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Kaveh woke up on the floor of he and Haitham’s shared house. He felt stiff and confused, using sore limbs to push himself up off the floor. He was still in his sleep clothes, his hair loose, feet bare. The last thing he remembered was getting in bed to sleep. As he lifted himself upright, his head spun. What on earth had happened?
Just then, Haitham’s door opened, and there the man stood, fully dressed and ready for his day. He froze when he saw Kaveh on the floor, staring at him with that blank, emotionless face.
“What are you doing on the floor?” he asked. His tone always ignited indignation in Kaveh’s chest.
“I can’t remember,” Kaveh said, groaning. “Ugh, my head is spinning.”
“You must have been drinking,” Haitham said decisively, leaving his senior on the ground and going to his desk on his side of the room.
Kaveh resisted the urge to shout at him, knowing it would make his growing headache worse. He felt in no condition to work on any projects, but he had too many to ignore at this point. Slowly, he got off the floor and made his way back to his room.
He frowned at the state of his room. The blankets on his bed were spilling off the side onto the floor, the papers on his personal desk were shoved out of the way, and the notebook he usually sketched ideas in was full of incomprehensible scribbles. The plans underneath were practically ruined. There was no way to know what had happened just from looking at his room, so instead he got dressed and cleaned up and left to see if Haitham knew anything.
Poking his head out into the common room, Kaveh watched Haitham reading at his work desk, ears covered with those ridiculous mechanisms that blocked out his surroundings. He had a pen in his left hand, spinning it, prepared to take notes on what he was reading.
Kaveh crossed the room and placed a hand on his shoulder. Immediately, Haitham reached up and slipped one ear free. “Yes?”
“Did you hear anything weird last night?” Kaveh asked, worrying how that might be misconstrued.
Haitham turned to look up at him, an analytical expression on his face as he scanned Kaveh’s expression. “Is something wrong?”
For once, the emotionless scribe senses Kaveh’s tenseness. “I don’t know. My notebook is scribbled in, and I woke up on the floor without remembering how I got there.”
Suddenly, Haitham seemed to realize the situation was more serious than he thought. He closed his book and stood up. “Is anything else out of order? Was anything taken?”
“I don’t think so,” Kaveh said, turning back to his room. “The bed is a mess and so is my desk, but other than that…”
Haitham stood in the doorway, looking over the room with furrowed brows. He walked to the desk, looking at Kaveh’s notebook.
“This wasn’t like this before?”
“No, of course not,” Kaveh said. “That’s my planning notebook. I wouldn’t do something like that to such important information.”
“Hm.” Haitham turned to the bed, with its overflowing blankets. “You don’t remember what happened?”
“No. Last I remember, I went to bed like usual. Then, I woke up on the floor.” Kaveh sighed. He felt exhausted from apparently sleeping on the floor.
“Let me look into this,” Haitham said, turning and leaving swiftly. Once he was gone, Kaveh squeezed his eyes shut. He felt so tired, he wanted to go back to sleep. He knew exactly where to go to curb that, getting his things together and leaving for Puspa Cafe down the road.
After Kaveh left, Haitham got to work really investigating. He doubted Kaveh would be able to tell if someone had broken into their house. The question Haitham had was why the intruder had moved Kaveh from his room in the first place. They had messed with his planning notebook, incriminating a handful of Kshahrewar graduate hopefuls that seemed to despise their senior. But moving Kaveh from his bed didn’t make sense to Haitham. Why not just slip in, ruin the notebook, and then slip back out? It wasn’t like scribbling in a notebook made much noise, so why go to the trouble?
Haitham pondered the question at his desk for a while, then decided to go on a walk with the question to see if the answer presented itself. The air outside was crisp and clear. The Divine Tree always filled the air with fresh oxygen, perfect for keeping the mind at its peak performance. Haitham walked from the house up to the Akademiya’s doors, looking for Kshahrewar students that might look as though they were bragging about something nefarious. But none of them seemed like that at all. All the students looked about the same, differing levels of stress and burnout and planning.
Leaving the plaza in front of the Akademiya, Haitham went toward Puspa Cafe where Kaveh was surely downing cup after cup of coffee like he was still studying. He wondered if whoever had played this prank would be there too, watching for the effects of their plot on Kaveh.
Haitham found Kaveh sitting alone at a table, head propped on his hand, snoring over a fresh cup of coffee. Haitham frowned to himself. The effect was much worse than Haitham thought. If Kaveh was falling asleep at the table, he must’ve slept really poorly last night. He walked up to Kaveh, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him.
“Mm?” Kaveh groaned, lifting his head from his palm.
“Kaveh, go back to the house and sleep,” Haitham said. “You can’t work like this.”
“I can’t work like this,” Kaveh repeated, opening his eyes slowly.
“Yes. Go home and rest.” Haitham pulled the coffee cup toward himself. “I’ll finish this, don’t worry.”
“I don’t have my wallet,” Kaveh said, standing up.
Haitham frowned. He was more out of it than he thought. “You pay for the coffee before you get it. Do you need me to walk you back?”
“I can find my way.” Kaveh went off without another word, walking straight for the door, opening it, and leaving Haitham to stare after him in concern.
Haitham drank the hot cup of coffee in one go, following his senior swiftly. He didn’t seem well, it was starting to really worry him.
Following behind Kaveh by a few yards, Haitham watched Kaveh stop at a stall and purchase a new notebook, then walk off toward their house. Halfway up the walkway, Kaveh stopped and stood for a while. Passersby gave him concerned or frightened looks. Haitham almost went to see what was wrong, but Kaveh started moving again, up toward their house. Haitham trailed him all the way to the door, where Kaveh stopped and sighed deeply.
“Forgot my keys,” Kaveh muttered, turning around. When he did, Haitham saw why those people before were so horrified with what they saw. Kaveh’s eyes were closed. He was asleep, yet walking and talking as if he were awake.
“Kaveh,” Haitham called, trying to wake him. It didn’t work, Kaveh didn’t even flinch.
“I’m late for class,” Kaveh said, turning and walking fast toward the pathway up to the Akademiya. Except, he was a few feet off, and was now walking straight for the unfenced edge of the plaza.
“Kaveh!” Haitham shouted, sprinting forward to catch him by the waist before he could step off the edge. The sudden physical jolt finally woke the man, and he gasped.
“Wha-?” Kaveh blinked slowly, clearly disoriented. He looked down, seeing the drop in front of him, and yelped, gripping Haitham’s arms around him.
“I’ve got you,” Haitham said, pulling him from the edge. “Are you okay?”
He went to let him go, but Kaveh stumbled, and his expression was still not quite lucid. Haitham switched his grip to Kaveh’s shoulders, helping him walk back to the house.
“What happened?” Kaveh asked, holding his head as he sat on the sofa.
“I was going to ask you that,” Haitham said, sitting next to him. “You were asleep on your feet, talking like you were awake.”
“What?!” Kaveh stared at him. “Asleep? Walking around?”
“You were responding to me when I went to the cafe, but nothing you were saying really lined up.” Haitham searched his tired, worried face. “I think you need to sleep, especially after this.”
“B-but what if I do it again?” Kaveh’s hands trembled as he ran them through his hair.
“I’ll watch over you,” Haitham said. “I’ll make sure you stay in bed.”
Kaveh nodded, still looking out of it.
Kaveh managed to fall back asleep. Haitham camped out on the sofa, watching Kaveh’s open bedroom door, listening for any movement. Normally, Haitham would be listening to music and working on his projects. His ears rung slightly from the silence.
He was about to turn something on to cut the buzzing when a noise finally sounded from Kaveh’s room. Haitham stood up, and right away Kaveh walked out from his room, notebook in hand, eyes closed, heading for his desk. Haitham stood and grabbed his arm.
“Kaveh, wake up,” he said, pulling him back toward his bedroom.
“Wake?” Kaveh repeated, slowly opening his eyes. But his gaze was still far off, he was still asleep.
Haitham jostled him. “Kaveh, you’re doing it again, wake up.”
Suddenly, Kaveh’s eyes became clear and he stumbled back. Haitham kept his arm around him as he nearly fell over. This was not going to be so simple after all, Haitham thought.
His heels clicked on the perfect marble of the Akademiya. Haitham ignored the looks of shock and confusion. He wasn’t normally there on this day of the week, even as the Acting Grand Sage. He walked swiftly through the doors that led further up. The confusion on the faces he continued to pass made more and more sense the higher up he climbed. Not even the Acting Grand Sage went up to see Lesser Lord Kusanali without a scheduled meeting.
When he reached the doors of the Sanctuary of Surasthana, he didn’t knock, shoving the doors open and marching inside. The large circular room glowed from within, and it seemed like Haitham was interrupting something between Lesser Lord Kusanali and her new scribe.
“…file things according to how I ask?” she was saying, her tone patient, though her expression tired.
“My system works better,” the scribe said flippantly. He noticed Haitham, narrowing his eyes. “You have company.”
Lesser Lord Kusanali turned and perked up slightly. “Al-Haitham! What can I help you with?”
“I apologize for not making an appointment, but this is urgent,” Haitham said, stopping quickly to bow.
“Urgent?” Lesser Lord Kusanali turned and nodded to her scribe before focusing solely on Haitham. Her scribe rolled his eyes before walking off. “What’s going on?”
“Kaveh has been experiencing a weird phenomenon,” Haitham began, unsure how to describe it. “He has been- well, walking around in his sleep.”
“Oh?” Lesser Lord Kusanali looked thoughtful.
“It’s as if his body wakes up and starts going through normal motions, but his mind is still asleep. He walked home from the cafe, but then said something about being late for a class and almost walked off the edge of our plaza.”
“Oh my, that’s very concerning,” the Archon said. “What he is experiencing is called sleepwalking.”
“Sleepwalking,” Haitham repeated.
“Yes. It’s exactly as you described.” She always looked so serious when speaking about something having to do with dreams. “When people are asleep, their bodies are supposed to become inactive and remain in one place. For various reasons, many people will move around in their sleep, which is normal. However, there are certain phenomenon where people do not fully enter this level of sleep, or their bodies continue to receive these signals to move around.”
Haitham frowned. “Signals?”
“It’s a bit of a complicated science,” Lesser Lord Kusanali said. “The brain sends the body signals when we are awake, signals that are unconscious that move our body when we want it to. When we go to sleep and dream, we often dream of moving around as if we are awake. But when sleeping, the signals from the brain get blocked by other signals to keep us from actually moving around. Some people experience sleepwalking, which is when those signals don’t get blocked and they actually move around normally while asleep.”
“So this is something that’s been studied?” Haitham said. “And this isn’t unusual?”
“In the biological sense, no. But it’s highly uncommon, especially among the people of Sumeru.” Lesser Lord Kusanali turned around to her consol, turning it on. “Let me pull up some information for us to look over, and we can see what we can do for Kaveh.”
For the first time in days, Kaveh woke in his bed. The blankets were strewn about and his door was still open for Haitham to listen for him, but he was in his bed. He even felt rested for once. Slowly, he sat up and yawned.
As if waiting for the slightest sound, Haitham appeared in the doorway. “You’re awake.”
“And in my bed,” Kaveh said.
“I made sure to get you back in bed when you started walking around.” Haitham came into the room and sat beside him. “I got some information on what’s happening.”
Haitham explained what it was called, the rare nature of the disorder, its nature of being a disorder at all, and how best to help with it. Apparently, waking him like Haitham had been was not the best way to handle sleepwalking. It tended to cause disorientation and panic, which Kaveh definitely agreed with.
“The best way,” Haitham went on, “is to simply guide them back to bed. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”
“How many times did you have to do that?” Kaveh asked. “And is there a cure?”
“No, there’s no cure,” Haitham said, shaking his head. “Only slight changes in habits. And I had to do it about four times.”
Kaveh’s eyes widened. “What?!”
“You kept trying to start your projects.”
Kaveh’s face turned red. “I’m sorry, that must’ve been so disruptive…”
“I’m just glad I was there,” Haitham said, uncharacteristically gentle. “You nearly fell to your death once, I just keep worrying I’ll miss you somehow and you’ll end up getting hurt. Apparently it’s the most common problem that comes from sleepwalking, getting hurt.”
“I… I’m glad you were there too.” Kaveh couldn’t look at him. It was odd for him to feel so embarrassed of himself in front of the younger man. “You said habit changes could help?”
“Yes. For one, less caffeine,” Haitham said, looking as though he knew the reaction that he would get. Kaveh groaned. “I know. But Lesser Lord Kusanali told me that less caffeine will help you get higher quality sleep and keep your body from being so hyperactive. Other than that, keeping your door locked and putting away all your important documents so that you don’t ruin them in your sleep. But generally, you’re still deeply asleep when sleepwalking, which is why waking you up is so disorienting.”
“It’s just that my body is still moving around as if I’m awake,” Kaveh said, repeating what Haitham said before. “So I’m still getting good rest doing all that?”
“That’s what Lesser Lord Kusanali said.”
Suddenly, Kaveh realized that Haitham hadn’t just done research, he had gone straight to the Dendro Archon herself for answers. His face turned bright red. “Y-you went to Lesser Lord Kusanali over this?”
Haitham looked away, but there was a dusting of pink on his cheeks. “I admit, it was a bit of an overreaction. But I didn’t know what was happening to you. I’ve had my fair share of strange experiences and witnessed plenty of instances of people being controlled against their will. I didn’t want it to be something like that.”
Kaveh smiled despite his own red face. He leaned to elbow Haitham’s arm. “Well, thank you for taking it so seriously for my sake.”
“Of course,” Haitham said, clearing his throat. “So, anyway, I thought we could go purchase some tea to replace your morning coffee.”
“Tea?” Kaveh got up and stretched. Haitham stood too, putting the documents on Kaveh’s desk in order to busy himself.
“Yes. Lesser Lord Kusanali said that weening off of caffeine will make the transition easier. It’s quite inconvenient and uncomfortable to just stop altogether, especially after years of drinking it quasi-religiously.”
“Blame the Akademiya for that,” Kaveh scoffed. “But I like the sound of tea. Plus, if we buy it, we won’t waste so much money at the cafe.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Haitham stepped out of the room, still not looking him in the face. “I’ll let you get dressed.”
Kaveh smiled at the door as he shut it behind him. So, he thought, Haitham could be kind after all.