CHAPTER 4:

A RENEWED BOND

Harry's sleep was, if not perfectly restful, then at least enough to help with the problems of the last day or so. The Homayanis' tentative support, as well as that of Dehya, helped matters, as did Dunyarzad's more enthusiastic support. That, and he had a rough plan.

However, upon waking in the morning, he kicked himself for not trying something out. For all that Eleazar was claimed to be incurable, he wondered if anything from Earth might help. Specifically, Phoenix Tears. While not a complete panacea, they had remarkable restorative properties, and were an antidote to almost any poison out there.

Which was why he wanted to test it. His knowledge of Eleazar, admittedly, was secondhand, based on what Nahida had told him. In many regards, it was not unlike leprosy. True, sufferers tended to be treated far better, as the disease itself wasn't actually contagious, but even in some corners of Sumeru, there existed those who shunned the afflicted like lepers of old on Earth.

Many hypotheses were around as to what actually caused it. It was definitely not caused by a bacterium or a fungus, though a virus or a prion couldn't be ruled out. However, Teyvat had many magical diseases that were caused by corrupted elemental energy, and indeed, the more sound hypotheses stated that this was how Eleazar afflicted people. Usually, it afflicted newborn children, though signs appearing in hitherto healthy adults had happened more often than people would like to acknowledge.

The symptoms were fairly clear-cut. Strange scale-like growths appeared on the body, mostly on the extremities at first. That was only the most blatant symptom, though. Affected areas would become ulcerated. Numbness or tingling or burning sensations would appear in said areas. Their motor skills would degrade. Eventually, the sufferers would become paralysed, even slipping into comas that could potentially lead to their demise.

No known pathogen of any kind had been isolated. However, many sufferers were known to have a higher amount of elemental energy in their bodies than the norm, hence the leading hypothesis that it was a type of contaminated elemental energy. Whatever it was, though, it had no known cure.

Nahida had also raised a possibility, one she had come across while studying researchers' papers fed into the Akasha System. While Eleazar had been endemic to Sumeru for centuries, it seemed to wax and wane with the emergence of a phenomenon known as the Withering. This was where a strange zone that saps or mutates lifeforce appeared. Only people with Visions could act to try and remove this zone. The more Withering Zones that appeared, the more Eleazar turned up, and the more severe the cases became. It was a hypothesis that Nahida thought held some weight, but the exact link, beyond a corrupted elemental energy, was unknown to Nahida.

Dehya frowned as Dunyarzad began unwrapping her bandages. "Okay, so…I am fairly certain that the Phoenix I head of here didn't have restorative properties in its tears. There's said to be a similar bird somewhere in the wasteland known as the Mare Jiviri. But you reckon this stuff will cure her?"

"That's probably too optimistic," Harry said. "Don't get me wrong, Fawkes, the Phoenix who gave me these tears, saved me from dying from one of the most lethal poisons back home: Basilisk venom. But from what I understand thanks to Nahida, Eleazar is somehow a permanent contamination of the elemental energy within the human body. What I am hoping is that this can help halt or even reverse the progress of Eleazar, at least for a time. But even that might be too much to hope for."

Shazhaman sighed, even as he looked on with his wife. "True, we have tried all we can. The most effective treatments seem to be those made by Bimarstan, the hospital of Sumeru City. There were rumours of experimental treatments at the facility of Dar al-Shifa…but it was abandoned long ago. And I've heard horror stories of children being sent to be treated, only to disappear. Only one of them survived, apparently, the girl who became Tighnari's apprentice."

"Right, Collei, I remember her," Dunyarzad said, even as she continued unwrapping her arms gingerly, revealing the dark, scale-like growths on her skin. "Tighnari told me when I asked about Collei that she and some other kids were experimented on by a man called Il Dottore, one of the Fatui Harbingers."

Harry grimaced. "Oh Merlin, one of them? Nahida talked to me about them. She doesn't know that much about Il Dottore, or about many of them, but she knew enough to know they are bad news."

"You got that right," Dehya said. "Dunno much about Il Dottore, though I've heard a lot of nasty shit about him. But rumour has it that one of the Harbingers, dunno which one, was responsible for the recent mess in Liyue, unsealing some ancient god or other to try and see if Rex Lapis was playing possum. I know for a fact that La Signora got sentenced to execution by the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma for stirring up the civil war that was raging for the past few months. And when something gets hit by the Musou no Hitotachi…well, let's put it this way, anything short of a god would be annihilated. That being said, good riddance to bad rubbish. The Fatui are brigands, spies and terrorists masquerading as diplomats and bankers. People say the same thing about my people, but the Fatui are backed by the Bitch Queen of Snezhnaya. In other words, because they've got an Archon backing them, they can do whatever the hell they want."

"…I still want to risk it," Dunyarzad decided. On their incredulous looks, she said, "You know what the latest prognosis is. At best, I have only a few more years. At worst, I may not live more than a few more months, just enough to see the next Sabzeruz Festival. I know you find it hard to trust Harry…but I do. These saved him. Maybe it could save me."

Scheherazade looked at the vial of Phoenix Tears. "Does Dunyarzad need to drink that?"

Harry shook his head. "Hopefully, just applying it to the skin should help. I'm not sure if it will spread to the other parts of her body, given that it's not an open wound like it was with the Basilisk bite, but…"

"Then I'll do it," Scheherazade said. "Do I just rub it on, or pour it on?"

"Either way is fine."

Scheherazade carefully applied the Phoenix Tears to some cotton wool, and began wiping down Dunyarzad's hand. The young woman in question suddenly winced in pain, but when they looked down at the hand, the scale-like growths were receding before their very eyes. Scheherazade soon began applying the rest to her other hand, and the growths began shrinking. They didn't go away completely, but most of Dunyarzad's hands were clear.

Dehya was not the only one staring with wide eyes, but she was the first to recover. "Okay, what the hell? I mean, it didn't cure her, but Lady Dunyarzad's Eleazar has…well, shrunk!"

"A shame it didn't cure it, but even this was more than I hoped for," Harry muttered.

"A shame it didn't cure it?" Shazhaman echoed incredulously. "Mr Potter, this is a veritable miracle treatment. It may be no cure, but if what little I know about Eleazar is any indication, you may just have given my daughter a lot more time to live. Even a few more years would be a most precious gift, and this seems to be more than that!"

"…But it's not enough," Harry said quietly. "She should live a long and happy life, not one with Eleazar slowly killing her. And I only have half a dozen vials of this stuff, it can only do so much. And I've no idea what else is on Teyvat that might need treatment with these."

Dunyarzad's parents shot each other looks. "Darling, Lord Sangemah Bay must not learn of this," Scheherazade said quietly. "If she ever learns about these, she will do all she can to get them from him."

"…Lord Sangemah Bay?" Harry asked, feeling some dread. "Who's he?"

Dehya snorted. "She is Dori Sangemah Bay, one of the richest merchants in all of Sumeru if not Teyvat. Anything you want, you can get it, for a price, pretty much. I buy cosmetics and the like from her. That being said…she's pretty greedy, to say the least."

Shazhaman nodded. "More than you'd think, Dehya. The merchant business is a cutthroat one, I will be the first to admit it, and there have been times when I have done some less than stellar things. But I try to be honest in my dealings for the most part, unlike some other branches of our family. Dori has no such compunctions. She only cares about making money, and perhaps her Sumpter Beasts as well. She tricked the architect of her Palace of Alcazarzaray into a debt he didn't deserve, and she nearly pauperised a Rtawahist student called Layla, giving her sleep gummies at an inflated price. For many products, Dori actually sells them for a relatively fair price, but in the end, she only cares about Mora."

"She sounds greedier than a Gringotts Goblin," Harry muttered. "And I am not selling them."

"No, but…Harry," Dunyarzad began. "I know your supply is limited, but…one day, can you take a trip to Gandharva Ville? That is where Collei, Tighnari's apprentice, lives. I'm twenty-two now, the same as you, but Collei is just barely fifteen, and her Eleazar, the last I heard, has become as bad as mine. She deserves a stay of execution. Well, so many with Eleazar do, but…Collei has been through a lot. I grew up in privilege, as you know, but Collei…while I don't know much about what she went through under Il Dottore, I do know that it was bad, worse than what I went through. I merely suffered from the illness, as bad as it was, but Collei was a human test subject for all sorts of cruel treatments, from what I know."

After a moment's consideration, Harry nodded. "If you say so, Dunyarzad. But it may have to wait until I've rescued my sister…"

Dunyarzad took Harry to a walled-off garden in the estate, Dehya following, more like a guard dog than the lioness she was claimed to be. Still, Harry looked up at the massive trees that Port Ormos seemed to be in the shadow of. They were as large as small mountains.

Dunyarzad noted his awe, and giggled. "Don't you have trees as tall as that back on Earth?"

"I think the tallest tree species is the Coast Redwood in the US. Over a hundred metres tall, some specimens get. But I don't think any are as thick as those ones," Harry said.

"You should see the Divine Tree, the one Sumeru City is built around and even in in some spots," Dunyarzad said. "Lord Rukkhadevata grew that, so the legends go, millennia ago. Maybe she grew these too."

Dehya, who was hovering nearby, chose that moment to chime in. "Lord Rukkhadevata also created the Wall of Samiel. Supposedly to help keep the sandstorms from reaching the rainforest. Many of my people think it's to keep them walled in the desert, even though there's plenty of roads leading out. Honestly, while I have mixed feelings about her, I don't want to see the rainforest get swallowed by the desert. Still…the Wall of Samiel divides Sumeru in more ways than just the landscape."

Dunyarzad nodded with a thoughtful hum, even as she gently caressed a flower with an unbandaged hand. "…And my Eleazar divides me from…well, everyone else."

"My lady, you shouldn't say that," Dehya said. "Your parents, my men, hell, Harry didn't treat you any differently, and…"

"People in the street still know it, and shy away from me, even though Eleazar is not contagious," Dunyarzad said solemnly. "Even other members of my family do that, outside of my parents, and you know it, Dehya. My disease is why the branches of my family are fighting over who inherits my father's business. Then again, when death marks a person early…people avoid them, lest they share that person's fate. You've seen it yourself, haven't you, Dehya?"

Harry looked to Dehya, with the dark-skinned Eremite nodding solemnly. "Not just Eleazar. I saw it happen elsewhere. This poor sod in Sumeru City, I saw him while I was in the Corps of Thirty. He was dying of some sort of degenerative neurological condition, and they couldn't cure him. Most people shunned him, but…I visited him whenever I could. Look, I get what you're saying, my lady, but…you have your parents, and Harry. What's more, while you are my client and charge, that does not mean I don't care for you beyond my being paid to do so."

"I know, Dehya," Dunyarzad said with a sad smile, which turned impish. "Why, you're practically my big sister now." As Dehya muttered a denial, Dunyarzad continued. "But the spectre of death still hangs over me." She looked at her partly-healed hands. "I can feel sensations in my hands and feet that I haven't been able to for years. As you know, Eleazar causes numbness and eventual nerve damage. It hasn't been healed completely, but…I can feel things I haven't felt for a long time." She knelt and teased a blade of grass between her fingers. "Of course, this is only a temporary reprieve, and I know it. But even a temporary reprieve gives me more time to live my life, to enjoy it as much as possible, to give it meaning. Nahida helped me understand that, even at a young age. Life is transient enough already."

"…So, what are you going to do with your life, Dunyarzad?" Harry asked.

"Hmm…I have a bucket list," she said. "I've already established a charity for children suffering from Eleazar, and I intend to arrange a Sabzeruz Festival before those killjoys in the Akademiya ban it completely. Oh, and now that you're here, I can add meeting you in person and cross it off. Hopefully, I can meet Nahida in person. Oh, and one last thing." At this, her smile became impish again. "A threesome with you and Dehya."

Harry knew that the blush that exploded on his face was mirrored on Dehya's. But even as Dehya seemed about to snap in annoyance, Dunyarzad laughed, waving a hand. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! You're both so easy to tease!"

Dehya, having recovered her composure, crossed her arms beneath her bust. "My lady, please don't joke about that. I'm…well, I'm flattered, but…I…"

"You're also flustered, and so is Harry!" Dunyarzad cackled, before she composed herself. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's just…I've known you both for long enough. I knew Harry for many years in Nahida's dreamscape, and I've known you for the past couple of years in reality, Dehya. I'm just trying to break the ice between you. I want my friends to be able to get along."

For some reason, Harry got the impression that Dunyarzad was being economical with the truth. However, he shared a look with Dehya, with the Eremite shrugging. "We'll try, okay? But keep in mind, I still need to determine how trustworthy he is for myself, my lady. Please, don't take it personally, either of you. Blind faith and trust gets you injured or even killed in my line of work," Dehya said. "And I've known you for, what, a day, Harry? A friendship doesn't form over a single day, even if it can fall apart in that period of time."

"Hey, that's fine. Like I said before, one of my teachers used to go on about Constant Vigilance," Harry said. "Hopefully, we can be friends."

After a moment, the Eremite nodded. "Yeah, hopefully…"

They didn't know it, but the first embers of a relationship had been sparked off between the three of them. True, there had already been a friendship between Dunyarzad and Harry, and one between Dunyarzad and Dehya. And yet, this sparked not only a bond between Harry and Dehya…but began the process of bringing them closer together.

Of course, such a thing would take time. And they had more immediate things to be concerned about. To whit, the rescue of the Dendro Archon…

CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:

And so, here you are. Dunyarzad, while not cured, has had a reprieve of a few years, and the three are beginning to bond. Just so you know, Dunyarzad was actually being serious. She just brushed it off as a joke. True, earlier she said that Dehya is like a sister to her, but given their close relationship in the game, it's clear that, despite Dehya being a mercenary and bodyguard to her, they're at least close friends.

As for Dori…yeah, I hate her. I hate her a lot. And she doesn't really have any nuances, unlike some of the other characters in Genshin Impact. Though I was disturbed to learn of her voice actor being harassed online by overly-PC morons who are aggravated about most Sumeru characters (despite it being based on India, the Middle East, and Egypt) looking Caucasian, even though Anjali Kunapaneni is Indian.

No numbered annotations this time.