This story contains spoilers for the Sumeru Archon Quests! Don't say I didn't try to warn you...
"World... forget me..."
And so the world did forget. The tree of Irminsul--which collected all information through leylines that ran throughout Teyvat--had Rukkhadevata's existence completely erased from everyone's minds... including from Nahida, Rukkhadevata's incarnation. Paimon's mind went blank as well, and the whole motion of going through with it was a bit more than what the traveler had expected. After all, rescuing a god and saving Sumeru was the original plan... not erasing one from existence completely.
Yet they still remembered.
And as Nahida told them about the tree and how it was affiliated with the Dendro Archon, they were to set off on another journey... another nation.
But before they truly left, they did one more eventful thing in Sumeru: they took down a shady event that was happening down at Port Ormos. Namely, the Nilotpala Cup Beast Tamers Tournament.
The outside of Sumeru was pretty bi****uch bigger than what Nahida had imagined it to be. Of course, she could see the scope of its land through possessing others, but she could never explore it as freely while in the Sanctuary of Surasthana. Even throughout Sumeru City, she felt amazed at how many roads there were, and how the Grand Bazaar was connected with the city as a whole.
Even her possessions through Kathryne weren't as vivid as seeing them for herself, and she could feel herself wandering about in the world, carefree once more. None of the sages held her hand, tugged her into a remote location, or looked down upon her anymore... not that she felt discouraged even when she was all alone and isolated. Though she couldn't have done much in her trapped state before, she could still bring cheer and hope to people through interacting with them through the Akasha.
And so she'd been content, learning about how the world worked while also cheering up her citizens.
Yet, now...
She looked at where she was. Smack dab in the middle of the Avidya Forest, near the Chinvat Ravine. She'd dropped down from the bridge connecting Sumeru City to the road heading to Vimara Village, and could hear the rush of water from the waterfall nearby. Looking downwards, she spotted a nearby female Eremite dancing without a care in the world.
And she smiled.
"What they say is true... you have to see the world for yourself to appreciate how beautiful it is," Nahida said out loud. And she sat on the cliff ledge, crisscross, as she admired the Eremite's dance. She didn't usually get the chance to watch through the eyes of the Eremites as they originated from beyond the forests of Sumeru, and there wasn't an extensive amount of information on them in the Akasha, even throughout her years as, essentially, the Akasha's power source.
The water and the dance accompanied each other perfectly--it was almost like watching Nilou's dance. It was both spirited and lively, and it just... sigh. She was speechless, and it was hypnotizing watching her.
By the time the Eremite dancer took a break, it was already evening.
Nahida looked out at the sky, feeling the crisp air and the gentle wind breeze all over her skin and intermingling with strands of her hair. She laid down on the grass as it tickled her slightly, and she watched the clouds floating about aimlessly.
The Akademiya had denounced all forms of theater and dance, as well as the arts themselves... though she could understand their notion of knowledge over all, the arts weren't bad, either. They added color to life, and Nahida herself had nothing but good things to say about the subject. Then again, perhaps her thinking was biased: she'd been stuck in the Sanctuary for half a millennia, after all. No matter the subject, perhaps her thoughts had dulled due to being physically stuck there for 500 years.
Luckily, it was starting to reform... all of it.
With the General Mahamatra back in position and the former Grand Sage now dethroned, things seemed to be going well in terms of Sumeru's political power play. With Nahida in the mix, Sumeru would probably be in good hands, she'd figured. Sure, her wisdom was probably lacking compared to other Dendro Archons in the past, but there wasn't anything she was opposed to learning about. Even Scaramouche's origins and his state of being... she worried for how he would fare once he awoke.
Then she closed her eyes, her thoughts ****tering about.
A frustrated shout was the first thing Nahida heard when she awoke. "Hey! Bongo-Head!"
When she opened her eyes, her vision was shrouded in blue.
"W-what the-"
Another semi-distressed shout from beyond her startled the blob of blue on her face as it slowly left Nahida's central vision. "Bongo-Head! Hey! Come back here!"
A moment later, a female Eremite came into view, looking fairly exhausted. She was above the deity, her feet on one of the treelike bridges that helped connect the city to the rest of Sumeru.
The thing named Bongo-Head quickly floated back into Nahida's vision as she sat up, stretching before looking at the creature.
"A... fungus?" She remarked, surprised at how docile it was compared to the times she'd seen it before, fighting people.
"Yeah!" The Eremite remarked at Nahida's curious gaze at the fungus in question. "Perhaps you've heard of it before: meet Bongo-Head, the traveler's ace fungus!" At the mention of its name, the blue fungus hovering around Nahida suddenly bounced about happily, its eyes smiling at her.
"Bongo-Head..." Nahida thought, looking at the fungus up and down. From her notes, it seemed to be of the Floating Hydro variety as its cap-like head flopped about. She reached out a hand to touch it, and Bongo-Head caught her intention. It sat on Nahida's hand willingly as she extended another hand to touch its cap. The small, sharp legs it had seemed to squish into the rest of its lower body as it sat in her palm, though it was much too big for her to hold with just one hand alone.
All in all, it was seemingly friendly.
...Nothing like the notes she'd had in the Akasha.
"It's... friendly?" Nahida questioned, astonished. "That's new..."
"Haha, yeah, I get why you're probably shocked. I was too, when I first heard of it." The Eremite said, making her way down to the cliff where Nahida sat. "But it was the traveler who showed me that they weren't as hostile as I once thought, and now..."
The small deity glanced at her as she sat alongside Nahida, and Nahida felt a small shadow coming from where the bridge was above them. A small head popped out, followed by a few others. More fungi...
Three more.
The female next to her followed her line of sight, and caught wind of the others as Bongo-Head took a seat on Nahida's lap.
"Oh, don't worry--they're friendly as well. In fact, maybe I should've introduced myself first before anything. My name's Haniyyah, the runner-up of the Nilotpala Cup Beast Tamers Tournament!" She announced proudly as the other fungi hopped down to greet them. From what Nahida could see, the three were all of varying varieties: there was a Whirling Electro Fungus, a Floating Anemo Fungus, and a Whirling Pryo Fungus. "The traveler was the winner. I'm sure you know what they did, right?"
Oh... yes, them. Part of the team that helped Nahida escape confinement. She nodded, and Haniyyah gave a small smile before she continued.
"Funnily enough, my punishment was to take care of the traveler's fungi... as well as a ton of other peoples', because of my background as a beast tamer in the past." Haniyyah said, sighing. The three fungi then surrounded the duo as Bongo-Head seemed to take a rest in Nahida's embrace. Nahida secured Bongo-Head's place in her lap as it slowly drifted off to sleep. Small hydro bubbles appeared as it did so, giving it a rather adorable state of being.
Nahida smiled at Bongo-Head's actions. It clearly trusted her. Haniyyah seemed to notice that as well, and she returned the grin.
"It seems to have taken a liking to you, just as it did to the traveler a while back," Haniyyah said. She pointed to the other fungi to introduce them as well. "The Whirling Electro Fungus there's Blitzara, whom my own fungi defeated in the past. Over there's Twirly-Whirly, who really liked its own beast teamer before it was entrusted to my care."
The Whirling Pryo Fungus nearest to Haniyyah jumped about, and Haniyyah patted its head affectionately.
"Finally, the Whirling Pryo Fungus next to me is named Kindlejoy." She hesitated for a second before finishing the rest of her thought. "My own shroom buddy."
Kindlejoy's drill-like bottom whirled about as it emanated a state of joy, and Haniyyah reciprocated the action. Nahida's mood instantly brightened at their interactions. Life had always felt warmer to her after she was freed...
"You can call me Nahida," Nahida replied. The next part--the one about her status or ranking--was something she was uncertain of whether to say or not. The Eremites typically preferred King Deshret to Lesser Lord Kusanali, though that mindset had been proven wrongful due to the actions of the traveler. However, big news like that, though it had its ways of spreading about, couldn't spread to every nook and cranny within a limited timeframe.
Question was if Haniyyah was one of them or not...
...but then again, when faced with a deity of any sort, wouldn't a person's first reaction be something along the lines of shock?
"I-I'm just trying to get familiar with the whole of Sumeru," Nahida said, coming to a conclusion of what to say. "There's a lot I haven't seen yet, and I'd really like to explore it all."
"You sound just like them," Haniyyah shook her head, looking at Bongo-Head longingly. "Just like the traveler."
"They were headed off on another journey, weren't they?"
"Yeah, I think. They made friends over in Inazuma, too. I met one of them earlier when the tournament was still in session: she was a fox lady named Yae Miko, with one of the Akademiya scholars. Layla."
The name Layla rang a bell in Nahida's mind... wasn't she one of the super tired scholars in the bunch? She wore her Akasha for a long time, so she had some insight into what she did daily. Er, if sleepwalking counted...
"Makes sense for a traveler." The god then thought about The Balladeer's situation. Wasn't he traveling, too? His determination and willpower were extraordinary, and yet...
"I'm just happy to have realized that not all fungi are cruel or mean. They can be super sociable, and genuinely friendly." Haniyyah gazed at Kindlejoy, her hand still on the fungus's head. "My ancestors... I know it's all in the past, but I can't stop thinking about them even though Yae Miko's told me the truth of the matter."
Kindlejoy then moved to be in between the two of them, bopping Bongo-Head's head a bit to wake it up. The gesture worked as the small hydro bubbles surrounding it--and Nahida--popped, and it floated carefully out of Nahida's hands and into the space in between the two. They then walked away from the human and the god, and the other fungi followed.
Haniyyah stared at them, walking off and out of their sight. "Oi! You guys had better be back here by sunset, you hear me?!"
The sudden shout from Haniyyah startled Nahida, though the former quickly apologized for her outburst.
"As you probably saw before--they're super keen on ditching me every chance they get. Yet I can't help but adore them, even if it was supposed to be my punishment. After all, even fungi have hearts. No matter who they are, or what they are, or where they are. They've truly showed me a side of myself I couldn't have ever recognized on my own, and even if outside intervention was needed... I'm glad it happened like it did."
