A few days after the incident in Vimara Village, the warning about the new Withering had already spread throughout the whole of Sumeru. Said warning also explained the differences of the new Withering regarding the original one, as their only similarity was the withered vegetation inside them.

To begin with, a new Withering was not caused by a tumor, but by a monster covered by a black mud, named Withered Monster. Because the Withered Monster could move about, so did the withered area, which made the new Withering a threat to be more cautious about.

However, on the good side, this new Withering was not as harmful as its original counterpart: its only danger occurred when the Withered Monster attacked. Thus, travelers needed only to stay vigilant about the monster instead of the area itself. And even if somebody were to be attacked, they would only fall into a coma; their lives would not be in actual danger.

Furthermore, there was another good news regarding this new Withering: there was a cure for said coma. In case somebody had suffered a Withered Monster attack, they just needed to be taken to the Bimarstan, where they would be administered a potion which counteracted the new Withering's effects.

The existence of such potion soothed the people of Sumeru, which was already becoming disquieted because of the reappearance of the Withering that they had thought was long gone, even if this one was different. Of course, the potion became the subject of many conversations.

On a certain day in Sumeru City, a group of four students from the Akademiya was chatting at a table on a cafe's terrace. At a certain point, their conversation shifted towards, precisely, the potion.

"Certainly, it's a relief knowing that we now have a cure for the worst-case scenario," the first male student said. "I, at least, don't feel as scared to venture into the forest to do my research as the other time."

"I don't know…" the first female student commented. "It seems that they're provided by Sangemah Bay. I'm sure that you'll need to spend your life's savings to get your dose."

"Not at all! You don't know?" the second female student exclaimed. "Lesser Lord Kusanali asked for the doses to be for free!"

"Really? And Sangemah Bay accepted?" the second male student asked. "Are you sure that she's not an imposter?"

The four students laughed.

"Anyway, how did she get those potions so soon?" the first female student said.

"They're probably made by her alchemist," the second male student replied.

"Her alchemist, huh?" the second female student spoke. "Since they began that service of synthesized items on request, that person has been the talk of the town lately. Who do you think it could be?"

"No clue," the first male student admitted. "I only know that they're extraordinary. I've been able to see some of their synthesized items when Sangemah Bay was selling them, and I must say that I've never seen anything so well done."

"So did I, and I confess that I wouldn't mind paying what Sangemah Bay asks for something of this quality if I needed their service sometime," the second male student confessed. "And, honestly, I'd like to meet them in person."

"Me too. What if he's a handsome boy of our age?" the first female student said excitedly. "Can you imagine?"

"You wish! You'd be trying to flirt with him in no time!" the second female student joked.

The four students laughed again. At a nearby table, having an afternoon snack after having done some shopping, sat Sucrose and Collei. More steam billowed from Dori's embarrassed alchemist's head than from her coffee.

The meeting between Nahida, Dori and Sucrose about the potion supply didn't take long. Nahida's first proposal was that Sucrose would be in charge of synthesizing the potions; Dori, of the supplies, both of materials for Sucrose and the potions for the Bimarstan; and Nahida would have the Akademiya cover their costs with its funds. Dori immediately agreed to that proposal. She wouldn't be making any money, but at least she wouldn't be losing any either. Sucrose and Collei, who was also present, assumed that her prompt decision was related to what she had previously said about not wanting to be the 'worst hypocrite'.

As for Sucrose herself, after the Vimara Village incident she didn't have any major event in her life for a long time, a time in which she was finally able to establish a routine for herself. So many events had happened by then that she had never had the chance to begin a new ordinary life; even though that new routine still had its restrictions: she was still not allowed to go outside on her own. Especially now, with the new Withering lurking.

Her first course of action was to set her idea of using her alchemy to help people in motion. With Dori's counsel and help, she decided to begin a synthesis on request service. Because said service was still in its early stage, the only current method for requesting a synthesized item from Sucrose was the same as requesting anything from Dori: via the merchant herself. Nonetheless, thanks to Dori's popularity, Sucrose had already received some requests in just a few days.

Sucrose's new routine was set on a weekly cycle, from Monday to Sunday. At the start of the week, for each day that she and Collei went out to explore and gather materials, she spent the next two in her atelier, fulfilling either requests or Dori's assignments, or studying.

On Monday and Thursday, when she went out, she always did so in the company of Collei, and sometimes, with Dori tagging along. They gathered as much as they could; anything could be of use for an alchemist, even meat, blood and bones from wildlife. Sucrose ran away from a Rishboland Tiger once, but now Rishboland Tigers ran away from Sucrose.

Moreover, Sucrose became more and more familiar with Sumeru's forest, and every time they went out she needed less and less guidance to find her bearings in it. Even so, Collei's experience and knowledge as a Forest Ranger trainee was still quite required in order to detect a new Withering from a safe distance and keep Sucrose clear of them. Also, as a further precaution, Sucrose always carried a flask with potion on herself, just in case.

Another point of note regarding the Withered Monsters was that they attacked only when children were present; in other cases, they just ignored everything unless attacked.

"Judging from these four cases so far, I've come to the conclusion that the Withered Monsters are going after those with the ability to dream," Nahida said during the potion-supply meeting. "However, this is still just a theory."

Thus, such information was never divulged to the public, just to be on the safer side.

Some of those days, they also traveled to the city, whether on their own or along with one of Dori's caravans, to purchase materials which could not be found in Sumeru, since Sucrose wanted to do her own shopping. She also bought different sorts of books. Whenever they went to the city, Sucrose, thanks to her keen ears, always picked up some conversation about Dori's alchemist. When she did, she would blush. She had difficulty in keeping her composure and pretending it had nothing to do with her. It didn't matter to her that she heard only good things; she wanted to remain anonymous. Indeed, she didn't like being the center of attention.

"I'm not doing this in order to become famous; I don't want to be famous," she once told Shaghayeh during a conversation. "I feel happy just knowing that my alchemy is helping people."

They, however, never went back to Mawtiyima Forest. They didn't want to risk having another encounter with that Jadeplume Terrorshroom.

As Sucrose progressed in her overall alchemical abilities, both Dori's assignments and the requests she received became more varied, and sometimes, difficult. Even then, she fulfilled as many as she could, and she, albeit hesitantly, rejected any of those which she still saw beyond her current capabilities. The good side of this was that the harder the assignment or request, the better the reward. Be that as it may, she didn't know what to do with so much money.

When Sucrose studied in her atelier, she sometimes did so by reading alchemy books on the couch; and others, by practicing new syntheses. Whether they were for practicing or the real deal, she always performed the syntheses with utmost care: she wanted to avoid any mishap to the extent possible. The reason why she was being extra careful was because Collei was also present in the atelier, studying at the desk, and Sucrose didn't want her to get a major fright if something happened. Still, there were some syntheses which left her with no other choice but to ask Collei to leave, although she always made sure that the latter wasn't too busy at that moment.

From time to time, Sucrose helped Collei with her studies, especially language and arithmetic. Collei was, indeed, lagging behind: when she had arrived at the palace, she had just finished the equivalent of last year of elementary education. However, she made up for her late start with extraordinary tenacity. If she kept that pace up, she might reach the required level to be able to matriculate in the Akademiya in no time.

Once the two of them were finished with their respective work, before leaving the atelier, they did contact therapy. Said therapy consisted in accustoming Collei to the touch of others. Firstly, Collei touched Sucrose: her hands, her face, her ears… Unlike with everything else, which made her quite nervous, the first time Collei stroked Sucrose's ears she was so delighted that she seemed like a different person.

"They're so smooth!… This is so nice!…" she spoke with delight. "So much time looking at Master's and not being able to do anything! I couldn't take it anymore!"

"Tighnari doesn't let you?"

"Not at all! Touching his ears or his tail is a good way to earn yourself a nice, long scolding."

Was Sucrose, then, indulging Collei? In any case, she didn't mind her playing with her ears. Collei's touch didn't bother her; quite the opposite, she even began to like the way Collei stroked her ears: she felt a pleasant tickling. Moreover, it served as a good excuse for Collei to look forward to that moment.

Then, they reversed their roles, and Sucrose was the one touching Collei. She took her hands, she patted her shoulders, or she caressed her face. At first, Collei still got tense whenever Sucrose was about to touch her; she had to concentrate so that she would not react. However, as time went by, she grew accustomed to Sucrose's touch to the point that she could be hugged by her without any issue. As for everybody else, Collei's progress was somewhat slower.

And finally, Sunday came. Sucrose had the last day of the week off, something that still felt odd to her. Back in Mondstadt, Sucrose hardly ever had a day off; she was always working on some experiment or another.

The motive behind why she had that day off was because Dori had obliged her, without excuses. Everybody in the Palace of Alcazarzaray had at least a day off, Dori herself included. Thus, Sucrose chose Sunday as her day off, the same day as Dori.

Initially, she pictured herself just like her very few days off in Mondstadt: not knowing what to do and being bored stiff on a never-ending day. However, she quickly found out that she actually had plenty of pastimes: reading Sumerian books, interacting with the Stumper Beasts, or especially, spending time with Dori and Collei. One of their pastimes together was playing Genius Invocation TCG. At first, Sucrose lost most of the matches against the other two, but once she had finally built a deck quite similar to the one she had left behind in Mondstadt, the tables turned.

Sometimes, Sucrose also went down to the bottom of the basin. Just like she had thought, that was a good place to relax, clear her mind, and think about her alchemy research from another perspective. She eventually got to enjoy her Sunday off, although it still felt odd to her.

Sucrose had also made some progress regarding her habits: she now took her gloves off before going to bed, and she had also stopped to only bathe all alone. Although she was a bit uneasy the first few times she bathed with the girls in the palace other than Dori or Collei, over time she got used to it until she was able to hold a conversation with them like anywhere else in the palace. Nobody commented on her scar, and nobody commented on her animal ears.

One afternoon, while bathing with both Dori and Collei, Sucrose asked her boss something she had been curious about for some time: although there were barely any sight of fungi in the forest, Dori's supply of their materials was not diminishing.

"Where are you getting them from? From Mawtiyima Forest?"

"No, from the desert. It's true that it's quite far away, but since I already have trade lines there, it doesn't represent any extra cost for little old me."

"I heard that there are fungi in the desert, too," Collei said. "But I still don't know how they can survive in a place like that."

"I read that fungi are able to adapt themselves to any kind of environment," Sucrose commented. "That's why the main ingredient for the compound I had that accident with was Fungal Nuclei."

Both Dori and Collei looked stunned at Sucrose. She had just mentioned her accident, in which she had actually died, as if it were nothing. Perhaps was it now a good time to ask her what they both were more curious about? Dori dared to.

"Did you ever find out why it exploded?"

Sucrose shook her head. "When I discussed it with my colleagues on the Investigation Team, we concluded that, by leaving the flask in the sun, the heat caused a spontaneous reaction."

She took her hand out of the water and looked at her scar, both on the palm and the back. It looked just the same ever since that day. She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head again.

"Although it's nothing more than a theory," she continued. "And I haven't tried that experiment ever again since then: I dread to think that we might be wrong, it might happen again, and I might not be so lucky next time."

She looked at both Dori and Collei with a despondent expression.

"I'm sure that you think I'm a coward."

"Not by a long shot!" Collei disagreed earnestly. "After what you went through, it's normal that you're scared! What's more, many people would have completely quit alchemy!"

"Collei is absolutely right," Dori concurred. "And yet, you did not. You keep practicing alchemy, pursuing your dreams, and improving yourself day by day, despite still suffering accidents. I think you're very strong."

Sucrose blushed; she was even moved by those words of encouragement. It was true that she had suffered many other accidents during her experiments or syntheses, both before and after that grievous one; and yet, she had never abandoned alchemy. Was it because she had resilience? Perseverance? What she did have were friends who supported her; including Nahida, who had told her something similar the day they had met. Every one of them was by her side, which made her happy. Very happy. She turned as red as a beet. Dori laughed when she saw her like that.

"What's the matter? Did we hit home?" she teased her.

"T-the bath! This is because of the bath!" Sucrose justified herself.

However, the energetic wiggle of her ears denoted that Dori had hit the nail on the head.

Without anybody noticing, a month had already gone by since Collei arrived at the Palace of Alcazarzaray, and there was a little more than a week left until she returned to Gandharva Ville. Or, at least, that was the initial plan. In light of the issue about the new Withering, Dori was considering extending Collei's stay. Right now, she was discussing her idea with Tighnari, who had come to the palace to see how Collei was doing; however, since that day was Thursday, she and Sucrose were currently out. They were sitting on one of the gazebo's banks, from where they could see the two girls arrive even if they were headed straight to the atelier.

"It's true that Sucrose needs protection," Tighnari said, "but Collei also needs to return to her studies."

"I know. This was our agreement," Dori recalled. "Actually, if it weren't because of the new Withering, I would already let her go outside on her own."

Tighnari, along with Cyno, was one of the very few people who knew about the true nature of the new Withering, and that Sucrose was one of its possible targets. He, of course, didn't want to leave Sucrose to her fate, but there had to be other options rather than just Collei.

"Couldn't you hire anybody else?" he asked.

"Dehya would be a fine choice; she has plenty of experience as a bodyguard," Dori replied. "But, since Collei is already settled here, I wanted to try this option first. And besides, it seems like she and Sucrose have become very good friends."

"So it seems. Ever since I took her in, I've never seen her so open with anybody, not even with Cyno or myself."

Tighnari crossed his arms and pondered over Dori's proposal. He wasn't entirely opposed to her idea, yet there was still something that didn't fully convince him.

"It's clear that this is a good experience for Collei," he said. "However, I don't know how she's doing with her studies. This is what makes me doubt."

"What if she were doing well with her studies?"

"In that case, I guess that she could stay, if she wanted to."

Now that they had reached an agreement, all they needed to do was wait until the two girls returned. While they waited, they talked. It was about nothing of importance; it was just idle chatter, to the point that Tighnari was even surprised that Dori hadn't tried to sell him anything at any point during that time. A while later, Tighnari twitched his ears.

"They're coming."

They stood up and leant over the railing. From their position they could see Sucrose and Collei climbing down the path towards the palace. They were talking about something, and Tighnari, thanks to his keen hearing, could hear them. He smiled.

"Do you understand what they're saying?" Dori pried.

"No. Only when they laugh."

They went to greet them at the end of the entrance ramp. Collei was pleasantly surprised when she saw Tighnari there.

"Master! Did you come to see me?" Collei bowed her head. "Sorry to have kept you waiting!"

"Don't worry about it," Tighnari smiled. "It hasn't been a waste of time."

Collei was puzzled about what Tighnari had just said. However, before she got to ask him, Tighnari pulled out a white unopened envelope and gave it to her.

"It's a letter from Amber!" Collei said excitedly after looking at the envelope in her hands.

Although Collei now resided in the Palace of Alcazarzaray for the time being, the letter had arrived at her house in Gandharva Ville. This happened because, of course, Amber was unaware of this little detail; therefore, Tighnari had to play the role of mailman, a job he didn't mind doing, since he could pay Collei a visit while he was at it. Collei happily kept the letter, looking forward to trying to read it later.

"So, why did you say that it wasn't a waste of time, Master?" she asked.

"Before we get to that, I'd like you to show me what you've done during this past month," Tighnari said.

"Uhm… yes, sure," Collei nodded, even more puzzled. "I have everything in Atelier Sucrose. If she doesn't mind…"

"Of course I don't," Sucrose interrupted smilingly. "I'll open right away."

All four of them went towards the atelier. Sucrose opened the door with her key and entered the first, followed by Collei, Tighnari and Dori, in that order. While Sucrose put away everything they had gathered, as well as the items she had taken with her, Collei prepared what Tighnari had asked her. In the meantime, Tighnari observed the atelier. Even though he had been several times in the palace since Atelier Sucrose opened, this was the first time he actually went inside. He beheld in surprise the wide assortment of instruments and tools of topmost quality, all arranged in detail. He then diverted his attention towards the bookcase. It was quite full of books, but what had caught his attention was that most of them were study books, in other words, Collei's books, and he didn't recognize many of them.

"Where did you get these books from?" he asked Collei.

"Well…"

Collei got a lump in her throat. She was reluctant to tell Tighnari the truth for fear that he wouldn't agree with it, just like she hadn't agreed at first. However, she was aware that she wouldn't be able to lie to him.

"I bought them myself," Sucrose revealed, just after finishing putting everything away. "We had run out of study supplies."

Tighnari looked at Sucrose in befuddlement. Without wasting any moment, Sucrose approached Collei, and all of a sudden, she hugged her.

"And, before anyone says anything," she went on, looking at Tighnari in earnest, "this was my idea, and I took this decision."

Sucrose's sudden hug barely disturbed Collei, but Tighnari was thunderstruck. The reason for his astonishment was precisely because Collei was not disturbed. Every time somebody tried to touch her, she got very nervous, or even got scared and reacted. But not this time; she was calm. Insofar, Tighnari had only seen her like this around Cyno or himself; therefore, this was a great surprise for him.

"Master?" Collei called him when she saw him dumbstruck.

Tighnari shook his head to focus. He tried to put what had just happened in the back of his mind, even though he needed to concentrate to do so.

"Let's see your progress during this month," he said.

He was so concentrated that he was putting on a stern face without realizing. He looked so serious that he seemed to be in a bad mood, causing Collei to become anxious in consequence. Collei showed him everything she had done during her stay in the Palace of Alcazarzaray, in order from where she had stopped just before moving to the palace to what she was doing now. There was more than prominent progress in everything. Tighnari then took a closer look at the newer books. Those were intermediate-level material, and they had signs of having been used. Had she progressed this much in such a short time?

"Sucrose is helping me a lot," Collei explained nervously. "And I do everything I can to return the favor she does me by buying those books for me, but…"

Tighnari, impressed, looked at Collei, still unaware of his stern expression. On her hand, Collei began to fear the worst:

"Master… are you angry?"

Tighnari then noticed that Collei was acting sheepishly, which finally made him aware that he might be looking like Collei had just said. He relaxed his expression into a smile, approached Collei and, slowly and gently, put his hand on her head and stroked it.

"Why would I be angry?" he said. "I'm just impressed by your progress: you have surpassed every one of my expectatives. I'm really proud of you."

Collei blushed and smiled while Tighnari kept stroking her head. Then, he turned towards Sucrose.

"Thank you so much for looking after Collei. I'm really glad to see that she has found somebody she can trust."

"I-it's nothing…" Sucrose replied modestly and blushingly. "And she also looks a lot after me. That's what friends do."

When Collei heard that, she blushed even deeper. She still felt butterflies in her stomach whenever she heard Sucrose calling her her friend, even a month after that night when they opened up to each other. Tighnari noticed her pupil's expression, and smiled proudly. Then, he approached Dori, who was leaning against the wall, beside the door. Dori had chosen not to intervene and remain on the sidelines. She looked Tighnari in the eyes and smiled.

"So, have you made a decision?" she asked.

"I have," Tighnari nodded. He then turned towards Collei. "Collei, what do you think about staying here for a little longer?"

"What's this all of a sudden, Master?" Collei said, taken by surprise.

Since it was her proposal, Dori told both her and Sucrose what she and Tighnari had discussed before the two girls returned. Tighnari also told them that he had had his doubts at first, but now that he had seen that Collei was doing much better than he had expected, he changed his mind.

"Of course, you have the final say, Collei."

Collei was deep in thought. She looked at Sucrose, who in turn looked back at her with a smile. After all the time they had been together, Collei understood the meaning of that smile: Sucrose was telling her 'do what you think is right'. She nodded, and looked at her master again.

"Even though I'm just an apprentice, I'm still a Forest Ranger," she said, raising a hand to her chest. "That's why I can't turn my back on someone who needs my help, especially if it has something to do with the new Withering."

Collei's answer surprised Tighnari greatly. Although he was expecting that Collei would want to stay, he didn't see that argument coming whatsoever. Collei had not made her decision based on her own interest of wanting to stay with her friend, but rather thinking as a Forest Ranger. And Tighnari couldn't be happier.

"You're really maturing, Collei," he said. "At this rate, you'll be a Forest Ranger through and through before I realize."

Collei blushed deeply again. She tried not to let herself be carried away by her emotions caused by Tighnari's compliment, yet she couldn't stifle a silly smile.

"I hope that you both continue to be such good friends," Tighnari told Sucrose. "Although, by the looks of it, I wouldn't be surprised if Collei ended up calling you 'Master' instead."

"Master! Don't joke with that!" Collei grumbled.

In the meanwhile, Dori beheld the scene proudly. Tighnari must really trust the two of them if even somebody usually serious like him could not resist the temptation of teasing them a little.

Several hours later, after dinner and every task of the day done, Sucrose and Collei spent time in the latter's room, sitting on the bed and already wearing their sleeping clothes. Sucrose held Collei's plush, Cuilein-Anbar, in her arms. At that moment, Collei was reading Amber's letter. In order to practice her reading, and since she didn't mind that Sucrose knew the content of the letter, she was reading it out loud. Even though she was clumsy, and stumbled over some words, she managed to read it from top to bottom.

In the letter Amber talked about how she and everybody else in Mondstadt was doing, about recent events in the nation ―none of them of major importance―, and how she would like to be able to visit Sumeru, see Collei again, and meet her new friend. It was a pity that she didn't have enough days off for that purpose.

"I can't imagine the look on her face if she knew that Parul is actually me," Sucrose commented.

"For sure," Collei agreed amidst chuckles. Then, she adopted a more solemn expression. "Although I can't help but feel guilty: we are deceiving her, after all."

"I get you. There's nothing I would like to do more than to be able to tell my parents that I'm fine, and that everything's going well, but… you know…"

Collei knew; there was no need to say anything else. They couldn't run the risk of the Fatui finding out that they were in contact; because after all, in their manual of 'diplomacy' any means was valid for their ends. Thus, Sucrose thought that it would be best for everybody to keep herself isolated from her acquaintances in Mondstadt.

Be that as it may, ever since she had arrived in Sumeru, she had never had any sort of contact with the Fatui; in fact, she hadn't even seen them. Not that she was complaining; she was only curious about how such a thing was possible, if they were supposed to be everywhere. However, she was aware that that curiosity could be harmful for her; therefore, she tried to bring out another subject in order to get it out of her mind:

"Do you usually read like this, out loud, in Gandharva Ville?"

"Not really," Collei admitted. "I don't feel comfortable if I read out loud alone, and I feel awkward reading to someone that's not you, Cyno or Master."

Collei had already told Sucrose how she studied back home. She usually studied under Tighnari's tutelage, but there were some times when her Master had to go to his research study, located quite a distance from the ville. During that time Collei studied on her own. The problem was that sometimes Tighnari was away for a few days, and Collei wouldn't learn as quickly just on her own, unlike now with Sucrose, since her atelier and Collei's study hall were the same place, and the alchemist could check in on her anytime.

It didn't come as a surprise to Sucrose that Collei was upset before, when Tighnari had teased them: from a pragmatic point of view, Collei might be better off studying under Sucrose's tutelage rather than Tighnari's. However, for the apprentice, there was but one Master.

As for Collei's reading, Sucrose was now thinking of some ideas for Collei to read out loud more frequently once she returned to Gandharva Ville. If what she needed was an audience, Sucrose quickly thought of somebody:

"And haven't you thought about reading to the children?"

Sucrose's proposal had caught Collei so unready that she even forgot to react, and just gazed back at Sucrose fixedly.

"You don't have any problem socializing with children," Sucrose went on, "and tales, although some are long, they're all easy to read. That way, you won't depend on if Tighnari is with you or not. What do you think?"

Collei knit her brow and twisted her mouth; Sucrose could tell that she was mulling over her idea. In fact, she could even hear Collei muttering to herself:

"Me, a storyteller… I don't know… But I already do many other things with them, so…"

Seeing Collei so troubled about what to do, Sucrose decided to speak. "You don't need to decide it right now. There's still some time until you leave, if you want to make up your mind by then."

"You're right. I should think it over more calmly," Collei realized. "Besides, it's getting late."

Now that she had calmed down, Collei let out a yawn, which made Sucrose yawn in turn. They had walked quite a distance while gathering materials that day, stopping only for lunch, which had been a Pita Pocket apiece. Sleep was quickly taking hold of them. They bid each other goodnight, Sucrose moved Cuilein-Anbar from her lap to Collei's and stood up. When she was about to leave Collei's room, Collei called her.

"Ah! I almost forgot! Could you help me write a reply for Amber tomorrow?"

Sucrose looked at her with a warm smile. "You don't even need to ask. We're friends."