Chapter Text
“It’s…complicated.”
That was Kaveh’s go-to response when anyone ever asked about his supposed closeness to the scribe.
If he was particularly mad at Alhaitham, he might also throw out a “we used to be friends, not anymore,” or possibly even a scathing “we’re simply research acquaintances. I hardly know the man.”
That was a lie—Kaveh knew Alhaitham perhaps better than Alhaitham knew himself.
Kaveh knew that Alhaitham actually prefers tea over coffee, only choosing coffee for convenience.
Kaveh knew that Alhaitham, while he seems like a slob, actually had a sort of system for his messy piles of books and tomes: the coffee table was for current reads; the kitchen, for books he wanted to reread; the divan, for when he wanted to piss Kaveh off.
Kaveh knows that Alhaitham wore his headphones for more than aesthetics, and was sure to be quiet when his roommate was seen without them.
Kaveh knew a lot of things about Alhaitham, more than he would ever admit.
That doesn’t mean both men’s relationship was without flaw. Far from it. Their natures clashed quite often: Art versus logic, emotion versus rationale.
Bickering was a common routine, and both could be quite destructive to the other when things got heated. Alhaitham also tended to hold things over Kaveh’s head for a long time—which is exactly why he is the last person Kaveh would want to go to for assistance.
Unfortunately, Alhaitham is also very, very smart—and in a position of relative power. It made him the only real hope in this twisted situation Kaveh had gotten into.
Which is why Kaveh found himself risking his dignity trying to find the man.
Getting over Sumeru City’s wall was the easy part. He was exhausted from every misfortune that had been thrown his way ever since he got into this whole situation; yet his claws were quite adept at scaling the barrier.
He had landed on the ground with a ‘hmph!’—wincing at how loud his stealth mission had already become. It didn’t take a scholar to realize being caught as a rishboland tiger inside the walls would not end positively.
Best case scenario, they would trap him and throw him out of the city. Worst case, he ends up as a tiger-skin rug getting sold in the bazaar.
Luckily, no one came to investigate the noise, and he had gathered himself up and hid in the shadows of a nearby house. Sumeru never really slept, there were scholars still meandering the roads under the twilight—and the night market was lively as ever.
Combining the cloak of night with shadowy spots however, gave Kaveh a chance.
Quietly, he slunk from house to house, being careful not to trip over his own paws. The smells and sounds of the city were intense with his heightened senses—the smell of spices wafted everywhere, vendors shouted, music flowed from small corners. The sooner he got to his house—well, Alhaitham’s house—the better.
He knows the way home by heart, no matter what corner of the city he started in. He just had to get past the corner of Treasures Street, and luckily there was plenty of foliage he could silently slip through. The familiar roof entered his vision, and his whole chest sagged with relief.
It would have to be a quick dash across the street, and right now, it looked clear. ‘Alright, on three…’ he told himself.
One.
Two.
Thr—
“Hey!”
Kaveh sucked in a huge breath, stumbling backwards. A strange high pitched squeak escaped his maw before he could swallow it.
The clack of footsteps on the pavement echoed across the street, and a mercenary—seemingly out of nowhere— appeared in his line of sight.
She was the big strong kind, hardened from years in the desert, and certainly strong enough to take on a tiger if it came down to it. But by some miracle, the woman did not seem to notice the horrible noise Kaveh had made, or the heavy crash the tiger-sized Kaveh made falling back in the bushes.
Instead, she seemed to be addressing another man, and Kaveh soon saw who it was.
Cyno, the general mahamatra.
What was he doing on this street?
“Any sign of him?” Cyno asked the woman, crossing his arms. The general usually had a stoic face, but he looked particularly tense at the moment.
“No, none. I searched the entire village, top to bottom, and came up with nothing. I had plans to begin searching the forest, but time slipped by—it’s too dark by now. Some crazy dusk bird kept squawking at me the whole time, I could hardly get anything done.”
Kaveh’s ears perked up from the bushes. An insistent dusk bird? That was likely Tighnari, trying to get help, or at least have the mercenary take him to Cyno. He should’ve guessed that the ranger would try to get to Cyno somehow.
Despite the beak now adorning Tighnari’s face, Kaveh is sure that Tighnari would somehow get Cyno to understand the situation. But until Tighnari stopped pestering random mercenaries and actually finds Cyno, that would have to remain a back-up plan.
The mahamatra nodded absentmindedly at the new information, seemingly lost in thought. “I see. We’ll double our efforts tomorrow. Tighnari wouldn't just go missing like this unless there was something serious.”
“That man, Kaveh, is missing too.” The mercenary added. Kaveh’s fur bristled as he was talked about in the third-person.
He wanted to jump out and just yowl ‘hey, it’s me! I’m stuck in this body! Please help me out!’ He doubted it would go well.
The mercenary continued. “Doesn’t he have a connection to that scribe guy, Alhaitham? His residence is right up there, perhaps we could ask some questions.”
Cyno shook his head. “It’s late. Alhatiham hates getting woken up.” Something Kaveh knows by heart. “We’ll run back by here in the morning, where he’s more likely to be cooperative. Let’s keep searching around the city.”
“Right.”
Cyno and the mercenary departed, and Kaveh exhaled a heavy breath once their footsteps receded into the sound of the night.
At least there’s some kind of effort regarding his disappearance. Though he shuddered to think about what would happen if the tiger, likely trapped in his human body, was caught wreaking havoc in his name.
He does trust Cyno’s competence however, his intuition will likely lead him to Tighnari relatively quickly. The two were rather close, after all.
After the whole disturbance, Kaveh waited for a rather long moment before bounding down the street, quickly diving into the bushes on the left of his—well, Alhaitham’s—abode. For the sake of everything, he just calls it home.
Muscles like liquid, he prowled around the corner until he saw a small light illuminated through the window. That’s odd, considering Alhaitham usually went to bed pretty early, and it was nearly midnight.
Kaveh popped his head up towards the window until he could peer inside. His eyes glowed eerily in the way that cats do in the dark; it helped him greatly at seeing the scene inside.
Alhaitham. On the divan. Reading.
Of course.
He was turned away from Kaveh, though a sliver of his side profile was visible, emerald eyes gazing down at the pages.
Kaveh could immediately tell something was off. Alhaitham was an impressively fast reader, yet he did not turn the pages. Not after almost a full minute of Kaveh watching. His eyes seemed trapped on a sentence, and Kaveh soon realized the man wasn’t reading at all. He was just sitting there, staring at the book.
Was Alhaitham possibly…worried about Kaveh’s absence?
Absolutely not. Kaveh shook the idea out of his head. The man probably just took advantage of his Kaveh-less late night by partaking in his favorite pastime: reading.
As for why he’s just staring at the page…Kaveh had no explanation. But he’s sure there’s a good one, just nothing he could think of at the moment.
A bright flash filled the sky, followed by a loud snap that shook the earth. Kaveh jumped three feet into the air. Alhaitham stayed in his trance.
Another, more distant flash and snap followed, and Kaveh soon realized a thunderstorm was on its way. With his sensitive ears and his new skittish, feline instincts, the weather event seemed much more menacing than it should’ve.
That, and he was already coated in flaked mud, with no interest in getting any soggier.
With a newfound determination to get inside, he slinked around the house, looking for an entrance.
Normally, the window by the kitchen was propped open, courtesy of Kaveh’s constant complaining that it ‘smells like stale books in here.’
To his excitement, he found that the window was in fact open, and he swiftly leapt up, easily squeezing inside. He landed on the counters, and then silently pounced down onto the floor, cushioned by his paw pads.
Now, to announce himself to Alhaitham. Would he dip his claw in ink and write ‘I am Kaveh’ on the floor? Yowl in the man’s ear until he was recognized? He certainly didn’t want to spook Alhaitham, remembering whatever weird trance the scribe was in.
Despite Alhaitham’s insistence that he was simply a ‘feeble scholar’, he could prove himself to be quite formidable. Kaveh would hate to spook the scholar and—mistaken as a malicious feline—end up on the wrong end of his sword.
Quietly, he prowled into the living room, trying to make himself look as non-threatening as possible. Another crack of thunder erupted outside, following an immensely bright flash that lit up the living room.
But when Kaveh entered, the divan was empty. He hadn’t even heard Alhaitham get up: where could he be?
“If you take another step, I will slay you where you stand, beast.”
Oh. The rumble of Alhaitham’s neutral baritone was unmistakable.
Kaveh slowly spun around, finding that his nose was met with the tip of Alhaitham’s sword.