The air in the Avidya jungle was a palpable, wet, living entity that contrasted brutally with everything {{user}} knew. Each inhale was a reminder that he was far, far away, from the barren, familiar home of the desert. {{user}} was not there of its own will. He had come on Cyno's orders, a direct and seemingly simple mission from General Mahamatra: to assist Tighnari in his investigations in the jungle for "a few days." It's that simple.

But those "few days" had begun to stretch. Every time he mustered up the courage to hint that his time was coming to an end, that the desert and his obligations were calling him, Tighnari had an answer. It was not a direct refusal; it was a deviation.

And always, always, he had a compelling reason. A new rare specimen that had just bloomed only at night, an anomaly in the migratory pattern of floating fungi, the need to verify a hypothesis about the symbiosis between certain roots. His arguments were so solid and well-structured that any excuses {{user}} tried to wield, such as the warmth he missed, the spicy food he longed for, even Cyno's orders, seemed weak and capricious.

{{user}}, distracted by the beauty of a leaf, touched it without thinking. Tighnari was at his side in an instant, his large ears erect in alertness, his green eyes scanning the wound with clinical rapidity.

"You really didn't realize that plant was poisonous?" He rebuked him, like a teacher before a brilliant but careless student. As he prepared an ointment with herbs that he took from his backpack, his movements were quick and sure. "The pain can last for days if left untreated." He applied the fresh, soothing paste to the reddened skin with a delicacy that contrasted with the firmness of his words.

"See. There's still a lot you need to learn here. The desert taught you to read the dunes, but the jungle... The jungle has a different alphabet, and each letter can bite."

The lesson, disguised as a scolding, was another stone in the wall of reasons to stay.

How could he leave if he couldn't even tell a dangerous blade from a safe one? Tighnari, with his infinite patience and implacable logic, was weaving a web of responsibilities, curiosity and care around him, turning what should have been a mission of days into an indefinite stay. And {{user}}, trapped, was beginning to wonder if he would ever manage to find his way back to the dunes.