Unsaid

Chapter 2

K
"No!" Bathed in sweat Kaveh woke up. He practically jumped out of the bed and almost ripped the door apart trying to open it. Then he stopped. This wasn't Alhaitham's house. Relived he sighed. He was in Aaru village to reconstruct an ancient ruin recently found. Still shocked from the dream he stumbled back to his bed. "Is everything alright?", a voice asked. It was the owner of the tavern, who must have heard his shriek. "I... Yes I... Have you by chance heard anything from Al... I mean the scribe?" Confused the man looked at Kaveh. "No, why? Are you waiting on a message? I can go check if you want." - "No, no, it's fine, thank you."

A
"Alhaitham, have you seen this report on Kathleen?" The scribe blinked at the man in front of him. "I haven't heard anything of Kaveh... What do you want from him?" - "I wasn't asking about... Oh forget it. You better do your work properly or you loose your job, you know?" A faint 'Mmh' was the only answer he got.
Was Kaveh doing okay? He might look like a grown man, but God knows how many deadlines that guy would have missed if he didn't wake him up in the middle of the night. For a moment, the peaceful image of Kaveh sleeping on his desk popped up in his head, alluring him to touch. No, what was he thinking? Alhaitham gave himself a little slap before he started organizing his desk.

K
All ready and done. Proud he sat at a table at the tavern, waiting for his client to give the last okay. It had been a lot of work and countless sleepless nights, but this project... It was almost as good as Alcazarzaray. "Here, have a reward for your hard work." It was the owner of the tavern. "Thank you very much", Kaveh said, looking at the bowl of food that had been placed on the table. Wasn't this... Sabz meat stew? He grinned. This was the only dish Alhaitham was able to cook properly. How lost he may be after him leaving? He bet the house was a mess already. In a few days, he would be back at the capital. 'I never told you that, but I...' The dream was still lingering in his mind. What did he never tell him? Why was he even thinking about that? It was just a stupid dream. "Are you okay, mister? You look like something's bothering you", a high pitched voice suddenly said. Puzzled Kaveh looked around to find a young boy next to him. "My mum always looked like that when dad annoyed her." She-who-what? "Did you fight with your girlfriend?", the child asked, watching him with tilted head. "No I... I don't have a girlfriend and I wasn't even thinking about someone specific." That was a lie. He was thinking, constantly, about that idiot of a scribe. But not the way the boy said. It wasn't like that.
"I'm sorry", the boy said. "I was just thinking...nevermind." Suddenly the small one looked pretty sad. "Hey, no need to be sorry." Kaveh shoved his suitcase aside to create more space. "Now you look like something's bothering you. Wanna talk about it?" He signaled the boy to sit next to him. "Aren't you waiting on someone?" - "He surely can wait a little longer." Kaveh smirked and the boy giggled.

A
It was exactly three weeks and four days since Kaveh left and Alhaitham heard a thing of him eversince. Bored he stared at the countless scholars passing his desk every day. He had been working every day, writing reports every day, clearing business every day, important meetings every day. Lately he even slept at his desk every now and then. Everything seemed boring and lifeless. It was like a black hole creeped inside him and it grew every time he thought about it. Which was mostly at home. He couldn't bear the silence, so he worked until he passed out, keeping himself busy.
Suddenly he spotted a familiar face. "General Mahamatra!" The tanned individual quickly hurried over to him. "You heard about that smuggling case I guess. Any new information on that?", Cyno asked. "I... No, there is no new intel. I actually wanted to ask something else." Surprised the Matra looked at him, sensing the private note in his tone. "Have you...met up with Tighnari recently?" He was visibly struggling to say this, his hands clenched around a pen, his eyes avoiding contact. "That's a fairly unusual question and I guess not the thing you actually want to ask." Then his gaze softened. "I've heared you are working pretty much these days. How about we go to the tavern later. I got some investigation to do over there anyway. Slowly Alhaitham nodded.