Chapter Text
“Thank you,” said Al-Haitham. “I owe you one.”
Cyno, in the haze of exhaustion and sleep deprivation, looked down at the man sitting in the place of the Grand Sage. The top of Al-Haitham’s head stared back at him. His face would have given back the same amount of emotion, for all that mattered.
Cyno wasn’t being ignored. In fact, he had just heard something he didn’t think he would ever hear from Al-Haitham in his entire life, which was basically an admission that he was in Cyno’s debt.
“What did you say?”
Al-Haitham sighed.
“I said that I owe you a favor. This whole thing would have become an ordeal without your assistance.” He put down the paperwork to look up at Cyno.
Cyno found the energy to smirk. “As if you wouldn’t have caught it, sooner or later.”
“Only when the publication process was finalized, most likely. And recalling those studies back any time after publication would have been late regardless.” Al-Haitham closed his eyes, thinking about the scenario they had avoided. “That would have been a hassle.”
“No, I know.”
He wanted to say that he didn’t know how someone inside the Akademiya could stoop so low as to manipulate data to get the results they wanted, but the events they had recently gone through told him that it was entirely possible – and not even the worst thing someone could do.
A yawn was pushing to get out of Cyno. He pushed it back and stretched.
“Well, I’ll go home and cherish this moment. It’s not every day one hears you admit they helped you.”
Al-Haitham looked up at him with something resembling a glare. “I’m not ungrateful.” Then his face softened. “And I am serious when I say that I owe you a favor. I’m a bit ashamed knowing I almost let such a thing get published.”
Cyno could sympathize with him.
“You’re not used to this workload,” he pointed out. “Efficiency can only do so much when you’re covering the Grand Sage’s position.”
Al-Haitham cleared his throat. “I know.”
“Plus, we’re short a few sages.”
“Those few replacements we’ve already found lack experience. They don’t work as quickly as the previous ones.”
“And you’re only human, after all.”
“I’m well aware of that too.”
Cyno had a hard time believing that, but he didn’t say it. It would have started a completely different conversation, and he didn’t have the brain for it at the moment. He just let the silence stretch for a while.
“My point is,” said Al-Haitham, slowly. “Do not hesitate to ask for a favor, in the future. I will do what is in my capabilities to help.”
“As realistic as ever,” commented Cyno. The stare Al-Haitham gave him dragged a chuckle out of him. “But yes. I will come to you, if I need to.”
They looked at each other for a brief silent moment, then Al-Haitham pushed aside some paperwork without much conviction. “You’re dismissed. Go have a proper meal and some sleep.”
“Sounds like you’re giving me an order, Grand Sage,” replied Cyno.
“I am. You compromised your health for this. I have no authority to tell you how to do your job, but now that it’s done, I’m telling you that you need to sleep. And eat.” He put an elbow on the armchair. “And I’m not the Grand Sage. I’m the acting Grand Sage. I don’t want people forgetting it.”
A breathy laugh escaped from Cyno’s lips. “Of course. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Absolutely not,” said Al-Haitham. “Take two days off to recover, at least. The other Matras can handle your work for a while.”
Cyno raised his eyebrows, surprised again.
“If you say so…”
“The Akademiya doesn’t need a Mahamatra that is completely burnt out, not its best one in particular. Rest and I’ll see you when you’re fit to go back to work.”
“Are you looking out for me, acting Grand Sage?” asked Cyno, poking him.
“I’m just being practical.”
“As you always are.” Cyno fixed his headpiece. “Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of days. Bye, Haitham.”
“Goodbye, general.”
The elevator taking him down from the Grand Sage office to the entrance of the Akademiya was painfully quiet. On the way up there had been at least Al-Haitham to listen to his sleep-deprivation induced jokes.
It was growing late, but many students still lingered in the library, as expected. Rich, orange light cascaded in from the windows and the entrances of the Akademiya. Longer days and warm evenings signaled that the academic year was coming to a close, and exam season would soon start. It meant less students in the streets – too busy with frantic revisioning and feverish exercises – and crowded libraries.
A couple of colleagues nodded at him on his way out. Once the doors of the Akademiya closed behind him, his mind officially closed the case too and focused on something more important: dinner. And after that, he could go sleep for twelve hours. And the following day he would play some Genuis Invocation at the tavern.
It was a pleasant walk home.
*
Exam season was coming to a close and Cyno wasn’t thinking about the favor Al-Haitham owed him. At the moment he was more bothered by the event at the Akademiya he was supposed to attend. An end of the year recurrence to celebrate the best students and their academic achievements. It seemed yesterday that he had heard Al-Haitham’s name for the first time. At the time a genius student a couple of years below him. He hadn’t showed up, to the confusion and embarrassment of the Grand Sage.
His evening meanderings brought him to Lambad’s tavern. During that time of the year many patrons sat outside, enjoying the refreshing weather and warm air. When it was not so hot that the humidity made being outside unbearable. As if on autopilot, Cyno walked inside, in search for good food and some rest.
There was a musician playing in the corner, and compared to the outside, the tavern looked half empty. He was heading for one of the tables, when he spotted a familiar blond head sitting at the counter.
He was in the mood for a good chat, yes.
“Hey.”
Kaveh jumped on his seat and whipped his head around, startled.
“You are way too quiet! Make some noise before creeping up on people,” he protested.
Cyno gave Kaveh a quick smirk before sitting down next to him. “On the job, being quiet is a good thing.”
Kaveh shook his head.
“Can I offer you something to drink? I was just about to order.”
“Only if you let me pay for the food.”
“Are you worried about me spending too much?”
Cyno held up one hand. “It’s only fair.”
The honest answer was that, yes, he was, as he always was. It was just one of the things that made him worried about Kaveh. But refusing the offer was rude and letting him pay everything wasn’t right. So he tried to play it off and compromise.
Kaveh gave him a skeptical look, but ultimately gave up.
“Ah, whatever. What do you want to drink?”
They ordered white wine, panipuri and samosas, and as they waited for Lambad to be back with the dishes, Kaveh told Cyno about what he had been busy with.
“I’m glad to hear you’re not overworking yourself for once,” said Cyno, checking how hot the samosas were.
Kaveh gave him a long, eloquent look.
“I can’t say the same for you. When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep? Like, an actual eight hours. Those eyebags look horrible.”
Cyno took a sip of his wine. It was quite strong for a white.
“Recently.”
“No, it wasn’t, you liar.”
Defeated, Cyno sighed.
“There’s a lot to do, that’s true. But with the academic year coming to a close, work should slow down a bit.” He took a bite out of a samosa. “So don’t worry too much about me.”
He would have wanted to say worry more about yourself, but centering the discussion about Kaveh never had the intended effect. Cyno looked at his friend down a glass of wine and sigh contentedly with a smile. At least he looked better than the last time they had seen each other.
“I know you were invited to the end of year ceremony,” said Cyno, moving to a different topic.
“Yes, and I had to refuse. I have a deadline a couple of days later and you know how I am with deadlines.” Kaveh filled again his and Cyno’s glasses. “I wish I could go, though. I think it’s gonna be fun this year.”
Cyno frowned. “Why?”
“Eh. Because that guy won’t be able to skip it for once.”
It clicked immediately what Kaveh was referring to. Al-Haitham had never shown up at any of these occasions, not when he was a student and not after becoming the scribe, but now that he was the Acting Grand Sage, there was no way for him to wriggle out of that obligation. He would be forced to take part in it for the first time and as the most important person in the room.
He had to be pissed about it.
“How is he taking it?”
“Not well, not well at all. He’s being more of an ass than usual.” Kaveh finished the glass in one go. “Can’t even walk around the house without him saying something about it.”
“I’ll see for myself, then,” said Cyno with half a smile.
At that, Kaveh awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Yeah, about that… has any rumor reached your ears?”
Cyno shook his head, confused.
“What are you talking about? Did something happen?”
“No, nothing happened.” There was a pause, in which Kaveh played with the last samosa. “I guess the students can be really secretive if they want, if this didn’t reach you specifically.”
“Just tell me what this rumor is about. At this point it sounds serious,” said Cyno, put off by the mystery.
“It’s just stupid.” A conclusion was reached about the samosa, and Kaveh cut it in half, sharing it with Cyno. “There’s a bet going around and it’s about you.”
Cyno leaned towards Kaveh. “Okay, now I’m intrigued.”
“Students are betting if you’ll come to the even by yourself or if you’ll bring Tighnari with you,” explained Kaveh. “That’s it. Sorry for making it so secretive.”
As he chewed slowly his half of the samosa, a question came up in Cyno’s mind.
“Why Tighnari?” he asked.
“The students seem to be under the impression that you two are in a relationship.”
At that, Cyno started laughing. Kaveh nodded.
“I know! I mean, good for them if they have time to speculate about this, but it feels a bit invasive.”
“It would be invasive if they started spying on me,” said Cyno, once he had calmed down. “And I might not have heard the rumor, but I would notice that.”
The evening was winding down around them. Lambad’s Tavern was getting quieter and quieter, as most people with regular occupations retired for the night. The last ones standing were those with irregular lives and work hours, those without obligations, and those like Cyno and Kaveh, who ended their evenings later regardless of when their mornings would start.
“Well, now you know what’s going on at the Akademiya,” said Kaveh. “Do what you want with this knowledge.”
Cyno laughed again.
“I don’t know what I should do with it, but thank you.”
“Maybe telling them to mind their business would be a start.”
“They’re students,” said Cyno with a shrug. “Do you remember how it was to be a student? Stressful, difficult, and not always satisfying. Let them gossip. At least they have some fun.”
Kaveh swirled the wine in his glass. “I know, I know. I just think about how annoyed I would be if I were the object of their conversations.”
They caught up with each other for another hour or so, ordered another carafe of wine, a portion of butter chicken, and stayed at the tavern until they started getting eloquent stares from Lambad. That was the signal that it really was too late.
Cyno, who had drunk a little less than Kaveh, helped him find his way home, before heading towards his own.
He was walking through a peaceful Sumeru City, when he realized what he was supposed to with the information given him. He stopped dead in his tracks, the gears in his brain spinning wildly. A grin appeared on his face.
He was a fan of puns, but there was nothing wrong with a little practical joke every now and then.
He had to wait for a moment when there would be no Kaveh around. Not that he was a target in this game. Cyno just wanted to maximize his chances of pulling the prank off, and it was better if no one except the two people involved knew about the plan.
He wasn’t in a hurry. The Akademiya event would be at the end of the following week and the organization of what he had in mind was neither long nor complicated.
The opportunity arose one evening, when Cyno saw Kaveh go inside Lambad’s Tavern as he was walking home from work. It was the perfect moment. Unless he got unlucky and Kaveh decided to go home early, he should have a couple of hours to discuss his plan with Al-Haitham. He likely didn’t need a lot of time. If Al-Haitham didn’t want to take part in his shenanigans, he wouldn’t have changed his mind, no matter how much Cyno insisted.
He casually made sure there weren’t people around when he knocked on the door to Al-Haitham’s house. A moderately disgruntled scholar welcomed him.
“Oh. It’s you.”
“It is. Were you having dinner? Did I interrupt you?”
“Yes,” said Al-Haitham, dryly. “Is this important?”
Cyno shrugged. “Not really. Can I come inside?”
Al-Haitham weighted the options and then moved aside, closing the door behind Cyno.
“What is this about?” he asked, walking in the kitchen.
Cyno followed him, smelling the spices in the air. Al-Haitham was making something with rice and lemons, judging by the peels scattered on the counter.
“Do you remember the favor you said you owed me?”
Al-Haitham frowned as he placed the pan again on the fire.
“I do. Do you need my help?”
Cyno decided to not wait for Al-Haitham to invite him to sit and just grabbed a chair.
“Yes, but for something a little specific.” He repressed a grin. “You remember next week’s graduation event?”
Al-Haitham groaned. “I remember. A self-congratulatory formality that my position forces me to take part in.”
Cyno nodded. “That one.”
“How does the favor I owe you fit into the graduation?”
Leaning forward like a conspirator, Cyno gave him a smile. “I thought that we could make the evening more entertaining.”
He explained the matter of the bet and his desire to mess with the students that seemed way too interested in his personal life. Al-Haitham listened as he finished preparing and serving his dinner. He gestured to Cyno to ask if he wanted something to eat. Cyno declined.
“I think they should focus less on the Matras and more on their research proposals,” was Al-Haitham’s comment at the end of the tale.
“Can’t say I disagree.” Cyno crossed his arms. “Wait, maybe I should place a bet too. Anonymously, of course.”
Al-Haitham looked skeptical.
“Are you going to ask me to do it?”
“No, you can’t, you’re part of my plan,” quickly replied Cyno.
“Should I be worried?”
“No, it’s fine.”
He went quiet to think more about how he could take part in the bet, but came to the conclusion it would have been too complicated. The only person he could have asked was the Traveler and she wasn’t in Sumeru at the moment.
He shook his head. “Anyway, now that the picture is clear, let me tell you how the favor comes into this.”
“Go on.”
“Pretend that you’re dating me and make everyone lose their bets,” said Cyno.
Al-Haitham stopped with the spoon in mid-air. He gave Cyno a long, bemused look.
“Is this how you want to use the favor I owe you? Really?”
Cyno nodded. “I can’t force you, of course. But think about it: you have to be there anyway and it’s going to be boring for you regardless. It’s not my favorite part of the job either. You can try and make it a little more fun by playing along with me.”
Al-Haitham chewed slowly as he stared intently at Cyno. Cyno waited patiently for the Scribe – he had a hard time addressing him as anything other than Scribe in his mind – to finish his ruminations, not in a rush to go home and leave his friend alone.
After a while, Al-Haitham put down his spoon and gave Cyno a quick nod.
“Will an effort be required?”
“Is acting like you enjoy being with me an effort?”
Their eyes met. There was a quick moment of tension.
“All right. I’ll play along,” he said. “What do I have to do?”