Our Love is Not Over

Chapter 6

"What!? You're the Grand Sage now!?"

"Acting Grand Sage, but yes."

Kaveh threw his hands up into the air. "Lesser Lord Kusanali, what the Archons happened while I wasn't around!?"

"It's a long story. To summarize, Azar and his accomplices were overthrown. As part of the team that helped accomplish this, the majority of the citizens of Sumeru felt that I should be Grand Sage. Of course, I'm going to resign as soon as we appoint the new sages."

"You're resigning!? Actually...you know what, that's so like you. I don't know why I'm surprised. You're such a slacker."

Alhaitham shrugged and sank into the couch. "Well, my pay will likely stay the same."

"Wait, really!? Ugh, you're so lucky! I want somebody to appoint me Grand Sage..." Kaveh pouted. He sat next to Alhaitham, papers and ink in hand. "Meanwhile, I have to work twice as hard as you over here, barely scraping by."

Alhaitham shrugged tiredly. "Being the Grand Sage is not as great as it sounds, believe me," he told him. Kaveh hummed noncommittally in response. "Anyways, I'm going to be out tomorrow night, so you can go eat out or something."

Kaveh paused. "Again? What in Teyvat are they having you do as Grand Sage?"

"Nothing of your concern," he replied. "But it's all paramount for the development of Sumeru as a nation. That's why I agreed to the job in the first place; I don't trust anybody else to execute it proficiently."

"Well, okay, if you say so," Kaveh said. He turned back to his draft, fidgeting absentmindedly. "Anyways, don't you think this place could use a little more...spicing up?"

Alhaitham looked around the room. They had a perfectly fine couch. A perfectly fine artificial plant. A perfectly fine coffee table. What more was there to decorate? "No."

Kaveh stared at him in surprise before shaking his head. "Well, it does need more ornamentation. I'll take the extra pay you're getting as Grand Sage and fix it up for you. Honestly, the only decorations here are the books."

"Those aren't decorations," Alhaitham replied, mildly irritated. "Those books are the essence of knowledge and wisdom, not mere decorations. And do you even know how difficult it was to obtain—"

"I do, I do," Kaveh interrupted. He put his hands up. "You've only told me about a million times."

Alhaitham rolled his eyes. "Okay, you can decorate this room first. If I find it acceptable, I'll let you do the rest of the house, because Lesser Lord forbid you come prancing in here with a Rishboland Tiger rug or something."

Kaveh stared at him, affronted. "Hey, just what do you take me for? Rishboland tiger rugs went out of style a month ago."

"Kaveh."

"Joking, joking. I get the point. But for your information, they've been banned for years. Not that I would want one or that Tighnari would let me have one, but I'd really have to sell my organs just to get my hands on–"

Alhaitham made a show of shoving his hands to his face and sighing exasperatedly, but once his mouth was out of Kaveh's line of sight, he let its corners lift up a little bit. Just a little bit.

–

"What in Teyvat is that?"

Kaveh said, "It's a photo frame!"

"Well, obviously. But...why there, of all places? Get it out, it's blocking the space for the poor books."

"That's on purpose! It's a simple but necessary decoration for your bookshelf."

"...I know I told you that you could decorate the room, but try to make the stuff you put in a little more...functional. Like that couch." He waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the sofa.

Kaveh shook his head in sympathy as if he was watching a dog trying to understand quantum mechanics.

"Trust me, this is just as necessary as the couch. They say a picture paints a thousand words, and it's true. When you see this in the future, you'll be reminded of the time when you took it."

Alhaitham fixed Kaveh with an unimpressed stare. "Kaveh, the frame's empty."

Kaveh grinned and pointed at him. "For now! It's up to you to take a picture with your Kamera to fill it."

They stared at each other for a few seconds before he moved for the door. "...No thanks," he said as he exited the room.

He heard Kaveh's muffled voice from down the hallway. "You'll see!"