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“Argh! This heat is unbearable!”
“Shit, there’s sand on my boots again…”
“Are you guys able to not complain for at least 10 seconds?”
The irony, Kaveh begging for someone to stop complaining.
“Lesser Lord Kusanali told you guys that the mission was going to take part in the Desert, why didn’t you prepare yourself?”
The general Mahamatra says, turning around to see Tighnari still wearing dozens of clothes, and Alhaitham’s boots that for some unknown reason, had a small hole in them for sand to come through. The two of them tried to argue, but they had no defense.
The group of four was traveling through the cruel and unforgiving desert of Sumeru, for Lesser Lord Kusanali asked Tighnari for help in classifying some new species of plants growing in the desert,and since the area was dangerous, the General Mahamatra and the Acting Grand Sage were issued to oversee the project. Why was Kaveh there you ask? They just happened to be going in the same direction as him, so Kaveh decided to join them to split the costs, against the will of Alhaitham.
Cyno and Kaveh held their own pretty good at the desert, Cyno was already accustomed to it, being born in it, and going back to it once in a while for his jobs as a Matra. Kaveh, on the other hand, was prepared, wearing light clothes, using a hat to cover himself from the sun, and carrying loads of water alongside him.
Compare that to the two other residents of the rainforest, who were almost melting under the heat.
“Cyno… Is there still a long path ahead?”
“Yes.”
Tighnari sighed after hearing the general’s usual short and dry response.
“But the sun is starting to set, we will be setting up a camp for the night.”
Hope rose on the hearths of the botanist and the scribe, they would not have to walk around under the unforgiving sun anymore. They rushed forward.
“Alright! Let’s set up camp! What do we do?”
“Hey Hey Hey, wait a second my long-eared friend, you can leave the camp setting duty to the two specialists in desert survival around here.”
Kaveh smirked as he said that, willing Alhaitham to make a face of disgust.
“I can see you Alhaitham! don’t think i’m blind!”
“Don’t misinterpret me, I wanted for you to see my disgust.”
“Oh you little rascal!”
Kaveh and Alhaitham started discussing fiercely.
Cyno scoffed at them, and started to set up the camp all by himself, while Tighnari used one of Kaveh’s water reserves to cool himself down.
“Kaveh, the so-called ‘specialist in desert survival’ who was calling for his mommy while having delusions because of insolation one of these days.”
“Well, at least I LEARN from my errors, mister ‘Sands in Boots’!”
“You two, the tent is already set.”
Both of them look back surprised, how long have they been discussing? or was Cyno really that fast?
“Look at what you did Alhaitham! Now how will I show my superb camp setting abilities?”
“When you stop getting riled up by the smallest of things perhaps.”
Alhaitham headed towards the camp, and this time, Kaveh didn’t have a good defense against his words, so he just decided to sit down with the group.
The sun setted, the time passed, the insufferable heat became a chilling cold, offset by the warmth of the campfire, but even with that warmth, Kaveh still felt cold, Alhaitham, Cyno and Tighnari were all introverts, so they were all occupied pondering about their own worries, the silence would only be broken by the short conversations between Cyno and Tighanri, who were friends.
As the only extrovert of the group, that was unbearable, he needed to pull in something for them to talk about, anything at all, he looked into the flames, and started to brainstorm.
“Kaveh, you shouldn't look directly at a flame you know? that is a sure way to damage your eyesight.”
Tighnari warned him, but Kaveh was too deep in his own thoughts, after some seconds, he lifted up his head and said those words.
“... Hey, do you guys have any luck with women?”
The whole tent had their eyes turned to him, eyeing him down. He felt uncomfortable, but he couldn’t let the silence set in again, so he insisted.
“Well, you guys must have guessed by now, but the Woman at the Akademya begged me to not show myself around so they can focus on their studies, my beauty is so magnetic to the point of scrambling the mind of those scholars, what a pity…”
“Are you sure they weren’t saying that because you’re insufferable?”
“You little!”
“No, I believe in Kaveh’s words.”
Tighnari said, making Kaveh's eyes spark with hope.
“Collei, and the other forest rangers have told me that they find Kaveh to be quite charming.”
“See! Take that mister Sand in Boots!”
“First off, drop the ridiculous nickname if you don’t want to be called ‘Insulation Baby’, second off, even if those girls find you charming, the fact that they want you to stay away from them makes it so my theory about you being insufferable still stands.”
“Hmpf, mister Sand in Boots here is still in denial about my popularity with the ladies, isn’t that what they call ‘jealousy’?”
“I have a girlfriend you know.”
…
…
…
“What?”
Every single one of them turned themselves to Alhaitham, even Cyno was wide eyed at the revelation.
“I’m dating Dehya, the eremite girl that I told you about.”
…
…
…
“WHAT?!?”
Surprised was too soft of a word to describe the feeling they were having, Alhaitham, the introvert, robot-like, people despiser Alhaitham, was not only dating someone, he was dating Dehya?
They didn’t say a word, they could only look at him, dumbfounded with an genuine expression of shock
“I’m almost offended by the fact you guys really think this low of me for the notice of me having a girlfriend to be that much of a surprise… Almost.”
“Well, it’ just-”
“HOW LONG HAVE YOU TWO BEEN DATING?”
“For about a month now.”
“WHAT?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? I’M YOUR ROOMMATE!”
“Because you never asked, now can you stop yelling, it is starting to hurt my ears.”
With the help of Cyno and Tighnari, Kaveh starts to calm down
“Wow, that’s really impressive Alhaitham, but from what i have heard from Cyno, that Dehya lady is very impulsive and loud, isn’t that the complete opposite of you?”
Tighnari questioned, with an sense of newfound curiosity
“I also make myself that question quite often, but i have noticed that love is an irrational feeling that cannot be comprehended by the human mind, the impulsiveness that i find so dumb and entertaining in Kaveh looks so charming in Dehya, the loudness that i find so irritating in Kaveh sounds like music when coming from Dehya’s mouth… and those muscles, perfectly toned in a brown, golden color…”
Alhaitham starts to deviate, and drools a bit.
“Alright! I don’t want to hear anymore of that! General Mahamatra you have been silent for too long! speak!”
Cyno gets surprised at the sudden change of focus from the blonde man.
“Er… Well, I don't really know much about women's feelings, but I think I might be having a bit of a mutual thing for a girl.”
The fearsome and cruel General Mahamatra, talking in a shy voice and blushing like a little girl? That was even more surprising than Alhaitham having a girlfriend! well, at least for Kaveh and Alhaitham, Tighnari already was used to it.
“Really? Who 's she?!”
Kaveh leaned over like a gossip girl, almost burning himself on the campfire, making Alhaitham chuckle to himself.
“... Do you guys promise to not tell this to anyone?”
Cyno's expression had suddenly changed to his well known death stare, as he threatened the other with his polearm in hands, after they nodded their heads in approval, he sighed, and started talking in a shy, low voice once again.
“... Nilou.”
“Who?”
“Nilou, of the Zubayr Theater, are you really this self centered that you don't know about the local celebrities of the city you live in?”
“Shut the fuck up Alhaitham! I know who Nilou is, I just didn’t recognize her by name that’s all… so you’re interested in the star of the Zubayr Theater, and you think she’s interested back?”
"It's obvious that she likes him back, he’s just too thick headed to notice.”
“There comes you again Tighnari, how can you be so certain of that?”
“She asked to have a secret date with you in the woods.”
“Friends have escapades like that all the time, don’t you and Collei also have private picnics with each other?”
“Alright then, then how do you explain the fact that she looks like a tomato and acts like a sheep whenever you are around.”
“Well, I do have a threatening appearance.”
“Dear Dendro Archon, give me patience…”
Tighnari face palmed.
“Well… what about you Tighnari?”
“Uh? Oh… I’m fairly successful with women, but I can’t say I have any crush or girlfriend.”
Tighanari response was expected, in contrast to the two big surprises that Kaveh had felt that night
“Wow, it seems like all of us are Lady-killers!”
“Don’t say that, I have never killed a lady, only punished them.”
…
…
…
"It's a joke. As a Matra I don't have the right to take the life of others if they don’t fight back, and since…”
As Cyno continues to explain the joke, the other boys sigh in relief as they notice that Cyno didn’t mean “What they thought he had meant”.
“Haha, that was a funny one Cyno, why don’t we go to sleep now? it’s getting preeeeetty dark now!”
“But I didn't explain the joke properly yet.”
“Don’t worry Cyno, we already got it, it was pretty funny.”
After successfully defusing the situation, Alhaitham and Tighanri go to sleep in their tents, as do Cyno and Kaveh.
Tomorrow was a new day of Desert exploring, and more unbearable heat, sand and never ending walks waited for them.