
"Nari, calm down, it's me." Cyno said before coming over to their secluded location, hands up. Tighnari's ears lowered in relief as he let his weapon disappear.
"Sorry Cyno… I got protective…" Tighnari smiled softly.
"As you should be. That's our little girl you're protecting." He picked Collei up gently. She had passed out after the adrenaline of the whole ordeal had disappeared. "Let's get her back home. The other rangers are taking care of the wounded explore team members. The matra has arrived to take care of those eremites and their punishment will be severe. I will make sure of that."
"Yes you will… my big scary general." Tighnari patted his partner's back gently as they headed for the main trail to head back to Gandharva ville.
Collei woke up to the sound of chirping birds and soft sunlight. She felt the familiar comfort of her bed. She was safe? How was she even alive right now? She slowly sat up and looked around her living space. She noticed Cyno fast asleep on a mat on the opposite side of her room.
"He was worried…" Tighnari smiled as he walked into the hut. He set the tray of breakfast he was carrying on her table and sat on the edge of Collei's bed. "He didn't want you to wake up and be scared or have a nightmare."
"How did I get home? I don't remember much…" Collei ran a hand through her hair, wincing when she hit the spot where she had been hit.
"You put up a brave fight that's for sure." Cyno said, slowly sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You had 4 very challenging opponents that you held off very well. Especially with that concussion."
"Yes, you did so well, Collei. And be careful! You were pretty roughed up. You have a concussion and a lot of cuts and wounds. But I got you all patched up. How is the pain?" Tighnari asked.
"It's not bad right now… I'm a pretty tough cookie." Collei laughed weakly. "As soon as the Galehunter appeared I knew I had to send the signal. They were all too much for me. How are the others? I only found 2 of the 5. Please tell me they're alive…"
"Oh Collei…" Tighnari took her hand softly. "Of course they are. They're all safe and back here in Gandharva ville being treated. They were just at the Eremite base camp on top of the cliff you were fighting at. The other rangers took care of them. Our top priority was getting you out of there and to safety as soon as possible."
"Thankfully we had some Matra in the area who we found on the way to you. They made the final arrests after I defeated the Eremites. Tighnari was so on guard he didn't even realize it was me approaching. Almost shot me with an arrow." Cyno chuckled. "He wasn't letting anyone else get to you."
"Thank you both… so much…" Collei teared up a bit. "I wouldn't be alive without you guys. They were going to sell me off or hold me for ransom. Or worse…"
"Little did they know they did the worst crime imaginable… hurting our daughter." Cyno came over and sat next to Tighnari. "We would do anything for you, Collei."
"I love you both so much." She sniffled. "Thank you."
"We love you Collei." Cyno smiled.
Tighnari squeezed her hand. "I brought out some breakfast. Both of you, eat up before it gets cold. And don't force yourself to eat all of it, Collei, just eat what you can. We know you don't feel good."
The family ate their breakfast together before the two men left for Collei to get a little more rest. They returned to Tighnari's hut and both let out a sigh of relief. They were so happy she was ok. Still shook up and wounded but overall alright.
"She'll be fully recovered before you know it Nari." Cyno wrapped his arms around his waist from behind. "She has the best doctor in all of Teyvat taking care of her after all." He kissed the back of his partner's neck softly.
"You know I'm not a doctor… I'm just a forest ranger." Tighnari smiled warmly at the affection. "But I'm glad she's alright. Thank you for watching her over night."
"You couldn't have talked me out of sleeping in her hut if you tried to. Had to make sure she was ok. Events like that can trigger memories for her very easily." Cyno closed his eyes, leaning against Tighnari.
"They still might. But she's a brave girl. She knows her past is just that… the past. And she knows her future is very bright." Tighnari put a hand over Cyno's.
"Just as bright as she is." Cyno agreed. "I unfortunately need to head back to the Akademia to make sure those eremites pay the price for what they did."
"When will you be home?" Tighnari asked, turning so he was facing Cyno in his hold.
"Likely the weekend. But I will be home as soon as I possibly can. Even if I come home at midnight and have to leave two hours later it'll be time spent with you and worth it." Cyno kissed Tighnari's forehead gently.
"I wonder what the matra would think of this big old softy in front of me." Tighnari laughed.
"I'm only a softy for you and Collei. My family." Cyno tilted Tighnari's chin softly. "My mate."
"I love you." Tighnari smiled. Cyno leaned in to kiss him softly. The two exchanged their goodbyes before Cyno headed back to Sumeru city to seek out justice for Collei. Tighnari continued to help the other forest rangers who were injured as well as Collei. He knew they would all be healed soon and Cyno would come home and his heart would be complete again. Whenever Cyno went to Sumeru city for work, he felt like a piece of his heart went with him. It only returned when Cyno came home to him.