#veiled truths

Chapter Three: "Contrary To Popular Belief..."

Link to previous chapter: here

To read on ao3 click: here

Warnings: none! Word count: 1933 Notes: I think these two are the most hilarious ever. their bickering is so much fun to write, like actually. super excited for further chapters aaahhhh. CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT KAVEH JABIR ALHAITHAM INTERACTION. anyways LET'S GOOOO

Aromas of freshly baked pastries enveloped Kaveh’s senses. People rushed around him, focused and unshaken. Each individual had their own duties to tend to, their own goods to purchase. Some were looking for vegetables, others required materials for baking…The atmosphere was something akin to what he felt as a child, accompanying his mother to the market. The two always ran errands together, carefully picking goods, each choice individually examined by both mother and son. A sense of familiarity washed over him.

Turning around, he scanned the perimeter, taking note of the person beside him.

“Just two will suffice” - the monotone voice spoke.

Alhaitham…

*ah! so we are at the Grand Bazaar, buying groceries!*

“Thank you”

“oh- have a nice day, Karim, till next week!” - Kaveh tuned into the conversation, adding to his companions' farewell and broadly smiling. After all, he had been familiar with Karim for over a couple years. Karim was Kaveh’s go-to fruit vendor. He always throws in a couple zaytun peaches free of charge, even when Alhaitham is the one getting the fruits.

“Hey!” - Kaveh exclaimed, making Alhaitham stop and glance back. “Don’t forget to wish Karim a good day next time! I don’t want you ruining my reputation around the bazaar!”

Kaveh expected a snark remark in response, or perhaps a scoff. Alhaitham’s expression was faint and hard to read but…was he…smiling?

“Hm, alright then”

...what?...

The exchange was far too simple and uncomplicated, at least in Kaveh’s understanding. Of course, recently, their relationship experienced significant improvement. The amount of conflicts decreased noticeably. Perhaps the effort and compassion both sides were putting in was worth it. The calmer dynamic was one that Kaveh really cherished. And yet…the current interaction felt…different.

Alhaitham walked up to a very perplexed architect, and gently took his hand, leading the way to the next vendor. All Kaveh could do was glance at their intertwined hands and follow, trying his best to pay the warm feeling settling in his chest no mind.

“We’re going to be late for Nilou’s performance if you decide to imitate a statue by just standing there”

“I- yes…Nilou’s performance…”

“Next on the list are padisarahs. You wanted to gift some to Nilou on stage after her dance. Would that be correct?”

“...”

“Kaveh?”

“Kaveh…you’re going to be late for work…”

A gentle shake rattled the blonde half awake.

“mmm...padisarahs…we need…to…huh…what? work?”

Pleased with his efforts, Alhaitham retraced his hand from Kaveh's shoulder. Retrieving him from dreamland proved to be quite troubling today, so a final resort of lightly shaking him awake had to be utilized.

“Padisarahs are typically perceived as a symbol of prosperity, childlike wonder, and love. Though I’m not one for symbolism, I’d say they are a positive sign”

Alhaitham lectured, making his way back to the kitchen, preoccupied with something.

“mmm” - the architect rustled on the divan, stretching. He slowly let his eyes open and lounged around, adjusting to daytime.

*The Grand Bazaar…fruit vendor…Nilou’s performance…padisarahs…Alhaitham and I…holding hands…Alhaitham…and I…holding…hands…ALHAITHAM AND I HOLDING HANDS?!?!!!*

In a panic, the architect recollected what he could of his dream. Dreaming was certainly not rare for him, no no. On the contrary. A creative mind gets no rest, not even in sleep. Kaveh dreamt almost nightly. He dreamt of palaces, mythical creatures, things he would assure you not even his artistry could give justice to. Sometimes he dreamt of friends, loved ones, acquaintances. 

Today's dream was, in all honesty, far from the first one to contain Alhaitham. After all, the two had known each other for years and years. When you are acquainted with a person for so long, it's inevitable to meet them once or twice in dreamland. Hence Alhaitham being the subject of today's dream was not what concerned the architect. It was the role he played. It was the picture of their hands intertwined which ruffled our dear Kaveh's feathers, to say the least.

A face emerged from the kitchen doorway, interrupting Kaveh's panicking thoughts.

“I prepared some Fetteh if you want any before you depart for work”

“mmm…thank you…” - Kaveh responded. A yawn escaped, making him cover his mouth.

Alhaitham rested against the doorway, arms crossed. He observed his roommate, before decidedly asking.

“Waking you up took quite a bit of effort. I assume you were in deep sleep?”

“A- yes, I…I guess so”

“The dream you had must have been quite compelling then”

The image of his and Alhaitham’s hands intertwined invaded Kaveh’s mind once again.

*...well if that is what you mean by compelling…*

“It was…comforting, I’d say”

“Hm. Unique choices you have for comfort, then, senior”

“I just woke up and I’m already being judged for my preferences! And what is that phrase even supposed to mean?”

“Well, most people, myself included, find public places like the Grand Bazaar to be the antonyms of comfort”

“Well sue me for” - realization dawned, making Kaveh sit up - “wait…how do you know the dream was about the Grand Bazaar?” - If he wasn’t awake before, he certainly was now. Alhaitham is, without a doubt, a gifted scholar. But how could he have possibly known such intricate details of someone else’s dream?

“Hearing you mumble the name of our fruit vendor in your sleep definitely aided me in solving that mystery”

“Oh…you heard that…”

“There isn’t much to be ashamed of. He is by far not the worst looking. I guess the padisarahs being a symbol does have meaning after all” - Alhaitham thought out loud.

“Hey! It wasn’t like that at all! The dream was set in the Grand Bazaar, Karim wasn’t even the main subject of the dream, for your information!”

“Your defensive reaction proves my hypothesis to be correct. If it weren't, then you-”

“Ugh, would you stop?! It’s not true, whether you believe me or not! Why am I even defending myself because of some brief hypothesis you came up with? No, I’m not wasting any more time on this. I need coffee…”

“Yours is on the table”

“...right...thank you…”

Kaveh reluctantly left the divan on which he drifted to dreamland last night. He was about to make his way to the kitchen, but briefly glanced back.

*...huh…*

The two pillows and blanket grabbed his attention.

*...I don’t recall those being there before…*

All architects do have an eye for detail. But ours didn't have time for this. Shaking the thought off, Kaveh decidedly headed towards the kitchen. Though Alhaitham still occupied the doorframe, observing, the architect strutted past him, demonstratively turning his head away. Alhaitham sighed and followed.

The two roommates found their designated spots at the kitchen table and finally settled. Both desperately required their joined start to the morning: coffee & breakfast. Kaveh was exceptionally excited to begin the day. 

Teaching was something he truly enjoyed. The professor looked forward to arriving at the Akademiya, sharing the experience he had acquired over years of work, joining discussions after lectures. After lectures…wait, he did not like the sound of that. It felt off…oh Archons. Of course. How could he forget the bane of his current Akademiya life. Jabir would undeniably be there. Again.

*That man…that entitled…arrogant…ugh. If he shows his face after another another one of my lectures I'll genuinely-*

“Thinking of your vigorous colleague?”

Kaveh hadn't realized how his brows had furrowed, and expression shifted to one of pure agony. “Do not even call him my colleague. Colleagues don't put their coworkers into such situations”

“I never claimed him to be a good colleague”

“My point stays!”

“As you wish. But I thought you concluded what your further actions will be yesterday”

“I mean…yes and no. It’s just…”

“Too complex, and you do not have a single clue where to start?”

“.. something like that”

Indeed, the two roommates may not always see eye to eye. However in moments like this one, Kaveh was grateful that Alhaitham seemed to understand him from half a word.

“If you hadn’t fallen asleep yesterday, you would have had a chance to hear my detailed observations on the subject”

And in moments like this Kaveh's blood boiled.

“Come on, of all things, don’t fault me for sleeping!”

“Never did”

“Wh- You just said it!”

“What I meant is I have already planned an approximate template of how further action should look like”

“Oh! You…have?”

“Yes”

“...”

“How come you sound so surprised?”

“I don’t know…it seems unusual to hear you say something like that”

“...like what?”

“You claiming to have a template of how a romantic relationship should look like”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…it's just that…how can you be so sure that your understanding of romance and relationships is a good reference?”

The words caused Alhaitham to loosen the hold he had on his coffee cup. After a moment of silence he finally spoke:

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, your demeanor is more reserved”

“So my understanding of relationships must be invalid?”

“That’s absolutely not what I said”

“Contrary to popular belief, Kaveh, I do have an understanding of how relationships, including romantic ones, work. My demeanor may not be expressive. That does not make assuming me to be socially inept righteous.”

Kaveh’s gaze had been resting on his companion for most of the conversation. But letting it linger after his statement felt…obtruding. The plate of food in front of him suddenly seemed to peak his attention more.

“I didn’t mean it that way. Your…level of expressiveness builds a demeanor for which, lightly saying, it's uncommon to hear such words from…”

In return, Kaveh earned a raised eyebrow from Alhaitham. He sat in front, arms now crossed. His roommate was unimpressed.

“I’m sorry”

Alhaitham finally reached for his coffee again.

“I understood the meaning behind your words”

After a long sip he added:

“I’m simply fixing your perspective. I trust you to be observant enough to realize your miscalculation”

Kaveh’s gaze returned to his roommate, examining curiously. His turquoise eyes were focused on the cup of coffee, gloved hand gently swirling it around. Coming from his roommate, that action is a telltale sign of an almost finished beverage.

Alhaitham glanced back at the one examining him.

“What are your expert recommendations then”

“Hm?”

“You said you have a template”

“Correct”

“So, what does it look like? What does implementation include?”

“From your side?”

“Come on Alhaitham, you can’t expect me to just read your mind and somehow understand what is anticipated of me”

“Nothing”

“...come again?”

“Nothing is required of you”

“But…how am I-” “There is no change in behavior which would be required from your side”

“...”

“Let me put it this way. The plan is focused on displaying that you are in a relationship rather than displaying any change in your behavior”

“Ah, right…I already claimed to be in a relationship, so a drastic change in behavior would be suspicious”

“Precisely”

“Then…”

“The implementation is my responsibility”

“And…how are you planning on doing that?”

“That would be none of your concern”

“Excuse you? It is all of my concern! This is my personal life we are talking about!”

Alhaitham stood up, carrying his coffee cup to the sink. After a hasty rinse, it was placed in the cabinet above. Finally caffeinated, Alhaitham headed to the kitchen doorway, content with the progress of today’s morning routine.

“Hah. For someone who claims to know how relationships work, you certainly enjoy ignoring people”

The Scribe stopped right at the exit from the kitchen, and sighed.

“Get ready for work, Kaveh. Unless you wish for your tardiness to be after your career as well”

Ahhh thanks, love dove! I appreciate the support all the more for the fact that you don't even go to this fandom 😂.

It's wild to think that a year ago, this fic was being posted when everyone was stuck at home, desperately looking for stories to lose themselves in--and so many people welcomed this particular story into their lives. I cried a lot during the writing, because I would sometimes get messages like "the only reason I got out of bed today was to read this", and it made my gifted-kid-burned-out ass so grateful for the chance to do *something* to make someone's life a little more bearable, even in the smallest of ways.

I met some amazing people because of it, and ended up writing one of my favorite fics ever. 

Honestly #sorrynotsorry, I'm forever not over it too 💖

So I feel like Eist, giant marshmallow baby brother that he is, barely restrained himself long enough to get to An Skellig to gush to his sister about Cal. During the week after the wedding while he (ahem) "worked on the article at the palace", Cal and Eist created their game plan for how to move forward--I think it was never any doubt that Sibba would be among the first to know, seeing as Cal's family already knew.

So Eist went to An Skellig and told Sibba, who was probably floored at first and then realized that, seeing as Cal is unlike anyone Eist had ever dated (and seeing how different he was, simply talking about her), perhaps she really was the one for him. After all, it's Sibba who is attributed with saying "when you know, you know." I think one of her first quips would be something about him having to endure state dinners again.

Bran wouldn't find out until several weeks later, and I think he'd be floored (Calanthe, a practical and dutiful monarch, ready to marry his renounced brother who galavants around war zones without a care??) and maybe a bit miffed at first (his baby brother who turned his nose up at the monarchy and forsook his birthright, now potentially becoming king of one of the world's most powerful countries?). But I think once Eist made it clear that he had no intention of being anything more than the queen's official consort, Bran was probably like "ah yes my himbo little brother, this makes more sense now."

Ok I got WAYYYYY more into this than originally planned and here we go, a guide:

1. Nautilus, with each section filled in with Skelligen runes

2. Random band thingys (also with runes)....look, he was going through a phase, ok?

3. Sea Hounds regimental insignia, which is a stylized version of a drakkar (also VERY close to the symbol for "flicking the fish" which is the Skellige version of flipping someone off, so basically the regiment chose something close to a "fuck you!" symbol on purpose). With the ancient Skellige numbering system for his unit number: (ps--this is the particular tat Cal spies during their first conversation in the garden)

4. School of Fish. So in our world, sailors used to get swallows to denote their travel experience (1 swallow equaled 5,000 nautical miles sailed). I decided that Skelligen culture would have something similiar. One fish equals 1,000miles traveled (land or sea). Eist...has traveled a lot.

5. Kraken Holding an Axe, aka the symbol for the Jarls of Skellige (obviously, this tat and his sea hounds tat are from before he left the monarchy). I didn't get the scale right on the example, so imagine it a bit larger, with the tentacles going down his upper arm and curling around/through the fish

And here we are, my love doves: THE MASTER POST.

Story:

Veiled Truths in its entirety on AO3 here.

Songs:

Spotify playlist here. Explanation post here.

Miscellaneous:

Mental Casting: The Queen’s Ladies’ Official Portraits here.

As usual, I have a playlist to go along with our longfic.

You can find it on Spotify here.

Due to mild spoilery bits (and general length, tbh), the list and explanations are below the cut: