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It would be inappropriate to say Kaveh was blinded by the mortal temptation of Mora. In fact, if you so much as suggest such a thing to him, he will vehemently deny such a ludicrous statement… but by the seven archons the commission fee his current client offered was humongous. To be fair, it wasn’t enough to build his dream home—that would take an unearthly amount of Mora—but more importantly, it was enough to move out from Alhaitham’s home and live comfortably for the next year or so.
That is all that Kaveh could think about as he trudges through the filthy muddy grounds of a secluded area in Avidya Forest. He was grinning ear to ear at the thought, not minding how his boots and the legs of his pants were getting soiled or how he was drenched in sweat amidst the sweltering humidity of the rainforest. All he could think about was how he finally didn’t have to listen to Alhaitham criticize him for his self-sacrificing ideals, his financial irresponsibility, or practically anything down to his choices of breakfast. Gods forbid, Alhaitham had probably criticized his breathing at one point.
Kaveh is currently surveying the area in which his client plans on having a building put up. If he had the right to remark, he would say this place was an odd choice since the road to the area was nothing more than a footpath that isn’t often used by people. Kaveh doesn’t know much about how his client plans on using the building but he will have to worry about how the construction materials will be transported to this place.
“The property spans from that marker over there to here,” the accompanying surveyor engineer says as he points to said markers. Kaveh looks behind them and notes another strange observation of this client of his. They were accompanied by private bodyguards, or were they hired mercenaries? They didn’t look like Eremites, that was for sure. They didn’t even look like they were from Sumeru at all.
Everyone fans out the area and begins their own work. Kaveh walks around, giving the area a once-over, which is when he notices a path that leads to a small swamp. Technically, the swamp is past the markers of the property, but Kaveh thinks it would be best to check it out in case it causes future problems, with fungi popping out of nowhere and whatnot.
He wades through the shallow part of the swamp, some slimy algae floating on the surface sticking on his boots. There was the buzz of rainforest insects ringing in his ears but no fungi in the immediate vicinity, and it seems the path goes a little further. Kaveh makes a mental note to inquire about this area later. Satisfied, he concludes his initial investigation—or rather his short detour.
He turns around and is greeted by a blunt force to the head.
Kaveh doesn’t really remember what happens after that, only that he hears snippets of conversations.
“—really thought this job was a bust. Their security was ridiculous.”
“What are these? A bunch of drawings of buildings?”
“Good thing this one was pretty foolish—”
The next time Kaveh opens his eyes, he’s in a completely different place. Several bright-colored ornate tents are set up around what looks like ruins hidden in a cave. People dressed in desert-dweller garb gather in circles, laughing amongst themselves. Shadows cast by the torches on the walls and a bonfire a distance away dance on the ancient stone walls overrun by vines and moss.
For whatever reason, Kaveh has found himself in an Eremite camp. When he attempts to get up from the ground, he becomes aware of the ropes binding his wrists and ankles. He tests the integrity of the knot with no luck—the Eremites sure know how to tie their ropes.
A large muscular man leisurely sitting a distance across from Kaveh notices him. He calls two of his colleagues with a whistle, a woman who slings an axe on her shoulder and a man holding a scimitar, then gets up to walk in his direction.
“Good, you’re awake,” the large man in the lead says.
Kaveh instinctively pushes his body back to the wall behind him. “Where am I?”
The man shrugs. “Some cave in Avidya Forest.” The woman beside him snickers.
“What do you want from me?” Kaveh asks, tugging against the binds in his wrists. He tries to come up with reasons as to why anyone would want to capture him. He doesn’t think he has any enemies, and if they wanted money from him they could have just checked his pockets and taken his bag.
“You have information that we want,” the man replies easily. “That person who commissioned you to build something in that place. You know anything about that person?”
Kaveh inwardly laughs. This has nothing to do with Kaveh personally then, but with the loaded client he doesn’t know much about. Now that he thinks about it, that was probably the reason why the client’s team brought escorts. He’s really found himself in a rather unlucky situation.
“Don’t know if you scholars are interested in that kind of thing but he’s pretty well known in the business world,” the smaller man behind the large Eremite says. His hands are gripping on the hilt of his sword.
“He just asked me to build something for him,” Kaveh answers truthfully. “All else about his background doesn’t really concern me so I didn’t bother asking.”
“I’m sure you have some useful information in that little Akademiya brain of yours,” the large Eremite man leans forward to tap on Kaveh’s forehead with his index finger. “Wouldn’t you have to know, say, what that building is going to be used for in order to actually build it?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Kaveh says.
“You know these things are business secrets, right?” The woman pipes up with an impatient tone. She sets her axe down by her side and crosses her arms. “Look, you have your client and we have ours too. They want to know what yours is up to. Just spit out what you know and we can all walk away happy.”
“You said it yourself, right?” Kaveh says. “It’s a business secret. Why would they share it with someone like me?”
“You—!” The woman understandably looks annoyed by Kaveh’s answer.
The large man in the middle roars in laughter. It takes all the other Eremites around them by surprise, their heads turning to the direction of Kaveh. He then takes the halberd hidden behind his back and strikes Kaveh across the cheek by the shaft.
Kaveh’s head is thrown to the side, his skin stinging from where he was hit.
“Now I want you to think carefully,” the large man says, looking down on Kaveh from where he stood. “Is your client more important than your life?”
Sure, Kaveh’s life is plenty important. He wants to live.
But he really doesn’t have any information to give. He doesn’t know what the deal is between these people but if it doesn’t concern him, Kaveh wants no part in it—only that he fulfills his end of the bargain which is to design this person a building.
He sure hopes someone noticed that he was missing and sent a search party to look for him.
“So, what’s your answer?” the man asks.
“I know nothing.”
Another strike hits Kaveh on his other cheek. This time, the force topples the rest of his body to the floor. He lands on his side on the damp, mossy ground.
The large Eremite lifts his foot and kicks Kaveh right at the stomach, knocking out all the air in his lungs leaving him gasping for oxygen.
“Heh, this is pretty fun,” the Eremite says as he lifts Kaveh up by the neck and slams him against the wall, leaving him hanging several inches above the floor. “This is your last chance to speak before you become my punching bag.”
Kaveh doesn’t say anything. Despite the hand around his neck, Kaveh holds his breath in fear. His heart thumps quickly against his chest. This man was being completely serious just now. If he wanted to, he could snap his neck right this moment. Kaveh is sure the pure unadulterated terror shows in his eyes and the man in front of him enjoys it.
“Nothing?” The Eremite raises his brow.
“Hmph, what a shame,” The amused voice of the woman says, followed by a laugh.
A punch lands on Kaveh’s face. A deep howling laugh echoes. He feels a punch land on his stomach. The hand gripping his neck loosens and his body drops down to the floor.
A kick at the abdomen. Once. Twice. Thrice. It lands on his chest once—several times. He’s lost count after maybe the seventh, about the same time he starts tasting iron in his mouth. He’s unaware of how much he’s been screaming in pain the entire time, but it draws the attention of a small crowd around him.
“Lift him up,” the man orders the two people beside him. “I’ll be right back.”
Two pairs of hands grip on either of his shoulders and push him upright against the wall. In the brief respite, he sees a group of Eremites watching from a distance, chattering and laughing in his direction. “Hit him harder!” Someone shouts. He then sees the large man walking back to him with a large weapon.
Kaveh has had run-ins with hostile Eremites in the desert before. He remembers the Daythunders wielding this large axe, and more importantly, he also remembers that this particular weapon could discharge Electro.
Kaveh tries to wriggle from his binds once again. He curses the handiwork of whoever tied him up. No matter how much he tries—and he’s tried every opportunity he got since finding out about the restraints—the binds just do not budge, not even a little tiny bit.
The axe crackles with purple Electro sparks and the man swings it towards Kaveh, hitting his thigh. A blinding pain shoots up his nerves causing him to cry out in agony. The scent of burning flesh wafts into the cave and Kaveh feels blood trickling down from the wound site.
“By the way, if by any chance you change your mind about not talking, just say so,” the large man smirks, pulling the axe behind him, ready to swing again. “But not too soon. I’m still having fun.”
Time passed and the Eremites grew bored. Everyone, including the three who were supposed to be interrogating him returned to their tents, leaving Kaveh out in the elements with the gentle wind blowing against his burns and open wounds. Maybe it was the exhaustion from hours of screaming or maybe it was the blood loss, but at some point Kaveh fell asleep. It was only some time later he woke up from a commotion in the camp.
“Intruder!” An Eremite yells as he runs into the camp, halberd defensively held out in the air.
Arrows shoot from the direction of the entrance and several Eremites are knocked down upon hit. Those definitely weren’t normal arrows. They were arrows probably laced with some kind of poison.
Kaveh thinks he should probably hide, but he couldn’t even if he wanted to. Every small movement exerts pressure on the wounds on his body causing him pain, not to mention the risk of reopening a wound and creating another puddle of blood on the floor. The restraints are still tightly wound around his wrists and ankles and he’s long since given up on trying to get them loose.
He takes a look at himself: his clothes are singed and charred in many places, with some fabric sticking to his burned skin, and there were splotches of blood soaking into his clothes everywhere else. Every movement he makes brushes an injury somewhere in his body, and it sends a burning pain through his nerves.
“Kaveh?”
Kaveh slowly but hopefully lifts his head up to look. “Who…?”
A pair of tall, fluffy ears on a head of black hair. Tighnari is at the entrance of the camp, his bow in hand.
The two make eye contact. Tighnari gives Kaveh a quick glance, one that looked quite sorry. He looks away and digs into his bag, taking out a small green spherical object.
He throws it at the group of Eremites charging towards him. The item explodes, and a fog of Dendro surrounds the area.
That must have been a Vijnana Stormheart. He has seen Tighnari use it before in Gandharva Ville when the forest rangers were clearing out a nearby area of monsters.
A familiar figure emerges from the Dendro fog. It was the large and muscular Eremite, the same one who had been torturing Kaveh the whole day. He takes out the Daythunder weapon with a deafening roar that sends chills down Kaveh's spine and swings it in the air.
Unfortunately, Tighnari was swifter. He wastes no words and shoots an arrow at him, hitting the towering Eremite at the shoulder. Kaveh’s torturer immediately topples to the ground like a marionette cut off his strings.
The other Eremites regain their bearings and pull out their weapons. Tighnari rushes to stand in front of Kaveh, protecting him.
“Hey, just hold out a little bit longer,” Tighnari says, his bow already drawn and pointed at the enemies. “Just need to take care of these—huh?”
Tighnari’s attention is caught by bright Electro sparks crackling in the air. From behind the Dendro fog, a figure emerges and strikes the group of Eremites in a single sweeping motion, knocking them all down in one fell swoop.
“Oh good, you two are—” Cyno says walking out of the Dendro fog, putting away his polearm. His eyes catch Kaveh. “I brought back up. We should be good.”
Everyone in the room save for the three of them have already been taken care of, however. By the time the Corps of Thirty file in the camp, all that is left to do is clean the place up.
Cyno walks over to Tighnari and Kaveh. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”
“How could I wait when Kaveh—”
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of miserable hacking. When they turn, they see Kaveh hunched over, coughing up blood on the floor. With ears perking up in worry, Tighnari immediately rushes to his side.
“Sorry…” Kaveh says.
“Shoot,” Tighnari curses under his breath, his eyes assessing the situation. Cyno takes out a dagger and carefully cuts Kaveh out of his restraints.
“Numerous burns, hematomas, lacerations…” Tighnari mumbles to himself, occasionally moving Kaveh around to get a better look of his injuries. “... possible broken bones…”
Tighnari moves Kaveh’s arm the wrong way, causing the latter to scream in pain. Tighnari and Cyno flinch from the sheer agony of their friend encapsulated in that cry.
“Sorry,” Tighnari says.
“It’s okay…” Kaveh breathes weakly.
“Kaveh?” Tighnari calls out to him.
Kaveh blinks several times trying to focus his vision, and maybe he hears Tighnari and Cyno calling out to him from a distance, but everything slowly turns blurry before him.
When Kaveh wakes up, he’s thankfully somewhere familiar—a wooden ceiling with the scent of the forest blowing from the windows, mixed with the smell of rubbing alcohol and medicine. Kaveh never thought he’d be so glad to hear the annoying buzz of forest insects again.
“Try not to move too much. You’ve got a few nasty wounds there,” Kaveh turns and sees Tighnari sitting a distance away. Kaveh looks at himself and finds that he’s been wrapped in bandages. “How do you feel, by the way?”
“... Like I’m floating,” Kaveh answers.
“That should be the medication I gave you. Other than that?”
“...”
Nothing really comes up in Kaveh’s mind. Not even a mundane response to Tighnari’s question.
“I’m sorry,” Tighnari says with a sigh. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“Thank you, b-by the way,” Kaveh winces, letting out a small groan. He didn’t know even talking could be this painful. “Thank you f-for saving me… You and C-Cyno. Hah.”
Tighnari sighs. He then proceeds to explain how they found Kaveh.
A group of forest rangers were doing a routine patrol in the area when they noticed signs of a camp inside of a cave. The cave was empty a few days ago so the forest rangers decided to investigate.
The forest rangers stealthily entered the cave and found the Eremites. They were doing a headcount of the number of members in the camp to report back when they found Kaveh.
“They recognized you since you visit Gandharva Ville pretty often,” Tighnari says.
The curtain to the room is pushed aside and a certain General Mahamatra walks in the room.
“We've decided to investigate Kaveh’s client as well. Apparently, they might be involved in—” Cyno finally notices Kaveh. “You’re awake.”
“Cyno,” Kaveh grins. “Hi.”
Another guest walks in the room. Tall, greenish gray hair, and those dumb earpieces that let everyone know that he is not interested in listening to anything that anyone has to say.
“What are you d—” Kaveh has to close his eyes for a moment while he waits for the pain to subside. “—you?”
Kaveh still feels horrible, and it takes a while for his brain to put together a coherent thought, so he is absolutely still not in the mood. Nonetheless, he braces himself for Alhaitham’s usual reprimands anyway. He can practically hear him talk about how careless he is walking alone in the forest, or for taking a client that he knows nothing about.
But, against all expectations, Alhaitham doesn’t say anything. If anything, his face remains the same—stoic and emotionless, maybe just a slight knit in his brows that just might be a trick of the light.
“How are you, Kaveh?” Cyno asks.
“Doesn’t hurt as m-much…” Kaveh says.
Alhaitham steps forward. “Did the Eremites say who they were working for?”
“... No?” Kaveh says.
“Any hints, or maybe a motive?” Alhaitham asks further.
To that, Kaveh just groans as he rolls his eyes. “That’s j-just like you, isn’t it?” Kaveh inhales deeply. Even a few words pained him a lot, and exerting himself from the anger only left him lightheaded, but it was going to be worth it if it was Alhaitham. “S-start interrogating a patient from the get-go. Aren’t y-you supposed to show a little s-sympathy f-first?”
“I have no doubt in the skills of Tighnari and his medical team. The people responsible for…” Alhaitham motions at Kaveh’s pitiful bandage-covered form in bed. “this… however, can’t be left alone. The eremites they hired were one thing, but the real culprits are still at large being a danger to society.”
Alhaitham makes a fair point, Kaveh will give him that. “I… I don’t know. He didn’t say much. Only t-that their client wanted to know… what we were building.”
“A business rival, perhaps?” Cyno suggests. “It matches what the Eremites said as well. I’ll make sure to look into it once the Corps of Thirty have investigated Kaveh’s client.”
Kaveh looks towards Alhaitham. He was staring at Kaveh with an unusual, pensive look.
“How is he, Tighnari?” Alhaitham asks.
“Hmm?” Even Tighnari sounds pretty surprised by the question coming from Alhaitham of all people. “His injuries are extensive and I’m most worried about his burns getting infected. My supplies here are limited since we usually just do simple first aid before referring patients to the Bimarstan in Sumeru City. I’ve done what I can for the time being, however Kaveh needs lots of surveillance right now, so it would be best to move him there as soon as the situation permits it.”
“So I take it Kaveh is fine for the time being,” Alhaitham says. “I’ll leave that to the experts then.”
Alhaitham promptly leaves without another word.
Kaveh huffs as they all watch Alhaitham disappear through the curtain. “How rude.”
Tighnari laughs. “Say what you will, Kaveh, but Alhaitham came running to Gandharva Ville the moment word reached his office. “
“He also went to question the Eremites himself before they were taken away,” Cyno adds. “After he was done, he stayed by your side watching you like a hawk.”
Kaveh is sure his bewildered expression amused the two. Tighnari laughs again, having to look away from Kaveh, and Cyno looks at him with a pretty satisfied smirk on his face.
“Also, don’t you remember? He assisted me in dressing your wounds,” Tighnari continues. “He held your dead weight up with his arms and everything.”
Kaveh scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Him? Seriously? Now you’re all just messing with me. Why would he ever do any of that?”
Tighnari snorts but doesn’t say anything.
“… You really are foolish,” Cyno says.