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The man’s scream resonated through the Akademiya’s halls, dangerous, chilling. The faintest spark of desperation seeped through an accurately built facade, normally stoic and unbothered, now contaminated by pure madness. Folly shone in his eyes as he cut down anything that moved, even slightly, even if not a merfolk.
“Let her go!”
But they weren’t listening, no. She whined as her arm was pulled again, incapable of articulating even the simplest words, her birth having been just a few minutes before. Literally an infant.
“Traitors! All of you!”
He dashed forward, cleaving the water with powerful strokes of the silvery tail and precise cuts; blood permeating the cold water wherever his sword struck.
More and more guards came flooding in. He couldn’t even see her anymore behind the wall of pointed spears.
And yet-
“Azar! You-”
And yet the chase was cut short abruptly.
Something painfully hard collided with the back of his head, effectively immobilizing him.
As he slumped forward he could see her. Big green eyes full of fear, terror even.
He tried to whisper something, but shadows quickly engulfed him and only the ever-present darkness heard his prayer.
“Nahida…”
****
Sumeru City was the jewel of the Southern See. Warm waters and a relatively shallow seabed offered the perfect environment for life to thrive. Corals and coralline algae competing for every ray of sunshine, painting the rocks with vivid reds and colourful brush strokes; sea urchins, golden sponges, small molluscs and a marvelling variety of brightly coloured fish inhabited the perimeter of the illustrious merfolk city, capital of the southern division.
Full of fish, some corals and long seaweed cultures used as public decorations, the city was a pleasure for the eyes.
Amongst the smaller, duller buildings, simpler but pleasant to admire nonetheless, stood out the Akademiya, the real diamond of the Southern See. A bulwark of knowledge and culture, promoter of the majority of the ocean-wide events and gatherings hosted by the eight merfolk divisions.
It was a popular destination amongst the younger merfolk and many, whether for cultural or more prosaic reasons, found themselves visiting the Akademiya at a certain point.
Now, renowned as it was, Sumeru City certainly didn’t lack prodigies among its inhabitants. Many were those who excelled in their studies, but very few those who actually managed to create a name for themselves, even more if within the artistic field.
Thus, mister Kaveh, first prodigy of the Khshahrewar darshan and then most acclaimed architect of the region, had every right to bask in the glory his valued work brought him. Fame, money and respect, he had it all. In addition, a lively personality and a handsome face made him the most eligible bachelor the city had to offer.
However, together with fame often comes envy, and envy brings enemies to you door.
So, when during the presentation speech of his latest project – being ornating the square right before the Akademiya entrance – a bottle of bioluminescent organic material hit him full on the head, everyone thought that’d be the end of the “Light of Khshahrewar”, if because of the powerful hit alone or the poison inside it’s arguable.
So they thought.
****
General Mahamatra Cyno was used to travel the southern border of Sumeru, since, being the barren place that it was, filled only with rocks and narrow caves, it was the perfect hiding place, favoured by criminals and scholars on the run.
Holding what he was carrying close to his chest, he swum past the rock pillars and the small, brownish patch of decaying seaweed, stopping a good ten meters away from the relict of a sunken ship.
That thing had been lying there from ages, Cyno grimly thought.
A couple centuries ago, when the Akademiya’s Sages, leaders of Sumeru’s government, tried to seize control over the desert waters of the southern region, the fast, effortless conquest they had imagined became a bloody war as the local merfolk tribes, small and primitive, but fierce enough, defended their home with everything they got. It ended up being a massacre.
Despite everything, the Akademiya would’ve probably triumphed, hadn’t the consequences of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s death still been weighing down the whole country. After centuries of ruling Sumeru with kindness and benevolence, the Greater Lord, the only one amongst the merfolk capable of summoning the elemental power known as dendro, simply withered away, disappearing in a matter of minutes. Through the following years, some scholars blamed the Corruption, always threatening Sumeru’s borders with its stench and poisonous currents; others found their culprits in the Sages. However the truth may be, the Darshans’ heads took the government’s reins after the Greater Lord’s passing and no dendro user was born again in Sumeru for the next five hundreds years.
It was six months ago that general Cyno, the fifth general Mahamatra since the great tragedy, had discovered the abandoned ship. Far away from the city and any hunting zone known to the merfolk, all alone in no man’s land. It was visibly rotting: completely decaying on one side, having algae and sponges dug into the wood, while being partially intact on the other.
Having reached the small opening at the stern of the boat, Cyno knocked twice on the wooden planks, a four seconds pause and then other three knocks. From the inside, a child’s voice called out his name.
“Cyno!”, and then the door barely holding onto the rusted hinges swayed open and a little head popped out.
“Hello, Nahida”, he greeted her with a small bow of the head.
She smiled and motioned for him to come inside, gently pushing aside a wandering fish swimming nearby, and lead him to a short table bolted to the wooden floor.
“I’m so happy to see you again, Cyno!”, she exclaimed, “It has been a while from your last visit. Mmh… Can I offer you something? Shrimp? Codfish? Or maybe one of those little crabs found on the rocks out there? I firmly believe they are edible, I just have to catch one to prove him I’m right”.
“Actually, Nahida, I’m here because I need your help”, and the small “Oh” that followed had him chocking down the guilt.
“…Our help? You mean…mine and…”, she seamed incredulous and Cyno couldn’t honestly judge her for that.
“Yes”.
“Is it official?”.
“It isn’t, don’t worry. Don’t forget that I promised”.
“Oh- Uhm, alright. Then…what’s happened?”.
“Here”, and as Cyno spoke he let go of the envelope he was still holding. As the knot that held the cloth together was opened, it revealed a small, brightly coloured octopus. Blues and yellows popping up on his skin, clearly signalling fear.
The little white-haired mermaid stared at the small creature dumbfounded.
“A…blue-ringed octopus?”.
“Actually, this is-”, but a that moment a quiet knocking from behind the door interrupted him.
Nahida hurried up to the door and immediately jumped on the person behind it.
“Haitham! You are back!”.
The merman, with long silvery hair and a matching tail, swayed a little, a bit startled from the sudden attack, but quickly hugged her back.
“Yes. I’m home, Nahida”, he murmured while gently petting her hair.
“Did the hunt go well?”.
“Well, I-”, he stopped as he acknowledged Cyno’s presence at the table. Their eyes met and he shrugged, preferring to drop the subject. Cyno silently obliged.
“Cyno”, he greeted politely.
“Alhaitham”.
Then, Alhaitham’s gaze lowered and seeing an octopus, even more an extremely poisonous and frightened one, in his house made him naturally frown.
Nahida’s little “Oh oh” was all they got before an imperious and slightly annoyed voice filled up the silence.
“What is that?”.
****
“So you are telling me, General Cyno, that this thing here is a merman”.
“Yes”.
“A famous one”.
“Precisely”.
“An architect”.
“Yup. That’s what he said”.
“Nahida, let me handle this, please. This thing here was a merman and now it’s a blue-ringed octopus because of some fanatic scholar trying to kill him with a home-made poison, but that somehow messed up and turned him into this creature trembling on my table”.
“…That is exactly what happened”.
“And you brought him here why, precisely?”.
“I-”.
“No, obviously you weren’t thinking. How, just- How could you believe it was the right choice. That time you stumbled here hurt and bleeding and I, for the sake of Nahida and her compassionate heart, decided to reveal ourselves to help you. But this- this is something I can’t turn a blind eye to. You know what we are, General, you know why we are living here, in the middle of no-where.
Oh, and judging from the look of that creature there, I guess he knows too, more or less”.
Cyno just listened in silence, completely aware of the absurdity of his decision, and yet unable to do otherwise.
“Alhaitham, I’m perfectly aware that-”.
“General”, the other spoke firmly, “please, bring that thing out of my house and don’t come back for a while. I can’t afford the risk of someone going out of their way to search for him. Even more if he is as famous as you said he is”.
As he finished speaking, silence fell. After a few minutes of awkward quietness and tensely pondering over his possibilities, Cyno came to the conclusion that just grabbing his polearm and the poor octopus and then leaving would’ve had to be enough. However, as he moved his hands to pick up the little thing, it was snatched away by Nahida’s small hands and cradled lovingly against her chest.
“Wait!”, she said, “Haitham, I think we should hear Cyno’s reasoning before deciding”.
At that Alhaitham lifted a brow, perhaps intentionally menacingly, but she didn’t retreat.
“After all, you are the one who taught me to evaluate all the possibilities instead of rushing to conclusions”, and when the merman pursed his lips, she knew she had scored a point.
Teal eyes turned to crimson ones and Alhaitham nodded slightly.
“Speak up, General”.
Cyno cleared his throat.
“After the attack, the Sages-”, and he lowered his voice a bit, knowing from the deepening frown on the other merman’s face that that hadn’t been a pleasant mention, “the Sages asked me to protect Mister Kaveh and entrusted him to my care.
The problem is that, being also tasked to catch the culprit, I won’t be able to stay at home and bringing him with me would just expose him to far more dangerous scenarios. Moreover, my friend’s house is also to be excluded. Everyone knows of our relationship, thus making his place one of the firsts on the list”.
Nahida nodded and hummed pensively while still holding the small octopus in her arms.
“This is how I came to the decision of entrusting him to you. Oh, and it will be temporary, obviously”, he paused for a moment to observe any changes in Alhaitham’s stoic face that could’ve indicated a decision of sorts forming in his mind, but obviously found none. “No-one knows about you”.
“They could, now”, Alhaitham retorted.
“Believe me, no-one even suspects that someone could be living out here”
“And you’d make sure it stays that way while Mister Kaveh is here with us, right, Cyno?”, Nahida asked.
Cyno nodded. “That’s right”.
She turned to the silver-haired merman and stared at him like she was looking directly into his soul.
“Haitham”.
“No, Nahida. I still don’t think it is a wise-”.
“Haitham”, she said again, now holding Kaveh to her chest in what was probably meant to be a cute way, but seemed more like a choke-hold judging from the octopus’ squirming alone.
“Pretty please?”.
“I-”.
I’m so disgustingly weak.
****
The octopus stayed. Much to Alhaitham’s delight.
Nahida was the one tasked to care for it though. Him- Him.
She was beaming with joy while showing him the house, swimming everywhere and even showing him her collection of dead starfish. “Sometimes the currents bring them here from the rift”, she would say, “Have you ever been to the rift? I only read about it in books… Oh and also from Haitham’s stories, but that’s obvious”, and so on.
She would go hours simply chitchatting with a progressively calmer “were-merman”, delighting in conversations as deep the those Alhaitham himself could have had explaining the physics of fluids to a floating seaweed. After all, the octopus couldn’t talk.
“But he nods!”, Nahida would insist, energetically counteracting every one of his annoyed observations and complaints.
“And look!”, she exclaimed during the third day, pushing the creature right before his eyes, “He can do the cartwheel!”.
The octopus spun around and Alhaitham facepalmed so hard he practically slapped himself.
****
“So”, Nahida started, “You’re an architect, right?”. They were lying on the old ship’s main deck. She was playing with a little shrimp, while Kaveh was attempting to skilfully turn a pile of rocks and shells into a miniaturized mausoleum.
One of the octopus’ tentacles moved to nod at Nahida’s words.
“Have you built something very big? I don’t know what the houses in Sumeru City look like, but I bet they would look even prettier with a bunch of shells on the walls”.
Kaveh tapped on the wood twice and held up a rosy shell, positioning it on the rooftop.
“Oh, so you think they look better on the roofs? I see…”.
She let go of the shrimp and turned fully to him.
“You know, I’d like to get a big house one day. One as white as the rift’s sand, with shiny shells on the rooftop and colourful curtains to filter the light and paint every room with every colour in the world”.
He stopped moving the rocks and met her gaze.
“It would have a library twice this ship and- Ah, maybe that’s a bit too big. I don’t even know if there are enough books in the world to fill such a room. Do you know how many books there are in Sumeru?”.
He shrugged.
“Sorry”, she chuckled, “hard question”.
She turned to look at the shiny cerulean surface far above their heads and sighed.
“I’d give half of that room to Haitham and make sure he always has the seaweed paper and ink to write what he wants. He used to do that, before… A-and, I’d also gift him a comfier bed, one that doesn’t make his back hurt in the morning. But perhaps, even this wouldn’t be enough to repay him…”.
At that, Kaveh pushed himself up and gently landed on her tummy, looking at her in a clearly questioningly way. Nahida smiled and petted him.
“I know you don’t like him, and I’d say the feeling is mutual. But trust me, Haitham is truly a good person”.
Kaveh’s limited expressive repertoire, to which he was still getting used to, allowed him to give the impression of a vague scoffing. I don’t believe you was written all over his yellowish, round “face”.
“But you have to! Haitham, he…has made many sacrifices in his life. He had a job, a family, a life he loved.
And I’m sure that when Cyno brought you here he told you something on the line of ‘they are terrible bandits wanted by the Akademiya’ or ‘I’m about to entrust you to two sea witches whose secret arts are so obscure not even the Sages dare to go and look for them”. Or maybe it was less surreal, but it’s not important right now.
The truth is that we are normal people, part of the merfolk just like you. Well, Haitham more than me. I have this- thing here that just-”, and as she stopped talking, she sat up and caressed the wood next to her greenish tail. Almost instantly, long tapered seaweeds sprung out from the wood and swayed, almost like they were reaching for Nahida’s fingers.
Seeing that, Kaveh’s skin flashed yellow and blue, but only for a moment.
He swum next to her face, moving all around following an irregular pace.
“You’re surprised, aren’t you? I don’t know why, but I have this thing in me, this power that Haitham calls dendro. He told me that nobody has it but me. I’d ask you if you knew anything about it, but I don’t think you’d be able to give me an answer exhaustive enough, not right now at least”.
Having to agree with her, he reluctantly stopped moving, opting to return to his rocks and shells project.
He knew what dendro was. He also knew it shouldn’t have existed anymore.
“Look”, Nahida said, “Haitham is back”.
He lifted his gaze and stared at the silvery shine of his tail, coming closer and closer.
****
The octopus was at it again. Also, Alhaitham’s headache was coming back too and he was really starting to think the two were directly connected.
It was late, Nahida was sleeping and he was trying to read the last book Cyno brought him from the city. Trying to and partially failing, thanks to the little thing moving everything everywhere inside the room. At first he had felt the urge to strangle it, ready to freeze it with one icy look and threaten to let it sleep outside, but then Nahida had gone all “Let him be! He knows how to best arrange the things here” and “Look, look! Yesterday he built this little miniature here. It looks like a royal palace…”. Clearly a mausoleum, Alhaitham thought, but nonetheless he gave up on trying to physically stop the literal hurricane happily swimming around the room.
He could ignore it- him. He was good at ignoring people.
Everything was fine.
Or maybe it would’ve been fine if the octopus’ being so small didn’t get in the way of his work, meaning his thin tentacles often let heavier objects fall, producing an irregular sequence of loud thuds that was making Alhaitham progressively more insufferable.
It felt like a hammering right through his skull.
Something else fell, and he, having been reading the same three lines for a good then minutes, finally closed the book and turned to the octopus with a piercing look.
“Could you not?”, he asked, not even trying to hide how annoyed he was.
The little creature flashed blue and yellow for a moment, as if gasping, and then, seemingly panicking, swum down to get what he lost from the ground; but as he tried to pick it up it became evident that the statuette of what vaguely resembled a dolphin – a relic found in the ship when they first discovered it – was far too heavy for his limited strength.
Alhaitham continued to stare at him, squirming and fighting to sustain the weight.
Then, moved by a sudden wave of sympathy, he got up from where he was comfortably reading and moved closer, picking up the thing with minimal effort.
Had Kaveh still had a face, he was sure his eyes would’ve widened.
He was…being nice to him?
Alhaitham looked around the room.
“Where do you need me to put it?”.
As he felt no movements form the other, he shifted his attention back to the octopus.
He was staring at him with what could only be described as disbelief – and Alhaitham cringed internally at the realization of having started to understand him.
“What?”, he asked raising a brow, “Want me to leave you to your own devices? However, I’d say it wasn’t going that smoothly”.
And just like that the magic was broken.
Neat. Very neat, you sassy, infuriating, arrogant control freak-
Kaveh was sure he flashed blue for a moment there.
He swum next to a partially rotten cabinet, motioning for the merman to put down the statuette there.
He had almost believed Alhaitham was capable of feeling empathy. Almost.
****
He had to admit it, perhaps the quirky octopus had some talent.
The small living-room seemed a little bigger, brighter and sensibly less chaotic, since, for all his logical thinking and refined wit, Alhaitham tended more towards the messy side and Nahida, well, she tended to bring everything even a little bit peculiar inside, clustering every surface with more or less exotic trinkets and knick-knacks.
The merman was pleased.
“You”, he said, looking at the beaming-with-pride octopus, “do you know how to play chess?”.
He then understood what Nahida had meant saying he could nod.
They settled the chessboard on the table, and began positioning the pieces, heavy enough as to not float, but graciously crafted nonetheless.
Kaveh placed the white ones in front of him and the game began.
Now, even during his past days at the Akademiya Alhaitham knew he was slightly above average – read sensibly above average – and had lived with this awareness serenely for all his long life; knowing it as a matter of fact, but never growing arrogant because of it. He just knew it was how things were.
So, had someone told him he would’ve risked to be bested in a game of chess by a slightly rounder squid, he would’ve probably at least snorted. Except that it was actually happening.
It had been almost a checkmate from both sides around their fourth move and from then on it was a constant chasing and threatening, always one move away from finishing the opponent and yet unable to end the game.
A true battle of wits and spirits.
The focused – and vaguely amused – silence was broken when Alhaitham suddenly winced and held a hand up on the metallic piece covering his right ear.
Kaveh, who was once again about to declare his certain and immediate victory with his next move, stopped to look at him.
“Wait here. It will only take a few minutes”, he said, quickly moving away from the table and stopping in front of a cabinet. Kaveh curiously observed as he took out a metallic box, opened it and began positioning a variety of strangely shaped tools on the counter. They looked more like metallic scrapes than real tools, though.
“Don’t try to talk to me until I’m finished”, the merman said.
He then took off both the earpieces and placed them down, starting tinkering at them with some of the strange tools.
Having never been a fan of strictly following the rules, Kaveh lifted a chess piece and then dropped it. The soft thud didn’t make Alhaitham turn. Therefore, he lifted another piece and this time threw it with all his strength. Alhaitham continued examining his earpieces.
“Stop”, the merman’s stern voice stopped him from attempting a third test.
“I know you’re doing something and I sincerely suggest you to stop. Me being unable to hear you doesn’t limit my capabilities as much as you may think”.
That was when Kaveh discovered Alhaitham was born deaf.
“They are old and sometimes malfunction, but I know how to repair them”, the merman said as he returned to the table, his earpieces – hearing devices – back on.
“Shall we continue our game? I find your creative thinking quite interesting”.
Be it a compliment of an insult, Kaveh for once didn’t mind it. He hadn’t even once thought of Alhaitham as someone who could possibly be…well, fragile.
But now-
“If I catch you pitying me even for a second I’ll kick you out”, and his voice was so serious and his eyes so deeply resolute, that he didn’t find in himself the will to argue anymore.
Never. He hoped he’d been able to convey that. In his heart something in between respect and admiration started taking roots.
Alhaitham nodded and their game was resumed.
****
Wait- Wait a minute…
Does that mean that when he complained about the noise…he could’ve just turned off his…
Kaveh flashed through all the colours of the rainbow when the realization dawned upon him.
****
Nahida could be quite observant, which was to be expected when living in a place with close to zero distractions and nothing else to do other than keeping the house clean and free from unwanted guests – the crabs accident was still too fresh in Alhaitham’s memory fro his liking.
Kaveh’s arrival had brought a pleasant changing to her daily routine, also allowing Alhaitham to take a moment of respite. She knew he felt obliged to devote time to her everyday, even if tired and exhausted after a hunting trip, even if his hands longed for a book to read and his mind for a bit of solitude.
She wasn’t noisy or needy at all, but she was there, he was her caretaker and fully conscious of the life he was offering her. Nahida knew Alhaitham’s frown deepened every time he thought about it. She knew he wasn’t happy, not for her nor for himself. She knew he constantly tried to make it better, tried to improve their dark and rotting house with shiny glass fragments that could reflect the scarce light they had; to keep her well fed despite the toll that hunting took on him; to keep her entertained with linguistic theories and rune reading lessons.
She was perfectly conscious of all of this, and yet unable to change anything. He was too stubborn and proud.
But then Kaveh happened and he was as stubborn and proud as Alhaitham. They clashed and fought, being too witty to accept a mistake and too enamoured with debates to let something go too easily.
She started to believe that was exactly what Alhaitham needed.
So she smiled every time she heard them “mimicking a discussion” – as Alhaitham had called the one-sided discussion with a flashing and fuming octopus – but didn’t miss the way they were inevitably becoming closer and closer.
She was still the one tasked to care for Kaveh, but Alhaitham seemed to tolerate his antics much more. He still threatened to eat him when he decided to work on a project of his in the middle of the night, though.
Kaveh had also started to wait for Alhaitham’s return when hunting. He didn’t wait by the door, like Nahida did, but made sure to stay close by and if the merman came back with an injury, he wouldn’t leave his side until he was sure he was alright. They didn’t speak about it, obviously, but Nahida didn’t need words to understand what was happening. If Alhaitham noticed, he didn’t say anything.
Speaking of Alhaitham, he had finally prepared a little bed for Kaveh; nothing fancy, but comfortable enough to successfully replace the wooden plank he had been using since his arrival. Nahida knew he’d been working on it for a whole day, even adding some golden fish scales to add to the aesthetic. Quite the effort for someone you hate, she promptly noted.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, she had seen them working on one of Kaveh improvised projects together. They debated for a full ten minutes whether the blue shell was to be chosen for the right corner of the rooftop or the white one, and when Alhaitham won, the blue one still found its place on the opposite corner.
“I think you’re starting to like Kaveh more”, she hummed. They were lying on the ship’s main deck, enjoying the dim light coming from the surface.
Alhaitham turned his head to look at her.
“No, I don’t”.
“Then why is he sleeping on your tummy?”.
To that he didn’t reply, but returned to gaze at the light blue surface above them.
Nahida sincerely hoped to have engraved the image of the two of them together like that in her long-term memory.
“I find him amusing”, he said slowly.
She smiled.
“Yeah, just like I thought”.
****
“General Cyno, a fully armed group of bandits has been spotted in the Desert Sea. They move slowly, but seem to be heading for Sumeru City”.
Cyno took the report from the guard hands and quickly verified its content.
He then nodded and dismissed the other merman.
“Unpleasant news?”, Tighnari asked as he returned from the vendor he was buying from.
“Probably”.
Tighnari hummed and checked again the content of the bag between his arms.
“I should have everything I need. The potion will be ready soon”.
Cyno smiled and offered to carry some of the ingredients himself.
“Thank you”.
“Shall we continue our stroll before the mighty General Mahamatra returns to his official duties?”.
Cyno nodded again and they swum away, their pinkies slightly touching.
****
When Nahida saw Cyno from the distance, she knew the moment she had dreaded had finally arrived.
“I’m here to bring Kaveh back to Sumeru City”, he declared as he was invited inside.
A chill run down Alhaitham’s spine, but he tried to ignore it.
“Has a cure been found?”, he asked instead.
The General nodded.
“Yes. My friend Tighnari prepared a potion to revert the transformation, so he’ll be back to his former self. The criminal has also been apprehended”.
“Oh”, was all Alhaitham managed to say, words escaping him at the most important moment.
He was fine. Of course he was, why shouldn’t he? It wasn’t like Kaveh was family, like Nahida, he wasn’t even a wanted guest to begin with… So why did he feel hurt? Why did his heart ache?
He was used to being just him and Nahida and he was fine with it. He had been fine for almost five centuries, for Archons’ sake-
He wouldn’t miss him. He wouldn’t… He would have not-
“Thank you for taking care of him during this month”, Cyno’s voice cut through his racing thoughts like a whip.
He then noticed that Nahida was softly crying.
And Kaveh? What about Kaveh?
His eyes searched for the little creature and his heart broke a little more seeing how happy he seemed to be.
It’s normal. He’s just happy to be able to regain his old body, his rational mind offered.
But, perhaps for the first time in his entire life, he chose to ignore it.
It felt like that hurt was a far better response.
“Please, excuse us”
Just like that, Cyno was gone. Kaveh was gone and the house was silent.
He petted Nahida’s head as she sobbed.
He wouldn’t fight the sadness chewing away at his heart.
Maybe…just a little more…a tear or two.
****
Kaveh felt refreshed, renewed. Golden locks and golden scales were back in place and he spent an awfully long time just staring at his reflection in the mirror, almost shedding tears of joy.
He thanked Tighnari endlessly and immediately swum across the other merman’s garden, ecstatic to be able to feel his tail again.
“Well then, I’ll go now”, he said as he approached the other.
Tighnari nodded and smiled, happy to see his friend again.
Kaveh continued excitedly. “Ah! I have so many unfinished things to attend to- So many drafts and projects and-”, he stopped abruptly.
“Hey, Tighnari”.
“Yes?”.
“Do you-”, he diverted his eyes, looking everywhere but at the other merman, “Do you know anything about the day Greater Lord Rukkhadevata disappeared? I know it’s a strange question, but just answer me, please”.
Tighnari took a few moments to reflect.
“I know what everybody in Sumeru City knows, that the Greater Lord suddenly disappeared while in her rooms, no one could find her anymore and the power of dendro was forever lost with her”.
“Yeah, I know that too. I just- Do you know of anyone else being there that day? Anything related to another mermaid or…merman?”
“Actually…”, Tighnari looked around for a moment, as if to make sure they were alone, and then began whispering. “I remember something Cyno told me once. I didn’t think much of it back then, but I suppose that since you’re asking now it must be at least a bit important”.
Kaveh got closer.
“He told me that another merman disappeared that day, the Akademiya’s Scribe. No-one has ever acknowledged his departure. It seems no-one even knows he existed. Cyno didn’t want to tell me how he came to know this, but he had recently been injured during a fight at the southern border and I didn’t want to press him”.
As he finished talking, Kaveh’s face had already passed through three distinct expressions.
He stared at Tighnari with wide eyes, having finally connected the dots.
Tighnari looked worried by Kaveh’s sudden reaction.
“Kaveh, are you-”
“I have to go back to the Desert Sea!”, he exclaimed and he was already dashing towards the door when Tighnari’s voice stopped him.
“Maybe you should wait until tomorrow. I heard Cyno has gone there to arrest a group of particularly fierce bandits, so it’s not safe now. Now that I think about it, Cyno told me they settled in the wreck of a ship and- Kaveh? Kaveh! W-wait a moment-!”, he shouted, but the other merman was already out of the door and dashing through the streets.
“It’s only been two days since your recovery…”, he whispered.
****
They stood very still, observing the bandits from behind the wooden railings.
They had occupied the ship.
Wonderful, simply wonderful, Alhaitham grimly thought.
They just had to get away, far away from there and wait for Cyno do to his job. Knowing the General, Alhaitham was sure he was already on his way.
The problem was that the bandits were patrolling the area, having immediately understood that someone lived there.
He held Nahida’s hand tight, observing and waiting for the right moment. It was vital to avoid direct confrontation and not only because they were outnumbered and unarmed, but because he knew he wouldn’t have been able to swim fast enough. Worst case scenario, he would’ve had to let go of Nahida’s little hand and make sure she escaped unharmed, maybe telling her to go find Cyno.
As if sensing his thoughts, the mermaid’s grasp tightened around his fingers.
He gave her a faint smile.
There- It was there. The opening!
He pulled Nahida with him and started slowly swimming away, meter after meter, tuning out his heart beating fast in his chest.
Almost there. Almost there and-
His heart froze for the shortest moment when he saw one of the bandits turn towards them from the opposite side.
Ah…
A flash of golden light, someone shouted and Alhaitham’s eyes widened.
“Hey, you ugly faces!”, a voice shouted, from the other side of the ship, “Over here!”.
It was-
“Kaveh!”, Nahida exclaimed.
Alhaitham blinked. Yes, it was Kaveh. It was- It was clearly him. His look, his voice, everything was like how he had imagined. The first thing that came to his mind was why is he here to begin with? And then why is he yelling?
The answer to the second question came when the golden merman swiftly swum away from the chasing bandits, going to the opposite direction from Alhaitham and Nahida.
“That fool-!”, he murmured through gritted teeth.
Why? Why?! They barely knew each other, they didn’t get along, they…they weren’t even friends.
So why?
He was at a loss. Speechless.
Nahida pulled at his hand.
“Haitham! Look! They’re going to catch him- Haitham! We must help him, we-”, she sounded panicked. The bandits were about to surround Kaveh, having successfully ended the chasing.
It took a moment for Alhaitham to analyse the situation.
He turned to Nahida and held her trembling hands.
“Alright, Nahida. We are going to save him, okay? He’s going to be alright”. He tried to be reassuring and judging from the newfound determination shining in her eyes, he did a discreet job.
She nodded fast.
“Go below the ship’s bow and be ready”.
****
Alhaitham took a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. Inhale- Go.
He dashed forward, rusty spear in hand, and threw it with all his strength. With precise aiming, it cut through the water and drove into the side of the ship with a sharp sound.
A few moments of silence, all eyes on the still vibrating spear.
Then, panicked shouts arised from the bandits, all of them so sure that the General Mahamatra had finally arrived that they didn’t pay attention to the other merman.
It’s time!
“Nahida!”, Alhaitham shouted, making Kaveh turn to where he was hiding.
He quickly swum forward, grabbing Kaveh by the shoulders and pulling him away the moment the dead seaweeds started glowing a vibrant shade of green.
By the moment the bandits realised what was happening, growing vines were already enveloping them, effectively immobilising them.
“Haitham, behind-!”, Kaveh’s warning didn’t arrive in time.
A short spear. A single short spear was all those pathetic bandits had managed to throw before succumbing to the vines. And yet it was well aimed.
“Go down! Now!”, Kaveh tried again.
But he didn’t know-
“I- I can’t-!”.
In the blink of an eye, he did the only thing his racing mind supplied him with.
He lifted Kaveh higher then him with all his strength and leaned to the side. Blood painted the water red as the spear cut through his side and then fell into the sand.
He whined.
“Haitham!”, Kaveh’s voice, he noticed through his pain filled mind, was strangely soothing at that moment. He let go of the other, pressing both hands on the bleeding wound.
When Nahida also called his name, he shouted through gritted teeth.
“Don’t come here. Stay there, hidden. Ngh- Please”.
A pair of strong arms held him and Alhaitham unconsciously leaned into the touch. Kaveh quickly brought him to where Nahida was.
“Hang in there, Haitham! You hear me? I’ll- I’ll patch you up right now. Just don’t stop pressing onto it”, Kaveh’s words ringed in his head and he grunted.
“Quieter”, he whispered.
Kaveh ignored him.
“Nahida, is there something inside to patch him up?”.
The little mermaid, clearly on the verge of tears but refusing to give in, quickly nodded and dashed away.
“Why did you…come back?”
“Uh?”, Kaveh blinked at Alhaitham’s words. “What does it mean ‘why’? I came back because we are, well…friends. Aren’t we?”.
Alhaitham could only stare at him.
“… If you like to put it that way”.
“Huh?! You insensible idiot, it’s ob-”, he suddenly stopped when, in an attempt to slightly change their position, he touched the other merman’s back.
No dorsal fin.
He was frozen in place.
“Haitham, you… What- What happened to you?”.
The other averted his eyes.
“It’s unimportant right now. These are past things”.
Kaveh felt his blood freezing at how unbothered Alhaitham’s voice and expression seemed.
When he spoke again his voice trembled a little, if from rage or sadness he couldn’t tell.
“Haitham, tell me something. You were the Akademiya’s Scribe a long time ago, weren’t you?”.
He didn’t miss the way Alhaitham’s eyes widened the minimum necessary to make him understand he had hit a nerve.
The injured merman remained silent.
“Did…they do this to you? The Sages?”
When Alhaitham slowly nodded Kaveh felt his world collapsing.
He worked for them. He- He had worked his entire life for such disgusting, inhuman criminals-
“Why?”, he asked, his voice reduced to a whisper.
Another pause.
“It is impossible to swim well without our dorsal fin, you can’t change direction quickly. Nahida was too young and inexperienced to really pose a threat to them and so they cut off the problem at its root. I can’t swim fast nor sustain a chase, I wouldn’t be able to escape them did they decide to permanently eliminate us”.
Kaveh’s hands trembled from barely contained rage.
“The reason the Sages are so afraid of you…is it because of her?”.
Alhaitham nodded again.
“They wanted the power and after Rukkhadevata’s death, Lesser Lord Kusanali was just a hindrance. They were lucky she had just been born”.
“So your abnormally long life is also thanks to her?”.
“In a way… When I attended the Akademiya things where different. Rukkhadevata- the Greater Lord reined wisely and kindly and the Sages were merely functionaries. I, as the Scribe, had the chance to work with her personally. She was the one that gifted me these hearing devices, way more practical then the ones I originally had. And- ugh… And when she died, when she transformed in front of my eyes I knew I had to protect what she had left behind, even if it meant risking my own life…”.
He trembled and Kaveh knew that he had to close that wound immediately.
“You’re truly a fool, Haitham. The biggest, most insufferable, annoying idiot I’ve ever met”.
Alhaitham scoffed.
“I preferred you when you couldn’t talk”.
Kaveh hummed.
“Yeah, I’m sure you did”.
****
Kaveh finished patching him up when Cyno found the still tied bandits.
After returning with the bandages, Nahida had cried on Alhaitham’s shoulder and then almost strangled Kaveh in an attempt to hug him.
“I’d like to get that wound checked up by a friend of mine, just to make sure it’ll be alright”, Kaveh the said. “Oh, don’t give me that face, Haitham, by now I thought you’d know you can trust me”.
He didn’t reply, but, as he was helped up, he took a long and deliberate look at Kaveh’s face.
“You know…”.
“Mh?”.
“I now understand why a blue-ringed octopus”.
Kaveh blinked.
“Uh? What do you mean with that?”.
“Me? Nothing at all”.
“Oh, come on! Is it in a good or bad way?”.
“Good question. I see you are improving your thinking”.
“You-!”