Forget Where We Were (reupload!)

Chapter 1

There was an Eremite in his house.

Alhaitham just got home from work, looking forward to another peaceful evening without his roommate. The architect has been preoccupied with Lord Kusanali's push to recondition key locations in the desert to make it more habitable to the people of Sumeru. Being the Light of the Kshahrewar, Kaveh was appointed to lead the exploration and the rebuilding of houses and other needed establishments within the villages and the camps.

When they were planning the project, Alhaitham heard the oculars for each location would take a few weeks at a time. They were on location three now, near the outskirts of the Tanit Camps by Mount Damavand. It gave Alhaitham a lot of time alone in the house, which the scribe enjoyed more often than not. Upon opening the front door, though, all plans dropped like water dousing a sand castle.

Seated on his divan, in the middle of his living room, inside his house, was an Eremite.

The mountain of a man looked up at him, unblinking and wordless, dressed in almost nothing. The scribe was about to ask if the stranger's tongue had been cut off when his roommate suddenly bounced out of their shared study.

His face fell upon seeing Alhaitham.

"Ah, great, he's here," Kaveh muttered, materials and papers tucked under his arm. He motioned for the Eremite to come and follow him. The Eremite immediately stood up, obedient and pliant, towering Alhaitham in both height and width. The way he refused to look at the scribe, his eyes trained only at Kaveh, immediately set the scribe's blood on fire.

Before Alhaitham could speak and express the sudden stinging in his chest in ways he knew how, his senior already opened his mouth. "Whatever it is, save it for later," snapped Kaveh. "We still have to meet up with the contractors and the suppliers, and they're already waiting at Lambad's. You can chew me out later however you want." To the Eremite, he said, "Come along now, Zamir, don't mind my pesky roommate."

And there they went out of the door, leaving Alhaitham alone in the middle of the house, just like he wanted to in the first place. Yet now he has acquired an emotion he could not quite accept. He has yet to acknowledge said emotion, much less put a label on it.

Perhaps, time could tell Alhaitham what he actually felt. So, he waited.

The next time he saw Kaveh was almost midnight when he was about to turn off the lights in the study and retire for the night. The Light of the Kshahrewar stormed through the house, still full of energy as if he entered a just-opened tavern.

When they locked eyes, Alhaitham was reminded of earlier events. He could no longer suppress the speed of his mouth. "You look jolly. Did that Eremite boy of yours entertain you lots?"

The scribe got the reaction he was aiming for. Kaveh whipped his head towards Alhaitham, looking offended, "I will have you know that Zamir has been most helpful to me during my time in the desert so you have no right to disrespect him like that. I am sure Dehya would not like the way you spoke of her dear friend."

Alhaitham crossed his arms over his chest, "Disrespect? How about the disrespect of bringing a total stranger inside my home without my consent?"

"It's my home, too, and I have not been late to pay for my rent for a few months now," retorted the architect. "It's not disrespect at all. I was just exercising my right as an individual who also lives in this house and has their rent dues settled and updated."

"That does not excuse why you had to bring him inside," replied Alhaitham, obviously not letting the topic go.

Kaveh groaned, "It was hot outside! We came here straight from the desert! I was just being hospitable and handed him some water while I got the blueprints I left here."