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It is said that, long ago, The Golden Slumber was erected on the sacred grounds of Sumeru's Akademiya. The founders of the two institutions were good friends, and flowers bloom throughout the campus in honor of their and their third half's love for nature. For hours each day, the three would sit near the fountain in the Akademiya's plaza, enjoying the fresh air and debating various philosophies.
Sethos knows these rumors to be true. After all, the Akademiya and The Golden Slumber were built only 30 years ago, and the three friends have kept their routine this entire time.
While Al-Ahmar had founded The Golden Slumber, he's since taken to focusing more of his energy on maintaining the various gardens around the campus, only managing the coffee shop indirectly. Hybrid flowers bloom under his touch, entirely unique to this world due to his crossbreeding techniques. His pupil Hermanubis studies under him, spending each day studying various topics ranging from botany to politics, though his paying job is to manage campus security. He has other pupils, too, though they are significantly less… professional than Hermanubis.
(If nothing else, they make for very good gossip for Sethos and his coworkers.)
His grandfather Bamoun is the current manager of The Golden Slumber. Sethos has experience in all areas of the shop as well, and is slated to become the manager in due time. The shop is a second home to him, only a fifteen minute walk from their house on the campus.
He prefers his current role, though: delivering.
While he enjoys working inside of the shop itself (experimenting with coffee flavors is always fun, as is eavesdropping on customer conversations), nothing can top the fresh smell of flowers and rain in the mornings. With secured coffee and snacks in hand, he can jog to his heart's content, wandering hither and yon to weary souls around the campus. Being as The Golden Slumber tends to be well-staffed, he'll often slow down to a leisurely pace to soak in the atmosphere and keep an ear out.
The Akademiya is full of fascinating people, after all. His position as the successor of Al-Ahmar's shop grants him the opportunity to sit in on classes at any time for free, though he greatly enjoys listening to the students lose their minds over their majors outside of the classrooms. Sometimes, he will comfort a grieving student who failed her midterm, and other times, he'll listen as an overcaffeinated undergraduate vents about his broken coding until he figures out the problem himself.
Of all the strange people, though, Al-Ahmar's great nephew is his favorite customer.
Not that the man pays for the drinks. Sethos is fairly certain Al-Ahmar would charge him normally, but Alhaitham's grandmother dotes so much on her beloved grandchild, and who is Al-Ahmar to deny her? She's the sweetest woman Sethos has ever had the pleasure of meeting, and despite Al-Ahmar's commanding presence and strictness, the man has a soft spot for those he loves.
Alhaitham himself does not seem to have inherited any of their sweetness or softness. He spends a great deal of time alone either in the library or under a tree, reading a book or leafing through whatever latest report he has to review for his job. Sometimes, he'll grace the coffee shop, either lounging near a window away from everyone else or rifling around in the back area to make himself a drink. In the rare instances he socializes, it's often to obtain something he's interested in or to argue with Kaveh.
Why Sethos sees the two as often as he does is a mystery to him. Alhaitham makes more sense, considering he works on the campus (though Sethos has never once delivered to his office; in truth, Sethos isn't entirely sure where his office even is), but Kaveh is an architect who very rarely takes up projects for the Akademiya. It seems he only comes to campus to argue with Alhaitham about this and that.
Sethos certainly isn't complaining. The two graduates have one hell of a situationship. He'd never realized how fascinating an argument about home decor could be until a few years ago, when he delivered coffee to Alhaitham and Kaveh for the third time. The various tidbits he's overheard since make him excited whenever he sees Alhaitham place an order for two cups of coffee instead of only one.
(Since the coffee is ordered under Alhaitham's name, it should technically be free. Alhaitham has never mentioned this to Kaveh before, though, and Sethos isn't sure if he should either. One of their most common arguments is over Kaveh's financial decisions, so he gets the distinct feeling Alhaitham is actively hiding this fact from him.)
The two tip generously regardless, with Alhaitham always having his tip ready each delivery and Kaveh having to scrounge around his bag for whatever he can muster.
Truly, the mora doesn't matter much to Sethos. Kaveh hasn't seemed to notice how Sethos will linger after delivering their coffee—Kaveh has come to campus for a reason, and the reason certainly isn't the delivery boy—but Alhaitham has. Sometimes, he'll glance at wherever Sethos is loitering with the same sharp and knowing look his great-uncle has, and Sethos will feel a chill down his spine. He hasn't once confronted Sethos about this, though, so he likely doesn't care.
The debates between Al-Ahmar, Rukkhadevata, and Lady Nabu are just as interesting, but for entirely different reasons. Sethos often struggles to keep up with their reasonings—despite Sethos having access to most knowledge in the Akademiya, the campus leaders are intimidating in the sheer amount they have learned in their lives.
He doesn't need to understand all of their points, though. The well-kept greenhouse, the colorful flowers throughout the campus, the deep green leaves of bushes and trees shading some paths, the extravagant theater stage, the building dedicated to performance arts, the immense library which continues to grow: all speak more for their relationship than their words ever could. Sethos is more than content just soaking in the results of that friendship.
He meanders through the campus, taking in the excited atmosphere that always permeates the first few weeks of each semester. In due time, that excitement will be ground down into exhaustion and anxiety. While he enjoys the students' energy, there isn't much gossip to catch his interest this early on, so after a few leisurely minutes of walking, he secures his bag and takes off into a sprint.
The campus is large, but Sethos can easily finish a loop around it before returning to work.