Chapter Text
During the Akademiya Darshan tournament, most spectators were more than a bit confused about the panel of hosts as they shuffled into the viewing areas.
Nilou of Zubayr Theater was a bit of an odd choice but understandable. She was not affiliated with the Akademiya in any way and could be trusted to be impartial. It was just a bit strange to have a dancer, and one who was at odds with the law until a few months ago, to now work as one of the faces of a governmentally sanctioned competition. But, she was a known name among the populace and in good standing now. Her presence may attract crowds that may have otherwise skipped such a tournament.
Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham was an obvious choice. As the current head of the Akademiya, who better to comment on it’s students and alumni? The only issue was that, even with public opinion swaying towards him as a hero after the Incident a few months back, his personality was considered a bit… poor. The man is abrasive on the best of days and impossible to talk to on the worst. Bad personality aside, he made sense to be there.
But the third… how in the world could they possibly be qualified???
“Welcome to the Akademiya Extravaganza,” Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham drawled in his typical monotone. Most found it hard to pay attention to his speech though, murmurs raised through the crowd.
He finished his introduction and passed off to Nilou to his right who gave her own explanation. Platitudes on how pleased she was to be here and how she looked forward to everyone doing their best. Her fans cheered, but it was a bit subdued. After she was done Alhaitham began again,
“I will be translating for our third host.” The Acting Grand Sage motioned to the person(?) sitting(?) to his left.
A small baby with pale skinny limbs, tufts of gray hair, and red eyes, lay strapped in an inclined bouncer that sat on the judging table. The baby kicked their legs to make the bouncer sway up and down every so often. Seemingly oblivious to the crowd. It burbled quietly as it had been throughout Alhaitham’s speech.
“Judge Fereydun says that he looks forward to witnessing the best the Akademiya has to offer.” Alhaitham swept an arm over the baby. The signal for the contestants to enter was shot off and the six participants jogged lightly to the indicated starting point.
Or lightly jogged except for Kaveh of Ksharawar who was sprinting full speed at the comentator’s booth hollering at the top of his lungs
“ALHAITHAM WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU DRAGGING OUR BABY INTO???”
—————————
The Akademiya Extravaganza proceeded without a hitch aside from the ghost possessing the grand prize thing.
While Alhaitham was overly harsh, and Nilou overly kind with her feedback, the third host - Fereydun - was translated by Alhaitham as having a fair and balanced perspective for the contestant’s strength and weaknesses.
It was getting hard to remember that Fereydun was a baby and had no thoughts on the matters, and that presumably Acting Grand Sage Alhaitham was doing whatever this is for fun?
——————————
Fereydun is a character from the Iranian epic poem Shahnemeh. Kaveh’s own name is likely from the heroic character Kaveh the Blacksmith from this poem. Together Kaveh and Fereydun over threw a king called Zahak and freed the enslaved people that were under his rule.
——————-
Alhaitham hadn’t truly planned on keeping the baby. It wasn’t even a consideration. A child of Il Dottore, created through an unknown cloning process of some kind rather than the regular way children were made. More like a slime splitting part of itself off to create a parent and a smaller, lesser ‘child’.
It was rather interesting to listen to the Archon speculate on. She had wondered if it was possible for her to do something similar with Irminsul.
“Since I am a branch of Irminsul, and Irminsul is a tree, it should react the same as a graft. If I took a branch and attached it to ‘myself,’ it should start recognizing itself as ‘me’ eventually and either integrate into my body, or create a lesser me.”
“Do you plan to test this?” Alhaitham wouldn’t recommend the Archon using herself in an experiment, but that was her choice.
“No no I don’t think that would be wise. I am quite diminished as I am, and would rather not risk the branch taking the rest of me as nutrients. I do wonder if I had tried to do so before my memory loss though. It may have been useful if there were two of me running around!”
The Archon giggled like the child she appeared to be before motioning to the much smaller actual child who was fast asleep in a woven basket, a dark green blanket wrapping its body, only the arms and face left exposed.
“In any case, we are not sure how the Doctor made this little one. He appears to be quite human, not a synthetic being like the Doctor’s segments.”
Alhaitham had read the autopsy report for the segment ‘found’ in Ghandharva Ville recently. Flesh that tested as human, but bones made of a strange light weight metal and sparse organs formed from a material similar to a rubber tree’s sap. Blood closer to machine coolant than anything biological. It was an engineering marvel that Alhaitham couldn’t really care about except that its existence affected him. He wasn’t a Haravatat student nor was he Madam Faruzan. He could easily become a machinery expert, but he just didn’t want to.
“Perhaps he uses different methods each time he makes a segment.” Alhaitham postulated. The Archon hummed,
“Perhaps. We do only have the one data point to work with prior to this little one. That isn’t enough for a concrete inference.”
Alhaitham nodded,
“So what would you like me to do?” He decided to cut to the heart of the matter. The Archon hardly ever mad him stay after handing over his reports unless she had a request. Usually precluded by a long drawn out academic discussion supposedly so he would let his guard down.
The Archon gave him a smile that most would call adorable and irresistible, but he had firmly filed as manipulative.
….
So Alhaitham had a baby now.
“Just for a little bit I promise!” Lied the Dendro Archon.
He was getting paid for his ‘services’ though, and was free to catch up on some reading while watching the kid. Just make sure he’s fed and sleeps and has regular bowel movements and isn’t too hot or cold or needs medication and to monitor his breathing. Alhaitham was bequeathed a 357 page tome on the current care needs of the infant that the Dendro Archon had transcribed in less than five minutes.
Alhaitham wishes he could write that fast, but alas that ability was for the realm of the divine alone. It was a quick read, but not a dry one. The Archon was fond of embellishing a bit it seems the language of the text more conversational than purely akademic. There were a lot of ‘you can do it!’s and doodles of herself cheering on a doodle him.
The baby was… not cute. Not that Alhaitham could claim to be anywhere near an expert on the subject though. Strange shriveled limbs and oddly proportioned facial features. Eyes too large for its already proportionately massive head. It was hard to think of Alhaitham and the baby as the same species.
He didn’t hate looking at it, but it held none of the appeal that he had heard people go on and on about.
Kaveh didn’t seem to share Alhaitham’s opinion however.
Kaveh’s reaction to the infant was as funny as Alhaitham had initially imagined it would be. An aghast sort of befuddlement that was expressed as anger that turned to an obsessive over doting of the infant.
Rambling on and on about his ‘poor little hands and feets all cold’ ‘What a cutie little bean!’ ‘Look at those tiny little teeths! Little biters’ ‘When was the last diaper change? Do you even have diapers for him?’ ‘Oh what a sweetie little baby! So tiny!’ ‘Alhaitham he’s hungry! Where is the baby food?!’ ‘What do you mean you dont know what he eats?! Alhaitham!! Are you really- Oh no I’m so sorry baby it’s ok…’
Hilarious.
Well, if Kaveh likes it, then it’s fine.
—————
Kaveh starts cutting back nights he goes out drinking. Alhaitham starts coming home from work earlier and taking over some of the chores. Neither of them talk about it.
——————
When a Dusk Bird somehow got into the house and destroyed a lot of poor Fereydun’s toys (in addition to poor Kaveh’s perfectly placed knick-nacks and less poor Alhaithams randomly strewn books), Kaveh had tried to save what he could. The bird was safely caught by Mehrak’s array after twenty minutes of scrambling, and rushed out the door by a panicked Kaveh. The bird had screamed in his face and flew off to cause chaos somewhere else.
Cleaning all the feathers and the thankfully small amount of bird droppings came first. Fereydun had watched everything go down while strapped into his carrier next to the front door. The groceries left scattered around where Kaveh had dropped them when the bird swooped in through the still opening front door. It was lucky he had presence of mind not to drop the poor baby in his panic.
Thankfully Mehrak had been holding the milk jug so he didn’t have to deal with milk everywhere. It beeped and put it in the ice box, oblivious to the absurd bird chase its master was undertaking.
Bird ejected from the house after at least twelve loops, Kaveh worked to clear up the potential biohazards first. Fereydun was not out of the stage of trying to shove everything new and interesting into his mouth. As he bagged feathers and scrubbed as the droppings, he collected the broken pieces of toys and decor the bird had smashed into or gnawed on which Mehrak ferried away to be looked over later.
After about half an hour of rapid cleaning, Kaveh felt it would be cruel to keep Fereydun strapped in any longer. He had been a very well behaved baby during the chaos, dozing off after the exciting show of watching Kaveh chase the bird.
At two and a half, Fereydun still had immense difficulty walking. His braces and walker - a metal frame on wheels that he could push for support - helped him to at least toddle around the house, but it was easier to tote him around when running errands.
He was talking now too, at least a little bit.
That was actually the only milestone he had been on target for. His language skills were a bit underdeveloped, but in the normal range for his age group.
Fereydun was ready to wake up and play by the time Kaveh finished, flapping his little arms and legs as Kaveh started unstrapping him. Kaveh smiled and set Fereydun into his play area in the nursery, Kaveh himself sitting down at the desk they kept in there from when the room was Alhaitham’s home office to see what could be salvaged from the wreckage. He made sure to verbalize everything he was doing for Fereydun’s benefit, thats how babies learn language, by listening to adults.
“While some of these can be glued back together,” Kaveh demonstrated by gluing the head back onto Fereydun’s strangely beloved ugly Aranara statue that the Traveler had gifted him seemingly in an effort to raise Kaveh’s blood pressure. The toddler was the same size as the strangely light weight wooden slab poorly carved into something resembling a forest spirit, and would often try to drag it room to room to keep him company. Clattering along side Fereydun’s walker, the hat portion seized in the unbreakable grip of a toddler. It hadn’t been too damaged by the bird, just knocked over which decapitated it rather cleanly,
“Or fixed some other way,” Kaveh continued, “Sometimes if things are too broken, they can’t be fixed.”
“No fix? Die?” The toddler’s large red eyes met Kaveh’s, the little gears in his head visibly turning. It stuck Kaveh a little odd that he was aware of the concept of death, Kaveh couldn’t remember talking to him about it. Alhaitham probably told him while Kaveh wasn’t there or something. He was always doing stuff like that!
“A little bit like death. See, we can’t keep these little guys,” Kaveh set down the half dried Aranara statue and held up the shattered, half eaten remains of of one of the TCG Duelist figurines that Cyno had probably gifted them. Beak marks lined amputated limbs and stumps where the heads should be, they had fared particularly badly against the bird,
“We don’t have anything to make them whole and they’re in too many pieces. Keeping them would just take up space for any new toys, its a big mess. I am going to throw the really broken stuff away.”
“New toy!” The toddler clapped his hands akwardly, making only a light meaty ppaft sound rather than a true clap. His hands thankfully a lot chubbier than he had been only a year ago. Less like thin gnarled sticks.
“Of course thats what you focus on…” Kaveh grumbled,
“When Alhaitham gets home we can see about getting new toys.”
“Haitam toy!” Fereydun squawked, unable to understand delayed gratification and gearing up for a tantrum.
“But for right now, look! Aranara is dry! How about you play together?” Kaveh lowered the ugly statue to the floor where it was excitedly hugged by Fereydun,
“Naranara! New toy!” The baby cheered. Grunting as he so very slowly dragged the monstrosity out of the nursery to go wait for Alhaitham in the foyer. One hand gripping the Aranara and the other on his walker. The whole procession made a horrific scraping sound that Kaveh ignored to readjust to better see the foyer from the desk. He was going to be here a while.
——————
Kaveh thought he had handled that well, but now, only a few months later it was coming back to bite him. Fereydun’s vocabulary had exploded in that time. It was like over night he was talking in full sentences. Still baby high and a bit hard to parse through.
Tighnari was visiting the city and had dropped by for dinner. He was lamenting to Alhaitham and Kaveh that there were too many people trying to move to Gandharva Ville. There just wasn’t enough space, and most of the immigrants were just trend chasing anyway. A self help book about reconnecting with nature had spiked in popularity, but in addition to that, the was a new light novel series about a heroic forest ranger that had already been adapted into a comic and had a movie in the works. Fans of both were reacting very rationally by trying to sell all their stuff and flood into the rain forest for a taste of freedom, adventure and spirituality.
It was really annoying.
Which brings them to the question that Kaveh was agonizing over, a question a lot of parents have trouble with:
“Why?”
Specifically: “Why no die them?”
All eyes at the table turned to Fereydun who was sitting in his high seat, picking at his fatteh and trying to stack it like blocks. Hands clumsy and uncoordinated, but more steady than they had been before physical therapy. Kaveh couldn’t tell him not to play with his food as Kaveh does the same with his own fatteh. Even though it probably wasn’t probably wasn’t polite to do with guests over.
“Dye them? As in throw paint at them? I suppose that could scare some people away…” Tighnari mused humoring the baby.
“No no. Make no alive” Fereydun said with the air of someone who had said something incredibly obvious and wanted to be praised for their intelligence. A very Alhaitham face.
“Extra get thrown away. Died things thrown away. Make a big mess an’ throw away. No more big mess.” Fereydun shook his hands in the baby sign language motion for ‘all done’.
Those words… paraphrased and babified from Kaveh’s own. Tighnari’s face was… alarmed.
Kaveh… Kaveh’s heart felt cold. What. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? Babies carry what they learn in early childhood into their adult lives even if they don’t remember. Had Kaveh somehow corrupted this child, making him not understand the value of human life?
“People aren’t the same as toys.” Alhaitham interjected with a bored tone, “You can’t throw them away. It is frowned upon in criminal law. Our legal system views all human life is of equal value. Whether or not the ones presiding over individual trials may not believe this-“
Alhaitham lectured further than that in his dispassionate way, but Kaveh could only hear the rush of blood in his head.
What… what was he supposed to do?!
Kaveh’s head thunked onto the table. Tighnari looked alarmed, but Kaveh did not see it, being face down on the table. Face just barely missing his nearly empty plate, but… his hair was not as lucky.
When Alhaitham was done lecturing, Fereydun nodded his little head, silvery curls bouncing lightly. Indifferent to Kaveh’s dramatics.
“Oh people no toys? Cannot no throw them aways?”
“No. You cannot throw people away. They are not toys.” Alhaitham restated his thesis
“Cannot throws people away. They are not toys.” Fereydun parroted then scrunched his little face, “no die people?”
“No, it’s not alright to kill people. There is a long legal process and isn’t something you can do on a whim. There are rules.” Alhaitham summarized his argument.
“I follow rules!” Fereydun patted his chest with a big smile, “I brushes teeths after a candies and go asleeps at the dark! And what’do I get?” He began then turned to Kaveh expectantly and motioned for him to continue,
Kaveh raised his head with a strained smile, but gave the line he said often with a strained smile and false cheer, “Yes and what do we get for following the rules?”
“Tickers!” Stickers. So many stickers. Covering everything. It had started as rewards for potty training and turned into a step up from bribery. Kaveh had read small children had no morals or concept of right and wrong, but Fereydun was apparently had bigger issues with it than Kaveh initially thought. The tantrums when he doesn’t want to brush his teeth could be calmed with the promise of a sticker, but was he going to reward stickers for not killing people now???
————
Alhaitham was… concerned when Il Dottore’s ghost(?) cognitive shadow(?) memory fragment (?) started attacking Irminsul. Not for the obvious reasons however. He had no doubt that they would succeed in destroying the Doctor and had 17 different back up plans ready to go at a moments notice.
No, he was concerned that Fereydun was a part of Dottore in some way. While ghosts/cognitive shadows/memory fragments are not something that has been studied in the depth it should be due to the unpredictable and brief nature of the occurrences. Something that is well known is that some similar phenomenons can possess human bodies. This is most commonly seen in Liyue with the abundant fragments of dead gods taking over a host before needing to be exorcised or sealed by an adeptus or the like.
Dottore was currently without a physical body, possibly by choice, but there was a viable and likely compatible body in the form of Fereydun.
That wasn’t even the only possibility. With a way to influence memory, could Dottore call Fereydun to him the same way Lord Kusanali can call the Aranara? Could he influence the toddler in some way to make him turn against Sumeru? There were countless ways that Fereydun could be harmed in this.
Thankfully his worries were for naught. Fereydun spent the crisis peacefully strapped to Alhaitham’s back as they rewired Aaru, or waddling around the grand tomb of the Scarlet King under the fretful eye of Kaveh. Completely oblivious to the activities of his progenitor.
Fereydun babbled on about their fun vacation to the sandy place often afterwards.
—————
“Coercion is the act of forcing your will onto another person, making them do as you wish through underhanded means such as through trickery or threats.” Alhaitham lectured down at Fereydun who looked up with keen interest from where he sat on the couch,
“Uhuh?” The child nodded.
Alhaitham nodded back at this prompting to continue,
“You say you will not take a bath because you are not dirty correct?” He said, similar to a lawyer cross examining a witness at a trial, hands clasped behind his back.
“Yeah. I’m not dirty so no bath needed!” Fereydun smiled widely as if he had discovered some great secret, waving his hands as if to say ‘tadah!’ He probably assumed he had. Looking at a rule and not breaking it, but attempting to bend it to his liking. If Alhaitham had to bet, Kaveh had explained bathing as something they do because they are dirty.
The birthday Alhaitham had chosen for Fereydun had passed recently. It was now a full two years and a half since the Dendro Archon had apparently stolen the infant version of Il Dottore. She had estimated the child at around 17 months old upon his arrival. Alhaitham backdated an approximate date of birth from there. Not that they were sure that Fereydun had been born via any process considered natural, but most people had birthdays and even Kaveh would start wondering if they never celebrated one for the child.
His logic was rather sound for a new three year old.
Alhaitham tilted his head a little, pacing towards the book shelf on the right side of the room that was framed by two large potted plants that Kaveh had put there and that Alhaitham pretended not to know the names of.
“Even though after dinner it is bath time every day?” Alhaitham’s voice was steady and held little emotion as he reached out.
“Yes I know! But baths are for washing dirt off and I have no dirt today.” And thus Alhaitham’s theory was proven correct, Fereydun used his ‘mimicking Kaveh’ tone for that statement.
Alhaitham sighed and turned back to his… child under his care
“This is your lesson in coercion then. I shall only do this once and I expect you to remember.”
Fereydun nodded eagerly.
Alhaitham dumped a handful of potting soil onto Fereydun’s head. The child flailed, but laughed as the dirt showered his silver hair and day clothes, smearing onto the couch as he wiggled and shrieked in delight that way small children do before they learn to moderate their volume.
“Now you are dirty and need a bath.”
And that was the first betrayal.
One Fereydun forgot quite quickly actually as he remembered he did like playing in the bath, despite his screams and wails as Alhaitham carted him off to get clean.
When it is time to get out he will try and hold another debate to stay in the bath until Alhaitham introduced the vocab term “water induced wrinkling” for the third time that month.
——-
“Alhaitham why is there a trail of dirt on my rugs? And the couch??? Alhaitham. Alhaitham I know you can still hear me! Alhaitham!!!”
Kaveh was not happy with Alhaitham’s method of teaching the word coercion.
———————
Collei was now a fully fledged forest watcher! For quite a few years now actually.
She checks up on Dottore’s not so baby any more segment every now and then. She knows he is in a good home and everything, but it’s important to watch out for um. Dottore behavior. That wasn’t why she was in Sumeru City this time though. It was just a coincidence she had run into Mr. Kaveh and the segment in the market.
The Bismartan were in the process of developing a topical based ointment that helps kill the spores left behind on the skin which have a tendency to um. Well it’s gross. Gross and extremely incredibly common among travelers and especially those people who run into the forest looking for adventure or meaning in their lives as master always says. That second group trends not to even take the most bas precautions of covering exposed skin when traveling.
Forest Watchers aren’t a good demographic to test on though, because like with vaccines, their daily minimal exposure to spores while doing their daily routines leads to partial to full immunity to these specific spores. Testing would involve infecting the volunteer with the spores and then treating them. Apparently data from tests with immune people would be beneficial, but it wasn’t the primary target.
Therefor Forest Watchers are working hand in had with the Bismarthan on the project though. The people infected often get found by Forest Watchers first, so providing a medical aid aside from cleaning the infection over a period of up to three months to avoid spread and hoping it dies would be good. It wasn’t deadly, or even deteimental, just really gross.
Forest Watcher assistance primarily came in the form of providing samples and logging common fungal reactions and such. Collei however, was actually in Sumeru City to help round up some volunteers to test a round of the medication. It helps legitimize the project to have an actual Forest Watcher nearby apparently.
She was trying to come up with an advertisement that would outline the risks and dangers, but also the rewards of volunteering for testing. Offering mora would be tempting probably, but she wasn’t sure if the Bismartan or Forest Watchers would foot the bill for that. She was still just in the idea phase though, so it was worth bringing up.
She tried to explain this poorly to Mr. Kaveh who had called out to her when they passed each other in the market. She didn’t know him too too well but he and Master Tighnari were friends and he seemed like a really nice person. He took in the baby Dottore segment after all. Collei knows that Kaveh definitely didn’t have the same kind of history with Dottore she and the Wanderer had, but it takes a really special person to try and raise someone who already grew up evil once Collei thinks.
“Why don’t you just wait for people to get gross fungus and then test it on them?” Said Dottore segment asked her, staring up at her with curious red eyes. His hand raised slightly above his head to hold Kaveh’s hand. He was a lot larger than he had been when Collei had found him, but was still shorter than her waist.
Kaveh looked down at the segment with what was probably confusion of befuddlement. The segment sighed in a very dramatic way at the look,
“You know! It’s easier! Wait for someone to get mushroomy and then make them take medicine. Like tigers! Wait for prey then strike. And then you don’t have to find people for mushrooms.”
The segment nodded in a clearly proud and self satisfied manner.
Collei stared. Kaveh stared. Trying to parse what was just said.
“Um. I don’t think. I don’t think it would be uh. Moral? To lie in wait for people to get infected.”
Kaveh slowly nodded almost robotically,
“They are trying to,” he coughed, “to stop infections, not…”
“Y-yeah we want to stop people getting infected so um, setting up a trap when we could just stop them from going to the fungus is. Ah. It’s not ok.” They would need to set up a watch person on the area at all times waiting for a potential victim and then coerce the now distressed person to try experimental medication rather than try to dissuade them. That would… not be ok. Against everything the Forest Watchers stand for.
The segment looked confused though. Little head cocked to the side and face scrunched. Collei definitely wasn’t explaining this right! Oh no. What if this is where it starts? What if this causes full Dottore-fication. He thinks it’s ok to set up a problem to experiment on people!!
“It would be coercion!” Kaveh suddenly yelled causing Collei to startle.
???
Collei looked at Kaveh in confusion. He was now visibly sweating and had thrown his arms out wide. HIs smile looked painful. However when she looked down at the little segment his foggy confusion had cleared and he was smiling in a way that didn’t remind her of Dottore.
“Oh ok!” He beamed up as Kaveh and then turned to Collei. Kaveh slumped over his own knees the second the gaze left him, visibly strugling to catch is breath. To Collei the kid said, “It’s bad to do a coercion.”
He turned back to Kaveh who straightened up quickly,
“Can we go getta snack now pleasseeeeee” He begged to Kaveh, having already forgotten the conversation. Kaveh let out a strange laugh but took the kid’s hand, waved bye to Collei and left quickly without a word.
——————
“Seriously, how long do you plan on acting this pathetic?” In contrast to his harsh Alhaitham gently hauled Kaveh up from where he had sprawled across the floor of Fereydun’s room, having slipped out of the chair next to the toddler’s bed after falling asleep. The story book Kaveh insisted on reading had tumbled out with him but the pages didn’t seem too bent. Alhaitham scooped that up too and tucked it under his left arm and carried Kaveh with his right.
“No more story?” Fereydun asked from his bed, tucked in and surrounded by stuffed animals and pillows that Kaveh had arranged in some sort of artful manner. His gray hair was getting long, still fine and baby thin, but staring to get some curl to it at the ends. Alhaitham would let Kaveh decide if they wanted to try to convince Fereydun into getting a hair cut.
“Not tonight. It’s time to sleep.” Alhaitham curtly replied. The toddler nodded and relaxed into the pillow pile. Alhaitham smiled, just a little, and flicked the light off on his way out.
——————
“Oh… you don’t want to start school? Why?” Kaveh asked with genuine confusion.
“I just don’t really have any motivation I guess.” Fereydun slumped over the edge of the couch. Kaveh kneeled down to try and peer at his face.
While the Akademiya was the most famous and prestigious school in all of Teyvat, it would be ridiculous to believe it was the only school there is. It isn’t even the only school in Sumeru City. However, these other schools in the city primarily teach children and teenagers and work to prepare them for Akademiya entry exams.
Of course not everyone wanted to go to the Akademiya, and tuition and lodging fees could add up quick even with the extreme cost lowering measures employed by the new Archon approved administration. There were general public schools and early start trade schools around as well. Children could even be registered as home schooled or under an apprenticeship as long as mandatory educational milestones were met.
Just not in Sumeru City. If one is lucky enough to be born in the city of scholars, then they are expected to follow that path. Especially not if the child is from a family of scholars.
“Not motivated? Why is that?” Kaveh kept his voice light and low, not letting any of his opinions slip through. Fereydun shrugged, but it was very awkward given that his entire upper half was dangling in the air face down.
“It’s just all boring. Boring boring assignments. Boring teachers boring classmates. Not fun.”
“Where did you get that idea? How will you know if the people are boring if you never meet them” Kaveh rested his head on the couch, looking down at Fereydun. He had gotten so big. He used to be so so fragile… it was still upsetting to remember.
“I just know.” Pure petulance in his tone.
“Did Alhaitham say something to make you think that?” Totally not out of the question!
“…no…” a lying tone if Kaveh had ever heard one.
“Are you sure?”
“You and Alhaitham can just teach me. I don’t need school.” Fereydun switched his tactic. Something else was going on here wasn’t it.
“Theres a limit on how much me and Alhaitham can teach you, you know, and you might not want to be an architect or a scribe.” Kaveh didn’t really care what Feteydun became when he grew up, as long as he was happy and healthy is enough. It would be a bit tough if Fereydun wanted to be a scribe because Kaveh could already imagine Alhaitham’s smug smirk of victory and it boiled Kaveh’s blood. But if it was what Fereydun wanted he would deal with it.
“I can be both! I can! I don’t need anyone else!” Fereydun swung his fists against the foot board of the couch, too lightly to do any damage. Kaveh sighed,
“Fereydun.” The boy stilled. “Please look at me.”
He slowly rolled over onto his side, quite a feat with how he was still dangling. It took a lot of muscle control, the product of years of physical therapy. His eyes were reddened to where his sclera was competing with his irises for which was more red.
Kaveh sighed again, he really didn’t know what to do. What was the right thing to say? If Fereydun was already this upset, would forcing him to go make it worse? It was important for kids to make friends their own age though, thats what pretty much all of the childrearing books said. If Fereydun didn’t go to school it could stunt his emotional growth! But forcing him to attend could cause trauma!
…But Kaveh had been taking less jobs the past few years, even as the interest on his debt increased. He had been scolded for taking Fereydun with him. Especially as the baby turned into a child that could get in the way of the other workers.
And Alhaitham probably just let Fereydun roam unsupervised around the Akademiya every time it was his turn! … Fine. That was unfair. Kaveh had heard some scholars voice annoyance at the Scribe’s little tag-a-long who loudly asked ‘why?’ to everything. Kaveh had to stop himself from marching across the tavern to yell at them. He so rarely went out these days and didn’t want to risk a bar fight.
Tighnari lived too far to regularly babysit.
Collei came to the city rather frequently to see a friend, but was uncomfortable with babysitting.
Nilou didn’t have the time.
Dori would just add it to Kaveh’s debt.
Cyno was definitely out, not just for the dangers and importance of his job, but also his potential to corrupt Fereydun’s humor even further than Alhaitham had.
Kaveh could never ask any of the shop keepers they were far too busy.
Nor could he ask any of the students. Poor Layla would likely pass out from stress. Even if that boy with a particularly large hat seemed fond of Fereydun running over to harass him, Kaveh didn’t know him very well and like the shopkeepers, students were always endlessly busy.
The Archon would watch Fereydun, Kaveh knew she would, but he couldn’t do that. He wasn’t very religious, but that would be pure blasphemy.
“Fereydun, look, I- I also didn’t want to go to school.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I really didn’t want to go. I can’t even remember how my dad finally got me to school, but I was kicking and crying the whole time. I can’t really remember because it was a million years ago,” Fereydun laughed a little at Kaveh’s over exaggeration, “but my dad sat me down and left, so I cried even harder. I flailed around for quite a while screaming my head off. Though when I finally opened my eyes, I noticed a few other kids were kicking and crying too. They were all red and screaming so loud. But the kids who weren’t screaming were drawing or playing with toys and having fun. So why was I wasting time screaming?”
“So. If I scream I miss having fun?” Fereydun scrunched his face the same why Alhaitham does when something finally confuses him.
“Kind of, but more if you never try something you wont ever have any fun if that makes sense?” Kaveh wasn’t sure it did himself.
If Fereydun said no still, it would be time to bring it up with Alhaitham. And if the Alhaitham method failed, then Kaveh would just have to adapt. He could manage it maybe, homeschooling and full time work, Alhaitham would help definitely but… it was just… he was so tired.
“If you try school for at least a little bit, it would really help me too.”
“Help?”
“Yes! You like to help me and Alhaitham at work right? Well at school I learned how to do a lot of things that didn’t seem related to my job, but they really were!” Kaveh rambled a bit more semi-incoherently, but Fereydun looked thoughtful,
“Finnnneeeee. I’ll go to school to get more smart.”
Victory??????!!!?!?!?!?!???!!!!!
————————-
“I need to know everything or I’ll explode.” Fereydun had told Kaveh after his first day of school. A sentence that became the prime mover of his life.
———————-
“‘My names Fereydun. I live with my Alhaitham and Kaveh. My Alhaitham is really smart and knows everything but I still have to come to school. My Kaveh is really nice and smart but also kind of pathetic. We have one pet suitcase named Mehrak who doesn’t eat or it gets sick. My best Mr. Flying Aranara who watches me sleep.’”
The teacher smiled awkwardly across the desk from the former acting grand sage who read over his son’s essay with his typical blank expression.
“As you can see Fereydun has a great grasp on handwriting, spelling and even grammar which is very impressive for his age! All his letters face the right way too! I can tell you have worked with him at home a lot. However, the contents are a bit concerning.”
“Mr. Flying Aranara?”
“Not so much that, it is common for children to have imaginary friends. Practically every child in the class has an aranara for an imaginary friend. I wouldn’t worry about that much unless he mentions something concerning about it in the future. The thing I am worried about is him calling his um, Kaveh? Kaveh pathetic. Once again, your child has such a strong grasp on words, ‘pathetic’ is a long one! However, it is not a normal descriptor for a child to put on their parent, especially at this young of an age.”
Former acting grand sage Alhaitham grunted, cutting off the teacher before they could elaborate further.
“Alright I will talk to him.”
“Thank you, now next we have his art project, his collage seems to be a gray rectangle with rather detailed eyes.”
The teacher went on to exhibit more evidence of Fereydun’s creativity and intelligence.
—-
“Stop being pathetic.” Alhaitham announced. Kaveh blearily raised his head from his desk where he had passed out over a new draft,
“Wuh??”
But Alhaitham had already left the room, message from Fereydun’s teacher delivered.
—————
“I could report this to the Matra.” That former acting grand sage probably thought he looked cool, leaning against the massive tree root, half lit by a yellow street lamp mixed with white moonlight. The new/old moon was a lot brighter than the fake one. It was like a spotlight rather than a distant glow. The Wanderer could now understand some more ancient texts describing working under the moonlight. If it had been this bright back then night work would have been of little difficulty
“Go ahead. They know I’m here.” The Wanderer rolled his eyes and moved away from the mini Dottore’s window, dropping back from his Wind Favored state to the ground without a noise.
“There are laws against that spying on private citizens, especially towards children.” This guy was really going to make the Wanderer spell it all out? For what purpose?
“You know who that child came from. Don’t act stupid. I’m just monitoring a potential threat, thats all.” He crossed his arms. He could just leave. But then this guy would tell Buer and Buer would scold him. Annoying.
“And a child is a threat?” Annoying. So annoying.
“Stop being stupid. You’ve seen the traps he’s set as well as I have. They can’t hurt me because they’re so shoddily made, but with time-“
That sage of Buer’s cut him off with a slicing motion of his hand,
“Thats normal childhood behavior.”
The night was silent around them. The markets were far enough away the constant hum and clattering thumps of people that echoed throughout the city at all times miraculously couldn’t be heard. The terrified students doing all night work at the Akademiya were similarly far enough away to be non-existent. If not for what he could see, and the fact he flew here himself, he would never have taken such a quiet place for a part of the city at all.
“….Really?”
Was this what Collei had felt like all those times? A confused loss for words? Unable to form a coherent reply?
“Yes. Everyone sets traps for the aranara when they’re young.” The silver haired man’s dull voice was even and unwavering. His statement delivered as if it were a known and true fact.
The Wanderer didn’t think this was true.
“I was partial to rope traps.”
“…………”
And so he decided to fly away.
—————-
“What would you do if the little one is a threat? You’ve already spared him once, would you do so again?” The god asked, already knowing the answer.
“That all depends on that sage of yours and his blond friend. You really didn’t take a gamble on them did you?”
A giggle
“No no, it was all just coincidence.”
A huff of disbelief.
“Lying is a sin Buer.”
A high childish laugh rang through the Sanctuary.
—————-
Fereydun needed a lot of therapy. This was expected. He came to Alhaitham a shrived little thing that couldn’t move on its own.
Nutritional therapy to gain a healthy weight. Apparently he had been allotted enough nutrients to stay just above the danger zone.
Swallow therapy as in addition to being denied nutrients, he was fed solely through a tube and didn’t know how to eat or drink.
Pediatric physical therapy to help strengthen neglected muscles. He had seemingly been left in one place in one position all day every day. Never allowed to move around.
Occupational therapy to help him learn daily tasks he should have picked up on in his first year of life. Getting up in the morning, the act of an adult cleaning him, even how to play with toys.
Eye therapy as a lack of visual stimuli for long periods of time can negatively affect vision in early childhood.
Cognitive Behavioral therapy for the strange episodes he began to have as he moved from toddler aged to child aged.
It was well within Alhaitham’s expectations. He had, not feared, but perhaps pondered on if Fereydun would begin lashing out in a more violent manner. Especially given who he was made from.
Dottore’s history was still rather hazy, 500 years if a lot of time for record to disappear if they were ever documented, but under the identity of Zandik he was known to have stabbed an assistant professor over an argument over an assignment. Soon after she was moved to Tighnari’s care, Collei had given a testimony that indicated this behavior was a trend. The Dottore segment she knew would become violent with his test subject in ways outside of the experimenting when in a bad mood.
Alhaitham was already prepared to be hit and bit and screamed at from his stint as Acting Grand Sage and facing down angry parents. He had already found and vetted an anger management specialist with a specialization in early childhood care.
He wasn’t prepared for the odd dissociative episodes the child began to have. Fereydun’s breath would go shallow and his eyes would contract into terrified pin pricks. His skin would turn pale and he would begin sweating profusely from his tiny little hands and feet.
Well. He’d deal with it.
Though if throwing an army of therapists, Kaveh’s emotional support, and the Dendro Archon herself at the problem didn’t work, perhaps nothing would. But Alhaitham would find something that would help. He would. No question.
———————-
Sometimes nothing feels real.
Like everyone else are just paper cut outs like in a pop up book. Sliding too and fro on their predetermined path. Their features painted on flat unchanging surfaces. Not alive. Just shapes in the look like people.
Or maybe like a puppet show. The kind from Snezhnaya. No one is real, all the strings are controlled by the one person who is truly alive in the show. All the puppets that think themselves people until their control bar is throw down, going about their fake lives.
When you rip a paper cut-out, it feels no pain. It just keeps making the face painted on its destroyed body. When you break a puppet it doesn’t feel anything. When toys break they can be glued back together. Or they can be thrown away.
If no one is real, then Fereydun is not real. Just a shape.
But then Kaveh would hold him. His face pressed into Kaveh’s chest, listening to the always rapid beat of his heart.
But then Alhaitham would put his hand on Fereydun’s head, look into his eyes and recite some complicated academic book he had memorized until the drolling monotone pierced the fog.
But then, when it was night time and no one was awake, Mr. Flying Aranara would stroke Fereydun’s hair until he settled back down.
But then the kid who sat next to him in school held his hand because he “looked scared”.
And it was like he had never been alone.
————
“Breaking and entering is a crime.” That scribe didn’t look up from his book as the Wanderer left the segment’s room. He was acting as if he were sitting on a chair outside of the kid’s room, his muscle control was rather impressive.
“I didn’t ‘break’ anything” the Wanderer scoffed, “that roommate of yours left his keys at the House of Daena. I’m just returning them.”
“By coming inside the house.” It was a statement and not a question.
“Mm. How else could I be sure they were safe?”
“Are they safe inside Fereydun’s room then?” The scribe boy shot back.
The Wanderer smirked and twirled the key with the lion charm out of his sleeve.
“I haven’t found a safe enough place for it yet. Perhaps I need to come back a different day.”
The gray haired man raise his eyebrows, but made no move to stop the Wanderer from leaving.
Ever courteous, he even locked the front door behind him.
———
“ALHAITHAM!! LET ME IN!!!!!”
Kaveh slammed his hands and one foot against the door until the object of Kaveh’s ire cracked it open. He gave Kaveh a look that said something like,
‘Why are you knocking you have a key you idiot?’
Agggggggg!!!! Because he didn’t have his key!!! Because Alhaitham probably stole it again!!!!!!!
Kaveh 100% had it at work and yet somehow it vanished the day he has to stop by the House of Daena! (Thankfully they had lifted his ban after the accidental fire a few years ago after he pathetically begged the head librarian for forgiveness. Since there was no lasting property damage and his self flagellation was making her uncomfortable she had relented)
And who was at the House of Daena? ALHAITHAM!
His awful smug face reading a book in the corner as if he wasn’t supposed to be working! Kaveh was working! He needed books on viaducts and modifying their existing structure without bringing the entire thing down. It was for a client. He wasn’t just curious about it.
There were quite a few students milling around as always. Alhaitham must have used the crowd to hide him sneaking over to mess with Kaveh. Or something??? Kaveh really can’t understand the way Alhaitham thinks at all…
———
The next day Kaveh’s key was not in the key dish. Alhaitham was gone as well and had taken Fereydun to school already. A full hour before Kaveh woke up??? Unusual.
Normally Kaveh wakes up at around the same time each day. Alhaitham is already always awake because he has to be better than Kaveh at everything or something.
Alhaitham makes himself and Fereydun breakfast and magnanimously offers Kaveh whatever is left over. Seriously if he’s so smart how has he not figured out the exact ratios of ingredient to meals for two people. Kaveh benefits from Alhaitham’s oversight though, so he may grumble but he never complains.
Every morning Kaveh pokes his head in to check that breakfast is in the process of being made (it always is), before going to wake Fereydun.
Fereydun has always been a restless sleeper, even as an infant who could barely move. Small limbs tossed all over the bed as if each had a mind of its own on where the body should sleep. The blanket twisted into some new and heretofore unseen tangle each morning, occasionally cocooning Fereydun in such a way that Kaveh worries about needing to cut him out.
They had tried an alam clock but Fereydun would scream each time it went off. It was more peaceful for Kaveh to go and unroll him like a lettuce wrap put together by someone who has never touched a tortilla in their life.
Fereydun usually wakes up in the middle of being untangled and is able to help free himself. After that they pick out his clothes and make sure all his school things are set to go. By the time they finish that, breakfast is done. Alhaitham and Kaveh bicker while Fereydun usually reads a book while he eats or fiddles with some toy or another.
Afterwards they all go their separate ways to get ready. If Kaveh is scheduled to go to his office then he walks Fereydun to school. If instead Kaveh is scheduled to meet a client, Alhaitham walks Fereydun, though it often causes him to run behind getting to the Akademiya on time. Kaveh had tried to put up a fuss about this, about how being late so often could get Alhaitham fired yadda yadda. It was a very frustrating argument. Turns out Alhaitham is just so famous and invaluable and popular that everyone up to Lord Kusanali is understanding about it and in fact Kaveh is the one with something to lose if he is late to a client meet up by even a minute. Kaveh had been working extra hard to pay off his debt. He was no where near the end of his life, but if something unfortunate did happen, he didn’t want Fereydun to inherit his debt.
Anyway, it ends up pretty evenly balanced who walks Fereydun. Occasionally they all three walk together. Just on special occasions so Kaveh doesn’t get stressed over Alhaitham being late too often.
But Alhaitham and Fereydun being gone before Kaveh wakes in unusual in the highest order. Kaveh was scheduled for the office today to so it should be his turn to walk Fereydun.
Lacking his house key that particular morning, Kaveh climbed out his bedroom window to avoid leaving the front door unlocked and resolved to go and yell at Alhaitham. In public!
The jerk was probably at work by now!
Perhaps he should start letting Mehrak carry his keys? Oh this was so frustrating!
Kaveh marched through the Akademiya foyer but was caught by a librarian, a acquaintance of Kaveh’s who was in the same graduating year as him, before he could get too far.
“Oh! Just the person I wanted to see! A student dropped off your keys at the lost and found last night. I grabbed them for you and was just heading out to find you!”
Crap. That means Kaveh needs to apologize to Alhaitham!!!!
Kaveh slumped over with a extremely heavy sigh, just about falling over onto the floor much to the concern of the librarian. Well. He was already on his way to yell at Alhaitham, might as well change it to an apology trip.
He trudged to the absurdly high elevator he had only used a handful of times and entered the pass key to Alhaitham’s floor.
The elevator doors swung open to the pop of streamers that jolted Kaveh’s heart. Sparse balloons hung off the ceiling of Alhaitham’s office, and clumsily hung ribbons lined the walls at Fereydun’s eye level with a neater line of ribbon above it closer to the ceiling.
A bunch of people were crowded into Alhaitham’s absurdly large office. Alhaitham, Fereydun, the Traveler and Paimon, Cyno, Tighnari, Collei, Leyla, Madam Faruzan, several of Kaveh’s coworkers and ex classmates, his drinking buddies, and even the Archon and that Inazuman transfer student that Kaveh still hasn’t gotten the name of some how.
Dori stepped out of the crowd,
“Ahem! You’ve certainly kept us waiting, but due to the occasion, I the magnanimous Lord Sangemah Bay, have decided to overlook this just this once.”
Kaveh was confused. His eyes darted around the gathered crowd and found Alhaitham’s. The other man rolled his eyes but gave Kaveh a rare smile and motioned for him to look back at Dori.
“Congratulations on finally paying off your debt!” Dori announced with a flourish.
The gathered people, all of Kaveh’s friends, set off more party poppers and cheered. Fereydun ran forward and hugged Kaveh around his legs, the highest he could reach.
Kaveh started crying.
——-
Despite the sometimes fraught relationship between his parents, Fereydun had a stable and loving childhood. He had access to the medical attention and mental health support that he needed to help grow into someone who doesn’t experiment on humans for fun. That doesn’t mean he did not grow up to become a massive weirdo though.
Fereydun was never a social butterfly like Kaveh, but he didn’t stick to himself completely as Alhaitham preferred. He had a few close friends that he managed to keep, despite his extreme eccentricities which grew more prominent with age.
With a steady stream of therapy and medication, Fereydun never fully became ‘normal’, but his anxiety attacks and dissociative episodes were greatly diminished in scale and frequency. He still begins to have episodes under times of high stress, or if he forgets to eat or sleep for too long, but he has the tools to help calm himself down and ride it out.
Mr. Flying Aranara stopped visiting as Fereydun grew older and he was ruled as a non-threat. Of course Fereydun didn’t know that detail. Eventually it was almost like Mr. Flying Aranara was just an imaginary friend, if not for the fact that Fereydun and his family would run into him at the market or House of Daena sometimes. Mr. Flying Aranara could be persuaded to pat Fereydun on the head in a way that could be construed as him pushing Fereydun away. It made Fereydun laugh.
Fereydun even liked some of his classmates! He had friends who didn’t think he was weird and thought he was funny and smart.
Lacking whatever motivator which lead to the original Dottore dropping out of the Akademiya, Fereydun found that learning new things was thrilling. That feeling of knowing something someone doesn’t and then being able to share it but not lose anything…. Incomparable.
Collecting degrees was simply a symbol of his great achievement of his amassed mental collection. If video games existed, he would have become an achievement hunter. But alas, he was denied this. Instead his goal in life became to collect every degree from the Akademiya and then from every credited institution in Teyvat.
His professors often called him a genius with the worst traits of both Alhaitham and Kaveh. A haughty drama queen who seems to revel in his moral and intellectual superiority to others, but tries genuinely to impart what he knows to others.
He is prone to laughing madly when solving a difficult assignment and making complex revenge schemes that he never enacts over minor inconveniences. If he had not inherited his pursuit of knowledge from his parents, he would have thrived in a theater setting.
All in all, he’s really annoying and a bit off putting, but hard to hate. All his lecturing is extremely earnest and his theatrics are a tiny bit entertaining. The professors are prone to seeing the shadow of Kaveh in how he flings his arms out and emotes with his body and in Alhaitham in how he structures his lectures. If this evokes fondness or ire depends on the professor.
———————
Kaveh didn’t remember his original question to Alhaitham until the day Fereydun walked across the stage for his first degree, Kshaherwar. A fact Kaveh was smug about, ignoring that Fereydun was also 78% of the way done with a Haravatat degree. (And 34% of the way through a Vahumana degree…) Their son had followed Kaveh’s path first!
…?
Their son?
Wait. Where did Fereydun come from again?
Did Kaveh forget??
Or did he never know?
….he forgot to ask!!!!
TWenty years!?! Wait!!
He forgot to ask where his son came from for 20! Years!
—————-
Kaveh raised him in a way that was careful but unintentionally chaotic. Always worrying about Fereydun turning out like Kaveh. A broke looser who got his father killed and wasn’t enough for his mother to stay. He always wanted Fereydun to feel loved, and like he was enough. Fereydun developed his moral compass from Kaveh’s extreme kindness to everyone he meets. He shares all he has with everyone around him, even if it makes him seem like a bit of an annoying know-it-all. Knowledge, money, food, everything he had can be freely given.
Alhaitham always appeared to be a more distant parent. But still he would explain anything Fereydun asked, or would read aloud from whatever book he was flipping through at the time. Alhaitham would explain the reasons certain actions were right or wrong through a primarily legal lens. This is the only way Alhaitham had ever seen a child raised, the way that his grandmother had raised him.
It is unknown how Dottore was raised to be the way he was.
Fereydun was raised to be unabashedly himself with a love of learning and sharing that knowledge.
And he was raised loved by his family.
And he loves them back.