The late morning sun beats down on the windswept garden. The heat muddles the floral scent, but the green and brown of the landscape remain untainted by the fiery eye gazing upon it from on high. Kaveh sits comfortably in the shade of the gazebo. It was a structure built by his own hands in accordance with one of his late mother's designs. Kaveh spent several days suffering in Sumeru City's divinely dampened climate to craft it, but he doesn't regret a single moment as the shadows welcome him. The dome overhead keeps the sun off his shoulders and allows him to focus on the project in his hands rather than trying to keep himself from turning a crispy shade of red.

A sketchbook lies open in Kaveh's lap. In front of Kaveh, an easel holds up a large portrait-sized canvas. The table he usually uses to hold his tea and sweets is instead holding up small containers of paint, a cup of water, and more than a dozen brushes for different types of strokes. Kaveh's fingers are smeared with some of the paint, and there are even a few streaks on his face. Any attempt to wipe them away was forgotten the moment the spirit of creation descended upon him. All sense of order for his appearance was dismissed in favor of capturing the moment presented in front of him.

Nilou stands in front of one of the gazebo's railings. She is wearing a formal dress with a tight bodice and loose sleeves. Her flowing skirt gives her numerous problems with the intensity of the wind, revealing a pair of bare feet underneath. In the beginning, her hair was tied up into a tight up-do. Kaveh undid it the moment he noticed the tenseness across her face with the excuse that she looked more beautiful with her hair down. While factually true, her hair was now giving her as many issues as her dress did. Instead of complaining, however, Nilou only bore a hearty smile with a soft giggle. Kaveh's questions over her status as okay gradually faded into soft murmurings as he became focused on detailing her appearance on the canvas in front of him.

A rather difficult endeavor considering Kaveh didn't have any of the right colors. The sketch of Nilou Kaveh had done in the beginning so she wouldn't need to rigorously keep her pose was covered in paint marks as Kaveh tried to recreate the blues of her eyes and the red of her hair. There was a pleasant flush in her skin tone that Kaveh was absolutely struggling with. To make matters worse, the background seemed incredibly different now that Nilou was the focal point. Kaveh used to be able to paint this view in a matter of seconds with his usual colors, but he wanted to do this portrait justice even if it meant a little extra work for him.

"What are you doing?" A voice asks directly into Kaveh's ear. He startles so badly that the paintbrush in his hand slips. A long smear of red appears across the paper almost like a bloodstain as the paintbrush leaves his fingertips. Before it can touch the ground, Al-Haitham catches it. He places it back into Kaveh's hand, turning his attention to look at Kaveh's face.

There are two entrances to the gazebo opposite each other. The one that leads to the manor is almost directly behind Kaveh, so he shouldn't be surprised that someone would come from that way. He knew the servants would eventually bring him and Nilou something cool to drink, but Al-Haitham was a surprise. It wouldn't have been as alarming if Al-Haitham had kept a respectable distance, but he has one hand on the back of Kaveh's chair, leaning over the side of it.

"I cannot believe you. If I were working on the portrait, I would have had to scrap the entire thing and start anew. That wouldn't be fair to Lady Nilou," Kaveh retorts, glaring at Al-Haitham. He lifts his hand to push Al-Haitham's face away from him. Al-Haitham takes the message, standing upright, but he keeps his hand on the back of Kaveh's chair. "To answer your question, I am doing what it looks like I am doing. I was asked by the regents to paint Lady Nilou's portrait. You know how stingy they are when it comes to any artistic endeavors."

"Why should they pay for another painter when they could ask you to do it for free?" Al-Haitham asks, disapproval prominent in his tone.

Kaveh snarls as he glances back up at Al-Haitham, getting even more annoyed by the man's height. "They are paying me, thank you very much. Not that I wouldn't paint Lady Nilou for free. She is a remarkable model."

"Thank you, Mister Kaveh!" Nilou chirps. Kaveh turns his attention back to her immediately. He almost forgot that she was bearing witness to this. Kaveh gives her a half-smile, and she returns his gesture with a large one upon her face. "While I was a little embarrassed to have a portrait of me done, your dedication makes me feel fired up."

"How fortunate that you have acquired suitable funds and a willing model for this painting," Al-Haitham notes wryly. One of their main arguments was how much Kaveh did without being paid for it. Kaveh's heart was too big for his body, and he usually suffered for it. Kaveh believed that if he could help, he should. Al-Haitham would always argue that Kaveh's definition of 'could help' was incorrect. For some reason, the argument is especially intense when it comes to the regents. Those are the arguments Kaveh walks away from instead of double-downing until the bitter end.

"You sound jealous. If you wanted me to paint you, Al-Haitham, you could have only asked me pleasantly. But I understand that you are allergic to asking for favors, so I will not cause you any more grief. Go stand next to Nilou. I will draw the two of you together," Kaveh jokes, nodding over at the woman as she tries to keep her hair from poking her in the eyes. She glances cautiously at Al-Haitham, an odd expression for the future love of her life, but she eventually gives him a friendly smile.

"This rather sounds like one of your desires," Al-Haitham claims. He releases his grip on Kaveh's chair. He walks around the controlled mess Kaveh has set up all around him. Instead of standing, Al-Haitham drags one of the other chairs with him. He places it right next to Nilou, plopping down on the cushion without even a glance at the woman beside him.

"Al-Haitham! You should have offered the chair to Lady Nilou! How rude can you possibly be?" Kaveh whisper-shouts at his housemate, glancing between Al-Haitham and Nilou in growing horror. If this is Al-Haitham's behavior, he wonders how Nilou is ever going to fall in love with him. Honestly, how is anyone supposed to fall in love with this gray-haired monster?

"I am quite alright, Mister Kaveh! I am used to standing on feet for long bouts of time, and if I wanted a chair, I could have gotten one myself," Nilou says, pushing a lock of hair behind her ears. She beams with a brilliant light, and Kaveh knows exactly how people fall in love with her.

Al-Haitham hums. He pulls a book out. It looks thick, but Al-Haitham holds it open with one hand. Even the wind struggles to displace Al-Haitham as he focuses intently on the contents of the page. Kaveh turns the pages in his sketchbook, reaching a fresh page. He picks up a piece of charcoal, ready to create a rough sketch of these two. Kaveh doubts he will get around to actually painting them today, but after he finishes the portrait of Nilou, he will know what colors she needs and he lives with Al-Haitham, so he will be able to look whenever he wants to. Kaveh could give them this painting as their wedding gift.

"You two can talk to each other," Kaveh murmurs, realizing how quiet it is. The wind is certainly loud enough for the three of them, but Kaveh would prefer to hear their voices. No matter how many conflicting emotions dwell inside his chest, these two were the characters that got him through the darkness of his former life. He's dedicated so much time and effort to ensuring their happiness. He should be allowed to see a little bit of it, even if it's only a conversation.

"What is there to talk about?" Al-Haitham asks. His voice is distant from how much attention he is placing on the book in his hands rather than the people or nature around him.

"There is plenty to talk about, scribe. You could talk about the weather. Nilou could talk about a new theater show she's seen, and Al-Haitham could talk about a new book he's reading that might have similar themes. There's also a matter of what you have been doing recently, but I doubt that kind of small talk is applicable in this situation," Kaveh shrugs. Out of the two of them, Kaveh has always been the more social. Al-Haitham only talks to people when he has to or when he's curious about them. For these reasons, Kaveh doesn't completely blame Al-Haitham for being clueless, but he should know how to talk to Nilou, at least.

"What do you mean by that, Mister Kaveh?" Nilou asks, tilting her head to the side curiously. She folds her hands over her stomach with a small frown appearing on her face that might be her way of expressing confusion. Al-Haitham's confusion is harder to see, but Kaveh knows the man more than he cares to admit so he can guarantee Al-Haitham is confused right now, too.

"I won't claim to know when the last time you two spoke was, but surely it must have been recently. I do not think much could have happened in life in such a short amount of time, especially in Al-Haitham's case," Kaveh points out, looking down at the sketchbook. Al-Haitham is easy for him. Not because he has an easy body type to draw or because his clothes are on the plainer side, but because Kaveh has drawn Al-Haitham many times before. He has never turned any of his sketches into a painting out of sheer embarrassment, but there are entire books filled with sketches.

But Kaveh draws all of his friends. There are many artistic renditions of Tighnari, Cyno, Faruzan, Candace, Dehya, and even a few of Collei and Sethos once the two of them got used to people. Kaveh even has a few of Layla, though all of them are of her asleep, and one or two centering around Dori, a merchant Kaveh reluctantly despises. Kaveh drew Azar once, but he threw that drawing at the bottom of a box never to see the light of day again. Kaveh is sometimes terrified of what his hands can do.

"I do not believe we have spoken since the party a few weeks ago," Al-Haitham corrects Kaveh, looking up from his book with a newfound interest in the conversation.

Kaveh frowns, immediately looking up from his sketchbook. His frown deepens when he sees their expressions. Nilou's eyebrows knit together as she asks, "Why did you think we spent more time together?"

A blush spreads across Kaveh's face. He looks down at his sketchbook to hide his appearance from Al-Haitham and Nilou. Kaveh doesn't know how much he's changed from the original plot, but he's starting to see that he's made some serious ripples if this is the first conversation these two have had since the party where they first met. There should have been a few more interactions over the past few weeks. Kaveh has cleared away most of the earlier plot threads, so he thought the two of them would get to spend time together as people instead of having to deal with small issues that gradually build into the conclusion of the novel. But maybe it was those problems that led the two of them to develop feelings for each other. Kaveh cannot believe he's messed up this badly. He'll have to do some course correction, then.

"I assumed the regents would... well, put you two into contact with each other. Al-Haitham works closely with them, after all, so who else would they trust with Lady Nilou?" Kaveh explains. That was actually one of the reasons the novel forced Nilou and Al-Haitham together, and Kaveh thought it would be the same this time since he had little control over the regents.

"Oh, the regents did give me the option of having Dame Candace or Mister Al-Haitham show me around. Mister Al-Haitham told the regents he was too busy to show the Lily around. I meant to ask if you got in trouble because of me, but Dame Candace and Miss Dehya distracted me with all the marvelous sights around Sumeru City," Nilou explains, clapping her hands together with an admonished smile on her face. She glances over at Al-Haitham as if to ask for confirmation that he is alright.

Al-Haitham beats her to answer. "I am fine. While the regents did give a winded explanation about how great an honor it is to spend time with the Lily, they were unable to refute the simple fact that I have a busy schedule since they are the ones in charge of that schedule. Even if they did give me a punishment, I hardly care. The worst they can do is put me on probation considering how efficiently I perform my duties and how much I know already. It would take too long to train a new scribe when the worst their previous scribe did was refuse to be a tour guide."

"And a bodyguard. The Lily is a very important person," Kaveh adds, a slight frown on his face. He didn't know Al-Haitham had gotten in trouble with the regents.

"A bodyguard...?" Nilou says the words like a question, glancing sidelong at Al-Haitham. The man's attention remains on his book, checking out of this conversation as soon as it grows too bothersome for him.

Kaveh snorts, attracting her attention. He keeps his head down on the sketch, but he answers her unasked question. "Al-Haitham told you he was a feeble scholar, did he? Hah, well that's a bold-faced lie. His muscles are not for show. He practices swordplay every morning when the weather allows, and his brand of mental breaks is exercising his body. While it might not be apparently clear, Al-Haitham is one of the few people who can resonate with divine power. He does something with mirrors, I think."

"Do not act like you have not seen my abilities with your own eyes," Al-Haitham looks up from his book.

"A scholar such as yourself should know that seeing does not equate to understanding," Kaveh glares up at Al-Haitham. He leans back in his chair, stretching his limbs above his head. Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow at Kaveh. The blonde pushes back a strand of his blonde hair, noticing that he should retie his hair. "We can put it to the test if you would like. Do a little trick right now, and Lady Nilou and I shall guess what we think is happening."

"You could lie about not being able to understand," Al-Haitham points out.

"That is why I included Lady Nilou," Kaveh looks over at the woman, noticing her curious eyes and fledgling excitement at being able to see a resonator. "You will remain impartial, won't you, Lady Nilou?"

"I promise. If you do, Mister Al-Haitham, I will even show you how I call down the rain," Nilou offers. Even without the two of them having talked much, Nilou knows exactly how to speak to Al-Haitham. With the gray-haired man, it's all about give and take. His kindness comes from trades, even if the trade is only the potential for a brighter future.

"If you are offering, I might as well indulge. I have been curious about how resonators are different from rain-dancers. I will show a display of power for you two to analyze. If your answers are satisfactory, I will win. If they are incorrect, Kaveh will win. Regardless of the outcome, I will put in a request for Kaveh and me to watch one of your sanctioned performances. The regents will ask for your opinion, Lady Nilou, but I would refrain from telling them about this little experiment when you tell them that you do not mind us coming," Al-Haitham lays out the terms. He sets the book he was reading down in the chair as he stands up.

Kaveh frowns, "I did not ask—"

"Deal," Nilou interrupts Kaveh with a large smile spreading across her face. She takes a step back from Al-Haitham with her arms folding behind her back. Kaveh stares at the half-finished portrait of Nilou, wondering if he should put it away somewhere. The regents will not be happy if Kaveh tells them that he needs a few extra days for the portrait. They already despise the fact that they need an artist to record a person's appearance for future generations. Kaveh doesn't want to give them more reasons to hate art.

Unfortunately, Kaveh doesn't have time to make a decision, let alone form a suitable plan. Al-Haitham puts one hand against the side of his head. His other hand stretches out in front of him. Green energy swirls between his fingers. Kaveh glances behind him, seeing a leaf-shaped glass prism floating in the air. When Kaveh looks back at Al-Haitham, the man is swallowed by more green prisms that seem to absorb his form. Kaveh feels a strange rush of energy swirl through his body. When the sensation clears, there is nothing besides Nilou. She is looking behind Kaveh. As he's about to turn around, he hears a voice directly in his ears, "What do you think happened?"

"You teleported," Kaveh answers, turning to meet Al-Haitham's eyes. They had not been this close since the moment in the rain, and Kaveh didn't know why he was thinking about that suddenly. It was an accident, almost a mistake, but nothing became of it. Kaveh wouldn't want anything to come of it, anyway.

"You are right. Seeing does not equate with understanding." Al-Haitham is smiling. The rareness of the expression stops Kaveh from being too offended by the words as Al-Haitham pushes away from Kaveh. His smile is gone by the time he drops back down in his chair, flicking his book back open to his page. Kaveh shakes his head. Ignoring Al-Haitham's temper, he looks down at the sketchbook to finish drawing him and Nilou.

"You said his power has to do with mirrors, Mister Kaveh. What do mirrors have to do with teleportation?" Nilou asks, frowning curiously. She wraps one hand around her stomach, placing her elbow on her forearm and holding her chin up. She keeps looking between Al-Haitham and the space behind Kaveh, putting effort into figuring out how Al-Haitham was able to move across the gazebo in the span of a second.

"Perhaps nothing. I could have been wrong about the mirror analogy," Kaveh shrugs. He closes the flap of his sketchbook. He sets it on the table, putting other belongings on top of it to make sure that the wind doesn't blow away any of the loose pages inside the leather-bound book. Nilou and Al-Haitham both stare at him curiously. Kaveh gives them a reassuring smile. "There is something in the manor that I need to get. I will be back, so try to hold your poses. I wish you luck on figuring out what Al-Haitham has done, Lady Nilou, but feel free to talk about whatever you want while I am away."

Kaveh leaves down the staircase Al-Haitham originally entered the gazebo. The warmth of the wind is nothing compared to being directly under the sun. Kaveh's eyes squint. He lifts a hand to cover his face with a shadow. It does little to stop his eyes from hurting, but they adjust gradually to let him walk toward the manor without going blind. By the time he's under the awning, the candlelit manor is shrouded in a darkness so thick Kaveh has to readjust again. Kaveh sighs, rubbing his eyes. A servant walks over to Kaveh, bowing respectfully. Kaveh smiles at them. "At ease. I only came to escape the heat for a moment."

The servant moves on. In the empty corridor, Kaveh takes a deep breath. The air is cooler inside the manor. The heat clinging to Kaveh's body like a cloak seems to drop away to the marble floor. Kaveh squats down, wrapping his arms around his knees. He takes another deep breath. He closes his eyes, letting the darkness of his eyelids engulf his mind. His chest is beginning to settle. He had to walk away to keep his mind clear. Although this is their first interaction since the party, Kaveh thinks this is all right. He was able to forge a connection between them by arousing Al-Haitham's curiosity and presenting a problem for Nilou to solve that required her to focus on the man. It isn't nearly as dire as the early plot of The Water Lily and the Vulture , but it should be enough to plant some seeds.

Despite wanting these seeds to bear sweet fruit, Kaveh can feel a weed growing among the plants. He places a hand on his chest, feeling the way his heart is beating, muffled by skin and cloth. How strange that this organ keeping him alive is also the metaphorical core of the emotion that's killing him slowly. He frowns to himself. He needs to uproot the weed as soon as possible, but he can't bring himself to when the emotion is almost beautiful in its ugliness. Kaveh wishes for their happiness, obviously, but another part of him, the soil in which this weed is growing, finds itself wishing for something else. Kaveh stifles another sigh, deciding that this isn't anything to grow upset over. Kaveh has done this to himself. He could have been selfish, but he chose not to be. There's no point in being sad or jealous.

Kaveh stands up. He opens the door outside the manor. He looks out across the garden to find Al-Haitham and Nilou deep in conversation with one another. They might be discussing Al-Haitham's power, or they could be talking about something else. Kaveh should give them more time, but he needs to finish that portrait of Nilou. They can take their conversation to somewhere more private if they want to communicate more after this.

Kaveh starts walking back to them. He keeps his eyes on them, so he notices immediately when Nilou leans closer. Kaveh panics, dropping down to hide behind a bush. He peeks back over the bush. His panic was unfounded when he realized Nilou was leaning toward the table, not Al-Haitham, and was now eating one of the snacks Kaveh left on the far side of the table. Kaveh puts his hand back on his chest. He feels almost sick even though nothing actually happened. He should have been wishing that something did happen, but he finds himself happy that nothing did.

"What are you doing?" A voice asks, startling Kaveh. He quickly whirls around. Instead of a servant, a young girl is standing on the path that leads from the entrance to the manor's front door. She has long white hair with green tips, and her green eyes look as if petals are blossoming around her pupils. She is wearing a simple white dress. Although it is unadorned with any designs or jewelry, the fabric along with the way she holds herself makes Kaveh believe she's a nobleman's daughter.

"Shh... Come sit here with me," Kaveh whispers, putting a finger against his lips as he pats the spot next to him. The child frowns with confusion, but she squats down on the bush beside him. She glances over the top to look at Al-Haitham and Nilou.

"Are you spying on them?" The child whispers back to him, raising an eyebrow.

"No! Well, technically, but it's for a good reason. You see, that man over there is my housemate. He lives with me. That woman is the person he's bound to fall in love with. I was painting her portrait, but I needed to step away for a moment. When I was walking back, I thought they were having a moment, so I made sure to stay out of their way. I'm waiting for a good moment to return to them," Kaveh explains, having a soft spot for children, even the offspring of a noble.

"Why are they bound to fall in love?" The child's voice is full of curiosity and sincerity. Her eyes sparkle with a thirst for knowledge and already-acquired wisdom. All the negative emotions Kaveh has been harboring seem to ease away with the coolness of her aura, contrasting with the heat of the sunlight.

"That's a little hard to explain," Kaveh murmurs, looking over at Al-Haitham and Nilou. She leans against the railing of the gazebo. Al-Haitham is reading his book. They might not be talking to each other, but they both seem content with each other's presence. It causes a stabbing sensation to tear Kaveh's chest apart, the feeling he threatened to remove from himself lashing out like a wild animal.

"I don't understand. If they are bound to fall in love, why do you look like you love one of them?" The child asks, putting her chin in the palm of her hand as she studies Kaveh with the same intensity Cyno has when he's looking at a crime scene or hunting down a culprit. It makes Kaveh feel a little queasy, but he's unable to completely disassociate from the coolness her presence brings.

"I don't love either of them. I only wish for their happiness," Kaveh responds, unsure why he's answering the child so earnestly. He should be lying right now. He should talk about toys or flowers or something that children are usually easily distracted by.

"I do not believe those two statements are paradoxical. You can be in love with one of them and wish for their happiness. Is there something I am not understanding about the situation?" The child asks, proving why Kaveh is unable to treat her as immature. She seems genuinely intrigued as if Kaveh's life were a puzzle.

"It doesn't matter. Regardless of my feelings or wishes, those two will end up both together and happy even without my intervention. I am only providing it to help smooth things along," Kaveh shakes his head. As honest as this child makes him, Kaveh should stop talking about this right now before he says something that he's going to regret. He's already full of those; he doesn't need to add another to the pile.

"You are quite curious, aren't you? You seem to be in love with one of them, but you are convinced that fate itself will ensure their relationship. You speak in future tense, so I can assume they do not love each other yet. Normally, if you love someone and they are not preoccupied with another love, the best solution is to explain your feelings and hope they are mutual. You believe that sharing your feelings will make the object of your affection unhappy. I don't understand why you believe this so surely," The child outlines the few facts given to her about this situation. The way she says it makes Kaveh feel silly, but she doesn't know about the novel so he can't blame her for thinking this situation is easier than Kaveh is making it out to be.

"You don't have to think about it so deeply. It's a grown-up problem," Kaveh dismisses her, earning a frown on her chubby little face. Kaveh is overcome with the urge to make things right even though he isn't entirely certain what he did wrong. "My name is Kaveh, the Paradisaea Sage. What is your name? Why have you come here?"

"My name is Nahida. I came because I was curious about you and your housemate, the Vultur Sage," The child responds, nodding toward Al-Haitham in the gazebo. When she looks back at Kaveh, a large smile breaks out across her face. "It seems I was right. You are very interesting, Sage Kaveh. I hope that you will be able to explain your problem in more detail to me the next time we meet."

"Nice to meet you, Nahida... I think?" Kaveh murmurs, wondering why a child would be so curious about him. His relationship with Al-Haitham isn't that fascinating, is it?

"It was nice to meet you, too!" Nahida says. She stands up, brushing imaginary dust off the skirt of her dress. She smiles kindly at Kaveh as she walks toward the gate. Kaveh stands up, watching her go with a confused smile appearing on his face even as his eyes tilt as if he were frowning. Kaveh doesn't completely understand what just happened to him, but he feels as if had a meeting with fate itself.

"Mister Kaveh!" Nilou's voice calls him over. She is wearing a smile as bright as the sun beating down on Kaveh's neck. Al-Haitham has even looked up from his book to stare at Kaveh. The blonde realizes that he can no longer hide from them. He starts his walk through the garden to get to the gazebo. He pulls his hair down to cover his skin, but he immediately starts to put it up again when he steps into the shadow of the gazebo. Nilou's smile dampens into something softer when she looks him in the eyes. "I wasn't able to figure out Mister Al-Haitham's  powers, but he told me that I got close."

"Congratulations," Kaveh says happily, dropping into his chair. He picks up his sketchbook, setting it in his lap. He picks up one of his paintbrushes, going back to painting Nilou on the canvas in front of him.

Al-Haitham's stare sharpens. "What did you forget inside?"

Kaveh completely forgot to pretend to grab something. He avoids looking at either of them as he says, "I was mistaken. It was out here all along."

Al-Haitham hums. Nilou believes Kaveh far more easily. She moves on with the conversation. "I told Mister Al-Haitham about our planned outing to see Zubayr Theater. He suggested that more people should come. The regents will feel safer if I have more bodyguards with me, and I am sure that you want to spend more time with your friends. It would also allow me to grow closer with everyone. I want there to come a point when everyone just calls me 'Nilou' instead of all his 'lady' business."

"Ah, I did not know you felt that way. If you would allow me to, I will call you 'Nilou' and you can call me 'Kaveh'," The blonde explains, frowning slightly as he tries to create the perfect shade for the few strands of hair that hide in the shadow of Nilou's neck.

"I would love that, Kaveh!" Nilou cheers, clapping her hands together.

"And what about you, Mister Al-Haitham?" Kaveh asks, glancing over at his housemate. Al-Haitham is staring right at him with an expression that makes Kaveh blush and avert his eyes.

"I do not care what anyone calls me or what I call them. A name is only a means of identifying a person and gathering their attention," Al-Haitham shrugs.

"That isn't true. A name is a very important thing," Nilou disagrees, shaking her head softly. She looks dreamily into the distance, her attention partially taken by memories that float across her ocean-blue eyes. "There will come a day when someone calls your name in a way that makes you realize how special your name is."

"Funny. Someone told me something similar recently," Al-Haitham says with a tone that implies he doesn't find it funny. Kaveh wonders if Al-Haitham is referring to the prophecy about Al-Haitham finding someone who can put up with him and his horrible temper. "Allow me to restate my earlier sentiment. A name is only a means of identifying a person and gathering their attention to me for most people. Just as you say, there is one person who says my name in a way that could be considered special."

"Well..." Nilou starts. She suddenly meets Kaveh's eyes. He raises an eyebrow at her since he was only trying to see if he got the shade of her hair correct. Nilou's eyes widen slightly, and she giggles to herself. She glances over at Al-Haitham with slitted eyes. "I see, now!"

Kaveh does not, but he ignores whatever conversation those two are having about names right now. He has finally gotten the appropriate shade for Nilou's hair. He uses it as she continues speaking, "As I was saying before, I invited Al-Haitham and anyone he wishes to bring along to our outing, Kaveh. We are going to have a lot of fun together."

"We most certainly are," Kaveh responds. He was a little worried about only going with Nilou, but if he could bring Al-Haitham along, he could set those two up while Kaveh spent time with their other friends. He hopes that Tighnari and Cyno bring Collei and Sethos along. Those two need more social interactions in lively settings.

"I concur," Al-Haitham says, his voice as soft as the wind. Kaveh looks up from the painting to meet Al-Haitham's eyes. There are a few feet of distance between them, but Kaveh feels like they are standing in the rain again with the way Al-Haitham is looking at him. It was a moment of weakness on Kaveh's part. He lost himself in the moment, letting his heart take the reins. He wonders what that moment was for Al-Haitham. Was it a lapse in judgment on his part? Or did Al-Haitham mean to look at Kaveh like he—

Kaveh shakes his head, breaking eye contact before he makes another mistake. He smiles at the image he's created on the canvas. "I'm almost done, Nilou. The sketch I did of you two is also finished."

"Thank you, Kaveh," Nilou says with something akin to awe in her voice. When Kaveh looks at her, she's looking between him and Al-Haitham. The gray-haired man has not looked away from Kaveh yet. The blonde frowns and shrugs to himself, doing his best to finish the remaining details of the portrait. Although the regents only have Kaveh the instructions to put Nilou's face on a canvas, he can't settle for anything less for perfection because of his pride and their judgment.

Kaveh leans back when he's done. He takes in a deep breath to admire his work, looking for imperfections. He finds many, but nothing that he feels is worth fixing. He sets his sketchbook on the table beside him, standing up. He looks at Nilou and Al-Haitham. "Thank you two for waiting for so long. You may now come to see my genius."

Nilou hurries over. Kaveh distracts himself by picking up his art supplies. He can hear Nilou's excitement. She grabs onto Kaveh's arm, forcing him to look into her eyes as she happily declares, "It looks just like me, Kaveh! I knew that the sages had to be talented people, but this is nothing short of amazing!"

"Thank you, Nilou," Kaveh tells her, cutting a glare over to Al-Haitham as the man quietly studies the painting. "At least someone knows how to give compliments."

"I have always known you are good at painting. You seemed to have been aware of your own abilities considering you call yourself a genius," Al-Haitham points out. It's barely a compliment, but it still makes Kaveh's entire flush with embarrassment as he continues picking up his different art supplies. Kaveh picks up the sketchbook to put it up, but Al-Haitham plucks it out of Kaveh's hands. The blonde glares at him, but he stops when Nilou leans closer to look at the contents of the sketchbook as Al-Haitham flips to the page with the two of them. Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow, "You did not draw me reading."

"What an astute observation," Kaveh rolls his eyes. "Of course, I didn't. When I paint this, I want it to look like you actually wanted this."

"You're painting this one, too?" Nilou asks, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"I am. It will be a gift for the two of you," Kaveh explains.

"A gift? Are you making two paintings?" Nilou asks curiously.

"No?"

"Then, how will you give the painting to both of us?" Nilou tilts her head to the side. Her eyes brighten with understanding after a moment. "Are you donating the painting to an art gallery? I overheard the regents talking about your recent proposal for one!"

Kaveh laughs. The art gallery is a pipe dream, one that he foolishly keeps resubmitting for the chance that one of the regents gets too lazy to actually read the contents and approves it. He also laughs at Nilou's confusion and the way Al-Haitham raises an eyebrow. Kaveh looks away from them, chuckling to himself as he works. "By the time the painting is done, you will know what I mean to do with it."

"If you say so," Nilou shrugs, stepping away from the sketchbook and Al-Haitham. "I should probably head home if we're done here. I told Dehya that I would go shopping with her this afternoon, and I would rather not do it in this outfit, as beautiful as it is. Thank you for agreeing to paint my portrait, Kaveh, and thank you for posing with me, Al-Haitham. I will see you tomorrow to plan for the trip to Zubayr Theater."

Nilou struggles to keep her hair out of her way as she leaves the gazebo, waving a hand over her shoulder until she reaches the path leading to the gate. Kaveh watches her go until she's out onto the street. When he glances back at his belongings, Al-Haitham's arms come between Kaveh's waist and arms, caging the blonde against the table. Al-Haitham holds the sketchbook open on the table. He lowers his face into Kaveh's shoulder, his words warm as they seep through Kaveh's shirt into his shoulder. Al-Haitham's fingers trail along his appearance in charcoal. "Do I look like this to you?"

"Why would I draw what you didn't look like?" Kaveh replies, ignoring their proximity. The heat he feels is from the wind blowing through the gazebo, not the embarrassment turning his entire face up to his ears crimson or the molten ball of emotions inside his stomach. Instead of focusing on Al-Haitham or the sudden temperature rise, Kaveh gently places his fingers on the sketchbook, his hands near enough to Al-Haitham's that the man decides they should be holding hands. Kaveh lets their fingers intertwine as he stares down at those charcoal eyes.

As Al-Haitham said earlier, Kaveh did not draw Al-Haitham reading. He drew Al-Haitham staring straight ahead at the person looking at the drawing. To everyone else, Al-Haitham's expression must seem serious. Even if it were more detailed, Al-Haitham's faces rarely twist with emotion. But there is something about this charcoal Al-Haitham's eyes that sends a shiver down Kaveh's spine. He shouldn't have drawn it. He shouldn't even know what this expression looks like. Kaveh swears he won't paint Al-Haitham looking like this when he puts what's on this paper onto a canvas.

"What do I look like in your eyes?" Al-Haitham's voice almost fades beneath the wind, and Kaveh feels like someone set his shoulder on fire. He closes his eyes, taking in controlled breaths as he finishes putting his belongings into his container. He grabs onto the handles, pulling his hand from Al-Haitham's. As he swings the container off the table, Kaveh puts the sketchbook inside, hoping never to look at that page again.

"It's too hot to be this close," Kaveh makes an excuse, though he isn't entirely wrong. He might be more open to affection if it were cool from rainwater or if a freak snowstorm hit Sumeru City, but the sun would push away even legitimate couples, let alone whatever Kaveh and Al-Haitham got going on.

As Kaveh steps into the sunlight, the container is suddenly taken from his hands. Al-Haitham carries it with less effort exerted than Kaveh did, half-upsetting Kaveh. The blonde glares at Al-Haitham. The scribe is wearing another smile, so soft and imperceptible that only Kaveh would be able to notice it. "We shall continue this inside, then."

"You're so odd," Kaveh murmurs to himself, belittling Al-Haitham as a means of washing away the embarrassment that courses through his body. He shouldn't feel like this. They have held each other several times. It's just that they usually only do it when Al-Haitham is in pain or Kaveh is drunk. Kaveh feels plenty sober even if he thinks he might need a drink right now. Al-Haitham's eyes are a bright shade of turquoise, so a migraine isn't creeping up on him.

"I didn't hear a refusal," Al-Haitham notes, opening the door for Kaveh. The blonde steps into the coolness and darkness of their manor. He steps aside as a servant prepares to slip outside to collect the dishes Kaveh left out there.

"I wish I could understand you," Kaveh crosses his arms over his chest. Is Al-Haitham doing this because he wanted to hold Nilou but she left? Kaveh doesn't want to be a replacement, but he's having a very hard time refusing Al-Haitham when the man is looking at him with emotion in his eyes. Not too many and certainly not enough for Kaveh to figure out what the emotions are, but they are there and directed at him. He's a weak man, and Al-Haitham has been in possession of Kaveh's heart since the beginning. "I have an assignment to finish today... but you're welcome to join me if you have nothing to do."

The guilt that crushes him is somehow worth it when he notices the smile on Al-Haitham's face, just big enough that maybe other people would notice it, too. Kaveh looks away, walking towards his office with Al-Haitham's footsteps following behind him. There is a lot to be jealous about, but Kaveh thinks what he envies most is that Nilou gets to see that smile for the rest of her life.