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As most terrible things do, it begins on a Monday. That isn’t to say that Monday is a day of only terrible things of course - supposedly Monday's child is fair of face, and Kaveh, as someone born on a Monday, can certainly agree with such a statement.
But Monday comes after a day of peace and rest, a maddening jerk back to reality, where one has to awaken at six in the morning to be ready to open the shutters at eight sharp.
And it is tedious. It is exhausting. It is soul-destroying work, to blink back sleep and stifle a yawn and watch as the city moves on around you, as you remain stuck behind a counter.
That is what Kaveh hates - the monotony of it all. A clock repair here, a compass adjustment there. Hammer, refine, tinker, tinker some more, all day every day. It isn’t that he doesn’t take pride in his work, of course. He takes immense pride in his work, he was educated under the principles of Kshahrewar, after all.
It’s just the fact that he doesn’t seem to get anywhere. After years and years of working at the same place, his debt (not even his debt, his family’s debt, left to him after their passing as a gracious inheritance) never seems to shrink, and he can barely pay rent on his room each month.
This is not the life he had imagined for himself, but it is the life he has, and so yes, the shutters come up at eight in the morning, and Kaveh sits on the stool with the wobbly leg behind the counter, and continues to work on the sextant he was repairing before the weekend.
That is, of course, until his lighting from the morning sun is blocked by someone standing at the counter. A very tall, very large someone.
Kaveh lifts up his magnifying lens, and summoning his best customer service smile, looks up to whomever is standing there.
“Good morning!” He says with the chirpiest voice he can muster. “Welcome to Sangemah Bay Craft and Repair, how can I help you?”
The tall, large someone, with a sheen of silvery grey hair (though he looks far too young) and eyes of tulips reflected across the ocean (not that Kaveh is staring) wordlessly places a small box on the counter. Kaveh looks between the box and the man expectantly, hoping for a little more than tense silence.
“... Is this a repair?” Kaveh asks after a few moments.
The man gives a slight nod. “Yes. My earpieces were… Damaged. The innkeeper said I should bring them here to Kaveh for repairs. Is that you?”
Ah, Lambad. Ever reliable in pointing customers his way, bless his soul.
Kaveh smiles, a little brighter. “Oh! Yes, that’s me, let me just have a look, and I’ll see what I can do–” He finds himself losing his words as he opens the lid of the box to peer at the contents, only to find said earpieces completely and utterly destroyed.
“What the hell did you do to them?!” Kaveh baulks, looking between the earpieces and the man in disbelief. The man seems to shift where he stands, almost a little embarrassed at their state.
“They were damaged in a fight.”
“What kind of fight? Good God, that must’ve been some kind of brawl, I–”
“It wasn’t a brawl. I’m an adventurer.”
Kaveh gives a slow nod. “Riiight, okay… I see,” He murmurs to himself, picking up a pencil to poke at the mechanical components within the box. “And what are they for?” He asks, sifting through the pieces. “Noise cancellation? From the look of the mechanisms, there’s some kind of audio filtration system - are they magical?” Kaveh asks, looking up at the man once more.
“I don’t believe so.”
“I see. I’m no artificer, but I am trained in Kshahrewar techniques, so if they do need more than mechanical repair, that should be something I can do…”
The man’s expression turns from stoic to hopeful for the briefest moment. “You think you can fix them?”
Kaveh raises an eyebrow. “Of course, I can fix them,” He says proudly. “I can fix most anything. Clocks, compasses, hydrometers, hygrometers, barometers–”
“-- And earpieces?”
“And earpieces. I’m sure of it.” Kaveh says firmly, shutting the lid to the box and pulling it across the counter and down to his workstation. The sextant can wait - finally, finally, he has something interesting to work on.
He quickly tears a page from the receipts book, scribbling in a few details before sliding it across the counter to the man with a quill. “So if you can just sign here, here, and that’s just a general disclaimer, that’s the estimated cost, and I should be done by say, the end of the week?”
“Is there any way you can do it faster?” The man asks as he fills in the slip of paper.
Kaveh glances down at the stack of receipts he already has to deal with and mentally tries to calculate how long it’ll take to do them.
“Mm. Perhaps - it’ll cost extra though. For the rush job. How quickly do you need them?”
“The fee is fine. We’re just passing through the city - would you be able to have them done by tomorrow?”
Kaveh feels himself pale at that. “T-Tomorrow? Are you serious?”
The man shrugs, a small smirk appearing on his face as if thought the situation was amusing. “Like I said, I’ll pay any fee. The tavern keeper did say you were the best.”
Kaveh does his best to recompose himself. “Fine then. It’d be 2,000 mora for the parts, 3,000 for the labour, and 2,500 mora for each day rushed, so 15,000 altogether?”
He’s expecting the man to curse at him - it is a ridiculous sum after all, but the man only nods, sliding the slip of paper back across the counter.
“Sounds fair to me. I’ll be back tomorrow to pick them up.”
And with that - he leaves. Kaveh picks up the slip of paper, glancing at the name written on the bottom in a neat cursive script. Alhaitham.
Well, lucky for Alhaitham the adventurer (who didn’t look much like an adventurer, all things considered) - Kaveh was indeed the best. And he relished a challenge. So he rolled his sleeves up, shoved the sextant off to the side and prepared to get to work.
Kaveh stays up all night - this isn’t a grand thing in itself, he very frequently pulled all-nighters, but this was the first time it was on something that he actually cared about. The headpieces were an incredibly interesting piece of technology. Kaveh realised partway through the night that he hadn’t even taken partial payment for the work as he usually did, but even if it turned out that Alhaitham was a scammer and Kaveh had wasted his entire night fixing something that he wouldn’t even get paid for…
He had fun fixing the earpieces. When you were someone like Kaveh who spent his days adjusting nautical instruments, which was a complete misuse of his talents, it was exciting to have something new to tinker with. He had so many questions about the devices - they were clearly made by someone familiar with Kshahrewar techniques, which made Kaveh’s work a whole lot easier, but they were an incredibly skilled feat of technology, almost unlike anything Kaveh had seen before.
So, yeah - he’d stayed up all night. He’d finished them a little before six in the morning and he was incredibly proud of his work. They would require some minor recalibrations to suit the wearer, but Kaveh was ready for Alhaitham to come and pick them up as soon as he opened his shutters. He had said he was in a rush, hadn’t he? That his little group was leaving the city soon?
Alhaitham does not show up until two in the afternoon. He swans up to the counter as if Kaveh hadn’t been waiting for him all day, and makes clear eye contact with Kaveh as he dings the bell on the counter for attention.
Kaveh does his best to smile. “Yes?”
“... I’m here to collect the earpieces. Have you finished with them?”
Sighing, as if it is some great burden, Kaveh brings the box out from under the counter. He opens it with a flourish and a little ‘Ta-da!’ and Alhaitham just stares at the contents.
“They look…”
Wonderful? Amazing? Awe-inspiring?
“... Different.”
Kaveh blanched at him.
“You literally brought me a box of debris, how the hell was I meant to make them look identical to how they were before?” He sniffed slightly, putting his hands on his hips.
“I mean, they look fine, do they work?” Alhaitham says, still gazing at them.
“Yes, of course they work,” Kaveh bites, before sighing slightly. “I did my best, alright?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to even be able to fix them at all,” Alhaitham answers casually, a ghost of a smile on his face that makes Kaveh’s face flush just the teensiest amount.
“Well, I did,” Kaveh says, lifting the counter. “I need to recalibrate them, though, so come and sit down.” He gets up from his stool and gestures to Alhaitham to sit down. Alhaitham ducks to get under the shutter, which Kaveh thinks is probably a bit overkill considering the man isn’t that much taller than he is, but he doesn’t say anything, only watching as Alhaitham perches himself down on the stool. He may not be that much taller, but he’s definitely a bigger person, all muscles and ridiculous studded leather armour which can’t be at all comfortable to wear.
Kaveh holds the earpieces out, and Alhaitham carefully takes them, putting them on and adjusting them slightly.
“Do they feel comfortable?” Kaveh asks him, the other man nodding once.
“Yeah, they’re fine.”
Kaveh grabs one of his smaller screwdrivers, moving to the side of Alhaitham to adjust the settings. He turns it a few times and then glances at Alhaitham. “How does that sound?” He asks, waiting for the man’s reaction.
“A little echoey.”
Kaveh gives a light hum, adjusting them further. “What about now?”
“... Say something else.”
“Uh– Hello, my name is Kaveh, I work at Sangemah Bay Craft and Repair–”
“Yeah, they’re fine.”
Kaveh nods in satisfaction, stepping away. Alhaitham’s fingers reach back to touch his neck where Kaveh’s hand had just been resting, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Say, who made these originally?” Kaveh asks, setting his screwdriver down and leaning back against the counter. “The craftsmanship is excellent, they’re very intelligently designed devices.”
“My grandmother,” Alhaitham answers, quietly, adjusting how the earpieces sit a second time.
Kaveh raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Is she trained in Kshahrewar techniques?”
“Was. She’s passed away now. She was an artificer, actually.”
“Oh, I’m sorry…” Kaveh murmurs. “But hey, if they break again, at least you know I can fix them.”
Alhaitham gives a slight nod. “How much did I owe you, again?”
Kaveh quickly checks his receipts. “Uh… 15,000 mora, we said?” He responds, looking at Alhaitham. The man takes out a coin pouch, handing it to Kaveh.
“It should all be here,” He says, and Kaveh takes it from him. He doesn’t bother counting the coins, simply setting the pouch down on his scale and doing some quick sums in his head.
“That’s… You’ve given me too much, that’s 20,000.” Kaveh says, opening the coin pouch. Alhaitham touches his hand as Kaveh tries to offer back some of the mora.
“Keep it. Consider it a tip.”
Kaveh baulks at him. “Are you rich or something?” Alhaitham only shrugs slightly.
“I’m an adventurer. Mora isn’t exactly in short supply for us, if you know where to find it.”
“Right…” Kaveh says, closing the coin pouch, his eyes narrowed slightly. Was this money from someone Alhaitham had killed? Was he holding corpse money?
Corpse money or not, Kaveh did have his eye on a new set of hairpins.
“So, where are you headed next? You have some kind of adventuring party thing going on?”
“Something like that,” Alhaitham says, tilting his head to the side slightly, an unreadable expression for a moment. “We’re headed across to the desert. Plenty of work there.” He says, hopping down off the stool.
“Well, bring me back something nice,” Kaveh says absentmindedly, as he leans under the counter to put the coins in his safe.
Alhaitham gives him a strange look as he heads back to the front of the counter. “I will. Thanks for the earpieces.”
And before Kaveh can even realise the stupid thing he just said, Alhaitham is gone.
He next sees Alhaitham three weeks later - his imposing presence casting a shadow across Kaveh’s workspace. Kaveh looks up, ready to greet whoever his customer is, before he blinks in surprise.
“Oh, hi!” He says, perhaps a little more brightly than he’d meant to. Kaveh looks Alhaitham up and down, noting the new scar across Alhaitham’s cheek. “Your… Your cheek–” Kaveh murmurs, almost reaching out to trace his fingers against it before he stops himself.
No, Kaveh. Bad.
“What about it?” Alhaitham asks, and Kaveh shakes his head slightly.
“Nothing, sorry. What can I do for you? Your earpieces look fine–” His words are cut off as Alhaitham sets something wrapped in cloth down on the counter with a clunk.
“Brought you back something,” Alhaitham answers, his gaze piercing.
Kaveh can’t help but raise his eyebrows, looking quite obviously surprised at this development. “You did? Why?”
Alhaitham shrugs, a barely perceptible movement of his shoulders. “You asked me to,” He says casually, as if that’s not an incredibly odd thing for a virtual stranger to do. “Found it in some ruins. It was glowing and humming. I thought it’d interest you.”
Kaveh froze - his hands were poised to unwrap the cloth bundle, but he was now very much apprehensive to do this.
“Is it a bomb?” He hisses, and Alhaitham shakes his head.
“I don’t believe so. It stopped making noises when we left the ruins, but it looked interesting.”
Kaveh narrowed his eyes, picking up his pencil to move the cloth aside and peer at whatever mysterious item Alhaitham had brought him. It’s clearly some kind of ancient mechanism that Kaveh had absolutely no idea what to do with.
“What… What is it?”
“No idea. But I thought you’d be able to figure it out, at the very least.”
Kaveh looks up at Alhaitham with an incredulous look, only to find Alhaitham staring at him, already - or rather, his hair.
“That’s new,” Alhaitham comments, gesturing to his own head, and Kaveh reaches up to touch his hair and the hairpin nestled within it. “You weren’t wearing that last time.”
And what in the hell was Kaveh meant to do with that little comment? Did Alhaitham have some kind of photographic memory or something?
“Oh, I mean, you paid for it,” Kaveh says, a little dumbstruck.
“I did?”
“With– with the mora from the earpieces. Decided to treat myself.”
Alhaitham gives a short nod. “It looks… Nice on you.” He says, and god, Kaveh can feel his cheeks flushing the way that Alhaitham looked at him–
“-- Hey, Alhaitham! Was wondering where you’d gotten to!”
Immediately there’s a woman wrapping her arm around Alhaitham’s shoulders, almost as tall as he was, and quite possibly more muscular. Kaveh coughs slightly, and Alhaitham’s expression seems to darken a little.
“Hello, Dehya,” Alhaitham answers brusquely, ducking out of the woman’s grasp.
The woman - Dehya - looks at Kaveh. “Ooh - are you the repair guy Alhaitham was talking about? The one who sorted out his earpieces? Thanks for that, he was a right bitch without them–”
“Thank you, Dehya.” Alhaitham interrupted, crossing his arms. Kaveh can’t help the smile that quirks up at the corner of his lips.
“It’s good to meet you. I’m Kaveh, I assume you’re one of Alhaitham’s companions?” Kaveh says, offering out a hand. Dehya takes it, and god, her grip is so strong that Kaveh can’t feel his hand for a moment.
“Yep! Good to meet you. I’m Dehya.” She looks down at the mechanism that remains sitting on the counter and smirks slightly. “I see Alhaitham gave you his little gift, then. He was far too excited to find it, almost got us all killed trying to get the damn thing–”
“-- Dehya.” Alhaitham warns, and Kaveh wants to say ‘No, no, keep going, tell me more,’ - but then he notices the slight reddening of Alhaitham’s cheeks and takes pity.
“Say, do you want to come for drinks with us tonight? We’re staying at Lambad’s inn, and it’d be nice to get to know some locals.” Dehya offers, almost grinning. Kaveh glances at Alhaitham who is pointedly not making eye contact, and smiles widely.
“That sounds wonderful, I’d love to.” He beams, and Dehya nods approvingly.
“Awesome, it’s a date then,” She says, winking - Kaveh doesn’t know what that’s meant to imply, but then Dehya has her arm around Al haitham’s shoulders again. “Right, you, Tighnari and Cyno are waiting for us, we’d better not keep them waiting - see you later, Kaveh!”
And with that, Alhaitham is being dragged away, and Kaveh is left wondering what the hell he was meant to wear that night.
It doesn’t really matter in the end, because it’s not any kind of date, something Kaveh quickly realises when he enters the inn to find Dehya arm-wrestling some guy in a jackal hood, both of their jaws clenched.
“Come on Cyno, take her down!” A dark-haired man cheers on from behind who Kaveh assumes must be Cyno. Alhaitham is sat at the same table, reading, and clearly utterly disinterested in the whole situation.
Cyno does not ‘Take her down’, the man’s hand getting slammed into the table as Dehya whoops, punching the air. “Aha! You’re paying for drinks!” She cheers, as Cyno shakes out his hand.
“Best of three?” Cyno suggests through gritted teeth as Kaveh approaches their table.
“Hello–” He greets before Dehya shouts to the barkeep for another round, cutting Kaveh off completely.
“Ah, Kaveh!” She half-shouts, clearly already fairly inebriated. “What’s your poison? What are you drinking?”
“Uh, wine is fine–”
“And a wine for the master craftsman!” Dehya shouts, causing Kaveh to flinch slightly. Alhaitham looks up from his book to Kaveh.
“Do you get why they’re noise-cancelling now?” He says, gesturing to his earpieces, and Kaveh can’t help but chuckle.
“I’m beginning to…” Kaveh smiles, sitting down next to Alhaitham.
And then - there’s a glass of wine being set down next to Kaveh, and the next thing he recalls clearly is Alhaitham walking him home.
Or rather, dragging him home.
… Half-carrying him home.
“-- And then I got into so much fucking debt,” Kaveh slurs. “Literally the worst inheritance ever, like sorry, your dad’s dead, deal with all of his shit–” Kaveh groans, tipping his head back, almost falling over if not for Alhaitham steadying him.
“Oof, thanks,” Kaveh mumbles, blinking as he’s suddenly upright. He looks at Alhaitham, head tilted. “So why’d you become an adventurer? You seem too nice to be an adventurer.”
“You think I’m nice?” Alhaitham asks, looking a little amused.
“I think you’re very nice,” Kaveh hiccups. “You gave me your cloak, you brought me back that thingy from the desert–” He narrows his eyes. “Why are you so nice? What is it you want?” Kaveh asks suspiciously.
Alhaitham raises his hands in mock defence, as Kaveh stumbles into him. “Nothing,” He answers carefully, apparently not feeling any effects of the alcohol they’d been drinking all evening.
“You must want something–” Kaveh says, in a slightly lilting tone. “Free earpiece repairs? Do you want me to fence goods for you or something? Because I am not selling stolen binnacles again, that ended badly–”
“-- Seriously, I don’t want anything.”
“Then why’d you bring me that weird core thing? Did you actually almost get killed trying to get it?” Kaveh murmurs, reaching up to trace the new scar on Alhaitham’s cheek. He hears Alhaitham’s breath hitch slightly as he does so, and Alhaitham grabs his hand, holding it tightly.
They stare into each other’s eyes.
Are we going to kiss? Are we going to kiss? Are we going to kiss?
“Dehya is over-exaggerating,” Alhaitham says firmly. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
Alhaitham breaks the eye contact after a few tense moments, but doesn’t stop holding Kaveh’s hand–
And that’s the last thing Kaveh remembers before he wakes up on his sofa, with possibly the worst hangover of his life, and Alhaitham’s cloak draped over him.
Kaveh hauls himself to the inn around midday, Alhaitham’s cloak draped over his arm as he squints in the daylight, his head still pounding.
“Hey, Lambad,” Kaveh murmurs, sitting down at the counter.
“Good afternoon. I hadn’t expected to see you for another few days at least after last night.” Lambad answers with a smirk, and Kaveh groans, pressing his face into the counter.
“Whatever. Are those adventurers still here? One of them lent me his cloak last night, and–”
“-- Actually, they left just before dawn.”
Kaveh’s head shoots up. “They left?” He baulks, and Lambad only shrugs, continuing to polish the same glass that Kaveh assumes he’s been polishing for the last half an hour.
“That’s adventurers for you,” Lambad answers, easily. “Always coming and going.”
“But… But– They didn’t even say goodbye or anything!” Kaveh exclaims, his brow furrowed. “Did– Did they say where they’re going? When they’re coming back?”
Kaveh sounds desperate, but he doesn’t care. Lambad is still smirking at him and Kaveh is far too hungover to deal with him.
He slinks back to his little kiosk, hangs Alhaitham’s cloak up, and lets his eyes go blurry as he tries to fix a stupid barograph.
Over the next month, Kaveh builds himself a friend. He tries to forget about Alhaitham, truly, he does - but then he starts researching what the ancient core might be, and discovers it’s some kind of… weird, intelligent power source. He builds it some suitable housing, and then it becomes her, and she becomes Mehrak.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t named his creations before, but she was definitely different to anything he’d ever managed to build, and he felt a sense of pride whenever he looked at her. He’d done that. He’d even utilised some of the Kshahrewar techniques he’d learnt over the years - the same ones he’d used on Alhaitham’s stupid earpieces.
She was not-quite-living proof of just how proficient Kaveh was at his work, and he couldn’t help but wish for more from his life because of it. He wasn’t built to sit behind a counter repairing clocks. He knew was skilled. He understood technology, he understood how it could be enhanced with magical techniques - perhaps in another life, he would’ve been an adventurer too, a skilled artificer, imbuing objects and weapons with magic and unlocking extraordinary capabilities within them.
Alas, he was just a dreamer. A dreamer with a debt that he was sure he would never quite be able to repay, but at least now he had a friend.
The next time he sees Alhaitham, he hardly recognises him.
To put it lightly - he looked like shit.
When he feels that same, familiar imposing presence at his counter, he wants to tell Alhaitham to leave him be, that there are a half-dozen other repair shops within the city (none as good as him, though), but as he looks up at Alhaitham he finds his eyes widening, the words dying on his tongue.
“What the hell happened to you?” Kaveh manages to ask, completely shocked. He knows his mouth is left slightly agape, but he doesn’t care to shut it as he looks Alhaitham up and down.
His arm is in a sling, his face is darkened with bruises, and he looks exhausted.
“Are you… Are you okay?” He asks, cautiously, and Alhaitham nods once, setting a familiar box down on the counter.
“My earpieces,” He says, in a hoarse tone. “Take your time with them. I’ll be in the city a while.”
Kaveh gingerly takes the box from him, opening the lid slightly to sigh at the contents. “I see.” He murmurs, as Mehrak floats over, setting herself down on the counter.
Alhaitham glances at her. “What’s that?”
“She is Mehrak. I built her… from that core you gave me.”
“What–” Alhaitham swallows. It clearly strains him to speak. “What does she do?”
“Gets in the way, mostly,” Kaveh says, picking her up and moving her further down the counter. Mehrak beeps indignantly at this and moves herself back to her former position.
“Is she alive?”
“Absolutely no idea.” Kaveh smiles, tiredly. He glances back to Alhaitham, who is still staring at Mehrak with a slightly awestruck expression. “You left without saying anything. And you’ve come back like… this.” Kaveh says, gesturing to Alhaitham. “What on earth happened to you?”
“Guild business.” Alhaitham croaks. “It was a bit short notice, and a bit more than we expected.”
Kaveh raises an eyebrow. “Nothing you couldn’t handle though, right?” Alhaitham huffs a laugh, a ghost of a smile on his face.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He confirms.
“Are the others alright?” Kaveh asks, cautiously, and thankfully, Alhaitham nods.
“Yeah. I’m the worst off. I’m pretty sure they’re out restocking on supplies.”
“But you’re staying in the city for a while?”
“I will be, at least. I think the others might be off on a few smaller jobs, but I’m not really in a condition to do so at the moment.”
Kaveh nods. “Well, do you want to meet for drinks tonight? Not– not anything as crazy as last time, but–”
“-- I’d like that.”
Kaveh beams at his acceptance, and Alhaitham almost has to cover his eyes from how brightly he seems to glow.
Drinks that evening are a lot calmer than they had been the previous time, though that could be because they’re just one-on-one. Though perhaps that’s not quite accurate, as Mehrak invites herself too, because of course she does.
Alhaitham seems to watch her hover and flit about with a captivated expression, as Kaveh languidly swirls his glass of wine.
“You really didn’t see anything like her in the ruins? Nothing… Alive?” Kaveh asks, and Alhaitham shakes his head.
“There were plenty of mechanisms and constructs, but nothing like what you were able to build.” He muses.
“Interesting. Her core was able to be decoded with the Kshahrewar techniques, though it was really just a matter of trying to figure out how she ran, as the power source’s energy was far unlike anything I’ve ever come across before–”
Kaveh doesn’t realise how long he’d been talking until he notices that Alhaitham is staring at him, an intrigued expression and the hint of a smile. Kaveh had never had someone listen to him so intently as he talked about his work, and it was a little nerve-wracking.
He coughs slightly into his hand. “Sorry, I’m rambling,” He murmurs, flushing slightly.
“It’s interesting. You can continue.”
“No, no, it’s fine, I’ve talked enough–” Kaveh says quickly, taking a sip of wine.
“You remind me of someone,” Alhaitham remarks, and Kaveh quirks his head to the side.
“Oh, really? Who?”
“My grandmother.”
Kaveh hums lightly. “You said she was an artificer, right?”
“Yeah,” Alhaitham exhales. “A truly great one. She had the same passion for technology you do.”
Kaveh isn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so he remains silent, and Alhaitham continues to speak.
“You’ve never considered becoming an artificer?” He asks, and Kaveh shakes his head.
“It wasn’t like I had the chance. I was able to train in the Kshahrewar techniques only because it would help me with my work - my father owed a large debt to the proprietor of the workshop, and when he died, it became my responsibility.”
“I see.” Alhaitham murmurs. “And what if you didn’t have the debt? Didn’t have to work there? What would you do then?”
Kaveh can’t help but laugh - what a strange question it is, it’s certainly something that no one had ever asked Kaveh before.
And perhaps it’s the wine, or perhaps it’s the soft look in Alhaitham’s eyes, gazing at him with such fascination, but he finds himself answering honestly.
“I suppose I would like to do what you do. Maybe not adventuring, per se - I’m no fighter. But travelling… I’d love to see the world. You must’ve been to so many interesting places, seen so many interesting people,” Kaveh sighs, a little wistfully. “It sounds like a dream.”
“You could come with us,” Alhaitham offers, suddenly.
“I– what?”
“If that’s what you wanted. We’re fighters. We could protect you. If… If it’s what you want, you could come with us.”
Kaveh manages a nervous laugh. “I– I can’t, I–”
“You could think about it.”
Kaveh exhales, his shoulders sinking slightly as he takes another sip of wine. “In another life, perhaps.” He murmurs, thoughtfully. “Anyway, tell me, Alhaitham - what’s the most exciting place you’ve been to on your adventures? The most beautiful?”
Staying in the city ‘for a while’ turns out to mean two weeks. Kaveh had fixed Alhaitham’s earpieces by the second night, but they’d met up almost every day. Sometimes for drinks, sometimes with the rest of Alhaitham’s friends.
Sometimes just to talk.
Kaveh liked those days the best - Alhaitham would sit in the back of Kaveh’s shop as he worked away, and tell him stories of all of the places he’d been, the grand adventures he’d had over the years. Some of it was hard to keep up with, sounding too magical, too fantastical to be a reality, but even if it was all lies, Kaveh just liked to hear Alhaitham speak.
Alhaitham seemed to slot into his life far too easily, far too comfortably.
And then the day Kaveh had been dreading came all too quickly.
“Kaveh,” Alhaitham greets one morning, letting himself in under the counter. “I wanted to tell you that we’ll be leaving soon.”
“Oh,” Kaveh squeaks. “How– how soon?”
“Tomorrow morning. There’s trouble in the east, and the guild has requested our aid.”
Kaveh nods slowly, thinning his lips into a narrow line. “I see. Are you… Are you well enough?” He asks carefully, glancing at Alhaitham’s previously injured arm. Alhaitham clenches and unclenches his hand into a fist, testing it.
“I am well enough to hold a sword,” He answers. “That is enough.”
Kaveh can’t help but sigh, before gesturing to Alhaitham’s usual stool (because he had a usual stool now) and smiling weakly. “I suppose you’d better finish the story you were telling me yesterday, about the dragon and the bard.”
“I suppose I’d better.”
The next time Alhaitham returns to the city, months later, it is destroyed. Buildings were razed to the ground, fires still burning, and debris was littered everywhere. It had been a siege, and the city had been utterly unprotected.
Alhaitham finds himself racing through the streets, hoping– praying, that the little stall would somehow still be standing.
It isn’t. It is thoroughly demolished. But the blond-haired man standing outside it trying to sweep away debris in a futile effort to clean up is alive.
“Kaveh!” Alhaitham shouts, rushing towards him. Kaveh looks up, his mouth parted in a shocked ‘o’, but he is enveloped in a tight embrace before he can say anything at all.
“I thought I’d lost you,” Alhaitham murmurs, muffled into his neck. He sounded scared.
Kaveh pats him on the back awkwardly, broom still in hand. “You– You were worried about me?” He manages, before Alhaitham finally pulls away, still gripping his shoulders as he looks Kaveh up and down for any injuries. Apart from a slight gash across his cheek, he seemed unhurt.
“We match now,” Kaveh smiles weakly, gesturing to his own face, and then Alhaitham hugs him again.
After a few moments, Kaveh is tapping his back. “Alright, alright, that’s enough–”
Alhaitham pulls away, exhaling heavily. “Are you… Are you okay?”
“I’m alive,” Kaveh answers with a sigh, before looking to his stall. “I’ve lost everything else though. My home, my belongings, it’s all gone.”
A familiar object hovers over, looking a little worse for wear, but chirping and whirring all the same. “Mehrak is fine, though.”
Alhaitham shuts his eyes, relieved that Kaveh is still there. He hears Kaveh give a little sniff and opens them again.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s… It’s all gone. I don’t– What am I meant to do now?” Kaveh says, tears stinging at his eyes. He harshly wipes at them with his palm. “Sorry.”
Alhaitham grasps both of Kaveh’s hands in his, firmly. The broom clatters to the floor.
“You can come with us.” He says, resolutely. Determination burns in his eyes.
“What? I–”
“Just say yes. You said you always wanted to travel, this is your chance. The conflict is over now, there is no safer time–”
Kaveh shakes his head. “Alhaitham, no, I still owe that debt, I have to–”
“They don’t know the death tolls. Haven’t even begun to identify the bodies. For all your creditor knows, you’re dead.”
“I’m not going to fake my own death!”
“Why not?” Alhaitham says, genuinely seeming to question him. “There’s no better time. This is your chance to see the world. Become a traveller. Become an adventurer. Become an artificer. Start up a new life, somewhere else. Somewhere better.”
Kaveh looks conflicted, but squeezes Alhaitham’s hands after a few moments, shakily inhaling and exhaling. “Okay, fuck it,” He says, looking back from the remains of his shop back to Alhaitham. “Let’s do it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Kaveh says, shrugging. “What do I have to lose?”
As most terrible things do, it begins on a Monday. But it also ends on a Monday.
And Kaveh wasn’t aware of many good things that begin on a Tuesday, but he supposes that this would be one of them. A fresh start, a certain escape from the monotony of his former life. Isn’t that all he’d wanted?
At least he wouldn’t have to work in customer service anymore.