CHAPTER 10:

THE FOREST WATCHERS

The next morning, they made their journey up the river, taking the goods towards Gandharva Ville. Harry had to admit, the scenery was beautiful. While Sumeru seemed to be a hodgepodge of India, the Middle East, and Egypt in terms of culture, he was reminded of the rainforest when he went with Hermione to retrieve her parents from Australia. They were living in Queensland (Harry having barely managed to persuade Hermione not to remove their memories), in Cairns, and they went on a trip to the Daintree Rainforest.

Sumeru was not quite as hot and humid as Cairns in the summer, but he was glad for the incense burners used to disseminate some anti-mosquito smoke. He was admittedly looking around in wonder as much as Nahida did. There was a massive and derelict Khaenri'an robot that they saw in the distance soon after leaving Port Ormos, as well as the quaint and quiet little village known as Vimara. In fact, it was just past Vimara that they disembarked and began walking alongside a small caravan of Sumpter Beasts, massive beasts not unlike bulky yaks. These beasts were carrying the goods or pulling carts with them.

Dehya had pulled them aside prior to setting off, and told Harry and Nahida to stay close to the carts themselves, while she and the Blazing Beasts kept an eye out for any attackers. Mostly rogue Eremite groups and the Treasure Hoarders, though belligerent Hilichurls, the masked goblin-like creatures endemic to Teyvat, had also caused trouble before. Dehya was effectively in charge of security, so they heeded her.

They soon came to Gandharva Ville, a large village in a long valley, some of the houses being literal treehouses. It wasn't as bustling or as crowded as either Sumeru City or Port Ormos, but Harry felt a little more at ease here. It was quiet and calm.

As they began unloading the Sumpter Beasts, a rather strange-looking figure approached. He appeared to be a young man about Harry's age or maybe a little older, with neck-length dark hair with green streaks. Oddly enough, he had a pair of animal ears, like a dog's or a fox's, coming from his head, and a bushy tail coming from his rear. Yet his demeanour was friendly.

"Lord Homayani, it's good to meet you again. I must say, I was surprised by both of the letters you sent me," he said, his voice high-pitched, nasal and boyish. "Something of import, you said?"

"It's best we do this in private," Shazhaman said. "My wife and daughter, along with Dehya, will be there, along with these two. Tighnari, allow me to introduce you to Nahida and Harry Potter. Nahida, Harry, this is Tighnari, the Chief Officer of the Forest Watchers."

"Good to meet you, I hope," Tighnari said with a smile. "Now, let's see what you want…"

Tighnari, to give him his due, recovered quickly after hearing about Nahida's true identity, though he seemed satisfied when she showed him her Gnosis, a chess piece-like artifact she pulled from a portal. That, and giving praise to some papers by him that she had read. Tighnari then examined Dunyarzad's arms, after she had unwrapped the bandages from them (that she kept on to avoid suspicion). He asked for a sample of Phoenix Tears to analyse, and Harry obliged.

"Remarkable…simply remarkable," Tighnari said, looking up from the instruments he was using. "A shame you have a limited supply, Harry. Even without knowing its restorative properties, it's fascinating to analyse such a thing. But time is of the essence, of course. If you don't mind, I'll use this on Collei right away."

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to observe it myself. I am looking to provide a treatment if not a cure for Eleazar as a means to win over the populace of Sumeru," Nahida said. "I'd like Harry to come too." She looked to the Homayanis and Dehya. "Do you mind waiting here?"

"Of course not," Shazhaman said, waving a hand. "I'm sure you won't be long…"

Tighnari led them through Gandharva Ville, speaking as he did so. "How much has Lord Shazhaman told you about Collei?"

"Enough to know she was a guinea pig of one of the Fatui Harbingers," Harry said grimly. "Il Dottore or something, the Doctor? I have a favourite TV show back home about someone called the Doctor, I don't want Doctor Who being ruined for me."

Tighnari looked to Nahida in bemusement. "He's from another world, as I said earlier," Nahida said with a wave of her hand. "Television…it's a bit like the films Fontaine recently began creating. This show is apparently about the adventures of an otherworldly scientist with a machine that moves between worlds and back and forth across time."

"Ah, yes, I see," Tighnari said, nodding. "Well, I should point out that for a long time after escaping from that monster's clutches, Collei was…pretty bitter and misanthropic. She's gotten better since then, but…she doesn't like being touched, and she's also somewhat shy. So don't crowd her, and don't touch her, she doesn't like being touched without warning. Eleazar sufferers can get sensitive to being touched due to the pain in the affected areas, but Collei is particularly sensitive."

They both nodded in acknowledgement. "Judging by your tone, people don't listen, do they?" Nahida asked.

"Oh, sorry. They do listen about Collei on the few times I bring people to see her," Tighnari said, grinning a little sheepishly. "But unfortunately, too many disregard my advice on other matters. I mean, given your former station, you'd know what mushrooms and plants to avoid eating, right?"

"…Ah, yes, I did read one of your reports that had been uploaded to the Akasha System," Nahida said. "Believe it or not, the Sages actually treated your concerns seriously. But educating visitors is a touch difficult."

"They don't even consult the Akasha System if they have a Terminal!" Tighnari grumbled. "I lost count of how many times I have had to help someone who's eaten a poisonous or even hallucinogenic mushroom. The few times I have tested the latter's effects on myself, it was always in a controlled environment, either here or at Pardis Dhyai."

"You ate hallucinogenic mushrooms?" Harry asked flatly.

"Believe it or not, it has always been in the interests of scientific endeavour, and I do not make a habit of it," Tighnari said. "I blame my mentor, Naphis. I still find it hard to believe he willingly collaborated in your imprisonment, Nahida. My mentor hated politics, and was greatly compassionate, so I feel he was simply too afraid to go against the flow and free you."

"Do you think that excuses him?" Harry said, his eyes narrowing.

Tighnari stopped, and turned to face him, his greenish-brown eyes looking at Harry sternly. "No," Tighnari said. "But my mentor is a good man. He just has the other Sages against him. And aside from the Vahumana Sage, who is also a good man from the few times I have met him, they are all nasty pieces of work. Especially Azar, and Khajeh, the Haravatat Sage. And given what I've learned…I fear something may have happened to my mentor, shortly before Nahida's escape. I want to hear the story from his lips before I pass any judgement on him, or you for that matter. I understand how angry you are on Nahida's behalf. I feel the same way towards the bastards who hurt Collei. But Naphis, I am sure, is guilty only of being a bystander, an unwilling accomplice."

"He's guilty of cowardice," Harry sneered. "It's one thing to stand by if you don't have the power, I can understand that. Hell, even if you run away or hide long enough to figure out what to do next, it's fine. But to have the power to do something good, and not do it…how can anyone look at Nahida, locked away, in good conscience and not try to do something about it?"

A brief spasm of anger crossed Tighnari's features, before he sagged, his ears drooping. Harry found his own anger lessening at Tighnari's sad look. "Look, let's drop the subject for now. Whatever you think about my mentor, I want to help you both. Nahida trusted me enough to reveal her identity. I intend to repay that trust. Especially if you can leaven Collei's suffering."

"If Dunyarzad is any indication, Collei will get some relief from her Eleazar, at least for a time," Nahida said solemnly. "We don't know how much of a reprieve she will get, but I hope it's at least a few years."

By this point, they had arrived at one of the many huts that served as homes throughout Gandharva Ville. It was a little isolated, which Harry took note of. "Does she face discrimination because of Eleazar?"

"Not anymore," Tighnari said quietly. "When she was young, she did, in her home village. A passing shaman claimed she had been touched by the Deev, a demon, a common local superstition. But he was working with Il Dottore. No, these days, she just prefers to be away from crowds when she needs to be alone. She's getting better around people, but she's still shy." A little louder, he said, "Collei, are you there?"

"Yes, sir!" A girl in her mid-teens came out of the doorway of the hut, dressed in green, her hair the same colour. She blinked her purple eyes, before asking, "Master Tighnari, who are these people?"

Tighnari looked over to Nahida. Nahida walked forward and bowed. "Hello, Collei. It's good to meet you. I am Nahida, and this is my brother, Harry."

"Umm, hi? It's good to meet you, but…what are you doing here?"

"They've been staying with the Homayanis, Collei," Tighnari said. "Harry has a substance that was used on Dunyarzad, and it caused her Eleazar to recede. Not a cure, but…it apparently worked well. It was applied topically, to the skin, so I'll do it."

"Oh!" Collei's eyes lit up with hope, albeit marred with a little caution. "Well…can we try it, Master Tighnari?"

"Of course…"

Collei nervously undid her gloves and unwrapped the bandages around her hands and arms, while letting Tighnari rub the Phoenix Tears into them. She winced in pain, but she looked at the scale-like growths receding with awe. "I can't believe it," she murmured.

"It doesn't cure the Eleazar, just beats it back," Harry cautioned her. "But my sister intends to fix that."

"Your sister?" Collei looked to Nahida, and frowned in confusion.

"Yes. Now, this is a secret, Collei, but we've ensured people we tell it to can't tell anyone who doesn't know," Nahida said. "Nahida is my preferred name…but I am actually Kusanali, the Dendro Archon."

Collei, after a moment, yelped, "WHAT?!"

Tighnari winced. "Collei, please don't shout so close to my ears, they're sensitive as you well know. I think she's telling the truth. She showed me what she claims to be her Gnosis, the source of an Archon's power. And Collei…before you say anything, up until a few days ago, Nahida was apparently a prisoner of the Sages, locked up in the Sanctuary of Surasthana."

"Oh…oh." Collei subsided, her expression becoming morose, before she looked at Nahida. "…You're not what I expected from an Archon."

"Were you expecting someone more like the Raiden Shogun?" Nahida asked.

"…Umm, yes, actually."

Nahida giggled. "I hope you're not disappointed."

"Oh, no! Not at all!" Collei yelped, shaking her head vehemently. "It's just…after all that happened…I hated everything. People…the gods…I was in a bad way."

"Thankfully, Amber, the Outrider Knight, changed that when Collei ended up in Mondstadt," Tighnari said solemnly, even as he finished. "Anyway, I'm done, Collei. And I have to admit, Harry, this stuff is impressive."

Collei looked at her hands, now almost entirely free of the scale-like growths, and smiled in wonder. "…It is. Thanks, Harry."

"You're welcome. And thank Dunyarzad when you have the chance. I only have a very limited supply of these, and she was the one who brought up helping you, even before I rescued Nahida."

Collei nodded. "Then I'll do that. But…you call Nahida your sister. Are you as old as she is?"

"No, I'm only 22. She's my sister by adoption, so to speak. As in, she adopted me. We met in my dreams, and unlike a lot of people in Sumeru, I kept seeing her for all my life. For some reason, I can use Dendro powers without a Vision, but I'm guessing that's a mix between my link with her that I've had since I was young, and my magic."

"Magic?"

"Harry is a wizard, a mage, able to manipulate the elements and more without a Vision or Gnosis," Nahida explained. "Mages of any stripe are fairly rare on Teyvat, but not unheard of."

"Oh, I see!" Collei said. "Madam Faruzan was teaching me about mages the other day. There's mage traditions of various kinds in Liyue and Inazuma, and apparently Alice is a mage. You know, the famous travel writer?"

"Yes, I've heard she is," Harry said. "Though I'd ask that you not spread my being a wizard around, please."

Collei shook her head. "Believe me, I won't. Nor would I tell anyone about Nahida being the Dendro Archon. I'm sorry you were a prisoner of the Sages, Nahida. I…I know what that's like, being locked up."

"I know. Lord Shazhaman told us of what Il Dottore did to you," Nahida said solemnly. "I'm sorry you had to suffer like that."

Collei offered Nahida a sad smile. "It's fine. You didn't inflict it on me. He did. I…I'll always remember him. That unruly blue hair, those crimson eyes…and the insanity he showed on what little of his face he showed beneath his mask."

Harry nodded, only to feel Nahida stiffen next to him. "Nahida?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

Nahida, after a moment, began interweaving her fingers as if creating a cat's cradle out of string. Green light seemed to unfold between them, showing what looked like a holographic screen. "…Collei…I am going to be showing you an image of someone whom I think Il Dottore was, but only with your permission. I don't want to do it if you believe it will traumatise you again."

Collei blinked. "…You think you know who he is?"

"I suspect. Blue eyes and red hair aren't uncommon on Teyvat, even together…and yet, the thought of that, coupled with intelligence and infamy, reminded me of someone."

After a moment, Collei nodded mutely. And Nahida began showing what looked like a video playback on the holographic screen. "This was a recording of a disciplinary hearing held a mere fifty years after the Cataclysm, recorded through the Akasha Terminal of one of those present for upload to the Akasha System. Not enough evidence was found to warrant an outright trial, at least for the criminal charges, but this man was one of the few completely expelled and exiled from the Akademiya, on pain of death if he returned."

Harry watched as an image flickered into life. It reminded him of Dumbledore's memories of the trials held after Voldemort's original defeat. He couldn't see the man's hair or eye colour, as the picture was in green-tinted monochrome. But his hair was unruly, framing handsome if arrogant and even manic features. He was tall too, despite being perhaps in his late teens or early twenties at the most.

"…In conclusion, while no definitive evidence has been found linking the defendant to the murder of the Dastur Sohreh, his misconduct in undertaking experiments into Eleazar sufferers is another matter, as is his dubious justification for examining the machines left in the various ruins of Dahri. Therefore, it has been decided to strip the defendant of all academic honours, expel him from the Akademiya, and exile him from the borders of Sumeru, never to return again on pain of death," spoke the Sage presiding over the hearing. "Does the defendant have anything to say?"

"Do you expect me to speak in my defence when my guilt is a foregone conclusion in your minds?" the young man asked, his voice surprisingly deep and smooth, but with an arrogant tinge. Harry noticed Collei's eyes widening, her breathing becoming heavier. "The so-called evidence spoken from sheep your pet wolves have cowed into bleating against me? You lament Lesser Lord Kusanali being unable to lead you, that the discoveries made have dropped sharply since Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had perished, and yet, you do naught to remedy that. I have done more in a scant few years than you all have in the fifty years since then."

The Sage presiding over the hearing scoffed. "Mockery of one's betters is the trade of fools."

"I wouldn't know. Perhaps if I actually met my betters, then perhaps I would(1)."

"Stop it," Collei said quietly, and Nahida instantly stopped the recording, letting the holographic screen dissolve into verdant specks. On the Archon's expectant look, the green-haired girl nodded. "It was him. Much younger, and not wearing a mask or that fancy outfit, but it was him."

"…I'm sorry. I really am," Nahida said solemnly.

Collei shook her head. "I agreed to this, to help you. So, you know who he is?"

Nahida nodded. "Yes. He was once the Akademiya's most promising student. I would not hesitate in calling him a genius, and if he hadn't done what he had done, he could easily have risen to become the Grand Sage. And yet…along with unethical experimentation into Eleazar sufferers amongst other things, there were claims that he murdered his tutor, claims I believe. He must have joined the Harbingers not long afterwards, for reports of Il Dottore appeared within a year of his expulsion. His name is Zandik. And now, he is the second Harbinger of the Fatui…"

CHAPTER 10 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh dear. That just happened.

Tighnari eating hallucinogenic mushrooms is my nod to his character trailer. I'm genuinely surprised MiHoYo haven't re-recorded it with Zachary Gordon instead of Elliot Gindi's voice.

Also, a bit of tension between Harry and Tighnari, for understandable reasons. Harry despises the Sages for what they did to Nahida, and of course, he despises what he sees as cowardice in Naphis. Tighnari, on the other hand, understands his mentor more, as well as the reality of Akademiya politics. I'd like to think that Naphis would have loved to have freed Nahida, but any objection he voiced was shot down by the others. Otherwise, it strikes me as odd that someone who'd agree to Nahida's imprisonment, already something of a blasphemous act, would object to the attempt to deify Scaramouche as an artificial god.

As for Nahida having a recording of Zandik's trial, so to speak, she seemed to recognise Il Dottore almost instantly in the game, but not as a Harbinger, but as the man expelled from the Akademiya. It stands to reason that she knows who he is somehow, and I chose the sort of recording of Zandik's trial as a means for her to identify Il Dottore earlier than she does in canon.

Pinning down how old he was was tricky. In prior attempts, I'd actually had Il Dottore as a little more than five hundred years old, with his expulsion taking place soon after Nahida's imprisonment, but while he was involved in corrupting Scaramouche and sabotaging Taratsuna four centuries prior to the game, his early career had him studying the Ruin Guards and other Khaenri'an machines. And given that they weren't originally identified as Khaenri'an in the notes detailing Zandik's early career, I feel this must have been a short period after the Cataclysm. I decided on about fifty years.

Review-answering time! strabimonx: Unfortunately, Rukkhadevata will undergo her canon fate. However, I am setting things up so that Nahida doesn't forget her, due to her link with Harry. I felt that was too cruel for Nahida to forget her in canon, and in fact, there's a link between Nahida, Rukkhadevata, and Harry that hasn't been explained yet. There was a hint of it in a previous chapter. I won't elaborate, but needless to say, there's a lot more to Harry and Nahida's link than the usual happenstance that happens with soulbond fics.

cheza-aka-rozetta: Thanks for the kind words. As mentioned before, I did something similar for my Mass Effect crossover Quarian's Wizard. I also thought that those sidequests could be done by someone other than the Traveller, and I thought having Jeht survive and thrive despite Babel's spite would be nice. If you're interested, there's a fan-animated (and voiced!) trailer for those sidequests on Youtube. Look up 'Shadows in the Sand Teaser Trailer' on Youtube, done by Subutai, who also did an excellent trailer for the first four story arcs.

MWkillkenny94: I don't think they're fungi. Many of them have leafy hats rather than fungal ones, so I think they're more like walking seeds. But yes, Harry reckons the Aranara are basically stoners. Which would explain a lot. Seriously, they're like the Koroks from the Legend of Zelda games, but stoned.

1. Once more, Il Dottore is echoing Qyburn from a Game of Thrones short, the Histories & Lore video about Oldtown. The Sage presiding over his hearing is echoing Pycelle's comment towards Qyburn during that video. Pycelle is played by Julian Glover, one of my favourite actors of all time.