Chapter Text
Shadow I : A Wolf’s Lone Cry in Sorrow
It was hard for Razor to understand this loss. Lupical come and go. This is life, a constant. Razor knows this. Things die, things live, things create, things kill, and it happens. Razor cannot stop it when one of his lupical grow old and howl a final time. It’s hard, it is really hard. Lupical die too. His lupical, the wolf ones, they too die. Not common, but not rare. It is sad, really sad, but Razor and his lupical moves on. They can’t live in the past, but they can remember it.
He remembers, and that’s what Razor hates more than anything. He hates it. He hates never being able to look at a flower with the same indifference. He hates standing by the gate and realizing that it was pointless. He hates seeing Fischl and only seeing a hollow look. He hates the lack of a person next to him as he looks out over Starsnatch Cliff. He hates how some of those adventures speak about his death, as if it was a blessing. He hates so much. And Razor’s lupical noticed. They know, they are kinder. Razor watches the pups more, he can’t be angry with them. Andrius trains Razor more, and he feels less angry after fighting.
The anger never leaves, like a wolfhook in his fur.
Talking helped the best. Razor was bad at it, but saying something helped. Which is what led to Razor walking the main streets with Fischl and Barbara. Barbara said that seeing the festivities would help lighten the mood, the church girl was always fanatic now. Speaking faster than Razor could keep up with sometimes. She still let Razor talk. So it worked.
“I know you hate people, but maybe just getting out of the forest will help a little. It can’t be any good staying in one place for so long alone.” Barbara teetered, gripping at the hem of her skirt and they walked closer to the stairs.
“...Razor is not alone.” He stated clearly, because Razor was never alone. “Razor is-”
“With lupical.” Both girls bemoaned together. They walked past a group of men clamoring and jeering at each other, loud.
“I think Barabra just means to get out of your shell more.” Fischl said, normally. Razor hated it. It was easy to understand but it just wasn’t Fischl. “I know we’re bad at it, he was always better than us.”
“Fischl…” Barbara looked… sad. Her lips drew into a thin line and askew at something far away. Much like how Razor and his lupical hold vigil.
“What?” Fischl growled as she rounded on the church girl. Razor and Barbara jumped. “What so wrong with just mentioning-”
“Cause it ‘rings the mood down.” One of those jeering men slurred, his breath heavy and disgusting. Razor did not know much about humans, but being ‘drunk’ at barely after the sun’s high… that was bad- Razor thought. The mix of the man’s incompetence and words, enraged Razor. “In fact! You lot should be lucky, cause your constant unlu-”
“Don’t you say anything about Bennett!” Barbara gasped, and Fischl nodded, scowling at the man. Razor scowled right with her. “You don’t know anything about him! You people can’t let him rest, you never did!”
“C’mon kid, we all know that a whole lot of people have been better off without him. Can you really be sad about a thorn in your side?”
Razor struck him across the face with his fist. The man fell down, looking hazily up at Razor with his hand cradling his face. Then yelling broke out. Razor wasn’t sure why he hit this man, either way he wasn’t going to regret it. How dare someone say something like that. Andrius was constantly proven right about humans. So many are just… rotten. Razore didn’t have much to say to this man. He just kept yelping and whining. Like pups, but this was supposedly an adult. Razor snarled as the man grabbed him by the collar.
Razor punched the man again, and swung his leg at the back of the man’s knees.
Razor also spat at the man.
“Razor!”
“You brat!”
“Mylo, you put down Razor!”
Razor clocked all the voices but paid no mind, electro crackled around him and growled in his veins. Then he heard a familiar voice that caused all people present to freeze up and turn to look. “What is going on here?”
It was the Acting Grandmaster lady. The other scary lady in the knights. The man, Mylo, put Razor down and scrambled away. “A-acting Grandmaster, I-I-”
“He was talking bad about Bennett, big sister- uh Jean.” Razor didn’t realize how close to tears Barbara was. A small pool of shame pooled at his gut. “Razor punched him, I’m sorry…”
“Why do you apologize, Razor is sorry… for hurting your feelings. Not punching this… man.” Razor articulated very slowly, making sure to look apologetic towards Barbara, but instantly went back to scowling at Mylo.
Barbara’s sister looked at Mylo than at the three kids. Her eyes were cold and calculating, Razor knew all leaders had some scary side to them. Humans are no different. “Mylo- is it?”
Mylo hummed, looking at the floor as he swayed.
“You are intoxicated; which in this type of space is not allowed, you harass three kids about their friend, a friend that has passed away and was not only a missed part of our community but also a kid. You have some unearned courage on your side.” The Acting Grandmaster smoothly accounted. “You getting hit was rightly deserved, although I don’t condone violence.”
Razor froze and hung his head.
“Get out of here, Mister Mylo. Expect a fine for being intoxicated in public places at your estate sometime soon.” Mylo stumbled away, Razor should’ve hit him harder. That was possibly his only regret.
The Acting Grandmaster beckoned the three of them to follow, and they dutifully fell behind. There was a thick scent of apprehension in the air, and a resounding sigh of resignation. Razor was on his nerves. He kept hitting people that said something that just… humans talk bad about humans. That is also a fact Andrius said. Razor has an unreasonable amount of faith put in a human’s ability to respect the dead. He hated that he was often shown wrong in just the past year. However he was also proven right. Barbara would say to just pray constantly for a miracle, that they were wrong and Bennett wasn’t really gone. Miss Lisa said it was denial. Razor thought it was hope. Fischl talked constantly about it.
“If I just went with him to that stupid domain. I would give anything just to go back in time and say ‘Yes, I’ll go with you Bennett. My day is free’. I would do anything, Razor. Anything. If I just told someone else, if I realized sooner, if I just acted. Why in Teyvat does this happen to one of the only people that actually tries and cares?! It’s not fair… It’s not fair.” Fischl would repeat over and over once she got over the news. Razor thought that too, but he was just always angry. Simmering. Miss Lisa said it was a normal feeling.
Eventually they were seated in the big office. There was Captain Kaeya, Miss Lisa, Guild Leader Cyrus, Klee’s lupical Albedo, and Mika. Mika looked just as nervous as the other teens felt, he was on the other side of the Acting Grandmaster’s chair and looked over his shoulder like a fearful sparrow. Razor sat next to Mika and Fischl as Barbara sat on the other side of Mika. They all shared a confused glance as the scary leader lady spoke.
“I wish to have found you before your scuffle.” She started, clasping her hands as Captain Kaeya and Miss Lisa turned their heads to the grandmaster.
“Scuffle?” Miss Lisa narrowed her eyes. Razor sunk into his seat, Miss Lisa caught that. “Razor?”
“The elektrischer Hund shall not be blamed.” Fischl proclaimed, and Razor was half happy she was still reverted back to her regular speech in front of adults. “It was Mylo.”
“Yes, this Mylo character harassed them over Bennett.”
“He did what.” Captain Kaeya looked like he was about to break more than a nose. Fischl looked happy at that. “W-whatever, I can deal with that later.”
“You.. You aren’t mad at him?” Barbara asked, half offended.
“I can’t bring myself to be mad, this is why we gathered you. To break the news.”
The four of them again looked at each other curiously. Mika then looked lit up. “Is this about that foreign letter? The Sumeru one, the one not from the merchant groups?”
Captain Kaeya looked at the other adults before he was prodded on with a nod from the leader lady. “Yes, because it was about Bennett.”
Time stilled. Lupical can die. Lupical do not usually come back to life, it would not work with the natural cycle of life. Right now, Razor doesn't care about nature. He cared about Bennett.
“He’s alive, somehow hundreds of thousands of miles in the heart of Sumeru, but alive and getting healthier. He has some gall to say he’s unlucky.”
Razor heard Mika gasp out in shock, he heard Fischl draw a small breath, he heard Barbara cry out. Razor sat in silence, and the walls never felt smaller. The anger and sorrow resided to just nothingness.
Shadow II : A Scribe’s Guide on Foreign Children
Alhaitham was, quite frankly, a master in many trades, hobbies, and languages. He was a fairly decent cook, a master linguist, a fair (albeit unwilling) politician, and a genius mathematician. If he wanted to, he could learn a language in less than a month with perfect dialect. There were some things Alhaitham was prideful to admit he was not good at. Medicines, natural sciences, the arts, and mostly childcare. Working with kids. He lacked the facial expressions to convey his emotions. He partly blamed it on his innate reaction to read lips and watch or facial cues, and partly blamed on his inability to decipher most subtle emotional quirks. The beforesaid made it rather difficult to talk to emotional people, and children often fell into that category. And in turn, made Alhaitham apprehensive in having any sort of involvement in the case brought before him by the General.
“This isn’t my job, General.” Alhaitham scanned Cyno’s face for a brief moment, and looked back at his stack papers. Papers that were the Vaktarh were pressing him to sign, papers the the Akademiya were pressing him to sign, over all papers he needed to sign. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but dealing with cases is your job. If it’s so important, leave it under the pile of paperwork and I’ll do it in due time.”
Cyno hummed, and Alhaitham pondered just turning off his hearing aid. “It’s international.”
An Acting Grand Sage should not have to deal with international cases. Alhaitham just prayed that Lord Kusanali would find a more suitable candidate than him. Field work, preferably deep in the jungle or far out in the desert- far, far, far away from bickering politicians, incompetent guild heads, mostly people. Alhaitham blinked and forfeited his work. “How international.”
“From what the Knights and the Matra uncovered, there could be possible attempts of human trafficking and human testing from the deplorable,” There was a subtle growl in Cyno’s tone. “, Dottore. At least the movements match up.”
The hatred in the general’s tone was very much warranted. Alhaitham pressed a hand into his head, so interestingly odd things have occurred in the last couple days. An unexpected heat wave following up the south Ormos coast, the unexplained lack of decrease in daylight hours, Kaveh’s lethal run in with a sickly child, now a Harbinger (the subjectively worst one) causing trouble? It was bad enough Dottore had to show up in Sumeru, and even worse if he was trafficking… The Knights? Mondstadt… Where in the last waking hours has he heard Mondstadt come up again?
“Does this have to do with Kaveh’s sick child friend? Bennett, I believe was his name I was told.” Alhaitham inquired, accepting the casework from Cyno’s waiting offer and scanning through words. It made an alarming amount of sense. Dottore was last seen with camps along the Mondstadt and Liyue borders, close to L'orologio di Ridge; just last week- with his people was seen making camp not far into the Ardravi Valley. Bennett, according to the old reports, went missing on March 26th XXXX, and was found a year later on August 26th XXXX. Dottore was sighted with camp in Mondstadt from January to June of last year, now a week ago sighted on August 19th. The only thing that didn’t line up would be the why, and how.
“That’s what we want to find out. Apparently, Bennett is suffering from a fragmental amnesia, no memory from after the domain collapse to now.” Cyno explained after Alhaitham expressed his questioning. “Whether the amnesia is from trauma or… forced, there's a lead that is dangerous enough that both nations want to take. Mondstadt even moreso, seems they have an acrimonious relationship already with the Fatui.”
“I still don’t understand why. Just one kid? Doesn’t really fit a mad doctor’s bill.” Alhaitham scanned through the papers again, looking for any connections he might have missed.
“Well, he’s an overly trusting and nice kid. I would put a substantial amount of mora on that being a factor. He seems to have a strained relationship with the adults in his life, and those he doesn’t are either active people with demanding jobs, or too old to be watchful. I don’t doubt it would’ve been easy to catch him in an unguarded state. Perhaps his lineage is a factor in why? He was adopted so there could be something we don’t know.”
Alhaitham conceded on these points before he quickly quipped out. “How do you know this? Cyno- General, investigating a sick bedridden child?”
“He wasn’t bedridden, he honestly just seemed malnourished but only physically. He had a quick mind and didn’t seem at all sick.” Cyno defended himself easily, and then he passed another paper to Alhaitham.
“Temporary custody?” Alhaitham frowned. “No.”
“Can’t say no.”
“Yes… I can. That is how this works.”
“Well, I talked to Lord Kusanali abo-”
“Why?”
“-ut this, since I knew you would reject.”
“... This pay check may be docked.”
“Okay, I have a two person income household, because I’m in a relationship with a man I love-”
“Thank you for your time, get out, Cyno.”
(Kaveh seemed thrilled at the aspect of housing the child, but horrified at the other information, the information Alhathaim chose to tell his… housemate)
˗ˏˋ ✸ ˎˊ˗
Being yelled at by a crying teenager was not an experience ever worth repeating. Alhaitham was concerned, after all most unstable individuals tend to do irrational things. Kaveh was the one to check on Bennett, who locked himself in one of the bathrooms. After a startling ten minutes, Kaveh had trekked back to the living room with a defeated look. It always looked out of place on the man.
“He’s just crying.” Kaveh slumped into a seat and pressed his face into his hands. “I feel awful.”
“We couldn’t have known he spoke Vikaasvrksh. I’m honestly a bit-”
“Surprised?” The blonde finished for him, now just leaning over with a defeated posture to match his face. Alhaitham hesitantly sat down next to Kaveh with an inquisitive look, a good attempt of one. “I am too. Barely anyone in Kesabaren speaks it better than he did. Vikaasvrksh isn’t a well known language outside of Sumeru, and it’s sorta like…”
“It’s a dying oral language with a limited written version, the only way to really learn is by growing up with someone who spoke it.”
“Exactly! My mother said it, you’re an obsessive linguist, and as much as a melting pot Mondstadt is… I doubt Vikaasvrksh, that clear, was taught alongside Katakto!” Kaveh harrumphed before he went back to looking back horribly saddened. Alhaitham sympathized with the feeling, and patted Kaveh’s shoulder and quickly returned his hand to his lap. “We must’ve made him feel awful. I would feel so horrible in his position.”
Alhaitham made an empathizing hum. “We’ll redouble our intentions in the morning and apologize.”
“Ugh, why must you make everything sound so… cordial. He’s just a kid. One really far from home for what he now knows a really long time, and probably way out of his element. Oh do you think his outburst caused the whole,” Kaveh made a wooshing motion with his hands towards his face. “, adepti shit?”
Alhaitham's eyes narrowed at the choice of words. Even if it was the first type of illuminated beast to Kaveh’s mind, half-adepti aren’t unheard of… it could explain his and Cyno’s question of ‘why’. “Maybe. I’m not a professor in all things Liyuenese.”
“Obviously.” Kaveh snorted, then went back negative. Emotional people were always so easy and hard to read. “Do you think he hates us?”
“Possibly.”
The architect made a garbled noise. “I really hope he doesn’t. I mean, he can if he wants. I’m not one for denying someone’s feelings, but I would just rather- er not have him so mad with us. Is it too late to consult Tighnari? I think he would kill us. Yeah, no he would definitely kill us. Let’s make a big, huge lunch spread for him. Shawarma? Yeah let’s make that, come on get up.”
Kaveh rambled for the next hour and fifty-seven minutes as they made a late lunch. Alhaitham made noncommittal assurances because he was never sure about the variables in this situation, but it made Kaveh stop tearing at his cuticles so he’ll say what he has too. It was a simple lamb and rice dish with limited sides, but there was enough to not need a second helping. They ate with a third plate waiting, and Alhaitham volunteered to take it. The sage could not explain why he did so, nor can he explain why he still walked with growing dread towards the locked room. Alhaitham supposed he wanted to lessen the stress on a person he considered a close friend. Maybe, no scholar should ever be one hundred percent certain. He focused pinpoint dendro angular lines to mimic his master key and slowly pushed the door open.
Alhaitham would not say he was easily swayed by emotion or anything but logic, but he was still a human person who had a healthy amount of empathy, relative to what was needed. So, it wasn’t out of character for him to wince at how small the already underweight child looked curled up far into the corner of the room. There was a faint smell of burn, and his eyes scanned the room and found several scorch marks. (He felt immensely thankful the pyro user had enough control to burn but not light aflame, house fires were more dangerous in a rainforest city.) There was also the faint smell of bile, and the sage quickly flushed the toilet. Stress can make someone nauseous, however it was concerning with how malnourished Bennett already was. Alhaitham leaned down and placed the plate not too far away, and lightly tapped the child’s shoulder. When he didn’t wake, Alhaitham simply left, and informed Kaveh.
As long as the door was open, they would let Bennett deal with his emotions in private and not forced to talk about them. The less stress the better, was the barline set. Kaveh made a quick sign, open hand down to his palm transitioning into clasping his wrist. “Good night, ‘Haitham.”
Alhaitham just simply nodded and gave the gesture back. Good Night. The sage retreated back to his room, took out his aids, and made a mental note of things to tell Cyno at work tomorrow. Possible adepti heritage, he and Kaveh were horrible with adult to child communication, and fire proofing his house. If he had to work, it’ll be too soon.