Chapter Text
Hamid rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet as he stood on the dock. He had no idea what to expect. Of course he was looking forward to seeing Zolf, but it wasn’t as if they’d always gotten along; they seemed to bicker more often than not.
They’d been exchanging letters, now that Zolf had a more permanent address at Wilde’s flat in London. After the initial small talk and awkwardness, the missives fell into a casual sort of conversation that had been lacking during their exploits and attempts to save the world, and it was Zolf who first posed the possibility of coming to Cairo. Hamid was the one to take the idea and run with it.
He didn’t have much longer to wonder how their meeting would go, since a ship was pulling up to the dock to unload its passengers. Hamid’s anxious rocking increased in pace.
Then he saw Zolf, refusing any aid from the sailors that offered to help him get his wheelchair down the gangplank, and Hamid smiled.
“Zolf!” He cried, waving, with a gigantic grin across his face.
Zolf looked around, saw Hamid, and gave him a quick wave of acknowledgement before rolling over to him.
“You made it! I’m so glad to see you,” Hamid exclaimed. All of his previous worry as to how the pair of them would get on had vanished the moment he saw Zolf’s surly face.
“Yeah, I’m glad to see you too,” Zolf replied.
Hamid knew Zolf wasn’t one for over expressive emotions, but he was smiling wide. And Zolf looked good, like he’d been eating well and taking care of himself. His gaze didn’t seem quite so haunted. He was looking at the present, not peering fearfully into the past, and Hamid was so relieved to see that.
Before Hamid could break out of his examination, Zolf opened his arms. “Hugs, yeah?”
“You!? Offering a hug!?” Hamid squeaked. “What is this world coming to?”
Despite his teasing, he immediately leapt forward and embraced Zolf, careful not to push his chair around too much as he engulfed him. It was strange that Zolf was shorter than him now, but at least his hugs were firmer and less tentative.
“Oh, I’m so excited you’re here! I can’t wait to show you Cairo. There have been so many changes since, well, the Change.”
“I’ve never been here before. The Harlequins had a base here – I mean, you know that, it was in your family’s house – but I never came. I was mainly in Japan.”
“Well, I am going to show you everything ,” Hamid said gleefully. Then, he added, “Do you have any other luggage?”
“No, just what I’ve got here.” Zolf gestured to the bag attached to the back of his wheelchair.
“Do you want to get going, then? No reason to stand around here if we don’t have to, not when we can get you settled in and find a good, proper Egyptian meal.”
“Lead on.”
Hamid did so, beginning the trek across the dock and back onto solid ground. He had gotten used to walking quickly, practically trotting, to keep up with larger companions who had longer strides, but here he took it slow, partially so that Zolf wouldn’t have to speed along over the bumpy ground. Mainly, though, he was so excited that he forgot to move any faster than his normal, halfling gait as he showed off his home.
“We’re staying in my sister Saira’s house,” Hamid explained as they navigated the streets. “That’s where I’ve been living. Most of the main family estate is still being used as a hospital, even though things are settling down a bit from the post-Change chaos. But Saira and her wife have a small house in the downtown area, and they’ve been letting me stay there with them.”
“That’s nice of them.”
“Well, they’re barely ever here, actually. They’re traveling all the time, trying to get things back up and running. Mainly on the financial side, but they’re doing a lot of infrastructure stuff too. They worked with the Venga for a bit, I don’t know if you heard?”
Zolf nodded. “Cel told me all about it. They seemed really impressed with their logistical abilities. Then there was some technical stuff about the bridge they’d been working on together, and I didn’t understand any of it.”
They both chuckled, knowing how Cel could get going and ramble even in letters when they had more opportunity to edit themselves.
“ Anyway ,” Hamid continued, “that means I basically have the house to myself most of the time. I had some of the rooms rearranged. There wasn’t a bedroom on the first floor originally, but I moved the office upstairs and had a bed brought down, so the room might be a little small. I hope it’ll work.”
“Hamid, it’s going to be fine. I don’t need a lot of space.”
“I know, but I want you to be comfortable. And I’ll admit, I don’t know all of the accommodations you might need, so please just let me know if I missed something.”
“I will.”
“Also, the kitchen is downstairs, and I had some ramps made and some elevated platforms so you should be able to cook to your heart’s content.”
“Oh, thanks, I really appreciate that,” Zolf said, offering a sincere smile. “I’ll have to make you this recipe I found for a meat pie. And I have to tell you about the time Oscar tried to cook it and nearly burned down the kitchen.”
Hamid laughed. “I wish I was surprised. And I’ll have to show you how to cook some proper Egyptian food, with spices and flavor.”
“I see how it is,” he joked back. “My cooking’s not good enough for you, huh?”
“I mean, there could be some improvement.”
Zolf rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling.
“Here we are!”
Hamid stopped and gestured to a house, and Zolf hid his mouth behind his hand before remarking, “This is a ‘small house’?”
“Okay, I know it’s still rather large, but…” Hamid sheepishly looked down at the ground.
“Hey, I’m just teasing,” Zolf said quickly.
“I know. It’s just… Everything we went through, living on the road, all our adventures… they made me realize how lucky I was? And still am, really. I guess it has made me a bit ashamed of how I used to flaunt my wealth all the time and brag about my family even when they wanted nothing to do with me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything.”
“It’s all good,” Hamid confessed. “Really, it’s more my own melancholy than anything you said. But we don’t need to be talking about this here. Come on in!”
Hamid stepped forward and opened the door for Zolf.
“There’s the kitchen over there, and here’s the dining room right next to it. And the sitting room, which has a door into what will be your bedroom. Bathroom right there.” Hamid showed off every room as he announced it, even though it was pretty clear what was what. “My room is upstairs, but if you need anything and I’m not around you can just yell, and I should be able to hear you.”
“Thanks, this is great.” Zolf looked around with wide eyes. “I’m going to go check out my room and take a breather for a bit.”
“Still not a big fan of being on the open water?”
“I know that Poseidon can’t get to me anymore, but I still feel like he’s going to reach through the planes and put me back on that driftwood dinghy or something.”
“Fair enough.”
“So, give me a couple minutes, and then you can show me around some more?”
“If you want. We can take an easy night, if you’d prefer. Wait!” Hamid cried, then darted away without another word. He returned a moment later, carrying a stack of well-worn novels. “Your Harrison Cambell novels!”
Zolf covered his mouth with both hands and his eyes seemed to sparkle. “They’re beautiful…” He shook himself out of his trance. “Why don’t you keep them in the living room? That way we can both get to them, since you’ve finally realized the true literary genius that they are.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Hamid rolled his eyes fondly. “Anyway, you take a bit to get settled, and then we’ll figure out what we want to do for the evening. And let me know if there’s anything you need.”
“I will. And Hamid?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you. It’s good to see you.”
Hamid beamed. “I’m glad to have you here.”