The Other Side of Our Hearts

But Paths Can Re-Connect

T/W: Assault, attempted rape. The latter is my first time attempting something like this, please go easy on me ^^;;

TWO MONTHS LATER

Kaveh found himself settled into his new normal and it seemed easier than he anticipated it would be. Weeks of research into the glass jar and his situation came up empty, and he resigned himself to climatizing to his new yet familiar surroundings. It made no sense to him to fight against the flow of time where he found himself to be and decided it made more sense to go day to day until he can truly figure out what was happening. 

His days were very structured compared to before as well;  he woke up and ate, worked on the research for a couple of hours before tackling his own commissions. They came more easily to fruition with his memories from living those lines and sketches prior, he almost felt it was an unfair advantage he had. But what else was he to do while stuck? He might as well take hold of the stored information and succeed sooner with those clients. He still had debt from Dori to pay back and he figured making a larger dent from the better results made sense for the time being.

Evenings varied in their activities. Sometimes he would visit Nilou or relax in his private spot amongst the Akademiya tree until it was time for sleep. Lambad's was sometimes a preferred place to drink any of his stress away. Previously he would even have found himself enjoying the company of men who offered to buy a drink for his time, even allowing them to take him home for further escapades. That was the only aspect of his new situation he did not plan to continue with while he was stuck. As much as he was questioning the status of his relationship with his lover back in his normal time an space, the last thing he would ever consider was being unfaithful.

It felt interesting shooing away the amount of suitors that approached him, he felt honored at the very least. Part of him contemplated trying to trick the scribe by feigning interest in others in that manner but in the end could not bring himself to go that far. If this Alhaitham cared even a little bit for him, he couldn't hurt them to that extreme.

He visited Lambad's a handful of times before being found by Alhaitham each of those instances, but continued to push the scribe away. He couldn't fathom why he still was attempting to talk to Kaveh after so many failed tries. But as a result of the run-ins, Kaveh opted to order wine for delivery so he could either drink alone in his office or his private spot. Distance was his only solace and hoped it would eventually dissuade the scribe. It was lonely, but it was safer. And it always ended the same, on the familiar couch in his office to sleep another night away.

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Near the end of the second month, he was relieved to finally have an opportunity to leave the city and spend a weekend over with Tighnari in Gandharva Villa. It wouldn't have been too long since they met, during the Withering that initially destroyed the majority of the first attempt at his magnum opus. The forest ranger invited the architect over for dinner from time to time, with the current weekend he was experiencing being one of such visits. He enjoyed them immensely as they were calm. It was much needed especially lately.

"How have you been holding up since the palace completed construction?" Tighnari approached the table they shared in his home, placing a coffee cup in front of Kaveh.

"It's been up and down, not going to lie." Kaveh brought the mug up and sipped at the coffee, enjoying the warmth it brought internally. "People love it, it's just too bad they'll never see the turmoil that led to its existence."

"Kaveh, are you back to thinking it was your fault with the Withering?"

"Mostly no, but some days a little more toward yes. I'm trying to come to terms with it slowly and believe you when you said it was hard to predict it would strike the area."