The transition from the structured, academic stone of Sumeru City to the organic, breathing embrace of the Avidya Forest was not sudden; it was a gentle, verdant gradient. Ningguang had joined them and had herself also bought a few souvenirs that she felt he would enjoy. After dropping off their armfuls of souvenirs—spices, small carved trinkets, and several bags of candied Ajilenakh Nuts—at the alumni house, the group set out towards the west.
The walk was long, the sun slowly tracing its arc across the sky, painting the world in deepening shades of gold and amber. By the time the path began to wind beneath the colossal, overarching roots of the ancient trees, evening had settled over the rainforest. The air grew heavy with moisture and the rich, loamy scent of decomposition and rebirth. Bioluminescent flowers began to flicker to life along the roadside, guiding their way like tiny, earthbound stars.
Cyno walked at the head of the group, his jackal-headed helmet adorning his head, and yet revealing fringes of his stark white hair and intense crimson eyes. He moved with the silent grace, yet here, among the trees, his posture was less rigid. He was not the General Mahamatra hunting a criminal; he was a man visiting friends.
Lisa and Ningguang walked behind him, engaged in a quiet conversation about the unique ley line properties of the forest, while Ren walked in the middle, his azure eyes wide as he took in the alien beauty of the flora. The massive leaves that acted as umbrellas, the vines thick as ship ropes, the distant, hooting calls of Dusk Birds—it was a world away from the stone forests of Liyue.
"We have arrived," Cyno announced quietly, gesturing forward.
Gandharva Ville emerged from the twilight mist like a dream. It was not built upon the land; it was woven into it. Homes were nestled into the crooks of massive branches, suspended by sturdy vines and rope bridges. Lanterns glowed from within the foliage, casting warm, inviting pools of light against the darkening green.
Standing near the central wooden platform, examining a clipboard with a focused expression, was a young man. His ears, large and distinctively fennec-like, twitched at the sound of their footsteps long before they were visible. He turned, his tail swishing once in recognition.
"Cyno," Tighnari said, his voice calm and carrying a note of professional warmth. "You're on time. And you've brought… quite the delegation."
His sharp eyes, trained to spot the smallest anomaly in the undergrowth, swept over the group. He recognized Lisa immediately, a flicker of nostalgic respect crossing his face. Then his gaze moved to the imposing elegance of Ningguang, and finally, to the small, quiet boy standing beside her.
Cyno stepped forward. "Tighnari. This is Lady Ningguang, the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing. And this is Ren, the advisor and inventor. They are guests of the Akademiya, and personal friends of Lisa."
Tighnari bowed, a gesture of polite respect that lost none of his authority as the Chief Forest Watcher. "It is an honor. Lisa has spoken of you in her letters, though she neglected to mention the… magnitude of your company."
"Oh, hush, Tighnari," Lisa chuckled, gliding forward to greet him. "I do enjoy a surprise. How are things in the forest? Still too many mushrooms and not enough sense among the adventurers?"
"Always," Tighnari sighed, though a small smile tugged at his lips. He then turned his head slightly, calling out toward one of the lower treehouses. "Collei! We have visitors! Lisa is here!"
A moment later, a flurry of movement erupted from the hut. A young girl with pale green hair and wide, violet eyes rushed out, stumbling slightly on the wooden planks before catching herself. She wore the trappings of a Trainee Forest Ranger, but her face was lit with a pure, childish delight.
"Lisa!" she cried, her shyness momentarily forgotten in the joy of seeing her mentor. She stopped a few feet away, beaming. "You really came!"
"Hello, my little sprout," Lisa cooed, her voice softening into a tone of genuine affection. "Look at you. You look stronger."
Collei nodded enthusiastically, but then her gaze drifted past the librarian. She saw the tall, intimidating woman in gold, and she shrank back slightly. Then, she looked down.
She saw Ren.
Ren was looking at her with a polite, friendly curiosity. He stood there in his Liyue-style tunic, his messy black hair streaked with blue, his eyes glowing with that strange, gentle azure light.
Collei froze. Her breath hitched. A thought, unbidden and overwhelming, screamed in her mind: He is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life.
The instinct to coo, to rush over and protect him, warred violently with her deep-seated social anxiety and the lingering trauma of her past. She fidgeted with her scarf, her face flushing a bright pink. Then, a memory clicked.
The letters. Amber sent her letters from Mondstadt every once in a while. In the recent ones, Amber had gone on and on about a "Pixie Prince," a boy from Liyue who was so sweet and so cute that even Eula had melted.
"Wait…" Collei whispered, her voice trembling slightly. She pointed a hesitant finger at him. "Are… are you Ren? The one Amber wrote about?"
Ren blinked, then offered her a bright, sunny smile. "Yes, I'm Ren. Amber is my friend. She told me about you, too. She said you're really brave."
Collei felt her face heat up to the temperature of a Pyro slime. He knows Amber. He called me brave. And he's smiling. She quickly hid the lower half of her face behind her hands, making a small, high-pitched noise that sounded like a tea kettle reaching a boil.
Tighnari crossed his arms, his ears flicking with amusement. "It seems your reputation precedes you, Ren. Come. Let us not stand in the damp. My quarters are better suited to talk."
They gathered in Tighnari's personal treehouse, a space that was equal parts living quarter and botanical laboratory. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, filling the air with a complex, medicinal fragrance. Shelves were lined with jars of specimens and stacks of field journals.
They sat on comfortable cushions arranged around a low table. Tighnari served them a tea made from local Nilotpala Lotus and spices, the flavor floral and refreshing.
"So," Tighnari began, his demeanor shifting to professional curiosity. "Lisa mentioned you are here for patents. That implies invention."
"That's right," Ren said, sipping his tea. "I've designed a few things. Heaters, cooling units, and a few transportation devices. I want to make sure the designs are protected under Sumeru law before we distribute them internationally on a wider scale than current."
Tighnari's ears perked up instantly at the word "heater." He leaned forward, his botanist's eyes sharpening.
"A heater?" he repeated. "Tell me, does this device rely on combustion? Does it require an open flame or charcoal?"
"No," Ren explained, falling easily into his engineer persona. "It uses an Electro crystal as a power source. The energy is converted directly into heat through a resistive alloy coil. There is no fire, no smoke, and the exterior casing remains cool to the touch. It has safety shut-offs if it tips over."
Tighnari let out a long, impressed exhale. "That… is exactly what we need. Here in the rainforest, humidity is high, and nights can be chilling for the sick or the elderly. But lighting fires in treehouses made of wood and leaf is a constant nightmare for a Forest Watcher. A flameless heat source… it would change everything for Gandharva Ville."
The conversation was flowing well. The atmosphere was intellectual, productive, and warm.
It was the perfect moment for disaster.
Cyno, who had been sitting silently with his arms crossed, his eyes closed in apparent meditation, suddenly opened them. He looked at Tighnari with a grave, intense seriousness.
"It is a good thing," Cyno stated, his voice deep and resonant, commanding the attention of the entire room.
Tighnari paused, looking at his friend suspiciously. "What is?"
"That you are interested in these heaters," Cyno continued, his face a mask of stone-cold solemnity. "Because without them, if you continued to use open flames in these wooden houses… you would no longer be a Forest Watcher."
He paused for dramatic effect. The room waited.
"You would be… a Forest Burner."
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating, physical silence descended upon the treehouse.
A cricket chirped outside, realized the mood was wrong, and stopped.
Tighnari slowly closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his large ears flattening against his head in a gesture of profound, visceral pain. He looked like he had just eaten a poisonous mushroom.
Collei stared at her shoes, her shoulders shaking, not with laughter, but with the second-hand embarrassment that only a trainee can feel for their superior's friend.
Lisa sighed, a long, elegant sound of disappointment, and took a sip of her tea. "Oh, Cyno, darling. No."
Ningguang, who was usually the master of diplomatic poker faces, looked momentarily stunned, as if she couldn't quite process that the General Mahamatra, the feared judge of the Akademiya, had just said something so aggressively unfunny.
The joke hung in the air like a lead balloon. It was dry. It was terrible. It was a crime against comedy.
"Pfft."
A sound cut through the thick tension.
"Hehehe!"
Every head turned. Ren was giggling. He wasn't being polite. He was laughing, a genuine, bright sound of amusement. His eyes were crinkled at the corners, and he was looking at Cyno with pure delight.
"That's awesome!" Ren declared, still chuckling. "Because 'Watcher' ends in 'er', and 'Burner' ends in 'er', but they mean opposite things for the forest! And a burner is also a word for a stove or a heater! So you connected the job title with the danger and the solution in one word! That's really clever! And you came up with it so fast!"
Cyno blinked. The stone mask cracked. His crimson eyes widened, and a look of pure, unadulterated, and slightly terrifying joy spread across his face.
He had done it. After years of groans, sighs, and Tighnari threatening to feed him to the fungi, he had finally found him.
The One. The Audience.
"You… you understood the nuance?" Cyno asked, his voice trembling with emotion. "The duality of the suffix?"
"Ideally!" Ren beamed. "It was a multi-layered pun! It was great!"
Cyno sat up straighter. He looked at Tighnari with a smug, vindicated expression. "See? It was funny. You simply lack the intellectual capacity to appreciate the structure of the joke."
Tighnari looked at Ren—this brilliant, world-changing inventor—with a look of betrayal. Then he looked at Cyno, whose eyes were now gleaming with the manic light of a man who was mentally rifling through his entire archive of rejected puns.
Tighnari let out a long, deep, soul-weary sigh. He slumped against the wall.
"It's over," he whispered to himself. "My peace is over."
He knew, with a dreadful certainty, that Cyno was not going to stop. He had found validation. And for the Forest Watcher, the real nightmare had just begun.