Chapter Text
Aaru Village was always swelteringly hot, no matter the time of year, but this afternoon was particularly nasty. To make matters worse, the wind had begun to pick up the moment Kaveh had reached the village that morning, promising that a sandstorm was imminent. He was lucky enough that he’d made a habit of doing small repairs every time he came through the village–Uncle Anpu and Candace were more than willing to shelter him from the storm in return. Kaveh had felt it was only proper to do what he could to shore up some of the older buildings in the hours before the sandstorm, especially given Candace had vehemently refused every offer to help with the monsters that followed the storms.
That was the sort of thing on his mind that afternoon, making a last sweep through the village to check for any last-minute cracks to repair (and to make sure none of the children were still outside), when Mehrak made a series of chirps as an alert, and he heard the unmistakable ring of steel on steel. Had Treasure Hoarders tried to fight their way into the village, seeking shelter by force?
And why had Mehrak used the alert he’d set to warn him of his roommate sneaking up on him again, anyway?
Kaveh rounded the corner towards the sound quickly, still higher up on one of the ledges, so he could get the drop on the fight and end it quickly–he could taste the grit on the wind, and knew the storm would be coming any minute now. He was expecting to see Treasure Hoarders, or maybe even the Ayn Al-Ahmar here to cause trouble–though he was concerned he might have problems with the latter, either way all he really needed to do was stop them long enough for Dehya or Candace to finish the problem.
What he absolutely did not expect to see was the General Mahamatra apparently trying to cleave his roommate’s head off his shoulders.
For a second, all of Kaveh’s questions piled up and caused a thundering sound in his ears, shock making him numb and curiously philosophical. He’d only been out in the desert for a few weeks. What could Alhaitham have possibly done in three weeks to get himself on Cyno’s shitlist? Why was he in Aaru Village? Why was Cyno in Aaru Village, come to think of it? Did Tighnari know about this?
The ring of steel refocused him. He did not have the time to be lost right now. These idiots were fighting, right in front of the village, with a sandstorm bearing down on them. Whatever their reasons for it, it had to stop–and soon, because Kaveh could see Dehya approaching down the path, and he highly doubted Dehya’s temper was going to mix well with Alhaitham’s. He murmured something quietly to Mehrak, felt the weight of the claymore settle through the energy, counted his breathes until Cyno was pushed back, and flung.
The claymore practically sang through the air from the force at which he’d chucked it, burying itself in the sand between Cyno and Alhaitham (And…some blonde kid with a sprite of some kind? Worry about them later, Kaveh) with a deafening thud, buried halfway up the blade. Dehya froze mid-shout. Cyno looked up and then double-taked visibly. Alhaitham was staring blankly at the claymore as though he refused to look upwards and acknowledge what was happening, though Kaveh knew damn well he’d have recognized the sword, since he’d been the one who’d bought it. Never mind that. He had their attention. He could see Candace exiting the chief’s house in the distance. Right, then.
“What the fuck,” Kaveh managed not to screech, keeping his tone as cold as Snezhnayan winters. “Are you doing.”
—
Neither Alhaitham nor Cyno had spoken a word since they’d all been ushered into the village chief’s home, out of the storm. Nor had either of them dared to make eye contact with Kaveh, though he’d caught Cyno repeatedly glancing up. Candace had nodded to him as they settled inside, and gently rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Let me know if you need help sorting them out.” She’d said it very deliberately where everyone could hear, and when Dehya had started to protest, fixed her with a look that silenced Dehya immediately. Briefly, Kaveh had filed this away to ask Candace about later–there’d be time for gossip when the wind cleared and the current problem was solved.
Speaking of whom–he’d turned back to survey the gathered idiots with a steely calmness he absolutely did not feel. Alhaitham and Cyno continued to not look at him, and the blonde–a girl he wouldn’t have thought much older than Collei–and her weird floating companion, looked at him with pure terror. None of them had offered so much as a word of explanation so far, and Kaveh wasn’t a man known for his patience on his good days.
“If one of you doesn’t volunteer to explain yourselves in the next fifteen seconds, I will pick.”
Predictably, Alhaitham clicked his tongue in irritation but didn’t volunteer any information, and Cyno’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward slightly, as though debating lunging over the table to deal with Alhaitham with his bare hands. Not that Kaveh didn’t sympathize with the sentiment, but a sandstorm was neither the time nor place for whatever the hell these two had going on, and he still very much doubted Alhaitham had done anything so bad it warranted violent arrest. It would have involved effort and passion out of him, something highly unlikely unless the Grand Sage had decided to burn Alhaitham’s private library.
In which case, Kaveh would have had to side with Alhaitham on principle. Archons, what a tragedy that would be.
“Um…” Kaveh glanced up out of his brewing imagination on the count of 12 to the…floating child creature. “Sorry, but…Paimon’s pretty confused herself! We don’t know who you are, or who this guy is or why he attacked us!”
“I imagine the General Mahamatra is well aware you’ve managed to anger the Akademiya. I can’t fathom what he’d want with me, however, as we’ve never spoken more than two words to each other.” Alhaitham finally offered, tone so acidic Kaveh bit back a wince. Cyno’s eyes narrowed and his face darkened, his own tone nearly a low growl.
“Bold talk, from someone tailing these two for the Sages…and so bold as to bring a Divine Knowledge Capsule out here with you while you do it–”
“Enough!” Kaveh felt the beginnings of a migraine coming on. How was it that they could say such outrageous, world-shaking nonsense in less than a hundred words? He pinched the bridge of his nose, and exhaled slowly, before pointing at Paimon and her regular-sized friend.
“Since you two can speak without starting a fight, you start. Why would the Akademiya be interested in you?”
“Um, well, we’re kind of trying to help Nahida–ah, Lesser Lord Kusanali! We need to talk to her and…well, one thing kind of lead to another…”
The headache was getting worse. Kaveh was quite certain he could feel his blood pressure rising in real time.
“...And why would meeting Lesser Lord Kusanali cause such a fuss, exactly?”
“Oh, because the Sages are working with the Fatui!”
Kaveh choked on thin air. Cyno and Alhaitham too seemed a little startled Paimon had just said this outright, and the blonde woman sighed, placing her hand on Paimon’s head.
“Paimon…”
“Oh, was that too much? Ehehe…sorry! But there’s just something that feels trustworthy about this guy, don’t you think?”
“...In that much, your judgement’s fairly sound.” Cyno glanced over at Kaveh, a little reluctant, but then turned his iron gaze back to Alhaitham. “So I’m not sure why you’d be so willing to trust Alhaitham.”
“Really? But he helped us a lot–”
“Stop.” Kaveh had finally managed to get air in his lungs again, and held up a hand, before turning to look at Alhaitham. Mentally, he calculated the chances that Alhaitham would give him a straight answer. They were abysmally low. But better than Cyno’s were, the way he kept accusing the man, and this was getting nowhere.
“You. I’ll get to Cyno in a minute, don’t give me that look. Is what he says true? Were you supposed to be trailing these two–”
“I’m Lumine.”
“--Trailing Lumine and Paimon?”
Alhaitham refused to look up at him, but after a long moment, exhaled sharply, apparently deciding that being cooperative would be the least annoying of any of his options.
“...The Sages did command this, yes. I never had any intention of doing so. She stumbled into my path quite all on her own.” Kaveh squinted at him for a long moment, but he’d never known Alhaitham to lie. Not about something like this, anyway–the problem with Alhaitham usually lay more in his brutal honesty.
“The Fatui?”
“...News to me.” Kaveh watched the tightness in Alhaitham’s jaw, and the way his fingers curled into a fist, resting in the crook of his elbow. Truth, then–Alhaitham would not be quite so furious if he had known. Being so furious meant there was no further information to glean from him, so Kaveh turned his gaze to Cyno.
“And you, General Mahamatra? What are you doing out here? I’m sure you’d not stoop to being used in anyone’s corruption, of course.” Cyno didn’t take the immediate bait, but after a moment seemed to decide that he should in fact answer Kaveh, looking slightly away.
“...I am in voluntary exile.”
“...Why.” Oh, Archons, he didn’t know whether to pray Tighnari already knew about this or pray Tighnari never found out.
“The Sages were…are concealing their activities from me. Azar didn’t even try to hide it…he told me that the Mahamatra answer to the Sages. As though he is above the oaths we swore…” Cyno almost seemed as though he could spit, radiating such disgust and fury. Kaveh was not unsympathetic–he too, felt a gnawing pit at the bottom of his stomach, a fury so deep and vast it was terrifying, but he had to get this all sorted out.
“So you assumed the Scribe was also in on it, and that’s why you tried to remove his head from his body?”
“Hardly, if I had struck with lethal intent, not even the Traveler could have–”
“Cyno.”
“...That is why I attempted to arrest him, yes. I saw that he was ordered to shadow them, and he’s carrying a Divine Knowledge Capsule, so I thoug–”
“You have a what.” Kaveh whipped his head back to Alhaitham so fast he felt a little dizzy. Alhaitham maintained his position of staring directly at the wall and refusing to acknowledge anything happening around him. Kaveh’s hands itched for his neck, and he took a step forward, staring down at the Scribe.
“Don’t you pretend you turned those headphones on, I can see they’re not muted. Alhaitham. Are you actually carrying a Divine Knowledge Capsule with you?”
Alhaitham pointedly did not answer, nor even turn his head in acknowledgement of Kaveh’s voice. Kaveh felt his fingers twitch.
“Hey! I know you can hear me. Alhaitham!” He slammed his hand down on the table, caging the Scribe into his chair. Not that it would matter if Alhaitham decided to escalate this physically, but Kaveh wasn’t thinking about such trivial details as Alhaitham’s workout routine or temperament in light of the current crisis. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of using the damn thing?”
“Of course not.” Alhaitham huffed in his irritation, and rolled his eyes. “I thought you knew better than to take me for a fool.”
“Then why the fuck do you have one at all?”
“Yeah! That’s what we’d like to know!” Paimon’s attempt at assistance was probably too high-pitched and squeaky to really be useful, but Kaveh watched Alhaitham’s eye twitch slightly. So he was developing a soft spot for the small floating faerie creature? That was useful to know–Kaveh sensed he’d need this advantage. “Did you take the capsule from that guy at Port Ormos? Why didn’t you tell us?”
There was a long silence, before Alhaitham sighed. “I wished to see what I could analyze from it on my own. But there hasn’t been much progress…and if I’d used it, I’d probably just wind up going insane. I suspect this is what the Sages intended to do to me from the start, when they promised me one for trailing you two.”
Kaveh stood back up from the table without saying much of anything, and went to one of the more cushioned chairs in the chief’s home to sit down, heavily. He rubbed at his face, and his ringing temples, and dragged his palms down slowly to be pressed together in front of his mouth, before he finally looked up at the assembled crowd.
“Let me see if I’ve understood this correctly,” Kaveh manages in a tone perfectly even and calm, even though he’d like very much to start screaming.
“Azar has managed to go from oppressive to outright treasonously corrupt, and in so doing has gotten involved with the Fatui, and believes himself above the oaths and laws we all swore to when we joined the Akademiya. Something about this is a danger to Lesser Lord Kusanali, who I am going to assume is much more involved then we’ve been told if two travelers know her well enough to help her. So you, Cyno, exiled yourself to continue your investigation in Aaru Village–which I dearly hope you mentioned to Tighnari before you left, or you’re a dead man no matter how this pans out–looking for more information.”
Kaveh did notice, with some satisfaction, that Cyno had gone a little pale when he paused to inhale. He held up a hand to silence any commentary in the pause, and then pointed at Alhaitham.
“You were assigned to tail this Traveler and promised a Divine Knowledge Capsule for it, which as I recall is not typically any part of how your job works, and I’m assuming you then fucked off to Port Ormos to investigate this yourself, because if Azar thinks you’ve been biddable or cooperative a day in your life, then he’s a fucking idiot. And got tangled up with these two, who are somehow in the middle of everything that’s happening, and they’ve both implied they’ve spoken to Lesser Lord Kusanali recently, despite the fact I don’t think anyone’s seen her among her people in five hundred years.”
The Traveler–Lumine, Kaveh dimly recalled–blanched a little bit, and even Alhaitham seemed to hesitate before nodding. Kaveh groaned, and inhaled. Counted to ten. Counted to twenty. Counted to ten again in Old Fontaine. Exhaled slowly through his nose. His Vision seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, a warm and comforting presence…
“Right.”
No one had ever met Lesser Lord Kusanali, since Rukkadevata’s death. But to think that she had been so shunned by the sages…Kaveh’s heart ached as though an old friend was in pain. In truth, he’d already made this decision when he’d first heard things being laid out. In truth, he’d made this decision years ago, but never had the opportunity for a fight worth gambling on. In truth…
“Alright.”
Kaveh exhaled again, and stood up, crossing his arms. He looked from Lumine, to Cyno, to Alhaitham. “What are we going to do about it?”