the burden of the scribe

Chapter 6

Nobody has ever celebrated the day you were born after they died, except your grandmother. She always makes sure to feed you something sweet and give you a wonderful gift that keeps you entertained for days.

Until she left you.

And then you were alone, and you sat inside your lonely, cold house on the same day every year, for a long time. Sometimes you'd bring wine home for the occasion.  You weren't an avid drinker—especially since wine sometimes impaired your critical thinking skills—but you figured you deserved it. Just a special treat, once in a while.

Drinking wine alone in your house, on a freezing and wet day. If one didn't know better, they would assume you were a gloomy, depressed, and bitter man.

Until your roommate came along. He never celebrated your birthday, as you never celebrated his, but if he lost a few arguments on a specific day in February? Or if he actually cleaned up his work from the couch? Coincidence. It was ignored by you.

—

As Alhaitham walked to Gandharva Ville, he pondered the different reasons his friends and Nahida could have for treating him specially the past few days.

Whatever the justification, it was awfully suspicious.

Kaveh, Cyno, and the others—that, he could accept. Lesser Lord Kusanali, however? Whatever it was for, it probably wasn't illegal, if they brought her into it. Although...Cyno wouldn't stand for anything against the laws of the Akademiya anyways, now that he finally had the chance to think about it.

Were they trying to persuade Alhaitham to become the Grand Sage permanently? The idea sounded slightly plausible. The Traveler—well, more specifically, Paimon, had already asked, but Alhaitham had already declined. Surely the others knew about his overwhelming desire to hand in his resignation and return to his position as the Scribe?

After a while, he ended up in front of Tighnari's house. Surprisingly, it was dark inside. He thought, are they playing a prank on me? But walked in regardless.

A sudden bang of noise startled him and he readied himself to use his vision. "SURPRISE!" The lights flickered on, and Alhaitham saw streamers of confetti float slowly to the ground.

He saw Tighnari, Cyno, Collei, and Kaveh as the culprits and asked, "...What?"

Kaveh spoke up. "It's  February 11th, you blockhead. Happy birthday."

"Kaveh planned this extremely well," Cyno said. "He removed all the calendars from your house and your office so you wouldn't pay attention to the date."

"...So that's where my calendars went," Alhaitham realized. "I knew it had something to do with you."

"I'll put them back after," Kaveh offered. "But anyways, Sabz Meat Stew, fresh on the table! Hope you enjoy!"

"What do the matra do if you steal Sabz Meat Stew?"

Tighnari sat down and slammed his forehead into the table. "Cyno, just stop. Your jokes aren't funny, for the last time."

Cyno ignored him and continued, "They arreStew."

Silence fell over the room until Kaveh coughed and swiftly changed subjects. "Here come sit down, Alhaitham." He patted the seat next to him with his hand.

Cyno analyzed all of their expressions and asked, "Oh, did you not get it? Well, the premise of the joke is that, since I am a matra, and I am—"

Collei hurried, "Ah, General Mahamatra, it's alright! I think we understand the joke. Thank you for sharing it though, it was...very...interesting."

"Collei, you're being too nice to Cyno. That was a terrible joke." Tighnari facepalmed. "No jokes at the dinner table, seriously. Do you not recall what happened last time?"

Cyno shrugged, indifferent, as Alhaitham sat in the seat next to Kaveh and looked at the Sabz Meat Stew. While Tighnari and Cyno were busy arguing and Collei was trying to mediate, he asked Kaveh, "You've been planning all of this...for me? For my birthday?"

"Of course! For the second time now, you're my friend. And Cyno, Tighnari, and Collei consider themselves as your friends too. Nothing will ever change that."

Alhaitham smiled and Kaveh was taken aback. "Yeah," he said warmly. "I'm never going to repeat this after tonight, but...I'm  glad...that all of us are friends."

Kaveh returned the smile, grinning while he replied, "I never thought I'd hear that coming from your mouth. And I never thought I'd see you smile, either. Well, anyways...I just need you to know—I know we fight, and I know we always bicker and you are insufferable and annoying...but I'm—no, we're—always in your corner."

Alhaitham glanced at his birthday cake and his eyes softened. He had never felt this elated since his parents had died. He nodded his head firmly. "I'm in all of yours, too."