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“This city is exactly how it was described; romantic, beautiful, carefree, and full of love. Not that you’d understand, of course.”
Alhaitham and Kaveh were walking through the Ludi Harpastum fair in Mondstadt. He regretted everything.
When Tighnari proposed he should take a vacation and go somewhere else to rewind after he finally resigned, he made several tactical mistakes. First was telling Tighnari about wanting to visit Mondsadt. He heard of the peaceful meadows, calm city and the grand library that even people from Sumeru travelled to visit. The second mistake was agreeing to take Collei with him – her friends invited her to Ludi Harpastum but neither Cyno nor Tighnari were available to take her. She was a quiet and interesting girl who kept to herself except for her occasional questions which weren’t a hassle to answer, so it shouldn’t have been a problem. His third, and worst mistake was mentioning this to Kaveh when he was finally home.
“Oh, it sounds amazing,” he said turning in his chair, “I’ve never been to Mondstadt before. I’m coming as well. We are going to have fun.”
“I’m not going there to have fun,” Alhaitham crossed his arms, leaning on the doorframe, “I’m going there to have some peace.”
“Oh c’mon,” he threw his hands in the air, “are you really gonna hole up with a book during Ludi Harpastum?”
No, apparently, now that he was walking by the stalls and street performances, Kaveh beside him and Collei somewhere further with her friends. He decided to indulge Kaveh a little, before taking off because there simply wasn’t anything appealing to him here.
He was wrong, and he was soon to find out.
Kaveh had a Mondstadt globe in his left hand. It wasn’t big, but surprisingly detailed, filled with dandelion puffs instead of snow. He tried to win it by playing Pile ‘Em Up at least three times and failing each time before Alhaitham decided to intervene; otherwise, Kaveh would end up wasting all his money. Now, he was looking for another useless thing to waste money on, swinging the globe in his hand, and causing it to turn all white.
“Oh god,” Kaveh grabbed Alhaitham’s arm. His eyes were glimmering, while pointing toward a tent with the globe, “It’s a Fontaine dance troupe! C’mon, c’mon!”
Before he knew it, Alhaitham was being dragged toward a small crowd in front of a tent. Upon getting closer, it became evident that there weren’t any shows at that moment. The posters around the half-tent showed next day’s date, and today, artists entertained anyone who was willing to be entertained: letting people on the stage to dance with them, rehearsing in a corner, or doing simple dances for the kids.
There was a woman and a man, in the left corner, making a show out of their small rehearsal. Their dance was a simple waltz, much less complicated than what everyone else was doing. After they completed a certain move, they’d look at the couples by the stage, who’d try to replicate it. Kaveh looked at the two as if entranced, following their every movement with sparkling eyes. Alhaitham looked as well. Mostly, trying to understand what exactly enchanted Kaveh about them, but failed. He’d been to Nilou’s shows, and although he admitted that she was a capable dancer, he couldn’t understand what would entice a person to watch another move their body to the rhythm and doubted the possibility of finally comprehending it while watching dancers well below Nilou’s league.
“Are you done yet?” said Alhaitham turning to Kaveh, “The actual show is tomorrow. They are fooling around right now.”
“But isn’t even the way they fool around-” he cut himself off as he turned to Alhaitham and rolled his eyes, “Ugh, who am I even explaining to.”
“Hi! Would you like to join me?”
Kaveh looked back at the stage, startled. The woman in a top hat and long skirt extended her arm toward Kaveh, with a wide smile on her face. Kaveh’s face lit up, “Yes! Sure.”
With that, he was on the stage with the woman. The male dancer she was dancing with earlier also picked up an audience member to lift to the stage.
Alhaitham decided it was the right time to disappear into the peace, but when the woman started showing Kaveh the basic moves and Kaveh repeated them back, his movement came to a halt. With furrowed eyebrows he watched the girl move forward two steps, and then two steps back. Kaveh repeated what she did. Then she held his hand and his shoulder, putting his hand on her waist, and they repeated the same waltz. Slowly, they were repeating the same dance pattern, albeit less elegantly, and with occasional mistakes, illuminated under the same yellow light, on the same stage but as the woman spun Kaveh around himself once, Alhaitham realized that he finally, finally, understood.
“Huh,” he mumbled to himself, in a bit of surprise, “Well, that’s certainly interesting.”
He kept watching them until she let go of elated Kaveh and presented him a leaflet, “Don’t forget to come to our show tomorrow!”
Kaveh hopped down from the stage, his face in a wide smile and turned to Alhaitham, “We have to come to the show tomorrow!”
Alhaitham kept regarding him, without a reply. Kaveh’s smile slowly turned into a frown, “Now what?!”
“Nothing,” said Alhaitham, leaving his trance, and turning back on his heels, “I’m going to try out dandelion wine. You decide whether you are coming or not.”
“If there was a contest for being the most annoying person on Teyvat, I swear-”
Despite the whining, Kaveh did follow him out of the fair, down the stairs and toward the north. He talked about the architecture of the residential buildings, the special stained glass of Favonius Cathedral, the marble used for the courtyard fountain and lastly when they finally entered the tavern, about… wood.
The tavern was crowded, save for a couple of chairs and the counter front, probably because of the fair. There were people standing as well, notably one bard in a green costume who seemed way too young to be in an alcohol-drinking space. With a lyre in one hand, he was singing an old Mondstadt melody. Although better than hearing Maddah’s eight-hundredth recount of Antara’s tale, Alhaitham couldn’t help but mourn the loss of peace he was so looking for.
Kaveh seemed to be enchanted by the change of ambience. He looked around, like the damn tourist he is, and listened to the bard a little. Finally, when he decided to take a seat, he felt the stool with his hands before sitting in front of the counter. As Alhaitham ordered two glasses of dandelion wine, from the corner of his eye he could see Kaveh examining the counter as well.
“It’s weird,” said Kaveh, gripping the side of the counter with his calloused hands, “The place is furnished very nicely but you’d expect the counter to be made of sturdier wood. Some food stalls were made of it as well. Interesting design choice…” he murmured.
The counter table was, indeed, frail. Considering Tighnari’s warning about drunk brawls of late-night Mondstadt, the choice seemed unwise, but at the same time, the choice seemed none of Alhaitham’s or Kaveh’s fucking business.
“You are done with Sumeru houses, now you will criticize the tastes of Mondstaders?” Alhaitham tried to lean back, only to remember that the stools don’t have backboards. He frowned. They should have sat on the chairs.
“Hey, I’m not criticizing anything! I’m simply curious. I don’t even know this kind of wood.”
“It’s fragrant cedar,” a low voice clarified.
Two glasses of golden-hued dandelion wine were put down in front of them. The bartender, a tall man with a high red ponytail offered them a small plate of snacks to go with it as well. He continued, “The fragrance lingers for decades even after the wood is processed, keeping the bugs and pests away. Therefore, counters and closets where the food is stored are usually made of cedar in our city.”
“Ha!” yelled Kaveh, turning to Alhaitham, “Told you there’s gotta be something!”
The bartender seemed somewhat amused, “Are you from Sumeru?”
“Yes,” said Alhaitham, sipping some of the wine. It was soft, much different than strong Sumeru wine, although pleasant, “For Ludi Harpastum.”
Kaveh nodded, “This city is amazing. The weather is great all the time, people are friendly and the city itself is absolutely breathtaking with its architecture.”
“I’m glad you feel welcome,” said the bartender, “If you are interested in architecture, I’d recommend visiting the Favonius Cathedral.”
“What about the Favonius Library?” Alhaitham joined the conversation.
“It’s in the Knights of Favonius Headquarters,” Alhaitham couldn’t help but notice the snark in his voice when he named the location, “It’s accessible to the public. But be wary of the librarian. She might end up hunting you down until Sumeru if you forget to return a book.”
Kaveh rolled his eyes, “You are actually planning to go through the library? On a vacation?”
“It’s actually an ancient bathhouse turned library,” said the bartender again, “You might find it interesting.”
“Wait, really?”
They drank second glasses as well, overflowing dandelion wine with its sweet haze. Kaveh nerded about this and that, talkative as he gets when slightly drunk, while the bartender patiently listened, still working.
“How much will be our tab?”
“On the house.”
Kaveh blinked a couple of times, turned to Alhaitham and then back to the bartender, “But-”
“You are guests from a faraway country,” he said, putting away their glasses to wash them, “Not very courteous if I take payment, don’t you think?”
Kaveh laughed, full mouth, hand on the frail counter, “Do you gift drinks to every foreigner, Master Diluc?”
Diluc turned to Kaveh, putting away the washed and dried glasses. There was a glint in his red eyes that caused Alhaitham to internally scream.
“Only if they are pretty like you, which is quite rare.”
Kaveh seemed taken aback for a second, though smiled back very quickly. Alhaitham felt heat rising from his chest, bit his cheek and flexed his hand. Yes, indeed, they should have sat on a chair.
“Kaveh,” he said, in a completely neutral voice, “we forgot about Collei.”
“Hm?” Kaveh turned to him, his head up in the air, and blinked at him. Then his expression changed immediately, “Oh shit Collei-” he got up quickly, almost dropping from his stool and turned to Diluc, “Thank you, Master Diluc!” he yelled before scrambling through the door.
“You are welcome,” he said with an amused smile, “Come again while you are still in Mondstadt.”
No, we won’t, thought Alhaitham, following Kaveh outside.
When they arrived back at the fair, the outrider informed them that she dropped Collei off at the hotel half an hour ago. Walking back to the hotel room Kaveh kept talking about how could we forget Collei? A child, in a crowded city she doesn’t know!
Alhaitham, obviously, did not forget about Collei. He also knew that a fifteen-year-old, who is friends with several Knights, could find her way back to the hotel in a relatively small city that she is very much familiar with. Moreover, Tighnari explicitly told him that she didn’t need any actual supervision inside the city. But Alhaitham also knew that Kaveh lost all his common sense when he drank.
Entering the hotel room, Alhaitham remembered the fourth tactical mistake he committed this vacation; they were sleeping in the same room. Collei told them that hotel prices in Mondstadt were off the roof these days because of the Fatui presence and they should try to save money by booking a two-bed room. Though reasonable at the time, some new unexpected challenges arose.
As Alhaitham was getting ready for the bed, Kaveh walked up the window and opened it, to let the fresh air in. The soft breeze filled the room, along with a melodic voice. Alhaitham had never been one to enjoy street performances as much, but something about the voice, the melody and the wind even caused him to look up.
“Look it’s the same bard from the tavern!” said Kaveh, waving. Alhaitham approached. It was indeed the same guy (kid?), who was singing in the middle of the plaza. The last people who hadn’t gone home yet gathered around him, others looked up from the windows – he was obviously some sort of a favorite – singing along and even dancing.
When Alhaitham turned his focus back inside the room, Kaveh was in the middle. His feet slowly repeated the dance from the fair, on par with the bard’s song. His hands were up in the air as if holding someone, and with that, he swayed two steps forward, two steps back – a turn – two steps forward, two steps back. Kaveh’s eyes were closed, and he was murmuring along with the bard.
Alhaitham watched him, suddenly entranced. Wind brought the melody in, and it was as if Alhaitham could physically see it; it twirled around dancing Kaveh, in the half-lit hotel room, accompanying his dance. He sometimes accidentally bumped into a drawer or the bed frame, and made mistakes, but still continued.
Two hours later, the bard was gone, the lights were off, and Kaveh was fast asleep in his bed. Alhaitham couldn’t avert his gaze from the open window and the stars. The scene of Kaveh dancing replayed in his mind over and over again and he tried to make sense of it. How was Kaveh’s dance different from Nilou’s and Fontaine troupe’s apart from the fact that Kaveh was way less competent? Why Alhaitham couldn’t part his eyes from him when he moved, and why can’t he part his mind from him now?
***
“I cannot fathom that you want to read all day when there’s a whole festival going on.”
Alhaitham turned the page. He was very close to turning on his sound mufflers. He was finally in the Favonius Library, and so was Kaveh who wanted to see the ancient architecture. But his inspection was faster than Alhaitham going through a book about Hilichurlian (he knew it was a thing, he just didn’t know that it was a serious thing), “Well, this is what I have been planning to do all along. If you want to see a dance show and a ball being thrown so badly, why are you still sticking around here?”
Kaveh seemed taken aback by the question. He crossed his arms and huffed, “Fine. The bartender from last night said he’d be there too anyway, so I might have an actual company.”
A scene materialized in front of Alhaitham’s eyes. Kaveh dances while watching the show, while the redheaded bartender watches him. He stopped himself from shutting the book at the last second.
“Very smart, going out with a man you don’t know at all,” he turned another page.
Kaveh scoffed, “What’s the worst that can happen?”
“He can attack and murder you.”
“I’ll just attack him back with Mehrak, thank you very much.”
Alhaitham looked at the corner of the book, at the window, then shot a very short glance at Kaveh. No matter how predictable Kaveh was and how good Alhaitham was at reading people, sometimes some things still eluded him. It was one of those times. He couldn’t understand if Kaveh was deliberately annoying him or not. And at these times he preferred to fuck around and find out.
“Do you know where Collei is?”
“She’s taking a stroll around the lake with her friends, isn’t she?”
“Are you sure?”
Kaveh knit his brows, “Yeah? I mean… that’s what she said. Doesn’t matter, the show is out of the city gates anyway. I’ll see her if she’s around the lake.”
Alhaitham shot another glance at him. He did, in fact, fuck around, but found out nothing. At least he had a reason to shut his book and get up now.
“I’ll look around for her.”
He brought the book back to the Librarian, who nicely but a bit threateningly asked them to keep quiet next time. When Alhaitham walked back to the table he was sitting minutes ago to collect his cape, Kaveh was standing there with his arms crossed, tapping his foot.
“What?”
Kaveh rolled his eyes, “Nothing,” and started walking to the door.
They walked away from the city gates – that’s when Alhaitham casually asked a guard if they had seen a green-haired girl strolling with the outrider to a positive reply. Kaveh looked at him like he was deranged.
The issue with Kaveh was that he was an incredibly intelligent genius and a gullible idiot simultaneously. You couldn’t know which side of him was up that day, and right then Alhaitham simply couldn’t understand if Kaveh was (finally) aware that he wasn’t worried about Collei at all.
A small stage was set up for the show by the north gate. The people already started gathering but Kaveh grabbed Alhaitham’s wrist and managed to squeeze past several people to get a better view.
When the evening darkness slowly surrounded them, the lights turned on, colouring the small stage and its entourage to yellows, reds and blues. The dancers filled the stage under the festive music and applause, putting on a show with acrobatic elements. Then the first number was the same girl and her partner who invited Kaveh to the stage.
Granted, this time the number was way more complicated. But no matter how hard Alhaitham really tried, he couldn’t see it. Soon, he started to get bored and turned to Kaveh. He, on the other hand, watched the waltz with sparkling eyes, tracing their every move, as if trying to memorize it. Even his breath changed in accordance with the rhythm. Alhaitham seriously wondered if that’s how he looked like while watching Kaveh dance. The thought unsettled him.
He turned back to the show and watched it to the end.
***
After the show, Kaveh managed to convince him to go to Springvale where they were brewing and giving out homemade beers. It was quite late when they finally made it back to the hotel.
“I wish the bard was singing tonight as well,” Kaveh wistfully looked out from the window, “I swear I was supposed to be born here. Their god understands to dance and to sing.”
Alhaitham was lying on his bed, reading a book he borrowed from the Favonius Library earlier, “Lesser Lord Kusanali would be offended.”
“Ugh, I meant the sages,” Kaveh rolled his eyes, “We didn’t grow up in Lesser Lord’s Sumeru, if you still remember.”
“Mhm,” Alhaitham turned his attention back to the book where the author was painstakingly explaining the differences in stone tablets from the Decarabian era. He didn’t know the language, so it already proved to be a hard task, made harder by Kaveh’s constant murmuring.
When he looked up, Kaveh was trying to repeat the foot sequence from today’s show. Alhaitham slowly put down the book on his stomach. Kaveh was too focused to notice him. The same feeling filled Alhaitham’s chest again, but this time he recognized it.
Fondness. It was fondness. Suddenly he didn’t know what to do with this realization, he also didn’t know what to do with his hands, and his thoughts. He bit his cheek.
“You are doing it wrong.”
“Ugh, leave me alone,” Kaveh glared at him, “Read your boring book or something. You are not the one to talk about dancing.”
Alhaitham sighed and got up. Kaveh only realized that when he stood in front the struggling amateur dancer. Alhaitham did the sequence himself, “You forget moving your left foot. You’ll fall if you keep that up.”
Kaveh gaped at him, “How did you even memorize it? You were barely watching!”
“Do want my help or not?”
“Fine, fine.”
Kaveh tried his best to repeat what Alhaitham did and almost fell twice. With a surprise, Alhaitham realized that he was better at this than Kaveh was. The blond man seemed perplexed as well but refused to comment on it.
“You need to move farther.”
“I am moving!”
“You, very much, are not,” Alhaitham held his elbow and scooted him to the left, “Like this.”
Kaveh looked like he finished a huge project when he finally figured it out, “Do you remember the rest?”
He looked at him with sparkling eyes. All Alhaitham could think of was that he fucked around, and he’d rather not back out before finding out.
“Yes.”
He walked up to Kaveh and put one hand on his waist – the other hand was supposed to go to his waist as well, but he could not bring himself to do it. They moved, Kaveh trying to keep up with him. Alhaitham felt himself getting caught up in the moment, forgetting to point out Kaveh’s mistakes. The breeze played with parts of his hair that stuck out from blonde braids, his eyes moved frantically in order to keep track of his steps. When he turned around himself, Alhaitham could only watch his waist swirl, hands flying in air. When he stopped turning, Alhaitham’s hands went to his waist immediately.
Then they stopped moving. Alhaitham expected to see Kaveh’s face glowing, happy that he managed to finish the dance, but he met flushed cheeks, and a half open mouth breathing heavily.
“Uh. Thank you,” Kaveh scratched his nape, “Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Neither did I. I guess fighting helps.”
“Yeah.”
His hands stood on his waist firmly. He could feel the other man’s heat, and breath. It was so easy to pull Kaveh towards himself at that moment.
He let go.
“We should sleep. They will throw the ball tomorrow morning.”
Kaveh moved his eyes from his waist and looked at him with something mixed with suspicion and surprise, “Are you coming?”
“Yes. I will. I don’t want to hear you complain about how I was reading during Ludi Harpastum for the next five years.”
“Ask me if I care whether you come or not-“
***
There was an old god in the appearance of a boy, sitting atop the beautiful Favonius Cathedral not far away. He wove his heart and his harp into the breeze he sent, it brought back words and prayers. He could hear the words whispered when nobody was around, the secret desires and stolen glances. He was a god that cherished them, and he was a god that understood them.
Once in a while he’d send a breeze that would make people forget. It would make them act and live. He was a god that understood to dance with the wind – and he was a god that understood to love.