Dori's first assignment was actually quite basic: to give her something useful created by alchemy. She just wanted to see Sucrose's capabilities firsthand. Anything could do, and yet Sucrose spent the entire morning thinking of what she could give her, like if it were a birthday present. The sugar candies that she had made the previous afternoon while she was becoming familiar with her new tools didn't fully convince her. She didn't know what Dori could see of use in them; and besides, they didn't turn out like the ones that she used to make in her old laboratory. She couldn't tell whether these were better or worse; they were just different.

Many times she looked inside the storage boxes, yet she was still drawing a blank. Although she had a plethora of different materials, she saw nothing special in them; nothing in particular caught her attention. When the wall clock indicated midday, she began to feel the pressure weighing on her, so she decided to just try her luck with the first thing that had come to her mind: an ointment.

Synthesizing an ointment was a simple work: all she needed was some medicinal herbs and water. She had already plenty of the former, and going down to the bottom of the basin to fill a bucket of water was an easy task. Carrying it full all the way back up, not so much, as it was quite heavy now; Sucrose had to push herself. Even so, she was barely tired when she returned to the atelier.

A little later, Sucrose came out of the atelier with the synthesized ointment in a small can and went to look for Dori. She found her in the latter's personal sitting room, lying on her divan and toying with her pipe.

"Do you have something already?" Dori asked, after blowing on her pipe. "Let me have a look-see."

"It's an ointment," Sucrose said while extending it to her nervously. "It's the only thing I could think of…"

Dori pulled the lid off and looked at the ointment up close.

"Well, you made it, and it may be useful," she assessed. "Now we only need to check that it works properly."

Just at that moment, somebody knocked at the door. Goshtasb entered after receiving permission from Dori.

"Mistress, the Stumper Beasts for the caravan are ready," he notified.

"Excellent. I will be there soon," Dori replied. She then noticed that Goshtasb had a cut on his arm. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, this? I must have gotten it while I was carrying some boxes. I didn't know it was there"

Dori's eyes brightened. "Well, aren't you a lucky one! Here I have an ointment that is just what you need!"

Dori gave the can with the ointment to a thunderstruck Goshtasb. He didn't expect her to just give him something for such a small cut that he himself hadn't noticed.

"Mistress, are you truly giving this to me?"

"Indeed I am! I can't let my employees work while injured!" Dori claimed. "All you need to do for me is tell me how it went."

Goshtasb made a formal gesture while expressing his gratitude and excused himself, still bewildered. Sucrose, who had remained on the sidelines all the time, approached Dori and asked her close to her ear:

"Why didn't you tell him that I made it?"

"Let me put it this way: if you're sampling the same product from different companies, your opinion will be unbiased if you don't know which one is which," Dori explained.

Sucrose understood what Dori had meant: that way, Goshtasb opinion about the ointment would be based solely on the ointment itself.

"I should be going. My caravan is waiting for me," Dori announced. "We are expecting a shipment to arrive at Port Ormos tomorrow at first light, so I will be spending the night there. Remember what I told you about all-nighters, okay?"

Dori went towards the door, but Sucrose stopped her by grabbing her shoulder. She wanted to ask her something before she left:

"How am I supposed to obtain more materials?"

"It's quite simple: you make me a list of what you need and we order it," Dori answered. "Why do you ask?"

"It's because…" Sucrose hesitated. "I would like to gather them myself."

Dori raised her eyebrows in a puzzled manner. She didn't understand why Sucrose would bother herself to go out of her way to gather those materials.

"It's more or less like you doing your business in person. I need to know exactly what I'm looking for," Sucrose explained. "For example, two plant specimens of the same species may look identical from the naked eye, but actually, they each have their own traits that make them unique and…"

She stopped dead when she realized what she had just said: 'traits that make them unique'. She thought of herself, and the words that Nahida and Dori had told her.

"I understand now: you want to find materials according to your own preference, is that so?" Dori summarized.

Sucrose nodded. Dori raised her hand to her chin and reflected on it for a short time.

"It may by and by be a good idea, once you have become familiar with Sumeru's rainforest," she concluded.

"So you won't let me for the time being," Sucrose confirmed disappointingly.

"I didn't say that," Dori refuted. "For the time being, don't go too far away nor deep into the forest until you have learnt the area."

They left Dori's sitting room. After Dori locked the door with her key, she asked Sucrose to wait for her at the front door and ran upstairs. Less than a minute later, she returned, carrying a leather belt with a pouch.

"Here you have. You can use it to keep whatever you gather." she said, and gave it to her. "It isn't much, but it will have to do for the moment."

That belt, however, had a problem: it was too tiny, child-sized. It was impossible for Sucrose to wear it on her waist. Dori had used it when she began as a merchant, and now she was keeping it as a memento. Still, she preferred to see it being used than just lying around. In the end, Sucrose wore it on her right thigh.

"By the by, what kind of weapon do you use?" Dori asked.

"A catalyst. Why?"

"Because you can't usually mine with catalysts, can you?"

Sucrose moved her lips. Since she had never needed minerals for her experiments, she had never thought about it. But now she was going to need them, sooner or later. How would she be able to mine them, then?

"Just leave it to me, then!" Dori proposed. "I will show you how Dori can get anything she sets her mind to!"

Sucrose accompanied Dori and her caravan until they reached the spot where she and Dori had come out of the thicket the day of her arrival. There, the caravan continued its route on the side road, whereas Sucrose ventured into the forest. Evening was beginning to fall, so she didn't want to stay there for too long; she only wanted to do a little practice. All the time she made sure not to lose sight of the forest boundary while she explored and gathered some materials.

Before she realized it, her pouch was already full. She decided that that was enough exploration for the day. She was about to leave the forest when she heard a peculiar sound. It was like a melody. Full of curiosity, she looked where it came from. A little deeper, on a tree trunk, there was a strange blue creature singing. It looked like those two which Sucrose had seen that other day. She approached it with care, trying not to startle it. It didn't work: the creature had noticed her. It turned around, and when it saw her staring at it, it fled. Sucrose ran after it.

"Wait!"

The pursuit lasted for a while. Despite being so small, that creature ran almost as fast as Sucrose. Then, it hopped and sank into the ground. Sucrose observed the spot where it had disappeared, but she didn't find any trace. She desisted and decided to go back home. There was but a small problem: she didn't know where she was.

It had been a while since the sun had set and now the dark of the night enveloped the forest with its mantle. Sucrose wandered while cowering. She could only see a few steps before her thanks to the dim moonlight slipping in through the thick tree branches. She tried her best not to lose control:

"It's okay, Sucrose. You're lost, yes, but it's okay," she repeated to herself over and over again. "As long as you keep calm, everything is going to be fine. Just don't panic…"

She didn't know what was the right thing to do in such a situation, but she knew that there was no point in waiting for anybody to find her. Because they had left in a hurry, they didn't tell anybody that Sucrose was just going out for a little while; therefore, it was most likely that everybody in the palace guessed that she had gone to Port Ormos along with Dori and the caravan.

All of a sudden, she heard a noise behind her. It sounded as if something had landed. Slowly and holding her breath she turned around. She saw a pair of green eyes staring fixedly at her. As the eyes drew near, the figure they belonged to took shape under the moonlight. It was a feline of large size, big fangs, long and sharp claws and a tail as long as the rest of its body. The moment Sucrose understood that she was in danger, the feline pounced on her.

Sucrose reacted on time. She shot a whirlwind with both her hands which sent the feline flying backwards. It landed on its side. Without thinking twice, Sucrose ran away. She knew that she hadn't knocked the feline out; she wouldn't be able to without her flasks. Her only chance was to flee.

She needed to stay fully focused on what she had in front of her. It was quite difficult to dodge the trees and roots that appeared all of a sudden amidst the darkness while she ran as fast as she could. She couldn't afford even an instant to look back; and yet, thanks to her hearing, she knew that the feline had stood back up and was now chasing her. Fear was overtaking her.

"Help! Help me!"

Desperate, she screamed while she ran. It didn't matter whether it was a good idea or not; it was the only thing she could cling to. She felt the feline gaining on her; soon, she would have no other choice but to risk stopping and trying to send it flying again. Then, she noticed two silhouettes moving in front of her. She couldn't distinguish them, but if they were more predators, she was as good as dead. However, from where the silhouettes stood, a scream came to her:

"Get down!"

As a reflex, Sucrose bent her body forwards and threw herself onto the ground. At that moment, she heard two whistling sounds passing over her head, followed by a painful shriek, a thud, and then, silence. Sucrose looked back and saw the feline lying next to her with two arrows sticking into it. Sucrose moved away, crawling on her back. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was trying to beat outside her chest, but she didn't know whether it was because of the run or because of how scared she was.

The light of a lantern turned on whence the silhouettes had been and two people approached Sucrose. They were a boy and a girl. Sucrose noticed the boy's animal ears. They were even larger than hers; in fact, because he had them pointing straight up, they appeared larger than his head. And it didn't seem like he was concerned about them in the slightest; nor about his tail.

"That was a close one…" The boy breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he offered his hand to Sucrose. "Are you okay? Can you stand?"

Sucrose took the boy's hand and stood up. She shook the dust from her clothes and adjusted her glasses.

"T-thank you so much for saving me…" she stuttered, still suffering from the effects of the shock. "But how did you…?"

"We'll talk later," the boy interrupted. "We should leave the forest quickly, now. More Rishboland Tigers could appear. Collei, can you go ahead?"

The girl, Collei, took the lamp and set forward, followed by Sucrose and the boy. They walked in a silence which Sucrose wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to break. The two of them moved between the trees in the most natural way, and they knew perfectly which way to go without any references, at least to Sucrose's eyes. It was crystal clear that she had a long way to go.

Once they left the thicket behind, Sucrose was able to discern some cottages around a huge tree, at which base stood a house. From the tree branches' hung some big, round things which Sucrose couldn't tell what exactly were because of the lack of lighting: there weren't any lamps and every house had its lights out. They reached a wooden platform on which there were some boxes piled up. The boy arranged them and invited Sucrose to sit on one of them. Next, he and the girl did the same.

"This is Gandharva Ville. You'll be safe here," he said, then came the introductions. "My name is Tighnari, I'm a Forest Ranger; and this is Collei, my trainee. And I presume that you're Sucrose."

Sucrose was surprised. "Huh? How do you know my name?"

"Cyno told us about you," Tighnari explained. "We three go way back."

Sucrose became nervous when she heard the General Mahamatra's name. She wondered what he had told them about her. Unbeknownst to her, he had told them everything, including the carrying scene. Still, there was a more important question at that moment:

"How did you find me?"

"We followed the sound of your screams," Collei said, while pointing at Tighnari's ears with dissimulation.

Sucrose tried her best not to pay attention to Tighnari's ears, nor to think about her own.

"So, did you settle in the city?" Tighnari asked. "We can take you there."

"No, I live in the Palace of Al… Alca… Alcazar…sure-I? No, that wasn't it…"

"The Palace of Alcazarzaray?" Tighnari corrected. "That's quite a distance from here."

Tignari was deep in thought. Meanwhile, Sucrose looked at Collei, who shyly and blushingly avoided her gaze. She felt as if she were looking at herself, which made her smile. Said smile, however, turned into terror the moment Tighnari asked the following question:

"Does Sangemah Bay know where you are?"

She hadn't thought about it. Dori would be furious once she knew that she had gone deep into the forest and gotten lost. She raised her hands to her head while she panted. She didn't want to think what would Dori do for having been disobeyed, and on the first day, no less. Tighnari scratched his head, aware that he had asked an awkward question.

"In any case, you should stay the night here," he suggested. "The palace is too far away to go at these hours. Collei, can you take care of Sucrose?"

"M-me!? Master, I'm not ready to take someone in yet!" Collei protested while jabbering.

"You will do fine. Everyone has a first time," Tighnari smiled. "Besides, I have a hunch that you two will get along."

Sucrose had an idea about why Tignari wanted to leave her in Collei's care; it seemed like she wasn't the only one who noticed. Collei sighed and signaled Sucrose to go with her. They separated from Tighnari. They crossed a suspension bridge which went to a plateau with a solitary cottage.

"This is my house," Collei muttered blushingly. "Please come in and excuse the mess."

On the outside, Collei's cottage was like every other in the ville: it was made of wood and had the shape of a bulb. The roof was made of straw and covered with huge leaves. The cottage had four giant leafs acting as the front door. Next to the door there was a plant with some quivers full of arrows hanging from it. Inside, there was a bed with a green plush on it and a trunk at its feet, a desk with several sheets of paper and a quill, and shelves with books and scrolls. There were also drawings of plants and flowers hanging on the walls. Sucrose recognized them; they were all medicinal. She had already used them in her alchemy.

Sucrose was already experienced in sleeping in the house of somebody she had just met, but Collei was a bundle of nerves. Sucrose knew very well what was happening in Collei's mind, since she reminded her of herself when it came to socializing. Collei pulled a sleeping mat out of the trunk with clumsiness and laid it on the floor.

"You can sleep in my bed," she stammered.

"Thank you, but no, thank you. I would rather you keep it," Sucrose refused politely. "It's your bed, after all."

"I can't do that! We must offer our guests the best comfort! If Master finds out that you have slept on the floor, he'll scold me!"

"In that case, we'll make him scold me," Sucrose insisted. Then, she dropped her head and sighed. "I'm going to be scolded by a great deal, either way…"

"Why do you say so?" Collei pried; then, she immediately rectified. "Oh! Sorry! I asked without thinking!"

Sucrose smiled. "It's okay. I don't mind telling you."

She explained to Collei everything she had been through with Dori, from the day in which they had met until then, when she was chasing a curious creature and, because of that, she got lost in the forest. Collei supposed that that creature might have been a Fungus. Sucrose was feeling terrible because she hadn't kept her word after everything the tycoon had done for her.

"Oh…" Collei tried to think of something to cheer her up, but it was in vain. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to say…"

"You don't need to say anything." Sucrose smiled again. "I know very well what that feels like: overthinking beforehand what you want to say because you're afraid of saying something wrong. Just thank you for listening to me."

Sucrose's words made Collei feel better. She wasn't as anxious as before. She guessed that maybe master Tighnari was expecting that already, after what Cyno had told them about Sucrose. So she really was sensible and introverted, just like her.

Sucrose went towards the sleeping mat without waiting for Collei's response when she noticed a book lying face up on the desk. It had an illustrated cover, and the creatures which appeared in it looked too much like the ones she had seen. The book was titled Tales from Vanarana. Sucrose took it.

"What is this? A storybook?"

"Y-yes! It's for reading it to the children!" Collei jabbered.

From her expression and the way she had spoken, Sucrose guessed that Collei wasn't telling her the truth, since she herself acted in a much similar manner when she was hiding something. Still, she didn't want to pressure her. She leafed through the book. Each page had an illustration accompanying small amounts of text narrating the stories about those creatures: the Aranara. They were small, plantlike forest spirits created by Lesser Lord Kusanali. Collei told her that she would have liked to meet one, because, according to the book, only children could see them.

"Is that so?" Sucrose breathed a sigh of disappointment.

However, her disappointment wasn't because she wouldn't be able to see them; quite the opposite: she could see them. What was the meaning of that? Whichever way she looked at it, her only conclusion was that she was being childish, but that didn't make sense to her whatsoever. True was that she was still chasing her childhood dream of creating a flower paradise in which everyone would be happy, and that she still believed in fairytales. Was that perhaps reason enough to be able to see them?

"Sucrose? Are you all right?" Collei worried when she saw her pensive.

"Huh? Ah, yes. Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing," Sucrose lied. "We should go to sleep already, shouldn't we?"

After having the discussion of who should sleep in the bed again, Collei pulled another sleeping mat out and both slept on the floor. Collei fell asleep fast, but Sucrose had difficulties in getting to sleep. On one hand, she shivered whenever she thought of the more than likely scolding from Dori; on the other, she was still mulling over what Collei had said about the Aranara.

She didn't want to ask her because she was afraid of not knowing how she would react. Still, she didn't want to remain ignorant about why she could see them, but asking Dori didn't seem a good idea, either; much less when the first thing she needed to do was to confess to her that she had gotten lost in the forest. In the end, she decided that her best choice would be to consult Nahida about it, since she was supposed to be the one who created them.

The following morning, Sucrose and Collei reunited with Tighnari at the same spot as before. Besides the boxes, there was now a small furnace as well, with which the Forest Ranger was preparing breakfast.

"Master, mushrooms for breakfast?…" Collei said, trying unsuccessfully to hide a grimace.

"Why not? Mushrooms are very tasty and nutritious. Wouldn't you agree, Sucrose?"

Both looked at Sucrose and saw that she was having more trouble than Collei in hiding her own grimace. Both Sucrose and Collei stared at each other, then at Tighnari, now without hiding their expressions.

"All right…" Tighnari gave up. "Once I'm finished with mine, you can make whatever you want. By the way, there's meat from last night's tiger there, Collei."

Both Sucrose and Collei's faces lit up. A few moments later, the furnace was free and Collei took over. She took out two pieces of meat and put them to cook on the furnace. Sucrose raised her eyebrows.

"Are you going to make breakfast with that?" she wondered perplexedly.

"You'll see!" Collei exclaimed smilingly. "It's a little unusual as a breakfast, yes. But it's perfect for those who are out and about for the whole day!"

While the meat was cooking, Sucrose looked around. Those things hanging from the tree which she hadn't been able to discern before turned out to be more cottages. In fact, every cottage was connected to the tree with a stalk, even those at ground level. The architecture of that place left her speechless.

Meanwhile, Collei was filling two half-slices of bread with lettuce and tomatoes. She then withdrew the cooked meat and put each piece in the middle. Finally, she added white sauce between the meat and the tomatoes.

"Careful! It's hot!" she said while giving Sucrose a piece.

Sucrose opened her mouth as much as she could in order to be able to give it the first bite. It was delicious. She felt how she was being filled with energy with just that first bite. She chewed with joy while her ears wiggled with vigor. Both Collei and Tighnari chortled.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Sucrose asked after swallowing.

"Nothing, nothing," Collei smiled. "I'm just glad that you like it."

Tighnari, who had finished breakfast already, observed the two girls eating in each other's company. He smiled.

After the girls had finished their breakfast as well, it was time to take Sucrose back to the Palace of Alcazarzaray. Sucrose, however, had another idea in mind. She told them that Dori had spent the night in Port Ormos and was due to return to the palace on that day.

"If it isn't too much to ask, I'd like to go home with her."

The reason for her change of plans was because she didn't want to arrive first. The other employees would most likely ask her questions which she didn't want to answer; especially Goshtasb or Shaghayeh, and she was still scared of them. She was already imagining them giving her a scolding before Dori's, and one was already too much for her.

"We can wait for the caravan in a spot through which they will most likely go," Tighnari suggested.

The shortest route to the palace was through the thicket; they short-cut through it. They came out at a side road which Sucrose recognized: it was the road to the palace. Close to where they had appeared there were a bunch of small rocks. They sat down on them and waited. After a while, Tighnari stood back up and walked away a little to stretch his legs. Collei took that chance to ask Sucrose something she was curious about:

"You don't like mushrooms?" she whispered.

"I can't help it…" Sucrose replied, also whispering. "Just seeing them makes me lose my appetite. You don't like them, either?"

"I don't dislike them, but a mushroom dish here usually comes with one of Master's lectures," Collei revealed. "And I'd rather avoid them."

"I'm hearing you, you know!" Tighnari exclaimed from the distance.

Both Sucrose and Collei leaned dumbfounded their bodies back.

The wait continued. Sucrose had already lost track of how much time they had been there. She began to feel bad for having made that request. She apologized to both Tighnari and Collei for making them waste their time.

"Don't worry about it: sometimes we must keep watch from a fixed position for hours; it's part of our job. Actually, thanks to this, Collei is practicing right now," Tighnari comforted her.

Collei nodded with a smile. In a sense, it was like they were doing each other a favor. Sucrose felt somewhat better.

"While on the subject, and if you don't mind my asking," Tighnari continued, "how did you end up in Dori's home?"

"Oh? Well…"

Sucrose explained to Tighnari the same that she had told Collei the previous night, except for the events of that same day.

"My… That's quite a surprise," Tighnari murmured.

"Isn't it?" Collei agreed. "It reminded me of that time when you took me in when we had barely just met, only that Cyno was there too and made the introductions."

"That, too. But I'm more surprised about how much Dori is investing in Sucrose," Tighnari specified. "Has she told you anything about it?"

"No. I've tried to bring up the subject a few times, but she always dodges the question," Sucrose said. "Why do you ask?"

"Dori Sangemah Bay is the best merchant in all of Sumeru, if not the whole of Teyvat," Tighnari explained. "She always manages to have just what their possible clients are looking for. The problem is that she sells everything at quite… staggering prices. Each time I do business with her, my wallet aches."

"I ran into her once when I was very thirsty," Collei added. "And it looked like she somehow knew, because she wanted to sell me a bottle of juice. Fortunately, Master was there; otherwise I would have spent all of my savings on it."

"Moreover, she doesn't participate in a project unless she knows that she will get a hefty profit margin," Tighnari continued. "That's why I'm so surprised: she's taking too many risks on this project, even if it were with a lifelong partner."

"Do you have any idea about her reasons, Tighnari?" Sucrose asked.

"No. Sorry. Everything I said would be just speculation." Tighnari shook his head. "But I can tell you this: deep inside, Dori is a good person; you are in good hands. And maybe we should stop talking about her…"

Tighnari pointed with his finger behind the girls, and they turned around. Dori's caravan was coming at last, with the tycoon ahead of it. They stood up and walked towards it.

"Well, well! If it isn't my favorite Forest Ranger and my favorite Forest Ranger trainee!" Dori greeted smilingly. "And what is my favorite alchemist doing here?"

"Dori, could we talk alone?" Sucrose asked while stuttering.

The time to confess had come. They separated from everybody else. Only Tighnari could hear Sucrose telling Dori how she had gotten lost in the forest, that she had been attacked by a tiger, that she had been saved by him and Collei, and that she had spent the night with them. What came afterwards, everybody heard it:

"You hopeless, stupid toadstool!" Dori shouted. "What do you think my warnings were for!? Eh!? What do you think that would have happened if they hadn't appeared!? Eh!?"

Sucrose cowered and shivered, yet she never avoided her gaze from Dori while the latter continued to yell at her. Once the scolding had come to an end, Dori stomped back where everybody had been waiting. She was drawing a clear expression of anger and her breathing was heavy.

"Take Sucrose and return to the palace. And not a word to anybody," she ordered. "I will catch up soon."

Sucrose arrived dragging her feet. She bid farewell to Tighnari and Collei with a weak gesture of her hand. Both of them noticed that she was trying to hold back her tears. Sucrose mounted a Stumper Beast and the caravan resumed its way. She looked back one last time and saw Dori talking to them.

When everybody arrived at the palace, as Dori had caught up with them, Sucrose went directly to her room without wasting any time. She dropped onto the bed, pressed her head against her pillow, and began to cry. Dori's scolding had affected her, but most of all she was angry at herself. The only things she had done for Dori so far had been a small ointment and a big disappointment.