Chapter Text
When Aether had first met Alhaitham he had gotten the distinct impression that the man was, not to put too fine a point on it, a selfish shady bastard. The man was also striking: handsome, muscular, clever and intelligent, but also uninterested in everything around him. It was an interesting combo. Aether decided it would be best to keep a professional distance. Self-serving people were difficult to trust after all.
So imagine Aether’s surprise when Alhaitham offered to help them investigate and eventually overthrow Azar. He could not understand why such a seemingly selfish man would put himself at risk like this. It was clear the others had similar opinions of Alhaitham. Cyno did not trust him as far as he could throw him. Dehya kept a careful distance, and Candace was sterner with him then she was with anyone else, even Paimon. The only person in their little plan who wasn’t in some way hostile or cold to Alhaitham was Nilou, although Aether genuinely did not believe the woman had a mean bone in her body.
Aether kept an eye on Alhaitham, trying to deduce any more information about him, so far it had been fruitless. However, as the investigation around Aaru Village led them to the underground tunnels Aether learned that Alhaitham had a strict moral code. As they poured over the Doctor’s experiment notes, Aether could see the man’s jaw clench and his multicolored eyes harden. Thinking back on it, Aether remembered how he discussed the Akasha, how distasteful he seemed to have found the entire thing, it made Aether wonder what else was hidden under the surface of this ‘feeble scholar’.
Aether got the chance to investigate further soon after. Their little group had spent most of the day brainstorming how to get the Traveler and their Eremite allies into Sumeru city proper. Aether had been watching Alhaitham the entire meeting, his cleverness was almost scary, but what caught his attention was that the second the meeting was dismissed Alhaitham flipped a switch on the metal headphones he wore and started off to the outskirts of Aaru Village. Aether couldn’t tell you what made him decide to follow the man, maybe he still held reservations about his loyalty, perhaps it was simply curiosity, but nonetheless Aether quietly followed, leaving Paimon to gorge herself on Candace’s snacks.
The nights in the desert were cold, not nearly as bad as Dragonspine, but chilly enough that Aether had to pull the shawl given to him by some of the villagers tighter around his shoulders. He watched Alhaitham walk quickly through the village streets, his destination seeming to be somewhere outside the main walls, but he stopped. Ducking behind a vase, Aether peeked to see what had made the man stop. He was standing in front of a house, it had cacti and flowers laid out.
“Excuse me Auntie.” The old woman reclining in her wheelchair by the porch opened her eyes slightly.
“Yes? How can I help you young man?”
“This flower,” Alhaitham pointed to an orange and red leafy flower leaning against the small water drain. “What is it? I have never seen it before.”
The old woman turned slightly to look where he was pointing. “Ah, the mourning flower. They aren’t very popular with the youth of today, but they have always been a favorite of mine. It takes a strong resilient flower to bloom in the deserts of Sumeru. You can only find them in the small river systems further north from here.”
“Ah I see.” Aether leaned a little more out to see Alhaitham’s face, he was shocked to see a fragile smile cross the Scribe’s face. “May I have one?”
“Oh.” The woman laughed. “Is it for someone special?”
“You could say that.” Aether had to strain to hear the conversation, and he could only just pick up the small sadness in Alhaitham’s voice.
“Then you can have it.” The old woman smiles wide, and again that fragile emotion crossed Alhaitham’s face.
“Thank you. Here.” He put a few mora into her lap, before taking the flower and continuing his journey out of town. Aether knew he needed to follow now.
“What a nice young man.” The old woman said as Aether passed her.
When he found Alhaitham again he was sitting on one of the bluffs overlooking the village. In the moonlight his features had been smoothed out, he looked almost approachable. Aether ducked between a few rocks and strained his eyes to see what the man was holding. The flower was sitting next to him, its pot half buried in the sand. In his hands was what appeared to be an emerald journal, and something small and yellow although from this distance Aether could not make out what it was.
Alhaitham ran his fingers over the cover of the journal. “You would be disgusted with the state the Akademiya is in. They believe themselves capable of disregarding the laws of this world and making their own.” He scoffed. The moonlight caught on something glittering on his face, and Aether could not believe it. The stoic Scribe, a man who had never shown more than mild interest in anything or anyone, was crying.
He sat looking at that journal for a while, Aether was about to leave before he saw Alhaitham lift the small yellow thing. From this angle Aether could finally see what it was, a tiny lion keychain. He rubbed his fingers over it, before lifting it to his lips and placed a quick caste kiss on its surface..
“The sages are lucky you are on a business trip. You would raze the Akademiya to the ground the second you noticed something was wrong.” Aether was shocked, what did this lion represent? As far as he had seen Alhaitham was never one to give outward praise for much of anything. “I hope you are safe. By the time you get home this should all be over.”
Aether decided it was time to go, this was something personal for the Scribe and he should not have been interrupting.
Aether was less surprised the next day when Alhaitham laid out their final plan to confront Azar, and that he was in by far the most dangerous position for anyone other than the Traveler. Cyno pulled Aether aside later to ask about it.
“Did you find that strange?”
“What?”
“The fact that Alhaitham put himself in the linchpin position, the one with the most chances to go wrong. It does not sit well with me, it is unlike him.” Cyno crossed his arms, his red eyes gleaming under his headdress. Aether could see once again how terrifying being a criminal in Sumeru could be in Cyno was sent after you.
Aether sat back, Paimon was floating near his head. “If this had happened yesterday I would have agreed with you, but after what I saw yesterday night I am less convinced that he is as bad as everyone says.”
Cyno looked at him quizzically. “What happened last night. I was not aware of anything.”
“Well,” Leaning in closer as to avoid being heard, Aether explained. “Last night after our meeting I saw Alhaitham leave. I followed him, where I watched him buy a flower from an old woman and sit by himself for an hour or so. He had this emerald journal he was speaking to, and, uh, a lion charm. He seemed to associate both with important people. Especially the lion charm.”
Aether was surprised to hear Cyno snort. “What?”
“Nothing, it is just interesting that he still holds such high opinions of him after everything that happened.”
“I’m confused. Who does the lion represent?”
“I am not particularly close to the situation, but Tighnari is and I heard it from him. Back when he was a student at the Akademiya, Alhaitham pretty much didn’t have any friends, except one, Kaveh of Kshahrewar. Tighnari told me they were inseparable, up until they had a huge falling out over some joint project. After that you can find both of them fighting with each other on the message boards all across Sumeru.”
“Huh, interesting.” Aether decided he would keep that in mind.
The next time Aether spent any real time alone with Alhaitham was as they were walking through the Akademiya halls toward the Grand Sage’s office. Aether could tell just how unpopular Alhaitham was just by the way the room’s air would change when he entered it. Staff and students alike would swiftly move across halls to avoid him. Even if the man was not the most social or pleasant person, openly showing such dislike in public struck Aether as incredibly rude.
“They don’t like you very much do they?” Aether asked quietly. Alhaitham huffed slightly.
“No lost love between us. If they can’t stand my personality it's fine. I don’t find many of them that interesting anyway.”
Paimon scoffed loudly. “Wow, I can't imagine why they don’t like you.” Sarcasm was dripping like an overflowing fountain from the little fairy’s mouth.
“It's always been like this. Don’t concern yourself with it, you have more important things to think about.”
Aether suddenly felt a little sick. The more he thought about Alhaitham and his words and actions the more he felt like everyone was missing something. Aether had seen many different people when he traveled with his sister, and they had met a few people who reminded him of Alhaitham, people who had difficulty showing emotions, whose tone never changed, who seemed uninterested in anything other than their own interests, but were not bad people, just different. Maybe Nahida would have some answers once they rescued her.
As it turns out, she didn’t. Aether was truly surprised that she held the same opinion of Alhaitham that everyone else did. After all the work he had put into their plan, how much danger he put into it, and even if he did claim he did it only for his own comfort, Aether could not put the journal or the lion charm or flower from his mind.
“I think that Alhaitham should be the temporary Grand Sage.”
Nahid looked at Aether with her huge green eyes, a look of confusion obvious. “Really? I understand that he is very talented, but I’m not sure he is qualified. He doesn’t hold many of his peers that highly, and I fear that could cause issues.”
“Trust me, he can do it. I can assure you that you won’t have a lot of paperwork.” Aether remembered how Alhaitham talked about his job, how he enjoyed the quiet and simplicity of it. “And, I doubt he wants the position, which makes him perfect for it.”
Nahida thought on it for a second before shrugging. “They do say that those who want power are least suited for it. I will take your advice. Although I suspect he will try to resign almost immediately.” Aether chuckled, and continued to help Nahida stack her new found paperwork to sort through.
He did try to resign, he even said so at the celebratory dinner Nilou hosted. Throughout the entire dinner Aether watched him closely. Now that the threat was gone Dehya and Cyno were much more calm, Dehya was so happy about the entire situation that she flung her arm around Alhaitham’s shoulder when she fell over laughing at one of Cyno’s, admittedly silly, jokes.
“Haha, man it is a shame that you work a boring desk job. With these muscles you could make a killing as a merc.”
Aether saw Alhaitham tense at the contact, his jaw clenched, but he did not snap at Dehya, he just awkwardly responded. “I believe that being in shape is crucial to living a healthy, efficient lifestyle.”
“There is a different between being in shape, and being fuckin’ jacked.” Dehay exclaimed, Dunyaradzad yelped as Dehya fell into her lap.
“I do agree with Dehya, it is interesting that someone of your position is in such impeccable shape.” Cyno drawled, his serious exterior cast aside now that the threat was gone. Tighnari was leaned on his shoulder with Collei happily conversing with Nilou, finally able to be out and about now that her eleazar was gone.
Aether could see Alhaitham beginning to clam up, his eyes searching for an out. Aether decided to try and give him an out. “It does help you look less approachable, makes your job a little easier.” The Scribe’s posture loosened only slightly.
“Yes. Social interaction should only be indulged in when necessary.”
“So do you consider this necessary?” Nilou asked, seemingly genuinely worried that she had dragged him into something he did not want to.
“It is good to celebrate when something monumental has happened.” And with that Alhaitham gulped down his wine and did not speak again until everyone was saying goodbyes.
As he was saying goodbye to them Aether saw Alhaitham’s hand slide into the pouch in his belt. He stopped talking suddenly as he pulled his house key, and a second key, with the lion charm on it.
“Oh. It seems I brought both keys, oh well.” Aether was tempted to ask but was pulled aside by Nahida’s voice.
When Aether and Paimon were headed to the Akademiya to finish speaking with Nahida and were passing through the House Daena, Paimon exclaimed.
“Its Alhaitham!” She began to float over with Aether chasing to catch up, but she stopped abruptly. “He’s talking with someone.”
Aether did indeed see the another person, a tall handsome blond man in ostentatious clothing. “We should stand back, they seem to be in a heated discussion.” Paimon grumbled and stamped her foot in the air.
“When were you going to tell me you had decided to go galavant in the desert! If you told me we could have traveled together and split the cost!” The man was being far too loud for a library, and if the headphones were any clue, too loud for Alhaitham as well.
“It hadn’t come up yet.” There, Aether saw something in the Scribe’s eyes, he had known about this plot for a long time, but had decided against telling this man.
“You could have left a note! Or were you fine with me coming home to find out you had been arrested in a plot to overthrow the Sages!” The man’s voice was both increasing in volume and frequency and Aether pitied the poor students nearby trying to study. The man took a deep breath, “AND! Now I find out you have been promoted to Grand Sage, the Akademiya might as well close its door tomorrow!”
Aether decided it was best to approach and stop, whatever this was, if only for the sake of the sleep deprived students. Whoever this man was, he did not seem to be afraid or intimidated by Alhaitham at all, and if the smirk on Alhaitham’s face was any to go by, the Scribe was very happy with that.
“Alhaitham!” Paimon shouted. Both Alhaitham and the other man turned.
“Ah hello Traveler, Paimon.” He closed his book and turned to face them, infuriating the man next to him to no end.
“Who's your friend?” Paimon asked.
“Do we look like friends to you?” Alhaitham responded like Paimon had just asked the stupidest question he had ever heard. She fumed.
“And who are these?”
Before Alhaitham could respond, and probably cause more of an argument Aether stepped in. “I’m Aether and this is Paimon. We met Alhaitham during the Sage’s plot and he helped us free Lesser Lord Kusanali.”
“Oh. I see.” The man was fidgeting in place.
“Come on Kaveh, I would expect a respected senior like yourself to know how to introduce yourself.” Aether groaned as Alhaitham riled the man right back up.
“You!”
“Uh, Traveler, I think we should go.” Paimon murmured. Aether nodded and left the two men to continue their argument. Paimon flew in closer. “They really don't seem like they are friends.”
In the corner of his eye Aether saw the man grab the lion charm, and recalled what Cyno had said about Alhaitham and Kaveh back in the Akademiya. The look in Alhaitham’s eyes the entire argument was not something of disinterest or irritation, if anything it was, fond? Aether wasn’t sure of what to make of that but he knew that he could only learn more with time. Perhaps this would become one of Aether’s little pet projects to investigate.
The next time Aether gets to really investigate Alhaitham and all his secrets is with the whole Hive mind incident. Alhaitham had been quite a few steps the entire time, it was impressive. It also made Aether happy to know that Alhaitham seemed to enjoy adventuring with him, even teasingly warning him to not let their hard earned treasure escape. On the way back to the Alhaitham’s house Aether decided to ask a question that had been bugging him ever since he had seen it that night in Aaru Village. He had already sent the rest of the party off with Paimon to collect provisions, so the two of them had privacy.
“The emerald journal you have, is it important to you?” He asked carefully, trying not to make it seem like it had been on his mind for a while.
Alhaitham stiffened, but after a few tense seconds answered. “It belonged to my grandmother, we were very close. She entrusted it to me after her death.” It was probably the most emotional Aether had ever heard him.
“Oh, I see. Sorry to bring it up.” Aether knew first hand how painful losing loved ones and family could be, the deep seated ache he felt every time he saw siblings chasing after each other in the street was a clear testament to his own pain. “What was she like? If that is okay to ask.”
Alhaitham stiffened a bit, but did acquiesce. “She was an incredible woman. Smart, opinionated, but very kind. Raising a young child all by herself at her age must not have been an easy task, especially so soon after her own son’s death, but she managed.”
Aether cringed. “Sorry.”
Alhaitham looked at him strangely. “Why do you keep apologizing? The past is the past and we can’t change it.”
“I suppose, but doesn’t it bother you?”
Alhaitham sighed. “I was too young to know my parents and my grandmother was old, I knew she would pass away long before I did. It’s just a fact of life.”
Aether leaned back, looking up at the star filled sky. “I guess that makes sense why the journal means so much to you, it's one of the few things you have left from her.”
Alhaitham just nodded.
“What about the lion charm?” Aether meant to sound more teasing than accusatory, but Alhaitham stilled nonetheless.
“It’s Kaveh’s.” His voice took on a unique tone when he said the man’s name. “He fell for some scam and bought quite a few, and decided to put one on his house key. It's so large it keeps getting stuck on my keys, leaving him without a key until I get home.” Aether watched a cheeky little small cross his face.
“What are you two? You seem to hold him in a somewhat high regard and you even live together, but you also argue and fight constantly.”
Alhaitham let out a sigh. “I’m not sure anymore. I have never met anyone like Kaveh, he is brilliant, but also makes incredibly foolish idealistic choices that only push him further into debt and self hatred, and yet he refuses help. I can’t understand it.”
Aether tapped his chin in thought. “It seems like you two see the world very differently, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nahida says that opposing views help to push us toward true wisdom.”
A sickeningly fond smile crossed the man’s angular features. “We are mirrors, a realist and an idealist. I don’t understand his thought process, but….” For the first time since Aether had met him, the Scribe was lost for words.
“I think I understand. I am pretty traveled.” Alhaitham snorted, but said nothing.
“The rest seem to be returning, it would be best to start dinner.”
“Of course. And,” Aether turned to him. “Thank you for being honest with me. I can’t imagine that was easy but I feel like I know you better now.”
Alhaitham gave him a smirk. “You’re interesting company, much better than the Sages at the Akademiya.” Aether started laughing.
“You really can’t go very long without poking fun at them can you.” Alhaitham just shrugged and went to work starting the fire.
Aether was surprised that Alhaitham had left him and Paimon alone with Kaveh, especially when the man was yet again worked up. Aether wondered absent mindedly if he was ever calm. Listening to Kaveh talk about Alhaitham was interesting to say the least. He spoke with such passion about him, there was a strange burning in his eyes the longer they talked. Aether could not exactly place what it was, but he did imagine how it came alive even more when Alhaitham returned. They traded jabs and bickered like this was a daily occurrence for them. It was almost domestic how they acted, not unlike how married couples acted. Aether wondered if there was more to their relationship than just old friends who came back together after estrangement. Kaveh had said as much, they weren’t friends, but neither seemed to truly hate the other.
“Paimon just doesn’t understand those guys.” She shook her head as they left the house.
“I think I have an idea.” Aether smiled, wondering if they would ever see whatever it was that was between them.