A puppet among researchers

Tighnari 4

Tighnari had once again made the trek up the hill in the early morning.

He considered putting a tent on the hill for himself, but in case of an emergency he decided to stay in the village. It's not like the hike would kill him.

Last night, collei seemed to have somehow figured out about the unknown heart condition Wanderer had and of his fear of doctors.

Tighnari figured it had to have come from Kaveh but he wasn't going to jump to conclusions.

Collei hadn't mentioned knowing but her making them food and the worried glances (not afraid of him worry, it was afraid for him worry.) she had sent his way was confirmation enough. Especially when Collei who was an alright cook when she pays attention, she sucked when she wasn't. And she clearly had other things on her mind.

To make matters even more obvious, she asked me to wait a moment before walking back to the camp and sitting next to wanderer.

Tighnari for once was too far away to hear what had been said and Collei hadn't told him either. Whatever was said must have brought back old memories for her. Either that or she is trying to keep something from him. Which isn't likely.

When he gets to the camp,Kaveh is nowhere to be seen. Which is really not surprising. Kaveh hasn't ever been good at waking up with the sun.

Wanderer apparently was.

He had started a small campfire, unfortunately but not surprisingly it wasn't for food.

"I made tea." Wanderer said as a greeting.

"And not breakfast?" Tighnari asked.

"I ate last night. Isn't that good enough?" Wanderer said defensively.

Tighnari just sighed. He had already eaten so there's no way he could make Wanderer without looking like a hypocrite.

Tighnari was about to pour himself some of the tea when he saw strange movement in the tree close to the campsite.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me?!" Tighnari whispered.

Wanderer had looked around at that but saw nothing. So he looked at Tighnari in question.

Tighnari said nothing but pulled out his bow and aimed it at the tree.

"YOU HAVE TO THE COUNT OF FIVE TO GET OUT OF THAT TREE!" Tighnari shouted.

Nothing

"FIVE"

Nothing.

"FOUR."

Why was he being so stubborn?

"THREE!"

Seriously?

"TWO"

Then Cyno got out of the tree.

"Wait here!" Tighnari said to wanderer who had gone back to enjoying his tea. At least he's drinking something.

Tighnari stomped his way over to Cyno. Who had put his hands up as a sign of peace.

"I wasn't stalking you!" Cyno said as soon has Tighnari had stopped.

"Then who?" Tighnari asked.

Cyno looked over at wanderer.

"Why?" Tighnari said in a 'you aren't going to get out of this' tone.

"I was doing research on him for the murder case." Cyno said

"He didn't even do it." Tighnari said defensively.

"I know that! But someone had let it slip that we interrogated him and the actual murderer was trying to blame it on him." Cyno said.

"So you are trying to prove his innocence by stalking him?" Tighnari asked.

"He has no record. He's a complete ghost. It's hard to prove his existence let alone his innocence." Cyno said.

"What about medical records?" Tighnari was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

Cyno just shook his head.

No medical records. Evidence of surgeries. His hate for doctors.

It was all too similar. All too familiar.

And with that conversation those two had last night......

"We Will talk about this later." Tighnari said. "Leave him alone for now. Until I can confirm what I suspect."

"Fine, I will trust your judgment for now." Cyno said before doing a backflip and disappearing into the forest.

Tighnari walked back to camp to see Kaveh spit out the contents of his teacup.

"It tastes like you didn't put any sugar in." Kaveh said.

"Why would I ruin the bitterness by adding the liar of food?" Wanderer said

Kaveh looked completely shocked.

Tighnari just sat down, ignoring their conversation.

It's not a coincidence that two of the doctor's experiments ended up in sumaru. If what he suspects is true.

Either way, Wanderer having no record is alarming. Someone was trying to hide who he is. Or something else is a foot.

And Tighnari was determined to figure it out!