Chapter Text
“There’s a young girl,” Alhaitham started. “She has no parents nor guardians, and was in a situation where she suffered very much.”
Kaveh paused, the vegetables on his board temporarily forgotten. He was curious as to why his roommate mentioned this out of nowhere. “That’s terrible. Is she alright?”
Alhaitham let a soft exhale out of his nose that would’ve been barely noticeable to anyone unacquainted with him. To Kaveh, however, it was an action that grabbed his full attention. Something was very amiss.
Alhaitham set his book down and leaned back against the divan. “For now. But she has no place to stay. She’s been alone since her captors were arrested by the Mahamatra.”
Kaveh knew that it was a rare sight to see him distressed, if even only vaguely. He set down the knife and walked over to where Alhaitham was seated, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“… I’d like to take her in, even if only temporarily, until she’s given a new home. I don’t like the idea of her being alone, especially given her circumstances.” He met the other’s eyes ever-so-briefly before continuing. “She’s never seen the world outside of Sumeru City. This could be a good experience for her as well.”
Kaveh hummed. Gears of familiarity were turning in his head, but he was too tired to come to a proper conclusion about the child. “That… would be alright by me. But answer me this— what makes her different from the other orphans in Sumeru? There are hundreds, yourself included. You’ve never had an impulse to take them all in before.”
His roommate simply stared at the ceiling, blank faced. “I can’t take in every child. It’s not within the realm of what is possible for me to do. But Nahida…” He trailed off, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t stand the idea of her going through all of that abuse again. And I was personally involved in her freedom during the coup, so you could say that I feel obliged.”
Kaveh moved to sit beside him, squeezing his shoulder slightly. Alhaitham ran his fingers through his hair, still not meeting his eyes. He looked so much older than he was when he did that, with the silver hair and all. The man was uncharacteristically awkward and quiet, and Kaveh could wager a guess as to why.
“Not just obligation. You feel as though you owe her something, is that it?”
“… Strange, isn’t it? That’s always been your philosophy to live by, not at all my own.” Alhaitham chuckled weakly, no malice nor usual argumentative attitude behind his words as he gripped his hair tightly. “Perhaps you’ve been a bad influence on me.”
Kaveh scoffed with none of his usual fire, moving his hand on top of the other’s, rubbing his thumb along the other’s knuckles as he gently lowered it from his head. “Hilarious. Quips aside, you can bring her here. I have no quarrel with it, though I know you’d still take her in even if I did. You are a stubborn one, Haitham.”
Alhaitham met his eyes, teal and amber gazing into ruby red. “This’ll do her a lot of good. Thank you.”
“You know what they say about earnest thanks,” Kaveh sing-songed. “Say it, please.”
His roommate rolled his eyes, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he stood up and walked away, releasing his hand from the other’s grasp. “I’m not doing that. Goodnight, Kaveh.”
Kaveh smiled softly, turning to go back and finish chopping his vegetables in the kitchen. “Night, Haitham.”
The blonde had to wonder what exactly transpired in the coup to make the man act this much on emotion alone, rather than his usual individualistic attitude. Under normal circumstances, Alhaitham never would’ve sat down to talk peacefully like that— not without making at least a few snide remarks along the way. Then again, he and a few others had just taken down an entire corrupt government, and had likely seen many atrocities along the way. While Kaveh wasn’t aware of the details, he knew that it was bound to take some form of mental toll on anyone involved.
This situation was clearly bothering Alhaitham more than he would tell Kaveh, but he decided not to push it. It was late, and all that mattered was that the other could feel a little peace. They could bicker and fight in the morning.
***
There was no bickering and fighting in the morning. In fact, Alhaitham left the house before Kaveh even woke. He didn’t know where he went, but trusted that he was a grown man who could care for himself if he got into trouble. He assumed that he went to work, then perhaps ran errands afterwards. That was fine, Kaveh had things to work on as well.
An hour before sunset, the lock in the door clicked, and familiar footsteps shuffled inside. They didn’t need to speak, Kaveh knew who it was.
“Ah, you’re back. Quick, come help me see if this painting’s all… straightened…”
Kaveh’s voice died in his throat as he turned to face not the vaguely unpleasant personality of his roommate, but instead two wide emerald eyes that stared unblinkingly at him. The eyes were attached to a child that could not have been older than six, likely no taller than his waist.
Alhaitham was holding the child like a feral cat, his arms extended directly outwards with the girl at Kaveh’s eye level, her tiny bare feet dangling in the air. “Nahida, this is my roommate, Kaveh. Kaveh, this is Nahida. Say hello.”
“Hello,” said Nahida, rather unperturbed about being held up by her armpits.
“… Hello,” said Kaveh, dumbfounded, the question of the crooked painting long forgotten and replaced with many others. To start with: why today? The day after he’d told Kaveh about her? That was very short notice.
Alhaitham set the child down on the divan, placing a hand on her shoulder in a gesture that could’ve been mistaken for comfort, should it have come from anyone but him. It was oddly reminiscent of their interaction the night prior. “Glad that’s sorted out. Nahida will be staying with us for a short while— my apologies for the short notice. I’m going to make some biryani.”
With that, he turned for the kitchen, but not before giving the young girl a quick glance for what looked to be confirmation that she was alright. She smiled and nodded, and he returned the gesture and left.
A thick silence filled the room, and Kaveh felt incredibly awkward. However, he did see why Alhaitham may have felt so obligated to take her in. They both had that strange intelligence beyond their years behind their eyes (which was, quite frankly, somewhat disconcerting). In fact, the way her curious eyes looked around at everything and everyone reminded Kaveh a lot of Alhaitham in his Akademiya days, back when he first enrolled. Perhaps his roommate saw a bit of himself in her.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Nahida broke the silence and Kaveh’s increasingly quick train of thought, swinging her legs over the edge of the divan. “Mr. Alhaitham told me all about you before, and on the way here today.”
“Really? All good things, I hope.” Kaveh absentmindedly gazed at the child’s hair, the little leaves within it in a rather odd shape for Sumeru. While he was no Amurta scholar, he was sure he’d never seen leaves like those before. Still, there was something so strangely familiar about her, even though Kaveh was positive he’d not once met this girl.
The girl giggled, her eyes raising into crescents. “I think so. He spoke rather highly of you, and I’ve been wanting to meet you for ages.” She placed extra emphasis on the word ages, and Kaveh chuckled slightly. “However, he mentioned that you were away in the desert on an expedition when he set me free, though, otherwise he would’ve introduced us sooner.”
He frowned, noting the strange choice of words. “Set you free? As in, when he took you from your captors?”
He winced almost immediately at the choice of words, or his mentioning of the situation at all. A six year old shouldn’t be having to answer questions that she’d likely already been asked when she was taken away.
“I apologize, that must be a touchy subject for you. Don’t answer that, I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Nahida shrugged, looking off into the distance before glancing back at him. “But yes. The sages were arrested, and Mr. Alhaitham had a large involvement in my escape from the Sanctuary of Surasthana.”
Kaveh and Nahida stared at each other for a good thirty seconds before the puzzle pieces of familiarity in his brain clicked into place.
“… Hold that thought. Could you cover your ears for a moment, Nahida?” Kaveh asked, trying to keep his voice level.
She nodded and did so, and he gave her a small smile before turning to shout into the kitchen near-instantly. If any nosy neighbours had been listening in and holding anything, they likely would have dropped and shattered it due to the sheer volume at which Kaveh spoke his next words.
“ALHAITHAM, FOR THE LOVE OF—!” He bit his lip, refraining from saying the words he was thinking due to the presence of a child. “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS OUR ARCHON DOING IN OUR LIVING ROOM?!”
His roommate peeked out into the living room with his usual flat expression, not even giving it a thought before providing an answer. “We’ll talk about it after dinner. Nahida’s hungry, and so am I. I’m assuming that you haven’t eaten all day, if the lack of dishes in the sink are anything to go by.”
“You—” Kaveh’s face burned, and he crossed his arms. “Fine. But don’t think you’re getting away from this!”
Alhaitham shrugged, said “The painting is crooked, by the way,”, and went back into the kitchen.
Archons, this was going to be an ordeal and a half.