Archive of Our Own

A Scribe’s Journey Home

Everything looked extremely unfamiliar.

Last Alhaitham knew, he had been translating some runes in an unidentified ruin northeast of the Chasm. Now, he was in a very large, overly-bright room with long, flowing lavender banners hanging from the ceiling, blowing in a wind that didn’t exist. 

Adorning the walls stood vertical lines of gold trim forming a flowery pattern. Kaveh would love it, and it would have been beautiful, had it been a place he’d willingly set foot in.

“ Who are you? ”

The woman’s voice came out of nowhere, strong, and commanding. It echoed through the room, even with his headphones on, the sound was piercing, but he resisted the urge to press the headphones against his ears more.

“ Why have you invaded our home, little one? ”

This time it was a man’s voice, softer, but just as loud. Alhaitham didn’t know where to address his answer to. There was no other visible person in the room, and the sound came from everywhere.

“ Oh, I believe we have confused the child. ”

Yet another voice said. This time, it echoed off the walls, just as the ones before it, but by the end of the sentence, he was able to pinpoint a single place it came from. In front of him, shining purple light slowly coagulated to form the shape of a very tall woman, a couple of inches taller than himself.

She wore extravagant golden plate armor from head to toe, with deep purple cloth beneath, and a cape to match. Her long hair was a light blonde, with two streaks of purple, while her eyes were a similar shade to the lavender banners. A large silver claymore with golden accents sat across her back. She appeared young, perhaps close to his own age, but Alhaitham knew all too well that looks could be deceiving.

“Do you not speak, little one?”

“… I do.”

“Excellent. How did you get here?”

“I’m uncertain. I was previously in some ruins, then I was here. Who are you?”

The woman made a face, something between pondering, and suspicious, but decided to humor him, “I am Nydea, High General Protector of my people. You are?”

“Alhaitham. How would I leave this place?” he asked as he began to wander the room.

“Do you not have doors where you come from?”

He couldn’t discern if she was being humorous, or serious.

“Of course, however, there doesn’t appear to be one here.”

Nydea hummed, “Is that so? I can see it, clear as day. Perhaps you aren’t looking hard enough.”

Not looking hard enough for a door that was apparently “clear as day”. Again, he wasn’t certain if she was simply being funny. With a sigh, he walked around the edge of the room, running his hand along the white wall. With the gold trim, and the way each was shaped, he would expect there to be open archways, but there was nothing, it was all solid.

The woman had simply followed behind him, arms crossed, looking mildly entertained. Once Alhaitham had searched the entirety of the wall, he turned back to her. If she had wanted, she could have hurt him by this point, but she didn’t seem interested in doing so.

“Please, show me the door,” he said, hoping he sounded less impatient than he was.

“Tell me, child, why should I let you loose upon my realm?”

Alhaitham wasn’t offended by the fact they kept calling him young, and child, but he was curious. “You keep referring to me in ways that indicate you see me as an adolescent. Why?”

Nydea stared at him for a moment, “Because you are.”

“In what way?”

The woman walked around him in a half circle, tapping her chin, “By our standards, you are very young. Were you a warrior, you would have only just begun your more rigorous training.”

“Interesting. You are a long-lived race then, I assume?,” he took out his notebook, and pencil, “In appearance, we seem nearly the same age. How is it you can tell my age?”

Laughter boomed through the room, this time Alhaitham did cover his ears. Though it wasn’t malicious, the volume alone was a migraine in the works. He recognized the undertones of the laughter as the first woman’s voice he had heard.

“ Oh, what a curious child! ” the voice rang.

Nydea chuckled as well, and he was grateful that her voice was not amplified like the others, “I can not say how I sense it. I only know that I can. You are similar to the other race who inhabits this planet, but still not the same. I am nearly seven hundred years old, and still quite young for my race. For you, well, you have the appearance of a grown man, yet you are a youngling. We do not mean to insult. Child, and little one are how we refer to our own young.”

Alhaitham nodded, “I took no offense, I was, as they said, curious,” he said as he recorded the interesting information. He turned his attention back to the warrior, “I would like to go home. If you know the way, there’s no need for me to wander your realm.”

The woman shook her head slightly, “I have never met someone of your race, therefore I do not know where your passage home lies.”

“ He is a human from a world far away. Take him to Aurell, ” the man’s voice said, “ The seer will find the solution. ”

Nydea’s eyes went wide, “The seer is insane! This is not a fit solution!”

The other woman’s voice made a noise, “ You should not speak of your sister in such a way. I believe you owed her a visit anyway. ”

Alhaitham’s brows twitched, but he remained quiet. Was he going to end up in the midst of a family feud? If it meant getting home to Kaveh, he supposed he would withstand it. Still, it wasn’t the most pleasant thought.

The armor-clad woman huffed, and rolled her eyes, “Very well, mother . I will do as you wish.”

Family issues it was, then. 

Nydea looked at him again, “You truly can see nothing here?”

Alhaitham shook his head, “Only banners, and white walls with golden archways.”

Nydea took a cautious step closer, and brought a hand up to Alhaitham’s temple, pressing her palm to the spot. There was a sudden sharp pain, but it was quickly gone, and quickly forgotten as his vision began to shimmer, and objects began to appear.

It was not an empty room anymore. Far from it, in fact. It was more like something one would call a throne room from a fairy tale, complete with its rulers. The walls were now archways, all open to the outside. 

Guards lined a deep blue carpet leading up to two large chairs placed on a small platform where a man, and woman sat. They offered nothing more than a smile, and a small nod.

“Be back by dusk, Nydea. There are matters to tend to,” the woman said.

The warrior took a knee, “Of course, my queen.” She stood, and turned to Alhaitham, “Come.”

He heard the queen make a noise as Nydea led him to one of the arches. They were on top of a mountain. A very, very tall mountain with what must have been several hundred stairs leading to the bottom, zigzagging out of, and back into sight.

Beyond the mountain, Alhaitham could see far across the land. He could understand the tactical advantages to being up here. If something were happening on the ground that needed attention, you’d definitely be able to see it. However, it did seem like it would take a while to reach the bottom. If one were in a hurry, it would complicate matters.

The amount of time it took to get to the bottom of the steps was not short. Though it was downhill, Alhaitham was grateful that he was physically fit. As strong, and energetic as Kaveh tended to be, he likely would have been carrying the blonde by the end.

“Are you often so quiet?”

Alhaitham glanced at her. Neither had spoken a word the entire trip down, and as was normal for him, he couldn’t say he minded. Though he did have questions about their race, he had instead been thinking of an architect, and what would happen if Alhaitham didn’t return home at the expected time.

“I prefer books to people.”

Nydea laughed, “Is that so? There is no one you share your thoughts with? Someone who has the special privileges of occupying your mind?”

A small smile crept onto his lips, this woman had already figured it out, “There is. You are perceptive.”

“I’ve seen that look many times before, the one you wore as we descended. Soldiers away from their loved ones, thinking of them. They carry that same look,” she paused, “When they do, I often ask them to tell me about their partners. You may do the same, if you wish.”

While the offer seemed genuine, he and Kaveh had been through too much trouble when it came to outsiders knowing of their relationship. She had also used the words partners, and loved ones, indicating a neutral attitude towards same-sex couples, but you could never be sure.

While the nations of Teyvat were generally open-minded, people like Azar, people with power, would try their best to snuff it out, and had tried. It was one of the reasons Kaveh was so nervous about others knowing. Some people were so threatened by something that had absolutely nothing to do with them, when it shouldn’t matter at all.

Alhaitham didn’t consider himself to have a sexual orientation, it was simply whatever Kaveh was. If Kaveh were to suddenly become female, it wouldn’t change a thing with how Alhaitham felt about him.

“I must say, you think very loudly. They must be very special to you, to occupy your mind so much.”

Alhaitham nodded, “Indeed. A brilliant and talented person. I would say the greatest my homeland has to offer. Any nation would be lucky to have them.”

He opted to keep it simple, revealing as little information as possible, just as Kaveh would want him to, but he would gladly sing Kaveh’s praises. He deserved it, and had always earned it.

“Your kingdom? From where do you hail?”

“Sumeru.”

“Hm. I have never heard of this land.”

Alhaitham’s brows knitted together. He was fairly certain that each of the nations knew about each other. However, he had never heard of any nations having a mountain-top terrace like the one they had left.

“What land is this?”

Nydea gave a proud smile, “This is the kingdom of Valewind. Aurell’s home sits close to the Everwild,” she pointed to the sun, ”To the East.”

“Is the time mid-morning?”

The warrior nodded, “It is, nearly ten in the morning.”

Alhaitham took down more notes. He now had an idea as to the time of day, and the directions, which both seemed to be determined the same way as Sumeru. The largest difference was that it should have been nighttime in Sumeru by this point. 

There was also the fact that he was now quite certain that he was no longer in Teyvat. The man had said Alhaitham was from a world far away, and these things pointed to that being a fact. As intriguing as it all was, he found it worrisome. 

“You write a lot,” Nydea said, a hint of humor in her voice, “I suppose that goes along with preferring books?”

Alhaitham nodded, “I’m a scholar of languages, but I find all information valuable, and worthwhile. I’ll always seek knowledge until the day I’m gone.”

It seemed that Nydea had no problem opening up to him. He had no doubt she was powerful, and he had no interest in testing that, but she hadn’t initially struck him as the type to share so easily.

“I’m curious,” Alhaitham said, “We’ve only just met a few hours ago, and yet you don’t seem threatened by me. I’m surprised by the trust you’ve shown.”

Nydea stopped, and faced Alhaitham, “There are many factors to the answer. One, again, it’s something I can sense, as can my parents. I don’t believe you intend any harm. Two, if I did feel you were a threat, I would simply take care of it. Three… you were genuinely confused by where you were, another indicator that you are not here to do anything to jeopardize the safety of our lands.”

Alhaitham nodded, “My journey here was… quite unexpected. I should have been home by now.”

“I’m sure the one who waits for you does so patiently.”

Alhaitham couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped.

Chapter Two

“ Where is he?! He should have been back by now,” Kaveh huffed, “That Scribe. I’d bet he got distracted by some books, or something!”

Kaveh couldn’t say he’d been in the best mood all day, but having his friends sitting with him, all of them waiting on Alhaitham, that didn’t help. The silver-haired man should have returned several hours prior, the plan having been to enjoy Tighnari, and Cyno over for dinner, and games. Kaveh could feel it in his gut, something was wrong, and it was making him beyond anxious.

“Kaveh, I’m sure he’ll turn up soon. Let’s play some Genius Invokation TCG,” Cyno suggested hopefully.

Tighnari took the pacing Kaveh by the shoulders, and led him to a couch, seating himself to Kaveh’s right. When Kaveh wouldn’t stop fiddling with his sleeves nervously, Tighnari grabbed a peach, and shoved it into his hands.

“Cyno is right-”

“Of course I am-”

“Alhaitham will turn up soon, I’m sure. Why don’t we just get dinner started?”

Cyno stood, and struck a random pose, “I’ll be a wait-er in a fine dining restaurant!”

Kaveh was still trying to understand why he’d been subjected to such a terrible joke, and Tighnari stood still, with his mouth open when Cyno decided to continue.

“Get it? Because we’re waiting, but are preparing food, therefore I would be a-”

Tighnari groaned, “ We get it , we just didn’t want to.”

“Hm, very well. I’ll try another-”

“No!” Kaveh and Tighnari shouted at the same time before retreating to the kitchen.

While Kaveh had hoped Alhaitham would walk in the door at any moment, those moments turned into hours. He was really starting to worry. What had the man gotten himself into now? 

He knew he should have cancelled his appointment, and gone with his silly scribe, but Alhaitham had insisted that he wouldn’t be gone more than a day. That had been the previous morning. It wasn’t unusual for Alhaitham to get held up for a time, give or take a half day, but this was too long.

Tighnari, and Cyno had stayed long past when they normally would, but by the time the clock chimed that it was one in the morning, Cyno left, leaving Tighnari behind with Kaveh. He knew this had only been done to babysit him, so he wouldn’t go off on his own. Someone needed to stay at the house, and wait for Alhaitham in case he showed up.

Kaveh sat on the divan with a clenched jaw, ignoring Tighnari cleaning up from their gathering. He should be out there with Cyno. The feeling that something had happened only got stronger with each passing second.

Tighnari sat a bowl in front of Kaveh, and all Kaveh did was stare at the steam rising from the reheated food. He hadn’t eaten dinner, and he didn’t feel like eating at this time, either. Instead, scenarios of Alhaitham being injured, and bleeding out somewhere ran through his head as if on a reel.

“ Kaveh . You need to eat.”

Kaveh looked at his friend flatly, “I didn’t realize you were so good at Alhaitham impressions,” he grumbled, then put his hands over his face, “ I’m sorry .”

Tighnari laughed lightly, “There’s no need to be sorry. I know you’re just worried, so am I.”

“It’s just… he’s so bad about not seeking help when he gets himself into something! He could be dying, or dead , and STILL not ask for help! That man is ridiculous! … and I'm holding you up from searching for him,” Kaveh groaned, “You know the forest best, and you should be out there.”

“Cyno can handle this. It might not even be serious. Like you said, he may have been distracted by translating…”

Tighnari did not sound convinced by his own words. Kaveh put his elbows on his knees, and his face in his palms. There had to be something they could do, something better than just sitting around waiting for Alhaitham to pop through the door like nothing happened.

Kaveh stood so suddenly that it made Tighnari jump, and rushed to his room. He scribbled a note, woke up Mehrak, grabbed some minor supplies, and was back in the living room ready to go. His friend stared at the note Kaveh had slapped down onto the table, took a calming breath, and slowly approached.

“Kaveh… I know you really want to go find him, but we’d be better off waiting for him-”

“No, no. I’ve got it all worked out. I’ll leave the note, if he comes back, he’ll see it, and he’ll know to stay home because we’ll be back!”

It was Tighnari’s turn to facepalm, “Kaveh… Cyno and I agreed for me to stay here because you…” his friend paused, obviously struggling to find the right words, “Well, you tend to get into a little bit of trouble too.”

“What? No I don’t! Alhaitham’s the one who goes off and does crazy things to get himself hurt, not me !”

“Kaveh… you and Alhaitham are both what I would call accident-prone-”

“What are you even talking about?!”

Yes, Kaveh knew the answer, but he had his shoes on, and was out of the house before Tighnari could say anything else. His friend’s assessment was overexaggerated. It wasn’t like he and Alhaitham stepped foot out the door, and nearly died-

“Oof!”

It took a moment for him to realize his face had met the cobblestone, and it hurt, but he was quickly back on his feet. He’d hoped that Tighnari hadn’t seen that, but there was no such luck. The Valuka Shuna stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, and the biggest “ I told you so .” look Kaveh had seen to date.

“We’re going back inside before you do something more serious- Kaveh, get back here!”

“I’m going, Tighnari. You can either stay, or join me.”

As he walked away, he heard his friend grumble something, then the door to the house shut. Tighnari caught up to him with only a few silent strides, and a glare.

“This is a bad idea…”

Kaveh sighed, “It’s not like you didn’t already know this was going to happen.”

Tighnari snorted, “You going after Alhaitham, or face-planting the second you walked out your door?”

“… Both.”

“You’re already bruising, let’s go back and get some ice.”

“Nice try.”

Tighnari huffed, and they walked in silence. After they were out of the city, Kaveh picked up his speed. They had a long way to go, and Cyno already had a very large head start on them, and both he, and Tighnari were much faster than Kaveh.

By the time they reached Mawtiyima Forest it was nearly noon, and Kaveh was definitely moving slower. It wouldn’t take much longer to get to the ruins, and they could figure out what to do from there.

“It should be just east of here…”

“And you should both be far west of here,” Cyno’s voice floated out of nowhere.

Kaveh jumped more than he would have liked, and Tighnari simply laughed.

“I know you heard him! Why didn’t you warn me?!” Kaveh scolded his friend.

Tighnari shrugged, “I’m tired, and sluggish because my friends kept me out all night.”

Cyno stepped out from the bushes, “Am I to assume that Kaveh became impatient?”

“There’s something wrong. I can feel it, Cyno. Just let me help,” Kaveh begged.

“Actually, I just came from there. I didn’t find much, but I found some of the Scribe’s supplies,” he held up Alhaitham’s camping sack, “There were no signs of a struggle. It seems more like he simply left.”

Kaveh slowly reached out, and took the bag. He had been hoping he was wrong, and that it was just a stupid feeling that meant nothing. If Alhaitham had simply left his bag behind by accident, there was no way that Cyno, let alone Tighnari, and himself wouldn’t have run into him on the road. Even Mehrak seemed to realize this, and beeped quietly next to him.

“If he left, and didn’t come back home, then where did he go?”

Cyno looked at the ground, more emotion than he would show in front of most people, “While I didn’t see any signs of a struggle, I also didn’t see any signs that he left the cave ruins through the entrance. There was only one set of tracks going in, and I recognized the tread as his. I’ve already searched the cave for other possible exits, but I found none. I was on my way back to the city to organize a search, and find someone who can translate Alhaitham’s personal notes.”

Kaveh took the single book that had been left in the bag, “This was the only book around?”

“Yes. Should there be more?”

“He usually takes at least two blank journals with him,” he opened the book and started flipping through the pages, “This is the one he wrote the symbols, and his notes on the interpretation of their meaning. Let’s hope he wrote something useful…”

Tighnari watched as Kaveh turned each page, “That’s… not in our language… Can you read this?”

Kaveh found a nearby stump, and sat down, “Haitham doesn’t think I can, but I’ve read enough of his notes, and love poems to understand it.”

“…”

“Alhaitham writes… love poems?” Tighnari asked, straining to keep his voice normal.

Kaveh blushed. Their silvery-haired, grumpy, stoic scribe did indeed write love poems. Many of them being steamy enough to make Kaveh have a hot flash. Of course, in all of these poems, Kaveh was the subject.

He cleared his throat, “Does he? Hm,” he tried to sound nonchalant, “Interesting. Well, I’d better get reading…”

With burning red cheeks, Kaveh turned his red flushed face away from his friends grinning faces, and buried his nose in Alhaitham’s notes.

Chapter Three

As they walked, the sky steadily became darker, but the sun was still visible in the sky. It was an odd effect, seeming to drain most of the color from everything around them. Ahead Alhaitham could see how the trees became thicker. From the distance they didn’t look passable, but as they got closer, he could see the narrow spaces between.

Just on the edge of these thicker trees, the trail led to a cabin. It wasn’t large, but it wasn’t small, the window frames painted with different bright colors, and stained-glass decorated the top section of each window.

Several chickens roamed freely around the yard, as well as several cats, and a dog. One silver cat came prancing up to them, ignoring Alhaitham, and rubbed against Nydea’s feet. It was obviously familiar with her, indicating she visited often. He found this amusing, considering the woman’s earlier statements.

Nydea scruffed the cat behind the ears, “Hey, Nira. Where’s your mom?”

It reminded him of the way Kaveh spoke to Mehrak, especially when he tried to get her to call him dad, but she only called him mom instead. Eventually, Kaveh had found out that it was Alhaitham who taught her that. 

By that point it was too late, Mehrak identified Kaveh as her mother. Which was accurate. It was a bit of a surprise, however, when she started referring to Alhaitham as dad. He would have blamed it on Kaveh, were it not for the look of utter shock -and annoyance- on the blonde’s face. Mehrak had come to this conclusion on her own, and much to his own surprise, Alhaitham accepted it. After all, it was as accurate as calling Kaveh mom.

“There’s that look again,” Nydea chuckled.

Alhaitham didn’t think he was that readable, and made a mental note to work on it in the future.

“Kaveh sounds like a sweet man!” a voice said from a group of nearby plants.

At the mention of Kaveh’s name, Alhaitham was instantly on guard. If he hadn’t already known that Nydea was not the one who spoke, he would have thought it was her, just more bubbly. A moment later, he was seeing double, minus the extravagant armor.

Instead, this woman wore a simple light brown dress with a floral print, and had her hair pulled halfway into a sloppy bun. Not a weapon, or piece of armor in sight, but instead an arm full of vegetables. Her facial features, eyes, skin, and height were the same as Nydea. It didn’t take much to deduce that they were twins.

“Aurell,” the warrior greeted stiffly, “This is Alhaitham, he needs your help.”

Straight to the point.

The other woman, dropped the vegetables into a basket, waved her hand at her two visitors, and pulled a twig out of her hair, “Don’t be so formal, sis, it’s rude . A hello or something would have been nice!” she put her hands on her hips, “You like my cats better than you like me, hmph,” she turned to Alhaitham, “So, you want to get home to that beau of yours, hm?” Aurell asked.

Alhaitham blinked at her. He had spent a lot of time not saying whether Kaveh was a man or woman just to have it blurted out.

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry about that, but I promise you, Nydea doesn’t care one bit.”

Nydea turned to Alhaitham, “I told you, she is insane. I’m afraid I can not stay if I’m to make it back. I wish you luck, with my sister, and your quest to return home.”

Alhaitham nodded, “Thank you.”

With a bow, the warrior turned, and left.

“See you tomorrow!” Aurell called after her, and Nydea gave a wave without turning around.

“Yes, I would like help getting home,” Alhaitham said, returning the conversation to the issue at hand, “… However, I don’t know how I might have come to be here to begin with.”

“Yes, I only see it as a flash of light. What I do know is that you are not from this world, and that certainly makes things more difficult,” Aurell sighed.

Alhaitham couldn’t stop the surge of anxiety that rushed through his body, and settled in his stomach, “ How difficult ?”

Aurell hummed, “It’s doable, but I’m afraid it’s going to be dangerous.”

Of course it would. How could anything be done without it being dangerous. It seemed like this was a case far too often, but what was to be done about it?

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said with resolve.

Aurell smiled, and nodded, likely already knowing the answer, “Come with me. I’ll show you what you need to do.”

She led him into the cabin. It was quite beautiful, with a feel of comfort on the inside, finished with rich woods, and clean. In what he guessed was the main living area, two of the walls were covered with books from end to end.

“You may look at them if you like. I need to go get something, I’ll be right back.”

Alhaitham took the opportunity to look the books over closely, and he immediately recognized the markings. They were the same as what he saw in the cave ruins. Every single book carried these markings. He heard the woman returning from another room.

“What is the link between our worlds?” he asked.

“I believe there must have been some sort of contact, probably many hundreds of years ago, or more. Beyond that, I don’t know,” she said as she sat at a small round table, “I’m afraid things that are that much older than me are blurry, at best. So, while I do know that the contact happened, I can’t be certain of what context it may have been in, or why there hasn’t been any in so long.”

“The ruins I was in before I ended up in this world had markings just like these books. I was able to decipher some of them, but I hadn’t yet put together enough to understand the meaning of what was written.”

Aurell smiled, and jumped back up. She carefully scanned the bookcase, pulled out three books, and handed them to Alhaitham, “These books will likely help you. They are yours to keep. One of them contains random languages, which have been translated, that our people have come across at some point, or another. I believe there is at least one from your home world.”

Alhaitham’s eyes widened as she handed him a small backpack to put them in, “I doubt I would ever be able to return them-”

Aurell laughed, “Were you not listening, child? Don’t worry about it! If you can someday, great! If you can’t, pass them along to your children. Knowledge is a treasure that should be shared, and your babes would be smart cookies, even if they only took after one of you!”

By this point, he and Kaveh had already been asked several times if they were going to have a child. At first, Alhaitham thought they meant adopt, and tried to clarify that, but he quickly learned that no, they meant conceive a child. Together. Without a surrogate mother. He had clarified that as well. 

It was one of the few times he had been rendered speechless. He would never say he was against having a child with Kaveh, but genetically speaking, it just wasn’t very likely. Still, he couldn’t help but imagine it.

Aurell laughed, probably having read him again, “You never know what your future may hold. Anything could happen!”

Alhaitham raised an eyebrow, “Do you see the future, or only the past and present?”

“I can see much of the past and its truth in lessons learned, all can see the present if they open their eyes, and the future is but an echo of what could be.” Aurell sat back down at the table, “Now, I have things to show you. Have a seat!”

He sat across from her, and scanned the papers she had laid out on the table. Two of them were something written in their language, and Alhaitham’s analytical mind was already picking out the ones he knew.

The last page was a map. If he was reading the key correctly, it covered a fairly large area. Aurell marked three places on the map. One with an X, if he had to guess by what he had seen, it was their current location. The others she marked with one line by one, and two by the other.

She pointed to the one she marked with an X, “This is our location, as you’ve already figured out. This one, with the single mark, that’s the location I feel is the most likely to find what you are looking for. I’m afraid I can’t be certain, however, so I marked this other location as another option.” She pointed to the dense forest on the map, “Unfortunately, You are going to have to travel through here, and it’s very dangerous. There are large predators, and dangerous foliage. It will be very difficult to see which direction you’re traveling because of the thick canopy. I have a compass for you.”

“What do you know about the locations you marked?” he asked, dropping the compass in his pocket.

Aurell shook her head, “I only know what I have seen. I believe you’ll find them similar to the ruins you came from, but I’m not sure what lurks within. Possibly nothing, but I would be cautious.”

Alhaitham nodded. He felt apprehensive. Somehow, this was different from going on some sort of adventure in one’s own land. Being so far away from Teyvat felt surreal. The possibility of not returning home, of not going back to Kaveh, it was like it weighed heavier than if he were in Teyvat.

He had to make sure that didn’t happen. If he wasn’t there would Kaveh eat, and drink? Would he work himself to the bone? If he never returned, what would Kaveh do? Pictures of Kaveh shutting himself in, and drinking himself to death was the image that came to Alhaitham.

“I have confidence that you’ll make it home to him.” She laughed and took Alhaitham’s hand in both of her own, “Does he know that you worry so much?”

“Despite my best efforts. I should go.”

“Yes,” she sighed, “I wish I had more tools for you to use, but I’m afraid this is all I have.”

Alhaitham nodded, “This is far more than I had. Thank you.”

Aurell smiled, “Be safe.”

Chapter Four

“ There’s nothing! ” Kaveh said, snapping the book shut.

He had been reading through it for hours, and there wasn’t a single thing to indicate where Alhaitham might have gone, or that anything else had happened. Kaveh was frustrated. He had hoped that in the time it took to read Alhaitham’s notes, that the scribe would come walking up to them, and ask them what in Teyvat they were doing there.

It hadn’t happened, of course. Instead, it was only the sounds of evening insects, birds, and Tighnari’s snoring. Kaveh felt guilty, when he’d closed the book so harshly, the Valuka Shuna immediately sat up, startled.

“I’m sorry, Tighnari. I didn’t mean to wake you…”

His friend stood groggily, and knelt in front of Kaveh, “It’s fine , Kaveh. I don’t want you feeling bad for it. Cyno would have woken me up soon, anyway.”

Tighnari looked up at Kaveh, and Kaveh knew he was being assessed. He tried to hide his face behind the book, and shaky hands, but Cyno pulled it out of his hands. Kaveh stubbornly tried to look away, but Tighnari gently pulled his face back around.

“Kaveh, you haven’t slept in, what, two days or more? You look pale, and exhausted, at this rate you are going to make yourself ill, if you haven’t already,” the Valuka Shuna said in a soft voice.

He knew his friends were only trying to help, and they weren’t wrong. It was actually going on three days without sleep, and Kaveh was worried that if he even tried to blink, he would fall asleep. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, or going to go more wrong than it already had.

“We have to help Alhaitham, I just know it. He needs help, and if it’s not us, who else? I can’t think of anyone at the Akademiya who can translate these things, can you? That’s why Alhaitham was sent out here to begin with!” he knew he was getting snippy with his friends, but he couldn’t think straight. “What about mechanical issues, or puzzles? There’s a reason they gave me that ridiculous title, so what good is it if I can’t use it? I can’t -not do something. Look what happens when I don’t do something! Look at how many times he’s been badly hurt because I couldn’t do something…”

Kaveh hadn’t even realized his own fears until that moment. It was one little feeling, that ultimately didn’t mean anything , but here he was, crying because he felt helpless yet again. He knew he needed to sleep, and that was likely the reason he couldn’t keep his emotions in check, but this all just seemed like too much. While Alhaitham had always done things alone, and liked it that way, the thought of him getting hurt from it, again , was too much for Kaveh, especially in his current state.

“I know one person who may be able to help,” Cyno said, and Tighnari nodded.

“Right, Lesser Lord Kusanali,” Tighnari paused, and looked at the sky, “If I start off now, I could have her here by sundown.”

Of course, he hadn’t thought of her, but-

“We can’t just bother the Archon… t-that’s not… She’s so busy!” Kaveh stuttered out.

Cyno, laughed, “She’s very fond of Alhaitham. I wouldn’t be surprised if she already knows he’s missing. I’m certain she would come for him.”

Tighnari stood, and stretched, “I’m going to run to Sumeru City,” he turned to Kaveh, took the book, and handed him a canteen, “While I’m gone, you are going to sleep, and not get up until I return. There’s nothing you can do until then, so unless you want kidney stones, drink this, and rest.”

Before Kaveh could even think about saying something, Tighnari was gone. He took a few sips of the water, soothing his dry throat. He hadn't drunk, or eaten anything since the previous day, either. Kaveh started to stand, and turned to Cyno.

“Could we go to th’… c-cave…” he had begun to ask, but slurred out at the end as his knees gave out.

He felt small, but strong arms catch him. Even with his eyes closed, everything spun, and went dark.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Kaveh’s limbs felt heavy, and his muscles screamed at him to move. He could hear voices nearby, easily identifiable as Cyno, Tighnari, and-

He sat upright, grabbed his head, and squeezed his eyes back closed with the sudden dizziness, “L-Less’r… L- ord Ksan’li!-”

“Whoa, Kaveh. You shouldn’t have sat up so quickly.” He felt a gentle hand pushing him back down, “Here, lay back down, and give it a minute.”

“I… what happened?”

Cyno snickered, then made an “umph” sound, the same sound he would make when Tighnari would elbow him.

Tighnari cleared his throat, “You fell asleep a while ago, and getting up slowly is always a good habit to have.”

He fell asleep? Why didn’t he remember falling asleep? The last thing Kaveh remembered was Tighnari leaving to get Lesser Lord Kusanali. He had wanted to move to the cave, and-

“ You poisoned me! ” he exclaimed, his eyes flying open to glare at his friend this time, “Tighnari, how could you?!”

His friend sighed, “I drugged you, there’s a big difference, and do you really not know the answer to that?”

“I did nothing to warrant being poisoned by my own friend!”

Kaveh couldn’t believe this, the betrayal struck bone deep. One of his very best friends, someone he trusted with his life, and seen fit to-

“Were you, or were you not about to keep working, when I specifically told you to sleep?” Tighnari asked with a completely deadpan expression.

“What? I-”

“Remember that there were witnesses,” Cyno reminded.

“… Lesser Lord Kusanali, it’s good to see you, but I wish it was under better circumstances,” his friends both snorted at the subject change, “Were you able to find anything? Will you be able to help?”

The young girl smiled, and patted Kaveh on the arm, “As always, you can just call me Nahida.” Her smile turned a bit sadder, “Alhaitham was certainly here, aside from the physical evidence, I can sense it. However, his energy dissipates here as well.”

Kaveh’s breath caught, “What… what do you mean dissipates ?”

“He didn’t leave this cave, yet he did. Tighnari showed me these symbols. They belong to a race that came here a very, very long time ago. They weren’t from Teyvat. Although it has been so long, this place still carries the energy of these people. I believe that’s where he went.”

Not being from Teyvat certainly sounded familiar, having recently met some new friends, and some old ones in circumstances that seemed similar, “You mean not from Teyvat like Gepard, and Sampo?”

Nahida shook her head, “No, they were from another universe. These people are simply from another world, though very far away. They traveled here, left their own wisdom for the people of Teyvat, and went home.”

“How did they travel here, then?” Kaveh asked.

This was beginning to sound complicated. Right now, he didn’t really care about how they got to this cave, and back, but rather if he, and his friends could do the same, leave to wherever Alhaitham had gone.

“They did it with technology,” Nahida said, and again gave Kaveh a sad face, “It’s not something I can do. The case with Mister Gepard, and Sampo was different. In this case, I believe something like a portal forms between two set points, almost like a communications device. If I were to guess, I believe that this technology malfunctioned, and managed to open such a portal.”

“B-but… how did he get there then?”

The Archon shook her head, “I’m not sure. Something activated with residual energy, most likely. Just enough to send him. I’m very sorry, Kaveh, but I do trust that Alhaitham will be able to find his way back. I will search for a solution, but I don’t believe there is much we can do.”

With that, Nahida started walking around the room, looking closely at the walls. Kaveh let himself slide down the closest wall. Tighnari, and Cyno came to sit on each side of him. They were talking, but he wasn’t listening. Kaveh’s heart felt like it was about to explode, and his eyes burned. There was nothing they could do. That wasn’t right, he knew there had to be something , but he needed a minute.

Chapter Five

Alhaitham estimated that he had been walking for at least two hours, and there was no end in sight. On the map, he could see that this forest was huge, but being inside of it made it feel even larger, if not endless.

If one of the trees happened to have a large enough gap to walk through, instead of having to turn sideways, it would be blocked by large plants, and vines. Between his sword, and dendro abilities, which he was definitely glad worked in this world, he was able to clear much of it, but it was still a lot of work, and tiring.

Alhaitham already had his gloves, and pants, along with the skin under them, shredded by brambles, and sharp sticks. Blood was slowly dribbling its way down his arms, and legs, the lower settling into his boots.

It was incredibly dark within these close-standing trees, the thick canopy only giving the area below it a dark green hue. Aurell had given him a torch, and while it was better than nothing, it also didn’t allow him to see very far ahead. There was also the concern that it wouldn’t last the entirety of his travel through the forest.

He had heard several shuffling noises, low to the ground, and he hoped they were simply small animals scrambling away. However, he had also heard a persistent low growling noise a short distance to his right. Nothing echoed here, so he knew it couldn’t be too far.

Alhaitham tried to keep his sword at the ready, with his eyes on both where he was walking, and the direction the sound had been coming from. By this point, while he missed Kaveh, he was very glad that the blonde wasn’t stuck here with him. He had terrible luck, and there was no doubt that a problem would have arisen by this point.

He could picture Kaveh saying “But Haitham, it’s hungry!”, before sacrificing himself to the creature. When Alhaitham had found out about Kaveh passing out in the desert after he gave the foxes his water, the scribe had forgotten to breathe for a short time, before telling Kaveh off for his recklessness.

Alhaitham stopped in his tracks when something snapped close by, and a growl with a strange, guttural sound came from close by. It almost sounded like laughing, but he didn’t have time to think about that when a sound just like it sounded from his left, and behind him.

Suddenly, the only sounds he could hear were the loud thundering of his heart, and movement closing in from three sides, with communication between the creatures. All at once, the sounds stopped, movement included.

Every passing second felt like hours while he waited for them to make their move, and when he heard one bark its command, Alhaitham yelled his own, choosing to run instead of fight, and flashed through the trees. As he plowed forward as quickly as he could, using his abilities as his energy replenished, he heard angry yelps as solid bodies collided, but still, his head start wasn’t enough.

The beasts were more familiar with the land, smaller in stature, and fast. To his right, he caught a flash of gleaming eyes, and long, sharp teeth. The cat-like creature lunged for him, and he left forward, twisting in air to avoid the giant claws attached to its paws.

Alhaitham yelped as the razor-like ends sliced through his skin, and he landed hard on the ground. Before he could even think about the pain in his side, one of the beasts was pouncing. He lifted his shaking arm just enough to get his sword upright. The creature landed directly on it, piercing its chest.

The force of it slammed his upper arm against the ground, and he yelled out in pain again. Alhaitham could hear the others coming for him. He squirmed himself out from under the cat, and dislodged his sword. Being very unsteady on his feet, he barely swayed out of the way of the next one that lunged at him, but the third was ready for it, and flew at him.

For a split second, Alhaitham was falling. He could see the cliff where he had just been, as it got further away. He summoned his abilities, and flashed back towards solid ground, catching only the very edge with his fingertips.

The beast that had fallen with him squealed as it hit the ground once, then twice, by the time the third sound of its body hitting rock reached him, the creature was silent. The only other sound was his fallen sword clanking off the rocks. He could hear the last beast above him, prowling, but he already knew it didn’t matter.

Alhaitham was hanging from a cliff ledge with only the fingertips of one hand, which were quickly slipping. There was only one direction he was going to end up going, and it wasn’t up. As hard as he tried to hold on long enough to get his other hand up, his fingers gave out.

After such a harsh chase, and being mauled, the first sensation of falling was almost peaceful. Alhaitham had already resigned himself to the fact that it was going to happen. He flickered himself closer to the wall of solid rock, but it wasn’t close enough.

The first hit was painful, but the many that followed became more so each time his body helplessly flailed into the stone. He couldn’t even get his bearings to use his abilities again, and he was too weak after his head hit something more solid. All he could do was fall, and feel himself losing a battle with consciousness.

Of course, doing so ended rather abruptly, as was bound to happen. Something jagged pierced his side, and that was where any conscious thought stopped.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Alhaitham thought he’d opened his eyes, but he could see nothing. It took a moment for him to gather enough energy to move any of his limbs, and when he finally did, he instantly regretted it. The pain in his side was searing, and he choked back a yell.

He gritted his teeth as his muscles tensed, and shook, which made the pain much worse, then willed his body to relax. This was easier thought than done. He shivered, a damp coolness laying across his body where sweat, and blood had dried.

Slowly, he reached for his Vision, praying it was still there. As soon as his fingers brushed against it, the exceptionally faint glow flared brighter, and he could see his immediate surroundings.

Alhaitham was laying on a large downed tree, facing towards the sky, had it been there. He pulled his Vision around to the front so he could see more as he turned his head. He wished he hadn’t.

Sticking out from his lower left side was a branch that must have been still connected to the tree. He let his head fall back against the wood, and took in a few difficult, shaky breaths. He realized that he didn’t have a lot of options.

There was no avoiding removing himself from the branch, but there was no good way to go about this. Alhaitham no longer had his sword, or the backpack he had been given. He could tell his headphones weren’t on his head, but he could feel the cord pulling at his belt pouch. 

He tried to reach over his shoulder to feel for the cord, but that had been a bad idea. The stretching of his torso that way pulled at his side. Alhaitham tried to clear his head as he took in short gasps of air.

The branch wasn’t small, but it also wasn’t too big, he tried to think of that as some sort of saving grace, and he realized it might just be. Trying his best to steady himself, he grabbed the few inches of the wood that was sticking out, and started to move his body at the same time, and direction that he pushed the stick.

It began to move, but it was excruciatingly painful, and he couldn’t stop the noise he let out. The last thing he needed was to have more predators upon him. Alhaitham pulled at the collar of his cloak, and bit down on it. Then, he tried again, but quicker.

All at once, the branch snapped, and his teeth clamped down harder into the material as he muffled a scream. However, another problem arose. Not being held on by the branch anymore meant he began to slide down the rounded truck, and there was nothing for him to grab onto.

Alhaitham hit the ground face-first, and though it wasn’t far, it was enough to push the branch back the other way. This time, he groaned into the dirt, and lay there unmoving. He was so, so very glad that Kaveh was not with him.

Unfortunately, he could only allow himself a moment to catch his breath, if he didn’t get moving soon, he knew he never would. Slowly, and painfully, he got himself to his knees. The broken branch was still lodged inside of him, stopping him from bleeding to death.

He detached his cloak, and tied it as tightly as he could stand around his center, holding the wood as still as possible. As he retied his Vision to his belt pouch, its dim light reflected off of something in front of him. Alhaitham recognized the item straight away.

Crawling forward a few feet, he was able to wrap his hand around the hilt of his sword. It felt comfortable in his shaking hand, familiar, and needed . He thanked whatever gods resided over this world.

As he moved to stand, something tugged at his belt, the cord to his headphones that he had forgotten about. Alhaitham pulled at it gently, and his headset came into view. They had a few scrapes, but were otherwise intact, it seemed. Kaveh wouldn’t have been happy if they had been damaged again after spending so much time repairing them recently.

Alhaitham put the headphones around his neck, and pushed himself off the ground, with no small amount of effort. His back heavily protested, having been abused in his first landing. He supposed it was lucky that he was on his feet at all, let alone breathing, or attempting to breathe.

He felt for the compass in his belt pouch, his breath caught in relief when he found it, and it was unharmed. Miracle number three. He didn’t have the map anymore, but he knew the approximate direction he should be heading to exit those gods forsaken woods.

Chapter Six

Kaveh sat, facing the wall with Alhaitham’s book open in his lap. He had been staring at the symbols on the wall for hours , his hips, and back aching from being seated on the floor for so long . Now, he was trying his best to come to terms with the fact that he was not a Haravatat student, a fact which he would be quite proud of, were it a normal day.

Realistically, he knew far more than most Kshahrewar alumni, having his best friend be Haravatat when they were in school, then living with the man. Now, it didn’t feel like enough. Looking at these markings on the cave wall seemed far too overwhelming, knowing that so much could rest on him figuring this out.

Yes, Nahida had told them that there wasn’t a lot to do, but he still couldn’t accept it. A plate of food sat next to him, delivered by Tighnari, who now sat looking at him, while he looked at the wall. Mehrak sat next to it, beeping at Kaveh, trying to get him to eat. She had become as persistent as Alhaitham in this way.

“You’re going to exhaust your eyes,” the Valuka Shuna said, nibbling on some bread,” If you don’t eat, I’m going to knock you out again.”

Kaveh glanced away from the wall long enough to see his friend’s annoyed face. Tighnari was such a good person, and a wonderful friend. Kaveh knew he only had his best interest at heart, but he wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it.

“Do you think he’s okay?”

Tighnari looked at the wall for a long moment, “It’s Alhaitham, I’m sure he’s going to be fine.”

“What if he’s not, and we have no way to help him?”

This time, his friend didn’t answer. There was only one answer to that, Alhaitham would suffer, or worse, and they would never know. Kaveh would never know, aside from spending the rest of his life alone.

It wasn’t a thought he could stand, and it was wrong . He’d been alone before, but never because he wanted to be. Kaveh wasn’t an incredibly social person. Friendly to everyone, sure, but he didn’t let many people get close to him. One of the very few ways he and Alhaitham were similar. The biggest difference between them was that Kaveh would hang out with Tighnari, and Cyno any time, or that he didn’t mind being in a public setting to drink.

Kaveh covered his face with his hands, hiding from his friends and trying to gather himself again. Cyno’s hand landed on one shoulder, Tighnari’s on the other, and Mehrak beeped sadly at his feet. All they could do was trust that Alhaitham would make it through.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Every single step jostled the stick in Alhaitham’s side, and he bit his lip to stop from making more noise. In the chasm he’d fallen into, the already dim light from the canopy didn’t reach, and when he looked above he couldn’t even see the hint of dull green like he had before. It was some time during the night, but he couldn’t know that for sure, having no idea how long he’d been out.

The plus side, if it could be called that, to having been thrown into the depths of this ridiculous forest, was that the only trees were ones which had fallen from above. Otherwise, the ground was nearly completely flat, save for some rounded rocks that stuck out of the dirt here, and there. He’d realized it must have been a river at one time, but had long since dried up.

It also seemed as though there was a lack of the large predators. He’d heard a few small noises, which admittedly scared him after the run-in with the large cats. However, there didn’t seem to be anything large around.

Another stroke of luck had been given to Alhaitham’s when he tripped over his backpack in the dark. He, and it had been flung quite the distance apart, and it was amazing that he’d just happened to come across it. Sadly, the canteen he’d been given broke, and there was nothing left. 

The water had disintegrated the bread he’d been given, leaving nothing but a pile of filthy mush. Thankfully, it had landed under the books, so they hadn’t been soaked, but part of the map had. It was too dark to see if it was still usable.

As he trudged on, time seemed to slow down. Walking in the endless dark, and injured, thoughts were blurring together with reality, and he found himself zoning out on more than one occasion.

Thinking about Kaveh was keeping him going. He wondered how many people would be shocked by that. All of them, most likely. To anyone other than a very, very few people, Alhaitham was self-centered, which wasn’t entirely untrue, but it wasn’t entirely true, either.

This is where Kaveh would gladly let people know that the Grand Scribe of the Akademiya would only help others if there was something in it for him. Also not entirely true, but close enough. There was never a time he would leave someone to die, or not receive the help they may need. 

However, he would also do everything within his power to not get involved. Their Archon, Tighnari, Kaveh, and even the troll with the title of General, they would have his help any time they needed it. On some occasions, he’d help the Traveler on her journey. Other people, however, unless they were in immediate danger, he was more than happy to walk away.

It wasn’t until he rounded a bend, and was blinded by bright morning light that Alhaitham realized just how zoned out he had been. Either he had died, or it was the edge of the forest, finally . An unexpected wave of emotion hit Alhaitham, and as much as it hurt, his breathing picked up.

He picked up his pace a little, unbothered by the slight squelching sound his left boot was making. Alhaitham needed to be away from the darkness that had enveloped him, and back in the light.

The sun stung his eyes as he stepped into it, making for a dizzying effect between with the sudden change from darkness. In front of him were hills with short, rich green grass, and dark rocks with a gray-purple hue poking out. The river bed he had been in evened out to what would have been slightly sloped river banks, a drastic change in geography. The land was as beautiful as it had been on the other side of the forest.

Alhaitham walked a little ways further, wanting to get as far away from the cave-like trees as he could. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he found a large rock, and gingerly slid down it onto the grass, grimacing in pain when it hit the wood impaling him. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get up, but that was simply a future problem that would have to wait its turn.

He had no choice but to stop, his body trying its hardest to give out, fed up with supporting him. Alhaitham’s head fell back against the rock, and through hazy eyes, he looked at the sky, still too bright for how long he’d been in the dark.

With Kaveh on his mind, his eyes closed.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

“He ain’t got notin’ o’ no value!”

“What ‘bout that shiny green thing? Looks like it’d sell fer somethin’ pretty…”

Alhaitham felt hands patting down his body, and groaned when they got to his side. The hands quickly retreated.

“Ya said ‘e were dead!”

“Well he looked dead! Dead ‘nough, anyway…”

He tried to straighten up, and the people around him let out small yelps at his growl. He hadn’t even gotten his eyes open yet.

‘Quick! Get ‘is trinket!””

Hands were on him again, and that was enough. With a yell, and a single motion, he pulled together his energy, and summoned his mirrors. Green light bounced across them, and through the air, burning any skin they touched.

“Ahh! Magic! It’s magic! The zombie can do magic!”

As the two men were distracted, he found the hilt of his sword, got to his feet, and brought it just under the chin of one of the thieves. The other man tried to run, but Alhaitham was faster. He summoned roots to wrap around the man’s feet, and he fell forward.

He looked at the man at the end of his blade, eyes stopping on the canteen tied to his hip.

“… Give me your water,” he said, his voice coming out gravelly.

The man looked uncertain, and hesitated. Alhaitham pushed his sword against his neck harder.

“ Now .”

This time, the response was instantaneous, as the man untied his canteen, Alhaitham noticed his backpack was slung over the other thief's shoulder. When the water was handed to him, he jutted his chin out at the man on the ground.

“My bag.”

He kept the blade under the man’s chin as they moved towards the other, a tiny trickle of blood now dripping down his neck. Slowly, the man scooped up the sack, and held it out for Alhaitham.

“Drop it, and leave ,” he said.

As soon as it hit the ground, he released the man on the ground, and readied his abilities once more. It wasn’t needed. The moment the men were able, they were running, quite literally for the hills, and were out of sight in only moments. 

Alhaitham collapsed onto the rock behind him, glad it was there, and tried to push back the dizziness, and nausea. He felt weak, and cold, but needed to go . He opened the canteen, careful not to drop it with shaking hands, and sniffed it before taking a few small drinks.

The thought of drinking after strangers was disgusting, but it was the best he had. The water was cool on his throat, and he could feel it settle in his stomach. He was careful not to drink too much, having no idea how long it would be before he would have another source.

As much as he wanted to close his eyes again, he pushed himself to his feet, using the rock to stabilize himself, grabbed the backpack off the ground by its strap, and started walking. He got the map out as he traveled. It wasn’t very detailed, so he merely estimated the position he most likely was.

The sun was in a much different spot than it had been when he fell asleep, it must have been several hours later, precious daylight he’d lost. It wasn’t as if he’d had a choice, his body had been ready to give up on him, and it had done just that.

Eventually, he came across the road that had been marked on the map, it meant he wasn’t far off on his calculations. The road was much flatter, and the ground wasn’t nearly as bumpy, this made traveling much easier, something he needed, since he was losing energy fast.

He didn’t stop walking to take a look at his side, and the reason he was shivering became quickly obvious. It looked as if the bleeding had stopped while he was sleeping, dried blood was crusted around any gap between the stick, and his skin, but it had been pulled open while he was dealing with the robbers. However, that wasn’t the issue. 

While it was oozing slowly again, he wasn’t losing too much more blood. It was how swollen, and red it looked. He wasn’t surprised at having an infection, the dark ravine was certainly an excellent breeding ground for bacteria, but this also made things more difficult. 

There was nothing he could do but press on.

Chapter Seven

The journey became something of a blur. He hadn’t met anyone on the road, not that he remembered, at least, and he found himself zoning out again. He repeated in his head to keep following the road, to keep walking because Kaveh was going to be worried when he didn’t return.

There came a point when the shivering started to become more, and more painful. His cheeks, and forehead felt like they were literally on fire, but he felt so cold. The sharp, ringing pain in his head was also becoming more prominent, but he didn’t stop walking.

Alhaitham realized, already in the middle of the bridge, that there was water. He stumbled to the stream’s shore, and fumbled with the canteen, but managed to fill it without losing it. As he drank, he sat, entranced by the moving water, far too easily distracted by the flow of it. 

A loud bird squawked, and snapped him out of it, but it also had him unsteadily on his feet, with his sword drawn. It took him far longer than it should have to realize there was no threat nearby, and he shuffled along again.

It was becoming harder to see in the evening light, Alhaitham took another look at the map. He stared at it blankly as he walked, trying to zone his attention into what he needed. His eyes flitted past the markings Aurell had made. The one he needed first was more northward, which, according to the compass, was the direction the road was leading, but it looked like he’d have to split off at some point.

There was a possibility that he was reading the distance wrong, but it looked like he wasn’t far, and he didn’t want to stop, afraid he wouldn’t get back up. The likeliness of this concern becoming reality increased with every passing minute.

When he could finally see a large, black shape in the darkness, a building, he thought he was hallucinating at first, his mind playing tricks on him. However, it grew more prominent as he got closer, and details started to come into sight.

Still, he didn’t trust it until he was able to stumble up to a wall, and place his hand on the cool surface. Alhaitham, a man known for being reasonable in the face of any situation, felt like he could cry when he could feel the rough stone under his fingers. 

Using the wall to hold himself up, he followed the exterior of the building until he finally came to an opening. The writing on the large pillars at the entrance were familiar, he knew this had to be the right place.

Alhaitham only made it a few steps into the building before his knees collapsed, and his swimming vision gave way to darkness. He didn’t feel himself fall.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

*Clunk*

*Clunk*

*Nudge -Snuff *

Something wet touched Alhaitham’s face, followed immediately by a short blast of hot air. Deep down, he knew he should be worried, but his mind was still trying to catch up to that fact, and he instead ignored it.

*Nudge- Snuff *

* Nudge *

Animal. It had to be an animal. Alhaitham was probably being eaten alive, and still couldn’t find it in himself to move. He was too cold, in too much pain, and his feet were too wet. He didn’t know why his feet were wet, but they were. They could have been wet before, but he wasn’t sure.

A loud noise crashed around him. The animal made a frightened noise, and what sounded like a few steps away. His feet were wet because it was raining, then. So, his feet had not been wet before. Unless it had been raining before he’d come half-way into some sort of shelter. He grimaced when he realized he was putting too much thought into his feet.

Slowly, he began to drag himself forward, trying to get out of the rain the rest of the way. As he stretched, and it pulled on his side, he couldn’t stop the pained groans that escaped him. His side burned, and his face long with it, yet he felt so incredibly cold, inside, and out. 

He stopped when it felt like he might vomit, and tried to let his stomach settle. He hadn’t opened his eyes, but he couldn’t feel the rain drops hitting his legs anymore, so he supposed he was far enough inside. Some part of him recognized that his fever was winning the war on his body. He needed to get home. Soon .

Alhaitham tried to gather the energy to open his eyes first. It took some work, but he found himself staring at stone, dirt, and a llama-horse-like creature. Upon seeing Alhaitham’s eyes open, it came trotting back over, and gave his hair a slimy lick, his hair sticking to its tongue.

The llama-horse’s breath made him gag hard, and painfully, but the sound didn’t deter the creature. At least he wasn’t being eaten. Alhaitham got his arms under himself, palms planted on the ground, and shakily pushed up to his knees.

He looked around the room. It was nothing more than a small entryway, with an open door opposite the outer one. The walls were decorated with the same symbols as the cave ruins in Sumeru. 

Alhaitham pulled out his notebook, and the alphabet book Aurell had given him, and got to work.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Kaveh was restless, to say the least. He’d been through Alhaitham’s notes, twice , and translated what he could. None of it meant anything. With large pieces of symbol translation missing, it was difficult to advance further, as well as piece together what was being said.

Nahida had been certain that this temple would be where Alhaitham would return to, so Tighnari had gone off to get what medical supplies he could. As much as the man didn’t want to, he’d also managed to get Doctor Zakariya to the cave.

They were as prepared as they could be, and he knew how lucky it was that they had the option to be prepared, but he also hated it. Having time meant that Alhaitham was having difficulties of some sort coming home. 

The Archon, and Hat Guy had gone around the room several times themselves, doing their own translation of each section, but even being the Archon of wisdom had some limits. The ruins were huge, and she was but one person. It was slow work.

Kaveh wandered around the room, having taken to checking every corner, nook, and cranny. He ran his hands along the walls as he walked, feeling every piece of stone, and the symbols on them. 

There was nothing in the room that resembled a mechanism, or other type of technology. Nahida had explained that it was magic which pulled Alhaitham away from Teyvat, nothing to do with machines, but Kaveh wondered what would bring him back to the right place.

That was when he felt it, the tiniest little difference in the wall. He knew it was probably nothing, but he still stopped to take a look. The stone on one brick was smoother than the rest, except for a small indent in the upper right corner. That part he hadn’t noticed.

He slid his finger over the indentation, and it changed. The single indent turned into a grid of them, and Kaveh watched as one lit up, then went dark. Curious, he touched the one that lit up, it lit up again in response, and went dark again.

Next, that one lit up, went dark, then two lower ones that were diagonal from each other did the same. He touched the first, it stayed lit, then he touched the other two at the same time. Kaveh realized it was like a game. Remember the dot’s order.

Over several rounds, the combinations increased in difficulty, until it finally beeped happily, and all but the original dots disappeared. Mehrak gave a beep back, and Kaveh gave her a small smile. 

He finally turned to the people standing behind him, who he had been ignoring, just in time to see something descend into the center of the room, next to a square tile. The tile had an intricate carving of some sort of winged animal that looked like either a llama, or a horse. Kaveh couldn’t decide which. 

The descending object looked like nothing more than a podium, and it landed with a thud, followed by a click at its base. With a look at Nahida, they approached it together. It had more of the small indentations, and Mehrak beeped at it, trying to talk to it like she’d talked to the other. A frown appeared when it didn’t talk back.

“Sorry, Mehrak, I don’t believe these speak the same language as you,” Nahida said, reaching a hand up to pat the briefcase, “Maybe you can teach it sometime!”

Kaveh was surprised, “You know Mehrak’s name?!”

The tiny Archon smiled, “Of course! Alhaitham talks about her all the time. There have been rumors that the Scribe of the Akademiya has a child. They started when people passing by overheard our conversation. He’s very proud of you both.”

He felt his jaw drop. Kaveh already knew that Alhaitham was proud of his achievements, it was one of the few things the silver-haired grump had always praised him on to others. It was Kaveh’s lack of self-worth that Alhaitham always lectured him about.

Kaveh had no idea that the scribe bragged about not only him, but Mehrak as well, and to the point people thought he was talking about a child. His cheeks flushed at the realization. Then he thought about the time Alhaitham spent talking to Mehrak, and the things he’d taught Kaveh’s precious little creation.

“What did he say to have people thinking this?”

Kaveh had to know.

Nahida tapped her chin, “Well, one of the specific times it caught people’s attention, he was particularly excited because Mehrak had learned to call you “mom”. Then, he was just as excited when she started calling him “dad”. People passing by assumed that he was talking about his child. It caused quite the stir, for many reasons, as you might imagine. I’m surprised you didn’t hear.”

Actually, now that he thought about it, Kaveh realized he might have indeed heard something about it, but hadn’t known what it was at the time. One day, while he sat at Lambad’s after a client meeting, he heard two professors talking.

“Really? Who would even sleep with the scribe? He’s so unpleasant.”

“Well, obviously somebody did. How else could this have happened?”

Kaveh had hightailed it out of there without stopping to think about what it was that had “happened” to cause such interest. He assumed, at the time, that they had found out about the two of them. However, this context made more sense.

Now that he knew what it was all about, it was almost laughable. Kaveh was Alhaitham’s only experience , and it was awfully difficult to get a man pregnant. He couldn’t blame others. Alhaitham had simply always turned everyone down, not giving reasons. 

No one would have a way to know what his preference was. Kaveh didn’t even know until they were together, he’d just assumed Alhaitham wasn’t interested in romantic relationships.

He turned back to the podium. There were more symbols along the bottom, and one large symbol above the rest. He had seen that one before. Kaveh flipped through the pages of Alhaitham’s journal until he found it.

It had been translated as simple meaning “ Home ”, and while it was nice that they had a meaning for it, that single word could mean anything . Was this used to take the people who came here home, or was it used for someone who went there to get home? Was it meant to mark some sort of base on Teyvat? A place they could return to as they liked? If that were the case, it seemed like they would have used it more, so Kaveh sent that option to the bottom of the list.

He sat on the ground, Nahida and Mehrak settled next to him, and he began to translate.

Chapter Eight

Although Alhaitham had made it a short distance into the ruins, he had already stopped several times for coughing fits, gagging, or dizziness, and weakness. One thing was already becoming clear to him, however. These probably weren’t the ruins he was looking for.

Sadly, he still had to search, just in case. At the rate his body was deteriorating, he was lucky to be standing. If he left for the other mark on the map, he would never make it back to this place. He was sluggish, physically, and mentally, but he’d managed to decipher markings that he’d seen along the way to what seemed to be the main chamber.

The new chamber wasn’t large, lit by angled skylights that let enough light in to be able to see, and enough rain to make the floor sloppy. It didn’t matter, his feet were already wet. The room didn’t have much writing that he could find.

At the back of the room sat two giant thrones with sitting statues in each. A man, and a woman, both wearing crowns. It was a tomb, built for the purpose of commemorating these people. As lovely as it was, it wasn’t what he needed, and he couldn’t help the defeat that rose in him. Regardless, he stumbled his way back out into the damp outside air, and with a look at his map, and compass, set off immediately, thankful it had stopped raining.

The sound of hooves, and breathing followed him, he didn’t have to look back to know it was the llama-horse. Alhaitham would have thought that this type of animal would travel in a herd, yet this one was adamant on trailing behind him. It didn’t bother him, since it wasn’t begging for food he didn’t have, nor was it harming him.

At some point, Alhaitham lost track of what was going on around him, unable to focus on anything but his feet. He had begun to stumble worse than he had already been, his legs no longer wanting to carry him. He couldn’t blame them.

When Alhaitham barely caught himself from completely falling, the llama-horse came trotting up close, its back next to where Alhaitham was, knelt down, and looked at him expectantly. Slowly, he reached to run his fingers through the wooly fur, but when he didn’t climb on, the animal nudged him with its nose.

Even this creature could tell that he needed help. Alhaitham crawled onto its back, and did his best to hang on without hurting it. As it walked, he found himself slumping forward, further, and further. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold on with weakness taking over his body, and he ended up laying forward. It hurt his side, but he would not be getting up anytime soon. Its fur was warm, soft, and inviting, and Alhaitham’s eyes were drifting closed.

He didn’t have the energy to question where he was being taken, or if he’d wake up again when he got there.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

With a pained yelp, Alhaitham woke, but his eyes didn’t want to open. Whatever was beneath him was cold, and wet. His hands were numb, but he could smell grass. He tried to move, to get up, but pain shot from his shoulder, across his chest, and down his back.

He tried to piece together what had happened, but nothing came to mind, not until a cold, wet nose hit his face. It nudged at his cheek, and its breath once again made him gag, but he didn’t have anything to come up. Although, he realized he hadn’t been drinking nearly enough water.

Alhaitham tried once more to push himself up, only for something solid to hold him down.

“Stop moving.”

He got his eyes open to see llama-horse staring at him. He tried to reach for it with his uninjured arm, only to have it pushed back down by the animal.

“When we first met, I would have guessed that you knew the meaning of stop moving,” llama-horse said.

He realized that probably couldn’t be correct, but he was having trouble using logic to understand what was happening.

“I’m going to turn you over.”

Not much warning was given before he was painfully pulled to lay on his back. Before he squeezed his eyes shut, he caught a glimpse of blonde.

“… Kaveh…”

The voice hummed, “I will admit, I have never been mistaken for a man before.”

Alhaitham didn’t respond. He knew the woman’s voice, and felt he could trust it, but it was too much to think about beyond that. The hand across his forehead was cold, and made him shiver more, but the makeshift bandage being removed from his center quickly overshadowed that.

“Please, you must lay still. I do not wish to cause you further pain.”

He did the best he could, and he knew that on a normal day, he could achieve what was asked of him. However, he was finding it increasingly difficult not to try to squirm away from the prodding.

“How did this happen to you?”

That was a great question, one it took far too long to search for.

“… Forest ravine. I- I fell.”

The person sucked in a short breath, and paused, “You fell from such a height, and lived? That is impressive.”

Alhaitham didn’t find it impressive. His wound was rewrapped, and he was being lifted to a sitting position. He felt the canteen tap his lips, and opened his mouth.

“Drink slowly, or it will not stay with you.”

After a few sips, his eyes fluttered open again. Nydea, he really should have known by the voice. Alhaitham tried to sit up, to look for llama-horse, but he was held still.

“I am sorry, I have nothing to dress your wounds properly. Your cape will have to make due once more. The wound, it is very infected, and you are quite ill. I will take you to the nearest village for treatment.”

Alhaitham struggled against the hands holding him, “No… I need to go home .”

He really needed to go home. He needed Kaveh, and his own bed, and everything would be fine.

“Wait! Please, stop moving. You need help that I cannot give-”

“ Home ,” he repeated, “Please… the second temple. I need to go.”

She looked torn at his request, but called to llama-horse. The creature knelt for him again, and Nydea helped him on.

“You must do your best to hold on, this time. You took quite a fall before. Where is your map, and compass?”

He couldn’t feel the pack on his back, and panicked for a moment, until she held up the bag.

“It is in here?”

She began searching before he even had the chance to nod, and found what she was looking for. Nydea took a few moments to be certain of the direction she wanted, and pulled llama-horse along with her. She kept a hand on his back to steady him, and he was grateful, because his hands didn’t want to work.

Alhaitham sunk into the warmth of the animal once more, but tried to keep his eyes open. He hadn’t expected to see her again, let alone in the middle of nowhere. He thought about this for far too long before he finally realized that she was probably searching for him.

“H-how did you find me?…” he asked.

It was becoming more difficult to catch his breath, or speak. Llama-horse was very tolerant when he accidentally dug his fingers in at a particularly hard jostle.

“After mother, and father finally agreed to let me help you, I asked my sister. She told me of the temples, and I began my search. There were signs that you had already been to the first ruins, so I set off to the next. While our people do not normally venture past the forest, I have been to this side a few times, so I had an idea of which direction to follow. There were also tracks left by your friend leading from the temple. When I saw you, I tried to reach you before you fell, but it was too late. I apologize.”

Alhaitham shook his head, “Not your fault… and thank you. What-” another hard bump made his teeth grit, and a noise escaped him. He took a second to breathe through it, “W-what is this animal?”

Nydea smiled, “It is a kutharis. They are highly intelligent, and are said to be gentle spirits who could appear in a time of great need. It seems you caught the attention of this one.”

As odd as it sounded, it would make sense, from what he had witnessed from the creature. He’d have to remember the name kutharis, wishing he could write it down.

“You should not fight sleep. Rest.”

Alhaitham was in no position to argue.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

“That’s it! That’s it! I’ve got it!” Kaveh declared, scrambling to his feet, “This device is to have an anchor point for a person to get home…” his shoulders sagged, “But it only works if the person uses the device it’s connected to. What if- What if he can’t…”

Tighnari put his hand on Kaveh’s arm to calm him, “Does it say how to activate the device?”

“It does on this side,” Nahida said from the opposite side of the podium, “I believe it won’t be too difficult.”

With the stand being taller than her, she gave Kaveh instructions, and he followed each carefully. After placing a hand on each side, more glowing buttons, similar to the ones on the wall, had appeared across the top. These were accompanied by four vertical lines to the left, each having a button at the bottom. He followed precisely what she said, but nothing seemed to happen.

“You must have done it wrong,” Hat Guy growled.

Cyno hummed, “He did everything exactly as she said.”

Kaveh wasn’t listening to them. He redid everything that Nahida had told him, and just like before, it simply sat there. Surely there would be some sort of indicator that it worked. Mehrak tried beeping at it, while the others made suggestions, he ignored all of them.

Then, it dawned on him. Carefully, Kaveh placed his hands exactly where he had placed them at the start of the process. Happy sounding beeps, along with dancing lights across the surface responded this time.

Several feet in front of the podium, a bright light appeared, and a pentagon shaped platform floated down, just as the podium had, clicking into place next to the square shape on the floor. Everyone approached it cautiously, gathering around it, but not stepping on it. The platform had the symbol for dendro beautifully carved into it. 

There were also more symbols around each edge, each of which looked like they were in a different language. One was their own language, easy to recognize, another had the same symbols that covered the walls. He had never seen the other three before.

“Stand clear,” Nahida said, pointing at the words, “This must be where he’ll come back to.”

Tighnari, and Zakariya set to work immediately, getting their supplies ready. Kaveh stared at the platform, realizing that waiting really was the only thing left to do now.

Chapter Nine

“Wake, little one.”

Alhaitham heard the voice, but what was being said didn’t register. He was fairly certain his eyes were glued shut, and his limbs had no intention of moving. The warmth of whatever soft thing he was laying on was too welcoming.

“You must wake if you are to return to your loved one,” her cold hand tapped his cheek gently.

Kaveh . He needed to see Kaveh. That was enough to get weak, stiff muscles moving, and his eyes open. Llama-horse had knelt on the ground, all Alhaitham had to do was stand. Unfortunately, that was more difficult than it seemed like it would be.

Nydea took his arm, and helped to pull him up, but there was no way he would be able to stand on his own. Thankfully, she helped with that, as well. In front of them was the second set of ruins, his last hope.

He was very slow, but walking inside was worth it. It looked nearly identical to the ruins in Sumeru, only a few changes, including the giant llama-horse statue. Llama-horse trotted up to it, and happily laid down next to the base.

Alhaitham started fumbling with the backpack Nydea had been holding in the same hand supporting him. He needed to start translating. The warrior pulled it away from him, and helped him over to a wall.

“You will rest. I do not have to translate, and will see to what needs to be done,” she said as she helped him drink, then got to work.

Right, she was a native, this was her language. His brain was far too scrambled, and overheated to even think of the simple things he should know, it was silly to think he’d ever be able to translate something.

He rested his head against the wall, and watched her through half closed eyes.

I’ll make it home.

I’ll see Kaveh soon.

I’ll make it home.

I’ll see Kaveh soon.

I’ll make it home.

I’ll see Kaveh soon.

“I will see to it, little one.”

Had he been talking out loud? It didn’t matter, as long as it kept him going.

Alhaitham had no idea how long it had been when Nydea came to kneel next to him again. He hadn’t taken in anything she’d done, either. At some point, llama-horse had sat next to him, giving him warmth, and something to lay against.

“Assuming this device still works properly, I believe it is ready. You must move to the center, I will help you.”

Before she helped him up, he brought a hand up to llama-horse’s fur, and scruffed his fingers in as much as he could.

“Thank you,” he said to it, and it nudged his face in response.

As she wrangled him to his feet, a coughing fit hit him, and it was painful enough to make his eyes water. She supported him to the center of the room. There were two platforms, one triangle shaped, and the other a pentagon. He could see symbols around the edges, each a different shape, but he couldn’t focus on them.

Nydea helped him sit on the square shaped platform, which he could now see had the symbol for dendro engraved in the center, and placed his bag next to him. Before she could pull away, his grip tightened on her arm slightly, stopping her.

“Thank you… for everything.”

Nydea smiled, and patted his hand, gentle for a strong warrior, “Of course. Perhaps if you visit again, you will be better prepared. You can bring your mate along.”

“… He’d love that…”

She stood, and positioned herself in front of a podium, “Please, take care.”

As soon as he nodded the room lit up, and spun. His skin began to tingle, and the feeling of being cold seemed to magnify. When the tingling sensation reached his side, he clenched his teeth against the pain, and nausea.

The spinning stopped as quickly as it had begun, and he couldn’t catch himself from falling over. He was shivering hard, and uncontrollably, while his side, and shoulder still felt like they were on fire.

Soft hands were on his cheeks, wiping away tears, and he felt himself being laid onto his back. Alhaitham forced his eyes to open, and through wet lashes, Kaveh’s beautiful face came into view.

“Haitham! Please talk to me! ”

“… Kaveh… I-” the edges of his vision were going dark, yet he tried to stay focused on the carmine eyes staring at him. He could see them, and they were real, “… I-I’m glad I got to… see you…” -then he couldn’t see anything anymore- “One more… t-time…”

~xxxxxxxxxx~

Mehrak beeped in alarm. They had waited in the ruins for nearly two days after activating the podium, only to have the scribe come back looking like this .

“Alhaitham, wake up! You need to wake up!”

Why did Alhaitham have to say that , of all things? His skin was so hot, and Kaveh held back a gag when the doctor pulled Alhaitham’s cloak from where it had been wrapped. Disgusting was the only word that came to mind to describe the wound in Alhaitham’s side.

It was an angry red, very swollen, and oozing puss. Even with only a glance, Kaveh could see the stick lodged in the wound. He could hear Cyno, and Tighnari each suck in a sharp breath at the sight.

Tighnari had begun to take directions from Zakariya, helping with whatever the doctor wanted to be done first. Kaveh held Alhaitham’s hand, not knowing what to do, or what help he would be. Alhaitham groaned, when fingers brushed past the swollen skin, and the shirt was cut around it.

“It’s okay, Kaveh whispered, “It’s being taken care of, it’s okay.”

Of course, Alhaitham didn’t respond, still, Kaveh kept talking to him.

He had no idea how long it had been when Alhaitham was finally able to be moved. The blanket he had been laid on was damp with sweat, and blood. Other than the impalement, one of his shoulders was badly bruised, and his back was an ugly dark purple from top to bottom. 

He obviously had a hard landing on something, both Tighnari, and the doctor were extremely surprised that his spine seemed fine. Kaveh realized how close Alhaitham may have come to being paralyzed, and the thought left him in even more shock.

It was overwhelmingly stressful to watch them load the scribe onto a stretcher, but a relief at the same time. They were headed home.

The relief was short-lived when he heard the doctor talking to Tighnari. It was definitely something he wasn’t meant to hear, and Tighnari ducked his head when he looked over at Kaveh’s panicking face.

“ I don’t think he’ll make it back to the city… ”

The doctor’s own words. Kaveh felt light-headed, but kept Alhaitham’s hand clenched in his own as they kept a quick pace. Alhaitham would make it. He was strong, and incredibly stubborn, he’d never let Celestia take him before his time, which would be a long, long time in the future.

“We could take him to Gandharva Ville, but we won’t have what you need there,” Tighnari countered, “It might be best, though…”

Zakariya shook his head, “You are correct. I’m afraid we’ll need a bit more than that.”

“ Kaveh … Kaveh… Kaveh… Kaveh… ”

Alhaitham had begun repeating the name, but never actually woke. That was okay, as long as he was talking, he was still breathing. They were so close to Sumeru city when Alhaitham’s breathing became fast, and shallow, and a portable oxygen mask was put over his mouth. As pale as he had been, he quickly became even more so, and that was when panic crossed Zakariya’s face.

“We need to move faster .”

Tighnari took Kaveh’s hand from Alhaitham’s, and the people carrying the scribe picked up a faster pace, with Cyno right behind them.

“Tighnari, what-”

“I’m sorry,” Tighnari gave him a sad look as they both quickly followed again, “We need to make sure they’re not impeded.”

“What is happening?”

His friend shook his head, “You know I’m not an actual doctor, Kaveh…”

“Best guess?!”

He knew how desperate he sounded, but Tighnari would never judge him for it. Kaveh needed an answer, he needed to know what was happening.

“… I believe he’s in shock, and the infection from the wound is a big problem. They need to get there as quickly as possible. Kaveh, he’s going to need surgery, either way. I just… I want you to be prepared.”

He had already figured that, but it was still hard to hear, and he would never truly be prepared for waiting to hear that Alhaitham was alive. Unfortunately, like everything else, there was no real choice in the matter. He had been impaled, and the wound was terribly infected. Something drastic would have to be done.

Though Kaveh, and Tighnari weren’t far behind, there was no sign of Alhaitham, and Cyno was standing in the waiting room. The General was always more concerned about his scribe friend than he would ever admit.

Just like that, they were sitting, and waiting again.

Chapter Ten

Alhaitham wasn’t sure where he was, or what was happening. His skin was burning hot, he felt like he was going to freeze to death, he was in pain . If he could focus at all, he could almost imagine the person holding his hand was Kaveh.

Staying still made his body restless, and hurt. Moving hurt more, but his limbs kept going. Then, he heard Kaveh’s voice, and he remembered what he had been doing. He needed to get home . He didn’t know from where, or why they had been separated, but he knew he needed to go.

His limbs would not cooperate, while they could move, they were too weak to support him. Alhaitham kept trying, anyway. He had to keep going until he couldn’t anymore. He had to find Kaveh.

The real Kaveh.

~xxxxxxxxxx~

“Haitham, you need to stop moving. Everything is okay, you just need to rest,” Kaveh tried for what must have been the hundredth time.

Alhaitham had been completely unsettled since he first began to wake after surgery. The doctor worked on him for hours, and while they believed the imminent threat to have been taken care of, their scribe still had a high fever. It was being just as stubborn as the man it burned within.

Kaveh was doing all he could. He talked to him, and held his hand to let the silver-haired know that he was there, that everything was going to be alright, that he needed to relax, and recover. Then, Alhaitham started struggling to get up , and fighting anyone trying to stop him.

Every time the scribe opened his eyes, it was as if he saw nothing. Then he started nearly yelling for Kaveh, and that he wanted to go home. Alhaitham didn’t even sound like himself, panicked, and hurt.

Emotionally, Kaveh didn’t know what to make of it. It was difficult to watch someone who didn’t normally do these things, even when sick, have no idea that the person he’s calling for is standing right next to him.

The fever was so persistent at first, even with antibiotics, and external cooling. The bacteria the wood he was impaled with were not from their own world, and it took some work to find something that worked. Even then, it wasn’t as effective.

Finally, one morning, Kaveh woke to Alhaitham quietly staring at him through tired eyes.

“Didn’t mean to wake you…” he mumbled, reaching for Kaveh’s hand.

Kaveh jumped up, “Alhaitham! Y-you’re awake. How long? I’m sorry, I should have woken up. Are you okay?”

Alhaitham blinked at him, eyelids moving sluggishly down, then back up,  “… What?”

“I… nothing. How long have you been awake?”

“I don’t know,” Alhaitham said.

Kaveh pressed a hand to the scribe’s forehead, and the silver-haired man leaned into the touch. He was a little warm, but drastically better.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

Alhaitham half smiled, “You looked peaceful. Tighnari said you hadn’t been sleeping…”

Kaveh’s eyes widened, “That snitch! First he poisoned me, and now this… Do I even know the man?!”

He couldn’t think of a time when Alhaitham looked so confused.

Mehrak made a noise, Kaveh could have sworn it was something like a scoff. She had been picking up more bad habits from Alhaitham, then. He’d have to work on that.

“Oh, um. He didn’t actually poison me,” Kaveh said, “but he did knock me out with drugs!”

Alhaitham nodded slowly, Kaveh wasn’t sure if he was following the conversation. He looked like he was about to fall back asleep at any moment. Kaveh filled the bedside cup with water, and helped him drink some. By the time Alhaitham was done drinking, his eyes were, in fact, closing.

Kaveh gently brushed silver bangs to the side. Alhaitham looked so young like this, asleep, and his hair out of his face. He looked handsome, every single feature was picture-perfect, his muscles relaxed, and long, dark lashes resting on his cheeks. 

He knew all of Alhaitham’s faces, and every single one of them was a pure work of art. Not that he would ever tell the scribe that. He was arrogant enough as it was, and Kaveh refused to give him that satisfaction.

The blonde softly ran his fingers close to a couple of the small cuts across Alhaitham’s skin. They had no way of knowing what he’d been through, not until he could answer on his own, but it certainly didn’t look as if it had been an easy trip.

He had been gone for days, and Zakariya said the stick he’d been impaled with had likely been there most of that time. The thought made Kaveh sick. Alhaitham had been walking around with that in his side. It couldn’t have been comfortable in any way, and it definitely wasn’t healthy. 

However, Kaveh knew all too well that pulling it out would have probably caused him to bleed to death. Tighnari always insisted on showing them different emergency survival triage tactics. Although Alhaitham likely already knew not to remove it, Kaveh was so grateful to their protective friends.

One day, Tighnari brought a backpack with him, the pack having been lost in the hurry of getting Alhaitham to the hospital. Inside were some interesting books, and a map. Kaveh studied the map, and the markings by what looked like two different buildings. He could make a guess at what they meant, but he couldn’t be completely sure.

The books were amazing, and would no doubt be used by Alhaitham at a future point in time. So many of the symbols they were missing the translation to, all sitting within one binding. Kaveh wondered if he had been given them, or found them on his own. There had also been a compass retrieved from his tattered clothes.

When Alhaitham woke next he seemed aware enough, but slightly confused at first, and repeated the same question three times.

“Where’s llama-horse?”

At first Kaveh didn’t think he’d heard that right, or that Alhaitham was joking. The man looked completely serious, even concerned.

“Haitham, I don’t know what that is.”

“It helped me…”

Kaveh didn’t know how to answer this, but something clicked — the animal on the platform. Was it a real animal, then? It was possible he’d simply seen something like the one they had seen in Sumeru’s ruins.

He shook his head, “Your… llama-horse… didn’t come back with you.”

Alhaitham’s brows knitted together, “… Why?”

“I… uh…” he didn’t have an answer for that either, “I don’t think the platform was large enough, and you wouldn’t want to take it from its home…”

Other than the fact he had just spoken to Alhaitham like a child, something that shouldn’t have gone without scrutiny, that was a terrible answer. Alhaitham’s face fell as if Kaveh had just kicked his puppy, but he nodded, mumbled a “You’re right.”, another horrifying thing to have happened.

As if having this conversation once wasn’t odd enough, the next two times went exactly the same, and didn’t turn out any better. They each ended with Alhaitham looking depressed before he fell back asleep. This scared Kaveh almost as much as not knowing where Alhaitham was, but Tighnari told him it would sort itself out.

Alhaitham’s progress was slow at first, with confusion, exhaustion, short term memory loss, and mood swings that could rival Kaveh’s. His stay at Bimarstan was more lengthy than normal, Zakariya wanting to keep a close eye on things. It was strange when Alhaitham didn’t complain about it for over a week.

On the other hand, that was also one of his first real signs of improvement.

“Why am I still here?” Alhaitham asked, sounding disgusted.

The silver-haired man hadn’t even been awake seconds before he blurted it out. Kaveh’s pencil stopped where it was, and he looked up at Alhaitham. He couldn’t help but smile at the question, not because he thought Alhaitham’s apparent misery was funny, but because it was such a huge relief to hear those words.

Without answering, he’d run out of the room in search of Tighnari, who was also excited. Their friend started asking Alhaitham questions.

“Do you know your name?”

Remembering his name was not a problem Alhaitham had before, and this earned a raised eyebrow from the scribe.

Tighnari simply moved on to the next question, “By your lack of panic, but definite annoyance, I’m guessing you already know where you are as well?” he waited for Alhaitham to nod, “I’ll move on, then. How are you feeling?”

Alhaitham seemed to really think about this one. While he looked better than he had, and was alert and talking, he was still pale, and his skin still had a sickly sheen to it. He had been up, and around some, but the bruising on his back, being from top to bottom, was deep, and painful for him.

“Sore, but okay. I want to go home.”

“Well, Zakariya has been keeping close tabs on you, and already expected this. Since I’m volunteering here this week, he let me know that physically speaking, you still need a lot more healing, but you can continue that at home. Mentally, we’d like to make sure you are stable. I’d like to do a check-up first, but if all goes well, I’ll agree to you being cared for from home starting tomorrow, if all stays well,” Tighnari said.

Alhaitham obviously didn’t like the thought of waiting another day, but stayed quiet while the Valuka Shuna looked at Alhaitham’s wounds. Kaveh thought they still looked horrible. Despite being more coherent, the scribe was still ill, and it was Kaveh’s understanding that it was likely going to be several weeks before he would truly be back to normal.

When it came to Alhaitham, being home and relaxing always helped greatly with the healing process. No people pestering him, no loud noises, and the comfort that came with being in your own house.

Late the next day, Kaveh thought the man might simply leave in the hospital clothing rather than changing into his own. Having the need to rely on others so much for the past little while, the grumpy silver-haired man tried to get dressed on his own, but Alhaitham really wasn’t up for not needing help, either.

When Kaveh turned away for just a moment, Alhaitham decided this was the very best time to exit the confines of his bed. He didn’t make it very far, and one minor heart attack later, he’d had to stop the scribe from hitting the floor face first.

“Always in such a hurry to get out of Bimarstan. You need to slow down, Haitham. If I hadn’t caught you, you’d probably be in here for another week. You’re lucky Tighnari let you out as it is!”

“I’m fine,” the man grumbled back.

Kaveh narrowed his eyes at Alhaitham, “You are not fine. There’s still a lot of healing for you to do, and it’s not going to happen if you reopen your wound, or manage to injure yourself in some other way,” he pointed to the bed the silver-haired man was swaying in front of, “ Sit .”

Slowly, Alhaitham did as he was instructed, unable to hide the wince. He’d never been one to show physical pain, not when he was alert, and he was being given string pain medications. It didn’t help that being in a more public place wasn’t comfortable for him in many ways, but they could be leaving, then Alhaitham could relax.

He helped Alhaitham dress, then packed up the few odds, and ins that hadn’t been yet. His drawing gear, the few books he’d brought for the scribe, and the book Alhaitham’s grandmother had left with him.

Kaveh had been reading it to Alhaitham when it was the most difficult to calm him. He didn’t know if it was because of the book itself, or the voice reading it, but it had worked, and stopped Alhaitham from writhing around, tearing stitches.

The walk home was quiet, and slow. Kaveh had decided it would be best to let Alhaitham walk on his own as much as possible, and Alhaitham seemed fine with that, but they hadn’t gotten very far before the man had obviously begun getting physically tired. Only then did Kaveh step in to help him.

When they were home, and situated, Alhaitham gave a long, content sigh. It almost felt strange to be home after so long. Kaveh had been there a few times to eat, bathe, and pick up some things for Alhaitham, but he’d mostly spent the entire time at Bimarstan.

Alhaitham laid propped up on their bed, and while he had a book in his hand, he was staring into space. This wasn’t something the scribe often did.

“What are you thinking about?”

“…”

“Alhaitham?”

“… Llama-horse.”

Kaveh’s eyes widened, “Oh, no… I thought we had this sorted out!”

Alhaitham looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“Okay. I… I should talk to Tighnari, and see what he thinks we should do-”

“ Kaveh ,” he waited for the blonde to look at him, “What are you talking about?”

“I — Well, when you woke up, you had some memory issues. Do you really not remember this conversation?”

Alhaitham shook his head, “I’ve told you about llama-horse already, I take it?”

“You asked where it was, and said it had helped you, but that was it. The issue lies in the fact that you asked it every few minutes at some points. There was a time that you even asked three times within ten minutes.”

Kaveh watched as he took in the information.

“You haven’t really talked about where you were,” Kaveh said quietly.

There had been no point in asking before, they’d tried, and if Alhaitham answered, it was with odd, and random things. Now, over the last couple of days, he had become more cognizant, but they still hadn’t had time to ask.

“No? A lot happened,” Alhaitham responded.

Alhaitham told him everything, and it sounded like quite the adventure. Kaveh cringed when he described what had happened to his side, and nearly had a panic attack when he realized how easily Alhaitham might have never come back. How quickly it could have ended with a broken back, and impalement, or being eaten alive.

“The last thing I remember was Nydea, but it’s more of a… a fragment. It’s foggy.”

Kaveh gently wrapped his arms around Alhaitham, and felt him relax, “I wish I had been there to help you. I’m so sorry that you went through that alone…”

Alhaitham shook his head, and found the crook of Kaveh’s neck, “I’m glad that you weren’t. You are what kept me going, and got me home. It,” he paused, “It could have ended so much worse, Kaveh.”

The scribe pulled him in tighter. It wasn’t like him to show this kind of emotion so openly, but he had been through a lot, so it was understandable. Kaveh didn’t mind staying as they were until Alhaitham was ready for him to move.

As it turned out, Alhaitham didn’t move, but his grip eventually loosened, and his breathing evened out. Kaveh carefully laid him back against the bed, and crawled into his own space beside him. 

He hadn’t even realized just how tired he was, but everything, from the time Alhaitham disappeared, to the time he came back, was one big jumble of fear, worry, and waiting. It was catching up to him, now, but it was different. Alhaitham was home, and safe, and hadn’t asked about his llama-horse friend multiple times.

Kaveh would take it.