#young kavetham

[cocrante]

Al-Haitham chose to become a strong man with a stable career solely for Kaveh.

In the past, when they were younger, it was Kaveh who provided him with the stability he needed, gradually accessing in his peculiar world and accepting him like no other child of their age had ever done. Kaveh demonstrated that Haitham was not alone, that he had someone who cared for him and loved him.

As the years and tragedies unfolded, Kaveh couldn't be strong for both of them anymore.

After a while, he couldn't bear the weight of all the emotions, as it was too heavy for one individual. Unfortunately, Haitham realized this too late, after Kaveh had already left.

However, during that period, he worked even harder because in his innocence, he thought Kaveh was invincible. Through his eyes, he saw a strong, stable and confident man, unaware of his hidden pains. Haitham mentally reproached himself for not understanding earlier, for not deciphering those tiny and imperceptible signs of breakdown.

If he had been in Kaveh's place, he believes Kaveh would have understood.

But the damage was done, and all he could do now was to show Kaveh that he would be there in the future, knowing that one day his Kaveh would return, and then he would given him all the support that over the years Haitham hadn't realized he needed to give to Kaveh

[peachchiie]

in every universe

[nonbinarylocalcryptid]

Fanfics I need to read so bad that I'm probably gonna write them myself Thanos style:

-Alhaitham damsel in distress/BAMF Kaveh (come on, let's have something different, stir the pot a little)

-Alhaitham/Kaveh The Mummy Au (do you see my vision???)

-Diluc travelling the world visionless during those funny years after his 18th birthday feat. pen pal!Kaeya (not kaeluc) (I'm a sucker for their brotherly reconciliation)

-Young Justice season 5 with the usual timeskip, Jason's story, Wally comes back and Damian enters the scene

-A character study of Jason Todd feat. a telepathic oc who doesn't like Batman but gets adopted anyway because why not (and it would be funny as hell)

-A TMA fanfic with a time travelling oc who resets the timeline until he gets everyone a Happy Ending™

-Epic The Musical/The Odyssey but Odysseus keeps the baby because bless this mess

[kotsuri]

dumb young kavetham sketch while I'm busy with my studies

[justeasing]

Honestly, the only HSR Ship I go for - considering I don't play the game - is Golden Ratio and it's literally all Kavetham's fault. 110%. But not in the way you think.

Aventurine is their son. I don't care— he's their biological son. His eyes always make me think of Alhaitham's and his hair is just Kaveh's and his traits make so much sense for them both!

I love the idea of him having these deep ties to riches and gambling - but kind of controlling the game - because of Kaveh, because he's constantly without funds and being conned. So why not solve the issue in a backwards, semi-shady way like your father does? He controls cash because Kaveh never could. He controls fate for the same reason. He learned at a young age to not fall for tricks, but to instead fabricate the stage and connections necessary to succeed just like Alhaitham does. He works behind the scenes and is always a step ahead, but his heart might just get the better of him...

He just so penultimately, physically, psychologically feels like their son to me that it's never ever going to budge! And Ratio? MY GOSH.

As much as Freud is a fucking moron, the idea of Aventurine feeling safe and secure around Ratio makes sense to me BECAUSE he's like his parents... The ties to architecture, mathematics, the type of ambitions and hardships, his demeanor and just EVERYTHING! It feels like Aventurine could fall for him because he is the embodiment of everything his parents were: safe and protective and kind and misunderstood.

He'd love him so quickly because he is everything he'd already love, and it just makes sense. To me, at least.

[harmoniouseclipse]

Woe fankids be upon ye

Doing a little series where I took some ship requests on my instagram to make them fankids, this one is for me tho (jeanlisa to kick it off whoo 🙌🏻) The lineup so far is Cytham, Kavetham, Lionfish (aka Freminet x Gaming aged up probably idk how old they are canonically), Cynonari, Jealuc, and Beiguang, and feel free to send me some other pairings you wanna see (as long as they are legal pls otherwise I will ignore it 👎)

I'm gonna ramble about some headcanons and lore for them under the cut, continue with caution bc I'm insane

These two are my brainrot rn, don't even joke lad. And I wanna tell yall their name meanings too bc I like them a lot 🥹 Zephra's means "west wind" derived from Greek, and it's the feminine version of Zephyr. Tyrian was a type of purple dye used by the Ancient Phoenicians, huge huge HUGE thanks to my pookie bear @miothefish for helping me out with his name!!! Also he has Lisa's butterfly earring and you can't see bc of the angle but Zephra has the rose that went in her hair holding her ponytail <3

I'm also making a massive family tree for the characters as a go along, and just the jeanlisa tree is taking up half of the canvas bc of the KoF and Sumeru characters since Cyno is their uncle and the rest of the gang are their honorary uncles 😭 I'll be posting that once the series is done/all the requests are finished/I run out of ships and otps I enjoy

Here's an alternative version with some more info on most of the characters I wanted to briefly mention in their relation to them; Tyrian likes calling Eula his aunt too even though she was never really considered one for them so it's kind of like her unofficial title she pretends to dislike but she loves it and dotes on Tyrian 🤭 She and Diluc also helped train Zephra with a claymore and Diluc kind of became a parental figure to her in her teen years after Lisa's passing 🥺 She also feels like she's outshined by Jean and that she's not smart or powerful enough to follow in Lisa's footsteps (something that Lisa wouldn't want anyways bc it led her to her death 😔) rip zephra she's just like me fr

And yeah some Kaeya angst bc he's still going thru it I fear, and Jean is single mombossing but she's worried for zephra which me too dawg, im afraid to say she might be cooked 😦 Zephra is also kind of like a weird mix of Lisa when she was her age and Jean, where overall she's well-mannered and kind but she can be competitive and feel the need to push herself too much and pull a few strings to get what she wants from time to time. Tyrian is a ray of sunshine tho, he has not yet witnessed the horrors 💔 I do think that Jean is also a lot easier on him than her mom was with her so that also helps. He's very shy tho and wants to stick with Zephra or Razor most of the time, and they both have some nasty tan lines from going out with Razor and Klee and Fischl a lot 😔 Cyno also freaking loves them and dotes on them and Tyrian is getting a TCG addiction because of it smh, Cyno is also one of Zephra's favorite people and when she's in Sumeru she stays with him and Alhaitham (bc in my universe they are married ough I love cytham)

And (I think?) Klee physically and mentally ages slower than humans so I think she'd be technically 9 or 10, and Zephra is left with babysitting duty most of the time if she's home on break or smth 😭 Klee really looks up to her tho

Also, I wrote Tyrian's last bullet point like he was super young when Lisa died, but I think he was around 7 so he actually remembers Lisa better than I intended it to sound, he was just younger than Zephra (who was 11 at the time) and just didn't have as much time with her as Zeph did, but his most fond memory of Lisa was reading with her and she probably taught them some potion-making skills too.

I think there will be some abyss angst in here too at some point, since I hc Lisa to be probably an Abyss Lector/Harold (I forget which is which) um so thinking that Zeph and Tyrian experiencing some not normal things happening and Jean doesn't know what to do since Lisa also didn't really know what that dog in her was until it was too late 😔 That's what Kaeya's for tho since he's like the heir of the abyss???? Go off king. Also some touchy ragbros angst bc Kaeya is scared for Zeph knowing how close she is with Luc and he doesn't want him to push her away because of her being from the abyss or smth (they mostly made up but it's still a fear in Kaeya's mind both for him and Jean's kids)

I think that's all I wanted to touch on for now?? Mainly just thinking about domestic fluff and angst all the time now 🥺 Zeph not being able to be open with Jean bc she feels like a disappointment but Jean would literally actually die for her and shes proud of her no matter what ough im going to lose my freak dawg guess who my favorite fankid is it's super hard ik

Send me asks or dms or whatever for more ship requests!!! I'm having so much fun with this dawg 🫶🏻

[teirlys]

just an animation about the acquaintance of young Kavethams

(I forgot about a social network like tamblr, so I didn't post anything)

[generalsdiary]

hear me out- what if kavetham were in a zzz au?

alhaitham, who works as a proxy and owns a small library as his main job, and kaveh, who is a hollow raider. and over time alhaitham is the only proxy kaveh wants to work with. but they never met after that irl. only communicating via inter-knot and alhaitham’s bangboo. kaveh goes into hollows to find tech parts and analyze the architecture of the buildings lost to the hollows. alhaitham, who loves his cushy job that is only long distance, even in the library he isn’t talking to people, he keeps his other bangboo at the desk job. plot twist they went to the same uni- alhaitham specializing in bangboo and a.i technology + kaveh studying architecture. could also evolve into a 5+1 fic? alhaitham’s bangboo getting corrupted with ether in the hollow, kaveh getting trapped in, left alone with a broken bangboo and mehrak who cannot help. alhaitham now has to go into the hollow despite his near zero experience physically walking in one, goes in with his other bangboo, which requires human assistance, to save kaveh. or they first meet in alhaitham’s library, on the odd chance of him trying to leave to buy groceries and he recognizes kaveh- like truly recognizes; this is the man that he is always guiding through the hollows, standing right in front of him, asking his bangboo about a specific book. and kaveh who remembers the young man who went to the same uni as him. raaah the potential is there, i have so many thoughts and ideas about this-

[kizuna-the-randomix]

So one of my friends is really into history, lore, and Stuff and told me that a dude named Dr. Irving Finkel translates stuff from sumerian and he's, like, the one who learned that the Epic of Gilgamesh was like homework for scribes-in-training with said trainee scribes being, as I like to describe, 2-18-years-old rich kids. Bestie then proceeded to yeet me the mental imagery of some young noble child scribe writing GilKidu fan fiction instead of their homework [which, mood you scenario-noble child] which leads me to THIS crack shot of an idea being born when I said to them:

"Imagine one of the best scribes in the Modern Era was a 2 year old girl and the only reason she's considered the best because she lost her homework and that's the only reason why a Significant Part of The Story of Gilgamesh still exists."

Which lead me to conclude that "I can fanfic this." So really this AU (kinda) started because of bestie and because they like Kaveh and Deshret and Kaveh as Deshret, I decided to call this one The Epic of Deshret AU (shortened name) [full name of this AU would probably be Ancient Ship Fiction Survives AU]. (Below is basically copy pasting what I told them while I was running on AU juice)

Epic of Gilgamesh AU in Genshin but replace Gil and Enkidu with King Deshret and Nabu Malikata-- but its modern au with Haikaveh/Kavetham being Scribe and Archeologist respectively and they just uncovered a new site that contains ancient text that seems to hold new information about the Epic of King Deshret-- except that's not really the main plot.

So first scene is haikaveh uncovering the text and it like freezes to black and white, focusing on the Ancient text they're holding with some background dialouge going like "so you're probably wondering how I got here" with the voiceover being Nahida. Now flashback to an ancient time where The Era of King Deshret has passed but their stories told are still (kinda) accurate-- newly inducted scribe Nahida (5 years old), daughter of the late Lady Rukkadevata, has decided that she want to write about The Definitely True and Hidden Love Story of King Deshret and His Goddess of Flower Nabu Malikata that she discovered from her Late Mother's hidden books. There starts the tale of a grand adventure starting her escape from her definitely-not-power-hungry uncle Azar who definitely did not kill Rukka to going on a journey where she meets many people, asking them about what Hidden Details they could possibly know about King Deshret and Nabu Malikata to make her Definitely Hidden True Love Story more accurate.

So like the thing is that the story Nahida finds from her mom's hidden stuff is a What-If fanfiction if Nabu Malikata lived and they went on their way to Love and Procreate. Yeah she definitely still died as lore accurate to her Epic of Gilgamesh counterpart Enkidu.

--------------------------------------------------------

So yea that's all that I got for now. If anyone does decide this also tickles their plot bunny do tag me so I can see it too.

[raiden-shogun-give-me-a-chance]

The line “you were just too kind and I was too young to know. That’s all that really matters, I was a fool.” Is SO kavetham coded

[mushroomwitches]

Okay so I am very adhd and have like a ton of drafts started for some fanfic ideas and wanted to focus on one to start with, but I wanted to get peoples opinions because I’m also very indecisive! Below the cut I will explain each option I have that I’ve started to help!

Slight Spoiler warnings

Option 1: okay so this idea is inspired by mamuro-chiba-ua ‘s artwork here on tumblr, though I have seen other talk about in on here, but their artwork and Au made me start to wonder how being the uncle to Vivi would effect buggy! This would focus on buggy as he goes about his life and would be a cross guild (crocodile, mihawk, and buggy! )

Option 2: for whatever reason kaveh and Alhaitham give me the swan Princess vibes. So this story would follow kaveh as he is captured by Dori and given to a mysterious man who changes him into a paradisea by day, only allowing him to return to his human form at night to build for him. Can Alhaitham save him or will he be trapped forever ( featuring Tighnari, collei and Layla as the others trapped with Kaveh and also turned into animals, Cyno as Alhaitham friend and Faruzan as the overly annoyed and sarcastic advisor to Alhaitham )

Option 3: so this one could either be gigolas or aralas, both work and I am a multi shipper who loves both options! I could also tweak this and make it a throuple if anyone is interested in that. But basically I was a total band kid and feel like Legolas would be a color guard member. Now if I do Gimli, that boy is definitely a percussionist, and I would say I could see him in the drum line as a bass player. If it’s Aragorn, I am a little more torn on that, I could see Aragorn as either a low brass player or the drum major! Basically a fun marching band AU (specifically based on DCI (drum corps international) which goes to 21 so they would all be over the age of 18!)

Option 4: so I’ll set the stage. Bilbo is the lead in the local theater companies upcoming production of Les Miserables (could totally see him singing who am I, like the voice of the original Jean Val Jean just fits in my head). But oh no, Bilbo’s babysitter ( *cough cough* Gandalf) didn’t show up and now he has to bring baby frodo with him, but he has to practice. So he call Bofur, his friend from college to see if he could come to watch frodo while he’s performing. Bofur agrees easily, but is also currently dealing with a brooding Thorin after a really shitty date and decides to bring him with. Thorin isn’t thrilled, claiming to hate musicals and only like his metal and stuff he can play with the rest of the band, but sees Bofur won’t let it go and agrees to go. He goes right in time to watch Bilbo practice the who am I song and just is like damn. Basically meet cute here and then just follows their life from there with all of life’s up and downs (plus cute little kids with frodo, fili and kili)

Option 5: okay so shanks and buggy give off like such ex energy, and I just love the idea of they got like married real young and got divorced a year or 2 later because they both wanted different things, but they are forced together like 20 years later (either a job, event, taking care of roger who is sick, something like that) and being to fall in love again!

Option 6: so I feel like this is pretty self explanatory. Basically I have begun taking both the hobbit and lotr and putting them into the star wars universe! The hobbit would include ships like bagginshield and lotr would include ships like samfro, Aragorn x Arwen, and gigolas!

But yeah feel free to answer the poll and comment or pop into my inbox with any questions!

[chugging-antiseptic-dye]

get to know your mutuals | tag game

thank you for the tag, ally bear <3 @lovetaroandtaemin

what's the origin of your blog title? ↠ as a child, i was obsessed with drinking liquids (no matter the form) and, uh, so, antiseptic dyes were a phase until my stomach started cramping real bad

favorite fandoms: ↠ svsss, hsr, atinys, and carats on tumblr!

OTP(s)/shipname: ↠ i am a huge raging jeongcheol and minwon truther!!!! other than that moshang (svsss), ratiorine (hsr), wangxian (mdzs), kavetham (genshin), chili (genshin) and i can't remember more at the top of my head T_T

favorite color: ↠ soft yellow, baby pink, the colour of a perfectly brewed milk tea, the orange of sunsets, the colour of blueberries, and old, crumbling books

favorite game: ↠ i used to play pokemon and genshin obsessively

song stuck in your head: ↠ not like us by kendrick :3

weirdest habit/trait? ↠ i don't think i have any habit that i would, personally, think is weird O_O i am a pretty normal person by my standards tbh

hobbies: ↠ binge reading trashy webnovels, sleeping, and (rarely) writing if you work, what's your profession? ↠ still studying, rip

if you could have any job you wish, what would it be? ↠ i don't dream of labour <3

something you're good at: ↠ i am super, super good at fixing ideas or objects. i actually wanted to be a carpenter when i was young

something you're bad at: ↠ social interaction.....

something you love: ↠ the tiny plant on my desk that i am trying to keep alive with vibes, thoughts, and prayers

something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: ↠ philosophy or psychological concepts

something you hate: ↠ people who don't take responsibility for their actions

something you collect: ↠ books!!! going to a second-hand bookshop makes my day

something you forget: ↠ i have a really bad memory so e v e r y t h i n g

what's your love language? ↠ physical touch and words of affirmation, maybe a tad bit of gift giving

favorite movie/show: ↠ favourite movie is pride and prejudice (2005), and the barbie movies (pre 2012) and favourite show is the good place!!

favorite food: ↠ any kind of soup

favorite animal: ↠ otters, cheetahs, ravens, and owls

are you musical? ↠ i am tone deaf T_T

what were you like as a child? ↠ they had to put bars on balconies cause of me and i think that says a lot about me as a child

favorite subject at school? ↠ i slept through school but if i had to pick it's history

least favorite subject?↠ i didn't hate any

what's your best character trait? ↠ i am good at making people laugh

what's your worst character trait? ↠ stubborn as a bull :3

if you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? ↠ i would have loved to sleep in today

if you could travel in time who would you like to meet? ↠ princess diana. my mom would love an autograph

recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love): ↠ @wqnwoos 's elevatory !!!! one of my favourite soonyoung fics <3 i think about it every time i get on an elevator

[moccajelly]

kavetham but young teenage years<3

This is just a doodle so there (may) be a finished version later on but I don't know yet.

I want them both to catch on fire. 🥰

Note; ask for permission on priv before reposting ‼️

[goddessapostle]

The Makings of a Mess

Fandom: Genshin Impact Characters: Kaveh, Minor Alhaitahm, still Kavetham Warnings: Violence, Suicide threat/reference, Non-consensual kissing Summary: Mehrak comes to him on day six. No, wait, that's not true. Mehrak comes on day two; it only feels like it's been six days. Alhaitham isn't sure why time has tripled in Kaveh's absence. It never has before. Ah, but then, Kaveh's not just absent, is he? He's missing.

5.8k // AO3 // Masterlist

Kaveh doesn't know when the best years of his life happened.

Was it when he was a child, young and carefree and careless enough to kill his father?

Or was it when he was freshly graduated, hopeful to bring art into an increasingly artless climate?

Or perhaps it was building the Palace of Alcazarzary, despite the fact that it left him broke and homeless.

The weeks following that certainly did not count. Not when he spent every morning trying to gain control over his new Vision and every night deliriously drunk.

It was only Alhaitham that provided him solace in that time — everyone else, save for Lambad, thought he was just living the life accompanied by his title. He's never been sure just how Alhaitham saw through his ruse. But since moving in together, it's been….

Well. It hasn't been great but it hasn't been terrible, either. Alhaitham gives him free reign of the house, whether to live or to decorate, and while his beer seems to 'mysteriously' disappear, other drinks are left to take its place. Not all are alcoholic, and Kaveh's half sure it's meant as a discouragement to drinking. So he makes a promise to himself — no more drinking, save for those nights he's out with Cyno and Tighnari.

He's actually grateful for the chance to sober up when a cup of sake is set in front of him.

"It's imported," says the man — Aizen? Aziz? Something with an 'A' and a 'Z' — before he downs his own cup. "Straight from Inazuma. You should try it." The man gives a cruel grin.

"Mm," hums Kaveh. "I wish I could. But my hands are tied at the moment."

At this, Azia guffaws. "See?" he says, cuffing Kaveh on the shoulder. "I knew it was a good idea to let him keep his Vision. He's a riot!"

Kaveh grits his teeth as he's jostled. He does not want any of these men touching any part of him. Not unless it's to let him go.

Because his hands are tied, not just by the promise — they've been wrenched behind his back and secured with the roughest rope known to man. He wasn't trying to be funny, but maybe Cyno has rubbed off on him without his noticing. 

"Here you go, Little Light." Aizik(that will be his name from now on, Kaveh decides) stands and moves to Kaveh's side of the table. One of his hands gingerly picks up the clay cup, the other yanks Kaveh's head back with a fistful of hair. Kaveh cries out, Aizik dumps the sake into his open mouth.

He gasps and it floods his airway.

His scalp burns as he jerks forward. His chest heaves, he coughs and gags. The sake spills from his mouth and nose, pooling on the surface of the table.

"Hey!" Aizik shouts. His hand slams against Kaveh's cheek, splitting the skin where his heavy ring hit. "Do you have any idea how expensive that shit is?"

A rage the likes of which Kaveh has never before felt blooms alongside the blood on his tongue.

He hears one of the other Eremites gulp.

"Hey, boss?" a woman stutters. "Maybe, uh, maybe we should take his Vision."

"Pah!" Aizik waves her off. "We took his weapon already. What's he gonna do? Besides," he sinks onto the bench across from Kaveh, "have you seen that little Rtawahist girl? She can barely swing a sword!"

Wait a damn minute–

Is he talking about Layla?

Now that makes Kaveh's blood begin to boil. Layla may not be the strongest physically, but she's a bright student and dependable ally! The number of times she's saved his life with her quick shielding is immeasurable. He glares at Aizik, letting his rage simmer between them.

Aizik bursts into laughter. "Got a problem, Little Light?" he asks.

"Don't badmouth her!" Kaveh hisses.

Aizik smirks. "Touchy subject, huh? She your little girlfriend? Maybe we ought to go collect her, too."

Kaveh lurches forward as far as the table allows. "Don't you touch her!"

Aizik smiles and forces him back down. He waves his hand to the crowd, and two come forward to tie Kaveh to the bench.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head," Aizik says. "We're not looking for your sidepiece." He takes Kaveh's chin and tilts his head back and forth, studying everything from his red eyes to the blood dripping down his cheek.

"You know," Aizik says, "you'd make a killing in a whorehouse. Everyone would line up for a piece o' you. We could sell you to the highest bidder." He drops his hand back to the jug of sake. "But I have a better idea.

"You're worth a pretty penny on your own, but to the right person, you'd be worth the world, I bet."

Kaveh raises a brow. "And who do you suggest would pay the world for me?"

"You don't know?" Aizik pours himself another cup of sake, this time sipping at it. "We catch you together all the time."

Tighnari or Cyno. It has to be one of them.

"And from the way he looks at you, it's clear just how much you mean to him."

….wait. Tighnari and Cyno are together. And, as much as Kaveh would love to be included in their lives, he knows that is not the case. He frowns at Aizik. "There's no one who looks at me like that."

"He does." Aizik shrugs. "Looks at ya like your worth… oh, say, five million mora? Guess we'll see if he really does value you that much."

Kaveh's mouth drops open. "Five million?!" There is not a single soul in Teyvat who would consider him so highly.

Then again, kidnappers don't really care for that, do they? All they see when they look at people is a pile of mora.

Kaveh wants to slam his head into the table, but his chest has been secured to the backrest of his bench. "You're an idiot," he says instead. "There's no one in Sumeru that even has that kind of money!"

Except for Dori, of course. But Kaveh would much rather be sold to the whorehouse than end up in more debt to her.

"Maybe not individually," Aizik agrees, "but he has access to all of Sumeru's finances. I'm sure he could figure it out."

Someone who has access to all of Sumeru's finances? The only people with that kind of authority are the sages. And considering that most of the sages are still exiled or injured….

"You don't mean Alhaitham?!" 

Aizik's smile widens.

Ooooooooh, Kaveh is screwed. Literally, considering the whorehouse is more likely to pay his ransom than Alhaitham.

Kaveh sighs. "You're making a mistake. Alhaitham doesn't like me like… that."

ʚїɞ

Mehrak comes to him on day six.

No, wait, that's not true. Mehrak comes on day two; it only feels like it's been six days. Alhaitham isn't sure why time has tripled in Kaveh's absence. It never has before.

Ah, but then, Kaveh's not just absent, is he?

He's missing.

Alhaitham paces the space between their sofas. One for Kaveh, the other for him.

It was a plain box. It didn't have an address. It didn't even have a name. He must have skipped over it several times.

Because Kaveh was missing.

It was a regular outing. Kaveh, Cyno, Tighnari. At Lambad's. Alhaitham passed because of the book he wanted to read. (The unfinished book is now a pile of ashes in his fireplace.)

Kaveh got very drunk that night. He was barely awake and stumbled every time he tried to move. That's what Lambad said, anyway. It's why he stepped out to send someone for Alhaitham. Kaveh was gone by the time he came back.

As if that wasn't worrying enough, Cyno revealed that Kaveh was only slightly tipsy when he left ten minutes earlier.

So Kaveh was not drunk.

He had been drugged.

ʚїɞ

Kaveh tilts his head as far back as it can go, but Aizik is relentless. He grabs a fistful of Kaveh's hair and forces their lips together. Sake floods his tongue, carried to him by Aizik's mouth and followed by his tongue. A hand pinches his nose, and Kaveh has no choice but to swallow the alcohol to breathe.

Aizik leans back, licking his lips. "Told you it was good. Let me know if you want more." Kaveh thinks he winks, but it's hard to tell behind the ribbon that covers his eyes.

Kaveh wrinkles his nose. "Let me take the whole thing back to Lambad. I'm sure he'd cut a deal with you."

Aizik waves his hand. "Too slow. Kind of like your roomie. It's been, what, a day since we dropped off the ransom note?" He looks around for confirmation. 

"Even if," Kaveh begins, "and that's a very big if, Alhaitham did decide to pay, he'd need more than a day to gather the funds. Even the Grand Sage has limits."

"Right," Aizik nods, "like your newly freed god." He plants his chin in his hand. "You have a point, Little Light. We gave him three days. I thought he'd be out looking for you by now, but he hasn't left his house."

Kaveh frowns, tilting his head to the side. That's doesn't sound quite right; if his timing is correct, it's a weekday. Alhaitham should be in his office at the Akademiya.

But then, Kaveh was out for who knows how long. "What day is it?" he asks, just to be sure.

Aizik hums. "Tuesday?" he says after some deliberation. "Yeah, Tuesday."

Kaveh raises a brow in confusion. "He should be at work."

"Nope." Aizik shakes his head. "Hasn't left since we took you.

"He hasn't? But how would you…. Wait, have you been spying on us?!"

"We were spying on the Grand Sage." Aizik swirls the jug of sake around before pouring another cup. "Imagine our surprise when we saw that the Light of Kshrewar shared a life with him.

"Our original plan was to nab the Grand Sage and demand payment from Kusanali. But you know, dealing with humans is much safer than dealing with gods. Gods can kill ya just by looking at you funny."

Kaveh, while he has never personally met Lord Kusanali, knows she is not so cruel. She would let Cyno and his unwavering morals deal with apprehending any criminals, then pass judgment based on evidence and give a fair punishment.

"I don't think you know your Archon very well," Kaveh says. 

Aizik shrugs.

Kaveh sighs. How did he get into this? He remembers Cyno escorting Tighnari from the bar, both lightly drunk. And while Kaveh had a bit of a buzz, it wasn't enough to pass out on the way home. His memories turn to fuzz, then, at the juncture of one drink and another. When he woke, he was already bound.

He tests the bonds now, wrists scraping against rope. They were tightened when his torso was bound. No wiggling out.

Aizik stands, lightly tapping Kaveh's cheek. "That's enough chit-chat for now. It's late, and we need some rest."

He motions for the Eremites to leave. Two of them stand back; probable guards appointmented in some way Kaveh didn't catch. "Boss," says the one with long hair, "shouldn't we move him to the steel cage? His Vision is Dendro…"

"Bah!" Aizik smacks him over the back. "You worried about the bench? Thing's wood, not grass. That tree's been dead for ten years! He won't be causing any trouble."

Both guards relax. Aizik begins to leave.

"Wait!" Kaveh shouts. "You're going to leave me tied up? I can't sleep like this!"

"Aww." Aizik walks back over to him and leans down. "If you want," he says, sneaking a hand down the back of Kaveh's shirt, "you can come to bed with me. Give ya a taste of life in the brothel."

Kaveh shivers at the touch, disgust rolling through his stomach. He grits his teeth against the bile that threatens to rise in his throat.

Aizik leans closer until he can shove his tongue into Kaveh's mouth.

Kaveh tries to stop himself. He really, truly does.

He bites. Hard. Hard enough to taste copper from blood that isn't his.

"Son of a bitch!" Aizik falls backwards, landing on his ass. Kaveh spits the blood to the floor between his legs.

Aizik rises and backhands Kaveh. His ring cuts another gash on his cheek. Both of his hands squeeze Kaveh's throat. "Think you're clever?" he seethes.

Kaveh's jaw drops, trying to breathe.

His vision darkens.

He's on the edge of unconscious when the hands pull away. He gasps, letting air fill his lungs. His head is still fuzzy, still unable to process the movement beside him.

It clears at the thunk! of a dagger.

One that's dangerously close to his hand.

He blinks up at Aizik, holding his right hand by the wrist. 

Aizik forces his palm flat against the table.

He drives the dagger through the middle.

Kaveh screams.

ʚїɞ

Cyno paces Alhaitham's office.

It's very distracting.

Not that he's been able to focus in the last three days.

"I know you two are stressed," Lord Kusanali begins, "but you must rest. Kaveh cannot be rescued if you are unable to fight."

"We will find him," Alhaitham says, "and we will be well enough to take him back. Trust me." He leans his elbows on his desk, hands clasped before his face. There's a darkness in his expression that Lord Kusanali also finds in Cyno's face.

She sighs. "This is a personal case for both of you. Just… try not to take things too far."

"I do not let personal matters cloud my judgement." Cyno hisses for perhaps the fifth time.

Lord Kusanali doesn't bother looking to Alhaitham. He cannot make such a promise. His fingers burn already with the desire to slit the throats of whoever conspired against him.

The ransom note sits on his desk.

5 million, 3 days written on a scrap of paper, the handwriting rough and unpolished. The other side is a crudely drawn map with an 'X' at the dropoff point.

Alhaitham doesn't have the mora. Nor does he plan to prepare it. He has Cyno. He has the matra. He has his own blade.

And he plans to put them all to good use.

ʚїɞ

The blood is sticky, even after it dries.

Kaveh thought blood flaked if it wasn't absorbed. But his fingers stick to the table.

Or perhaps he just can't lift them.

He's not sure if that's a physical limit or a mental one. The dagger still pins his hand to the table, after all. 

Aizik didn't bother to remove it when he left. And that was hours ago. Maybe days? Time has blurred together, marked only by the pain in his hand. (A deep throbbing at this point.)

His head spins. When did he eat last? When was he given any water? His stomach turns, far past the point of grumbling for food. He's not sure he'd be able to keep any down, anyway.

His own blood spreads across the table, puddled where spit-up sake once was.

Gods, is he glad he's ambidextrous. He won't be able to use his right hand to work for quite a while. Maybe never, if he doesn't get medical attention soon.

He won't get it from these mercanaries. He knows that much.

Kaveh finally tilts his head to the door of the chamber. Two guards — different than the ones left before — regard him with cold gazes before turning their backs to him.

What kind of idiot leaves a hostage in a room with an open doorway?

The same kind of idiot that ties a Vision bearer to the element of their Vision.

The wood is dead.

The Dendro inside it isn't.

Kaveh has felt it — small pulses of energy reacting to his Vision — since the moment he woke. It's just a little harder to manipulate than a live tree.

Every moment not spent in agonizing pain was focused on gathering that energy into his fingertips. His blood seeping into the wood helped, actually, to share his own energy with it. He’s managed to create a small blade in his left hand, no bigger than the dagger buried in his right.

The ropes slacken. Slowly, gently, he presses his left hand to the bottom of the table under his right. The wood dissolves, freeing his hand in a more silent, less painful way than pulling the dagger free. It’s still stuck through his palm, rendering his hand useless.

Kaveh wishes now more than ever he had learned to fight with a sword. Alhaitham has often offered, after sparring sessions that left them both winded and bruised, but he’s always declined. His claymore is enough, he’d said, and hits plenty hard.

Just a shame it takes two hands to wield.

Kaveh grabs the handle of the dagger and begins to force his own power into it. It doesn't take much until the dagger is his and he's able to dismiss it to the same space he keeps Mehrak and his claymore.

Blood drips from his hand. He can bend his fingers, but only a tiny bit. His grip is completely gone.

He glances at the door. Both guards ignore him.

His gaze travels the room. It's a plain space, no furniture save for the table and benches, and dimly lit by candles. There are, unfortunately, no windows. He'd been hoping to sneak out, but he has no option except to fight.

He summons the metal dagger and uses it to cut strips from his shirt. He wraps the strips around his right hand, using them to secure the dagger to it as well. Grip won't be a problem if the weapon is tied to him.

He ties the point opposite of his thumb. He doesn't want to give them a chance to use it against him.

He carefully slides the bench back. It makes a single scrape on the ground.

That's enough for one of the guards to turn.

Kaveh jumps over the table and punches him in the face before he can speak. Then he holds the metal blade to his throat.

"Not a word," he says to the other one, pointing his wooden knife at her. "Get the rope."

She lifts her spear and calls for backup.

Kaveh curses. He shoves the other guard at her. They both fall to the ground.

But there are footsteps ringing in the distance, coming from her direction.

Kaveh runs the other way. Eremites surge from every doorway he passes.

He loses count of how many he has to stab.

He only hopes they're not dead.

Kaveh only stops when he slams into a behemoth of a man.

The man lifts Kaveh by his shirt and slams him into the ground. He coughs, spittle flying into the air. There is going to be a huge bruise on his back tomorrow.

Or maybe he won't be covered in bruises tomorrow. Maybe he'll be dead long before then.

The man pins Kaveh with a knee on his chest and a hand on his throat. Kaveh stabs the man's arm with both blades. He only grunts.

Kaveh stabs again. And again. "Let go!" he shouts. "I don't want to kill you!"

"Killing is your only option," says a voice that makes Kaveh's skin crawl. Aizik leans over and pats the man's shoulder. "This one's more scared of me than he is death." He lowers the collar of the man's shirt to reveal a chest full of branding scars.

The man lifts Kaveh by the neck and carries him to a dining hall. A fire blazes against one wall.

Kaveh squirms as the remains of his shirt are ripped away.

"Now," Aizik says, pulling an iron poker from between the burning logs, "I don't have that particular seal here. But this will work just as well."

He jams the pointed red tip into Kaveh's side.

It burns.

Gods it burns!

It's the only thing he feels, the heat spreading up his ribs. He tries to scream, he tries to plead, but his lungs freeze. The best he can manage is a choked cry.

Aizik twists the poker deeper before he removes it. Kaveh hangs limp in the other man's arms. The scent of burning flesh rises to his nose, and it takes more than a moment to recognize it as his.

Aizik stabs his other side.

Somehow, that is worse.

Kaveh gasps when Aizik twists the poker again and throws it back into the fire.

Kaveh can't think. He can't even breathe.

"Come on," Aizik says to the man restraining him. "We'll put him in a proper cell this time. I'll teach him the same things I taught you."

No, Kaveh's addled mind objects. I won't go. The man shifts him, forces him to his feet with one hand around the back of his neck. I won't go!

His claymore appears between his captor's shoulder and elbow. The arm falls to the ground.

Kaveh falls with it. He rips the hand from his throat and dismisses the dagger.

He picks up his claymore, ignoring the pain in his back, his hand, his hips. Then he begins to swing.

Left.

Aizik shouts something.

Right.

He doesn't hear.

Left.

He doesn't see.

Down.

The sun warms his face.

He's out. He got out! He can run, now, run for help—

His feet slip in sand. He falls on his face.

He might as well have never felt hope with how quick it dissipates into the dry desert air.

He has no idea where he is.

He will never make it home.

He leans against his claymore to stand again. His makeshift bandages have fallen from his right hand; his blood makes it difficult to grip. Aizik and his Eremites exit a fortress ruin. Kaveh turns, claymore angled between them.

There are ten, fifteen of them? How is he going to fight?

Two arrows sink into his left arm. His claymore falls.

He grips his left shoulder with his right hand.

"Come now, Little Light," Aizik says. He has a sword in either hand, both leaning against his shoulders. "You can't survive on your own. You don't even know where the closest town is. Come back. I'll even let you join us!" Aizik twirls the blades around. "We have a few sudden openings in our ranks. Oh, but," he smiles with too much teeth, "I will have to punish you for creating them."

Fuck. Fuck! Did he– how many–

Kaveh's hands begin to shake. He shakes his head to distract from them. "I'm not going back."

"You are," Aizik says, "you don't have a choice." He eyes the arrows in Kaveh's arm. "You can't even hold your weapon."

Kaveh frowns.

He can't hold the claymore, true. But it is not his only weapon. He summons the dagger to his right hand.

Aizik laughs. "You can't fight us off with that!" He gestures to the roof of the ruins with his head. Lined across the top are a row of archers, crossbows aimed lazily for Kaveh.

Aizik is right. He can't fight.

But he can bargain.

He holds the point of the dagger to his own throat.

Aizik raises a brow. "What do ya think you'll achieve with that?" he asks. "We get the money either way."

Kaveh grits his teeth before he shouts. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I know?" His chest heaves; he has to breathe before he can continue. "My best friends are the Head Forest Watcher of the Avidya Forest. The Acting Grand Sage. The General Mahamatra. What do you think happens if I die under your custody?"

He laughs, wild and frantic and half delirious. "It won't end well for you. They will hunt you down until your very last breath. It won't take long, either. Cyno's a master hunter. He will find you."

Kaveh presses the knife into his skin until a thin line of blood trickles down his neck. "Give me food and water, and then let me go. I won't say a word. I'll forget this ever happened."

It's a reach. Gods, is it a reach. But he is not scared if this is how he dies.

He's only scared of what they will do to him after. 

Aizik stares. For a long, torturous moment, he stares without saying anything. Then he smirks.

"Let them try."

Aizik lifts a sword from his shoulder to point to the sky. The archers ready their crossbows, hone their aim.

Kaveh shuts his eyes to offer one final, silent prayer. 

The result will be the same either way, a voice whispers, soft and sweet inside his head. Please, please, don't do this to yourself.

Yes, Kaveh agrees. Kaveh will die, right here and right now.

But there will be no more debt. There will be no debt, there will be no more drinking himself into a stupor, there will be no more annoying roommates.

Gods, if Alhaitham could see him now. Would he laugh? Would he mourn? Would he try to stop Kaveh, place himself between Kaveh and the thing that threatens his life?

Alhaitham is not here.

Kaveh will die, and his blood will spill across these sands, and his body will be carted off to the depths of the desert, and it will be used to feed vultures and coyotes and foxes.

And he will not give these mercenaries the satisfaction of killing him.

The trickle turns into a flow.

"You idiot!" Kaveh hears. He opens his eyes to green-tipped arrows flying above his head. The archers on the fortress drop their crossbows as their hands are pierced. 

The relief is sudden; it takes every ounce of restraint Kaveh has to not collapse.

Aizik's eyes widen. "Run!" he calls out. "Retreat!"

The mercenaries scatter. Some return to the fortress, likely to run from another exit. Others go around, only to run into waiting matra.

Aizik scans the dunes around them — he's been completely surrounded.

Kaveh drops his hand from his throat.

Aizik raises both of his and throws his swords straight at Kaveh.

He has no strength to block or dodge.

He doesn't need it.

A flash of purple fills his vision, and metal clashes against metal as the swords are knocked away. An impressive figure stands before Kaveh, his element dancing along his spear.

If Tighnari came for him, Cyno did as well.

This is when Kaveh allows himself to fall. His knees finally falter, and he crumples to the ground. Cyno spares him half a second — far more than the stoic general would allow any unknown stranger — before he shouts to someone behind them. "Get him out of here!"

Cyno waits until there are hands on Kaveh's waist to follow Aizik into the ruins.

Kaveh is thrown unceremoniously over someone's shoulder. He gasps as something hard and hot digs into the burn on his stomach.

"Wait," he chokes out, "please, stop. It hurts." 

The person slows, but doesn't stop. Kaveh grips at the cape swinging from their other shoulder…

Wait…

Wait! He knows that stupid fucking cape!

"Alhaitham?" he asks. Alhaitham turns his head to meet his gaze from the corner of his eye.

Kaveh blinks away tears. He starts laughing.

His vision blanks.

ʚїɞ

The woman above him is beautiful. She has rich dark skin that shines in the candlelight. Her hair is in tight curls, even darker than her skin. Her forehead is adorned with a silver-gold circlet, a crescent moon rising from the back of her head.

And her eyes — her eyes! One a deep blue, the other the color of amber. They are, perhaps, the most unique eyes Kaveh has ever seen.

Kaveh does not know who this woman is, but if he had to guess? One of those terrifyingly beautiful death gods Celestia sends to ease a soul's passing.

She must be able to read minds, because her mismatched eyes crinkle in a smile. "I am no god," she says, smoothing the hair from his forehead, "and you are not dead. Not even close."

He doesn't feel quite alive, though. Just breathing sends tremors of pain through his chest.

"Then who-?" he tries, but his voice rasps from his throat like it's filled with broken glass.

"Ah-ah," the woman says. She helps him sit and brings a glass of water to his lips.

Kaveh hisses at the pressure of her hand on his back. She whispers apologies.

"Well," he asks as she leans him to sit up against the pillows, "where am I?"

"Aaru Village," she answers. She puts a hand on her chest. "My name is Candace. I'm the guardian of this village."

"And what-what happened?"

He asks like he needs to be told. Like it isn't seared into his memory. Like the scars won't last forever. Like his body doesn't ache with the memory of pain.

Candace purses her lips before she answers. "Alhaitham brought you here after you passed out."

Alhaitham? Wait, no, that's right. It's the last thing he remembers, being carried off while thrown over Alhaitham's shoulder.

"How long has it been?" Kaveh asks.

"A day and a half. Your experience with the mercenaries must have worn you out." Candace sets another glass of water on the table beside the bed.

"You could say that." He lifts a hand to the bandages wrapped around his throat. Then he studies the ones around his right hand. He curls a finger, hissing when pain shoots up his arm. "How bad was the damage?" 

Candace frowns. "We don't have any healers here, nor do we have proper doctors. I patched you up while Alhaitham went to fetch one. The doctor was able to repair most of the damage, but there will be some lasting effects."

Ah. Great. Just what every artist wants to have: a permanent hand injury.

That's alright. It's okay. He's always drawn better with his left hand anyway. His right hand was always better for fighting. Kaveh isn't a bit close to panic.

(He really hopes Candace can't read minds.)

Candace holds his hand between hers. They blur behind a rush of tears.

"What about the mercenaries?" he asks. "What happened to them?"

At this, Candace gives a small smile. "Cyno is relentless. He found every single one that tried to escape." She rubs her thumb over his knuckles. "They won't be able to hurt you again."

Join us! We have a few sudden openings in our ranks.

"And what of the dead?"

She hesitates. She hesitates, and Kaveh's heart plummets.

"Candace," says a voice by the door. Alhaitham stands, arms folded across his chest as he leans against the doorframe. He is way too relaxed for someone who looked half-panicked a day ago.

Candace stares, and when did Alhaitham ever make friends? She nods and stands, leaving at some sort of silent request that Kaveh didn't think anyone else could read from Alhaitham.

Alhaitham takes her chair by his bed. Kaveh's heart pounds.

"You came for me," he struggles to say. He struggles to keep it at that, to not ask why he would do such a thing.

Alhaitham pulls an apple from his pocket and summons a small knife. "I did," he answers only after he begins to peel it.

Kaveh has always had a terrible poker face. He knows this, and he knows this is why he often loses games against anyone. Questions burst in his throat, whether out of curiosity or guilt or some unknown aspect of being a scholar.

"Two were killed in battle with the matra," Alhaitham says before they can choke him. "Two more took their own lives to avoid punishment." 

“And the others?”

Alhaitham hasn’t broken the peel yet.

“I know there are others, Alhaitham. He said so.”

Alhiatham does not lie. Nor is he cruel. He is simply blunt, and he does not hesitate to deliver bad news. It is best to get it dealt with quickly, if you ask him.

So why, why oh why, has he decided to shave off another three inches of peel before he asnwers?

“They were criminals, Kaveh,” he whispers.

If there is a right thing to say — if, if, if — that is not it. That implies that there were other deaths, that the fleeting hope he had of Aizik lying was false. That there is blood on his hands that he has no hope of washing away.

“How many?” Kaveh asks, hands pressed into his temples.

“They were trying to kill you,” Alhiatham says.

“I have a right to know.”

The peel falls to the floor in one long strip. Alhaitham cuts the apple into slices. His lips thin. He's unsure of his words; a rare sight for a scholar of any kind, much less Haravatat. Much much less Alhaitham.

“Four,” he says finally. “Four were already dead when we arrived,”

Kaveh gasps. “Four?” he chokes out, “Four?”"

He doesn't even remember. All he remembers is blood and pain and the sting of desperation in his veins.

He curls in on himself. His fingers clutch the front of his oversized shirt.

"Hey," a soft voice whispers. There is a weight on the bed beside him, and hands unfurling his fists. Someone shushes him, a gentle thumb running under his eye to catch his tears. He finds his face buried in the dark fabric of that stupid cape. A hand sits on the back of his head, another holds his fingers out straight.

Kaveh curls his left arm around Alhaitham.

And then he sobs.

There are so many things running through his head, his heart, his soul. Relief fights with fear fights with grief. And above it all, looming over him as it has his entire life, guilt.

The guilt of losing his father.

The guilt of selling his childhood home over one stupid mistake.

The guilt of living in Alhaitham's house, wasting Alhaitham's time, ruining Alhaitham's life.

And now that he's ruined four others…

"Please," Alhaitham says, "please don't mourn them."

Do-don't mourn? Them?!

How does Kaveh explain that they are not the cause of his mourning? That, as much guilt as he's felt in his life, he knows it will wash away in time, sculpted into a facet of himself in the same way as all his other attributes:

His blond hair and red eyes.

His genius architecture.

His kind heart, much too large and much too soft, that cares for every being that crosses its path.

Save for four.

He sees nothing when he thinks of them. Not their names, not their faces. Not their deaths. Nor does he feel any remorse for the families his mind would fabricate had they been anyone elase.

There is nothing, not even the spark of relief.

How can he mourn someone he has no feelings for?

How can he explain that he is able to understand that he should be upset, but isn't?

It is not guilt, this time, that causes him to fracture.

It is the absence of it.

[nazowi-reki]

young kavetham sketch is here for you🫰💚💚

[cocrante]

In my personal kavetham universe I imagined Kaveh teaching Haitham everything he knew about art and manual creations.

Kaveh is truly skilled in all creative things. He plays the oud wonderfully, creates lovely drawings, weaves baskets and crafts flower crowns. He always found a way to keep his hands and mind busy. Haitham tried to learn everything, and Kaveh did his best to teach him.

When they broke up—with Kaveh's exhaustion, depression and belief that he couldn't measure up, Haitham, for a while, stopped doing everything that reminded him of Kaveh.

He hid his oud in a small storage room, stopped making small illustrations next to the pages he read. Weaving delightful flower crowns no longer made sense, as their garden lost its purpose, and without Kaveh, the flowers weren't that beautiful. His life seemed to have dimmed—once golden and lively, it now returned to be grey and stillness.

Then, one day, without even realizing the path he was taking, he returned to their garden. Spring had come back, and pastel-colored flowers were blooming again. He considered leaving, but with a sigh, he decided to stay. Now that he was there, he could allow himself some tranquillity.

Lying under the shade of a tree, sunlight illuminating his face, Haitham smiled peacefully. His hands caressed the soft grass, fragrant flowers tickled his nose, and absentmindedly, without overthinking, he picked a daisy, then another and a third. Distracted and without the swirling thoughts, he started weaving a flower crown, just as Kaveh had taught him years ago.

He found himself smiling sweetly as he threaded the daisies and dandelions. It wasn't as beautiful as the ones Kaveh made—he never managed to make ones as beautiful as his, but Kaveh was always enthusiastic about his efforts, wearing them like jewellery. Thinking of Kaveh's smile with flowers in his hair, he burst into a small laugh, imagining having him in his life again.

The crown turned out decently, something Kaveh would probably have liked. He left it by the tree before leaving, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to dust off his oud.